Texas

Bush to meet with Saudi prince today

Sky-high oil prices and the prickly issues of terrorism and bringing democracy to the Middle East could provide some tense moments between old friends when Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah visits President Bush today at his Crawford ranch.

The two men also were expected to discuss Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip, Syria’s role in Lebanon and a U.S.-Saudi economic agreement that would speed the kingdom’s entry into the World Trade Organization.

Bush has promised to press Abdullah during today’s meeting to do more to help ease global oil prices, which have soared well beyond $50 a barrel. But he has acknowledged there may be little the Saudis can do to quickly bring down prices.

Michigan

Parts of Midwest get up to foot of snow

More than a month after the start of spring, a rare snowstorm dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the Midwest and Appalachians Sunday, aggravating residents who thought they had packed away their scarves and shovels for good.

The two-day storm brought temperatures 25 degrees below the normal of around 60 as snow fell across parts of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

By Sunday evening, a foot of snow had fallen in eastern Michigan, and 10 to 13 inches were reported in Detroit’s northern suburbs, said meteorologist Greg Smith of the National Weather Service. In contrast, the snow in downtown Detroit was barely sticking to the ground.

In Ohio, the southern and eastern suburbs of Cleveland received 14 inches of snow, the Weather Service said.

In western North Carolina, about 5 inches had fallen on Grandfather Mountain, where the overnight low was 16 degrees and wind gusts reached 139 mph, meteorologists said.

The storm was expected to taper off late Sunday, and temperatures in the region were expected to return to a more spring-like 50 degrees today. Spring began March 20.

Florida

Skydiver dies after legs severed in jump

A skydiving cinematographer was killed after his legs were severed in a midair collision with the airplane he had jumped from, authorities said.

Albert “Gus” Wing III had already deployed his parachute Saturday when he struck the left wing of the DHC-6 Twin Otter propeller plane at about 600 feet, a witness on the ground told police.

Both of Wing’s legs were severed at the knees, but he managed to maneuver his parachute and land near the DeLand Airport, about 40 miles north of Orlando, DeLand Police Cmdr. Randel Henderson said.

He was airlifted to a hospital, where he later died.

Fourteen other skydivers were in the air at the time of the accident. The plane landed safely.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

Authorities said they were not certain whether Wing had been filming at the time of the accident and no camera was found.