Новости за 01.08.2015

BALMA, France — A wing flap suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on Saturday arrived at a French military testing facility where it will be analyzed by experts. After a 10-hour journey by road from Paris’ Orly airport, a truck carrying the roughly 8-foot component known as a flaperon arrived at the DGA TA aeronautical testing site near Toulouse, accompanied by police motorcycles and a police car. French aviation experts will try to establish... Читать дальше...

DALLAS — The Texas trooper who arrested Sandra Bland after a confrontation that began with a traffic stop was once cautioned about “unprofessional conduct” in a 2014 incident while he was still a probationary trooper, according to his personnel file. Bland, a 28-year-old Chicago-area woman, was found dead in her Waller County jail cell in Hempstead, about 200 miles south of Dallas, on July 13, three days after her arrest. Officials say she used a plastic bag to hang herself, a finding her family has questioned. Читать дальше...

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Kurdish regional government called on the Kurdistan Worker’s Party to withdraw from Iraq’s Kurdish territory Saturday to prevent civilian deaths amid a campaign of Turkish air strikes targeting the group. A statement from the office of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the PKK, “should withdraw its fighters from the Kurdish region so to ensure the civilians of Kurdistan don’t become victims of that fighting and conflict.”... Читать дальше...

JOHANNESBURG — When Cecil the lion’s carcass was finally found after he was lured out of a Zimbabwe wildlife reserve to be killed by an American hunter, it was a headless, skinless skeleton the vultures had been picking at for about a week. Conservationists decided the most natural thing was to leave the bones where they were for hyenas to finish off, said Brent Stapelkamp, a lion researcher and part of a team that had tracked and studied Cecil for nine years. Stapelkamp... Читать дальше...

LONDON — Three relatives of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were among four people killed when a private jet crashed on landing in southern England, police confirmed Saturday. The Hampshire Police force said formal post-mortems were still being conducted, but the victims were believed to be “the mother, sister and brother-in-law of the owner of the aircraft, all of whom are from the bin Laden family.” It said all three were Saudi nationals who were visiting Britain on vacation. Читать дальше...

KABUL — The new leader of the Afghan Taliban vowed to continue his group’s bloody, nearly 14-year insurgency in an audio message released Saturday, urging his fighters to remain unified after the death of their longtime leader. The audio message purportedly from Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor also included comments about the Taliban’s nascent peace talks with the Afghan government, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether he supported them. Mansoor took over the... Читать дальше...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — A long-awaited solar farm is under construction at the University of Illinois and a campus official says it should be producing power by Christmas. The 21-acre farm will be built on open land on the far south side of the Urbana-Champaign campus. It will eventually provide 2 percent of the campus' power. The first panels will go up in mid-September, said Morgan Johnston, associate director of sustainability at UI Facilities and Services. The farm is being built in partnership with Phoenix Solar of San Ramon, California. Читать дальше...

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A shortage of special education teachers has left public school districts in northern Iowa struggling to fill those teaching positions, school officials say. Enrollment numbers last school year show Clear Lake schools had 136 students receiving special education services, while Mason City schools had 508, the Mason City Globe Gazette reported (http://bit.ly/1Ift6iC ) Saturday. Renee Denny, special education coordinator at Garner-Hayfield-Ventura High School, said she was shocked... Читать дальше...

The San Jose Earthquakes return home to Avaya Stadium after a fruitless two-match road trip. The Quakes hope to revenge their July 5th loss against Portland when the Timbers visit this Sunday and stop a four-match losing streak. San Jose Earthquakes v Portland Timbers Sunday, August 2, 2015 – 2:00PM Watch this match LIVE at

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A former North Dakota teacher of the year who was found not guilty of having a sexual relationship with a former student has one more step before he returns to school. The case of West Fargo High School English teacher Aaron Knodel is scheduled to be decided Monday by a state licensing board, nearly one year after he was charged with five felony counts of solicitation or corruption of a minor. He was cleared by a state district court last month and reinstated by the West Fargo School Board earlier this week. Читать дальше...

The latest ASK MICK column is up and running on our www.sfchronicle.com site. Check it out.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The plan to give most of New York state's fast-food workers a $15 minimum wage is taking another step toward reality. On Friday a state Wage Board formally filed the proposal with the state Department of Labor. That's a largely bureaucratic step, but it also means the proposal is likely to be approved by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration by mid-September. The increase would be gradually phased in over three years in New York City and over six years elsewhere. The wage increase... Читать дальше...

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) — Police say an upstate New York man stopped for dancing in the street with a traffic cone repeatedly punched an officer until he was unconscious. The Post-Star of Glens Falls reports (http://bit.ly/1M3BdoL ) James D. Hilton was charged Saturday with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. Attorney information for the 32-year-old Hilton wasn't immediately available. He was arraigned and held without bail. Officials say Officer Mark Weekes first told Hilton to drop the cone when he spotted him dancing at about 2... Читать дальше...

