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(Jul 9, 2008 11:59 AM CDT) Add adorable to 40-plus miles per gallon and you get the Fiat 500, an Italian compact that, despite taking a while to go from 0 to 60, brings a new sweetness to the term eye candy, Dan Neil writes in the Los Angeles Times: It's fun to look at, fun to drive, fun to point out to the valet. Not yet available in the US, the turbodiesel is a hot seller in Europe. Despite its miniature proportions--it weighs just 2,150 pounds and is just a tad over 11 feet long--its 68-horsepower engine provides enough torque to make it peppy and fun to drive. And, at $16,500 it's a deal waiting to happen, Neil writes-- the car Los Angeles has been panting for.

(Dec 17, 2015 3:11 PM) US stocks are sliding into the close as the market gives back all of its big gain from the day before. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 253 points, or 1.4%, to 17,495 Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 31 points, or 1.5%, to 2,041. The Nasdaq composite declined 68 points, or 1.4%, to 5,002. Steep drops in energy prices and metals Thursday pulled down the stocks of oil and gas producers and mining companies. Chevron lost 3% and Newmont Mining skidded 8%. The dollar rose against other currencies a day after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.23%.

(Sep 20, 2014 1:00 PM CDT) The California Coastal Commission staff has agreed to allow U2's guitarist to build a scaled-down compound in the mountains above Malibu. The staff recommended yesterday that the commission approve a smaller development than the one originally envisioned by David Evans, known better as The Edge. Evans has been trying for eight years to build a five-mansion development that neighbors and environmentalists said would damage vegetation and create an eyesore on a ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A spokeswoman for the Irish musician tells the Los Angeles Times that the new plans are dramatically different and that the homes would be built into the contours of the hillside. The full commission still must approve the 150-acre project. (Click to read one critic's take on the band's PR misfire with Apple.

(Sep 2, 2017 2:10 PM CDT) Authorities have arrested two men suspected of wounding two St. Louis police officers in an attack that also left a 24-year-old woman in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head, the AP reports. Acting Police Chief Lawrence O'Toole said Friday evening that the third victim was in her home directly behind the officers when they were attacked. The woman's mother identified her as Tamara Collier and said she was wounded when a bullet went through their back door and struck her while she was doing laundry, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. She said she returned from the store after seeing police in the neighborhood and found her daughter lying in a pool of blood. Collier's 1-year-old daughter was at home at the time of the shooting but wasn't hurt. A 35-year-old male officer and 32-year-old female officer were treated at a hospital for gunshot wounds to their legs and hands and facial wounds caused by shrapnel. They were in stable condition. O'Toole said the suspects are 22 and 24 years old and have criminal records. He described them as violent offenders but didn't provide further details. Authorities recovered a handgun and an assault rifle that they believe was the weapon that fired the bullet that struck Collier. The injured officers are members of a unit that investigates gang crimes. O'Toole said they were patrolling the area in their car and were ambushed by the suspects. He did not say how the suspects were taken into custody other than it occurred without more shots being fired.

(Feb 28, 2011 12:56 AM) Herman Cain--currently the only declared GOP candidate for 2012--came in first in a straw poll of Tea Party supporters at an event in Phoenix yesterday. The conservative radio host from Georgia received 22% of the on-site ballots cast at the event organized by the Tea Party Patriots, the Los Angeles Times reports. Ron Paul came in third place in the vote among attendees but was the winner by a hefty margin in an online poll (Cain took second). Tim Pawlenty came in second and Sarah Palin came in fourth in the vote at the summit itself. The Alaskan was the only one out of the top four who didn't speak at the event. A Tea Party Patriots co-founder says the group is still looking for the right candidate for 2012. The mood at this summit shows that Tea Party activists are looking for leaders who share our principles of fiscal responsibility and limited government, she says.

(Mar 21, 2011 2:12 PM CDT) The USDA is sinking $60 million into a trio of studies that will investigate how climate change affects crops and forests. The three studies will focus on specific crops in specific regions--Midwestern corn, Northwestern wheat, and pine forests in the South--and aim to help farmers and foresters continue to produce food and timber while trying to limit the impact of a changing environment, the AP reports. The country needs to steel itself for great weather-related changes, said an official. Predictions say areas that were at one time wet will in fact be dry and hot, he noted. Crops must be adaptable to their areas. If we don't do this, we may have some food shortages in certain kinds of foods, he said. Researchers from more than 20 universities will work closely with farmers and foresters--some of whom question whether humans are behind climate change. But, says one researcher, regardless of what one may think about the cause, there's certainly plenty of evidence that climates are changing and those changes can affect our production systems.

(Aug 12, 2011 4:17 PM CDT) Mitt Romney has a net worth of up to a quarter of a billion dollars, reports the Boston Globe. His campaign estimates the total to be somewhere between $190 million and $250 million in a financial disclosure filed with the FEC. The total, which hasn't changed much over the past four years, should easily give him the deepest pockets of any candidate. Jon Huntsman hasn't filed yet, however. Romney earns millions in a retirement deal from Bain Capital, the venture firm he created and ran until 1999, and he raked in hefty speaking fees over the last year, including $68,000 to address the National Franchisee Association in Las Vegas. He also pulled in $114,000 for sitting on the board at Marriott International, notes the Globe. So much for being unemployed.

(Jun 1, 2016 3:09 PM CDT) The Cincinnati Enquirer has the story of an Ohio judge known for his unusual sentences who on Wednesday issued some divine intervention on behalf of a 23-year-old found guilty of misdemeanor attempted assault. Jake Strotman was coming from dollar-beer night at a local hockey game on Jan. 23 when he found himself in the middle of a brawl between Baptist street preachers and a man angry at their proselytizing. Strotman says he didn't mean to get into the fight, and he definitely didn't mean to strike one of the preachers in the face. Strotman was facing 90 days in jail when Judge William Mallory asked if anyone had any alternative ideas for a punishment. Strotman had an idea. Your honor, if I may, I would be more than happy to serve a church of your choosing. So instead of jail, Strotman will spend 90 minutes of his next 12 Sundays attending services at the victim's Baptist church. Three months, that's not that bad,'' Strotman, a Catholic, says. I'm going to listen with both my ears and keep my mouth shut. Read the full story here.

(Nov 19, 2008 9:07 AM) Consumer prices in the United States plunged by the largest amount in the past 61 years in October as gasoline prices dropped by a record amount. The Labor Department said today that consumer prices fell by 1% last month, the biggest one-month decline on records that go back to February 1947. The drop was twice as large as the 0.5% decline analysts expected. The big drop in inflation reflected not only a huge fall in gasoline and other energy costs, but widespread declines in other areas. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy, fell by 0.1% last month, the first drop in core prices in more than a quarter-century. Analysts predicted further declines in the months ahead. This report clearly reflects the crunch in discretionary consumers' spending which is likely to persist for the foreseeable future, said one economist.

(Apr 12, 2008 5:50 PM CDT) Traumatized monkeys once the subjects of Soviet experiments are odd remnants of a more prosperous time in Abkhazia, an area of Georgia that calls itself independent, the Los Angeles Times reports. The area was crippled in its effort to break away from Georgia, but the 286 primates living in a research institute remain a point of pride for residents. When the violence ended in a stalemate 15 years ago, other former Soviet states cut off ties with the renegade republic, and the institute sank into oblivion. It now struggles just to care for the animals. People and scientists outside Abkhazia thought we didn't exist anymore, the director says. We only recently started being able to send e-mails to people saying that we exist.

(May 5, 2011 3:53 PM CDT) A massive space rock will fly by Earth in November, and astronomers already are jazzed about getting a rare close-up view, reports Universe Today. The asteroid, named 2005 YU55, is about the size of an aircraft carrier and will come within about 200,000 miles of Earth on November 8, notes Space.com. Asteroids of this size have come as close before, but scientists have never been as technologically prepared to zoom in as they are now. This type of asteroid is thought to be representative of the primordial materials from which our solar system was formed, says a NASA scientist. This flyby will be an excellent opportunity to test how we study, document, and quantify which asteroids would be most appropriate for a future human mission. And don't worry: It poses no threat of an Earth collision over, at the very least, the next 100 years. Click to read about another nearby asteroid.

(Oct 23, 2013 2:36 AM CDT) India has accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortars on at least 50 Indian border posts overnight in disputed Kashmir, calling it the most serious ceasefire violation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in a decade. Indian troops returned fire, but one guard was killed and six were injured by a shell in the Jammu region, officials say. At least 100 civilians are being moved from homes near the frontier. Pakistani military officials, meanwhile, say that unprovoked firing by Indian forces has killed a Pakistani soldier and a civilian over the last week. Both sides agree on one thing: The number of cross-border attacks has surged since the Pakistani and Indian prime ministers met last month in New York and agreed on the need to reduce tensions.

(Jan 19, 2018 8:33 AM) When Gerald Winters recently decided to reorganize his rare-books store in Bangor, Maine, housing a collection mainly dedicated to Stephen King, he stashed most of his inventory in the basement. He's now suffered what the Bangor Daily News describes as a devastating blow to his business: A water main burst near the store, which he'd opened about a year ago, flooding its basement with at least six feet of water and ruining about 90% of his stock. He says there was no time to save anything, telling WGME, I would have drowned in the water. Among the washed-out King items: seven original typed manuscripts, dozens of first- and limited-edition books, foreign-language prints, signed tomes, and other hard-to-find ephemera. Some items were so rare they weren't even for sale--he simply kept them on display for his customers. You can't replace this stuff, he tells the Daily News. On his store's website, Winters describes how he first became a Constant Reader, as King would put it, of King's work after a friend lent him The Stand in 1998. I was hooked after that, he says. He details his meticulous gathering of anything King-related over the next 20 years, in which he would visit every single bookstore in every city I visited and lived. King himself is distressed about the news. I'm horrified, he tells the Daily News. As a book lover, my heart goes out to him. He also said he'd see if he could help Winters. In the meantime, Winters has been avoiding phone calls from customers, family, and even his wife, who still lives abroad. I don't even want to talk to them, because I don't know what to tell them, he says. It's a mess.

