Probe continues into NYC explosion
Probe continues into NYC explosion
NEW YORK
Someone may have improperly tapped a gas line before an explosion that leveled three apartment buildings and injured nearly two dozen people, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday as firefighters soaked the still-smoldering buildings and police searched for at least two missing people.
The number of people injured in Thursday’s blast rose from 19 to 22, with four critically injured. Police were searching for at least two people. Authorities also were exploring whether a third person was unaccounted for, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
Astronauts begin one-year mission
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan
The capsule carrying a Russian and an American who are to spend a year away from Earth docked today with the International Space Station.
Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly are to spend 342 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, about twice as long as a standard mission on the station. The Soyuz space capsule, also carrying Russia’s Gennady Padalka for a six-month stay, docked about six hours after launching from Russia’s manned space facility in Kazakhstan.
Once the hatches are opened between the two craft after a long procedure, the three will enter the space station to join American Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov of Russia and Italian Samantha Cristoforetti, who have been aboard since late November.
Airstrikes in Yemen
SANAA, Yemen
As airstrikes in Yemen intensified on their second day Friday, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were considering an intervention on the ground, aimed at giving the president a secure foothold to return to the country, while backing Sunni tribesmen to fight against Shiite rebels and their allies, military officials said.
Man faces charges in civil-rights case
JACKSON, Miss.
A former University of Mississippi student has been indicted on federal charges connected to a noose being put on a statue of the student who integrated the school, the Justice Department said Friday.
The noose and a former Georgia flag that prominently featured the Confederate battle emblem were placed on the James Meredith statue on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford in February 2014. In 1962, anti-integration protests erupted into violence and Meredith had to be escorted by armed federal agents as he enrolled under court order as the first black student at the university.
The Justice Department said in a news release Friday that Graeme Phillip Harris of Alpharetta, Georgia, has been indicted on one count of conspiracy to violate civil rights and one count of using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students because of their race or color.
Lawmakers, police clash over secrecy
PHOENIX
Arizona lawmakers thought they were doing police a favor when they passed a measure that would keep secret for two months the name of any officer involved in an on-duty shooting.
But police chiefs say the proposal would serve only to hamper their ability to manage complex police-community relations, and they are asking the governor to veto the measure. Civil-rights groups and community activists also want to see the bill rejected, saying that adding another layer of secrecy will only deepen the divide between law enforcement and some segments of the public, especially in minority communities.
Associated Press