France: At least 28 killed in German bus accident

A sleek, double-decker German tour bus crashed through a guardrail early Saturday on a rain-swept French highway, plunged down an embankment and flipped onto its roof, killing at least 28 of the 74 people on board.

Ambulances and helicopters rushed the injured to hospitals.

French President Jacques Chirac issued a statement offering condolences to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Nearly everyone on board was believed to be German, with some passengers having won the trip as a contest prize.

The accident happened north of the city of Lyon in Dardilly.

Witnesses and officials said the bus, pictured above, hit a guardrail, barreled down a grassy embankment and hit an electrical pole before flipping onto its roof. One witness told RTL radio he believed the bus was going too fast at the time.

Slovakia: Prime minister says voters want to join EU

Slovaks have voted to join the European Union, putting the country one step closer to joining the expanding bloc, the prime minister said Saturday.

Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said “a large majority” had said yes to joining the EU in the two-day plebiscite that started Friday. He also said turnout had exceeded the 50 percent minimum required for the balloting to be declared valid.

Official results were expected today.

Slovakia’s leadership had appealed to the formerly communist country of 5.4 million people to join the organization.

Kenya: U.S. to help country with airport security

U.S. and British military forces will help their Kenyan counterparts set up round-the-clock surveillance of the country’s airports in response to continuing fears that terrorists are planning to attack commercial airplanes here, officials from the three nations said Saturday.

Marine Maj. Gen. John Sattler, who the leads the Combined Joint Task Force for the Horn of Africa, based at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, is scheduled to discuss airport and embassy security with leaders of Kenya’s police and antiterrorism unit on Tuesday, said Peter Claussen, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy.

The meeting highlights the role that U.S. forces are playing in Kenya, a country hit hard by two major terrorist attacks in five years.

Officials said Saturday that U.S. and British forces would help a new 450-member Kenyan anti-terrorist unit establish a 24-hour watch on flight approach paths at Kenyan airports and Nairobi National Park.

Congo: U.N. personnel sought as cease-fire holds

The United Nations appealed to church leaders in northeastern Congo on Saturday to help find two missing agency military observers after a cease-fire aimed at ending several days of tribal fighting in the area took hold.

There have been reports that the unarmed observers — one Jordanian, the other Nigerian — were killed in the fighting between the rival Lendu and Hema tribes, said Col. Daniel Vollot, commander of the U.N. forces in the region.

The clashes, which have killed at least 100 people, began last week after Uganda withdrew 6,000 troops from Congo’s resource-rich Ituri region and its capital, Bunia. The cease-fire was signed Friday.