US gas prices rise
US gas prices rise
CAMARILLO, Calif.
The average national price of a regular gallon of gasoline has jumped 22 cents in the past three weeks to $2.80.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that higher crude prices caused by a weaker U.S. dollar and strong gasoline demand drove the increase.
However, she says the price was 93 cents lower than a year ago.
Lundberg says gasoline price hikes will likely slow or stop because of an expected increase in supplies.
Marines: 1 killed, 21 taken to hospitals after hard landing
HONOLULU
A Marine Corps Osprey aircraft made a hard landing in Hawaii on Sunday, killing one Marine and sending 21 other people to hospitals as dark smoke from the resulting fire billowed into the sky.
The tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey, which can take off and land like a helicopter but flies like an airplane, had a “hard-landing mishap” at 11:40 a.m., the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit said in a statement.
Officials didn’t provide details about the conditions of the injured. Twenty-two people were aboard the aircraft, including 21 Marines and one Navy corpsman assigned to the unit, spokesman Capt. Brian Block said in an email.
The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit is based at Camp Pendleton in California and is in Hawaii for about a week for training.
Officials: Saudi-led airstrikes resume
SANAA, Yemen
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels resumed early today in the southern port city of Aden after a five-day truce came to a close after talks on the war-torn country’s future that were boycotted by the rebels. Coalition airstrikes hit rebel positions and tanks in several neighborhoods of Aden after the cease-fire expired at 11 p.m. Sunday, Yemeni security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The cease-fire hadn’t halted all fighting in Yemen between the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and government forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Great white shark is star on Twitter
BOSTON
They’re gonna need a bigger Twitter.
An organization studying great white sharks is enjoying some welcome attention after one of the creatures they’ve been monitoring started gaining a loyal social media following. @MaryLeeShark is the fake Twitter handle for a very real, nearly 3,500-pound great white whose movements can be tracked online and in real time.
She’s drawn more than 44,000 followers with her playful updates and witty replies as the real-life shark cruises up and down the East Coast. The shark, which was tagged off the coast of Cape Cod, is among hundreds of sharks that OCEARCH, a Utah-based organization, has tagged and tracked since 2007.
2M more chickens to be killed due to flu
MINNEAPOLIS
One of the nation’s largest egg producers says it will destroy 2 million egg-laying hens in Minnesota due to a deadly bird-flu virus.
The development at the south-central Minnesota chicken farm brings the total of affected birds to 35 million in 15 states, with Minnesota and Iowa poultry flocks hit the hardest.
The company’s vice president of marketing, Jonathan Spurway, said one barn holding around 200,000 birds was infected, but the entire flock will be killed as a precaution. The chickens will be destroyed in the next four weeks at Rembrandt Enterprises farm in Renville, the Star Tribune reported.
Associated Press