BEAUMONT, Texas – Two people died and more than 80 people were hurt Thursday when at least 140 vehicles collided in southeast Texas in a pileup that left trucks twisted on top of one another and authorities rushing to pull survivors from the wreckage.
The collision occurred in extremely foggy conditions at about 8:45 a.m. Thanksgiving Day on Interstate 10 southwest of Beaumont, a Gulf Coast city about 80 miles east of Houston.
A man and a woman were killed in a Chevy Suburban SUV crushed by a truck rig, the Texas Department of Public Safety told KFDM-TV.
According to DPS, a crash on the eastbound side of the highway led to other accidents in a dangerous chain reaction. There were multiple crashes on the other side of the highway as well.
World
Scandal-plagued BBC hires new boss
The BBC chose a former head of its news division Thursday to lead the broadcaster through a “long, hard look” at itself as it struggles to recover from a scandal stemming from its coverage of child sex abuse.
Tony Hall, currently chief executive of the Royal Opera House, will start his new job as BBC’s new director-general in March, Chris Patten, chairman of the governing BBC Trust, said.
The BBC has been shaken by controversy over a decision not to run a report that one of its former stars, Jimmy Savile, was a serial sexual abuser of young women, and by its recent broadcast of a program that wrongly linked a prominent politician to child sex abuse.
As a result of the failings, George Entwistle resigned as director Nov. 10 after just 54 days on the job.
Leaders meet amid Congo’s fighting
Congolese soldiers and rebel fighters battled for hours over the eastern town of Sake on Thursday, forcing thousands of people to flee as the militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure.
Meanwhile, the leader of the rebel group known as M23 headed to neighboring Uganda where emergency talks were held this week between the presidents of Congo and its neighbors Uganda and Rwanda.
Britain, France differ widely on EU future
The leaders of Britain and France staked out starkly different visions of the European Union’s future Thursday, leaving a summit on the EU budget teetering on the brink of failure after the first day.
“I have my doubts that we will come to an agreement,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a chaotic day of bilateral negotiations and a belated, short joint session of the 27 leaders in Brussels.
While British Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to keep payments into EU coffers as low as possible, French President Francois Hollande called for sustained subsidies for farming and development programs for poorer nations.
Mexican president wants to drop ‘US’
Mexico’s president is making one last attempt to get the “United States” out of Mexico – at least as far as the country’s name is concerned.
The name “United Mexican States,” or “Estados Unidos Mexicanos,” was adopted in 1824 after independence from Spain in imitation of Mexico’s democratic northern neighbor, but it is rarely used except on official documents, money and other government material.
Still, President Felipe Calderon called a news conference Thursday to announce that he wants to make the name simply “Mexico.” His country doesn’t need to copy anyone, he said.
Calderon first proposed the name change as a congressman in 2003, but the bill did not make it to a vote.
