Plane with 22 people on board missing in Nepal's mountains

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A small airplane with 22 people on board flying on a popular tourist route was missing in Nepal’s mountains on Sunday, an official said. The plane, which was on a 15-minute scheduled flight to the mountain town of Jomsom, lost contact with the airport...

Severe water shortages strain wheat harvest in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — Salah Chelab crushed a husk of wheat plucked from his sprawling farmland south of Baghdad and inspected its seeds in the palm of one hand. They were several grams lighter than he hoped. “It’s because of the water shortages,” he said, the farm machine roaring...

25 missing after ferry sinks in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers in Indonesia were searching for 25 people who were missing after a ferry sank in the Makassar Strait in Central Sulawesi province, officials said Sunday. A total of 42 people were on the boat when it sank in bad weather on Thursday morning while...

Police say airplane with 22 people on board is missing in Nepal's mountains

Chinatowns more vibrant after pandemic, anti-Asian violence

The last week of April was a whirlwind for San Francisco's Chinatown. The storied neighborhood debuted the “AAPI Community Heroes Mural," a mostly black and white depiction of 12 mostly unsung Asian American and Pacific Islander figures on the wall of a bank. Three days later...

Artist blends Polish paper cutting with Cajun culture

ELTON, La. (AP) — Sam Wróbel has gone from a kid in Chicago cutting paper to an adult in southwest Louisiana cutting paper — professionally. Wróbel, whose last name is Polish for sparrow, studied art in college and worked for years as a sign artist, making mostly...

Alabama officer recounts shootout, anxious to return to work

OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — On the morning of Oct. 20, 2021, Lee County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyron Ponds made a traffic stop in Beauregard that turned into a shootout. Ponds, a 34-year-old Army veteran, had graduated from the police academy in Selma two months earlier, and it was only his sixth day of...

Mississippi State University, home to out-of-this-world tree

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — On Mississippi State University’s campus stands an out-of-this-world tree — a sycamore grown from a seed that ventured further into space than most Mississippians ever will. All the way to the moon. The tree, known as the “moon sycamore,” was...

First all-female rideshare business in Mississippi launched

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Troublesome incidents involving women rideshare passengers and drivers have increased enough to prompt an entrepreneur in Mississippi's capital to come up with a new business. It’s a ride share service literally just for ladies that she hopes will mean safer...

Kids grow veg, gain skills in sustainable school garden

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — Just like reading, writing and arithmetic, Rapides Academy for Advanced Academics' sixth graders are learning how beneficial sustainable gardening is with the help of the Good Food Project. The Good Food Project is a program of the Food Bank of Central...