Midday Roundup: Lack of deaths in train crash 'an absolute miracle'

Absolute miracle. A California commuter train with more than 200 people on board derailed last night after strong storms whipped through the area, leaving a downed tree across the tracks. Nine passengers suffered injuries, none thought to be life-threatening, when the Altamont Corridor Express slid off the tracks. At least one car landed in Alameda Creek. Officials called the lack of deaths “an absolute miracle.” The train was traveling from San Jose to Stockton when the accident happened at about 7:30 p.m. Shocked passengers helped first responders pull the injured from the mangled cars. “It was like the movies,” said Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony King. “It reminded me of a ride at Universal Studios.”

Stymieing smugglers. Turkey and the European Union have reached a tentative agreement that could help stop the dangerous journeys Syrians and other Middle Eastern migrants are taking to reach European shores. Turkey has agreed to take back any migrants who illegally travel from its coast, across the Aegean Sea to Greece. European countries must take in migrants who have collected in camps across Turkey in a one-for-one exchange. Although the arrangement could put an end to the dangerous sea journeys that have claimed so many lives and give migrants an eventual home in Europe, rights groups say it violates guarantees that refugees will have an asylum hearing before being deported. Analysts say for the agreement to work, European countries must come to terms with their own disagreements about resettling refugees.

Still a mystery. Two years ago today, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and dropped into a bottomless pit of conspiracy theories and speculation. Investigators still don’t know what happened to the passenger plane, which presumably crashed with 239 people on board. They believe the captain flew the plane thousands of miles off its intended course, where it eventually crashed somewhere off the coast of Australia. Only one tiny piece of wreckage has been positively identified as belonging to the plane, although investigators are inspecting two new scraps found in the last few weeks. Search teams have combed about 46,300 square miles of ocean floor for the missing aircraft—at a cost of about $124.2 million.

Fallen star. Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova announced during a news conference yesterday that she tested positive in January for a performance-enhancing drug banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Athletes commonly use meldonium, which is manufactured in Latvia and not approved for use in the West, because it helps with endurance and recovery from strenuous physical activity. It was not considered a banned substance until Jan. 1. Sharapova claimed she was not aware of the drug’s newly unapproved status. She has been taking it since 2006. Sharapova has been the highest earning female athlete in the world for the last 11 years, mostly thanks to endorsements. After yesterday’s announcement, Nike said it was suspending its relationship with the star.

No clear motive. Pastor Tim Remington of the Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is now listed in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery. Remington suffered multiple gunshots in the back as he walked across the parking lot of his church Sunday after services. Suspect Kyle Andrew Odom, a 30-year-old former Marine, remains at large. The police aren’t speculating yet on a motive, although members of Remington’s church have suggested it might be connected to his work among the homeless and drug addicts. Security footage taken at the church showed Odom sitting through the service and then waiting for Remington in the parking lot. As the pastor began to unlock his car door, Odom allegedly shot him in the back. According to Odom’s Facebook page, he left the Marines in 2010 and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Idaho in 2014 with a degree in biochemistry. He volunteered with Meals on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity. His family issued a statement saying they were “devastated” by Sunday’s events.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.