Month: August 2019

Hopes by small aviation museum in southwestern Iowa that a stamp in its possession was rare enough to parlay into a fortune crashed Friday when experts told them it wasn’t real, and likely not even worth the paper it was glued upon. The Iowa Aviation Museum in Greenfield, Iowa, has had what it thought was a 1918 “Inverted Jenny” stamp on public display for some 20 years, dating back to when it was donated to the museum, glued to a board along with several other stamps. A notation from the donor attached to the board speculated then that it was …

READ MORE

NAIROBI, KENYA — Many merchants in Nairobi’s bustling Toi market are busy selling secondhand clothes — a big business in Kenya, which imports 100,000 tonnes of such garments every year. Smart, frugal customers like Emily Mugure find good buys at the market.  “I am looking for a few items I can add to my closet for work, and I have an event I want to go to,” she said during a recent visit.  “So I am looking for something unique.” She said the market offered a large variety of items, and she liked the quality and prices.  Emily Mugure checks out a secondhand jacket …

READ MORE

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said Friday that he was resigning as promised and swearing in veteran politician Pedro Pierluisi as his replacement, a move certain to throw the U.S. territory into a period of political chaos that will be fought out in court. In an emailed announcement from his office, Rossello said Pierluisi did not need confirmation from both houses of the territory’s legislature because he was named secretary of state, the next in line to be governor, in a recess appointment this week. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello speaks as he announces his resignation in San Juan, Puerto …

READ MORE

BOSTON — Authorities said Friday that they were looking to toxicology reports for clues to the death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill, a granddaughter of assassinated U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.    The Kennedy family confirmed the death in a statement after police responded to a call Thursday afternoon about a possible drug overdose at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. The statement was issued by Brian Wright O’Connor, a spokesman for Saoirse Hill’s uncle, former U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II.    Hill, 22, was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy’s fifth child, Courtney, and Paul Michael Hill, who …

READ MORE

Reuters contributed to this report. HYANNIS PORT, Mass. —  Robert F. Kennedy’s granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, has died, the family announced Thursday night. The Kennedy family’s statement followed reports of a death at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. The statement was issued by Brian Wright O’Connor, a spokesman for Saoirse Hill’s uncle, former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II. Hill was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy’s fifth child, Courtney, and Paul Michael Hill, who was one of four falsely convicted in the 1974 Irish Republican Army bombings of two pubs.  “She lit up our lives with her love, …

READ MORE

Updated on Aug. 2, at 2:32 a.m. SEOUL — Japan has removed South Korea from a list of its preferred trading partners, a major escalation in a trade dispute rooted in historical tensions. The Cabinet of Shinzo Abe, Japan’s conservative prime minister, Friday approved plans to remove South Korea from the list of so-called “white countries” with preferred trade status. Beginning Aug. 28, Japanese companies must now seek case-by-case approval from Japan’s trade ministry before shipping certain products, which could be diverted for military use, to South Korea. South Korean President Moon Jae-in called the move “selfish” and a “grave challenge” …

READ MORE

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Friday ordered an investigation into several small bombings in Bangkok that took place as Thailand was hosting a high-level meeting attended by U.S.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts from China and several Asia-Pacific countries. The explosions took place near two stations of the Thai capital’s elevated train system. A police spokesman said that one of the two injured men was being treated at a hospital and the other was sent home. Two other blasts were reported at a government complex on the outskirts of the city, and near the offices of …

READ MORE

Britain’s pro-European Union Liberal Democrats have won a parliamentary seat from the governing Conservatives, a blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his first electoral test since taking office. The loss reduces Johnson’s working majority in parliament to one ahead of an expected showdown with lawmakers over his plan to take Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31 without an exit agreement if necessary. Johnson’s government already relies on the support of a small Northern Irish party for its wafer-thin majority, with just a handful of rebels in his own Conservatives needed to lose key votes. ‘No mandate’ …

READ MORE

Less than 24 hours before Gov. Ricardo Rossello was expected to leave office, Puerto Ricans had no idea who would replace him as political chaos threatened to paralyze the island with a constitutional crisis. Rossello has promised to step down at 5 p.m. Friday in response to huge street protests by Puerto Ricans outraged at corruption, mismanagement and an obscenity-laced chat that was leaked in which the governor and 11 male allies made fun of women, gay people and victims of Hurricane Maria. “It’s frustrating. We’re in limbo,” said Jose Ramos, a taxi driver. “The island doesn’t have a path …

READ MORE