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June 06, 2006 Alaska Rescuers Trying to Untangle Whale ASSOCIATED PRESS ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Rescuers were unable to free a young humpback whale Tuesday who became caught in the lines and buoy of a crab pot in Glacier Bay National Park. Attempts to free the whale would begin again on Wednesday, Chief Ranger Chuck Young said. The whale swam about eight miles, to the entrance of Glacier Bay, since it was first spotted Tuesday morning. Crews had attached two buoys and a sea anchor onto the tangled lines to slow the whale down so they could go in and...

On a recent Friday morning, a line of bathing-suit clad students stood beside a campus swimming pool, waiting to jump in. They had come to persuade the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill they were worthy of a college degree — which they were not, in UNC's eyes, until they could swim 50 yards and tread water for five minutes.For many, it was an annoying inconvenience, for others a moment of pride in conquering their fear of water. But the scene also was a small slice of collegiate history. This was the last swim test day at one of...

A woman who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for giving birth on a toilet and letting the baby drown was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to get psychological treatment for depression, paranoia and anorexia. Shatoya Nelson, 23, told investigators she did not know she was pregnant until she gave birth at her mother's Tamarac home on July 21, 2004. According to detectives, Nelson said she left the female infant in the toilet for several minutes before taking her out and wrapping her in a towel. The woman's mother discovered the dead baby the following morning and insisted Nelson take...

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A woman accused of drowning her children has rejected a plea offer that would have sent her to prison for 35 years and is expected to face a retrial in March, her attorney said Monday.

Jay Leno's monologue tonight included a one-liner about the incident with Ted Kennedy today, in which he supposedly attempted to save some fishermen. The punchline: "If you're drowning, and Ted Kennedy is the first face you see, well..."

Chaos in Gaza as Arabs riot, loot, get shot, fire rockets, drown in sea By Israel Insider staff and partners September 12, 2005 Palestinians flooded into empty Jewish settlements Monday and climbed ropes and clambered over walls into Egypt to join a chaotic celebration of the end of 38 years of Israeli military rule over the Gaza Strip. Plans by Palestinian police to bar crowds from the settlements quickly disintegrated. Militant groups hoisted flags, fired wildly into the air and set abandoned synagogues ablaze. Further marring the day, Egyptian border guards shot and killed a Palestinian along the Gaza-Egypt border,...

100 Missing After Boat Sinks in Pacific By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer More than 100 people were feared dead after a boat laden with illegal immigrants capsized and sank in rough waters in the Pacific Ocean, officials said Wednesday after nine survivors clinging to a wooden box and buoys were rescued. Ecuadorean Navy Capt. Armando Elizalde told Colombian RCN television most of the 113 people aboard "sank with the boat." The disaster happened Friday night more than 100 miles off the coast of southwest Colombia. "The boat, with way too many people aboard, was unable to resist a strong...

He'd be loath to admit it, a Che T-shirt wearer and all, but Eric Burdon of the Animals wrote a song that resounds with many Cubans: "We gotta get outta this place-- if it's the LAST thing we EVER do!" The last thing, indeed, for one in three desperate escapes. According to Cuban-American scholar Dr. Armando Lago this hideous arithmetic translates into 83,000 deaths at sea over the past 46 years. That's people perishing like captives of the Apaches, staked in the sun and dying slowly of sunburn and thirst. That's others gasping and choking after their arms and legs...

Babalu blog's Val Prieto, who was profiled recently on the front page of the Miami Herald as a brilliant new voice of the often-dismissed Cuban-American community, has a striking update about the Elian Gonzalez case. Back in 2000, the rescue of the 6-year-old Cuban refugee by fishermen off the coast of Florida triggered a three-way tug-of-war between Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, the cowardly Clinton Administration, and the Cuban-American community over custody of the child. The Clinton administration resolved the question with a savage pre-dawn raid, grabbing the terrified child at gunpoint from his Miami relatives and delivering him straight to...

Tourists run for their lives as the first of six tsunamis starts to roll towards Hat Rai Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand. One woman runs towards the waves. Photo: AFP The woman continues to run as the wave advances.Photo: AFP With the waves engulfing boats, the woman makes contact with her group. It is not known if they survived.Photo: AFP

was wondering the date of the incident and the name of the person who drowned. happened in cleveland perhaps a few years ago. maybe the person was a doctor? thanks for any information.

CHICAGO RIDGE, Ill. -- Six-year-old Donnie Hauser-Richerme knew he couldn't swim, but he also knew the little girl in the murky, debris-filled swimming pool was in trouble. Donnie jumped in and helped save 5-year-old Karah Moran's life before becoming stuck in five feet of blackened rain water and muck at the bottom of the deep end. Paramedics eventually rescued him, but he was in critical condition and on life support Thursday. Karah called Donnie "my hero." "I can't say enough about this little guy," said Chicago Ridge Police Chief Tim Baldermann. "It's amazing that this little kid, old enough to...

Europe-bound migrants drown at sea Thousands of people risk their lives to cross from Africa to Europe Tunisian rescue teams have resumed their search for about 200 illegal immigrants who are feared dead after their boat capsized off the country's coast on its way to Italy. The Tunisian coast guard has already rescued 41 people and recovered 20 bodies, but rough seas have hampered the rescue operation. Survivors said the boat had been carrying about 250 people, believed to be from sub-Saharan Africa and northern Africa. It is at least the second boat to go down in the area this...

Mugabe's men drown cattle as thousands go hungry By Peta Thornycroft in Harare (Filed: 17/12/2002) Zimbabwe's commercial farmers have fallen victim to a renewed campaign of mindless violence with the killing of hundreds of cattle by workers egged on by supporters of President Robert Mugabe. On one farm several hundred head of cattle were recently driven into a dam to drown while others were penned into paddocks, in searing heat, to starve to death. Cattle were sent to their excruciating end by a group of about hysterical 20 farm workers, encouraged by government supporters, at Forrester Estates, in the Mvurwi...