A school bus packed with high school students smashed through a guardrail on an overpass Monday and plunged 30 feet, killing three teenage girls and injuring at least 30 other people, some critically, authorities said. A car driven by another high school student apparently came close to or struck the bus, causing it to plow through the concrete rail on the elevated section of Interstate 565 in Huntsville and crash onto the street below, said Police Chief Rex Reynolds. Two girls died at the scene and a third died at a hospital.
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who is contemplating a run for the presidency, on Monday called for a “gradual and substantial” reduction of U.S. forces from Iraq that would begin in four to six months. Speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Obama envisioned a flexible timetable for withdrawal linked to conditions on the ground in Iraq and based on the advice of U.S. commanders. He also called for intensified efforts to train Iraqi security forces, U.S. aid packages tied to Iraqi progress in reducing sectarian violence and new diplomacy with Syria and Iran. “I believe that it remains possible to salvage an acceptable outcome to this long and misguided war,” he said. “But it will not be easy. For the fact is that there are no good options left in this war.”
From Herald news services
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