Alexandria

New Orleans hotel collapse: Demolition of cranes delayed

A plan to use explosives to topple two giant cranes leaning precariously over a partially collapsed hotel has been delayed until Sunday, city officials said after determining the cranes were more damaged than previously thought. Fire Chief Tim McConnell said the latest delay was caused by the new assessment of the cranes. The Hard Rock Hotel under construction at the edge of the historic French Quarter partially collapsed Oct. 12, killing three workers.

Nestor heads into Georgia after tornados damage Florida

Nestor rushed into Georgia on Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone after the former tropical storm spawned a tornado that damaged homes and a school in central Florida but spared an area of the Florida Panhandle devastated one year ago by Hurricane Michael. The storm made landfall on St. Vincent Island, a nature preserve just off Florida's northern Gulf Coast in a lightly populated area of the state, the National Hurricane Center said. Nestor is now expected to bring 1 to 3 inches of rain to inland areas as it moves northeast across Georgia and then heads Sunday into the Carolinas before exiting into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Latest: Nestor moves into Georgia with heavy rain

Nestor has begun moving through Georgia as a post-tropical cyclone that could bring isolated flash floods. The National Hurricane Center said Nestor's maximum sustained winds had decreased to about 40 mph (65 kph) as it reached the Florida-Georgia border Saturday afternoon. The storm is expected to drop 1 to 3 inches of rain in spots as it moves through Georgia and into the Carolinas on Sunday before exiting into the Atlantic Ocean.

Nestor makes landfall in Florida, heavy rain and high winds expected

Post-tropical storm Nestor made landfall in Florida Saturday, and while it continues to lose steam, heavy rain and gusty winds are expected to impact parts of Southeast U.S. Nestor touched down on St. Vincent Island, near Apalachicola, around 2:15 p.m. ET. The storm is no longer a tropical storm and is now considered a post-tropical low-pressure system.

SoftBank seeks to avoid WeWork's liabilities with new investment: sources

SoftBank Group Corp is attempting to become the majority owner of WeWork without assuming the onerous lease obligations of the U.S. office-space sharing firm, according to people familiar with the matter. SoftBank is offering a $5 billion financing lifeline that The We Company, the parent of New York-based WeWork, is assessing against a proposal by JPMorgan Chase & Co for a debt package of similar size from banks and institutional investors. WeWork could run out of cash as early as next month without new financing, sources have said, after the company pulled plans in September for an initial public offering (IPO).

Barcelona mayor pleads for violence in Catalonia to stop

The mayor of riot-stricken Barcelona pleaded Saturday for calm after violent protests by Catalan separatists rocked Spain's second largest city for a fifth consecutive night. Barcelona does not deserve it," Mayor Ada Colau told reporters, adding that Friday's violence was the worst so far. Radical separatists have clashed with police every night in Barcelona and other Catalan cities following huge peaceful protests by people angered by Monday's Supreme Court verdict that sentenced nine separatist leaders to prison for their roles in a failed 2017 secession attempt.

Lost Pacific Crest Trail hiker rescued in snowstorm

Robert Campbell was thoroughly soaked, shivering, his wet sleeping bag covering him in the only shelter he could find -- a pit toilet in a closed campground -- after getting lost in a snowstorm in Oregon while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Campbell was saved on Friday by a search team from the local sheriff's department, who found his footprints in the snow. My sleeping bag and tent are just completely soaked and probably ruined and I have no dry clothes," Campbell said from a motel Friday night in Detroit, Oregon.

Ocasio-Cortez throws her support to Bernie Sanders

At a rally Saturday in Queens, N.Y., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made her endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders for president official.

Artist uses 'historic' markers to raise climate awareness

New England is awash in historic markers, but a handful of plaques popping up in a New Hampshire town are different. Rather than commemorating important people or places in history, many of these dinner plate-size signs detail events like rising sea levels and an explosion of ticks that have yet to happen — part of an effort to draw attention to the potential effects of climate change. "The concept is to just really take that information that is on the websites and package it in a way to insert it into the landscape where people will bump into it," said Northeastern University's Thomas Starr, who came up with the project known as "Remembrance of Climate Futures." He has placed 11 plaques in Durham, New Hampshire, six in Essex, Massachusetts, and is planning to install some in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well.

Israel, Russia, and the US are in a diplomatic standoff over a 26-year-old woman smuggling 9 and a half grams of marijuana

Naama Issachar, 26, was sentenced to 7.5 years of prison in Moscow, and negotiating her release is part of a bigger diplomatic dispute.

Incredible video shows moment ‘hero’ school football coach disarms and hugs student with gun

Extraordinary footage has revealed the moment a ‘hero’ school security guard and football coach disarmed a student who had brought a gun to school to kill himself.Keanon Lowe took the gun off student Angel Granados-Diaz in a classroom and then hugged and consoled him before police officers arrived to take him into custody.

