Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi’s fate hangs in the balance. The Libyan man convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombings has terminal prostate cancer and, according to his lawyers, just weeks to live. Scotland’s Justice Minister Frank MacAskill is weighing up whether to release him on compassionate grounds so he can die at home; to transfer him to a Libyan jail under a prisoner transfer agreement drawn up between Libya and the UK; or whether to keep him in a Scottish jail for the rest of his days.
Tag Archives: town
‘Ominous feeling’ as California fire burns unchecked
Thousands of residents fled ahead of a raging wildfire near northern California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, and one man said he had an "ominous feeling" as ashes descended on him.
Suspect arrested after six slayings in two states
Authorities have arrested a 30-year-old Tennessee man in connection with the killing of six people — five in Tennessee and one in neighboring Alabama. Jacob Shaffer of Fayetteville was arrested Saturday after three people were found dead at a house in the town, 90 miles south of Nashville
U.S. Marines in Afghan standoff, 4 die in roadside blast
Four U.S.
‘Last man standing’ at wake for a toxic town
Wearing powder blue pants and a plaid fedora, 84-year-old Orval "Hoppy" Ray arrived fashionably late to a celebration in Picher, Oklahoma, a vacated mining town at the center of one of the nation’s largest and most polluted toxic-waste sites. Former residents, bought out by the government because their town was deemed so dangerous, gathered in Picher’s elementary school to say farewell to a place where kids suffered lead poisoning, where homes built atop underground mines plunged into the Earth and where the local creek coughs up orange water, laced with heavy metals. A toothpick dangling out of the corner of his chapped mouth, Ray greeted several old friends as if he were in any other small town in America.
In Russia, a Recession-Plagued Town Revolts
After waiting half an hour in a line of 20 people at the dusty ATM, Eduard Markov finally walks away with his old leather wallet bulging with rubles. Like thousands of others in the northern Russian industrial town of Pikalyovo, the 44-year-old clay quarry worker had not been paid in three months. But now he at least has enough to buy the basics — meat, vodka, noodles, oil and fruit — from shops that just a few days ago were empty of customers.
Islamic militants seize Somali city
Somalia’s hard-line Islamic group Al-Shabab seized control of Jowhar, the president’s hometown, after a battle with pro-government forces Sunday. Jowhar is a major town 55 miles (88 kilometers) southeast of Mogadishu, the capital. “All businesses are closed and residents are already fleeing while Al-Shabab are roaming the streets,” a local journalist said.
The Montana Town That Wanted to Be Gitmo
The coils of razor wire glint in the prairie sun like silver tumbleweeds piled against the tall chain-link perimeter fences of the forlorn Two Rivers Detention Facility in Hardin, Montana.
Manhunt for professor continues, college town mourns 3 dead
Police searched without success Sunday for a University of Georgia professor who allegedly shot and killed his wife and two other people at a community theater group’s reunion Saturday, then fled.
New Zealand motel owner bans whole town
A motel owner in New Zealand — fed up with one too many incidents of rowdy behavior — has banned an entire town from checking in as guests. Steve Donnelly, the owner of the Supreme Motor Lodge in the town of Palmerston North, said he decided to yank the welcome mat for the 16,000 residents of Wainuiomata because “each time they visited, our life became less exciting.” “I’m not Santa Claus