(Dec 9, 2016 2:01 PM) Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty's family says the 36-year-old Egyptian woman hasn't left her home in 25 years, the BBC reports. Her extreme weight forced her to crawl instead of walk by age 11, and an ensuing stroke left her bedridden. Her family says she weighs more than 1,100 pounds, which would make her the heaviest woman alive--the current Guinness record-holder is only 643 pounds--and close to the heaviest woman ever, according to the Washington Post. While Abd El Aty's weight hasn't been confirmed, Dr. Muffazal Lakdawala in India estimates she is at least 990 pounds based on photos of her. My initial reaction was ''How is she even alive?' he says. His next reaction was to try to save her. Abd El Aty is expected to arrive in Mumbai for surgery in the next 10 days, but it won't be an easy journey. In every sense, she's a challenge, Lakdawala says. The bariatric surgeon has been raising money to get her to Mumbai and will be operating pro bono, the Times of India reports. But it's not just money that's an issue. Because she can't leave her room, Abd El Aty was unable to make it to the Indian embassy to be fingerprinted for a visa; only a personal plea from Lakdawala secured her an exemption. And while transporting Abd El Aty will be challenging in its own right, Lakdawala says the surgery itself is very high risk. He says he's hopeful but not confident he can help Abd El Aty lose up to 300 pounds. (For the obese, objects are closer than they appear.)

(Jun 30, 2008 10:15 AM CDT) French authorities are investigating a military demonstration gone terribly wrong yesterday, the AFP reports, in which 17 people were wounded when a soldier fired live rounds instead of blanks during a demonstration of hostage-situation techniques. The soldier has been detained, but has no history of psychological problems. The theory being worked on is one of error, an official said. One way or another something went wrong, France's defense minister said. This type of incident is very rare and incomprehensible. There are procedures in place to prevent this kind of thing. Four of the 17 victims were seriously injured, including one child, but doctors say the most critically injured patient has stabilized.

(Jan 12, 2009 7:00 AM) Two-term GOP Sen. George Voinovich will retire in 2010 rather than seek reelection, the AP reports, raising Democrats' hopes to snag an additional seat in the battleground state of Ohio. Voinovich's announcement, expected today, comes as two other Republican senators in swing states have said they won't run again. Just 44% of Ohio voters believe Voinovich should be reelected, a poll found last month; his approval rating is 51%. If the news of Senator Voinovich's retirement is true, it would represent a real loss for the people of the Buckeye State, said a Democratic Ohio congressman who could be a contender for the seat. His moderate and independent voice will be missed.

(Dec 25, 2012 8:21 AM) Charles Durning grew up in poverty, lost five of his nine siblings to disease, barely lived through D-Day, and was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Bulge. His hard life and wartime trauma provided the basis for a prolific 50-year career as a consummate character actor, playing everyone from a Nazi colonel to the pope to Dustin Hoffman's would-be suitor in Tootsie. Durning, who died yesterday at age 89, may be best remembered by movie audiences for his Oscar-nominated, over-the-top role as a comically corrupt governor in 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. A year later, he received another Oscar nomination, for his portrayal of a bumbling Nazi officer in Mel Brooks' To Be or Not to Be. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe as the harried police lieutenant in 1975's Dog Day Afternoon. The younger Durning barely survived World War II. He was among the first wave of US soldiers to land at Normandy during the D-Day invasion and the only member of his Army unit to survive. He killed several Germans and was wounded in the leg. Later he was bayoneted by a young German soldier whom he killed with a rock. He was captured in the Battle of the Bulge and survived a massacre of prisoners. In later years, he refused to discuss the military service for which he was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. Too many bad memories, he said in 1997. I don't want you to see me crying. Fellow actor Jack Klugman also died yesterday.

(Feb 28, 2008 9:14 PM) Barack Obama's campaign will have raised roughly $50 million by the time February ends, the New York Times reports. The record figure overshadows Hillary Clinton's tally of about $35 million for the month, her highest total yet. It's an extraordinary number for us, said Clinton's campaign chief. The Obama camp hasn't released official figures, but major donors familiar with the tally provided an estimate. In Texas and Ohio, whose primaries are slated for Tuesday, Obama and his labor supporters continue to massively outspend Clinton. The Democrats' cash flow dwarfs that of John McCain. If Obama ends up being the nominee, his massive war chest will make it difficult for him to accept public financing, along with spending limits, as he indicated he would do last year.

(Jun 20, 2018 8:10 AM CDT) Eva Longoria has given birth for the first time at 43. The actress welcomed a son with her husband of two years, Televisa president Jose Baston, on Tuesday, People reports. Santiago Enrique Baston was born at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces. We are so grateful for this beautiful blessing, the couple tells Hola, which has the first photo of the child. This boy, my son, will be surrounded by very strong, educated, powerful women, Longoria previously said, per People. I'm so excited that I'm having a boy because I think the world needs more good men, she added. Longoria has three stepkids via Baston. (Another celebrity duo is expecting their first child.

(Sep 28, 2013 5:05 PM CDT) Raids on a kidnapping operation in China has resulted in the rescue of 92 abducted children, a state-run media organization reports. The kids were rescued along with two women, while 300 gang members were arrested, reports the Xinhua news agency, per AFP. Kidnappers stole children in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, then handed them off to deliverymen who would take them to other regions to be sold, according to the report. The bust happened two weeks ago, with local cops simultaneously hitting 11 different locations, but was only announced today. A gender imbalance due to China's one-child policy means kidnapped women are often sold in remote areas where men are unable to find wives, Reuters reports. The policy also means some families will pay money for a male child if they can't conceive one on their own, reports Al Jazeera. Other kids may be sold to international adoption agencies. The news comes amid increasing public outrage over kidnappings, notes AFP, but Al Jazeera says even a big bust like this one may not put a dent in the trade: some humanitarian agencies say as many as 70,000 Chinese kids may be abducted every year.

(Feb 15, 2016 7:15 AM) In a case of better late than never, a purse that went missing more than a decade ago has been found in the ceiling of a bank in Oklahoma City. Now the bag is headed back to its owner, Julie Curry, who now lives in Cherokee, Kan., KFOR reports. Curry's husband, Bill Sipp, likens the discovery to a time capsule. It will be interesting ... when it shows up, he says. A construction worker came across the purse while pushing a ceiling tile during an inspection at First National Bank, and a business card put him on the trail to Curry. A court reporter at the time, Curry was in the building 14 years ago to meet with an attorney, as Sipp remembers it. He says his wife interacted with a hostile witness that day. Had they thought about the purse much during the intervening years? No way, he says. Out of sight, out of mind. Decorated with images of horses and dogs, the purse was symbolic of Curry and Sipp's shared pastime: The couple used to fox-hunt with their dogs, a KFOR anchor says. They'd chase coyotes on horseback.

(Sep 8, 2010 4:16 AM CDT) Suicides and depression cost Japan the equivalent of $32 billion last year, according to government officials there. The staggeringly high figure was arrived at by calculating the cost of treatment and the lost earnings of the 32,000 people who killed themselves in Japan last year, the BBC reports. The country has one of the world's highest suicide rates--more than twice as high as America's--and there have been more than 30,000 suicides a year for over a decade. The high suicide rate is a product of and a partial cause of the country's long economic stagnation, say experts. It would be impossible to eradicate all suicides at once, but that would have a much bigger impact on the economy than a huge stimulus package the government plans to announce this week, one Japanese economist tells BusinessWeek. The Japanese government has launched an anti-suicide task force that will provide counseling for small business owners and people who have trouble with debt.

(Dec 3, 2011 8:44 AM) Violence sweeping across Syria killed 25 people today, most of them in a battle between troops and a growing force of army defectors who have joined the movement to oust the autocratic Bashar al-Assad, activists said. The pre-dawn clashes in the city of Idlib between regime forces and defectors killed seven soldiers and policemen, as well as five defectors and three civilians. Elsewhere, security forces reportedly killed one civilian in the southern province of Daraa, six in the central region of Homs, and three others in areas near Idlib. Until recently, most of the bloodshed in Syria was caused by security forces firing on mainly peaceful protesters, but there have been growing reports of army defectors and armed civilians fighting regime forces. The clashes came as activists reported a grim milestone in the 8-month-old revolt against Assad: November was the deadliest month of the uprising, with at least 950 people killed in gunbattles, raids, and other violence.

(Feb 28, 2009 8:56 AM) U2 treated London fans to a surprise concert from the rooftop of BBC headquarters last night. The band, promoting the launch of new album No Line on the Horizon, played two new songs and two old ones as thousands of fans filled the street below. This is the first time we've played these songs to people, so we hope we don't screw it up, Bono told the audience. Some people tried to crowd on to traffic islands to see them, a BBC reporter at the scene said. The crowd was screaming and cheering. Others were spilling out of pubs and shops to see it, and looking out of windows. It was a good-natured crowd and people really seemed to be enjoying it. The band plans a tour with recession-friendly ticket prices later this year.

(Apr 17, 2009 10:12 PM CDT) Gary Sheffield joined the 500-homer club in the New York Mets' 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers tonight. The nine-time All-Star was on as a pinch hitter and sent a full-count pitch an estimated 385 feet for his first hit of the season for the Mets, making him the 25th player in major league history to reach the milestone. New York picked him up after he was cut by the Detroit Tigers the last week of spring training. Ryan Braun hit a three-run homer to give Milwaukee a 4-3 lead in the sixth before Sheffield connected off Mitch Stetter, who was facing his first batter in relief of Dave Bush. Luis Castillo drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the ninth inning.

(Jan 22, 2012 11:22 PM) The San Francisco 49ers watched their chance at the Super Bowl slip through their fingers yesterday when the New York Giants converted a fumble to a field goal in overtime. The Giants tapped a 20-17 victory and their fifth trip to the Super Bowl. Two key errors by back-up punt returner Kyle Williams cost the Niners the game. Williams, filling in for the injured Ted Ginn Jr., muffed one punt in the fourth quarter to set up a Giants touchdown and a 17-14 lead. Niners kicker David Akers ended up tying the score with a 25-yard field goal. But in overtime, the ball was knocked from Williams' hands to give the Giants the ball at the 24-yard line. Five plays later Lawrence Tynes booted in the winning 31-yard field goal for New York. Williams put his hands on his helmet and dropped his head in disgust, observed AP. The Giants will now face off against the New England Patriots for the Super Bowl title February 5.

