Three die in crush at band appearance
Thousands of fans surged through security barriers Saturday at an autograph session for a wildly popular Mexican band, leaving three people crushed to death and 38 injured, mostly teenagers.
The incident came only weeks after police in New Jersey and Texas also struggled to contain unexpectedly large turnouts of fans for the RBD band, which stars in the television show “Rebelde.”
The show has made RBD one of the most popular groups in Latin America and among Spanish-speaking communities in the United States.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 fans gathered outside a shopping center in Sao Paulo for an autograph session by the group, said Adriano Moneta, a state spokesman.
The crowd surged, and two teen girls, ages 15 and 16, and a 47-year-old woman died, Moneta said.
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Last MASH unit going to Pakistan
The U.S. military is shutting down its last MASH, the mobile hospital made famous by the long-running TV show about martini-sipping, wisecracking Army doctors.
This month, the Army will donate the last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital to Pakistan, where it has been caring for survivors of last year’s massive earthquake, Rear Adm. Michael LeFever said Saturday at an air base outside the capital Islamabad.
The 84-bed, $4.5-million MASH unit includes a surgical suite with two operating tables, two intensive care units, a pharmacy, laboratory, radiology units and a power generation system, the military said.
The Army is replacing MASH units with smaller casualty surgical hospitals that sit closer to battlegrounds and the wounded, said LeFever.
Kandahar, Afghanistan
Fighting flares in Afghanistan
Militants attacked government offices and a police convoy Saturday, continuing a series of assaults that has left at least 41 people dead in the region over two days, government officials said.
About 250 Afghan forces fought more than 200 rebels in the area’s fiercest fighting in months. At least 19 people were killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan on Saturday.
Afghan officials said U.S. forces joined the battle Friday and Saturday, but a U.S. military spokesman said he could only confirm involvement in the first day of fighting.
The bloodshed underscored the challenge facing thousands of British and Canadian troops in coming months as they relieve U.S. forces in southern Afghanistan, a hotbed of insurgency and the drug trade.