Denmark accident kills 6 train riders
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Six passengers were killed Wednesday when a Danish train crossed a bridge that had been closed to cars because of high wind, and authorities investigated if falling cargo from a passing freight train caused Denmark's deadliest railway accident in 30 years.
The rail operator, Danish Railways, told Denmark's TV2 the victims were passengers on a train going from the city of Odense, on the central Danish island of Funen, to the capital, Copenhagen, when the accident took place about 8 a.m.
The accident, in which 16 people were injured, took place on a road-and-rail bridge, part of the Storebaelt system of bridges and a tunnel that link the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen. The system was closed to cars overnight because of strong winds but trains were allowed to continue using it.
Police spokesman Lars Braemhoej said one possible cause of the "considerable damage" on the passenger train was getting struck by cargo from the freight train, but noted that authorities "do not know precisely what caused the accident,"
Flemming Jensen, the chief executive of state-owned Danish Railways, said police and the country's accident investigation board were looking into the accident. He said the operator "will contribute everything that we can to the investigation."
Toll rises as rebel groups fight in Syria
BEIRUT -- Two days of fighting in rebel-held parts of northern Syria killed dozens of people as al-Qaida-linked militants press their offensive against Turkey-backed rebels, a war monitor and activists said Wednesday.
With their offensive, the al-Qaida-linked fighters are trying to cut off Turkey-backed fighters in the northern enclave of Afrin from those in the northwestern province of Idlib, over concerns that Turkey might make a deal with Russia at the expense of the extremists, said Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee and the Turkey-backed Nour el-Din el-Zinki group blamed each other for triggering the fighting,.
The Observatory said two days of fighting in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib have killed 31 people, including five civilians. Also killed were 14 al-Qaida-linked fighters and 12 Turkey-backed gunmen.
The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said al-Qaida-linked fighters are now in full control of the strategic town of Daret Azzeh and also have captured the villages of Kafrantin, Fadra, Houta and Mkalbis.
Stabbed British officer cites 'instinct'
LONDON -- The British police officer stabbed while subduing a suspect on New Year's Eve said Wednesday that "instinct took over" when he heard people screaming at a Manchester train station.
British transport police Sgt. Lee Valentine and several officers subdued the knife-wielding suspect with a stun gun and pepper spray after he stabbed two people.
"We had no idea what we were running towards when we heard the screams on New Year's Eve," said Valentine, who is recovering at home from a stab wound in his shoulder. "When we saw the man wielding a knife, instinct took over."
Police said Wednesday that they are confident the suspect "acted alone in the final stages" of what police are treating as a terrorist act. They are still trying to determine if he had any support while planning the assault.
Police said the 25-year-old suspect has been detained under a mental-health law, which means he is being assessed by professionals and may be placed in a psychiatric hospital.
The suspect, who has not been named or charged, was shouting Islamist extremist slogans when he attacked two people at the Manchester Victoria station.
Two of the victims -- a man and a woman -- are still hospitalized with serious injuries.
Deaths at 33 in Russian building's fall
MOSCOW -- Search crews in Russia pulled more bodies Wednesday from a huge pile of rubble where part of an apartment building collapsed, raising the known death toll to 33 and eight residents unaccounted for as the grim recovery work entered a third night.
A 3-year-old girl was among the latest victims of the collapse in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk, Russian news agencies reported, citing the Russian emergencies ministry.
An 11-month-old boy who was found alive Tuesday nearly 36 hours after the collapse was in serious but stable condition at a children's hospital in Moscow.
Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said Wednesday that the boy, who was flown about 870 miles in a plane dispatched by the ministry suffered superficial head wounds but no apparent brain damage.
The prospects of finding more survivors appeared dim as the rescue effort continued from Monday's pre-dawn accident, which came after an explosion that officials say was likely caused by a gas leak.
A Section on 01/03/2019