(Oct 4, 2011 7:32 AM CDT) A truck laden with explosives blew up in front of the Ministry of Education in Somalia's capital today, killing 70 and injuring 42, a rescue official says. A Mogadishu police officer says the vehicle blew up after pulling up to a security checkpoint at the entrance to the ministry offices. The al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack in a website it uses. The attack shattered a relative calm that had prevailed in Mogadishu for weeks. It was the biggest attack there since al-Shabab withdrew most of its forces in August amid an offensive by African Union forces. The group had been expected to fight back with guerrilla-style attacks, including car bombs. Suicide bombings were unheard of in Somalia before 2007 but have become increasingly frequent, and several car bombs have been defused or exploded before reaching their targets in recent weeks.

(Aug 8, 2015 8:30 AM CDT) For anyone whose greatest athletic accomplishment as a 10-year-old was not choking on an orange slice after your pee-wee soccer game, meet 10-year-old Alzain Tareq from Bahrain. She is doing slightly better than that, competing in the 2015 Swimming World Championships as the youngest swimmer ever to do so, USA Today reports. And while she finished last in her preliminary 50m butterfly heat yesterday, she's not letting that get her down, telling the AP she is having fun trying to learn from some of her swimming idols. And, four-time Olympic gold-medalist Missy Franklin is even trying to befriend her. Not too shabby, Alzain.

(Dec 5, 2014 11:44 AM) Lisa N. Quam had never purchased a Powerball ticket before Thanksgiving. But that day, when she went to the store for pumpkin spice, she picked up two tickets--calling herself a special occasions lottery player, according to KING 5--and it turns out to have been a really good decision. The Washington state woman and husband Everett ended up winning $90 million. I am not a lucky person, Quam insists. I think I won tickets to a concert or something on a radio station once. And I won $100 once. My husband says it's just dumb luck. The couple has been married 32 years and has two kids; Quam says her first priority is to take care of her family. We have student loans just like every family, house repairs. Maybe we'll buy a house for one of the kids, she said, according to NBC News. She also plans to buy a Subaru Forrester; both husband and wife will retire from their jobs at Boeing and then plan to travel, the AP reports.

(Jul 13, 2011 4:43 PM CDT) A father and son in Oregon who pleaded guilty to poaching deer--a lot of deer--have gotten a unique punishment: They have to report to jail on the first day of hunting season for the next four years and remain locked up for 90 days each year, reports the Register Guard. They're also losing hunting privileges for life as part of the plea deal. The son, 37, admitted killing 300 deer over the last five years--about, oh, 295 over the limit. They used other hunters' tags in their scheme and faced identity theft charges as well. In the areas that the Donohos frequented during this long criminal conspiracy, you would have a hard time finding any deer, said a state wildlife official.

(Apr 18, 2012 12:52 AM CDT) Some people decide not to quit their jobs after a lottery win. Amanda Clayton apparently decided not to stop collecting welfare. The 25-year-old Michigan woman, who won a $1 million jackpot last year, has been charged with felony welfare fraud for failing to report her winnings while receiving $5,475 in food and medical assistance, ABC reports. It's simply common sense that million-dollar lottery winners forfeit their right to public assistance, Michigan's attorney general said. Clayton caused outrage last month when she told a local TV reporter that she felt entitled to collect public assistance. I feel that it's OK because, I mean, I have no income, and I have bills to pay. I have two houses, she said, explaining that she had only taken home some $500,000 after taxes and a reduction for taking the money in a lump sum. Michigan has now introduced a law that alerts authorities overseeing public assistance whenever a resident wins more than $1,000 in the state lottery.

(Jan 18, 2010 11:14 AM) A strong earthquake has rocked Guatemala and parts of El Salvador, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in either country. The US Geological Survey says the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.0, and hit this morning about 60 miles southwest of Guatemala City, where it was felt by many residents. There were reports of shaking in the Guatemalan countryside and in El Salvador, as well.

(Jan 26, 2017 3:56 PM) Cindy and Scott Chafian might have spent their 20th wedding anniversary renewing their vows on a beach in the Bahamas. Instead, the pair sat side-by-side in a hospital room drinking from champagne flutes and eating cake. And they wouldn't have had it any other way. I can't think of any better place to be right now. If I had the choice to be here or in the Bahamas, I'd totally be here, Cindy told WTKR on Wednesday, a day after husband gave her the gift of life, a new kidney. Cindy has polycystic kidney disease, which has caused her kidneys to deteriorate, and though Scott offered her one of his kidneys six years ago, Cindy wasn't willing to accept it. Then she hit rock bottom, she tells CNN. After two years on dialysis, Cindy could hardly get dinner on the table for my family, she says. She was tired, losing muscle mass, and losing out on time with her kids, reports NBC Los Angeles. Finally in October, she told Scott she'd had enough: She was ready for his amazing gift. The four-hour surgery went ahead at Virginia's Sentara Norfolk General Hospital on Tuesday and Cindy says, I feel better already. Scott has noticed a difference, too. Just the light she's got back in her eyes, I don't even have words for it, he says. She'll say I'm giving her life back, but I'm getting my wife back, he adds. I'm the one who's lucky. A GoFund Me page is raising funds for their recovery. (This woman found a kidney donor through Tinder.)

(Aug 27, 2009 2:06 PM CDT) A woman missing since she was abducted in 1991 at age 11 stunned authorities and her family yesterday when she walked into a northern California police station, the Contra Costa Times reports. Jaycee Lee Dugard's alleged kidnappers, a married couple, have been arrested and charged with kidnapping and other offenses; the husband, a registered sex offender, faces rape charges. Dugard's stepfather Carl Probyn said his wife, from whom he is separated, called him at 4pm yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. She basically said, 'Are you sitting down? They found Jaycee--she's alive.' Probyn says the FBI called his wife, who believed it was a cruel joke until she spoke to the woman on the phone. Now Terry Probyn and the couple's other daughter are flying to Northern California to meet the woman.

(Mar 11, 2011 9:40 AM) Bradley Manning has released an 11-page letter describing his treatment at Quantico's brig in his own words for the first time. The alleged WikiLeaker says he has been left to languish under the unduly harsh conditions of max custody, and complains that being placed on Prevention of Injury watch amounts to unlawful pre-trial punishment, according to the Guardian. Under that designation, he's forced to strip every night and stand naked at parade rest, with my hands behind my back and my legs spaced shoulder-width apart. I stood at parade rest for about three minutes, Manning writes. The [brig supervisor] and other guards walked past my cell. He looked at me, paused for a moment, then continued to the next cell. I was incredibly embarrassed at having all these people stare at me naked. He says he's no danger to himself, and was enraged when he was briefly put on suicide watch. Out of frustration, I clenched my hair with my fingers and yelled: 'Why are you doing this to me? Why am I being punished? I have done nothing wrong.'

(Feb 22, 2008 2:58 AM) Southern Methodist University's trustees are expected to vote today to bring George W. Bush's presidential library to the Texas institution, reports the Dallas Morning News. The agreement will be a great day for SMU, said the university's president. But the road to a final agreement at Laura Bush's alma mater hasn't been a smooth one. The controversial $500 million library, museum and policy center faced fierce opposition from some faculty members --and a vocal group of Methodist bishops and clergy--who objected to being associated with a think-tank that aims to further Bush's policies. The project has also been entangled in a land dispute.

(Oct 6, 2016 12:37 PM CDT) As Florida and the rest of the East Coast are bracing for Hurricane Matthew, Haiti is starting to dig out from the storm's devastation. Officials from the island nation reported Thursday that at least 108 are dead so far, with that number expected to rise and catastrophic damage sustained, reports the Miami Herald. More than 28,000 homes have been damaged (with more expected to be reported), and the nation's Office of Civil Protection notes more than 21,000 people are still holed up in shelters. The situation is critical, President Jocelerme Privert said. Haiti's southern peninsula appears to have taken the brunt of the storm, with reports of scarce food supplies, destroyed banana crops, no phones or electricity, and a demoralized populace. Everybody's house is destroyed, the people can't eat and have to drink coconut water to sustain them, a local legislator says. The BBC reports that the southwestern town of Jeremie was pretty much wiped out and has been cut off from communications with the rest of the world, per a Port-au-Prince radio host. A pilot who flew overhead reported that only about 1% of the homes were left standing, a Connecticut-based Haitian NGO tells ABC News. Haiti is facing the largest humanitarian event witnessed since the earthquake six years ago, a spokesperson for the UN secretary-general said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Weather Channel says the storm, currently a Category 4 weather force, could remain at that level or even escalate to a rare Category 5 before it hits Florida's coast later Thursday. (CNN has posted 12 more photos that capture the destruction in Haiti.)

(May 8, 2008 1:55 PM CDT) This year is the centenary of author Ian Fleming's birth, but while Daniel Craig gave the James Bond movie franchise a much-needed recharge, sales of the 007 books haven't caught up. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, the Fleming estate has commissioned respected writer Sebastian Faulks to pen a new Bond novel, Devil May Care, with an ambitious first US printing of 250,000. The last Bond books have sold pitifully, and their attempts to make Bond contemporary proved unpalatable. Faulks is returning Bond to the days of the Cold War, and publisher Doubleday has gone all-out with promotion. One Barnes and Noble buyer has high hopes for the title: The downturn in the economy has prompted a demand for escapist fare, he said.

(Apr 3, 2019 7:39 AM CDT) A Kansas woman donated 204 pairs of shoes to Nebraska flood victims after buying everything that was left at a closing Payless store, per the AP. The Hays Post reports the shoes, with a retail price of more than $6,000, were part of a flood relief shipment taken to farmers in Nebraska by Fort Hays State's agriculture sorority, Sigma Alpha, over the weekend. A graduate of Fort Hays State, Addy Tritt said she wanted to help others because so many people have helped her in the past. When the price at a Hays store dropped to $1 per pair, Tritt negotiated with the business to buy the remaining shoes for $100. They included 162 pairs of baby shoes and two pairs of men's shoes. The rest were women's shoes. (A man's final wish was for lots of shoes--to be given to others.

