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(Jul 16, 2008 6:58 AM CDT) Eliot Spitzer's filings for his now-defunct 2010 reelection campaign, released yesterday, included two payments to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington--the site of his infamous trysts with call girls, the New York Times reports. Though it's unclear whether Spitzer himself stayed there, and if so on what nights, misuse of public campaign money is one of the potential charges the former New York governor could face for his participation in a prostitution ring. The payments to the Mayflower were recorded on Jan. 11, 2008. Client 9 had at least two rendezvous with prostitutes at the hotel early in the year, according to an insider. A spokesman for the Spitzer campaign insisted that every single hotel and airline expense in this filing, as in all filings for Spitzer 2010, was for a legitimate campaign purpose.

(Sep 11, 2016 4:40 PM CDT) Alexis Arquette, the actress and transgender activist who was born Robert Arquette and whose transition to female was documented in a 2007 film, died Sunday at age 47, CNN reports. Arquette was surrounded by members of her famous family; her siblings include actors Rosanna, David, and Patricia Arquette. David Arquette reportedly said in February that Alexis no longer identified as transgender and had termed herself gender suspicious, sometimes identifying as a man and sometimes as a woman. Arquette's family confirmed her death, but did not specify a cause. Arquette had appeared in The Wedding Singer and Pulp Fiction, among other films.

(Jan 23, 2008 4:15 AM) The Supreme Court yesterday turned away an appeal from Enron investors seeking to sue banks that loaned the company money, Bloomberg reports. A lower court ruling had blocked the investors from organizing a $40 billion class-action suit against Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and other banks. The investors accused the banks of helping the energy trader disguise debt as loans and financing phony trades. Investors earlier won $7.3 billion in settlements from other Enron banks. The turndown followed last week's Supreme Court ruling that limited shareholder suits against a company's banks and partners. The investors hoped to distinguish their case by showing it came in the context of fraud perpetrated by financial professionals engaged in fraudulent dealings.

(Dec 10, 2018 3:12 AM) A court in Russia's eastern Siberia has convicted a former policeman of murdering 56 women, bringing the number he is believed to have killed to at least 78. The court on Monday found Mikhail Popkov, from the eastern Siberian city of Angarsk, guilty of the murders between 1994 and 2000 and sentenced him to life in prison, the AP reports. Courtroom footage shows him with his head bowed. Popkov, who was arrested in 2012, is already serving life for 22 other killings. The verdict makes him Russia's most prolific serial killer in at least the past century. Local police have for years been investigating murders in the Irkutsk region, where dozens of women were raped and killed in secluded spots. Psychiatric tests run on Popkov have concluded that he is sane. (Authorities say he killed women who were out late at night because he thought they were immoral.

(Jun 6, 2009 2:00 PM CDT) Talk about an eventful life. Bernard Barker, one of the Watergate burglars as well as one of the leaders of the Bay of Pigs invasion, is dead at age 92, the Miami Herald reports. Barker worked for the CIA as a protege of Howard Hunt, flew bombers in WWII, served time as a POW, and even had to fend off rumors that he had a role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Barker served 18 months in prison for the Watergate burglary. His Cuban sympathies (Barker's parents were Cuban) and Bay of Pigs role (he led a brigade and flew with the would-be new president) made him a favorite target of JFK assassination conspiracists, who note that the mission failed because JFK withheld air support. It's not true, his daughter said. But he always suspected that Castro was involved.

(Jun 27, 2014 1:16 PM CDT) Actor LeVar Burton's campaign to make Reading Rainbow available in classrooms has gotten a big push from Seth MacFarlane. The Family Guy creator has pledged to match donations up to $1 million on Burton's Kickstarter page, reports AP. Burton hosted the beloved PBS show until its cancellation in 2006 and subsequently created a tablet app. Now he's looking to raise $5 million to create a web series that teachers can show in the neediest classrooms, explains Time. The fundraising campaign ends on Wednesday.

(Sep 6, 2018 10:40 AM CDT) About 2 million Ford F-150 pickup trucks are being recalled due to an odd problem with seat-belt equipment. Some front seat passenger belt pretensioners can generate excessive sparks when they deploy, causing smoke or fire, Ford says in a press release. The company knows of 23 reports of the issue generating smoke or fire in North America, most of them in the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation last month after learning of five fires, including three that engulfed and destroyed the vehicle, USA Today reports. Regular Cab and SuperCrew Cab F-150 vehicles between the model years 2015 through 2018 are affected; most are still in the US. There are also thousands in Canada and Mexico.

(Aug 6, 2009 3:38 PM CDT) Stocks closed lower today ahead of a July unemployment report due tomorrow, the Wall Street Journal reports. Procter & Gamble weighed on the Dow with a 4.7% decline, over doubts about its sales strategy. The Dow fell 25 points to close at 9,256. The Nasdaq lost 20 points, settling at 1,973, and the S&P 500 shed 6 points to close at 997.

(Aug 18, 2015 9:50 AM CDT) The world's oldest known flower dating back 130 million years is an aquatic species called Montsechia found fossilized in limestone deposits in Spain. But it wouldn't necessarily be recognized as a flower today, given it didn't boast petals or nectar-producing structures. The fruit contains a single seed --thus making it an angiosperm, or flowering plant-- which is borne upside down, says Indiana University paleobotanist David Dilcher, who with colleagues reports these findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The plant thrived in freshwater lakes in what are now Spain's mountainous regions, and while Phys.org reports that the fossils were first discovered more than 100 years ago, the ones used in this study were poorly understood and even misinterpreted when analyzed at earlier points, Dilcher says. One way to spread seed--which in angiosperms is typically done by getting other animals (think bees) or elements (think wind) to carry pollen to other members of the same species--is through water currents. In fact today's descendants of Montsechia, called Ceratophyllum, are found in lakes on every continent, and they behave similarly. Flowers are all about sex, Dilcher tells Newsweek. Right at the start [of angiosperm evolution], this was another method that flowering plants were using for their genetic exchange. Whether Montsechia is the world's oldest flower has yet to be determined, but it is the oldest flower we have found to date, suggesting that angiosperms have their earliest roots in water instead of on land. (Michigan officials are warning about a plant that can blind you.)

(Sep 24, 2015 1:17 AM CDT) A determined 5-year-old girl managed to hand-deliver a plea for help to Pope Francis as his procession passed through Washington. After Sophie Cruz slipped past a barricade, Francis waved away security and had her brought to him, the New York Times reports. They embraced and she handed him a letter asking him to help her Mexican immigrant parents stay in the country. Sophie, a US citizen, was part of a church group from Los Angeles, BuzzFeed reports. She also gave Francis a T-shirt reading, in Spanish, Papa Rescue DAPA, referring to President Obama's stalled plan for deferred deportation. Sophie recited the letter from memory to the Guardian. I want to tell you that my heart is sad and I would like to ask you to speak with the president and the Congress in legalizing my parents, because every day I am scared that one day they will take them away from me, she said. I believe I have the right to live with my parents. I have the right to be happy. All immigrants just like my dad help feed this country. They deserve to live with dignity. They deserve to live with respect. They deserve an immigration reform. (Francis later carried out a controversial canonization of an 18th-century missionary.)

(Feb 19, 2020 9:44 AM) At least 14 people have died and another 500 have fallen ill in Pakistan's largest city and chief commercial hub, where there are reports of a possible gas leak. Officials have offered conflicting reasons for ailments including chest pains, breathing impairments, and burning eyes, which have left many in critical condition in the southern port city of Karachi, reports the New York Times. Some officials suggest soybean dust spread through the air, causing allergic reactions, as it was unloaded from a ship. But others blame a suspected gas leak in the seaside community of Kemari (variously spelled), where all affected people reside, per the AP. Schools and factories have been closed, while operations have been suspended at a nearby oil terminal, where the Environmental Protection Agency of Sindh Province suspects hydrogen sulfide gas has been leaking. But Karachi Port Trust Chairman Jamil Akhtar says all terminals and berths have been checked and there's no sign of a gas or chemical leak, per CNN. The fact that the trust and the province's chemical science lab have cited emissions of methyl bromide, used to fumigate cargo, has only added to the confusion. Area residents held a protest Tuesday over the government's apparent inability to get a handle on the issue, which began Sunday night. One man tells the AP he first had sore eyes. Then my heart started beating suddenly very, very fast. Both he and his son were treated at a hospital. But three days have passed and the gas hasn't been officially identified, the source not officially disclosed, let alone plugged, journalist Omar R. Quraishi tells the Times, which describes rumors of a cover-up. Autopsy reports are expected within 72 hours.

(Jan 8, 2010 2:54 PM) A California doctor was sentenced to 5 years in prison today for seriously injuring two cyclists with his car. Christopher Thompson, 60, was convicted in November of assault with a deadly weapon and other charges for slamming on his brakes after pulling in front of the bicyclists. Judge Scott Millington called the case a wake-up call to cyclists and motorists and noted that Thompson had shown a lack of remorse for his role in the accident--according to a police officer, he said he braked hard to teach them a lesson. The cyclists were thrown into Thompson's rear window; one suffered broken teeth and a broken nose, the other a separated shoulder, the Los Angeles Times reports. Thompson wept in court today, saying, I would like to apologize deeply, profoundly from the bottom of my heart. Millington said the case illustrated a need for more bike lanes and for motorists to be mindful of the vulnerability of bicycle riders.

(Jun 28, 2017 1:15 AM CDT) Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, who starred in the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo films and often played villains in Hollywood movies like John Wick, has died. Nyqvist's representative Jenny Tversky said Tuesday that he died after a year-long battle with lung cancer, the AP reports. He was 56. It is with deep sadness that I can confirm that our beloved Michael, one of Sweden's most respected and accomplished actors, has passed away quietly surrounded by family, Tversky said in a statement on behalf of the family. Nyqvist is best known worldwide for playing Mikael Blomkvist in the Swedish The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series opposite Noomi Rapace. Daniel Craig played the role in the American adaptation. In Hollywood, Nyqvist played a broad range of memorable roles, including the mob boss who terrorizes Keanu Reeves in John Wick and Tom Cruise's foe in Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol. Nyqvist has a number of films on the slate that are yet to come out, including Terrence Malick's World War II drama Radegund and Thomas Vinterberg's Kursk, about the 2000 K-141 Kursk submarine disaster. He is survived by his wife, Catharina, and their children, Ellen and Arthur.

