Procession brings home fallen Ariz. firefighters
Procession brings home fallen Ariz. firefighters
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Nineteen firefighters killed in a wildfire a week ago went home for the last time Sunday, their bodies traveling in individual white hearses in a somber procession for 125 miles through Arizona cities and towns.
The hourslong caravan began near the state Capitol in Phoenix, went through the town where the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed and ended in the mountain community of Prescott, where they lived and will be laid to rest this week.
Thousands of people from across the state and beyond stood patiently in triple-digit temperatures in Phoenix, lined highways and overpasses along the route, and flooded the roads of downtown Prescott to pay their respect to the 19, whose deaths are the greatest loss of life for firefighters since 9/11.
Kerry Heinz transferred
to Boston hospital
BOSTON — Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, has been transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
A spokesman for John Kerry says Heinz Kerry was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital on Sunday night after being stabilized by doctors at Nantucket Cottage Hospital.
The 74-year-old Heinz Kerry was taken to the emergency room in Nantucket, accompanied by her husband, after 3:30 p.m. Sunday. A hospital spokesman said she arrived at that facility in critical condition, and remained that way early Sunday evening, although she had been stabilized.
No details about Heinz Kerry’s condition or illness has been released.
Talks on Egypt leaders
hit Islamist block
CAIRO — Secular and liberal factions trying to install one of their own as Egypt’s new prime minister collided into strong resistance Sunday from the sole Islamist faction that backed the military’s ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, reflecting the difficulties in building a broad coalition behind a new leadership.
As wrangling continued over the prime minister spot, giant rallies by the movements that pushed out Morsi took on a sharply nationalist tone, pervaded with posters of the military’s chief and denunciations of the United States and President Barack Obama for they see as their backing of the Islamist leader.
The show of strength in the streets was aimed at fending off a determined campaign by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which brought out its own supporters Sunday in large protests.
Warning that the military is turning Egypt into a “totalitarian state,” Brotherhood officials vowed to stay on the streets to reverse what they call a coup against democracy and restore Egypt’s first freely elected president to office.
Quebec police: 5 dead
in oil train derailment
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec — As firefighters doused still burning oil tanker cars, more bodies were recovered Sunday in this devastated town in eastern Quebec, raising the death toll to five after a runaway train derailed, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed the downtown district. With dozens of people reported missing, authorities feared they could find more bodies once they reached the hardest-hit areas.
Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet said Sunday that about 40 people have been reported missing, but cautioned that the number could fluctuate up or down.
“We met many people who had reported family members missing. Right now I can tell you about 40,” Brunet said.
Brunet confirmed two more deaths early Sunday afternoon after confirming two people were found dead overnight. One death was confirmed Saturday.
All but one of the 73 cars were filled with oil, which was being transported from North Dakota’s Bakken oil region to a refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.
New Syrian opposition leader shows U.S., Saudi influence
BEIRUT — The election of new leadership by the umbrella coalition of Syrian opposition figures reflects an internal policy shift toward the influence of the United States and Saudi Arabia, according to insiders and policy analysts.
On Saturday in Istanbul, the Syrian Opposition Coalition, the group that the United States has designated as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people, elected Ahmed Assi al-Jarba, to lead the group. Jarba is described as a secular moderate with close tribal and political ties to Saudi Arabia.
By wire sources