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A Florida shooting puts 2 officers in the hospital; the suspect is later killed in hotel shootout

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The suspect in the shooting of two Florida police officers Saturday was fatally shot by SWAT team members several hours later after he barricaded himself in a hotel in Orlando’s tourist district, culminating a manhunt across central Florida, police officials said.The Orlando Police Department officers stopped a vehicle around 11 p.m. Friday as part of an investigation of a Miami homicide and were shot by the suspect in the car, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said during a press conference early Saturday. The officers, who were not immediately identified, were transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center. Hospital officials said Saturday afternoon that the officers were expected to fully recover.“This is a sad day for our department,” Smith said. “These officers are out here every day protecting our community.”The suspect carjacked another vehicle and police pursued, but did not immediately catch the suspect. About seven hours later, officers tracked the...

Mexico finds 491 migrants being held at vacant lot, almost all are from Guatemala

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s immigration agency said late Friday it found 491 migrants being held at a compound by the side of a highway east of Mexico City. All but six of the migrants were from Guatemala; the others are Hondurans.There were 277 children and adolescents among the migrants, most of whom were traveling with relatives. But there were also 52 unaccompanied minors.The migrants were being held in a walled compound near the city of Puebla, along a route frequently used by migrant smugglers. The migrants were taken to offices of the National Immigration Institute.Smugglers in Mexico frequently hide migrants at such compounds until they can be taken aboard buses or trucks to the U.S. border.The Associated Press

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan arrested after corruption conviction

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested Saturday after a court handed him a three-year jail sentence for corruption, a development that could end his future in politics.The court ruled that Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the country’s leading opposition figure, had concealed assets after selling state gifts. Police moved quickly to take the former cricket star from his home in the eastern city of Lahore to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, senior police officer Ali Nasir Rizvi said. Efforts to put the divisive politician behind bars have stepped up ahead of general elections this year because his popularity and large support base, combined with his ability to mobilize massive crowds, pose a threat to the ruling coalition and its backers in Pakistan’s powerful military that has been the final arbiter of the country’s politics since independence from BritainThis is the second time this year that Khan has b...

Recalling a wild ride with a robotaxi named Peaches as regulators mull San Francisco expansion plan

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — I won’t forget the first time I took a ride in a car without anyone sitting in the driver’s seat.It happened one night last September when a Chevy Bolt named Peaches picked me up outside a San Francisco bar. Our ensuing half-hour ride together produced, at first, a titillating display of technology’s promise. Then an unexpected twist made me worry that the encounter had turned into a mistake I would regret.Peaches and I were getting along great for most of our time together, as the car deftly navigated through hilly San Francisco streets similar to those Steve McQueen careened through during the famous chase scene in the 1968 film “Bullitt.” Unlike McQueen, Peaches never exceeded 30 mph (48 kph) because of restrictions imposed by state regulators on a ride-hailing service operated by Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, since it won approval to transport fare-paying passengers last year.It was all going so smoothly that I was starting to buy into the vision of C...

Tugboat sinks in Suez Canal after colliding with tanker

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A tugboat sank Saturday in Egypt’s Suez Canal after it collided with a Hong Kong-flagged tanker, the waterway’s authorities said.In a statement, the Suez Canal Authority, which oversees the operation of the key water passage, said its teams were working to recover the tugboat after it launched an operation to save the seven-person crew. It did not mention whether the movement of other ships transporting through the canal had been affected.The canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas, sees periodic groundings of mega-large transport ships that go through it, many of them traveling between China and Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Tugboats help guide ships passing through.The tanker involved in Saturday’s collision, the authority said, was the Hong Kong-flagged tanker Chinagas Legend, which it said was now waiting in Port Said.In March 2021 a skyscraper-sized container ship, the Panama-flagged Ever Given, ran aground in a single-lane stretch of ...

Turkmenistan Airlines suspends Moscow flights over safety concerns

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Turkmenistan’s flagship carrier, Turkmenistan Airlines, announced Saturday it would extend its suspension of flights to Moscow until the end of October, citing safety concerns after an increase in drone attacks on the Russian capital.The suspension of flights between the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat and Moscow would be in place until Oct. 28 “due to the situation in the Moscow air zone, and based on a risk assessment in order to ensure flight safety,” the airline said in a statement.The suspension of flights, first announced on Wednesday, was initially planned until Aug. 22.The airline’s Saturday statement said that flights between Ashgabat and Moscow would instead fly to the city of Kazan, located, over 700 kilometers (435 miles) from Moscow.A drone attacked a skyscraper in central Moscow early Tuesday for the second time in around 48 hours, damaging the building’s facade and further underscoring the Russian capital’s vulnerability. Russian authorities accused Uk...

Syrian baby born under earthquake rubble turns 6 months, happily surrounded by her adopted family

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

JINDERIS, Syria (AP) — A baby girl who was born under the rubble of her family home destroyed by the deadly earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria six months ago is in good health, loves her adopted family and likes to smile even to strangers.The dark-haired baby Afraa survived 10 hours under the rubble after the Feb. 6 earthquake crushed to death her parents and four siblings in the northern Syrian town of Jinderis. When she was found, her umbilical cord was still connected to her mother.Her story captivated the world at the time, and people from all over offered to adopt her.After spending days at a hospital in north Syria, Afraa was released and handed over to her paternal aunt and her husband, who adopted her and are raising her along with their five daughters and two sons. Afraa was handed over to her aunt’s family days after a DNA test was conducted to make sure the girl and her aunt are biologically related, her adopted father, Khalil al-Sawadi, said.On Saturday, baby Afraa was...

4th body is found in New Jersey house that exploded; 2 injured children were rescued by civilians

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

BUENA, N.J. (AP) — The body of a fourth victim has been found following an explosion and fire that destroyed a New Jersey house and seriously injured two children, who were pulled from the fire by civilians, authorities said. The cause of Thursday morning’s explosion in Buena, about 40 miles (70 kilometers) southeast of Philadelphia, is being investigated. It damaged several nearby homes, but no other injuries were reported.Authorities had previously said those likely in the house at the time included two men, ages 52 and 73, and two children, a 2-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. A 1-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl pulled from the fire by civilians were flown to a Philadelphia hospital, where the infant was in critical condition and the teen was stable, police said.Authorities have not released the victims’ names or said whether they are related.Three of four missing people had been found dead in the rubble by 8 p.m. Thursday, Franklin Township police said. The body of the f...

Weekend Break: Chicago Children's Museum

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

Check out this Weekend Break with Marcus Leshock at the Chicago Children's Museum.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

Why is it called Capitol Reef National Park if there's no reef?

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:27:44 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — It’s nowhere near a capitol, and it certainly doesn’t look like the color reefs you’ll find in Hawaii or off the coast of Australia. So why is this Utah national park called Capitol Reef?It’s not as complicated as you may think, but the answer is a two-part explanation. If you’ve ever been to Capitol Reef, its name will start to make sense in a moment. If you haven’t been to the park, you need to understand its geology first. Located in south-central Utah, Capitol Reef is part of the Waterpocket Fold, a warp in the Earth’s crust that stretches on for nearly 100 miles. Hundreds of millions of years ago, Capitol Reef was more like the Saharan Desert, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Then it became wet, sporting tropical forests, ferns, and swamps.  It was a popular national monument, until it was robbed to extinction But then, about 180 million years ago, the area became dry again. Then, 40 million years later, it turned into a coastal area, d...