(Sep 11, 2009 6:40 PM CDT) Larry Gelbart, one of the writers who developed the hit TV series MASH and who scored nominations for Oscar, Tony and Emmy awards, died this morning of cancer at age 81, his wife tells the Los Angeles Times. Actor Jack Lemmon once described Gelbart as one of the greatest writers of comedy to have graced the arts in this century. Gelbart began writing for radio at age 16, then moved on to television, Broadway and the silver screen. He was twice nominated for Oscars, for best screenplay for 1977's Oh, God! and for screenwriting for 1982's Tootsie. But MASH, which debuted on CBS in 1972, was his crowning achievement, one on which his influence was seminal, basic and enormous, a former colleague says.

(Jul 7, 2009 3:19 PM CDT) Investors turned pessimistic ahead of the start of the second-quarter earnings season, initiating a broad sell-off that depressed the major indices, the Wall Street Journal reports. Oil fell another $1.12 to 62.43 a barrel, pushing energy stocks lower; the S&P 500's energy sector was off 2.8%. The Dow closed down 161 points at 8,164. The Nasdaq lost 41 points to settle at 1,746, and the S&P 500 fell 18 points, closing at 881.

(Jan 8, 2015 9:02 AM) A frantic search in the waters of Florida's Tampa Bay by a local fire department, college dive team, and the US Coast Guard ended sadly this morning after the body of a 5-year-old girl was recovered. Making the story even more tragic is that little Phoebe Jonchuck (also spelled Jonchuk in various media outlets) was said to have been killed by her own father, 25-year-old John Jonchuck, after he allegedly threw her off a Tampa bridge, the AP reports. A police officer who was driving home just after midnight said he tried to stop a PT Cruiser that zipped by him at around 100mph, but as they approached the Skyway Bridge, the Cruiser pulled over and the officer says Jonchuck got out, tossed his daughter over the side of the bridge, and drove south. Jonchuck was picked up by Manatee County police about 30 minutes later, according to WFTS. Rescue personnel that included the Coast Guard and St. Petersburg Fire Rescue searched for Phoebe, who had plunged 62 feet and fallen into the water, but it was Eckerd College divers who finally found her; revival attempts were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at 2:44am at a local hospital, the AP notes. Jonchuck has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated fleeing and eluding, and aggravated assault with a motor vehicle on a police officer, WFTV reports. The station also says Jonchuck has a long criminal history, including DUI and non-domestic battery. Still, We have no idea why anybody would do something like this, a St. Petersburg Police Department spokeswoman tells WFTV. (An Oregon mom accused of throwing her son off a bridge blamed autism.)

(Feb 11, 2018 12:11 AM) The grand plan when Red Gerard and his brothers set down rails and attached a tow rope to a dirt bike to fashion a snowboard park in their backyard wasn't all that grand. Just having fun snowboarding, Red explained. Look where all that fun landed him. The 17-year-old snowboarder from just outside of Breckenridge, Colo., won the Olympic gold medal in slopestyle Sunday, courtesy of a nimble, creative ride through a wind-swept course that left almost everyone else scrambling to keep their footing. Red captured America's first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games--first medal of any color, in fact--and will soon go on a victory tour he never saw coming, even if the rowdy, red-white-and-blue mosh pit full of friends and family envisioned it all along. I said it from Day 1, said Brendan Gerard, one of Red's five older siblings. The kid was 2 years old when we started him snowboarding. By 6, it was inevitable he was going to be something huge.

(Feb 3, 2016 9:26 AM) In his 10 short years, Wasil Ahmad was named a hero by the Afghan government for leading the fight against a Taliban siege. When the siege was over, the government dressed him in a police uniform, hung plastic flowers around his neck, and handed him a helmet and gun. A program was held at the police headquarters, where his bravery and courage was talked about by officials, a provincial council chief tells the New York Times. I was against this move ... He is too young to hand him a gun. Though a neighbor says the hubbub left Wasil with little interest in school, his family recently enrolled him as a fourth-grader at a school in Tirin Kot. It was there, outside his home, that he was assassinated by the Taliban with two shots to the head, the group announced on Monday. There was no threat from this child to the armed opposition, says a rep for the Afghan independent human rights commission, noting government forces and insurgents illegally use child soldiers. Possibly he took up arms to take revenge for his father's death, but it was illegal for the police to declare him a hero and reveal his identity, especially to the insurgents, he adds, per CBS News. Wasil's father was originally a Taliban fighter but switched sides along with his brother, Mullah Abdul Samad, then a Taliban commander. Samad was given control of 70 militiamen, 18 of whom died fighting the Taliban, including Wasil's father. When Samad became injured, Wasil took over. He was successfully leading my men on my behalf for 44 days until I recovered, Samad says. He fought like a miracle.

(Aug 25, 2015 4:27 AM CDT) The financial world looks less chaotic today than it did on what's being called Black Monday: Chinese stocks had another rough day, but European markets stabilized and American stock futures rose, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Shanghai Index closed down 7.6% and Japan's Nikkei dropped 4%, but a host of other markets (the Stoxx Europe 600, Germany's DAX, and France's CAC) were up more than 2% this morning. Meanwhile, China further tried to ease turmoil with new stimulus measures, reports CNN. It cut its main lending and deposit rates by 0.25% and made it easier for banks to lend money. Stock futures for the Dow and the S&P 500 were up more than 3%, suggesting a higher opening this morning, reports TheStreet. Still, don't expect a sudden end to the volatility. The US stock market is in a mode of uncertainty, at best, DoubleLine Capital's co-founder Jeffrey Gundlach tells Reuters. You don't correct all of this in three days. Yesterday's global sell-off was triggered by the sharp drop in Chinese stocks, but experts say there was little change in economic fundamentals to justify such a massive global slide. There was no clear catalyst for the global stock meltdown. The lack of clarity makes it difficult to assess what is needed to stem the rout, says Bernard Aw of IG Markets in a report. (The CEO of Starbucks has told workers to be nice to worried investors.)

(Sep 3, 2008 2:00 PM CDT) President Bush wants another $1 billion in economic aid for Georgia, the AP reports. An announcement is scheduled for later today, even as Vice President Dick Cheney is continuing a tour of former Soviet states that will take him to Georgia tomorrow. Meanwhile, a third US Navy ship entered the Black Sea today, with aid cargo destined for the region disrupted by recent fighting.

(Jan 12, 2016 3:18 PM) A late wave of buying left the stock market higher, led by gains in technology and health care. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 117 points, or 0.7%, to 16,516 Tuesday. It wavered between gains and losses much of the day. The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 15 points, or 0.8%, to 1,938. The Nasdaq composite rose 47 points, or 1%, to 4,685. Tuesday's gain was the first this year for the Nasdaq composite index, which is heavily weighted with technology companies. Chipmaker Intel rose 2% and Apple gained 1.5%. Among health care companies, UnitedHealth Group jumped 2.5%, the most in the Dow. Energy companies lagged the market as the price of crude oil fell to new 12-year lows.

(Mar 8, 2015 9:07 AM CDT) You and I can't get away with a 5-ounce bottle of shampoo at the airport, but a North Korean diplomat apparently thought the 27 kilograms of gold in his carry-on--worth about $1.4 million--was no big deal. Bangladesh would beg to differ, reports the Wall Street Journal. We recovered the gold both in the form of bar and ornaments from Son Young Nam, the First Secretary of the North Korean Embassy in Dhaka, said a top official, per Reuters. Son was detained and released, but Bangladesh seized his treasure and is looking to press criminal charges in addition to the customs complaint already filed. Both Reuters and the Journal note that Bangladesh has lately become a hub for illegal gold smuggling; the Journal adds that Pyongyang has long leaned heavily on the sales of gold to support the posh lifestyle of its leadership.

(Apr 13, 2018 8:13 AM CDT) If you find yourself forced to write a check to the IRS come April 17, know that John Paulson feels your pain--and owes more than can fit on a single check. Paulson put down big stakes against subprime mortgages before the 2008 crash and earned billions in the process. Now, the tax bill has come due, and it's eye-popping: $1 billion in state and federal taxes, sources close to the hedge-fund manager tell the Wall Street Journal. This after he paid about $500 million toward the end of 2017. The Journal reports the amount is so huge that even the process of paying it is thorny: Wiring it is an option, but paying via check is more advantageous, as Paulson could keep earning interest on his money until the check is cashed. The catch: The max the IRS will accept from a single check is $99,999,999. The Journal gets into the nitty-gritty of the tax loophole that allowed Paulson to punt on the payment until now, and explains that when it comes to paying it, Paulson isn't as loaded as he once was. To come up with the cash, sources say the 62-year-old has sold investments, including roughly a third of his 28 million shares of Caesars Entertainment Corp. Head to the Journal for the full read, which includes background on Paulson, who hadn't made much of a mark before his trade of a lifetime, and has seen a reversal in fortune since.

(Nov 13, 2010 8:03 AM) House Democrats have avoided a dogfight over their No. 2 leadership slot, announcing that Steny Hoyer would stay put while Jim Clyburn takes a to-be-determined No. 3 position. The move leaves Nancy Pelosi, who announced the deal last night, without any significant leadership battles ahead of Wednesday's caucus vote, Politico reports. This solution honors the diversity of the caucus as well as the wishes of a majority of the caucus that he remain number three in leadership, said a source in Clyburn's camp. Clyburn had the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus, which will count more than 20% of Democrats in its ranks in the incoming congress.

(Oct 25, 2018 3:35 PM CDT) A 19-year-old Arizona woman accused of drowning her month-old son in a bathtub did more than 100 online searches for ways to kill an infant, police in a Phoenix suburb said Thursday. Jenna Folwell put her son's body in two blankets in a duffel bag in their apartment before calling police from a park Wednesday to report that a male stranger had abducted the infant after threatening to kill her, Chandler police said. When investigating officers found the dead child in the apartment, Folwell said she'd found the infant face down in the bathtub after she passed out or fainted, police said in a probable-cause statement. Police obtained a search warrant for Folwell's phone.

