World’s oldest woman dies in Indiana at 115

World’s oldest woman dies in Indiana at 115

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. — Edna Parker, who became the world’s oldest person more than a year ago, has died at age 115.

UCLA gerontologist Dr. Stephen Coles said Parker’s great-nephew notified him that Parker died Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville. She was 115 years, 220 days old, said Robert Young, a senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records.

Parker was born April 20, 1893, in central Indiana’s Morgan County and had been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest person since the 2007 death in Japan of Yone Minagawa, who was four months her senior.

Airbus plane crashes off coast of France

PARIS — An Airbus A320 passenger plane crashed off France’s southern coast during a maintenance flight Thursday, killing two people and leaving the five others on board missing, authorities said.

The airplane had undergone checks at the EAS Industries aircraft maintenance center in the French city of Perpignan, near the border with Spain. It was being leased by German charter airline XL Airways and was due to return to service for Air New Zealand next month, officials from those companies said.

The jet plunged into the Mediterranean as it was approaching the Perpignan airport, from which it had taken off on a circular flight an hour earlier.

Barbara Bush is ‘good’

HOUSTON — A Houston hospital spokeswoman said former first lady Barbara Bush was in good condition after undergoing laparoscopic surgery for a perforated ulcer.

Ami Felker, a spokeswoman for The Methodist Hospital, says Bush was in high spirits Thursday afternoon as she was moved to a patient room from the intensive care unit.

The former first lady was hospitalized Tuesday after experiencing abdominal pain.

Pope may visit Holy Land

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI may visit the Holy Land next year, the Vatican spokesman said Thursday.

Benedict, who has expressed his desire to visit the Holy Land, has a long-standing invitation from Israel. But a tax dispute and other issues have so far prevented a visit, and the two sides are also at odds over the conduct of wartime Pope Pius XII.

Chaos continues in Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand’s government backed off today from its threat to forcibly remove protesters occupying Bangkok’s two airports in their campaign to oust the prime minister, saying police would avoid violence and attempt to negotiate.

Thousands of tourists have been left stranded since anti-government protesters occupied the main international Suvarnabhumi airport Tuesday and the smaller Don Muang airport Wednesday. Both airports are now shut down and the capital completely cut off to air traffic.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared a state of emergency at the airports.

A Nazi entertainer?

BERLIN — A 104-year-old Dutch-born entertainer who made his name performing in Hitler’s Germany began a lawsuit Thursday to clear himself of allegations he sang for SS guards at the Dachau concentration camp.

Johannes Heesters acknowledges he visited the camp outside Munich in 1941 but brought a civil suit to have a German author and documentary filmmaker retract statements that he entertained SS troops while there.

Associated Press