11th victim found days after deadly crash on I-75

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The body of an eleventh person has been found in a pickup truck days after a deadly pileup on Interstate 75, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The victim was inside a Dodge pickup truck that crashed into a tractor trailer as it traveled south early Sunday, authorities determined Tuesday. The driver and another passenger in the pickup had not been identified early Wednesday.

The Highway Patrol on Tuesday released the name of an eighth person killed in the crash. Vontavia Kiara Robinson, 22, of Williston, was the driver of a Pontiac Grand Prix that was involved in the southbound crash around 4 a.m. Sunday. The name of a passenger who died in her car has not been released.

Authorities closed the busy six-lane highway just after midnight Sunday because a mix of fog and smoke from a nearby brush fire made visibility difficult. The road was reopened about three hours later after the Highway Patrol determined conditions had improved. The first pileup occurred a short time later.

At least a dozen cars, six tractor trailers and a motorhome collided. Some cars were crushed under the bellies of big rigs. Others burst into flames, making it difficult to identify victims.

The crash sent another 18 people to the hospital.

While Florida officials said they are willing to review their protocols in determining when to shut down — and reopen — a major highway. The Highway Patrol was also quick to point out that motorists must be prepared to quickly make good decisions because road conditions can change quickly.

Officials said the decision to close a road is made by a Highway Patrol supervisor, who relies on feedback from troopers who assess road conditions. They use information and forecasts from the National Weather Service. A key piece of information is an index estimating the humidity and smoke dispersion on a scale of 1 to 10. If the score is 7 or higher, the Highway Patrol's protocol is to close the road.

The index score for early Sunday had been forecast to be a 6 in the four-county region that includes the crash site, according to the National Weather Service.

Investigators continued piecing together details from Sunday's crash. The remaining bodies were so badly burned that dental records and vehicle identification numbers may have to be used to get positive identifications.

The dead included Georgia pastor Jose Carmo, his wife Adriana and their teenage daughter Leticia. Another daughter remained in the hospital with serious injuries.

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Deadly gun attack on Nigerian bar

10 January 2012 Last updated at 19:00 ET

Gunmen in Nigeria have opened fire in a bar in the north of the country, killing eight people including several police officers.

The attack in Yobe state is the latest in a series that officials blame on the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram.

Earlier, at least five people died when a mosque and Islamic school were set alight in Benin city, in the mainly Christian south.

Muslims have been fleeing the city for the mainly Islamic north.

Religious tensions have been growing as a general strike over rising petrol prices continues to grip the country.

"Suspected Islamic sect members attacked the drinking joint and killed eight people, four of whom were policemen," Yobe state police commissioner Tanko Lawal told Reuters news agency.

Reports said the gunmen fled on a motorcycle after the late-night attack in the town of Potiskum. A seven-year-old child was also among the victims, police said.

Southerners, who are mostly Christians or animists, have recently been the targets of attacks by Boko Haram, which operates in the mainly Muslim north.

Yobe is one of the states where the government has declared a state of emergency following an upsurge in violence by the Islamist group.

'Growing concern'

The shooting followed an attack on a mosque and an Islamic school in the southern city of Benin.

Five people were killed and six injured, a Nigerian Red Cross spokesman told the BBC.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon discussed the increasing sectarian violence with Nigeria's Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru on Tuesday.

The meeting followed the release of a UN report that highlighted "growing concern in the region" about possible links between Boko Haram and al-Qaeda's affiliate in North Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in many cities to protest against the doubling of the price of petrol since the beginning of the year.

The removal of a fuel subsidy has caused widespread anger.

Witnesses said Tuesday's protests were bigger than Monday's in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, and in the capital Abuja.

Six people died in the unrest on Monday.

Nigeria: A nation divided

• Wealth
• Ethnic
• Health
• Literacy
• Oil

Despite its vast resources, Nigeria ranks among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the UN. The poverty in the north is in stark contrast to the more developed southern states. While in the oil-rich south-east, the residents of Delta and Akwa Ibom complain that all the wealth they generate flows up the pipeline to Abuja and Lagos.

Nigeria's 160 million people are divided between numerous ethno-linguistic groups and also along religious lines. Broadly, the Hausa-Fulani people based in the north are mostly Muslims. The Yorubas of the south-west are divided between Muslims and Christians, while the Igbos of the south-east and neighbouring groups are mostly Christian or animist. The Middle Belt is home to hundreds of groups with different beliefs, and around Jos there are frequent clashes between Hausa-speaking Muslims and Christian members of the Berom community.

Southern residents tend to have better access to healthcare, as reflected by the greater uptake of vaccines for polio, tuberculosis, tetanus and diphtheria. Some northern groups have in the past boycotted immunisation programmes, saying they are a Western plot to make Muslim women infertile. This led to a recurrence of polio, but the vaccinations have now resumed.

