YOSEMITE ROCK FALL KILLS ONE, INJURES ONE
» One person was CALIF. killed Wednesday and another injured in a rock fall on the granite face of El Capitan, a park official said. Rocks came crashing down at the height of climbing season with at least 30 climbers on the wall, ranger Scott Gediman said. The injured person was taken to a hospital. No names were immediately released.
El Capitan is one of the world’s largest granite monoliths, towering vertically 4,000 feet from the Yosemite Valley floor.
Several people made emergency calls, reporting the rock fall from the Waterfall route on the east buttress of El Capitan.
92% of Kurds voted in favor of independence.
Iraq’s Kurds voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Iraq, but faced being left stranded after Baghdad ordered international flights to halt service to Kurdish airports starting Friday. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ruled out the use of force but vowed to take other measures to keep his country from breaking apart as the standoff looked set to worsen.
The referendum passed with more than 92 percent of voters approving independence, the Kurdish region’s election commission told a news conference on Wednesday.
Turnout was over 72 percent, it said.
Teen arrested on murder charges in fatal school stabbing.
YORK» A NEW high school student who hadn’t been getting along with two classmates suddenly attacked them with a switchblade during history class Wednesday, killing one boy and gravely wounding another, police said. Fifteen to 20 students witnessed the attack. After leaving the classroom, 18-year-old Abel Cedeno handed the bloodied knife to a school counselor he met in the hall then went to an assistant principal’s office and quietly waited for authorities to arrive, police said.
The dead student, identified as Matthew McCree, 15, was stabbed in the chest. A 16-year-old was stabbed in the chest and side and was hospitalized.
Kabul airport target of Taliban rocket attack during visit by Mattis.
KABUL» Insurgents fired mortars and detonated suicide vests Wednesday in an attack targeting Kabul’s international airport during a visit to Afghanistan by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. U.S. forces responded with an airstrike that inadvertently caused civilian casualties, authorities said.
According to the U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, insurgents used civilians as human shields during the operation, in which they “fired several rounds of high-explosive ammunition, including mortars, into the vicinity of Hamid Karzai International Airport.” A statement by the Resolute Support mission said that during the U.S. airstrike, “one of the missiles malfunctioned, causing several casualties.”
Iranian foreign minister scolds Trump for tweet, rules out nuke renegotiation.
YORK» Iran’s top NEW diplomat scolded President Donald Trump on Wednesday for a weekend tweet about a nonexistent Iranian missile launch and essentially ruled out renegotiating or launching follow-up talks to a landmark nuclear accord that Trump is threatening to dismantle.
“We need to check our facts before we make statements,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It worries me that people play with facts and produce alternative facts.”
He also criticized a recent referendum on independence by Iraq’s Kurdish minority as “dangerous” to stability in a Middle East already beset by efforts to defeat the Islamic State and civil wars in Syria and Yemen.
Zarif seemed to float the possibility of a prisoner exchange for several detained Americans in Iran.
Plan in motion for Simpson release as soon as Monday.
VEGAS» O.J. LAS
Simpson could be released on parole as soon as Monday in Las Vegas under a plan being finalized by Nevada officials, a prison spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The process culminating in freedom for the former football player, actor and TV pitchman is in motion, but must be approved and documents must be signed, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Keast said.
Family injured in attack at amusement park; nine suspects arrested.
ILL.» A family of GURNEE, three was hospitalized Saturday after being attacked by an adult and eight teens at Six Flags Great America.
Members of the larger group of teens apparently cut in line and were using foul language when the family exchanged words with them, according to police.
Gurnee police Officer Daniel Ruth, the incident’s lead investigator, said the family members — a 51year-old man, 50-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy — were transported to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Police arrested Gregory Battle, 18, of Waukegan, who was being held on $20,000 bail on charges of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, mob action and aggravated battery in a public place, Ruth said. The other eight juveniles, from age 15 to 17, were named in juvenile petitions for mob action, a class 4 felony.
According to police, witnesses said there was an exchange of words over the group’s behavior, a battery occurred to the child, the father went to his son’s aid and was knocked to the ground,the group surrounded him and hit him with “punches and kicks,” the wife tried to help her husband and son, and she also was attacked.