Nation briefs 7A

Rescuers seek seven caught in Utah avalanche

PROVO, Utah -- Rescue workers were searching for up to seven snowboarders believed to have been caught in an avalanche Friday, authorities said. The avalanche occurred Friday afternoon in the Aspen Grove area of Provo Canyon, about 25 miles northeast of Provo and north of Sundance ski resort. Utah County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Dennis Harris said a snowshoer who witnessed the avalanche reported that several people did not appear to come out of it. Rescue crews from Utah and Wasatch counties as well as workers from Sundance were searching for the snowboarders or trying to confirm their whereabouts, Harris said.

U.S. to question those who skipped Paris-LA flights

WASHINGTON -- U.S. investigators want to speak with a small number of people in Paris who failed to show up for boarding flights to Los Angeles that fell under close scrutiny in a possible terrorist plot, including one pilot-trainee, a U.S. official said Friday. The official said investigators hope to resolve concerns that some passengers aboard those flights might have intended to use them to launch terror attacks against the United States.

Car rams house; man and two children killed

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- A man drove his car into his in-laws' house in a fiery Christmas Day crash, killing himself and his two children minutes before he was supposed to turn them over to his estranged wife, according to media reports. Shahab Behzadpour, his 3-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter died in the crash. Behzadpour, 46, and his wife, Hope Custodio, were undergoing a bitter divorce. Behzadpour's car hit a pillar at the front of Custodio's parents' house and exploded into a fireball. Custodio's brother Alex said that he believed his brother-in-law intentionally rammed the house, and that Behzadpour had threatened to harm himself and the children in the past.

-- From wire reports