Airport name to honor John Glenn

Airport name to honor John Glenn

COLUMBUS

Astronaut John Glenn is getting an airport named in his honor in his home state of Ohio.

In a gesture of bipartisan cooperation, the Republican-dominated Ohio House and Senate voted Wednesday to support a bill adding the 94-year-old Democrat’s name to Port Columbus International Airport. The facility’s new name will be John Glenn Columbus International Airport. The bill now heads to Republican Gov. John Kasich.

20 homes damaged in Kansas tornado

CHAPMAN, Kan.

About 20 homes were damaged Wednesday night in a rural area of northern Kansas after a tornado passed through, but there were no immediate reports of injuries, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.

Trooper Ben Gardner, a spokesman for the patrol, said troopers were checking a rural area in Dickinson County where it was believed 20 homes were damaged, some significantly.

Shakespeare works fetch $3.68 million

LONDON

A set of the first four editions of William Shakespeare’s plays – dubbed the “Holy Grail of publishing” by Christie’s auction house – sold Wednesday for almost $3.68 million.

The London sale included a previously unrecorded copy of the First Folio that fetched $2.75 million, well above its pre-sale estimate.

The First Folio, published in 1623, collected 36 plays, 18 of which previously had not appeared in print and otherwise would have been lost.

The folio and later editions published in 1632, 1664 and 1685 were sold as individual lots but all bought by a private American collector.

Court upholds Assange warrant

HELSINKI

A Swedish court Wednesday rejected a request to overturn the arrest warrant of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because there were no new circumstances to consider.

The Stockholm District Court said it made the decision because Assange is still wanted for questioning in a case of suspected rape and that “there is still a risk that he will depart or in some other way evade prosecution or penalty.”

Afghan Taliban choose new leader

KABUL, Afghanistan

A little-known extremist cleric was chosen Wednesday to be the new leader of the Afghan Taliban, just days after a U.S. drone strike killed his predecessor.

But within hours of the Taliban’s announcement that the group’s council of leaders had unanimously selected Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, opposition to him emerged – a sign that rifts within the insurgency could widen and possibly drive the Taliban further from peace talks with the government of Afghanistan.

The Taliban called on all Muslims to support Akhundzada as a matter of religious obligation and declared three days of official mourning for Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour, who was slain Saturday by a U.S. drone in Pakistan.

Associated Press