Southwest flight abruptly rises to avoid another plane

CHICAGO>> Pilots on a Southwest Airlines flight attempting to land at Chicago’s Midway Airport were forced to climb back into the sky to avoid another aircraft crossing the runway on Tuesday morning.

Airport webcam video posted to X shows the Southwest plane approaching a runway just before 9 a.m. Tuesday before its nose abruptly pulls up. A smaller jet is seen crossing the runway that the passenger plane was set to use.

Southwest Flight 2504 safely landed “after the crew performed a precautionary go-around to avoid a possible conflict with another aircraft that entered the runway,” an airline spokesperson said in an email.

“The crew followed safety procedures and the flight landed without incident.” Audio recording of communication between the smaller jet and the control tower recorded its pilot misstating instructions from a ground tower employee, who repeated that the pilot should “hold short” of a runway. About 30 seconds later, the ground tower ordered the pilot to “hold your position there.”

Woman in custody after newborn thrown from hotel window

An American woman on a European trip was taken into custody after she allegedly threw a newborn out of a hotel window in Paris, killing the baby, authorities said Tuesday.

The baby was reportedly thrown from a second-floor window of a hotel on Monday morning, according to the Paris prosecutor. Emergency responders rushed the newborn to a hospital, but the child was pronounced dead.

The mother was traveling through Europe from the U.S. with a group of young adults.

She was taken to a hospital for medical treatment following childbirth and has been placed in custody there, officials said.

Mother of Palestinian American boy slain in hate crime testifies

JOLIET, Ill.>> A suburban Chicago Muslim mother described to jurors Tuesday how she hid in a locked bathroom and called 911 after her landlord brutally attacked her with a knife and then fatally stabbed her young Palestinian American son in another room.

Hanan Shaheen was the first witness to testify at the murder and hate crime trial of 73-year-old Joseph Czuba.

He is charged with wounding Shaheen and killing her 6-year-old son, Wadee Alfayoumi, in October 2023.

Authorities said Czuba targeted the family because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Prosecutors played the emotional 911 call Shaheen made to report the crime that happened just days after the war started.

Gangs launch new, deadly attack on capital; dozens flee

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti>> Gangs launched a new attack on Haiti’s capital early Tuesday, killing an unknown number of civilians in what used to be a peaceful neighborhood.

The attack on Delmas 30 began before dawn, with gunfire echoing through the streets as people fled their homes in panic, some cradling babies or carrying older people on their back.

“The country is suffering,” said 27-year-old Moricette Cedric Christian. He blamed the attack on the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which has claimed responsibility for other recent attacks.

Local media reported that two Haitian soldiers were among the victims.

Police and army spokespeople did not immediately return messages for comment.

A man who declined to give his name recovered the body of a relative killed in the attack and placed it inside a wheelbarrow.

Mystery illness kills more than 50 hours after they felt sick

KINSHASA, Congo>> An unknown illness first discovered in three children who ate a bat has rapidly killed more than 50 people in northwestern Congo over the past five weeks, health experts say.

The interval between the onset of symptoms — which include fever, vomiting and internal bleeding — and death has been 48 hours in most cases and “that’s what’s really worrying,” said Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a monitoring center.

These “hemorrhagic fever” symptoms are commonly linked to known deadly viruses, such as Ebola, dengue, Marburg and yellow fever, but researchers have ruled these out based on tests of more than a dozen samples collected so far.

The latest disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo began on Jan. 21, with 419 cases recorded and 53 deaths

Police catch man smuggling packets of cocaine under toupee

BOGOTA, Colombia>> Colombian police apprehended a 40-year-old man attempting to smuggle several bags of cocaine concealed beneath a meticulously attached toupee.

Police said the suspect was detained at Cartagena’s airport on Monday as he prepared to board a flight to Amsterdam.

A scanner revealed the hidden cargo: 220 grams of cocaine packaged in small bags, strategically placed under what authorities described as a “narco wig.”

Police estimate the street value of the drugs at approximately 10,000 euros in European markets.

A police video released on Monday captured the moment an officer, wearing blue gloves, carefully removed the suspect’s wig with scissors, revealing approximately a dozen packets of cocaine.

Russia, Indonesia hold talks to strengthen ties

JAKARTA, Indonesia>> Russia and Indonesia took steps on Tuesday to strengthen their defense ties with a meeting between a top Russian security official and Indonesia’s defense minister in the capital of Jakarta as Moscow’s war on Ukraine entered its fourth year.

Ahead of the visit by Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council, Russian news agency RIA Novosti said he would discuss ways to deepen a defense partnership with Indonesia’s Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.

The two officials would also discuss “cooperation in other areas of mutual interest,” the agency said, citing a Russian government statement.

— Denver Post wire services