- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
- Trump demonizes migrants in dark, misleading speech
- X says 'alert' to manipulation efforts after pro-Russia bots report
- US, European markets rise before Boeing unveils sweeping job cuts
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Comoros shock Tunisia, Salah, Mbeumo strike in AFCON qualifiers
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Germany win in Nations League as 10-man Dutch rescue point
- Undav brace sends Germany to victory against Bosnia
- Israel says fired at 'threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- Ecuador's last mountain iceman dies at 80
- Milton leaves at least 16 dead, millions without power in Florida
- Senegal set to announce breakaway development agenda: PM
- UN says 2 peacekeepers wounded in south Lebanon explosions
- Injury-hit Australia thrash 'embarrassing' Pakistan at Women's T20 World Cup
- Internal TikTok documents show prioritization of traffic over well-being
- Israel says fired at 'immediate threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- New US coach Pochettino hails Pulisic but worries over workload
- Brazil orders closure of 2,000 betting sites
- UK govt urged to raise pro-democracy tycoon's case with China
- Sculptor Lalanne's animal creations sell for $59 mn
- From Tesla to Trump: Behind Musk's giant leap into politics
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- Supercharged hurricanes trigger 'perfect storm' for disinformation
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Djokovic proves staying power as he progresses to Shanghai semi-finals
- Sheffield Utd boss Wilder 'numb' after Baldock death
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- Fans immerse themselves in Marina Abramovic's first China exhibition
- Israel says conducting review after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Djokovic 'overwhelmed' after 'greatest rival' Nadal's retirement
- Zelensky in Berlin says hopes war with Russia will end next year
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Djokovic proves staying power as progresses to Shanghai semi-finals
- Hurricane Milton leaves at least 16 dead as Florida cleans up
- Britain face 'ultimate challenge' in America's Cup duel with New Zealand
- Lebanon calls for 'immediate' ceasefire in Israel-Hezbollah war
- Nihon Hidankyo: Japan's A-bomb survivors awarded Nobel
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Boat captain rescued clinging to cooler in Gulf of Mexico after storm Milton
US police struggle to find man who killed 18 in Maine town
Police in Maine struggled for a second day Friday to catch a man who gunned down 18 people with a semi-automatic rifle in a bowling alley and a bar in a town where locals were enjoying an evening out.
In Lewiston, a hard-scrabble city in the mostly rural north-eastern state, there was an atmosphere of dread and bewilderment as residents waited indoors, while authorities erected roadblocks and ordered schools and businesses to stay closed.
Robert Card, 40, is accused of being the man seen on security cameras walking into a Lewiston bowling alley on Wednesday evening and launching the country's deadliest mass shooting of the year so far. In addition to the 18 murdered at the bowling venue and later in a bar, the US Army reservist is accused of wounding 13.
There was a brief flurry of excitement late Thursday when dozens of heavily armed officers, backed by armored vehicles and a helicopter, surrounded the Card family home in Bowdoin, near Lewiston.
State police warned "please come outside" and "we don't want anyone to get hurt" over a loudspeaker.
However, Card was not inside and police left empty handed to continue the hunt.
On Friday, investigators were combing the riverbank and stretch of water where Card's car was found at a boat launch site, Mike Sauschuck, commissioner for Maine's department of public safety, told reporters.
They were also searching a tree line by the bowling alley, he said.
But there was no indication that the police were any closer to finding the man that Maine Governor Janet Mills said remained armed and dangerous.
"Uneasy," Lewiston resident Jeremy Hiltz told AFP when asked how he felt. "It's a small community. When something like this happens, everybody knows somebody" affected.
One longtime neighbor in Bowdoin, Dave Letarte, said news of the shooting "floored me."
- Republicans oppose new laws -
Card is an army reservist, but had not been deployed in any combat zone. US media reported that he had recently been sent for psychiatric treatment after he said he was hearing voices.
This latest shooting is one of the deadliest in the United States since 2017, when a gunman opened fire on a crowded music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 people.
The country has recorded at least 565 mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nongovernmental organization that defines a mass shooting as four or more people wounded or killed.
President Joe Biden called Maine's governor to offer federal support, and ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff at the White House and all government buildings.
Biden added that the gun violence that plagues the United States "is not normal, and we cannot accept it," urging lawmakers to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
A Maine Democrat who holds a seat in the US House of Representatives, Jared Golden, said he regretted his previous opposition to new laws.
"I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war, like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime," Golden said Thursday.
"The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure."
A.Rodriguezv--AMWN