World / Nation briefs

Bus overturns east of LA; several dead

YUCAIPA, Calif. - A tour bus overturned Sunday on a rural desert highway in Southern California, killing multiple people, a fire department spokesman said.

San Bernardino County fire spokesman Eric Sherwin said the bus overturned at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday night near the town of Forest Falls, which is about 80 miles east of Los Angeles.

Sherwin said 27 patients have been treated at the scene, but it is not clear how many have been killed. He says the injuries range from minor to life-threatening.

The bus crashed on Highway 38. At least seven ambulances were called to the scene, and numerous calls began flooding the California Highway Patrol and San Bernardino County fire dispatch lines soon after the crash.

Sherwin did not know where the bus was headed or coming from, but Highway 38 leads to Big Bear, a popular recreation area.

Television cameras showed the bus lying on its side on the highway.

Iraq War veteran charged in shooting

STEPHENVILLE, Texas - An Iraq War veteran charged with murdering former Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle and a friend turned a gun on the pair while they were at a Texas shooting range, authorities said Sunday.

Eddie Ray Routh, of Lancaster, was arraigned early Sunday in the deaths of Kyle, who wrote the best-selling book "American Sniper," and Chad Littlefield, 35. They were killed at a shooting range at Rough Creek Lodge, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

Travis Cox, the director of a nonprofit Kyle helped found, told The Associated Press on Sunday that Kyle, 38, and Littlefield had taken Routh to the range to try to help him. Littlefield was Kyle's neighbor and "workout buddy," Cox said.

Capt. Jason Upshaw with the Erath County Sheriff's Office said Routh had not made any comments that might indicate a motive. "I don't know that we'll ever know. He's the only one that knows that," Upshaw said.

Alabama standoff marks its sixth day

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. - As an Alabama standoff and hostage drama marked a sixth day Sunday, more details emerged about the suspect at the center, with neighbors and officials painting a picture of an isolated man estranged from his family.

Authorities say Jim Lee Dykes, 65 - a decorated Vietnam-era veteran known as Jimmy to neighbors - gunned down a school bus driver and abducted a 5-year-old boy from the bus, taking him to an underground bunker on his rural property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., was buried Sunday.

Dykes, described as a loner who railed against the government, lives up a dirt road outside this tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeastern corner of the state. His home is just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away.

The FBI said in a statement Sunday that authorities continue to have an open line of communication with Dykes. The little boy requested Cheez-Its and a red Hot Wheels car, both of which were delivered to the bunker, a separate statement said. Authorities had said they also were delivering medicine and other comfort items, and that Dykes was making the child as comfortable as possible.

- The Associated Press