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This article was published 08/06/2010 (4749 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Egypt drops blockade

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — After three years of co-operating in the Israeli blockade of Gaza, Egypt said Monday it will leave its border with the Palestinian territory open indefinitely for humanitarian aid and restricted travel.

With international pressure building to ease the blockade, an Egyptian security official said sealing off Hamas-ruled Gaza has only bred more militancy.

The decision to ease the restrictions erected by Israel to punish Hamas comes a week after a deadly Israeli raid on a flotilla bound for Gaza. The move restores a link to the outside world for some of Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians.

In more tension off Gaza’s shores, Israeli forces killed four men wearing wet suits off the coast Monday. The men were members of the militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

Lightning kills girlfriend

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A Tennessee man says he planned to propose to his girlfriend along a North Carolina hiking trail when she was struck and killed by lightning.

Thirty-year-old Richard Butler of Knoxville told the Asheville Citizen Times that he took Bethany Lott to Max Patch Bald, near Asheville. He says he wanted his 25-year-old girlfriend to think the two were on a hike but that he had a ring in his pocket and was planning to ask her to marry him.

Heavy rain let up as the two walked toward the bald, but more bad weather returned. Butler says there were three lightning strikes. The last one hit the couple.

Butler suffered third-degree burns.

Shooter targeted women

HIALEAH, Fla. — A gunman shot and killed his wife outside a South Florida restaurant where she worked, then targeted women inside and killed three others before committing suicide, police said Monday.

Police said the shooter bypassed at least two men when he fired at the women inside. Three women were hospitalized in critical condition, Hialeah police Detective Eddie Rodriguez said.

Gas line explosion deadly

CLEBURNE, Texas — A large natural gas line in north Texas erupted Monday after utility workers accidentally hit the line, sending a massive fireball into the air and killing one worker, officials said.

Authorities searched for the worker by helicopter Monday afternoon following the massive explosion near Cleburne, about 80 kilometres southwest of Dallas. The worker’s body was found Monday night some distance from the blast site.

— From the news services