(Jan 20, 2017 9:09 AM) The formalities have begun: President Obama and Michelle Obama greeted Donald and Melania Trump at the White House Friday, and the Bidens similarly greeted the Pences; all four are to head out for the inauguration around 10:30am. The actual swearing-in will take place about noon. See a schedule at CNN.

(NoneDate) Republicans picked up about 680 seats in state legislatures Tuesday, giving them their highest number since 1928. They've flipped 19 chambers in all so far--Democrats have flipped none--including both the House and Senate in Alabama, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. For the first time since Reconstruction, the GOP has a majority of legislators in the South, and for the first time in history, it has a majority in the Minnesota Senate, notes the National Conference of State Legislatures. Results in three states remain undecided. The success by Republicans at the state level could give the GOP a dramatic advantage in the redistricting cycle that will start in just a few short months, writes Tim Storey.

(Dec 8, 2015 1:14 PM) Chipotle's health headaches are growing: About 80 students from Boston College who ate at a local restaurant over the weekend have gotten sick, reports the AP. That total, which includes members of the men's basketball team, more than doubled from Monday's estimate. However, unlike an E. coli outbreak linked to Chipotle that has sickened more than 50 people in nine states, this appears to be something more ordinary--a norovirus. The best guess is that an employee was sick while working on Thursday, say city health officials. Test results on the students won't be out for a few days, and the store remains closed in the meantime as it gets disinfected. The bleak health news is taking a toll on the company's shares, notes Reuters.

(Feb 25, 2014 10:25 AM) Yesterday, Uganda's president made aggravated homosexuality punishable by life in prison; today, a tabloid has printed a list of Ugandans it says are gay. The Red Pepper headline reads, EXPOSED! Uganda's 200 Top Homos Named, per CNN. The AP adds that the list, which was accompanied by some photos, includes some Ugandans who had not identified themselves as gay. Similar lists have previously been published in the country. President Yoweri Museveni yesterday told CNN that gays are disgusting. ... I've been told recently that what they do is terrible, he added. But I was ready to ignore that if there was proof that that's how he is born, abnormal. But now the proof is not there. His comments come after government scientists supposedly found that being gay is learned. Meanwhile, the White House has slammed the new law, and John Kerry says the US is reviewing its ties with Uganda. Ugandan gay rights activist Pepe Julian Onziema-- who is on the list along with a hip-hop star and a priest--claims that people attempted suicide in advance of the new law. They are like, 'I'm not going to live to see this country kill me, so I would rather take my life.'

(Sep 16, 2014 9:29 AM CDT) This year is on track to become the deadliest ever for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea after two heavily loaded boats wrecked in the past week, possibly killing 700 people fleeing Africa for Europe--the same number as died during all of last year. About 500 Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians, and Sudanese are feared dead after their boat was rammed and sunk off the Malta coast last week, the International Organization for Migration, an inter-governmental organization with 156 member countries, said yesterday. Another 200 are feared dead in the wreck of a second boat that was carrying at least 250 African migrants to Europe when it capsized off the Libyan coast. That would raise the total number of migrants killed on the sea in 2014 to about 2,900, according to estimates from the IOM and other officials. The migrants apparently lost off Malta were undertaking a perilous journey from the Egyptian port of Damietta, seeking a better life in Europe, when their boat was overtaken by human traffickers on Wednesday, said IOM spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume. According to IOM's interviews with two survivors from that group, the traffickers rammed the boat carrying the migrants with one of their two vessels. The two survivors, both Palestinians, said there had been a violent confrontation between the migrants and the traffickers when the traffickers tried to move the migrants onto a smaller boat. Berthiaume told the AP the traffickers used one boat to knock the other and that there were about nine known survivors in all. Berthiaume said the other boat capsized yesterday before leaving the coast near the Libyan capital.

(Oct 1, 2009 3:09 PM CDT) Stocks suffered broad declines today after a manufacturing report that failed to meet expectations. That report, combined with worse-than-expected weekly jobless claims, have investors worried ahead of the government's nonfarm payroll report, due tomorrow. The Dow fell 203 points to close at 9,509. The Nasdaq lost 65 points, closing at 2,057, and the S&P 500 fell 27 points to settle at 1,030, the Wall Street Journal reports.

(Aug 24, 2010 5:20 AM CDT) The Egyptian government's head of fine arts has been arrested and accused of negligence in the theft of a $50 million Van Gogh painting. The work, known as Poppy Flowers or Vase With Flowers, was stolen from a Cairo museum during the day over the weekend. None of the alarms and only seven of the museum's 43 cameras were working, the BBC reports. Several other culture ministry officials have also been detained and at least nine others have been barred from traveling abroad while the investigation continues. The painting--which Egyptian authorities mistakenly said had been recovered soon after its theft--is still missing and security forces have stepped up searches at the country's air and sea ports.

(May 11, 2016 11:17 AM CDT) Emojis recently became more diverse, but they're still lacking in representing women in the workforce. There's a flamenco dancer, a ballet dancer, and a princess, but that's about it, author Amy Butcher recently wrote in the New York Times. We are told we are the new generation of American women; no longer a minority, we are, in fact, the majority of breadwinners in American homes. And yet the best we can get is the flamenco. Feminine hygiene products maker Always also highlighted the issue in a viral video. Now, thanks to a team from Google, women may get more selection. The team has created 13 emojis of male and female farmers, chefs, doctors, scientists, and more and submitted them to the Unicode Consortium, which oversees emoji creation, reports BuzzFeed. The proposed emojis are actually created by combining existing icons, notes Gizmodo. To get the female scientist emoji, for example, you'd pair the woman and microscope emojis, while a woman and a fried egg would make a female chef. We believe we can have a larger positive impact by adding 13 new emoji that depict women across a representative sample of professions, the Google team writes in the proposal, per the Verge. We believe this will empower young women (the heaviest emoji users), and better reflect the pivotal roles women play in the world. The team hopes to have the emojis available by the end of the year, and will likely meet that goal; one team member happens to be Unicode's co-founder and president.

(Nov 24, 2018 6:30 AM) Sorry to burst your bubble, but whatever bargain you scored on Black Friday pales in comparison to the deal a man got when he purchased a storage unit in Southern California in October. It's a tale conveyed by Dan Dotson of A&E's Storage Wars, who was the one who actually sold the unit for $500 through his company American Auctioneers, and who learned what happened next when a woman came up to him at a Nov. 1 charity event. She said, 'I just gotta tell you this story, my husband works for a guy that bought a unit from you and there was a safe in there,' Dotson recounts to the Desert Sun. Inside the safe was cash--$7.5 million of it. In a YouTube video in which he explains the story (the original auction wasn't recorded for A&E), he says that when the storage unit's original owners found out it had been sold they reached out to the new owners via a lawyer to make a deal to get their money back, making an initial offer of $600,000. They ended up letting the new owner keep $1.2 million. People does the simple math: that's $1,199,500 in profit on a measly $500 investment. (Another couple recently made a million-dollar discovery.)

(Jan 21, 2015 9:09 AM) With tax time fast approaching, there's a new hoop to jump through: Those without health insurance may be facing ObamaCare penalties for 2014--and for 2015 if they don't nail down coverage by Feb. 15, NPR reports. Those who were uninsured in 2014 may face a tax penalty of either 1% of income or a flat fee of $95 per adult, $47.50 per child under the age of 18 (whichever fee is higher). And anyone who misses the end of the Affordable Care Act's open enrollment on Feb. 15 will be ponying up even greater penalties for 2015: the higher of either 2% of income or $325 per adult, $162.50 for kids under 18. Beyond that, the 2016 penalty will be assessed at 2.5% of income or $695 per person, adjusting every year after that for inflation. Because many people don't think about taxes until the W-2s start trickling in (often at the end of January), there won't be a lot of time for them to consider buying health insurance, NPR notes. And they may still choose not to: About 11% of the uninsured who opt out simply can't afford it, while 27% say it's less expensive to pay the tax penalty than to purchase health insurance, CBS News reports. Tax preparers aren't looking forward to telling the uninsured they're going to have to pay the IRS a little extra, but they're trying to educate consumers about eligibility for regular fee exemptions or hardship exemptions, such as being homeless, having lots of medical debt, or experiencing the death of a loved one. Intuit estimates about 20 million uninsured people are eligible for exemptions, Forbes reports. (Here's further info on new forms that may have to be filed and boxes to be checked.)

(Apr 10, 2013 12:03 AM CDT) For the second time in the space of a few days, a 4-year-old has been involved in a deadly shooting. Police say 6-year-old Brandon Holt of New Jersey died a day after being shot in the head by the other child as their parents stood in a yard nearby, CNN reports. The 4-year-old went into his house and came back with a .22 caliber rifle that discharged accidentally, hitting Brandon from about 15 yards away, authorities say. Prosecutors say it is too early in the investigation to determine whether anybody will be charged in the shooting. I'm sad for the children involved and their families, but I'm angry with whoever owns that gun and allowed a little child to get hold of it. A 4-year-old can't load a gun, a neighbor tells the AP. I had just been telling my sister how nice it is to see kids playing together and enjoying themselves, and then this happens. Over the weekend, a 4-year-old in Tennessee shot and killed a deputy's wife, apparently by accident.

(Oct 31, 2014 3:26 PM CDT) A musician makes her solo debut in a Lincoln Center concert next week, but it's a safe bet you've never heard of her. As Vulture explains, the musician is 97-year-old Emily Kessler, a Holocaust survivor who now lives in New York City. Kessler usually plays in front of seniors in community homes, but the Ukraine native will strum her mandolin at the home of the New York Philharmonic and sing folk songs as part of a fundraiser for fellow Holocaust survivors. As a teenage widow, she managed to evade the Nazis with two young children in tow thanks in part to the help of strangers. But she watched her parents and her brother get shot. It makes you forget the bitterness of the life, the unfairness, and the cruelty of everything, Kessler says of her pastime. Music is not cruel. It's always peace and love.

