Police losing battle to get drivers to put down their phones
By DENISE LAVOIE State police in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have been known to patrol in a tractor-trailer so they can sit up high and spot drivers texting behind the wheel. In…
Accidents and disasters
Billionaire Richard Branson survives bike crash
By DANICA KIRKA Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson said Friday he thought he was going to die after flying head first off his bicycle in the British Virgin Islands. The Virgin…
Powerful earthquake shakes central Myanmar
By ESTHER HTUSAN A powerful earthquake measuring magnitude 6.8 shook central Myanmar on Wednesday, damaging scores of ancient Buddhist pagodas in the former capital of Bagan, a major tourist attraction,…
Italy earthquake kills dozens, reduces towns to rubble
By PAOLO SANTALUCIA and NICOLE WINFIELD A strong earthquake in central Italy reduced three towns to rubble as people slept early Wednesday, with reports that as many as 50 people…
Young suicide bomber attacks Turkey wedding party; 51 dead
By CINAR KIPER An Islamic State group suicide bomber as young as 12 years old attacked an outdoor Kurdish wedding party in southeastern Turkey, killing at least 51 people and…
Mexico’s rights agency says police killed 22 at ranch
By LULU OROZCO and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Federal police killed at least 22 people on a ranch last year, then moved bodies and planted guns to corroborate the official account that…
Haunting image of Syrian boy rescued from Aleppo rubble
By ZEINA KARAM and PHILIP ISSA Syrian opposition activists have released haunting footage showing a young boy rescued from a partially destroyed building in the aftermath of a devastating airstrike…
Water everywhere, Louisiana residents struggle for dry land
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, MAX BECHERER and REBECCA SANTANA Barbara Manuel saw a flicker of sun and that gave her hope that the worst of the horrific flooding to hit southern…