BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Astronaut James Halsell Jr. seemed the very definition of someone with the right stuff.
An Air Force Academy graduate and decorated test pilot, he commanded or piloted five space shuttle missions. NASA even turned to him for leadership as it was picking up the pieces after the Columbia disaster in 2003.
Now, a decade after his retirement from the space agency, the 59-year-old Halsell is facing a new test: He is charged with murder after an early-morning car wreck Monday killed two young sisters on a lonely stretch of highway in Alabama.
Troopers said a vehicle driven by Halsell collided around 2:50 a.m. with a Ford Fiesta in which 11-year-old Niomi Deona James and 13-year-old Jayla Latrick Parler were riding. The girls were thrown from the car and died. Neither was wearing a seat belt.
Halsell, who lives in Huntsville, was arrested and released from jail on $150,000 bail.
LONDON – Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday accused those backing a British exit from the European Union of lying to voters – and insisted he is not worried that the “remain” side is losing ground in the battle for votes.
British voters are deciding in a referendum June 23 on whether to leave the 28-nation bloc – a move being called a “Brexit.” With polls giving a mixed picture, bookies’ odds on an “out” vote winning have been slashed from about 4-1 to as short as 2-1 in recent days.
Cameron said that anti-EU campaigners were “resorting to total untruths to con people into taking a leap in the dark.”
LIMA, Peru – The nail-biter race for Peru’s presidency remained tight Tuesday as the daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori gained ground on her rival thanks to votes trickling in from remote rural areas and embassies abroad.
Former World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczysnki’s razor-thin lead over Keiko Fujimori shrank to fewer than 47,000 votes early Tuesday morning before widening slightly later in the day. With tallies from more than 97 percent of polling stations counted, Kuczynski had 50.2 percent of the votes compared with Fujimori’s 49.8 percent.
Associated Press
