In the World

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Belgian media say that hundreds of people were evacuated after a train carrying chemicals derailed and caught fire in northern Belgium.

Amateur video showed the train ablaze in the early hours of Saturday; in daylight, the train cars could be seen forming a zig-zag over the track.

Media, citing a statement from the East Flanders government, said that authorities were investigating if a death of someone in the area of the derailment was linked to the accident. The statement said 17 people were injured.

The fire was extinguished Saturday evening, reports said. Houses within 500 yards of the train were evacuated - and residents were asked to stay away even after the fire went out. Others farther away were asked to stay at home and close their windows.

- AP

YOLA, Nigeria - Police say at least 39 people have been killed in ethnic violence in a rural town in Nigeria.

The attack happened Friday in Wukari, a town in Nigeria's Taraba state.

A state health official and residents said Saturday that others were also injured in the violence that broke out during a funeral that pitted the Jukun people against the Hausa Fulani. Taraba state police spokesman Joseph Kwaji later said at least 39 people had been killed.

Officials later placed the town on a 24-hour curfew, forcing everyone indoors.

A similar round of violence in February in the town killed more than 20 people. Nigeria, home to more than 160 million people, has more than 250 ethnicities. Violence can start over politics, business, grazing rights, religion, and other issues.

- AP

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - President Obama says the idea that an American filmmaker detained by Venezuela's government is a spy is, in his words, "ridiculous."

Timothy Tracy, 35, of West Hollywood, Calif., was formally charged last week with crimes including conspiracy, association for criminal purposes, and use of a false document.

Obama says Tracy's case will be handled like every other in which a U.S. citizen gets into a "legal tangle" while abroad.

The president also said the United States hasn't tried "in any way" to interfere with Venezuela's recent election of Nicolas Maduro as president. Maduro is the handpicked successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles narrowly lost to Maduro and says the election was stolen.

Obama commented in an interview with the Spanish-language network Telemundo to air Sunday.

- AP