MEXICO CITY (AP) — An explosion at the office headquarters of Mexico’s stateowned oil company in the capital killed 14 people and injured 100 on Thursday as it heavily damaged three floors of a building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline. Another 30 people were reported trapped […]

BEIJING (AP) — A truck carrying fireworks ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations exploded today on a bridge in central China, killing at least 26 people as it sent vehicles plummeting dozens of yards to the ground, state media said. The blast destroyed a section of the bridge outside the city of Sanmenxia. Emergency crews […]

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) — Speaking into a 4-inchwide ventilation pipe, hostage negotiators tried Thursday to talk a man into releasing a kindergartener and ending a standoff in an underground bunker that stretched into its third day. The man identified by multiple neighbors and witnesses as 65-year-old retired truck driver Jimmy Lee Dykes was accused […]

AUBURN, Maine (AP) — A Lewiston woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling almost $14,000 from a youth gymnastics organization where she volunteered as treasurer of the boosters club. Lisa Tanguay was given two years to repay the $13,664.68 she stole from the Andy Valley Gymnastics Parents Association after pleading guilty to felony theft Thursday in […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Koch’s favorite moment as mayor of New York City, fittingly, involved yelling. Suddenly inspired to do something brash about the rare transit strike that crippled the city in 1980, he strode down to the Brooklyn Bridge to encourage commuters who were forced to walk to work instead of jumping aboard […]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Alaska Airlines jetliner bound for Seattle made an emergency landing in Portland, Ore., Thursday night after the pilot lost consciousness, an airline spokesman said. The co-pilot landed Flight 473 safely after declaring an emergency to get priority care for the pilot, spokesman Paul McElroy said. All of the airlines’ pilots […]