SMITH CENTER, Kan. — They had kissed and hugged their mothers on the field and were now crowded in the locker room with their fathers and grandfathers and brothers. The Smith Center Redmen crossed their arms in front of them and locked fingers with the person on each side.
Did you see outside in the stands tonight?” Coach Roger Barta asked, referring to another standing-room-only crowd at Hubbard Stadium. “Look around in here; do you think you have enough support?” Read More
Two rockets have been fired into northern Israel from Lebanon.
The Israeli military responded with eight shells fired into a fruit plantation near the city of Tyre, reports said.
Remnants of a Katyusha rocket were found in Israel, police said. There were no reports of casualties.
Israel and the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war across the border Read More
PITTSBURGH — The bedrock upon which the Pittsburgh Steelers have always been built — and upon which their hopes for repeating as Super Bowl champions rest — is their suffocating defense, which confounds opponents with a beguiling mix of violence and deception.
But on Thursday night, in the N.F.L.’s season opener, it fell to the Steelers’ offense — and to the sure-footed kicker Jeff Reed — to conjure a victory out of precious little production from a classic slugfest. When Hines Read More
Slovenia says it is ready to lift its block on Croatia’s bid to join the European Union.
The announcement came after talks between Prime Minister Borut Pahor and his Croat counterpart Jadranka Kosor.
They also said they had agreed that a continuing 18-year-old border dispute would not prejudice Croatia’s accession talks with the EU.
Slovenia had blocked Croatia’s EU negotiations since December because of the border dispute. Read More
China and the US will open a dialogue on counter-terrorism issues this year, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
She said the two powers must cooperate closely on a wide range of topics.
The head of China’s Congress, Wu Bangguo is visiting Washington, where he has met US President Barack Obama and called for closer economic ties. Read More
DORADAL, Colombia — Even in Colombia, a country known for its paramilitary death squads, this hunting party stood out: more than a dozen soldiers from a Colombian Army battalion, two Porsche salesmen armed with long-range rifles, their assistant, and a taxidermist.
They stalked Pepe through the backlands of Colombia for three days in June before executing him in a clearing about 60 miles from here with shots to his head and heart. But after a snapshot emerged of soldiers posing over his carcass, the group suddenly found itself on the defensive. Read More
It is the first of many challenges these turtles will face in a lifetime that can exceed that of the average human.
Those female sea turtles that make it to maturity return every summer and fall to lay eggs of their own, in dozens of nests that each typically contain more than 50 eggs.
But the sea turtles’ way of life here is under increasing threat because they must share their breeding ground with throngs of beachgoers. Read More
A rescue operation is under way in the Philippines after a ferry sank with more than 960 people on board.
Coastguards say 900 people have now been rescued from the SuperFerry 9 but five people have died and more than 60 are still unaccounted for.
The passenger ferry was sailing off the southern Zamboanga peninsula when it began listing. Read More
A French filmmaker who recently finished a documentary about a violent street gang in El Salvador was found shot dead in the town of Tonacatepeque, about 10 miles northeast of the capital city of San Salvador, authorities said.
Christian Poveda, 52, was shot at least four times in the face, according to local reports.
Poveda’s documentary, “La Vida Loca,” which follows the lives of members of the Mara 18 street gang, had been screened at a handful of film festivals and is slated for wider release later this month. Read More
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will approve the construction of hundreds of new housing units in Israeli settlements in the West Bank in the coming days as a prelude to a building freeze of six to nine months aimed at restarting peace talks with the Palestinians, senior Israeli officials said on Friday.
The plan is an attempt to ease pressure on Mr. Netanyahu from within his own Likud Party, which wants settlements to continue unimpeded, and from Washington, the Palestinian Authority and the rest of the Arab world, which want a total halt to such construction. Read More