(Jul 13, 2014 6:27 AM CDT) As Americans grow ever larger, clothing stores like J. Crew are offering ever smaller sizes--and the retailer insists it's due to actual demand. Just not from Americans. In response to the controversy that ensued this week after the chain started offering size 000, a spokesperson explained to Today, We are simply addressing the demand coming from Asia for smaller sizes than what we had carried. The company isn't the first to cater to this petite population--Nicole Miller introduced a size 0 for a 25 1/2-inch waist 15 years ago due to demand from Asian customers in California, reports Time--but it's worth noting that only those with a 23-inch waist will fit into a J. Crew 000. Something called vanity sizing may also be at play--meaning sizing goes down even while the average woman is growing larger. Today, the average American woman is 5'4 and 155 pounds, which is 20 pounds heavier than in the 1970s, so she should be in a size 16--but vanity sizing puts her in a 10 or 12 instead, Newsweek explained a few years ago when subzero sizing first started popping up. Fashion blog Racked notes that J. Crew's new '000' is the equivalent of a size 32 in Italy, 1 in Japan, and 0 in Australia. As far as J. Crew is concerned, it's an XXXS, i.e., smaller than an XS (size 0) or an XXS (size 00). (Forget vanity sizing --have you heard of slimming underwear ? If so, maybe think twice before buying a pair...)

(Nov 7, 2011 1:31 PM) A new analysis by the Pew Research Center shows a widening age gap when it comes to wealth: In 2009, a typical household headed by an adult aged 65 or older had 47 times more net wealth than its counterpart headed by someone younger than 35. That's a median of $170,494 versus $3,662. In 1984, that gap was $120,457 versus $11,521--a 10-to-one ratio--but between 1984 and 2009, wealth was rising for households headed by older adults while falling for households headed by younger adults. Though an age gap is to be expected, since wealth typically increases as people age, this gap is the largest in the 25 years the government has collected these data. Why? The housing bubble is a big reason--as home equity has increased for many older households that bought before the bubble, it has decreased for many younger ones that bought during its height. Rising college loan debt is another factor, as is employment: Younger people have been entering the labor market later in life, while older people have simultaneously continued to work until later in life. Click for the full report, or check out another reason now is a terrible time to be a young man.

(Feb 5, 2013 7:23 AM) The US was far from alone in its controversial counterterror practices after 9/11: More than a quarter of the world's countries helped the agency, a new report says. Some partners hosted secret interrogation prisons; some arrested suspects; others let the CIA refuel its planes at their airports, the New York Times reports. The moral cost of these programs was borne not just by the US but by the 54 other countries it recruited to help, says Amrit Singh, who wrote the Open Society Justice Initiative report. The document contains the longest list yet of those detained or transferred by the CIA: some 136 people. The report describes extraordinary rendition, in which prisoners are denied legal procedures as they're moved between countries. Some were shipped to countries that regularly torture prisoners, the Times notes. Countries involved ranged from Pakistan and Afghanistan to the UK and Spain, the Guardian notes; even Iran and Syria lent a hand, with Syria one of the most common destinations for rendered suspects. But former CIA boss Michael Hayden recently pointed to double standards: We are often put in a situation where we are bitterly accused of not doing enough to defend America when people feel endangered, he said. And then as soon as we've made people feel safe again, we're accused of doing too much.

(Sep 16, 2015 6:23 AM CDT) Ahmed Mohamed says it took him only 20 minutes to build the homemade clock: he wired a circuit board and power supply to a digital display and stuffed the device into a pencil case before bed on Sunday. The next day, the 14-year-old freshman at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas--a member of his middle school robotics club who makes radios and repairs his own go-kart--showed his creation to his engineering teacher, hoping to impress him, per the Dallas Morning News. He was like, 'That's really nice,' but said not to show the clock to other teachers, Ahmed says. When it beeped during another lesson, however, Ahmed revealed his invention to a teacher, who told him it looked like a bomb. Soon, Ahmed tells NBC Dallas police officers arrived, questioned him, then cuffed him and led him to police headquarters for fingerprints, mugshots, and an interrogation. Officers, who took the clock and Ahmed's tablet, tell USA Today Ahmed was being passive aggressive during questioning, and though he maintained the device was a clock, couldn't provide a reasonable answer for why he had it. I brought something to school that wasn't a threat to anyone. I didn't do anything wrong, Ahmed says, adding he was denied a phone call to his father and his surname was repeatedly mentioned by officers. I think this wouldn't even be a question if his name wasn't Ahmed Mohamed, says a rep for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is investigating, per the BBC. He just wants to invent good things for mankind, Ahmed's father adds. But because his name is Mohamed and because of Sept. 11, I think my son got mistreated. Ahmed was released to his parents and suspended from school for three days. Police say they may still press charges of making a hoax bomb.

(Sep 10, 2010 5:10 PM CDT) A 67-year-old Wyoming man managed to get two DUIs in one night, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. Albert Metz Jr. posted his bond and was released about 2 hours after the first arrest--the county has always allowed it--then got pulled over again for blowing a stop sign about 25 minutes later (right outside the jail). His blood-alcohol level had dipped from .087 to .061, but was still over the limit. His comment to the second officer sums it up: Oh, don't tell me. Jesus Christ, this can't be happening to me.

(Jun 19, 2017 6:04 PM CDT) A homeowner outside Pittsburgh, Penn., has a rather jolting daily reminder of a construction mistake he made nearly 13 years ago. CBS Pittsburgh reports that Jerry Lynn of Ross Township accidentally dropped an alarm clock between the walls during a home improvement project in the fall of 2004. Though it's been 13 years, the clock beeps every evening at 6:50pm (unless it's daylight saving time, when the beeping starts an hour later). Back in 2004, Lynn set the alarm for 10 minutes later, then lowered the clock through a second-floor vent via a string. The plan was for the alarm to go off, once lowered to the first floor, as a signal for where Lynn needed to drill a hole through his living room wall for a TV hookup. Instead, the clock detached from the string, leaving Ross unable to lift it back through the vent. As I was laying it down, all of a sudden I heard it go 'thunk' as it came loose, he says, adding that he figured maybe three, four months, it'll run out of battery. But the clock has been ticking faithfully since, with a distinctive beep that can be heard in CBS Pittsburgh's video around the :25 second mark. Though the Lynn family has grown accustomed to the daily alarm, Jerry's wife Sylvia told CBS Pittsburgh that it still throws off guests. It starts with a soft 'beep, beep, beep, beep,' and it gets louder and closer together. And that will set people like, 'What is that?'

(Oct 29, 2015 1:12 AM CDT) A gunman shot three people and terrified hundreds more when he opened fire at a mall in Indianapolis Wednesday night. Police believe the incident was the result of a dispute between the gunman and one of the victims, not a random mass shooting, reports the Indianapolis Star. Police say the suspect entered the Washington Square Mall and opened fire on a man he apparently knew near a Target store. Two women, apparently bystanders, were also shot and all three victims were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. This could have been a mall, a park, the gas station, a police spokesman says, per the AP. This could have been anywhere that these two individuals ran into each other. The gunman has not been apprehended and police have not released a description of him or a possible second suspect. Witnesses tell WTHR that there was chaos in the mall after 10 or 11 shots rang out. A man who ran to safety with his 3-year-old son says he saw two of the victims fall to the ground. You could tell they were shot. So didn't nobody have time to go back and see if they're okay, because when you hear a gunshot, your first instinct is to run, he says. A woman who had entered Target minutes before the shooting tells the Star that after the shots, someone started screaming, 'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.' Then it was just deafeningly quiet.

(Sep 18, 2020 12:33 AM CDT) Police in Canada say a man has been charged over a July incident in which he was allegedly snoozing away as his apparently self-driving car traveled more than 93mph. Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were alerted around 4pm on July 9 to a Tesla Model S speeding down the highway with no apparent driver, the Edmonton Journal reports. The first officer to spot the car as it sped by, similarly, could not see the driver. Ultimately, he caught up to the car to see both front seats completely reclined and both occupants appearing to be asleep, per an RCMP statement cited by the Guardian. When he turned on his siren, a driver popped up and pulled over. The 20-year-old man has since been charged with speeding and dangerous driving. As Electrek reports, Tesla's Autopilot mode is not technically self-driving, but rather a suite of driver-assist features. It can, however, technically drive autonomously on highways, though Tesla says a driver must always be paying attention. Some drivers have found ways around Tesla's requirement that their hands remain on the steering wheel, and the Vancouver Sun says drivers can tweak the car with aftermarket changes to the driver-assist system.

(Apr 15, 2008 6:27 AM CDT) A car bomb ripped through the Iraqi city of Baquba today, leaving at least 40 people dead and more than 70 injured, Reuters reports. The bomb went off near midday outside a restaurant that faces the city's main courthouse. Only a short while later a second bomb went off in the city of Ramadi, killing another 13 people. Baquba, capital of Iraq's multi-ethnic Diyala province, is one of the key battlegrounds in the American and Iraqi armies' struggle against al-Qaeda in Iraq insurgents. With a shortage of ambulances, eyewitnesses reported that charred bodies remained inside cars at the scene of the blast.

(Sep 17, 2013 6:06 PM CDT) A sentencing today in Worcester, Mass., makes for rough reading: Prosecutors say 40-year-old Geoffrey Portway plotted to kidnap a child and then imprison, torture, kill, and cannibalize him in his homemade dungeon, reports the Boston Globe. The feds arrested Portway and a co-conspirator before anyone was abducted and seized a massive collection of violent child pornography from Portway's computer. He got 27 years in federal prison today. Portway's lawyer says his client deserved time for the pornography but insisted the kidnapping plot was just a fantasy--including the child-size cage, coffin, restraints, and implements of torture found in a sound-proof dungeon in his basement, reports the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. That is all I live for. I am serious, Portway wrote in one email of his plot. It's the only thing that gets me up in the morning. He's a UK native and will be deported once he serves his sentence.

(Nov 13, 2013 10:40 AM) It is hard to get 91% of Americans to agree on anything, but this is nearing unanimous: Congress stinks. Gallup's latest poll pegs Congress' approval rating at 9%, the lowest mark in the 39-year history of Gallup. The number brings 2013's average to 14%, which would be an all-time annual low. It's worth noting that while the number is historically low for Gallup, it's right in line with the other numbers in Real Clear Politics' polling average, and far from the lowest any poll has recorded. An AP-GfK poll from the first week of the government shutdown came in with just a 5% approval rating. As we've noted in the past, this puts Congress somewhere south of torture and Paris Hilton. President Obama's numbers look delightful by comparison--Gallup gives him a 56% approval rating--but he did take some hits in the character departments. For the first time, less than half of Americans believe he's a strong and decisive leader, with the number dipping from 53% in September to 47% now. He's also dropped five points in the honest and trustworthy category, to 55%.

(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.

