QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The president wants the facts. And I’m not going to set a timeline because the facts need to be what drives this investigation, not a deadline.”
Jay Carney, spokesman for President Barack Obama, on plans for U.S. involvement in Syria after officials announced the probable use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime Article, 1A
Afghan bus hits truck; 45 killed
KANDAHAR - A bus crashed Friday into the wreckage of a truck that had been attacked by Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 45 people aboard the bus in a fiery crash, officials said.
The battered oil tanker had been left in the middle of a narrow road near the border of Kandahar and Helmand provinces for several days after insurgents attacked it.
Police considered the area too dangerous to enter, the officials said.
Before sunrise Friday, the bus smashed into the truck and burst into flames, said Abdul Razaq, the provincial police chief of Kandahar.
Police, soldiers and ambulances rushed to the crash site in a desolate area. Many of the victims were burned beyond recognition, and it will be difficult to establish their identities, Razaq said.
Forty-five people were killed and 10 injured, said Javeed Faisal, the spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province.
The bus began its journey in the capital of Helmand province and was to stop in Kandahar City, then travel north to Kabul, the Afghan capital, Razaq said.
Serbia legislature backs Kosovo deal
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbian lawmakers Friday overwhelmingly supported an agreement normalizing relations with breakaway Kosovo, a potentially landmark deal that could end years of tensions between the Balkan antagonists and put them both on a path to European Union membership.
Parliament backed the deal in a 173-24 vote. A pro-Russian, nationalist party was the only group that voted against it.
Parliamentary backing is a boost for the Serbian government, which reached the agreement with Kosovo this month in Brussels but has faced opposition from nationalists and Serb hard-liners in Kosovo’s divided north.
The deal will give Kosovo’s ethnic-Albanian leadership authority over rebel Kosovo Serbs, ending Serbia’s control in northern Kosovo.
The Serbs, in return, will be granted wide-ranging autonomy.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 04/27/2013