Travel
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Man risks his life trying to enter Spain
2013-06-09 17:16:28 UTC
MADRID (AP) — Police have arrested a man who secretly clung onto a catamaran ferry in Morocco and traveled to Spain by holding onto the rear of one of its engines.
Authorities released dramatic photographs showing the barefoot, shirtless Algerian stowaway partially hidden at the stern of the ship and holding on while its engines r...
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Trade winds drop, and Hawaii gets muggy
2013-06-09 04:36:19 UTC
HONOLULU (AP) — Part of what makes living in Hawaii so pleasant is the gentle breeze. Arriving from the northeast, it's light enough that it is barely noticeable but strong enough to chase away the humidity.
It's a natural draw to the outdoors. It is not uncommon to show up at a house to find its residents relaxing out in the ...
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Wizz Air jet makes safe emergency landing in Rome
2013-06-08 14:57:27 UTC
ROME (AP) — Officials at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport says a Wizz Air jet has made a safe emergency landing there after reporting a landing gear problem.
Wizz Air and airport officials say no injuries were reported, although officials said a few people requested medical checkups after passengers disembarked on exit slides Satu...
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Syria refugees could reach 3.5M this year
2013-06-08 06:00:54 UTC
BERLIN (AP) — The number of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries could more than double to 3.5 million by the end of the year, the United Nations said Friday as the global body launched its biggest humanitarian appeal ever.
The U.N. asked donor countries for $5.2 billion to help alleviate the suffering of millions of people in...
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Sweden's Princess Madeleine to wed New York banker
2013-06-08 05:51:52 UTC
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Three years ago she crossed the Atlantic with a broken heart. Now Sweden's "party princess" returns from New York to Stockholm to tie the knot with her new, British-American love.
On Saturday, Princess Madeleine — the Duchess of Halsingland and Gastrikland — will wed New York banker Christopher O'Neill in th...
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Chinese taste for baccarat drives Macau boom
2013-06-07 16:39:16 UTC
MACAU (AP) — In the nearly three dozen casinos in Macau, the world's biggest gambling market, there's only one game that matters: baccarat.
Almost all of Macau's $38 billion in gambling revenue last year — six times more than the Las Vegas Strip — came from card game, much of it from Chinese high-rollers betting borrowed money...
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Lofty art: Painting visible only from Eiffel Tower
2013-06-07 04:45:15 UTC
PARIS (AP) — Art is often seen as lofty — but perhaps none more than a new roof installation in Paris that's only visible from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The work, a huge 700-square-meter (7,500-square-foot) painting of black and white horseshoe shapes, was unveiled Thursday to bird's-eye spectators some 116 meters (380 fe-e...
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When mighty Danube floods, Europe is shaken
2013-06-06 17:59:21 UTC
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The mighty Danube is not the only river in Europe bursting its banks this week, but it packs the biggest punch.
Winding 2,850 kilometers (1,777 miles) across 10 nations, the Danube is the second-longest river on the continent, making its way from Germany's Black Forest to the Black Sea bordering Romani...
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TSA drops plan to allow small knives on planes
2013-06-06 06:56:06 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Transportation Security Administration is abandoning a plan to allow passengers to carry small knives, souvenir bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes in the face of fierce congressional and industry opposition, the head of the agency said Wednesday.
By scuttling the plan to drop the kniv...
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Gunmen in Iraq ambush, shoot dead 14 travelers
2013-06-05 16:29:51 UTC
BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen ambushed a group of travelers at a fake checkpoint at a remote desert site in western Iraq on Wednesday and killed at least 14 of them, according to Iraqi officials, in what appeared to be the latest blow in sectarian violence gripping the country.
The gunmen, apparently looking for Shiites to kill, struc...
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Philippines probes Cebu Pacific for rough landing
2013-06-04 05:59:36 UTC
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine aviation authorities said Tuesday they were investigating Cebu Pacific pilots and crew who left passengers waiting some 15 minutes before deploying emergency slides on a plane that overshot the runway and landed on its nose.
None of the 165 passengers was injured, but several complained about...
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Boy, 10, finds $10,000 in Kansas City hotel room
2013-06-03 05:01:16 UTC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 10-year-old boy who found $10,000 in a drawer at a Kansas City hotel where he was staying with his dad turned the money over to police.
Tyler Schaefer found the neatly stacked bills Saturday in the room where he and his father, Cody Schaefer, were staying at a hotel near the airport, The Kansas City Star re...