(Jun 28, 2012 1:00 AM CDT) A Texas man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for what prosecutors described as an attempt to use the state's stand your ground law to get away with murder. Raul Rodriguez shot dead his neighbor, a 36-year-old teacher, after going next door to complain about noise from a party--carrying a gun, a video camera, and a cell phone. He used a flashlight to lure partygoers out into the street, and then filmed himself confronting them, calling police and saying he felt his life was in danger, adding: I'm standing my ground here. Rodriguez killed his unarmed neighbor and wounded two other men after a partygoer apparently made a grab for the camera. Prosecutors described him as a bully who held his neighborhood hostage, and tried to hide behind a law designed to protect responsible gun owners, the Houston Chronicle reports. When you take your gun, your two magazines, your video camera and your cell phone, and you document how you feel, that was premeditated, a prosecutor told the jury. One juror says the jury was split 8 to 4 over Rodriguez's guilt, and the 40-year sentence was a compromise.

(Mar 19, 2009 7:52 AM CDT) FedEx net income plunged 75% in the third quarter, the company announced today, a bad sign for economists who consider the shipping giant a bellwether. FedEx also announced plans to cut $1 billion in costs, though it didn't detail how many job cuts that might entail. The company has already lowered salaries, with CEO Fred Smith taking a 20% pay cut. Shares fell 5.9% in premarket trading, the Wall Street Journal reports.

(Nov 5, 2018 2:54 AM) In an extremely disturbing case in a Phoenix suburb, police say an 11-year-old carried out a murder-suicide with his grandfather's handgun after being asked to clean his room. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says the boy's grandfather told them he was sitting on the couch Saturday with grandmother Yvonne Woodard, 65, when the boy crept up behind them and shot Woodard in the head, the Arizona Republic reports. The grandfather said he ran after the boy, but returned to give his wife first aid. He then heard shots as his grandson turned the gun on himself. The grandfather said the boy had been asked to clean his room, but was being stubborn about it. The Litchfield Park couple had full custody of the boy and police say there had been no prior concerns about violence, News 12 reports.

(Feb 5, 2013 8:18 AM) As far as company owners go, Lynsi Torres has to be among the most intriguing. A Bloomberg article attempts to put a finger on the mysterious In-N-Out Burger president who, at age 30, is one of the youngest female billionaires on the planet. As Seth Lubove reports, she ended up at the helm of the company, estimated by Bloomberg to be valued at $1.1 billion, by way of birth and more than a few tragic deaths: Her father took control after his 41-year-old brother died in a 1993 plane crash; he died after ODing on prescription drugs six years later. Torres' grandmother then grabbed the reins until her death in 2006, which left the company with a single heir: Torres, who gained 50% ownership after turning 30 in 2012; she'll claim the other half upon her 35th birthday. And things get more intriguing from there: She's been married three times and has twins, reports Lubove, but no college degree. She largely chooses not to give interviews, but her name quietly and occasionally pops up in the press: In September, she was reported to have purchased a $17.4 million 16-bathroom mansion in Bradbury, California; she's also a drag racer who competes in two National Hot Rod Association categories; and a 2009 Wall Street Journal article noted her affinity for joining off-beat Christian sects. Business Insider has an image of the colorful heiress, and Bloomberg has more, including a rundown of a 2006 lawsuit a former VP filed against Torres, which claimed she was trying to wrest control of In-N-Out from her grandmother. Or click for another intriguing burger-chain story.

(Aug 12, 2016 1:25 PM CDT) The fact that a 62-year-old woman recently gave birth to a daughter is newsworthy--as is the fact that she left that newborn and two sons, aged 3 and 6, alone in a locked van for 38 minutes while she was inside a store. But that's just the beginning of a sad tale out of Florida: Police say Kathleen Steele's 6-year-old son beat his 13-day-old sister to death Monday while his mom was inside a cellphone repair shop in St. Petersburg. The boy told officers that he punched his sister in the face, flipped her upside down, banged her head on the ceiling, then let her fall to the floor, reports the Washington Post--all because she wouldn't stop crying inside the van. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri blames Steele, who described her IVF treatments on a reality show, and is, by all accounts, ill-equipped to have a baby. When Steele returned to the van, she continued to run errands and called a neighbor who is a nurse only when she discovered her daughter blue and cold two hours later, police tell KTLA. The nurse called 911. By that point, the newborn looked like she'd been pummeled, with a skull that was essentially mush, Gualtieri says. As emergency personnel tried to revive the child, Gualtieri says Steele put away groceries. Authorities say the newborn suffered a minor brain bleed when she was days old--she reportedly fell out of a car seat--but Child Protective Services found no evidence of abuse. Steele, who police say wanted to have more kids, per the Tampa Bay Times, is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. Her sons are now in foster homes.

(Oct 16, 2013 11:38 AM CDT) Sean Edwards, a promising British racer and son of ex-Formula One driver Guy Edwards, died yesterday in a crash during training. He was 26. Edwards, the Porsche Supercup Championship leader, was in the passenger seat as an instructor for a private training session at Queensland Raceway at Willowbank, outside Brisbane, Porsche Motorsport said. A 20-year-old local driver was behind the wheel when the car crashed into a tire wall, hit a barrier, and caught fire. The driver was taken to a hospital and is reported to be in critical condition with severe burns and broken bones. Edwards was recently involved in director Ron Howard's movie Rush about the 1976 Formula One season. Guy Edwards was one of the drivers who helped pull Niki Lauda from his burning car during the 1976 German Grand Prix. Hartmut Kristen, Head of Motorsport at Porsche, described the younger Edwards as one of the most popular and successful drivers in the Porsche series. Edwards won the Nurburgring and Dubai 24 Hours this year. The British Motor Sports Association said: Sean was a hugely promising young racer who came through the junior formulas in Britain before making a career in international sports car racing.

(May 15, 2009 12:34 PM CDT) A UK man who confessed to trying to pick up a prostitute for his teenage son has been sentenced to 10 months in prison but won't serve time, the Daily Mail reports. The 42-year-old visited Nottingham's red-light district last year on a quest to help his son, 14, lose his virginity--but the woman he tried to hire was an undercover cop. The man's lawyer said his client felt a thorough sense of shame ; the judge suspended his sentence because of good character, Reuters reports. But, the judge said, you have a duty of care to your son, and that is to look after his moral welfare, not, as you might think, to break him in to the ways of sex through a prostitute.

(Oct 19, 2009 11:54 AM CDT) Facebook has finally turned a profit, and can boast 300 million users--and it may be on its way out. The web has seen dozens of social networking sites come, gain buzz, get huge, and then implode or mutate as users looked for the next big thing--remember Friendster, Livejournal, and MySpace? Now, some see the vultures circling Facebook, the Washington Post reports. At this point, unfriending people is hipper than friending them. Some think Facebook could avoid that fate based on its sheer size; the site continues to grow faster than ever. But its fastest-growing segment is the over-55 crowd, and among other users, ennui has set in. Facebook as a social networking website is not dead, says one communications tech researcher. Facebook as the cool new thing is.

(Mar 26, 2020 10:55 AM CDT) Louisiana had already banned gatherings of more than 50 people before Gov. John Bel Edwards announced a statewide order against groups of more than 10 on Sunday. But the first order didn't stop a pastor from herding a claimed 1,000 people into his church week after week, and it's not clear that the second will result in any change. Rev. Tony Spell of Central City's Life Tabernacle Church says roughly 1,000 congregants, bused in from five different parishes, have been gathering each Sunday in defiance of state and federal recommendations, while a few hundred more enjoy additional services each Tuesday. If they close every door in this city, then I will close my doors, Spell told CNN shortly before hosting congregrants on Tuesday. But you can't say the retailers are essential but the church is not. That is a persecution of the faith. Spell previously claimed the COVID-19 pandemic was politically motivated while the church is a hospital for the sick, per CNN. He also said a police officer had threatened to send in the National Guard to break up services, which he has no intention of stopping until forced. Chief Roger Corcoran of the Central Police Department, however, says that was never told to the pastor by my officer. He adds the matter is under investigation. There appeared to be far fewer than 1,000 congregants at Sunday's outdoor service, which was livestreamed hours before Edwards' latest order was to take effect, though Spell tells CNN the congregants were scattered across in different areas. We're doing our best to keep everyone safe, Spell said at one point, noting social distancing guidelines. Later scenes, though, showed those in attendance were clearly breaking those guidelines, per USA Today.

(Nov 26, 2008 11:06 PM) The death toll in the Mumbai terror attacks rose to 101, and government troops continued to exchange gunfire with militants holed up in two posh hotels, the Times of India reports. As dawn broke over India's financial capital, it remained unclear how many--or if any--Westerners were being held hostage. Of those killed, six were foreigners, and the US knows of no American casualties. At least 247 others were injured in the 10 coordinated attacks. The militants took hostages at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, and at a city hospital. They reportedly targeted Americans and Britons. At least some hostages were freed in overnight raids by government troops, but details were sketchy. A suspected Islamic militant group has claimed responsibility.

(Jan 15, 2016 12:34 PM) In an attempt to boost struggling finances, Walmart is closing 269 stores--154 of them in the United States. Two-thirds of the US stores to be closed are smaller Walmart Express locations, KTLA reports; 12 are Walmart Supercenters and four are Sam's Club stores. Most of the stores being closed are within 10 miles of another Walmart and are not performing well--and Walmart still plans to open 300 new stores globally by 2017. The just-announced closings will affect 10,000 employees in the US, who will either be moved to other Walmarts or provided with 60 days' pay and training to help find a new job. To see a complete list of store closings, click here.

(Oct 16, 2009 6:07 PM CDT) A bipartisan call for public service got a warm reception today at Texas A&M, where George HW Bush welcomed President Obama and 44 hailed 41 as an inspiration to us all. At a forum celebrating the 20th anniversary of the former president's Points of Light Institute, Obama--who was met by protesters opposing health care reform--called on young people to get involved in their communities, the Eagle of Bryan-College Station reports. In the end, service binds us to each other and to our community and to our country in a way that nothing else can, the president said.

(Jan 27, 2015 1:16 PM) Two brothers playing with their dad's handgun ended with the younger accidentally dead at the hands of the older in a game of cops and robbers gone horrifically wrong. As the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports, 13-year-old Suhayb Jamal Hassan, his 15-year-old brother, and an 11-year-old sister were at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan on Sunday morning when the boys found their dad's unloaded 9mm pistol, with ammunition nearby. They began to play with the gun and sometime during the incident the gun was loaded and then believed to have been unloaded by one of the boys, an Eagan detective says, per KARE. The 15-year-old boy pretended to shoot Suhayb, but the gun was loaded and went off, striking Suhayb in the chest. The older boy called 911, telling them at first that Suhayb had accidentally fallen on a knife; he later admitted that he'd accidentally shot Suhayb. Emergency responders pronounced the boy dead at the scene. We do not anticipate any future arrests, says the city of Eagan in a statement. It adds that while an investigation is being conducted, the case appears to be a horrible accident. It's so sad, says a neighbor. You hear about this happening a lot ... kids playing with guns.

