SWITZERLAND
35 hurt in when trains collide
At least 35 people were injured, five of them seriously, in a head-on collision of two trains in western Switzerland late Monday, police said. One person had yet to be recovered from the wreckage. The crash happened near the station of Granges-pres-Marnand shortly before 7 p.m. local time on a regional line about 31 miles southwest of the capital, Bern. News website 20min.ch quoted Patricia Claivaz of the Swiss rail company CFF as saying the trapped man was the driver. It was unclear if he was alive.
WASHINGTON
Police make arrest in cathedral vandalism
A woman was arrested Monday after green paint was found splattered inside two chapels at the Washington National Cathedral, and police were investigating her in connection with two similar incidents Friday on the National Mall. Green paint was found early Friday morning on the Lincoln Memorial, and symbols were found painted in green later Friday on a outside the headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution on the Mall. The woman would likely be charged with destruction of property, authorities said.
PAKISTAN
Militants in disguise hit prison
Militants disguised as police and armed with bombs and guns attacked a prison in northwest Pakistan holding 40 “high profile” inmates Monday night in an apparent attempt to free their colleagues, officials said. The attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan began around midnight with a huge explosion, said intelligence officials. The militants then detonated a series of smaller bombs to destroy the prison’s boundary wall. Khalid Abbas, head of the prison department in surrounding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said he was not sure if any prisoners escaped.
UTAH
Venomous snakes found during fire
Firefighters arrived at a Utah home to put out a blaze started by a kitchen range and discovered more than flames — 28 snakes, six of them deadly. The snakes’ owner didn’t have a permit for the six venomous snakes — five rattlers and a gaboon viper — and he may face misdemeanor charges for keeping them without a permit. The viper, native to Africa, is considered one of the most dangerous in the world with potent venom. The snakes were inside cages in a separate room and were removed as firefighters quickly put out the blaze on Friday in Clearfield, about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City.
CONNECTICUT
Lawsuit filed over camp kiss
The parents of a 15-year-old Connecticut girl sued a summer camp in Massachusetts on Monday, saying their daughter was kicked out of camp last month after a boy kissed her. The girl was sent home from Camp Emerson in Hinsdale and a camp official falsely accused her and the boy of sexually provocative behavior, the lawsuit said. Male counselors at the camp had encouraged the boy to kiss the girl, the lawsuit said. A camp handbook does not prohibit kissing, the suit said. The lawsuit seeks more than $600,000 in damages. Neither the girl nor her parents are named in the suit. The boy was also kicked out of camp, said Rosemarie Arnold, attorney for the girl’s family. Sue Lein, the camp director, declined to comment.
NEW JERSEY
Wing-eating champ pushed cocaine
A five-time Buffalo wing-eating champion known as El Wingador pleaded guilty Monday to a cocaine distribution charge in New Jersey. William Simmons, 51, faces a seven-year prison when he’s sentenced in September. Prosecutors said they won’t object if he applies for an intensive supervision program that could shorten his sentence. Several drug charges were filed against Simmons following a June 2012 traffic stop. El Wingador last won Philadelphia’s Wing Bowl in 2005, when he gnawed through 162 chicken wings.
CHICAGO
Tires pop on jet landing at O’Hare
Two tires of an American Airlines jet popped when the aircraft landed at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. American spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said no one was injured when the two left main tires blew on a jet that landed Monday afternoon. The flight from Reno, Nev., was carrying 137 passengers and five crew members. She said it was not clear what caused the tires to blow.
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