Briefly

INDIA

Bus-truck collision claims 20 lives

A bus collided head-on with a truck in southern India early on Thursday, killing 20 people and injuring 28 others, police said. The accident occurred near Avanashi, a town in Tamil Nadu state, the Press Trust of India news agency said. The state-run bus was on its way to Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala state, from Bangalore in Karnataka state. One of the tires of the bus burst, then the driver lost control and the vehicle rammed into a truck coming from the opposite direction. Both the vehicles were said to be at high speed.

UNITED STATES

Grenell named as nation's spy chief

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday named Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany, as acting director of national intelligence, putting a staunch ally in charge of the nation's 17 spy agencies. The move drew immediate criticism from Democrats who said the job should be held by someone with deep intelligence experience. Grenell replaces Joseph Maguire, who has been acting national intelligence director since August. It was unclear if Maguire would return to the National Counterterrorism Center. Trump left open the possibility that he could get another job in the administration.

ISRAEL

Gantz vows to form coalition government

Israel's opposition leader Benny Gantz vowed on Wednesday that he will form a coalition government without longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, two weeks before Israel's unprecedented third election within a year. The former Israeli military chief said his possible coalition partners would be required to sign a document in which they pledge to oppose any immunity law that Netanyahu's coalition is trying to pass in order to grant Netanyahu immunity from standing trial over a series of corruption charges.

FRANCE

Oldest nuclear plant to be closed in June

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday that the Fessenheim nuclear reactor, on the border with Germany, will be shut down at the end of June, with one of its reactors to be closed this weekend. A statement on Wednesday called the decision "the first phase" of France's energy strategy set out in 2018 by President Emmanuel Macron.