(Dec 20, 2017 6:57 PM) Sen. Al Franken plans to officially leave the US Senate on Jan. 2, the AP reports. The announcement Wednesday from a Franken spokesperson should put to rest questions surrounding the timing of the Minnesota Democrat's departure and concern that he might reverse his planned resignation. Franken announced earlier this month that he would leave in the coming weeks amid several sexual misconduct allegations. His office later indicated it would come sometime in early January. Gov. Mark Dayton's choice to replace Franken, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, is set to be sworn in Jan. 3. Smith will keep some of Franken's top staff when she takes office. She plans to run for the seat in 2018.

(Feb 14, 2020 9:40 AM) If you're in your late 30s or older, you likely remember the unique joy that accompanied creating what we olds call a mixtape. A German woman is now reliving that elation after she stumbled upon a mixtape she lost 25 years ago while on vacation in Spain. Per the Guardian, Stella Wedell was only 12 in the mid-'90s when the cassette tape she'd recorded off a CD vanished either from Mallorca or the Costa Brava. Fast-forward to last summer, when Wedell wandered into Stockholm's Fotografiska and started looking more closely at the items in Mandy Barker's Sea of Artifacts exhibit, which showcased plastic debris recovered from the ocean. Wedell thought one cassette tape looked familiar, as did the track list that accompanied it. I took a picture of it and compared it with the original CD, she says, per the Sunday Post. Sure enough, it was a match, except the tape was missing the CD's first two songs--which made perfect sense to Wedell, as she hadn't liked those songs and so didn't include them. Per Sky News, the tape washed up in 2017 on the beach in Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands, and it was soon after picked up by Barker, who was looking for items for her exhibit. She says she let it dry out for 18 months then took it to an audio restorer. Amazingly, it still plays--which isn't the best of news. The fact it has survived intact shows the durability of plastic and the threat it can pose to the marine environment, Plymouth University researcher Richard Thompson tells the Guardian. The Sunday Post has the tape's track list, with such oldies as Shaggy's Oh Carolina, Soul Asylum's Runaway Train, and UB40's (I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You. Wedell will get her tape back after it finishes its exhibit run.

(May 4, 2009 2:38 PM CDT) Indian automaker Tata has 203,000 domestic orders for the Nano--the world's cheapest car--which will start delivery in July, Bloomberg reports. The first editions of the $2,500 vehicle will go out to just 100,000 eager buyers, who will be chosen by lottery and must put about $1,900 down. The groundswell of enthusiasm will net the company $501 million--and 17% of India's auto market for the fiscal year ending in March.

(Dec 1, 2010 6:04 PM) Rough development in the case of murdered 10-year-old Zahra Baker in North Carolina: Unsealed court documents show that the disabled girl may have been raped by two men and then dismembered in the family bathtub, reports AOL News. A confidential source told police that one of the men had some kind of relationship with the girl. Other unsealed documents detail how stepmother Elisa Baker had directed police to sites where human remains--later identified with DNA testing to be Zahra's--were found. No charges have been filed in the girl's death. Elisa Baker is being held on obstruction charges and Zahra's father, Adam Baker, was released on bond on charges unrelated to her death. Click here for more, or see the Hickory Daily Record.

(Jun 11, 2015 9:34 AM CDT) In Touch continues to be at the forefront of the Duggar scandal it broke, reporting new details in an article yesterday that has gotten wide mainstream pick-up. According to the tabloid, the Arkansas Department of Human Services is again investigating the family, and an agency rep called 911 on May 27 (days after Josh Duggar's molestation allegations made headlines) because the family did not allow DHS to see a minor about whom the agency was concerned. The Duggars have not publicly revealed the current investigation, but the tabloid made a FOIA request to learn about the 911 call. In the call, the DHS rep gives the address to the 911 dispatcher, noting it's the Duggar's family home, then explains, We have an investigation and I guess they're not being cooperative. We have to see the child to make sure the child is all right. So we just need police assistance or an escort. It's not clear what triggered this latest investigation--the Duggars were first investigated by police in 2006 for Josh's alleged molestation in 2002 and 2003, and were then investigated by DHS in 2007--but experts say a hotline complaint about child abuse, even if it's made anonymously, can lead to such investigations if the operator who answers thinks the allegations are serious.

(Jan 2, 2008 12:18 PM) The Earth finished another rotation around the sun in 2007--just about. At midnight on December 31, it was actually about 400,000 miles short of where it had been a year before, and that annual shortfall is why we have leap years, explains the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Leap years like 2008 have an extra day to ensure the calendar and seasons keep pace. The old Julian calendar was a fraction off, which Pope Gregory XIII fixed in 1582 by taking a few leap years out and removing 10 days from that year's October. The Earth is gradually slowing down and making fewer rotations as it orbits the sun, but it will be thousands of years before the Gregorian calendar needs any changes.

(Sep 3, 2020 4:04 PM CDT) A 16-year-old from New Hampshire successfully swam across the English Channel, a 33-mile swim she called an adventure. Vera Rivard of Springfield left Dover in the UK in the morning and arrived on a beach near Calais, France, just before midnight on Tuesday. She's the second American to cross the channel this year, AP reports. As she leaves the beach in England for her English Channel attempt, I will be the proudest parent ever! Not if she finishes, not how fast she swims, but that she was brave enough to start, Rivard's mother, Darcie DeBlois-Rivard, wrote on Facebook, where she posted photos and video of the feat.

(Jan 7, 2016 7:12 AM) All 17 miners trapped overnight in an elevator more than 70 stories below ground have been rescued in upstate New York. Miners at the Cargill salt mine in Lansing were starting their shift around 10pm Wednesday when an elevator became jammed 775 feet down an access shaft, officials say. Cargill rep Mark Klein says no one was injured in the incident and rescue workers were in constant contact with the miners, per NBC News and the AP. Emergency crews, including the Ithaca Fire Department, worked through the night to deliver radios, heat packs, blankets, and water to the miners, per PIX11. A crane arrived from Auburn, NY, early Thursday and helped lift miners out of the shaft, reports the Ithaca Journal. The first four miners were lifted to the surface around 7am ET, according to a post on Ithaca Fire's Facebook page. Officials say they're investigating what caused the elevator to jam.

(Oct 7, 2008 3:41 PM CDT) After being bailed out by Washington, AIG executives engaged in some conspicuous consumption, and it's still going on, Portfolio reports. Two former CEOs of the insurance giant testified before the House today, and lawmakers took them to task for reckless compensation and an executive retreat at a California spa less then a week after the government forked over $85 billion. The former head of AIG's Financial Products division, widely seen as the engine of the company's demise, continues to receive $1 million a month. Legislators also criticized former CEO Martin Sullivan, who engineered some $20 million in extra compensation as the company foundered. Sullivan attributed AIG's dire situation to an accounting rule. That's like blaming the thermometer for the fever, a former SEC official said.

(Apr 16, 2011 2:07 PM CDT) Syria's president said today the emergency laws that have been in effect for nearly 50 years will be lifted--a key demand by a monthlong protest movement that has posed the most serious challenge yet to the regime. The big question: Whether it will appease protesters or encourage them to demand more concessions. In his second public appearance since the protests began, President Bashar al-Assad warned there will no longer be an excuse for organizing protests after Syria lifts the laws. After that, we will not tolerate any attempt at sabotage, he said in a televised address. Syria's widely despised emergency laws have been in place since the Baath party came to power in 1963, giving the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge and extending state authority into virtually every aspect of Syrians' lives. The protest movement has been steadily growing over the past four weeks and swelled yesterday to the largest gatherings to date as tens of thousands of people marched toward the capital, Damascus.

(May 26, 2016 4:40 PM CDT) Will Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders really debate? Trump told Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday he was open to the idea, and Sanders is definitely down, but now it looks as if Trump will only follow through on the plan if enough money is raised. What we'll do is raise maybe for, maybe women's health issues or something, if we can raise $10 million or $15 million for charity, which would be a very appropriate amount, Trump told reporters Thursday when asked about the debate idea, Politico reports. I understand the television business very well, Trump said, adding that multiple networks have already expressed interest in hosting. The problem, biggest problem is that Bernie's not going to win the Democratic primary, Trump added. Mother Jones notes that by Thursday morning, Trump campaign sources were telling media outlets Trump had only been joking on Wednesday night, but adds that Sanders' campaign manager told MSNBC the two campaigns had touched base about a possible debate. Sanders' campaign manager also told CNN Thursday, We are ready to debate Donald Trump. We hope he will not chicken out. I think it will be great for America to see these two candidates and the different visions they have for America going forward. But Time notes that it's not likely $10 million could be raised before California's June 7 primary.

(Mar 7, 2019 11:35 AM) The jury of six deliberated for roughly four hours over two days before returning the verdict Corey Jones' family had been hoping for. The sweetest sound was the click of those handcuffs, a relative tells the AP of the moment Nouman Raja was taken away as the first Florida police officer convicted in an on-duty shooting in 30 years, per WPLG. The former Palm Beach Gardens police officer was found guilty of manslaughter and attempted first-degree murder in the 2015 shooting death of Jones, a black musician whose SUV containing a $10,000 drum set had broken down on a roadside. Raja showed no reaction despite a possible sentence of life in prison, per NBC News. Over an eight-day trial, prosecutors described how he'd arrived around 3am at the side of an Interstate 95 exit ramp in plainclothes and an unmarked van, never identifying himself as a cop. Confronted, 31-year-old Jones drew a legally owned handgun he'd bought for protection in his job as a housing inspector, apparently thinking he was being robbed. Raja, 41, said James had pointed the gun at him, causing him to fire six shots. The safety was activated on Jones' gun when it was found 41 yards from his body, per the South Florida Sun Sentinel. While noting a bullet through his heart and lungs had ultimately killed the musician, a medical examiner said that a bullet in Jones' right arm had to have come as he was running away. Jones' father said he was filled with joy at the verdict, per the Sun Sentinel. Regardless of how many bad cops there is, the truth will always prevail, he said. Fired less than a month after the shooting, Raja has been under house arrest since charges were laid in 2016. Sentencing is set for April 26. (More on the case here.)

