Tornado Ravages Sister Cities on Rio Grande

HOUSTON, April 25 — A fierce tornado southwest of San Antonio killed at least 10 people on both sides of the Mexican border Tuesday night, injured many others and destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes.
Fear remained Wednesday that the death toll could rise, as more than 500 searchers scoured the rubble in Eagle Pass, a financially struggling city of 22,400, which was pounded along with Piedras Negras, its sister city across the Rio Grande.
At least seven people died in Eagle Pass. Four of them appeared to have been members of one family living in a mobile home struck by the twister, said the Maverick County judge, Jose A. Aranda Jr. The three other dead were killed nearby, Mr. Aranda said.
Mayor Chad Foster said 76 people had been hospitalized, with 32 later discharged. Four of the injured were said to be in critical condition. About 40 homes were destroyed, Mayor Foster said, and 350 people were being put up in shelters.
In Piedras Negras, a city of 200,000, 3 people were killed and 26 injured, 6 of them critically, said Mayor Jesús Mario Flores. Piedras Negras was the scene of a flood three years ago that killed more than 30 people. But the tornado Tuesday night was even more severe in terms of material damage, and Mr. Flores said the Villa de Fuente section had taken the brunt of it. “There are about 300 houses that are completely destroyed” there, the mayor said. “They were wooden houses, and all the roofs are gone.” Two hundred homes suffered lesser damage in another part of the city, he said.
The tornado struck about 6:30 p.m., after heavy hail, and cut a swath of destruction nearly five miles wide.

Law enforcement officers take up positions on Clay Street on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va.

Virginia Tech Shooting Kills at Least 31

At least 31 people were killed today on the campus of Virginia Tech in what appears to be the deadliest shooting rampage in American history, according to federal law-enforcement officials. Many of the victims were students shot in a dorm and a classroom building.
“Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions,” said the university’s president, Charles Steger.
Witnesses described scenes of mass chaos and unimaginable horror as some students were lined up against a wall and shot. Others jumped out of windows to escape, or crouched on floors to take cover.
There were two shootings on the campus in Blacksburg, Va., and in both instances there were fatalities with “multiple shooting victims,” Mr. Steger said.
The attacks started early in the morning, with a call to police at 7:15 a.m., as students were getting ready for classes or were on their way there. As the rampage unfolded over nearly three hours, details emerged from witnesses describing a gunman going room to room in a residence hall, and of gunfire later at a building where classes were held.
When it was over, sidewalks were stained with blood. Among those dead was the gunman.

Eye on Iran, Rivals Pursuing Nuclear Power

Two years ago, the leaders of Saudi Arabia told international atomic regulators that they could foresee no need for the kingdom to develop nuclear power. Today, they are scrambling to hire atomic contractors, buy nuclear hardware and build support for a regional system of reactors.