Female literacy is seen as the key to raising living standards for the next generation. For example, a newborn child is far likelier to survive if its mother is well-educated. In Nigeria we see a stark contrast between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south. In some northern states less than 5% of women can read and write, whereas in some Igbo areas more than 90% are literate.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and among the biggest in the world but most of its people subsist on less than $2 a day. The oil is produced in the south-east and some militant groups there want to keep a greater share of the wealth which comes from under their feet. Attacks by militants on oil installations led to a sharp fall in Nigeria's output during the last decade. But in 2010, a government amnesty led thousands of fighters to lay down their weapons.

Continue Reading... Labels: attack, Deadly, Nigerian

Deadly Chile forest fires spread

2 January 2012 Last updated at 15:09 ET

A wood panel plant went up in flames near Concepcion

Firefighters in Chile are tackling dozens of forest fires which have killed one person and destroyed 230 sq km (57,000 acres) of land in the southern and central regions.

A 75-year-old man died in Bio Bio after he refused to evacuate his home.

Firefighters said they had managed to contain four out of six blazes in the Torres del Paine National Park.

An Israeli tourist detained on Saturday has denied a charge of causing the park fire through negligence.

President Sebastian Pinera said Chile was in a "situation of extreme vulnerability".

He said that on Sunday emergency services were battling 48 separate fires, 15 of which were not yet under control.

The president said almost 130 sq km (32,000 acres) had been burned in the Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia.

Stiffer penalties

He announced that parts of the park would re-open on Wednesday to minimise disruption to tourism and local businesses.

An Israeli tourist has been charged with causing the fire through negligence, which he denies.

If found guilty, he could face up to 60 days in prison and a fine of around $300 (£190).

President Pinera has proposed increasing the penalties for anyone who causes forest fires, be it intentionally or negligently.

In the Bio Bio region, fire destroyed more than 100 homes and a plant making wood panels.

More than 500 firefighters have been deployed to stem the blaze.

The BBC's Gideon Long in Santiago says that Chile always suffers forest fires during the southern hemisphere summer but that a drought has made 2011 a particularly bad year.

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Deadly clashes rock central Cairo

19 November 2011 Last updated at 19:08 ET

The BBC's Yolande Knell said protesters were angry about the power held by the military

At least one person has been killed and more than 600 wounded in fierce clashes between protesters and security forces in central Cairo.

The clashes came as police moved to prevent a long-term sit-in following a huge demonstration against the military leadership on Friday.

Some protesters lobbed rocks and a police vehicle was set on fire.

The latest violence comes just over a week before parliamentary elections are scheduled to begin.

Protesters - mostly Islamists and young activists - have been holding demonstrations against a draft constitution that they say would allow the military to retain too much power after a new civilian government is elected.

Witnesses said there were also demonstrations in Suez and Alexandria.

Rubber bullets

Correspondents say many Egyptians are frustrated at what they see as a reluctance by the ruling military council - who took power after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February - to carry out meaningful reforms.

The clashes began as police moved into the square to break up a sit-in

Saturday's violence began when police moved to dismantle tents erected by demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square who had camped out for the night.

The move to clear the square prompted thousands of protesters to return, and clashes erupted. Police fired rubber bullets as cars were set on fire, witnesses said.

The numbers of protesters swelled, reportedly after a call went out on social media for people to join the demonstration following the police assault.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called on the protesters to clear the square.

"What is happening in Tahrir is very dangerous and threatens the course of the nation and the revolution," a statement from the cabinet said.

Black smoke rose over the square after protesters swarmed over an armoured police van, turned it over and set it alight, reports said.

The state-run Mena news agency says more than 670 people were injured.

One of those wounded later died in hospital, the agency adds.

AFP quoted a security official as saying a number of arrests were made.

'Harsh beatings'

One of the demonstrators, Ali Abdel Aziz, said security forces beat up protesters to break up the sit-in on Saturday.

"They beat us harshly, they didn't care for either men or women," the 32-year-old accountancy professor told AFP news agency.

"The interior ministry must take responsibility. We have one demand, the military council must go," he said.

One prominent protester, Malek Mostafa, lost an eye after being hit by a rubber bullet, said Ghada Shahbender, a member of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights.

"It is a crime," she told AP news agency. "They [police] were shooting rubber bullets directly at the heads... I heard an officer ordering his soldiers to aim for the head."

The interior ministry says a number of policemen were among the wounded.

In Alexandria, protester Ahmed Abdel-Qader told the Associated Press activists had thrown stones at the main security headquarters.

"We only managed to bring down the head of the regime [Hosni Mubarak]. The rest of the tree is still standing," he said.

Friday's demonstration, which saw tens of thousands fill Tahrir Square, was one of the largest for months.

Parliamentary elections are due to begin on 28 November and take three months.

Earlier this month, Egypt's military rulers produced a draft document setting out principles for a new constitution.

Under those guidelines, the military would be exempted from civilian overnight, as would its budget.

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Continue Reading... Labels: Cairo, central, clashes, Deadly