(Jan 8, 2010 3:54 PM) Jean Biden, the mother of VP Joe Biden and a familiar presence on the 2008 campaign trail, died today in WIlmington, Del. She was 92. On her deathbed, she was surrounded by her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren and many loved ones, Joe Biden said in a statement. She was the center of our family and taught all of her children that family is to be treasured, loyalty is paramount and faith will guide you through the tough times. Born in Scranton, Pa., Jean Finnegan married Joseph Biden Sr. in 1941. They later moved to Delaware, where they raised four children. She believed in us, and because of that, we believed in ourselves. Together with my father, her husband of 61 years who passed away in 2002, we learned the dignity of hard work and that you are defined by your sense of honor, said Joe, her eldest son. Her strength, which was immeasurable, will live on in all of us.

(Nov 19, 2010 3:39 AM) An executive arguing he was simply sleepwalking nude when he tried to enter his secretary's room on a business trip has won a $15 million libel judgment against his firm for portraying the incident as inappropriate. Serial sleepwalker Donal Kinsella, 67, won Ireland's biggest-ever libel case after he told a court he was made a laughing stock when Kenmare Resources issued a press release saying the firm was seeking his resignation over the incident. Kinsella walked three times to the hotel room door of his secretary, but was ordered back to his bed by his manager, according to accounts. Kinsella's attorneys said the firm's press release indicated something juicy had happened and that the executive was trying to jump his secretary, reports the Guardian. The Dublin company plans to appeal with a view to setting aside both the verdict and the amount, said a statement from the firm. Kinsella said he felt exhilarated and vindicated by the verdict. It wasn't clear if he was going to get a good night's sleep. (Click here for another bizarre court case involving a doctor ... and an artichoke.)

(Feb 14, 2019 2:03 AM) European plane manufacturer Airbus said Thursday it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. Barely a decade after the 500-plus-seat plane started carrying passengers, Airbus said in a statement that key client Emirates is cutting back its orders for the plane, and as a result, we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production. The end of the young yet iconic jet is a boon for rival Boeing and an embarrassing blow for Airbus, a European economic powerhouse.

(Feb 6, 2011 5:53 PM) Aaron Rodgers has turned the Green Bay Packers into Super Bowl champions once again. Rodgers threw three touchdown passes and Nick Collins returned an interception for another score, leading the Packers to a 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. This was Green Bay's fourth Super Bowl title. The Packers won the first two Super Bowls with Vince Lombardi coaching Bart Starr, and captured another with Brett Favre in January 1997. The Steelers trailed 21-3 before halftime. Ben Roethlisberger got them within 28-25 midway through the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass and a nifty 2-point conversion. The Packers answered with a field goal, giving Roethlisberger one last chance. Needing to go 87 yards in 1:59 with one timeout left, Roethlisberger couldn't make it across midfield.

(Oct 14, 2014 5:58 PM CDT) David Greenglass, who served 10 years in prison for his role in the most explosive atomic spying case of the Cold War and gave testimony that sent his brother-in-law and sister, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, to the electric chair in 1953, has died at 92. Greenglass--who admitted decades later that he lied on the stand about his own sister--died in New York City on July 1, according to the Rosenbergs' sons. After his release from prison in 1960, Greenglass lived under an assumed name in Queens. The Rosenbergs were convicted in 1951 of conspiring to steal secrets about the atomic bomb for the Soviet Union and were executed at New York's Sing Sing prison, insisting to the very end that they were innocent. Greenglass, indicted as a co-conspirator, testified that he had given the Rosenbergs data obtained through his wartime job as an Army machinist at Los Alamos, headquarters of the project to build the atomic bomb. He told of seeing his sister transcribing the information on a typewriter at the Rosenbergs' New York apartment in 1945. That testimony proved crucial in convicting Ethel and her husband. In 2001, Greenglass was quoted in the book The Brother by New York Times reporter Sam Roberts as saying he had not actually seen Ethel typing and knew of it only from his wife. For the prosecution, however, the typewriter was as good as a smoking gun, Roberts wrote. Greenglass said he lied to assure leniency for himself and to keep his wife out of prison so she could care for their two children.

(Jan 2, 2009 7:24 PM) Brazil freed more than 4,600 slaves this year after storming a record number of remote farms, the Guardian reports. Often teaming up with federal police, the government's anti-slavery task force raided 255 farms, but advocates say thousands of poor are still being trapped into debt slavery. It is a very sad situation that leaves you feeling impotent, said activist Leonardo Sakamoto. Many of the slaves come from Brazil's poverty-stricken backlands, where middlemen promise people jobs and cart them off to remote plantations and ranches. Slaves work in squalid conditions and are often killed if they make demands. The government has offered money to the rescued slaves, Sakamoto said, but is yet to tackle the poverty and unemployment that make slavery possible.

(Jan 3, 2009 8:41 AM) A team of high-profile investors has bought the remains of failed bank IndyMac from the FDIC for $13.9 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. The investors, including George Soros and computer tycoon Michael Dell, have agreed to share the losses from IndyMac's portfolio of troubled mortgages in a deal expected to cost the FDIC around $9 billion. The sale of the failed bank to a group of investors rather than to a healthy bank is unusual for the FDIC, leading analysts to believe that there may be a growing pool of private money ready to step in where bruised banks still fear to tread. Yesterday's deal could also signal a belief among investors that the financial and housing crisis has reached its bottom--or it may have just been too good to pass up.

(Feb 29, 2016 3:03 AM) Norma had two choices. She could get treatment for uterine cancer, or she could go on the trip of a lifetime across the US. I'm 90 years old, I'm hitting the road, she told her doctor in July, opting to skip surgery, radiation, and chemo. Diagnosed two days after the death of her husband of 67 years, Norma is now six months into an epic adventure with her son, Tim; daughter-in-law, Ramie; and the couple's poodle, Ringo, reports ABC News. They left Michigan in August in an RV and have since visited Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, the Rocky Mountains, Kennedy Space Center, Disney World, Roswell, and the Grand Canyon. The entire trip--with no set end date, per Today.com--is being documented on Facebook via Driving Miss Norma, which has received more than 63,000 likes and 100,000 page views, per the Epoch Times. Miss Norma and family you are an inspiration--a lesson to us all--our time is precious we all need to share it with those we love, writes one fan in England. Norma tells Good News Network that she's surprised so many people are interested in little ol' me, but I'm pleased to know that I can be an inspiration to so many. Her doctor supported her decision, Ramie writes, saying, You are doing exactly what I would want to do in this situation. She's getting healthier, I think, from eating well and being outside a lot, Ramie adds. But what is Norma like on the road? She's very quiet and humble, and then she has this streak of adventure that surprises us, Ramie says. We see a spark in her eye that we haven't seen in a very long time. She's up for most anything. (A 93-year-old traveled 10,000 miles to be with his lost love.)

(Nov 8, 2008 11:14 AM) California's narrowly passed ban on gay marriage has divided many of the state's gays and blacks on the issue, the Los Angeles Times reports. Exit polls show that black voters--who turned out in record numbers--backed the ban by around 70%, the biggest margin of any ethnic group. Some African-Americans said they simply didn't see gay rights as a civil rights issue. Gay leaders say that churches and other groups cynically targeted and misled African-American voters to get a winning margin for the ban, despite Barack Obama's stated opposition to it. (One robocall used a recording of Obama saying he thought marriage is a union between a man and woman. ) Thousands continued protesting the ban in several California cities yesterday, and a lawsuit has been filed charging that the ballot initiative was improperly used to reduce citizens' rights.

(Jul 23, 2014 9:10 AM CDT) A New Hampshire woman who called police after stopping in a highway median to help some stranded ducklings plans to fight a $100 ticket. Hallie Bibeau of Newfields tells WMUR-TV she was driving east on Route 101 on Friday when she had to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting the ducklings. She says their mother and several of the ducklings were hit by a car, and the mother died. Bibeau called 911, got out of her car, and captured the two surviving ducklings, but a state trooper issued her a ticket for stopping in the median. Police say median stops are for emergencies, and they didn't consider this to be one. Officials say the ducklings were taken to a wildlife rescue in Maine.

(Jul 2, 2008 1:44 PM CDT) Microsoft will start selling its Office software package on a subscription model in mid-July, the AP reports. Instead of paying around $200 for Office, consumers can pay $70 a year, with no additional cost for new versions. In addition to the Office programs, the subscription bundle--named Equipt --will come with Microsoft's OneCare security software.

(Jan 23, 2009 3:16 PM) Apple's Macintosh, the seminal device that helped usher in the age of personal computing as we know it today, turns 25 this week, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The original Macintosh combined a svelte form--by 1980s standards--with an accessible graphical interface, eschewing complex text commands for a visual operating system anyone could pick up and use. Macs now hold 8% of the US market--no easy task in a world still dominated by Microsoft. Apple redefined the computer beyond crunching ones and zeros. It made a technology lifestyle a reality, explains one analyst. We had a feeling this new style of computer would be the way of the world, said Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

(Sep 2, 2010 2:08 PM CDT) Hurricane Earl is weakening slightly but it's still packing winds near 125 mph as it blows toward North Carolina's coast. Earl has been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane, and it's expected to pass the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a powerful storm tonight. New hurricane and tropical storm warnings and watches were issued for parts of Canada, adding to those already in effect from North Carolina to Maine. People should not be lulled into a false sense that this will steer away from them, warns FEMA's administrator. Time will be running out for people who have not gotten ready.

(Aug 6, 2015 2:00 PM CDT) Two Japanese climbers who went missing 45 years ago and whose bones were found on a glacier under the Matterhorn mountain have been identified, say Swiss police. The remains of the men, whose names have not been released, were found in September by another climber more than 9,000 feet above sea level. Police, who have a list of everyone reported missing since 1925, worked with the men's relatives in Japan to match their DNA profiles. The remains of long-missing mountaineers have increasingly surfaced as a result of receding glaciers. (The body of a climber missing 32 years was found in the French Alps.

