■ Venezuela
Alleged separatists charged
Venezuelan prosecutors filed treason charges against the leaders of an organization pushing for regional autonomy in the oil-rich state of Zulia, the Attorney General's Office announced on Wednesday. The treason charges against Nestor Rafael Suarez Bohorquez, Alberto Anibal Mansueti, Natalia Carolina Fernandez and Gustavo Miguel Pineda Reina -- the leaders of a group called Own Road For Zulia -- stem from the organization's alleged push for Zulia's secession from Venezuela. Mansueti has rejected allegations that the organization is pushing for secession.
■ United States
Falling trees close highway
Falling trees caused by brush fires have forced the indefinite closure of a 19km stretch of a main highway in Florida, authorities said. Smoke from several fires around the state caused periodic morning closures on Wednesday, but Florida Highway Patrol trooper Kim Miller said Interstate 95 would be closed from Port Orange to Edgewater likely for at least several days as crews work to clear the debris. "What's happened is that the root bulbs have burned so that the trees are now unstable and are falling into the roadway," Miller said. Miller said it was too early to tell how long the work could take, and it was complicated by still-smoldering trees.
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