WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden has left Washington for a five-day tour of the Middle East, including Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.
In Jerusalem on Tuesday, Biden will have meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni, chair of the Kadima Party.
Biden’s visit Wednesday to the Palestinian territories includes meetings in Ramallah with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas.
On Thursday, Biden will be meeting in Amman with Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Bones of missing girl found
The bones of a 14-year-old Southern California girl who vanished Feb. 25, 2009, while walking to school were discovered in a rugged, remote area, authorities said Sunday, less than a week after a registered sex offender was charged with murdering another teenage girl who lived nearby. Searchers found Amber Dubois’ skeletal remains early Saturday on the Pala Indian Reservation. The Escondido police chief said a “lead” brought investigators to the reservation, but he did not elaborate.
Feds shut down bus company after fatal crash in Arizona
Federal officials said Sunday that they have shut down the Los Angeles bus company involved in a crash Friday — the bus rear-ended a pickup truck in Arizona and rolled down an embankment, killing six people — as records revealed that the company had skirted government regulation, amassed a poor safety record and was operating off the books. Tierra Santa Inc. President Cayetano Martinez signed a consent decree Friday acknowledging that his company never had federal authorization required to transport passengers over state lines, according to court documents released Sunday. That regulation is designed to ensure that bus companies adequately maintain vehicles and test drivers for drug and alcohol use, among other requirements.
Gas prices up 9.58 cents
The average price of regular gasoline in the United States is up 9.58 cents over a two-week period to $2.73. That’s according to the national Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday in Camarillo. Cheyenne, Wyo., had the lowest average price among cities surveyed at $2.47 a gallon for regular. Honolulu was the highest at $3.33.
Pennsylvania: Man found dead in frat house
A former student who had been celebrating a friend’s birthday by drinking and socializing was found dead Sunday in a Carnegie Mellon University fraternity house, Pittsburgh police said. The 22-year-old man “likely drank too much” while celebrating Saturday night, police said. The man was found Sunday afternoon by one of the friend’s roommates at the Pi Kappa Alpha house, police said. The cause of his death hadn’t been determined.
Texas: Gunman killed after leaving Walmart
A man walked into a Walmart in Commerce carrying at least two guns before engaging in a shootout with police outside the store, authorities said. The man was killed and an off-duty officer in the store who had tried to stop him was injured. The incident began when police responded to a call of shots being fired from a car in nearby Greenville, a city spokeswoman said. The man exchanged gunfire with police, then drove to Walmart and entered the store “carrying a long gun and pistol,” the spokeswoman said. The off-duty police officer saw the man and leave and tried to stop him in front of the store, where the officer and Commerce police exchanged gunfire with the man.
Nigeria: More than 200 dead in religious violence
Rioters armed with machetes slaughtered more than 200 people overnight Sunday as religious violence flared anew between Christians and Muslims in the city of Jos, witnesses said. Hundreds of people fled their homes, fearing reprisal attacks. Jos lies in Nigeria’s “middle belt,” where dozens of ethnic groups mingle in a band of fertile and hotly contested land separating the Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south.
Switzerland: Voters reject lawyers for abused animals
Swiss voters apparently don’t think abused animals need to have their own lawyers. The measure’s defeat Sunday, 70 percent to 30 percent, disappointed animal rights advocates, who say Switzerland’s elaborate animal welfare laws aren’t being enforced. Opponents of the proposal, including key farmers’ groups and the government, had argued that existing laws are sufficient and appointing special lawyers to act on behalf of animals would be unnecessarily expensive for taxpayers.
Turkey: Quake kills at least 11
A government official said today that at least 11 people from the small village of Okcular have died in a strong earthquake in eastern Turkey. The quake’s preliminary magnitude was 6.0.
From Herald news services
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