(Dec 9, 2016 9:36 AM) The Russian doping scandal just keeps getting bigger: A new report implicates 1,000 athletes in 30 sports over recent years, along with officials at various levels of government. The upshot is sure to be increased pressure to penalize Russia ahead of the 2018 Winter Games. In the report--which amplifies an earlier one in July--World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren lays out 1,166 immutable facts he says prove Russia to be guilty of an institutional conspiracy between 2011 and 2015, per the New York Times. This involved cheating on an unprecedented scale at the 2012 London Olympics, where athletes were given a cocktail of steroids ... to beat the detection thresholds, McLaren says. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency says accusations of cheating haven't been proven, reports USA Today. Though his initial report helped ban 30% of Russia's delegation from the Rio Games, McLaren's investigation continued. American athletes, for example, have discussed boycotting the world championships in bobsled to be held in Sochi in February over lingering concerns about doping. Coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field, McLaren says, per the AP. It's time that this stops. New evidence presented in the report shows Russian officials swapped or tampered with urine samples, including those of 15 medalists at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Samples from female athletes, for example, had male DNA. IOC's president has said he supports lifetime Olympic bans for athletes and officials involved.

(Oct 19, 2012 2:23 AM CDT) A California businessman dumped 100 tons of iron sulphate dust into the Pacific Ocean as part of a rogue experiment that has infuriated scientists and government officials. The operation launched by Russ George, 62, spewed the dust off western Canada in exchange for $2.5 million from a native Haida Canadian group in a project with no government or scientific oversight, reports the New York Times. The iron appeared to trigger the growth of enormous amounts of plankton. George claims the plankton created by the state-of-the-art study may boost salmon populations and absorb carbon dioxide. The Haida people are considering the possibility of selling carbon offset credits to companies to make money from the project, reports the Times. Such manipulative geoengineering is one idea to fix climate change. But it can be very dangerous. Geoengineering is extremely controversial, says one expert. There is a need to protect the environment while making sure safe and legitimate research can go ahead. Another called it ocean dumping. Canadian officials are investigating, pointing out that the action likely broke international treaties, reports the Guardian.

(Feb 18, 2009 5:18 PM) Philip Morris must pay $8 million to the widow and son of a 55-year-old lung cancer victim, a Florida jury says. Jurors in the closely watched case decided that the cigarette maker hid the health risks and addictive qualities of cigarettes, the Miami Herald reports. Stuart Hess smoked about two packs daily for 40 years, and the company says Hess was responsible for his own health. It plans to appeal. ''I just really hope that this can help all the thousands of other families who have also suffered,'' said widow Elaine Hess, who had sought $131 million in damages. The case is the first of 8,000 similar lawsuits to go to trial. All of them are offshoots of a 2000 class-action suit in Florida that resulted in an overturned judgment against tobacco companies but left the door open to future litigation.

(Feb 12, 2019 12:11 AM) A fire engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi early Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, including a woman who leaped from an upper floor to escape the flames, Indian authorities say. Hotel guest Sivanand Chand, 43, says he was jolted awake around 4am, struggling to breathe. When I got out of my room, I could hear 'help, help!' from adjoining rooms, Chand says. A video shot by a worker at a nearby hotel showed flames consuming the top of the building, which authorities say contained an unauthorized makeshift kitchen formed from sheets of fiberglass, the AP reports. Chand says rescue efforts were delayed because the first fire trucks arrived with manual ladders that weren't tall enough to reach his floor.

(Jan 12, 2016 11:38 AM) The world's largest lottery jackpot has grown to $1.5 billion because of continuing strong Powerball ticket sales. Lottery officials increased their estimate of the huge jackpot for the second day in a row Tuesday because of immense interest in the prize. The record-breaking Powerball jackpot could grow yet more before Wednesday's drawing if ticket sales continue to exceed expectations. Officials reassess the jackpot estimate daily. No one matched all six Powerball numbers Saturday night, leading to the enormous prize. The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are one in 292.2 million. The $1.5 billion prize would be paid in annual payments over 29 years. Or the winner could opt for a lump-sum payment of $930 million. Whoever wins will have to pay 39.6% of the prize in federal income taxes, as well as any state taxes. Lottery officials expect at least 80% of the 292.2 million number combinations will be purchased before Wednesday's drawing. That increases the chances--but doesn't guarantee--that someone will win the jackpot.

(Oct 20, 2010 8:13 AM CDT) The US and much of the western hemisphere are likely to face drought conditions worse than anything seen in modern times over the decades to come, scientists warn. National Center for Atmospheric Research scientists, working with climate models and greenhouse gas predictions, believe that severe drought will affect areas including two-thirds of the US, southern Europe, and much of Latin America beginning in the 2030s, LiveScience reports. If the projections in this study come even close to being realized, the consequences for society worldwide will be enormous, one of the scientists says, although he cautions that many variables exist, including natural climate cycles and emission reductions. In what may be a small taste of things to come for the American West, Lake Mead, the country's biggest reservoir, has fallen to its lowest level since it was filled 75 years ago, the New York Times notes. Experts believe it may vanish completely by 2021.

(Jun 1, 2008 6:23 PM CDT) Twentieth-century fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent died today at his home in Paris, AFP reports. The reclusive designer, who was battling illness, said when he retired in 2002 that he had always given the highest importance of all to respect for this craft, which is not exactly an art, but which needs an artist to exist. Saint Laurent was born in Algeria. After moving to Paris, he led Christian Dior's business but returned home in 1960 to help the French colony win its independence. Excused from service, he moved back to Paris and later founded a fashion house that fueled most international trends, the AP reports. Saint Laurent was 71.

(Jul 8, 2010 5:23 PM CDT) A woman in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia claims to have turned 130 today, making her the world's oldest person. Georgian officials back her up and say Antisa Khvichava was born on July 8, 1880. Her birth certificate is long gone, but she has Soviet-era documents that confirm her age, says a government spokesman. Since retiring from her job as a corn picker in 1965, she has lived with her grandson in a country house in their small mountain village, the Sun reports. I've always been healthy, and I've worked all my life--at home and at the farm, Khvichava told the AP through an interpreter. The Gerontology Research Group currently holds a French 114-year-old to be the oldest person and said it had yet to examine Khvichava's case.

(Jan 23, 2020 1:29 PM) Jim Lehrer, who co-founded PBS' NewsHour and anchored the show for decades until his retirement in 2011, died Thursday at age 85, the public broadcasting station announced. Lehrer, who started his journalism career in Dallas in the 1960s, was the founding co-anchor, along with Robert MacNeil, of a single-topic PBS news program starting in 1975. In 1983, it expanded to the multi-topic MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour; after MacNeil retired in 1995, it became NewsHour With Jim Lehrer. But while Lehrer was for years a familiar face for public television viewers, the New York Times says he became a household name in part thanks to the dozen presidential debates he moderated. He started in 1988 (Bush vs. Dukakis) and then continued in every presidential campaign through 2012, sometimes moderating multiple debates in one year. Lehrer, who died peacefully in his sleep at his Washington home, per PBS, also wrote multiple novels, four plays, and three memoirs; hosted a 12-part series on modern China; hosted an Emmy-winning documentary based on his experience with heart surgery; and himself won multiple Emmys and numerous other awards and honors. He and MacNeil were known for their civil, unbiased, and in-depth reporting, and during his career, Lehrer interviewed presidents, prime ministers, lawmakers, titans of business, and other well-known people. PBS says one of his most notable sit-downs was with Bill Clinton as Kenneth Starr was investigating allegations of the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky; he also, the station notes, was calm and careful in his coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks. He is survived by his wife, three daughters, and six grandchildren.

(Jun 14, 2016 4:27 PM CDT) Three people are dead from vicious attacks in India's Gujarat state, and police have detained 18 suspects: lions from an animal sanctuary, the BBC reports. The arrested lions have been gathered from the forests of Gir National Park over the past two months and are now being held in individual cages while their paw prints and excrement are examined and their behavior scrutinized to find the killer (or killers). Man-eating lions usually get aggressive at the sight of a human being, a wildlife expert tells the BBC. And authorities think they're getting closer to closing the case. We think we have pinpointed the guilty lion, but we are still awaiting the results of nine more animals, the state's lead forest official says. All of the animals in question are male, and they're all Asiatic lions, an endangered species that counts just 400 total living in the wild in Gujarat, the Washington Post reports. The sanctuary at Gir National Park can only hold 270 of them, meaning some have wandered outside of the park. The country's Supreme Court has even ordered Gujarat to move some of the lions elsewhere--not only to help ease the park's crowding situation, but also to make sure the species isn't all in one place should disease or some other disaster strike. Gujarat state has yet to relocate the lions. Six people have recently been attacked near the sanctuary, and once the killer is determined, a life sentence is in order: He'll remain caged in a zoo, while the other 17 lions will be released back into the Gir wild. (A lion that wandered away from a Kenyan national park became agitated by car horns.)

(Jan 8, 2012 9:25 AM) The University of Cambridge says renowned physicist Stephen Hawking isn't well enough to attend a conference held to celebrate his 70th birthday. Hawking's remarkable career is being honored today as part of a daylong conference on cosmology being hosted at the university. But the celebrity scientist, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, was released from the hospital on Friday. And university Vice Chancellor Leszek Borysiewicz says Hawking's recovery has not been fast enough for him to be able to be here. Borysiewicz added that he believed Hawking would be well enough to meet some of the attendees over the next week and that he hoped Hawking would be able to follow the proceedings via videolink. Click for more on Hawking's quest for an assistant.

(Jul 15, 2010 6:37 PM CDT) Details of a bizarre kidnapping emerge: A girl who was snatched as a baby 7 years ago in Los Angeles was raised by an Arizona couple who kept her out of school to hide her from authorities, officials said. Amber Nicklas, who turns 8 this month, was abducted in 2003 and found last night in a home in Phoenix that also served as a palm reading business. The girl appeared in good health, but investigators later discovered through interviews that she was kept out of school and could not read. Amber was 1 when she was abducted from her foster parents by three aunts, all juveniles at the time, during a visit to a children's restaurant. Two of the aunts spent time in juvenile camp for the abduction, but authorities would not release details on why they took the child or if they remain part of the investigation. It's unclear whether Amber will return to her foster parents.

(Aug 20, 2020 8:01 AM CDT) Male mosquitoes don't bite people--but Florida Keys residents still have concerns about plans to release 750 million of them in a mosquito control project starting next year. The plan to release the genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes received final approval from local authorities Tuesday, causing an outcry from groups opposed to what they call a Jurassic Park experiment, CNN reports. British biotech firm Oxitec says the OX5034 modified male mosquitoes produce female offspring that die in the larval stage--and male ones that pass on the modified genes, drastically reducing populations of Aedes aegypti and the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, including Zika and dengue fever, without using pesticides. The Florida Keys project and another one in Texas will be the first time GM mosquitoes have been released in the US, though Oxitec says a trial in Brazil reduced Aedes aegypti numbers by 95%, Fox reports. Opponents say the Environmental Protection Agency, which gave the project the OK in May, has failed to seriously analyze the risks, especially to endangered species that might consume the OX5034 mosquitoes. The release of genetically engineered mosquitoes will needlessly put Floridians, the environment, and endangered species at risk in the midst of a pandemic, says Dana Perls at Friends of the Earth. This approval is about maximizing Oxitec's profits, not about the pressing need to address mosquito-borne diseases.

