A man is accused of murdering a 5-year-old child who was found dead in a suitcase 9 years ago
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A man accused of killing a 5-year-old boy whose body was found in a suitcase near a Massachusetts highway in 2014 has pleaded not guilty and has been granted bail. Alberto Sierra Jr., the ex-boyfriend of Jeremiah Oliver’s mother, was arraigned Thursday, a day after his arrest. An email was left for his attorney seeking comment. Jeremiah’s body was found in April 2014, but the boy was last seen alive in September 2013 and was not reported missing until December of that year.
The White House expected to withdraw the nomination to the federal appeals court in the wake of Biden’s court defeat
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare court defeat for President Joe Biden, the White House is expected to soon withdraw Michael Delaney’s nomination to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. This word comes from someone familiar with Delaney’s confirmation process. Delaney’s failure to get the necessary Democratic votes in both the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the floor is due in part to concerns about the abortion legal memo he signed as New Hampshire’s deputy attorney general. The brief defended the state’s parental notification law. Delaney has also faced scrutiny over his representation of St. Paul’s School, a private boarding school in New Hampshire that has been the subject of a sexual-abuse lawsuit.
More than 30 million American drivers don’t know if they’re at risk of a rare but dangerous airbag deployment
DETROIT (AP) — More than 33 million people in the United States drive vehicles that contain a potentially deadly threat: air bag inflators that, in rare cases, can explode in a crash and send shrapnel flying. Few of them know it. And with a dispute between federal safety agencies and an airbag parts manufacturer, they’re unlikely to find out anytime soon. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking Knoxville, Tenn.-based maker ARC Automotive to recall 67 million of the inflatables, which can explode with such force as to shatter a metal canister and send shrapnel flying. But ARC refuses to do so, setting up a possible legal battle with the agency.
The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II cost the British government $200 million
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Treasury has revealed that Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and memorial service cost the British government 162 million pounds ($201 million) last year. The late monarch’s state funeral, which took place on September 19, was the first in Britain since the funeral of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965. The event, attended by world leaders and dignitaries, followed 10 days of national mourning for the Queen. died on September 8 after 70 years on the throne. Hundreds of thousands of people were drawn to Westminster Abbey to catch a glimpse of Britain’s longest-serving monarch. The costs were released on Thursday as part of a written statement to parliament.
Sam Zell, billionaire real estate investor, has died
Sam Zell, the Chicago real estate mogul who earned a multibillion-dollar fortune and reputation as a “grave dancer” for his ability to revive dying properties, has died of complications from a recent illness. He was 81 years old. Bearded and sharp-tongued, Zell reveled in defying conventional wisdom. He had a golden touch in real estate and began managing apartment buildings while a college student. By the time he turned 70, he had amassed a fortune estimated at $3.8 billion.
Austrian actor Helmut Berger, film star of the 1960s and 1970s, dies aged 78
BERLIN (AP) — Austrian-born actor Helmut Berger, a European movie star of the 1960s and 1970s who rose to fame with roles in films by Italian director Luchino Visconti, has died. He was 78. His agent said Berger died “peacefully but nevertheless unexpectedly” early Thursday in his hometown of Salzburg. In 1964 he worked as an extra in Rome before being discovered by Visconti, who later became his partner and gave him his first role in 1966. He played prominent roles in Visconti’s The Damned, Ludwig, and The Conversation. Berger’s credits also include appearances in Vittorio De Sica’s The Garden of Finzi-Contini, Massimo Dalaman’s Dorian Gray and later in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part III.
An 84-year-old mountaineer was rescued from a mountain in Nepal while searching for a record
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An 84-year-old climber trying to become the oldest person to scale all of the world’s highest peaks has been rescued from a mountain in Nepal where he was injured. Spanish mountaineer Carlos Soria attempted to climb Mount Davlagiri, but was injured on the way to the top. On Thursday, he was taken off the mountain by a rescue helicopter and taken to a hospital in Kathmandu for treatment. After he was injured on Wednesday, Sherpa guides and fellow climbers helped him down the mountain to base camp. Soria has climbed 12 of the 14 highest mountains in the world above 26,240 feet, including Mount Everest, which is the tallest of all.
Ford is recalling SUVs, some for a second time, to fix the rear camera display
DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling more than 422,000 SUVs in the U.S. because the rear-view camera image may not be displayed. The recall affects certain Ford Explorers and Lincoln Aviators from model years 2020 through 2023, as well as Lincoln Corsairs from 2020 through 2022. All have 360-degree cameras. Some of the vehicles were recalled for the same problem earlier this year, but the remedy did not work. Documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say the lack of a rearview camera image can impair visibility, increasing the risk of a crash. Ford says it is working with parts suppliers to determine the cause and develop a fix. Vehicles fixed in the January recall will have to be repaired again.
The husband of two-time Olympic champion Yustyna Kovalchyk died in an avalanche
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish Mountaineering Support Foundation says the husband of two-time Olympic champion Justyna Kowalczyk has died in an avalanche in the Swiss Alps. Sport climber Katzper Tekieli made his latest Facebook post on Tuesday from the Konkordia Hut in Fischertal, Switzerland. Tekieli was 38 years old and a climbing instructor who had climbed in the Himalayas as well as the Alps. In 2020, he married Kovalchyk. The couple has a 20-month-old son. Kovalchyk was a skier who won gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Games. She withdrew from the competition.
The first full-scale 3D scan of the Titanic shows the shipwreck in a new light
LONDON (AP) — Deep-sea researchers have completed the first full-scale digital scan of the Titanic, revealing the entire wreckage in unprecedented detail and clarity. Using two remote-controlled submersibles, a team of researchers spent six weeks in the North Atlantic mapping the entire shipwreck and the surrounding 3-mile debris field where the ocean liner’s personal belongings, such as shoes and watches, were scattered. Richard Parkinson, founder and chief executive of deep-sea exploration company Magellan, estimated that the resulting data was 10 times greater than any underwater 3D model ever made before. The researchers spent months processing the vast amount of data they collected, and a documentary about the project is expected to be released next year