Nation, world briefs 8/30/16

Traffic deaths rose 7.2 percent in 2015

WASHINGTON -- Government officials said traffic fatalities rose 7.2 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year. That's the largest single-year increase in a half-century. The final tally of 35,092 deaths released Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is 0.5 percent lower than the 7.7 percent estimated increase released in July. NHTSA said the final numbers still are the largest single-year increase since 1966. Officials attribute the rise to more drivers on the road. The National Safety Council has said its preliminary estimates for the first six months of 2016 show the trend increasing, with fatalities up 9 percent.

McConnell: Health law is 'crashing'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted Monday the federal health-care overhaul championed by President Barack Obama likely will undergo changes next year, regardless of who wins the White House and which party has the upper hand in Congress. The Kentucky Republican, who long has advocated repealing the Affordable Care Act, told a business audience in his hometown the law "can't possibly go on like it is." He predicted the overhaul "will be revisited by the next president, whoever that is." McConnell said the 2010 health-care law, which passed without a single Republican vote when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, "is crashing" under the weight of rising premiums and the exit of big-name insurers that will limit consumer choice in many markets.

Truck blast kills 1; Takata woes worsen

DETROIT -- Air bag maker Takata Corp.'s troubles worsened Monday as the company confirmed a truck carrying its inflators and a volatile chemical exploded last week in a Texas border town, killing a woman and injuring four others. The truck, operated by a subcontractor, crashed, caught fire and exploded Aug. 22 in the small town of Quemado, about 140 miles from San Antonio, leveling the woman's house. The company said it sent people to the site and is helping authorities investigate the crash. Takata has a warehouse in nearby Eagle Pass, Texas, and it has an air-bag inflator factory across the border in Monclova, Mexico. The explosion left debris up to two miles from where the truck crashed, The News Gram reported.

Lightning strike kills 323 reindeer

STOCKHOLM -- More than 300 wild reindeer were killed by lightning in central Norway. The Norwegian Environment Agency has released images showing a jumble of reindeer carcasses scattered across a small area on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau. The agency says 323 animals were killed, including 70 calves, in the lightning storm Friday. Agency spokesman Kjartan Knutsen said it's not uncommon for reindeer or other wildlife to be killed by lightning strikes, but this was an unusually deadly event. "We have not heard about such numbers before," he said Monday. He said reindeer tend to stay very close to each other in bad weather, which could explain how so many were killed at once.

-- From wire reports