(Sep 28, 2011 3:19 PM CDT) A sentence we never thought we'd write: The US and al-Qaeda have a common goal. The terrorist group would, pretty please, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop claiming that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks. An article in its fall 2011 issue of Inspire magazine notes that the Iranian government has professed just that, and asks, Why would Iran ascribe to such a ridiculous belief that stands in the face of all logic and evidence? The Telegraph notes that al-Qaeda's pronouncement follows last week's UN speech given by the Iranian president, in which Ahmadinejad suggested Osama bin Laden was killed as part of a 9/11 cover-up. Would it not have been reasonable to bring to justice and openly bring to trial the main perpetrator of the incident in order to identify the elements behind the safe space provided for the invading aircraft to attack the twin World Trade Center towers? Ahmadinejad asked.

(Jan 13, 2012 12:33 AM) A 10-year-old acrobat, juggler, and street-performing phenom has died in a mysterious hanging accident at his Washington home, leaving adoring fans stunned and bereft. Caleb Flip Kors was found strangled in his bedroom among his acrobatic equipment, and may have been climbing to retrieve something for a costume, reports the Los Angeles Times. The young man died in what appears to be an accidental hanging. How he got there, we're not actually sure, said a police spokesman. There did not appear to be anything suspicious. The boy left an indelible impression on everyone who saw him perform. He was an amazing kid, incredible, with astounding athletic prowess and a sense of drama, said one of his teachers. He had a way of turning an area of pavement into this special little place, a little theater. Caleb performed weekly next to his mom's jewelry stand at the local farmer's market in Bellingham, and was constantly exploring new material, notes ABC News. This kid was fearless in what he was willing to do, said his teacher. That's something that is innate, being willing to share yourself fully with a group of strangers--that openness and willingness to connect. This kid had that in spades. A Facebook memorial has been set up in honor of Caleb, and a donation site has been established to help his mom and two older brothers. The overwhelming outpouring of support is the work of Caleb, said a statement from the family. Even though he's not with us physically, he's still doing magic.

(Aug 12, 2020 3:50 PM CDT) Three alleged R. Kelly associates are now, like him, behind bars--accused of trying to manipulate women who accuse him of sex crimes, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Federal prosecutors say they've charged Richard Arline Jr., 31, Donnell Russell, 45, and Michael Williams, 37, in separate schemes of trying to bribe, intimidate, and harass the R&B singer's alleged victims. Arline, who's described as Kelly's self-proclaimed friend, allegedly discussed paying one victim $500,000 to keep her quiet. Per the feds, Arline said in a recorded phone call that he'd talked to Kelly while the singer was behind bars, saying that he gonna pay her ... off to be quiet, adding that she got too much. She got too much. Russell allegedly threatened to release one victim's sexually explicit photos and even sent versions of them to executives and producers of A&E and Lifetime in 2018 on the day Lifetime was set to screen some of the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries, per NPR. That screening and panel were later canceled due to a gun threat. Williams is accused of setting fire to an SUV parked outside the Florida home of a Kelly accuser in June; her father had signed the vehicle's lease. A Kelly attorney promptly denied the singer's involvement in any of the schemes. Kelly is facing a slew of federal criminal charges for allegedly abusing 11 women and girls between 1994 and 2018. (Another Kelly charge involves a hidden STD.)

(Feb 25, 2016 6:15 PM) A 10-year-old girl is being remembered as a hero after she died saving a 2-year-old from a runaway car on Monday in Lakeside, California, Fox 5 San Diego reports. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Kiera Larsen and at least one other child were playing in and around a parked Mercedes while Kiera's stepmom was inside their house getting a car charger. Somehow the Mercedes got shifted in neutral and started rolling down the sloping driveway toward a group of Kiera's siblings and friends, NBC San Diego reports. Kiera sprung into action, pushing a 2-year-old girl out of the way before being hit by Mercedes herself. Kiera was transported to an area hospital, where she died from her injuries. A child died heroically, a California Highway Patrol officer tells Fox. She sacrificed herself for another small child. Those were sentiments echoed by the mother of the 2-year-old Kiera saved. She is truly a hero. She will forever be my kids' guardian angel, says Alissa Jenkins, whose 1-year-old was also at the scene. She saved both my daughters' lives. A GoFundMe page has already raised more than $45,000 for Kiera's funeral expenses. Authorities are investigating to determine how the car, which was off at the time, got shifted into neutral.

(Jan 10, 2010 6:54 AM) Americans would see only a modest rise in health costs under the Senate's plan to extend coverage to 34 million people, government economic experts say in a new report. The study found that health spending, which accounts for about one-sixth of the economy, would increase by less than 1% than it otherwise would over the coming decade--even with so many more people receiving coverage. Over time, cost-cutting measures could reduce annual increases in health spending, offering substantial savings in the long run. At the same time, however, yesterday's report cited the tax on Cadillac health plans, as well as reductions in annual increases to Medicare providers, as having potential to hold down costs. But the authors were skeptical that Congress could stand the political fallout, noting that the Medicare cuts may be unrealistic.

(Jun 23, 2008 3:24 PM CDT) John McCain today offered a $300 million reward to the American who builds a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. He said government had wasted energy money on special interests and failed to punish manufacturers who ignore or abuse fuel efficiency standards, the Hill reports. From now on, the Republican presidential candidate said, we will encourage heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest success. He also said penalties are too small to encourage innovation by automakers, promising stricter punishment while adding tax incentives for zero-emission vehicles.

(Apr 14, 2015 11:40 AM CDT) An elderly man having sexual relations with his wife wouldn't normally be front-page news. But for Henry Rayhons, a former Republican legislator in Iowa, it's a trickier case. The 78-year-old is currently on trial, charged with felony sex abuse for allegedly having sex last May with his wife, Donna, in a nursing home a few days after he was told she wasn't able to consent to intimate relations, the New York Times reports. Donna, who died in August, suffered from dementia, with nursing home staff noting she no longer remembered her daughters' names, how to recall everyday words, or how to eat certain foods. You could see that Donna had Alzheimer's. ... She was just in her pleasant little world, a nurse from Concord Care Center testified yesterday in Garner, per the Quad-City Times. The center allows residents to have consensual sex, but Henry, who wed Donna in 2007, was told in a May 15 sit-down with center staff and Donna's daughters that Donna was unable to consent to sex due to her deteriorating mental state, KIMT reports. On May 23, Donna's roommate complained about Henry's visit, and a surveillance camera shows Henry leaving the room that day and dropping what's reported to have been Donna's underwear in a hamper; Henry was arrested shortly after his wife died a few months later. Although experts cited by the Times suggest dementia patients can benefit from such intimacy, Dr. John Brady, the nursing home's physician, compared a patient's receptive responses to sexual advances to those of a baby responding to love from its mother, the Des Moines Register reports. I don't believe an infant makes an informed decision, Brady testified, per the Register. Click for more on the case.

(Dec 25, 2017 5:23 PM) The Trump administration is apparently still stewing about the UN's vote on Jerusalem last week. Ambassador Nikki Haley issued a stark statement tying US financial support of the UN with whether it met US demands--the fourth time in a week's time the US has done so, the New York Times notes. To wit, the US government says it negotiated a significant cut in the UN budget, reports the AP. In a statement Sunday, the US Mission to the UN said the UN's 2018-2019 budget would be slashed by more $285 million, noting reductions would also be made to the UN's bloated management and support functions. The announcement didn't make clear the entire amount of the budget or specify what effect the cut would have on the US contribution.

(Mar 17, 2009 1:16 PM CDT) AIG paid bonuses of $1 million or more to each of 73 employees, including 11 who no longer work for the company, said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. He subpoenaed information from AIG yesterday saying he wanted to determine whether the payments constitute fraud under state law. In a letter to Barney Frank of the House Committee on Financial Services, Cuomo asked the panel to take up the issue at a hearing scheduled for tomorrow. AIG contracts written last March guaranteed employees 100 percent of their 2007 bonus amounts for 2008, despite obvious signs that 2008 performance would be disastrous in comparison to the year before, Cuomo said. The company and some federal regulators have said it was obligated by contract to make the payments. Cuomo said the bonuses might have been fraudulent if AIG officials knew the company couldn't afford them.

(Jul 27, 2010 9:52 AM CDT) Previous reports estimated that Chelsea Clinton's wedding would cost a cool $2 million, but the real number is probably more like $3 million to $5 million. Wedding experts run down the costs for the New York Daily News, from $600,000 air-conditioned tents to the $150-a-pop invitations and $100 place settings for each of the 500 guests. At the more conservative $3 million estimate, the total cost comes to $6,000 per guest. But it's not all designer dresses, fancy food, and $15,000 port-a-potties (yes, $15,000 for outhouses that are much nicer than your bathroom at home--TMZ has pictures). Because of the high-profile nature of the event, security will probably run at least $200,000 (even though the White House confirms President Obama won't attend)--or more if they opt to shut down air space or pay police to monitor traffic. Overcome with Clinton wedding fever? Click here for 10 things that would make Chelsea's big day even more awesome.

(Jan 13, 2014 10:37 AM) If you thought MTV's 16 and Pregnant and all its related spinoffs glorified teen pregnancy, here's a surprise for you: The reality shows likely reduced teen births by almost 6%, preventing more than 20,000 of them in 2010 alone, according to a new study. The National Bureau of Economic Research compared Nielsen television ratings to birth records, and found that in areas where teens watched more MTV in the period after 16 and Pregnant debuted, the teen pregnancy rate declined more quickly than in other areas, the New York Times reports. The study accounted for the fact that those who watched the show might have been at higher risk of a teen pregnancy. The assumption we're making is that there's no reason to think that places where more people are watching more MTV in June 2009, would start seeing an excess rate of decline in the teen birthrate, but for the change in what they were watching, says a researcher. Other researchers who reviewed the paper say the results seem sound. Another interesting finding: Whenever 16 and Pregnant was being aired, Internet searches and social media postings related to contraception went up significantly (UPI reports that searches on abortion also spiked). Teen viewers explain that the shows illustrate how hard it is to be a young parent.