WORLD BRIEFS

BELGIUM: Train collision kills 18

A rush-hour commuter train sped through a red signal and slammed into an oncoming train as it left a suburban Brussels station, killing at least 18 people and disrupting rail traffic in northern Europe. Officials said 80 people were injured, 20 of them seriously in Monday's crash. The trains, carrying a total of about 300 passengers, collided in light snow just outside the station at Buizingen, about 9 miles from Brussels. Eurostar canceled its service from London to Brussels. The high-speed Thalys train suspended dozens of trains from Paris to the Netherlands and Germany for two days.

HAITI: School collapse kills 3 kids

Three children were killed Monday when a school collapsed in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien. The collapse occurred after a late-night tremor and heavy rains. Nobody is quite sure that hundreds of houses that survived the earthquake can withstand another quake. At least 54 aftershocks have shuddered through Port-au-Prince since a Jan. 12 quake killed more than 200,000 people.

THE EMIRATES: Hamas slaying laid to hit squad

Dubai's police chief said Monday an 11-member hit squad carrying European passports and disguised in wigs, fake beards and tennis clothes was behind the mysterious killing of a Hamas commander in his hotel room last month. Authorities released photos of the 11. Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim did not directly implicate Israel, as the Islamic militant group has. But the details he released at a news conference in the Gulf emirate are the most comprehensive accusations by Dubai authorities since the body of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found Jan. 20 in his luxury hotel room near Dubai's international airport. Tamim said it was possible that "leaders of certain countries gave orders to their intelligence agents to kill" al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing. But he did not name any countries. Hamas has accused Israel and vowed revenge.