(Jul 13, 2011 9:15 AM CDT) Despite recent breakthroughs in the fight for gay rights, violent hate crimes against the LGBT community are on the rise. Such crimes (committed against people because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV positive status) were up 13% last year over 2009, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Of those crimes, 27 were homicides--an increase from 2009's count of 22, and the second-highest total since tracking began in 1996. The crimes include a 24-year-old woman allegedly killed by the disapproving father of her girlfriend, and a transgender student who had It, an anti-transgender slur, carved into his chest. Of those murdered, 44% were transgender women and 70% were minorities, the Los Angeles Times reports. Coalition members say hate crimes tend to increase when LGBT civil rights issues are debated publicly. Says a spokesperson, As we move forward toward full equality, we also have to be responsive and concerned with violence that may run alongside of it.

(Jul 7, 2008 4:31 AM CDT) Iraq's diplomatic isolation among its Arab neighbors is easing, reports the BBC. The United Arab Emirates canceled Iraq's entire debt of close to $7 billion and appointed a new ambassador, while Jordan's King Abdullah will become the first Arab head of state to visit Iraq since 2003, boosting the Baghdad government's standing in the region. Correspondents in the region say Iraq's Sunni neighbors have been unwilling to establish close ties with Iraq's mainly Shia government. But the US has been pushing its Arab allies to bolster the government of Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

(Aug 31, 2008 6:45 PM CDT) Hurricane Gustav roared through the Gulf of Mexico today and is expected to strike west of New Orleans tomorrow at around noon, Reuters reports. But forecasters expect it to simmer down to a category 3 storm with 125-mph winds and say hurricane-force winds will likely strike the coast tonight. This is still a very dangerous storm, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said today. It's not too late to evacuate. An estimated 1.9 million people have left the state's coastal regions and only about 10,000 have stayed behind. Traffic continued to flow out of the nearly empty city of New Orleans today as traffic snarled freeways outside other coastal cities. About five states are expected to feel the force of Gustav--including Florida, which suffered the storm's first fatality today when strong waves knocked a man off of his boat.

(Sep 5, 2011 12:32 PM CDT) When Cynthia Daily, her partner, and their son vacation with other families, it's wild, she says. The kids all look alike. That's because Daily turned to a sperm donor seven years ago; using the number assigned to her donor, she later searched an online registry for her son's half-siblings, some of whom her family now holidays with. Turns out there are 150 of these kids, and that number is growing. While Daily's son's clan is one of the biggest groups of brothers and sisters to share one donor dad, it's becoming less of an anomaly, reports the New York Times, which says 50-plus-member groups are appearing more frequently in online registries. The concerns are growing in number, too. Some worry of the potential for rare genetic diseases to spread throughout the population. Others fear the real possibility of accidental incest, as unwitting half-brothers and half-sisters often live near the same sperm bank--and each other. My daughter knows her donor's number for this very reason, says the mother of one teen. She's had crushes on boys who are donor children. It's become part of [her] sex education. Critics are clamoring for a legal limit to be imposed on how many kids one donor can father, and some blindsided donors may agree.

(Sep 3, 2014 12:37 PM CDT) A 5-year-old girl in Texas is expected to survive despite a freak accident that left her trapped inside a running washing machine for several minutes, reports KHOU-TV in Houston. The incident took place at a laundromat. Police say a woman put coins into a machine but asked for a refund when it wouldn't start and moved on to a different one, reports Click2Houston. At some point, the girl apparently climbed into the first machine, and it began running on high speed. She was tumbling pretty fast in there, says a police spokesperson in Pasadena. One person walked by and said they saw something flopping around in there. They thought it was just a dress or something because it was moving pretty fast. Someone finally realized what has happening, and an employee shut off power to the machine to stop it. The girl was airlifted to a Houston hospital with unspecified injuries, but paramedics thought she would survive. It's not clear who was supervising the girl in the laundromat, and police are investigating.

(Jun 25, 2019 1:11 PM CDT) Michael Pruitt was at a construction site in metro Detroit with his stepdad when the metal ladder he was carrying touched a live wire. The 20-year-old was electrocuted and the homeowner called 911 and started CPR, but by the time Pruitt arrived at the hospital, the situation was dire. They brought in this perfect young man who had no vital signs, the ER doctor who attended to Pruitt tells WXYZ. I said to my team, 'We're bringing him back.' And then, I said to him, 'You better come back!' After two shocks from a defibrillator, Pruitt, who had been clinically dead for 20 minutes, did just that. A nurse says he was like the Hulk when he regained consciousness, grabbing the railings and shaking the bed with huge strength. ... I guess every superhero has to die at least once. Pruitt was recently reunited with the medical team who saved his life. The director of trauma services at the hospital tells Fox 2 his survival is miraculous, and says that because CPR was done continuously, he did not lose any brain function. His big toes, however, were burned from the inside when the electricity exited his body; they're healing, but Pruitt jokes that he's currently using them as an excuse to avoid having to take the garbage out at home. He adds, to the Oakland Press: When people ask if my hair spikes naturally, now I tell them it's because I was electrocuted.

(Jun 17, 2014 2:03 AM CDT) Extremists attacked a coastal area of Kenya for the second night in a row last night, killing at least nine people a day after the deaths of nearly 50, officials say. A police spokesman says al-Shabab militants attacked a village called Majembeni. The Somali militant group also claimed responsibility for the Sunday night attack in nearby Mpeketoni that killed 48 people. Al-Shabab later said it carried out the attack because of Kenya's brutal oppression of Muslims, including the killings of Muslim scholars in Mombasa. The group said that such attacks would continue as you continue to invade our lands and oppress innocent Muslims. Tourists were then warned: Kenya is now officially a war zone and as such any tourists visiting the country do so at their own peril. Foreigners with any regard for their safety and security should stay away from Kenya.

(Feb 21, 2019 11:25 AM) The Monkees' deliberately goofy bass and keyboard player, Peter Tork, has died at age 77, reports the Washington Post. Tork had been diagnosed with a rare form of tongue cancer in 2009. His death leaves two surviving members of the group, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith. Lead singer Davy Jones died in 2012. The group was concocted for television, and while The Monkees TV show ran for two seasons, it spawned huge record sales and a massive fan base--even if the four musicians didn't even play on the group's albums, at least initially. Both the Post and an obituary via Gray News observe that the Monkees were modeled loosely on the Beatles, and Tork was his band's Ringo Starr.

(Jan 7, 2017 3:36 PM) An upscale suburban Cleveland shopping mall where police broke up a post-Christmas melee with pepper spray joined other shopping complexes in Ohio and the US on Friday in restricting children 17 and under from entering during certain weekend hours. The AP reports Beachwood Place announced new rules this week that juveniles must be accompanied by a parent or an adult 21 years or older after 5pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The new rules were put in place less than two weeks after police and security officials in Beachwood and at malls in other states were confronted by large groups of people fighting and causing disturbances on Dec. 26. Hundreds of people were reportedly involved in the Beachwood Place melee. General Growth Properties, the owner of Beachwood Place, has similar restrictions at some of its malls outside Ohio. The new rules call for mall security guards to be stationed at entrances to ask teens and their adult supervisors to show identification. Unaccompanied children must leave the mall at 5pm. Stephanie Cegielski, the trade group spokesperson, provided a list of just over 100 malls and shopping complexes in the US with weekend restrictions. Privately owned shopping malls have the right to enforce such restrictions on juveniles, said Gary Daniels, of the ACLU of Ohio. Legal problems would surface only if a mall discriminates in how the rules are enforced, he said.

(Jun 5, 2009 7:52 AM CDT) The unemployment rate jumped to 9.4% in May, the highest in more than 25 years. But the furious pace of layoffs eased, with employers cutting 345,000 jobs, the fewest since September. If laid off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.4%, the highest on record dating to 1994. The Labor Department also says a total of 14.5 million people were unemployed in May. Job cuts were smaller than the 520,000 economists expected, while the unemployment rate was higher than the 9.2% forecast. Even with layoffs slowing, companies will be reluctant to hire until they feel certain that economic conditions are improving and that any recovery will last.

(Apr 30, 2012 10:22 AM CDT) Police say a packed ferry has capsized in heavy wind and rain in remote northeastern India, leaving at least 103 people dead and 100 others missing. Details were sketchy because bad weather and the remoteness of the area hampered communication. Assam state police chief JN Choudhury says the accident occurred on the Brahmaputra river near Fakiragram in west Dhubri district. Police and paramilitary soldiers are helping with search and rescue efforts.

(Sep 18, 2015 8:01 AM CDT) In August 2004, a naked man was found semi-conscious outside a Burger King in south Georgia. An EMS report cited by 11Alive noted his total body [was] covered in sores and rash, and he awoke in a hospital with no idea who he was. Eleven years after he was diagnosed with retrograde amnesia, the man who calls himself Benjamin Kyle (he took his initials from Burger King ) finally knows his real name, reports WJXT. Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore helped Kyle solve the case using a methodology developed for adoption searches. Armed with what Kyle remembered, including his birthdate, home state, and family's religion, a team compared Kyle's DNA to that in databases across the country over two and a half years before uncovering his family. A DNA test taken by a close relative has confirmed that we are related, Kyle writes on Facebook. Evidently, I left Indiana in '76 and they have not seen me since then, says Kyle, who now lives in Jacksonville, Fla., and says his family assumed he was dead. He writes on Facebook that he plans on visiting with relatives this week; WJXT says he has surviving brothers. As for who he really is, I am reserving my new name for now until I have met my newfound relatives, he writes. And despite the discovery, he thinks he'll stay in Jacksonville. After his story made headlines years ago, a man gave him a job at a restaurant and a place to live. But a verifiable identity and Social Security number will open new doors previously locked by his condition. Sometimes, the last 10 years [have] been just hell, says Kyle, who has appeared in a documentary and on national TV. Now, I have a history. I'm not just some stranger that materialized out of thin air. (This man has a 90-minute memory.)

(Feb 10, 2010 6:18 AM) The death toll from massive avalanches that blocked a mountain pass north of Kabul soared to 157, as hundreds more remained trapped in their snowbound vehicles, Afghan officials said today. Rescuers have recovered 157 bodies from the Salang Pass, a key road that connects the Afghan capital with the north, over the past two days, according to the Interior Ministry. The number of dead has more than doubled from the 64 reported yesterday, as rescue teams scrambled to reach survivors. About 2,600 people have been successfully rescued so far, and 1.5 miles of road have been cleared for ambulances, bulldozers and other road-clearing equipment. Some 400 police, along with 100 local volunteers, have been involved in the frantic effort to dig out survivors in the last 24 hours. Rescuers reached dozens more of the stranded this morning, including seven children whose mother had died.

