Haul out the holly! Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrives in New York City
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has arrived in New York City, signaling the start of the holiday season in the Big Apple. The 74-foot Norway Spruce was driven into Manhattan's Center Plaza to be hoisted in place by a crane. It will take five miles of light strands with more than 50,000 multi-colored LED bulbs to wrap the tree. A Swarovski star crown sparkling with 3 million crystals will top it. The towering conifer was donated by a family in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It was cut down Thursday morning and loaded onto a flatbed truck for the 140-mile trip. The lighting ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 4.
Swiss villagers told to get ready to evacuate after Alpine rockslide alert -- again
GENEVA (AP) -- Authorities in eastern Switzerland have ordered residents of a tiny village to prepare to evacuate. That's because an Alpine rockslide looming overhead threatened to break loose and spill down on their homes. It was the second time that residents of Brienz received evacuation orders after a similar threat last summer. Local officials said in a statement to villagers that "high above Brienz, the top part of the the uppermost part of the rubble pile has accelerated considerably. It cannot be ruled out that up to 1.2 million cubic meters of rock debris will be moving moving down the valley in a stream of debris."
Queen Camilla has a chest infection and will miss the UK's annual Remembrance Sunday events
LONDON (AP) -- Buckingham Palace says Queen Camilla will miss Britain's annual remembrance weekend events to honor fallen service personnel while she recovers from a chest infection. The wife of King Charles III was due to join the royal family at a "Festival of Remembrance" at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday night. The 77-year-old was also scheduled to honor the war dead at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph war memorial, a major event for Britain's royals, the next day. Charles and his daughter-in-law Kate, the Princess of Wales, who both announced earlier this year that they had been diagnosed with cancer, are expected to attend the twin events.
43 monkeys remain on the run from South Carolina lab. CEO thinks they're having an adventure
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Authorities say 43 monkeys bred for medical research that escaped a compound in South Carolina have been spotted in the woods near a fence surrounding the site and that workers are using food to try to recapture them. Officials say the Rhesus macaques made a break for it Wednesday after an employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee didn't fully lock a door as she fed and checked on them. The monkeys are about the size of a cat. They are all females weighing about 7 pounds. Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and the police all say the monkeys pose no risk to public health.
NASA astronauts won't say which one of them got sick after almost 8 months in space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Three NASA astronauts whose prolonged space mission ended with a trip to the hospital last month won't say which one of them got sick. They held a news conference on Friday, their first since returning from the International Space Station on Oct. 25. All three plus a Russian cosmonaut were taken to a hospital in Pensacola, Florida, shortly after their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the Americans ended up being hospitalized overnight. The crew spent almost eight months in orbit, longer than expected because of all the trouble with Boeing's Starliner crew capsule and Hurricane Milton.
Revising the rules of engagement, court says jilted bride must give back $70,000 ring
BOSTON (AP) -- Who gets to keep an engagement ring if a wedding is called off? That's what the highest court in Massachusetts was asked to decide with a $70,000 ring at the center of the dispute. The court ultimately ruled Friday that an engagement ring must be returned to the person who purchased it, ending a six-decade state rule that required judges to try to identify who was to blame for the end of the relationship. The justices said they opted to join the modern trend adopted by most jurisdictions and retire the concept of fault in this context.
Elwood Edwards, the man behind the voice of AOL's 'You've got mail' greeting, dies at 74
The man who voiced America Online's famous "You've got mail" greeting has died at age 74. Elwood Edwards died Tuesday at his home in New Bern, North Carolina. His daughter says the cause was complications from a stroke. Edwards taped his AOL greeting in 1989 while sitting in the living room of his home. "You've got mail" became a pop culture catchphrase in the late 1990s and served as the title of the 1998 film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Edwards was also the voice of AOL's "Welcome," "Goodbye" and "File's Done" messages. He was paid $200 for the recordings.
Pompeii archaeological park sets daily visitors' limit to combat over-tourism
ROME (AP) -- The Pompeii archaeological park plans to limit the number of visitors to 20,000 a day and introduce personalized tickets in a bid to cope with over-tourism and protect the world heritage site. The moves come after what authorities called a record summer that saw over 4 million people visiting the world-famous remains of the ancient Roman city. The park's director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said visitors to the main archaeological site now exceed an average of 15,000 to 20,000 every day, and the new daily cap will prevent the numbers from surging further.
Runway fire breaks out at Sydney Airport after emergency landing
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- An engine failure on a passenger plane taking off from Sydney, Australia on Friday prompted the aircraft to circle before a safe emergency landing, the airline Qantas said. At the same time, a grass fire broke out along one side of a runway, Sydney Airport said in a statement. It was not known if the two events were linked. The fire has been brought under control, but flight delays are expected. Qantas did not say how many passengers were on board the twin jet Boeing 737-800 bound for Brisbane when the engine failed with a loud bang. No injuries were reported.
Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki unleashes towering columns of hot clouds
MAUMERE, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano is spewing towering columns of hot ash high into the air following the huge eruption that killed nine people and injured dozens of others. Volcanic activity has increased in recent days. Its hot ash clouds were recorded as high as 10 kilometers. Experts found craters left by rocks falling from the eruptions measuring up to 13 meters wide and 5 meters deep. On Thursday, authorities expanded the danger zone to a radius of 8 kilometers, forcing further evacuations. Thousands of residents in at least 14 villages have already been affected by the disaster. No further casualties have been reported in the latest eruptions.