Combined briefs package

Motorcyclist dies after hitting 285 mph

A motorcycle racer trying to top 300 mph died Sunday after losing control and zooming off a runway at a former air base in northern Maine. Bill Warner, 44, of Wimauma, Fla., was clocked at 285 mph before he lost control, but it was unclear how fast the motorcycle was traveling when it veered off the paved runway and crashed, said Tim Kelly, race director the Loring Timing Association, which hosted “The Maine Event” at Loring Air Force Base. Warner was conscious and talking after the crash just before 10 a.m., Kelly said, but he died about an hour and 15 minutes later at a hospital in Caribou.

CALIFORNIA

Lawsuit claims murder in mansion hanging

The family of a woman whose nude, bound body was found hanging at a California mansion has filed a $10 million lawsuit claiming she was murdered. The suit was filed Friday in federal court by the family of Rebecca Zahau, 32, and seeks general and punitive damages. Zahau was found hanged at a Coronado mansion in July 2011. Her death was ruled a suicide. But Zahau’s family always believed her death was suspicious. The lawsuit claims Adam Shacknai and Dina Shacknai, the brother and ex-wife of Zahua’s boyfriend, Jonah Shacknai, and Dina Shacknai’s twin sister, Nina Romano, were responsible for the woman’s death.

INDIANA

Boy rescued from sand dune recovering

A 6-year-old boy who spent more than three hours buried under 11 feet of sand after being swallowed by a massive Indiana dune is recovering well, but remains in critical condition at a Chicago hospital. Michigan City Police Chief Mark Swistek said the parents of the boy told him Saturday that the outlook for the child is very good. The boy’s family said he was playing on the dune Friday when he fell into it, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Ranger Bruce Rowe said. The dune collapsed as his family tried to dig him out.

SYRIA

Government troops advance in capital

Government troops fired tank shells and artillery in heavy clashes between Syrian forces and rebels Sunday on the edge of Damascus, where the military has been pushing its offensive to retake key districts that have been in opposition hands for months. A Syrian military commander said forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have recaptured 60 percent of Jobar, south of Qaboun, and were trying to retake the rest.

ECUADOR

Volcano spews ash plume, 200 evacuated

Authorities in Ecuador said Sunday at least 200 people were evacuated from near the Tungurahua volcano after it spewed an ash plume more than 3 miles into the air. The regional director of the National Risk Management Secretariat, Lourdes Mayorga, said the explosion produced ash and pyroclastic flows, and could be felt hundreds of miles away.

NIGERIA

Mass graves found after raids

Military officials say they have uncovered mass graves, networks of underground tunnels and caches of weapons in raids that killed dozens of Islamic extremists in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri. Sunday’s statement about last week’s raids contradicts previous military assurances that it had forced militants out of major cities and towns in a two-month-old security crackdown in three northeastern states covering one-sixth of Nigeria.

SPAIN

Opposition demands prime minister resign

Spanish opposition leaders on Sunday urged Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign after a newspaper published what it said were text messages Rajoy sent to his party’s former treasurer after the treasurer was accused of making slush fund payoffs to politicians including Rajoy. The ongoing scandal of alleged secret payments has shaken Rajoy’s governing Popular Party and damaged its popularity ratings. The publication of the text messages by the El Mundo newspaper placed even more pressure on Rajoy, whose resignation was demanded by leaders of two key opposition groups.