(Feb 16, 2020 3:29 PM) The start of the Daytona 500 was delayed by an unexpected rain shower that began moments after President Trump and his motorcade finished a ceremonial parade lap Sunday. Trump's limousine nicknamed the beast exited Daytona International Speedway, and the 40 drivers were expected to begin the race moments later. Instead, the sky opened for a brief shower and drivers returned to pit road. The start already had been pushed back 13 minutes to accommodate Trump's trip, just the second time a sitting president has attended the Daytona 500, the AP reports. Trump made a dramatic entrance hours earlier, setting off a raucous celebration at the famed track. Thousands cheered as Air Force One performed a flyover and landed at Daytona International Airport a few hundred yards behind the track. Trump's motorcade arrived a few minutes later, prompting another loud ovation.

(Mar 6, 2008 8:32 AM) An ever-weakening dollar, an unexpected drop in US crude oil reserves, and a Wednesday OPEC decision not to boost production helped spur oil to a record $105.96 a barrel, Bloomberg reports. It's the third record this week, and the dollar's $1.5345 against the euro is the lowest level its reached since the euro was introduced in 1999. The market is still focused on the weakness of the dollar, said one analyst. It's going to take more signs of demand destruction around the world before oil stops gaining on the dollar.'' Oil supplies in the US are at record levels, and analysts had expected more good news for the eighth straight week in the form of a 2.4 million barrel increase. Instead, the Energy Department said supplies dropped 3.06 million barrels.

(Nov 21, 2020 5:10 PM) President Trump hit the links Saturday as G20 leaders grappled with the pandemic and America logged a record 198,500 new daily infections, the Guardian reports. The G20 summit's online Pandemic Preparedness event featured leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who apparently heard Trump speak before he played golf. I look forward to working with you again for a long time, he told them in audio obtained by the Observer. He also touted an earlier claim that his Operation Warp Speed funded the world's first two successful COVID-19 vaccines, though it only backed Moderna's, not Pfizer's partnership with the German company BioNTech. Politico reports that Trump also said he wants Americans to receive the first vaccinations--a stance contradicted by health experts and some world leaders, who say the elderly and front-line health workers should take priority. Trump also appeared to show disinterest in the event by tweeting about his election battles a few minutes after the summit's scheduled 8am start time, per Forbes. The president left the White House for the Trump National Golf Course at 10am and faced a mix of hecklers and supporters as he began the 298th golf trip of his presidency. Media reports are highlighting his pledge to work with the G20 for a long time despite his loss to Joe Biden by at least 6 million votes and a 306-232 margin in the Electoral College. (See the latest on his election-fraud claims.)

(Jun 9, 2011 9:31 AM CDT) The News of the World hacking scandal just got even more royal: Kate Middleton was a victim. But it was her bank account, not her phone, that was hacked, so the incident falls outside Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard's phone hacking investigation. Middleton's account was allegedly accessed in 2005 by Jonathan Rees, a private detective who had worked for Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid, the Telegraph reports. Rees also targeted Tony Blair and other high-profile victims, a member of parliament told the House of Commons yesterday. The MP wants the phone hacking inquiry expanded, and the Metropolitan Police force is considering investigating the new allegations. Rees was hired by NOTW first in the 1990s and again in 2004, after serving prison time for a drug conspiracy charge, but the tabloid's parent company notes that Rees worked for a number of other newspapers as well. Click for much more on Rees's alleged crimes in the Guardian.

(Oct 30, 2018 9:45 AM CDT) A 20-year-old woman in South Carolina whose newborn died at a medical facility is now in trouble with the law because of the child's father: the same as her own. Police in Laurens County say James Travis Brown, 38, and daughter Katlyn Lauren Edwards were in a consensual and mutual relationship when Edwards became pregnant, reports the State. Both now face incest charges. Deputies say they uncovered the relationship while investigating an alleged sexual abuse incident passed along by social services. It is beyond my comprehension how this could take place between a father and daughter, says Sheriff Don Reynolds in a news release. At this time, I can't confirm the baby died from complications related to incest, however we wonder if that's the case. Edwards already has been booked on the charges, and Brown will be once he's out of jail on unrelated charges in another county, per People. (In another case, a girl given up for adoption tracked down her biological parents, only to be impregnated by her father.)

(Nov 23, 2020 9:50 AM) The US is making General Motors recall and repair nearly 6 million big pickup trucks and SUVs equipped with potentially dangerous Takata air bag inflators, per the AP. The decision announced Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will cost the automaker an estimated $1.2 billion, about one-third of its net income this year. Drivers can check to see if their vehicles have been recalled by going to www.nhtsa.gov/recalls and keying in their 17-digit vehicle identification number. The company has 30 days to give NHTSA a proposed schedule for notifying vehicle owners and starting the recall. GM had petitioned the agency four times starting in 2016 to avoid a recall, contending the air bag inflator canisters have been safe on the road and in testing.

(Apr 18, 2013 1:37 PM CDT) After holding steady from 2000 through 2005, the US infant mortality rate dropped 12% from 2005 through 2011, according to a new CDC report. In 2011, the rate was 6.05 deaths of babies less than a year old for every 1,000 births, down from 6.87 in 2000. Premature births also have been dropping since 2006, and many hospitals and other organizations have been working to prevent mothers from scheduling deliveries before 39 weeks without a valid medical reason. Researchers say both those factors likely contributed to the drop in the infant mortality rate, the New York Times reports.

(Nov 29, 2012 10:53 AM) New York City's attempts at housing the more than 1,000 people who still remain homeless following Hurricane Sandy aren't exactly praised in today's Wall Street Journal, which paints a picture of vacant hotel rooms and cramped accommodations. It was able to access documents that showed the city has been paying for 120 rooms at a Midtown hotel that haven't been used since mid-month. The $295 nightly rate has translated into a nearly $1 million tab for the empty rooms, which the city says FEMA will ultimately pay. City officials say some of the seemingly vacant rooms are actually a buffer that will allow them to house more people immediately if needed. But to have families crammed into hotel rooms that were meant for tourists and don't provide a proper way to store and prepare food is far from ideal, says one legal expert. And the Journal notes that some of the homeless are now in their third or fourth housing situation since the storm, and are struggling with the lack of kitchen and inability to afford restaurant meals. But while a federal official working with FEMA calls NYC's approach unusual, he does note that disaster zones more typically have wide open spaces suited for temporary housing.

(Apr 14, 2014 1:47 PM CDT) An Army general has upheld Private Chelsea Manning's conviction and 35-year prison sentence for giving reams of classified US government information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, the Army said today. The approval by Maj. Gen. Jeffery Buchanan, commander of the Military District of Washington, clears the way for an automatic appeal of the case to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals. Manning's appellate lawyers said yesterday that they expect their appeal to focus on issues including alleged misuse of the Espionage Act. The 26-year-old native of Crescent, Okla., was sentenced in August for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses. Buchanan, as commander of the jurisdiction in which the trial was held, had the option of approving or reducing the court-martial findings. Manning is serving her sentence at Fort Leavenworth; her lawyer says that with good behavior, she could be released as early as February 2020.

(Mar 1, 2011 1:46 PM) Florida Democrats are having fun with an AP story noting that the Republican president of the state senate got the princely sum of $152,000 to write a book on politics for Brevard Community College. The kicker is that only one copy of Florida Legislative History and Processes exists--at the college's administration office. The AP also dug up emails suggesting a sweetheart deal: college administrators thought it would be wise to keep the well-connected senator, Mark Haridopolos, in its good graces. Haridopolos tells the Tampa Bay Times that his book is worthwhile and that it's easy to pull excerpts of any work to make it sound silly. (One widely commented upon snippet from his book advises that a cell phone will be essential for office-seekers.) I think as you read the whole book, you can see what it's like to run for office and to be in office, he says. That's the goal of the book, and to give some context to what committee chairman do, the process, and the political history of Florida.

(Oct 9, 2009 2:40 PM CDT) In a move ripped right from the McDonald's playbook, YouTube's logo today comes with the tag 1 billion views per day! That's right, YouTube now gets well over a billion views a day, according to the site's official blog. Sure, execs are bragging, writes Stan Schroeder of Mashable, but one has to admit they have a lot to brag about.

(Oct 23, 2015 8:50 AM CDT) Martin Shkreli has been hemming and hawing about dropping the price of his company's toxoplasmosis drug since he raised it 5,000% in August, but it may be a moot point: A San Diego drug compounding company is now offering its own version of pyrimethamine for $1 a pill, a far cry from the $750 a pill Shkreli's Turing Pharmaceuticals has been charging for Daraprim, the San Diego Tribune reports. Imprimis Pharmaceuticals also plans on taking on other companies jacking the price up on meds in niche markets with little or no competition, Imprimis CEO Mark Baum tells the AP. While we respect Turing's right to charge patients and insurance companies whatever it believes is appropriate, there may be more cost-effective compounded options for medications such as Daraprim, Baum says in a press release. The Imprimis version of pyrimethamine is combined with leucovorin, a type of folic acid cancer patients take to alleviate chemo's effects, the Tribune notes. There's one caveat, per Baum: The drug's combined form doesn't have FDA approval (which can take years), though the individual ingredients do. As such, the only way the formulation can be legally obtained is via a doctor's prescription for the compound, per Reuters. By avoiding the long FDA approval process--and the millions of dollars that would need to go into that--Imprimis can keep costs low and actually turn a significant profit, the Tribune adds. The company's new Imprimis Cares division will oversee the generic drugs it creates, Baum says, adding, This is the tip of the iceberg. (Does this mean Bernie Sanders would accept a donation from Baum?)

(Dec 9, 2011 7:13 AM) The family of Robert Levinson has released a video in which the missing ex-FBI agent pleads for help from the US government. In the video, Levinson urges Washington to help him answer the requests of the group that has held me for three and a half years, without indicating who that group is, or what those requests might be. Please help me get home, he says. Thirty-three years of service to the United States deserves something. Levinson went missing in Iran in March 2007 while investigating cigarette smuggling as a private investigator. Earlier this year his family said they had proof he was alive, which may have been this video. The family received the video last November, and sources tell the New York Times that its release a full year later indicates that the government's search for Levinson is going poorly. The video is accompanied by a message from Levinson's wife and one of his sons, who beg his captors to reveal their demands.

