Duke Kahanamoku beach tops rankings; Mavericks owner apologizes; Tennessee eyes electric chair and more national and international news for Friday, May 23, 2014.
Duke Kahanamoku beach tops rankings; Mavericks owner apologizes; Tennessee eyes electric chair and more national and international news for Friday, May 23, 2014.
1. THAILAND TO JUNTA: PLEASE CHANGE YOUR SOUNDTRACK Thai citizens give the thumbs-down to the military's idea of TV programming during martial law: dour announcements and patriotic hymns.
2. ONE STATE'S RESPONSE TO THE EXECUTION DRUGS SHORTAGE Tennessee is bringing back the electric chair if prisons can't get the lethal doses. Legal challenges are expected.
3. DEATHS REPORTED AFTER MORTAR HITS ASSAD ELECTION GATHERING It's not clear how many fatalities there are; the Syrian president himself wasn't present.
4. HOW DETROIT IS COMBATTING CARJACKINGS Among the measures: Convicted carjackers will get their faces and prison sentences plastered on billboards.
5. DALLAS MAVERICKS OWNER APOLOGIZES TO TRAYVON MARTIN'S FAMILY Mark Cuban talked about a "black kid in a hoodie" in discussing prejudice. Now, he says he didn't consider the feelings of the slain Florida teenager's relatives.
6. "HONG KONG ON THE HUDSON": A NEW LOOK FOR NYC'S WILD WEST SIDE A once desolate neighborhood is being transformed in a decade-long project with 17 high-rises - some of them on platforms over Penn Station's railroad tracks.
7. BATTLE FLAG FROM THE USS TEXAS GOES ON DISPLAY IN HOUSTON It's being exhibited at the city's Museum of Natural Science to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
8. CAT LITTER'S POSSIBLE LINK TO RADIATION RELEASE Officials in New Mexico are trying to figure out if a switch from nonorganic to organic litter caused a chemical reaction leading to the leak.
9. THE LATEST TOOL FOR TRACKING FOOD POISONING: YELP Health officials in New York City found three unreported outbreaks by reading restaurant reviews on the website.
10. WHERE TO FIND THE BEST BEACH IN AMERICA Honolulu's Duke Kahanamoku Beach has been dubbed the best public beach in the nation in an annual survey.