Blast injures 50 at wedding for nephew of Fatah leader

Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, the uncle of the groom, did not attend the wedding, according to witnesses. The cause of the explosion, which occurred at 11:10 p.m. in Khan Younis, was not known. Dahlan is the Palestinian Authority's national security adviser.

Details of Tuesday's explosion were not immediately clear. Dahlan's associates in recent years have been targeted by Hamas as tensions between the militant group and rival Fatah -- the Palestine Liberation Organization's largest faction -- escalated.

In January 2007, Hamas gunmen tried to kill Dahlan's bodyguard. Dahlan was not present at the time of the attack. In that month alone, Fatah and Hamas militants abducted more than 50 members of their rival groups -- most of them in the West Bank town of Nablus -- according to Palestinian security sources.

Dahlan is particularly disliked by Hamas because during his leadership of the Preventive Security Forces in the 1990s, Hamas members were apprehended and tortured. After a series of suicide bombings in Israel in 1996, Dahlan took a major part in the Palestinian Authority's effort to crack down on Hamas.

Solar eclipse excitement sweeps Asia

"This eclipse has the potential to be observed by more people than any eclipse in all of history," said MIT astronomer Richard Binzel, who will be in Shanghai leading an expedition of observers and a group of eclipse chasers.
Skywatchers are gathering from parking lots in western India to music festivals on remote Japanese islands to witness what NASA describes as an "exceptionally long" total solar eclipse that will cross half the planet on Wednesday.
"Essentially, every inhabitant of all of India and China will be able to see at least part of the sun covered throughout the day," he said. The path of the total eclipse will stretch across the heart of Asia -- from India's Bay of Cambay, over the Himalayas and across China and the southern islands of Japan.

Total eclipses happen about once a year or a little less often somewhere on the Earth's surface and are visible in a narrow band, Benzil said.

"This band starts at sunrise in India and ends at sunset over the Pacific, just east of Hawaii about four hours later. The shadow path of the moon is sweeping across the surface of the Earth at about 3,000 kilometers per hour," he said. "The partial eclipse is also visible throughout Thailand and Vietnam, as far south at the top tip of Australia and as far north as Siberia."

44 hurt after rail cars collide in San Francisco

The cars are part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, commonly called Muni.

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Initial reports indicated a one-car train traveling at low speed collided with a stopped one-car train, Muni spokesman Judson True said in a written statement. The accident occurred on the outbound platform of West Portal Station, he said.

As of 2:57 p.m. (5:57 p.m. ET), all Muni Metro light rail service that travels through West Portal Station in either direction was halted, he said
As of 2:57 p.m. (5:57 p.m. ET), all Muni Metro light rail service that travels through West Portal Station in either direction was halted.
Two light rail transit cars collided Saturday in San Francisco, causing multiple injuries, but none appeared life-threatening, a rail system spokesman said.

"Apparently the conductor for one of the trains miscalculated a turn. It's still under investigation right now," a police officer told CNN. He would not provide his name.

At least 44 people were injured, a fire official said.

None of the injuries was extremely serious, said Leslie Dubbin, administrator for operations at San Francisco General Hospital.

"There were no fatalities and everybody looks good."

Suspect arrested after six slayings in two states

Some of the five victims are related, and the people were killed either Friday night or early Saturday, said Kristin Helm of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities have arrested a 30-year-old Tennessee man in connection with the killing of six people -- five in Tennessee and one in neighboring Alabama.

Jacob Shaffer of Fayetteville was arrested Saturday after three people were found dead at a house in the town, 90 miles south of Nashville. Two other victims were found in another residence on the same street, South Lincoln Road, officials said.

About 30 miles away in Huntsville, Alabama, a sixth person was found dead at a business, authorities said.

Shaffer was in one of the Fayetteville residences when Lincoln County sheriff's deputies arrived.

Among the victims were two juveniles, authorities said. Investigators have not released the names of any of the victims and are working to first notify family members.

Without naming Shaffer, Allen said Tennessee authorities told him a man confessed to a slaying in his town and to five other killings in Fayetteville.