(Aug 22, 2011 8:58 AM CDT) Skype has purchased group text-messaging firm GroupMe in a deal worth somewhere between $50 million and $100 million. The startup will remain independent but will likely play a major role in Skype's mobile and social arenas. It's a big success for the year-old firm, writes Ben Popper for BetaBeat, who notes two sources pegged the deal at $75 million and $85 million, respectively. And it's not just a big win for GroupMe and our amazing investors, but also for New York City, notes the GroupMe blog. As part of the deal, GroupMe will remain in New York, team intact, working on our standalone application. The major difference will be that we will now have access to Skype's 175 million monthly connected users. It's a good deal for the buyer, too, Popper notes: Skype arguably picked the best of breed to help it conquer the mobile market. Meanwhile, the company's founders are getting titles at Microsoft, which acquired Skype earlier this year.

(Nov 12, 2017 7:00 AM) A 1-year-old girl is dead in Tennessee after, police say, her 3-year-old brother accidentally shot and killed her. Memphis police say Shawn Moore, 25, put the girl, Robbin Keefer, in bed with his gun, the AP reports. Witnesses heard a gunshot Friday morning and found the girl had been shot. She was pronounced dead at a hospital. Moore, who police say initially fled the scene, turned himself in and has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, possessing a handgun as a convicted felon, and tampering with evidence.

(Oct 8, 2009 11:31 AM CDT) A Massachusetts medical examiner has ruled the death of a 100-year-old nursing home patient a homicide by strangulation. Elizabeth Barrow was found dead in her room Sept. 24, with a plastic bag over her head and no obvious signs of struggle, a law enforcement source tells the Standard-Times of New Bedford. After the autopsy ruled out out suicide, a police rep says, an open, ongoing investigation is under way. Barrow's son couldn't fathom why someone would kill the retired school cafeteria worker. She loved the nursing home. She had a lot of friends there, he said. I hope someone gives me some answers.

(May 1, 2008 1:45 PM CDT) The US Hispanic population is booming, driven more by a high birth rate among those already in the country than immigration, the Census Bureau says. Since 2000, Latinos have jumped from 12.6% to more than 15% of the total population--swelling their numbers to 45.5 million from 35.7 million. If you close the borders tomorrow, there is still going to be a large Hispanic increase, a demographer tells the Wall Street Journal. The increase--half of the US population growth during that span--is affecting the political landscape, how products are marketed, and the health of the economy, the Journal notes. By 2050, the data suggest, Hispanics will hit 31% of the working-age population. If you are pro-economic growth, you must be pro-immigration and pro-Hispanic, a banker observes, because we don''t have the workers.

(Apr 3, 2009 4:17 PM CDT) The death toll from today's shooting rampage in Binghamton, NY, is now 14, law-enforcement officials said in an afternoon press conference. The gunman, who's been identified as Jiverly Voong, 42, of nearby Johnson City, killed himself inside the immigrant-services center following a hostage standoff, and there was no word on a motive. The shooting spree began about 10am at the government building, ABC News adds. Voong backed his car up to the building's rear door, apparently to keep people from escaping, before entering through the front door. Police removed two people in handcuffs during the standoff as a precaution, but they apparently had no connection to the shooter.

(Jan 11, 2009 3:21 PM) Determined to read more this year? Critic and columnist Sarah Weinman may be able to help, if her standard doesn't intimidate: She plowed through 462 titles last year. I read a page not necessarily word by word, she tells the Los Angeles Times, but by capturing pages in sequence in my head. The words and phrases appear diagonally, like I'm absorbing the text all in one gulp. Weinman says she's tried to read slower, but her natural reading rhythm is freakishly fast. She retains characters more than plot, and enjoys the electric charge as I read the text and 'hear' the voices in great books. Roberto Bolano's 2666 achieved such heights, but many titles last year were mediocre or forgettable, and if I hadn't been on a subway or captive on a plane or a train, I might not have finished them.

(Jan 17, 2014 8:43 AM) If flying seems like an increasingly expensive option, you're not imagining things. Airfares rose for the fourth straight year in 2013, bringing the average domestic ticket, with tax, up to $363.42, according to an AP analysis of travel data. That's up 2% on the year and 12% above the recession-fueled 2009 low. What's more, flights are getting more crowded as airlines kill off unprofitable routes and merge flights. Anyone traveling today will know that those flights are full, says an executive for a company that handles ticket transactions for sites like Orbitz. Just through supply and demand, those fares will go up. Rick Seaney at USA Today expects the trend to be even more pronounced this year, with fares rising 4% to 5.5% before all is said and done. He advises buying tickets three-and-a-half months in advance for domestic flights, and definitely no later than 21 days before departure.

(May 27, 2015 6:44 AM CDT) Authorities say a third body has been pulled from the Blanco River that crested three times above flood stage during relentless storms in Central Texas. That brings to 13 the number of people killed by the holiday weekend storms in Texas; another four were killed in Oklahoma, reports the AP. Hays County officials say 11 people remain missing in the area, including eight people who were in a vacation home that was swept away and slammed into a bridge downstream early Sunday. KVUE talked to the sister of Laura McComb, who was in the home along with her husband and two kids, Andrew, 6, and Leighton, 4. Shortly after midnight, [Laura] called me, she said 'I'm in a house. I'm floating down the river. Tell Mom and Dad I love you and pray,' says Julie Shields. Husband Jonathan McComb was found alive on a river bank miles from the home; he suffered a broken rib and sternum and a collapsed lung. Shields says he was holding hands with his family when the house, which sat atop stilts, slammed into a bridge and ... broke in two, separating them. When you hit a bridge moving at 35 to 40mph on the river, it's equivalent to a 70mph head-on collision, Hays County Judge Bert Cobb tells the AP. A heart-wrenching quote from Shields: I think recognizing ... what's happening with the weather, we all know and we have accepted that they're gone. Jonathan appears to be the only one of the nine vacationing in the home to have survived. Also missing from the home: homeowners Ralph and Sue Carey and their daughter, Michelle Charba, who was with her husband and 4-year-old son, reports NBC News.

(Jan 12, 2010 9:23 PM) Opponents of gay marriage painted homosexuals as perverts in the 2008 campaign to outlaw the institution in California, one of several ways in which the forces behind Proposition 8 leaned heavily on history in making their arguments, a court in San Francisco heard today. Lawyers seeking to overturn the ban also called a professor who likened the arguments to those against interracial marriage and equal rights for wives. Much like those who would ban gay marriage, opponents of interracial marriage in past centuries argued that, if the practice became legal, the institution would be degraded, their own marriages would be devalued, Harvard professor Nancy Cott testified. Later in the day, Yale's George Chauncey said that, in advertisements for Prop 8, You have a pretty strong echo of this idea that simple exposure to gay people and their relationships is somehow going to lead a whole generation of young kids to become gay --much like similar campaigns in the 1950s and '70s.

(Feb 4, 2011 12:45 PM) The New York Mets' two owners, along with their businesses and families, made some $300 million in fictitious profits from Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme--putting them among its top beneficiaries, says a lawsuit unsealed today. The Mets withdrew some $90 million from the team's 16 accounts with Madoff, and the money was used for day-to-day expenses, the Wall Street Journal reports. Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz were simply in too deep--having substantially supported their businesses with Madoff money--to do anything but ignore the gathering clouds, says the suit, filed in December under seal by Irving Picard, the trustee recovering victims' money. The two men categorically reject the charges. While they may make for good headlines, they are abusive, unfair and untrue, they said in a statement. We should not be made victims twice over--the first time by Madoff, and again by the Trustee's actions.

(Mar 11, 2016 2:30 AM) A bald eagle mass murder? The US Fish and Wildlife Service says it has tested 13 bald eagles found dead near a Maryland farm last month and concluded that they were killed by humans, NBC News reports. An agency spokeswoman tells the Baltimore Sun that avian influenza and other diseases were ruled out in the state's biggest die-off of the birds in at least 30 years, and the investigation is now focused on human causes and bringing the offenders to justice. The birds showed no sign of trauma and the Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman says investigators know how they died, but that information will not be released to avoid compromising the investigation. Bald eagles are a protected species and the reward leading to the culprits in this case has been raised to $25,000.

(Aug 21, 2013 9:30 AM CDT) Bradley Manning has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for his infamous leaking activities, according to multiple reports. He will also be dishonorably discharged and forfeit all pay and allowances, the Guardian reports. Manning will get credit for the time he's already spent in jail, which amounts to 1,294 days, or 3.55 years. His sentence falls short of the 60 years the government had sought, according to CNN, but the defense had wanted a 25-year term. Manning will be eligible for parole after serving a third of the sentence, the AP points out. The entire hearing lasted less than two minutes, with the judge, Col. Denise Lind, declining to explain the reasoning behind her sentence. Manning showed no visible emotion. As he was led from the courtroom, supporters shouted, You're our hero, and We'll keep fighting for you, Bradley. Defense attorneys had fought for a sentence that allows him to have a life, the Verge reports, while prosecutors had argued that a lengthy sentence would deter others. He betrayed the United States, one prosecutor said yesterday, and for that betrayal he deserves to spend the majority of his remaining life in confinement.

(Oct 10, 2008 6:28 PM CDT) The finance ministers of the world's economic leaders vowed to stem the financial bleeding in international markets today after stocks plummeted yet again, Reuters reports. Reacting to pleas from investors, the IMF, and several other countries, the G7 reps pledged urgent and exceptional action to free up credit and money markets. Meanwhile, Washington confirmed that it will use bailout money to purchase stakes in US banks, the Washington Post reports. The G7 ministers promised that their plan will keep vital institutions afloat and make sure banks can raise capital, but the statement they released after North American markets closed was light on specifics. Their pledge comes after other moves, including interest rate cuts, cash injections, and the $700 billion American bailout plan, have failed to reassure investors. It all depends on whether the governments can get a grip on this, a US portfolio manager said.