The Latest: New Orleans delays plans to collapse 2 cranes

New Orleans officials say they must delay plans to topple two cranes that had been looming precariously over the ruins of a partially collapsed hotel. The delay comes a week after the shocking collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel on Saturday that was being built near a corner of the city's historic French Quarter. People living and working near a corner of New Orleans' historic French Quarter are being told they should prepare to leave for several hours as preparations continue for a controlled explosion at a partially collapsed building.

70,000 California wildfire victims may miss out on payments

As many as 100,000 Californians are eligible to receive payments for the damages they suffered from a series of devastating wildfires over the last several years. Concerned that as many as 70,000 victims may miss out on payments, attorneys filed court papers Friday to alert the bankruptcy judge that wildfire survivors — many still traumatized and struggling to get back on their feet — aren't aware of their rights to file a claim. "People really are overwhelmed and don't understand what they need to do," said Cecily Dumas, an attorney for the Official Committee of Tort Claimants, a group appointed by the court to represent all wildfire victims in the bankruptcy.

Exhibit on Jefferson's architecture weaves in slavery's role

As an architect, Thomas Jefferson envisioned buildings for a new republic — not old-world kings. The show, which opens Saturday in Virginia, offers another reckoning over the founding father's legacy and the role of enslaved Americans. The exhibit follows the nation's August commemoration of the 1619 arrival of enslaved Africans to what is now Virginia.

Judge halts Atatiana Jefferson's funeral amid family dispute

At the request of the victim’s father, Marquis Jefferson, Dallas County Probate Court Judge Brenda Hull Thompson issued the temporary restraining order Friday to postpone the funeral. The father claimed he had no control over his daughter’s funeral and burial arrangements, which were planned by Atatiana Jefferson’s aunt, Bonita Body. Marquis Jefferson, according to court documents, argued that, as the surviving parent and his daughter's heir, he should be the one planning her funeral.

Europol says women 'equally capable of crime' as men as it reveals most-wanted list

Europol has revealed the names of Europe's most-wanted fugitives - and 18 of the 21 criminals on the list are women, warning they are “equally capable” of committing serious crimes as men. Called the "Crime has no gender" campaign, Europe's policing agency on Friday rolled out a new campaign to catch the continent's most wanted female criminals. "People think that usually these crimes are not being committed by women, but they are and they are equally as serious as those committed by men," spokeswoman Tine Hollevoet said. The wanted suspects face a range of charges including murder, and human and drug trafficking. The interactive campaign first shows the suspects hidden behind spooky neon masks, before their faces are slowly revealed as viewers read the stories behind their crimes. For instance, the Czech Republic is seeking information about Iveta Tancosova, who was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison after a young girl was lured to England under the pretence she would work as a nurse. France is looking for Jessica Edosomwan, a Nigerian citizen who escaped after police raided a prostitution ring in the Lyon region in late 2007 and arrested 26 people. The ring exploited some 60 prostitutes who were lured to France with the promise of a better future and were smuggled there through Libya. Once in France, the destitute women were subjected to voodoo "juju" rites and their families threatened, French police told AFP. The case against the suspects are expected to start in Lyon on November 6 and Edosomwan is the only suspect still outstanding. She is believed to be either in the Benelux countries, Italy or Germany, police said. Dr Marian Duggan, an expert in gender and criminology at the University of Kent, told the BBC that Europol was right about there being a stereotype casting men as more likely than women to perpetrate serious and organised crime. But the stereotype existed because it was true, she said. "Obviously all crimes can be committed of anybody of any gender," Dr Duggan said. "But while some women do commit serious crimes, they do so far less frequently than men." Dr Duggan said gender stereotypes were often exploited by organised criminal groups when carrying out large-scale crimes.

No 'Joker': Bronx 'step street' becomes New York hot spot thanks to hit movie

Like most tourists, Patricio Osuna had a list of "must sees" on his trip to New York City: the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and, surprisingly, a steep flight of steps in an out-of-the-way neighborhood of the Bronx that has become a cult-movie landmark. This fall Osuna and a stream of fellow visitors have flocked to the stairway, known as a "step street," to see the real-life backdrop to a memorable scene in "Joker," the hit movie that tells the backstory of Batman's deranged foe, the Joker. The scene captures the moment that the loner Arthur Fleck, played by Joaquin Phoenix, transforms into the Joker as he dances down the steps to Gary Glitter's anthem "Rock & Roll Part 2," his hair dyed a menacing green and his face painted like a clown.

No 'Joker': Bronx 'step street' becomes New York hot spot thanks to hit movie

Like most tourists, Patricio Osuna had a list of "must sees" on his trip to New York City: the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and, surprisingly, a steep flight of steps in an out-of-the-way neighborhood of the Bronx that has become a cult-movie landmark. This fall Osuna and a stream of fellow visitors have flocked to the stairway, known as a "step street," to see the real-life backdrop to a memorable scene in "Joker," the hit movie that tells the backstory of Batman's deranged foe, the Joker. The scene captures the moment that the loner Arthur Fleck, played by Joaquin Phoenix, transforms into the Joker as he dances down the steps to Gary Glitter's anthem "Rock & Roll Part 2," his hair dyed a menacing green and his face painted like a clown.