IS militants look for collaborators after taking Iraqi city
IS militants look for collaborators after taking Iraqi city
BAGHDAD — Islamic State militants searched door-to-door for policemen and pro-government fighters and threw bodies in the Euphrates River in a bloody purge Monday after capturing the strategic city of Ramadi, their biggest victory since overrunning much of northern and western Iraq last year.
Some 500 civilians and soldiers died in the extremist killing spree since the final push for Ramadi began Friday, authorities said.
Responding to a call from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, hundreds of Iranian-allied Shiite militiamen rushed to a military base near Ramadi, the capital of overwhelmingly Sunni Anbar province, to prepare for an assault to try to retake the city, Anbar officials said.
No video camera to provide clues in Amtrak crash investigation
WASHINGTON — Five years ago, federal accident investigators recommended that the government require video cameras in locomotive cabs to record engineers’ actions. But it didn’t happen. Now, that’s left a gap in unraveling last week’s fatal Amtrak derailment.
It’s an old story for the National Transportation Safety Board. Accidents occur, people die and there is a clamor for action. Later, when attention moves elsewhere, recommendations frequently lag for years. Some are never realized.
In the Amtrak crash, the train was equipped with a “black box” data recorder and a camera focused on the track ahead. Information from those devices shows that in the last minute before the crash the train accelerated rapidly, reaching 106 miles per hour just before entering a curve where the speed limit was 50. Maximum braking power was applied in the last few seconds, but it was too late.
The train derailed, leaving eight people dead, about 200 injured and a mangled mess of rail cars.
Charges filed against 170 bikers
WACO, Texas — About 170 members of rival motorcycle gangs were charged with engaging in organized crime Monday, a day after a shootout at a Texas restaurant that killed nine people and wounded 18.
The crowd of suspects was so large that authorities opened a convention center to hold them all before they were arrested, police said.
Sunday’s melee at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco drew a broad police response that included placing officers atop buildings and highway overpasses to watch for other bikers rushing to the scene to retaliate.
McLennan County Justice of the Peace W.H. Peterson set bond at $1 million for each suspect.
By wire sources.