New images show crater created on Mars by lander

New images show crater created on Mars by lander

BERLIN

New pictures taken by a NASA satellite indicate that Europe’s experimental Mars lander created a shallow crater when it crashed on the surface last week.

The images released Thursday show in greater detail the likely fate of the Schiaparelli probe, which was designed to test technology for the European Space Agency’s attempt to put a robot on Mars in 2020.

ESA lost communication with Schiaparelli shortly before the probe was supposed to touch down on Oct. 19.

Italy quakes take out buildings

CAMERINO, Italy

The red brick Amatrice city hall resisted the devastating Aug. 24 quake that collapsed buildings all around it, only to crumble under the one-two punch of lesser jolts Wednesday night. They also brought down a centuries-old church tower in Camerino that had withstood both a quake in 1997 and the one in August.

The twin aftershocks Wednesday may have exacted a lesser human toll than the August quake that preceded them, with no one killed under rubble and no reports of serious injuries. But they revealed structural weakness in the mountainous quake-prone zone straddling the Marche and Umbria regions, and added more psychological stress to already traumatized inhabitants.

Experts uncover hidden layers of Jesus’ tomb site

JERUSALEM

In the innermost chamber of the site said to be the tomb of Jesus, a restoration team has peeled away a marble layer for the first time in centuries in an effort to reach what it believes is the original rock surface where Jesus’ body was laid.

Many historians have long believed that the original cave, identified a few centuries after Jesus’ death as his tomb, was obliterated ages ago.

Pence plane slides off runway at NYC’s LaGuardia Airport

NEW YORK

Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence’s campaign plane slid off the runway during a rainstorm at New York’s LaGuardia Airport Thursday, tearing up two tracks of concrete before coming to rest on a patch of grass.

Pence told reporters that no one had been injured.

After a bumpy approach, the plane roughly landed and slammed into the ground, making first contact with the runway concrete. The pilot slammed on the brakes, and passengers could smell burning rubber.

Jury acquits leaders of Oregon standoff of federal charges

PORTLAND, Ore.

The leaders of an armed group who seized a national wildlife refuge in rural Oregon were acquitted Thursday in the 41-day standoff that brought new attention to a long-running dispute over control of federal lands in the U.S. West.

Tumult erupted in the courtroom after the verdicts were read when an attorney for group leader Ammon Bundy demanded his client be immediately released, repeatedly yelling at the judge. U.S. marshals tackled attorney Marcus Mumford to the ground, used a stun gun on him several times and arrested him.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown said she could not release Bundy because he still faces charges in Nevada stemming from an armed standoff at his father Cliven Bundy’s ranch two years ago.

Associated Press