Rangers in Colorado helping evacuate military personnel

Rangers in Colorado helping evacuate military personnel

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo.

Park rangers are helping evacuate military personnel in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park after some had trouble climbing one of the state’s highest peaks.

Park spokesman Kyle Patterson said 10 people from Fort Carson in Colorado Springs were involved in a climbing training Thursday on 14,259-foot Longs Peak, but a few of them had trouble continuing. The group ended up spending the night. Patterson said they were helping one another get to the top of the mountain Friday and that rangers are helping as needed. Rangers plan to fly them down from the snowy summit by helicopter if weather permits.

Smuggling boat sinks; more than 110 bodies found

ATHENS, Greece

More than 110 bodies were found along a Libyan beach after a smuggling boat of mostly African migrants sank, while a separate search-and-rescue operation across the Mediterranean saved 340 people Friday and recovered nine bodies.

The developments were the latest deadly disasters for refugees and migrants seeking a better life in Europe, and they followed the drownings of more than 1,000 people since May 25 while attempting the long and perilous journey from North Africa to southern Europe.

21 students hurt in school-bus collision

RENTON, Wash.

Twenty-one elementary students and a bus driver were injured after one school bus rear-ended another in Washington state.

Renton School District spokesman Randy Matheson said the buses were picking up students from local apartment complexes about 9:30 a.m. Friday when one bus ran into the other.

The collision happened at a pick-up point at one of the apartments as the buses were heading to Lakeridge Elementary School. Renton police and fire units responded and checked out the children at the scene.

Matheson said 11 students were taken to a local hospital with minor to moderate injuries. Ten other students were taken by their parents to local clinics or private doctors.

3 Minnesota men convicted in IS case

MINNEAPOLIS

Three Minnesota men accused of plotting to go to Syria to join the Islamic State group were convicted Friday of conspiracy to commit murder overseas – a charge that carries a possible sentence of life in prison.

The defendants – Guled Ali Omar, 21; Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 22; and Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 22 – showed little emotion as the three-week trial came to a close. Several people sitting in seats reserved for family broke down in tears; others left the courtroom in disbelief.

Seine up to highest level in 35 years

PARIS

The swollen Seine River kept rising Friday, spilling into Paris streets and forcing one landmark after another to shut down as it surged to its highest levels in nearly 35 years. Across the city, museums, parks and cemeteries shut down as the city braced for evacuations.

The Seine was expected to peak in Paris early today at about 16 feet, 3 inches above normal. Authorities shut the Louvre museum, the national library, the Orsay museum and the Grand Palais, Paris’ striking glass-and-steel topped exhibition center.

Associated Press