THAILAND

Round-the-world bikers killed in Thailand accident

A British couple’s round-the-world cycling odyssey ended in tragedy when both of them were killed in a road accident in Thailand.

Peter Root and Mary Thompson, who had been chronicling their journey on the website Two on Four Wheels, died Wednesday when they were hit by a pickup truck in a province east of Bangkok, Thai police said Monday.

The couple, both 34 and from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, left Britain in July 2011 and had cycled through Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and China.

Thai police said Monday that the pickup truck driver was seriously injured in the crash.

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The driver told police his truck hit the cyclists as he was reaching to pick up a cap from the vehicle’s floor.

The driver has been released on bail and faces charges of causing death by dangerous driving, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail.

DENVER

Gun control bills approved in Colorado House voting

Limits on the size of ammunition magazines and universal background checks for all gun purchases passed the Colorado House on Monday.

The bills were among four that the Democratic-controlled House passed amid strong resistance from Republicans.

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The proposed ammunition restrictions limit magazines to 15 rounds for firearms and eight for shotguns. Three Democrats joined all Republicans voting no on the bill, but the proposal passed 34-31.

“Enough is enough. I’m sick and tired of bloodshed,” said Democratic Rep. Rhonda Fields, a sponsor of the bill and representative of the district where the shootings at an Aurora theater happened last summer. Fields’ son was also fatally shot in 2005.

Republicans argued that the proposals restrict Second Amendment rights and won’t prevent mass shootings like the ones in Aurora and a Connecticut elementary school.

CHICAGO

Hip replacements more apt to fail in women than men

A new study shows that hip replacements are more likely to fail in women than in men.

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Researchers found that a small number of the hip implants failed overall, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within three years.

The study was published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. It was funded by the Food and Drug Administration.

Some experts say more research is needed to determine which models of hip implants perform best in women.

Women make up the majority of the more than 400,000 Americans who have full or partial hip replacements each year.

ATLANTA

Leak in fuel oil line blamed for fire aboard cruise ship

A leak in a fuel oil return line caused the engine-room fire that disabled a Carnival cruise ship at sea, leaving 4,200 people without power or working toilets for five days, a Coast Guard official said Monday.
Cmdr. Teresa Hatfield addressed the finding in a conference call with reporters and estimated that the investigation of the disabled ship, the Carnival Triumph, would take six months.

In an email after Monday’s conference call, Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Diaz described the oil return line that leaked as stretching from the ship’s No. 6 engine to the fuel tank.


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