(Sep 17, 2015 11:33 AM CDT) Amazon is crossing its screen-swiping fingers that its newest offering will hit what a company senior VP calls the sweet spot, the consumption of media, announcing its new 7-inch Fire tablet for $50--and a six-pack for $250, essentially giving the purchaser one tablet free, USA Today reports. Also out from Amazon today: 8-inch ($150) and 10-inch ($230) Fire HD tablets, as well as an updated kid's tablet ($100) and new versions of Fire TV ($100; $130 for the gaming model). Built into all the new tablets is Amazon's OS 5 (aka Bellini), which the company's senior manager of Fire tablets calls Amazon's biggest redesign ever, per PC World. The new OS includes the Word Runner reading program, designed to help consumers speed-read by showing words one at a time in the center of the screen (it sounds odd, but here's a neat video demo). What makes the company's tablet push somewhat unexpected is that it hasn't exactly been a leader in that market: Per IDC data cited by Fortune, Amazon didn't even break into the top five of worldwide tablet vendors in the second quarter of 2015, and sales of the iPad put out by competitor Apple have declined as of late. But with the new OS' splashy interface and instant-download features for Amazon Prime members, Amazon hopes to not only steal some of Apple's thunder, but also lure more consumers to its online store, the AP notes. Those hoping to beat the Black Friday crowd for the adult-sized tablets can pre-order starting today and expect shipments to start Sept. 30, per USA Today. (Meanwhile, Apple's got a new ... pencil.)

(Apr 11, 2017 3:07 AM CDT) Donald Trump Jr., rumored to be eyeing a move to follow his father's footsteps into politics, will not be a candidate for governor of New York next year but is not ruling out a possible run for office in the future. The younger Trump, in an interview Monday with the AP, categorically denied any speculation that he might challenge incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo. I am not running in 2018, Trump said in his first public comments about a possible candidacy next year. But he acknowledged having been bitten by the politics bug and said that he could consider a future run for office. Maybe someday, he said. It's not something I'm doing now. But you never know, it's fascinating stuff. The political future of Trump Jr.--who, along with his brother Eric, has taken the helm of the Trump Organization--has been the subject of speculation since he played a very active role in his father's campaign. His well-received speech at the Republican National Convention electrified conservative circles and sparked talk that he might run for mayor of New York City. Trump Jr. quashed that idea on Monday. People keep asking me: when are you running for mayor? he said. Well, I'm not. If I was, New York City mayor is much less interesting to me than perhaps other things like governor of a state. That's not saying I'm running. It's just saying that, hey, if I ever did something, I'd probably be more interested in something like that.

(Feb 15, 2015 11:37 AM) Apparently a lot of you hate-watched Fifty Shades of Grey this Valentine's Day weekend: The Jamie Dornan-Dakota Johnson S&M flick, which was widely panned as boring, pulled down $81.7 million in its first three days, reports the AP, and could be on track for $90 million-plus over the four-day weekend. It was, as Deadline reports, the biggest Presidents Day weekend opening ever. Some 82% of those who turned out on its opening night were female, adds Deadline. Meanwhile, Fifty Shades is doing even better internationally, where it's set to earn $158.3 million.

(Mar 13, 2011 5:35 PM CDT) Judith Soal has no problem admitting she was looking for fireworks. When she signed up to participate in a 10-day silent retreat in Gujarat, India, she was expecting a meditative explosion, hoping to see colors, or experience supreme bliss, as others have, she writes for the Guardian. But five hours into day one, I am already experiencing misgivings. She's to wake up at 4am each day; from there, I can't make eye contact with my fellow meditators, or read, write, listen to music, exercise or do just about anything except sit here on the floor. If the silence sounds bad, the pain is worse. No amount of meditation I've done before could prepare me for sitting on the floor for 10-and-a-half hours a day. I try everything: more cushions, fewer cushions, to no avail. Days two through six are supposed to be the worst, but when day seven arrives, it's hellish. As well as the pain, there is the boredom. It is just me and my daydreams, which are embarrassingly transparent. By now I know my search has failed. But everything changes on day 8, when an out-of-body euphoria hits. She's excited to talk about the sensation, only to be told by a handful of people, That's not what it's about. And Soal realizes that's right. Sensation-seeking is the very antithesis of meditation. It is not about the colours or the bliss; rather it's about strengthening the muscle that helps build resilience.

(Jul 27, 2018 3:54 PM CDT) Everybody was flabbergasted that a little girl like me could fly these big airplanes all by oneself, Mary Ellis said at her 100th birthday party last year in Britain. But fly them she did, delivering British Spitfires and other warplanes to the front lines during World War II, reports the New York Times. Ellis' story--which the 5-foot-2 aviator chronicled in her Spitfire Girl autobiography--is getting attention again this week because of her death at 101 at home on the Isle of Wright. Ellis estimates that she flew 1,000 planes during the war as a volunteer with Britain's Air Transport Auxiliary, reports the BBC. Only three other female ATA pilots are believed to survive now. Remarkably, most of their missions were flown solo and without compass or radio assistance, notes the Washington Post. Ellis' 2016 memoir recounts a flight in which a German fighter plane flew near her. With one hand I waved at this pilot to move away and get out of my sight, she wrote. I can picture his grinning face now. Then he cheekily waved back again and again--and then suddenly he was gone. I wondered if it was my blonde curls that caused him to stare as I never ever wore a helmet during my whole career with the ATA. What was the point of a helmet when we couldn't speak to anyone? It didn't do much for the hairstyle either. Ellis took flying lessons as a teenager but flew for pleasure until hearing a radio ad in 1941 looking for ATA volunteers. She signed up and flew through the entire war.

(Feb 22, 2018 3:19 AM) The last person to see missing Kansas 5-year-old Lucas Hernandez has been arrested on charges of child endangerment. Police in Wichita say 26-year-old Emily Glass, the boy's stepmother, was taken into custody Wednesday and the case is now a criminal investigation, CBS reports. Deputy Chief Gavin Seiler says Glass allegedly endangered both Lucas and a 1-year-old child. Lucas' great-grandmother tells the Wichita Eagle that the boy told her during a family visit long before the disappearance that he didn't like his stepmother because she was mean to him and had once kicked him and dragged him across a room. Records seen by the Eagle show that police were called to Lucas' home for domestic violence incidents involving Glass and the boy's father, Jonathan Hernandez, several times over the last few years. Police say Glass reported Lucas missing around 6:15pm Saturday, saying she had last seen him around 3pm, before she took a nap. Police say there is still hope he will be found alive. Lucas is the sweetest, softest-hearted, kindest little kid I ever met, his father tells KAKE. I'm so proud to be able to be his father. I miss him very much. I love him very much and I just want him to come home.

(May 29, 2018 7:19 AM CDT) The question of what on Earth happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may have to be answered by future generations, if anybody: The search being carried out by American company Ocean Infinity has ended after searching the Indian Ocean seabed for more than three months without a trace of the missing plane, and the Malaysian government says there are no plans for new searches, the BBC reports. Malaysia's new transport minister, Anthony Loke, recently said he wants to give up the search for the plane and seek closure, though new deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has said further searches are a possibility if new findings arise from a fresh look at Malaysian information on the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board, the Guardian reports. Families of the missing passengers and crew members say they feel betrayed by the apparent end of the search--especially since Ocean Infinity was searching for the aircraft on a no-find, no-fee basis and had offered to continue the search next year as long as Malaysia promised to pay up to $70 million if it found the aircraft. Ocean Infinity chief executive Oliver Plunkett says the company has searched more than 43,000 square miles of ocean floor and he hopes they are able to continue someday, the AP reports. Whilst clearly the outcome so far is extremely disappointing, as a company, we are truly proud of what we have achieved both in terms of the quality of data we've produced and the speed with which we covered such a vast area, he says. (In their final report last year, Australian investigators said the mystery was almost inconceivable. )

(Oct 19, 2009 6:23 PM CDT) A majority of Americans, 57%, support including a public option in health care reform legislation, according to a newly released poll. The public option had the backing of just 52% in a mid-August survey. Forty percent of respondents oppose the public option. And giving people who have no affordable alternatives access to programs run by individual states has the support of a whopping 76% in the Washington Post/ABC News poll. Forty-eight percent of Americans oppose the umbrella measures currently under consideration in Congress, which have the support of 45%--roughly the same as in August. The results divide sharply along party lines, with 70% of Democrats backing health care reform and 90% of Republicans opposing it. Three-quarters of the uninsured support the legislation, compared to 53% of those who currently have insurance.

(Oct 6, 2012 3:34 PM CDT) A tour bus from Canada carrying about 60 people bound for New York City overturned on a highway exit ramp in northern New Jersey early today, slid down an embankment, and landed on its side, injuring 23 people on board, authorities said. The driver, who suffered a gash in his arm, told state police that he was cut off by another vehicle, though it was not immediately clear whether that caused the crash around 7:30am on eastbound Interstate 80 in Wayne. Some windows burst during the crash and their frames pinned three people, but they were quickly freed and taken to hospitals with the other injured. The bus had been chartered by a church group. Eight of the injured passengers were admitted in critical condition, hospital spokeswoman Liz Asani said. Further details on their injuries were not disclosed. The rest of the injured, including two young children, were being treated for minor injuries at two other hospitals. State police have said none of the injuries are considered life-threatening.

(Jun 12, 2014 10:52 AM CDT) Tanishq Abraham has modest goals for a 10-year-old--he'd like to cure cancer and become president. Which probably seems realistic to the Sacramento prodigy, because Abraham just became one of the youngest children to ever graduate high school, earning him a letter of congratulations from Barack Obama. It wasn't, like, easy, but it was not that hard either, Abraham tells ABC 10. The way my brain works is that when you give me something, information about that topic comes into my mind. I don't know what it is but that's how it is for me. Abraham became the youngest-ever member of MENSA at age 4--his IQ is in the 99.9th percentile--and he began pestering his mother to let him take college paleontology classes at age 6, Yahoo Shine reports. He's been homeschooled since skipping the first grade, while simultaneously taking courses from American River College. He'll enroll there as a full-time student in September, and expects to have an associate's degree by the end of the fall semester. From there, he hopes to attend Harvard, MIT, or Cornell. Abraham's 8-year-old sister is also in MENSA, making the family almost as impressive as this one.