National editor’s pick of the top news stories in the nation and world at this hour:
1,000 injured as meteor explodes over Russia
A 10-ton meteor exploded miles above western Siberia on Friday, raining fiery debris and creating sonic blasts that shattered windows and left 1,000 people injured, officials said. Video from dash-mounted cameras showed a large fireball streaking across the sky, followed by the sound of a bomblike explosion, breaking glass, screams and car alarms. The Russian Academy of Sciences said the object was a meteor called a bolide that created a powerful shock wave when it hit the atmosphere. Scientists say it exploded and disintegrated at 20 to 30 miles above the ground, but pieces of it fell to earth, mostly in the Chelyabinsk region of western Siberia, about 1,000 miles east of Moscow. Local authorities said some 270 buildings were damaged, mostly with broken glass, and that most injuries were from broken windows. The governor of the Chelyabinsk district said meteor fragments had fallen into a lake 50 miles west of the city of the same name, and photos showed an ice-covered lake with a circular hole in it. Most scientists said it was pure coincidence that the meteor struck on the same day an asteroid, 2012 DA14, was expected to pass closer to Earth than the geosynchronous ring of satellites that surround it. While that asteroid has long been predicted, the meteor that struck Friday took the world completely by surprise.
Pistorius sobs in court; prosecutors say murder was premeditated
“Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, the South African running sensation turned murder defendant, sobbed Friday in court, where prosecutors said they would pursue a case of premeditated murder against him in the shooting death of his girlfriend. The double amputee, an Olympian who runs on carbon fiber legs, did not enter a plea Friday, but his agent said he disputed the charges “in the strongest terms,” and expressed sympathy to the family of the victim, model Reeva Steenkamp. She was found dead of four gunshots inside Pistorius’ home in Pretoria, where the two were alone, and a 9mm handgun was recovered at the scene, police said. Pistorius repeatedly wept in court, clutching his face and sobbing. The case was postponed until Tuesday, and the runner was sent to a Pretoria police station where he will remain in custody.
Cruise ship nightmare is finally over
Frazzled passengers from the crippled cruise ship Carnival Triumph were on their way home Friday, many after a night in a hotel room where they enjoyed warm showers, hot food and working toilets. Nearly 2,000 passengers arrived at a New Orleans Hilton overnight, and by dawn many were on flights to Houston with connections to Galveston, where the cruise originated. As if to confirm that this vacation was truly cursed, one of the buses broke down on the two-hour ride to New Orleans, forcing passengers to move to another bus. As many as 800 other passengers endured an eight-hour bus ride from Mobile, Ala., arriving in Galveston on Friday morning. Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill apologized to all passengers, saying, “We pride ourselves on providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case.” What was supposed to be a four-day cruise turned into a weeklong nightmare after a fire on Sunday knocked out the ship’s power and plumbing, leading to smelly, dank, dark, uncomfortable and disgusting conditions. Passengers’ No. 1 complaint seemed to be the stench of No. 2. One unidentified passenger interviewed on CNN said, “It gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘poop deck.'”
Court rules against privacy rights in Zumba prostitution case
If you ever go into business with a Zumba instructor who may be moonlighting as a prostitute and secretly filming her sex exploits, feel free to look at the videos. You can’t be charged with invasion of privacy, at least not in Maine, where the state’s highest court ruled Friday that prostitutes’ clients don’t have the same privacy rights as innocent people in dressing rooms. The Supreme Judicial Court rejected a motion to reinstate 46 counts of invasion of privacy against Mark Strong Sr., who is charged with helping Alexis Wright set up a prostitution business in Kennebunk. He still faces 13 other counts. But not for looking at secretly filmed videos of unsuspecting johns.
The Wire, a summary of top national and world news stories from the Associated Press and other wire services, moves weekdays. Contact Karl Kahler at 408-920-5023; follow him at twitter.com/karl_kahler.