ATLANTA (AP) — Last fall, when Martin Meltzer calculated that 1.4 million people might contract Ebola in West Africa, the world paid attention. This was, he said, a worst-case scenario. But Meltzer is the most famous disease modeler for the nation's pre-eminent public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His estimate was promoted at high-level international meetings. It rallied nations to step up their efforts to fight the disease. But the estimate proved to be off. Way, way off. Читать дальше...

PHOENIX (AP) — Several Arizona utilities are poised to meet a goal of 6 percent of renewable energy use next year thanks to utility-scale and rooftop solar projects. The Arizona Capitol Times reports (http://bit.ly/1JUa7u9) that Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power and UNS Electric all expect to reach or surpass the benchmark by the end of 2016. The Arizona Corporation Commission in 2006 approved a mandate that state-regulated utilities get 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025... Читать дальше...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Police in Little Rock say a shooting that left a man and a woman dead is being investigated as a murder-suicide. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1UeMJ1E ) that officers responded to a 911 call about 3:55 a.m. Saturday and found 54-year-old Donna Galvin on the bathroom floor suffering from gunshot wounds. Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Steven McClanahan says officers also found 58-year-old David Galvin dead from "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot" to the head. Читать дальше...

LONDON (AP) — An aerobatic stunt plane plummeted to the ground during a routine at a car and music festival in northwest England Saturday, killing the pilot. Video shot by an eyewitness showed one jet in a two-plane team going into a steep dive and plowing into a wooded area during the CarFest event at the Oulton Park motor-racing track. Photos showed smoke rising from a field near the site, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London. DJ Chris Evans, who founded CarFest, said "one of the... Читать дальше...

CHICAGO (AP) — Federal election records indicate that former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has closed his political action committee and moved $10,000 of the money to his legal defense fund. The Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/1KGs5WC ) reports that Federal Election Commission records show the indicted Illinois politician closed his Keep Our Mission PAC on June 30 and moved $10,000 to the J. Dennis Hastert Defense Trust. Hastert has pleaded not guilty to violating banking laws and lying to the FBI. Читать дальше...

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (AP) — The interim pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston has been awarded South Carolina's highest civilian honor for his work in helping the community heal following the massacre there in June. Multiple media outlets report that Gov. Nikki Haley surprised the Rev. Norvel Goff when she awarded him the Order of the Palmetto during an appreciation dinner Friday in his hometown of Georgetown. Haley praised Goff's leadership following the June 17 shootings at the historic black church. Читать дальше...

BALMA, France (AP) — A wing flap suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on Saturday arrived at a French military testing facility where it will be analyzed by experts. A truck brought the roughly 8-foot (2.44-meter) component known as a flaperon to the DGA TA aeronautical testing site near Toulouse, accompanied by police motorcycles and a police car. French aviation experts will try to establish whether the wreckage that was found on the Indian Ocean island Reunion comes from the Boeing 777 which disappeared on March 8... Читать дальше...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The family of a woman who died when a small plane crashed into a central Florida house in 2013 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration. Charisse Peoples, 42, was a passenger in the Tennessee-bound 1957 Beechcraft single-engine plane that crashed into a Palm Coast house. The pilot and another passenger also died. Attorneys for Peoples' sons say the FAA was negligent when air traffic controllers directed the pilot to the Flagler County Airport... Читать дальше...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Verizon workers in nine states could walk off the job as soon as early Sunday if union negotiators don't reach an agreement over benefits with the wireless carrier. A contract covering 39,000 Verizon workers represented by two unions expires at the end of Saturday. Last week the Communication Workers of America announced that 86 percent of Verizon workers covered by the contract voted to strike in a recent poll, if a new agreement isn't reached. The contract covers employees in... Читать дальше...

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — A special prosecutor will investigate the legality of a payout authorized by Huntington Mayor Steve Williams to former police chief Skip Holbrook. The Herald-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/1JXxO4y ) that Cabell County Prosecutor Sean Hammers requested his office being recused from the case. The request was granted July 13. Hammers had received a complaint from former city councilman Scott Caserta saying that about $34,000 of Holbrook's $45,000 payout was for unused sick leave, which he contends he wasn't entitled to. Читать дальше...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service says a woman was arrested after jumping over a low barricade in front of the White House. The barricades have been placed several feet in front of the White House fence. They are roughly waist-high and described as "bike racks" by the Secret Service. According to a statement from the agency, a woman jumped over the barricade around 7 p.m. on Friday. She was immediately detained by uniformed Secret Service officers and charged with unlawful entry. Her name has not been released. Читать дальше...

BOSTON (AP) — Commuters choosing between driving a car or riding a bicycle to work are being encouraged to try a little of both. Gov. Charlie Baker's administration has unveiled what it calls a first-in-the-nation commuting network known as Park&Pedal. Aimed largely at commuters who may live a little too far from work to cycle all the way in, the program offers parking hubs near large employment centers where motorists can park for free and then bike the remaining distance. State officials say if the idea catches on... Читать дальше...