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Pyrenees slopes open for rare June ski weekend
2013-06-02 04:57:59 UTC
PORTE-PUYMORENS, France (AP) — The still-white slopes in the Pyrenees of southern France opened for business Saturday, turning a cold wet spring into a rare June ski weekend.
The Porte-Puymorens ski station opened Saturday morning at 8 a.m. for four hours in fog and light rain — but plenty of snow with temperatures just above fre...
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Twisters, floods sweep across Midwest, Plains
2013-06-01 17:06:22 UTC
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Emergency officials set out Saturday to assess damage from a series of violent storms and tornadoes that killed nine people as it swept through Oklahoma City and its suburbs with tornadoes, large hail and heavy rain. More than six dozen people were injured.
Muddy floodwaters stood several feet deep in the ...
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Study: Doctors often on board to help sick fliers
2013-06-01 16:50:47 UTC
Is there a doctor on board? Surprisingly often, there is — in half of in-flight medical emergencies — and sick airline passengers almost always survive, a new study finds.
The research is the largest look yet at what happens to people who develop a medical problem on a commercial flight — about 44,000 of the 2.75 billion passenger...
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5 dead in tornado in Oklahoma City area, 50 hurt
2013-06-01 05:24:54 UTC
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Tornadoes rolled in from the prairie and slammed Oklahoma City and its suburbs, trapping people in their vehicles as a storm swept down an interstate highway while commuters tried to beat it home.
Five people were killed, including a mother and baby killed near Union City. Another person died at El Reno, t...
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EU seeks to abolish data roaming charges in Europe
2013-05-30 17:00:39 UTC
BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union official says mobile phone network operators should be forced to end charging customers for data roaming when traveling across the 27-nation bloc.
European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes told the European Parliament on Thursday the roaming fees should cease to exist by next year.
The...
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Recent wrecks belie improving rail safety record
2013-05-30 05:22:37 UTC
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The nation's railroads are safer than ever, despite recent high-profile accidents like this week's fiery derailment in Maryland.
Derailments and crossing accidents have steadily declined nationwide even as businesses have come to increasingly rely on trains to move their raw materials and products.
The nu...
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Derailment, blast near Baltimore rattles homes
2013-05-29 05:50:24 UTC
ROSEDALE, Md. (AP) — A CSX freight train crashed into a trash truck, derailed and caught fire Tuesday in a Baltimore suburb, setting off an explosion that rattled homes at least a half-mile away and sent a plume of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.
In the third serious derailment this month, the dozen or so rail...
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Fire breaks out aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ship
2013-05-28 05:12:40 UTC
BALTIMORE (AP) — A fire that broke out aboard a Royal Caribbean ship Monday did enough damage that the rest of the cruise was canceled and the company said the more than 2,200 passengers will be flown from the Bahamas back to Baltimore where the trip began.
The fire that began at 2:50 a.m. Monday was extinguished about two h...
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Bridge collapse a major break in trade corridor
2013-05-27 18:21:50 UTC
SEATTLE (AP) — For farmers, business owners and government officials up and down the West Coast, Washington's bridge collapse on Interstate 5 represents much more than a close brush with tragedy. As much as $20 billion in freight travels to and from Canada and along the busy north-south corridor each year.
People in Canada won...
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FBI: Man tried to open exit door on Oregon flight
2013-05-27 18:08:59 UTC
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A passenger on a commercial flight from Alaska to Oregon was arrested Monday after witnesses say he tried to open an emergency exit during the plane's descent and other passengers had to help restrain him using shoelaces and seat-belt extensions.
Passengers and crew aboard the Alaska Airlines flight from Anch...
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Club Med focus of buyout by top shareholders
2013-05-27 17:45:07 UTC
PARIS (AP) — Shares in Club Mediterranee rose sharply Monday on word that the iconic French vacation resort operator's two largest shareholders are launching a buyout.
The offer by Axa Private Equity of France and Fosun, a Shanghai, China-based investment company, values Club Med stock at 556 million euros ($719.41 million).
Ax...
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Temporary bridges planned for fallen I-5 in Wash.
2013-05-27 04:20:52 UTC
SEATTLE (AP) — Federal investigators used 3D laser scans Sunday to study what remained of a collapsed Washington state bridge as Gov. Jay Inslee announced temporary spans will be installed across the Skagit River within weeks — if plans go well.
Sunday's announcement comes a day after the chairwoman of the National Transport...
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WHO: Scientific red tape mars efforts vs. virus
2013-05-27 04:15:49 UTC
GENEVA (AP) — International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.
Dr. Margaret Chan, in a blunt warning to the U.N. agency's...