TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras

Government suspends search for trapped miners

The government of Honduras says it is suspending the search for eight miners trapped for six days in a collapsed gold mine in the south of the country.

Geologist Anibal Godoy, the head of the search, told reporters Monday that “the chance that the miners are alive is close to nothing.”

Godoy said the search was being suspended in order to not risk any more lives in the hunt for the miners.

ATHENS, Greece

Authorities spot nonnative crocodile in man-made lake

Greece has its own lake monster – and it’s no Nessie.

The fire brigade and authorities on the resort island of Crete say a 6-foot crocodile was spotted last week in a man-made lake near the seaside town of Rethymno.

Crocodiles are not native to Greece.

Regional official Vangelis Mamangakis said Monday it was unclear how long it has been there.

GUATEMALA CITY

Three people die after magnitude-6.9 earthquake

A magnitude-6.9 earthquake on the Pacific Coast jolted a wide area of southern Mexico and Central America Monday, killing at least three people while damaging homes, hospitals and churches.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at 7:23 a.m. EDT 1 mile north-northeast of Puerto Madero, near the Guatemala border.

The national spokesman for local fire departments, Raul Hernandez, said at least two people died in their homes from collapsed walls in the Guatemalan town of Pati, in the border province of San Marcos, and another woman in Quetzaltenango died from a heart attack.

Germany

Government plans to charge foreign drivers road-use toll

Germany’s transportation minister on Monday unveiled plans to charge foreign drivers a road-use toll to close what he called a “fairness gap” that lets cars registered in other countries get a free ride on some of the world’s best highways and byways. The proposal by Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt would generate about $3.4 billion every four years by charging about $14 for a 10-day road-use pass and an average of about $123 for a yearlong permit, depending on the foreign vehicle’s emissions and engine size, Deutsche Welle reported from the Berlin news conference.

The system would be “revenue neutral” for German-registered cars, Dobrindt said, as the new toll proposed to take effect Jan. 1, 2016, would provide a rebate to car owners on the licensing taxes they already pay.

UNITED NATIONS

Organization to recognize all staffers’ gay marriages

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced that the United Nations is recognizing the gay marriages of all its staffers. Previously, the United Nations only recognized the unions of staffers who came from countries where gay marriage is legal, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday. Haq adds that “this is a step forward that many of the staffers at the United Nations had been seeking for some time.”

—From news service reports

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