International

Without fanfare, U.S. nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer drills for major accidents and recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A mysterious benefactor in Paris is spreading love, cash and hair appliances along a rugged stretch of New Zealand.

HONOLULU — Guinness World Records is acknowledging a 44-year-old Hawaii pro surfer for catching a 78-foot wave off the coast of Portugal, saying the November run beats a 2008 record by more than 1 foot.
Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara of Haleiwa, on Oahu’s North Shore, told The Associated Press that the ride of his life was a fluke.

NEW YORK — Even after decades of in-depth Holocaust research, excruciating details are only now emerging about more than 1,100 German-run ghettos in Eastern Europe where the Nazis murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews.

CIDAHU, Indonesia — A helicopter spotted the shattered wreckage Thursday of a new Russian-made passenger plane that crashed into a steep volcano in central Indonesia during a flight to impress potential buyers. There were 45 people on board and no signs of survivors.
Due to the remoteness of the location, bodies will need to be placed into nets and pulled to the hovering chopper by rope.

WASHINGTON — He gave no speech, issued no call to action. He spoke of changing alongside Americans, not of leading them into uncharted territory. He made sure to say what so many so passionately believe — that states should decide such issues on their own.

NEW YORK — Even after decades of in-depth Holocaust research, excruciating details are only now emerging about more than 1,100 German-run ghettos in Eastern Europe where the Nazis murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews.

ARDEN HILLS, Minn.—Minnesota is enlisting dogs in the battle to prevent the spread of the emerald ash borer.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture hopes trained sniffer dogs can become a new line of defence against the invasive pests, which threaten ash trees across the state and around the country.

BEIJING — Rights advocate Chen Guangcheng says the Chinese government has quietly promised him it will investigate abuses he and his family suffered at the hands of local authorities, in a rare instance of Beijing bowing to demands of an activist.

WASHINGTON — The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, The Associated Press has learned.