FIVEDIEIN BUS COLLISION IN RUSSIA; 20 INJURED

OW» Russian emergency MOS C officials say that at least five people have died in a bus collision in southwestern Russia.

The Emergencies Ministry said about 20 others were injured in Tuesday’s crash in the Voronezh region near Novaya Usman, about 280 miles south of Moscow. Russian news reports cited police saying that the collision occurred when one bus stopped because of a technical problem and another one hit it from behind.

World court opens preliminary probe into Rohingya expulsions.

T HE HAGUE, NETH-

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced Tuesday that she has launched a preliminary investigation into deportations of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar into Bangladesh.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a written statement and video message that she has begun a probe formally known as a preliminary examination to establish if there is enough evidence to merit a fullblown investigation. Bensouda said she will look at reports of “a number of alleged coercive acts having resulted in the forced displacement of the Rohingya people, including deprivation of fundamental rights, killing, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, destruction and looting.”

Lawsuit filed against gas company after Massachusetts blasts.

BOSTON» Lawyers filed a classaction lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of people who were forced out of their homes for days when dozens of natural gas explosions and fires ripped through three Massachusetts towns.

The lawsuit is the first of what’s likely to be several filed against Columbia Gas and its parent company over Thursday’s explosions, which killed one person and injured more than two dozen in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.

It accuses the utility companies of negligence and seeks compensation for residents who had to evacuate but didn’t suffer injuries or damage to their homes.

Man shot, wounded by officers; investigators reviewing video.

MEMPHIS, TENN .

» Police in Tennessee began reviewing body camera and squad car video Tuesday as they investigated the shooting of a man by an officer after a traffic stop in south Memphis.

Martavious Banks, 25, was in critical condition at a hospital after he was shot Monday in a confrontation with officers, said Lt. Karen Rudolph, a spokeswoman for the Memphis Police Department.

Rudolph said Banks, who is black, was stopped in his car by officers, and he told them he did not have an identification or insurance. Banks then reached down, and an officer advised that he saw a gun inside the vehicle, Rudolph said.

Rudolph said Banks then drove away.

Feds: Man stole hurricane victims’ IDs as part of $8M scam.

BALTIMORE» A Maryland man is accused of stealing hurricane victims’ identities as part of what the Secret Service describes as an $8 million effort to scam a Federal Emergency Management Agency program. Tare Stanley Okirika, 30, is accused of registering unique prepaid debit cards under stolen identities.

A Secret Service affidavit says Okirika used stolen Social Security and personal identifying information from hurricane victims in Georgia, Florida and Texas to file fraudulent disaster relief claims. It says Okirika is one of several coconspirators, and he received more than $650,000 over the past year. Investigators claim about $8 million in FEMA immediate and individual assistance was paid to the cards held by “perpetrators of fraud.” — Denver Post wire services