Felix Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound, dies in crash in Italy

MILAN (AP) — Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound more than a decade ago, died in a crash Thursday along the eastern coast of Italy. The mayor of the city where the crash occurred confirmed Baumgartner’s death in a social media post. Italian firefighters who responded said a paraglider crashed into the side of a swimming pool in the city of Porto Sant Elpidio. Baumgartner was born in Austria and became known as “Fearless Felix.” He stunned the world in 2012 when he became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body after jumping from a capsule more than 24 miles over New Mexico.

Ground squirrels are taking over a North Dakota city and officials are not amused

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — Ground squirrels have proliferated in Minot, North Dakota's fourth-largest city. They've burrowed everywhere from vacant lots to school grounds, residential areas and the downtown area. They're particularly plentiful on an Air Force base north of the city. A pest control operator who is leading the fight against them likens it to one man taking on a massive storm. He traps thousands of the rodents per year. A combination of the area's plains habitat and few predators in town make Minot a nice home for the tunneling rodents, which can harbor disease from fleas and create hazards with their holes.

Largest piece of Mars on Earth fetches $5.3 million at auction, but young dinosaur steals the show

The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth has sold for just over $5 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York. But a rare skeleton of a young dinosaur stole the show, fetching more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy during Wednesday's sale. The buyers were not immediately disclosed. The 54-pound meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike. It was found in the Sahara Desert in Niger in 2023. The skeleton is one of only four known Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeletons and the only juvenile one. Its parts were found in Wyoming in 1996. It had been estimated to sell for up to $6 million.

Indian police find Russian woman and her 2 daughters living in an isolated forest cave

NEW DELHI (AP) — Police in India’s southern Karnataka state say they have found a Russian woman and her two young daughters living in isolation in a remote forest cave. The woman, identified as Nina Kutina, and her daughters, were found by police during a routine patrol to Ramatirtha Hill, a popular tourist site on the coast of Karnataka, on July 9. Police officer Sridhar SR said the family had been living in the cave for more than a week. Police said they were taking steps to repatriate Kutina to Russia for overstaying her visa. She and her children have been moved to a nearby detention facility for foreigners living illegally in India.

People in Florida neighborhood stop dinner, grab tools to rescue 4 people in plane crash

Residents in a Miami suburb used an ax, fire extinguisher and garden hose to rescue four people from a small plane that crashed into a tree. It was yet another mishap near a busy South Florida airport. Angelo Castillo, the mayor of Pembroke Pines, says the response Sunday night was “heroic.” But he is frustrated. Castillo says there have been more than 30 crashes in the past five years on or around North Perry Airport in Broward County. It is an airport that has half a million people living within a 5-mile radius.

Hungary's oldest library is fighting to save 100,000 books from a beetle infestation

PANNONHALMA, Hungary (AP) — A medieval abbey in Hungary is battling a beetle infestation threatening its ancient book collection. Workers at the Pannonhalma Archabbey are removing around 100,000 books for disinfection after the drugstore beetle was found damaging the volumes. The beetles are attracted to adhesives in books and have infested about a quarter of the abbey's 400,000 works. The library at the UNESCO World Heritage site houses Hungary's oldest books, including a 13th-century Bible and pre-printing press manuscripts. The abbey blames rising temperatures from climate change for contributing to the infestation. Damaged books will undergo restoration after the six-week, oxygen-free treatment to kill the pests.

A Denver dino museum makes a find deep under own parking lot. Like 'a hole in one from the moon.'

DENVER (AP) — A dinosaur fossil has been found in an unlikely place, a hole drilled under the parking lot of a Colorado museum where dinosaur skeletons are on display. The find happened when the Denver Museum of Nature and Science was drilling to study possible geothermal heat for the building. Museum experts say retrieving part of a dinosaur vertebra from the narrow hole was extraordinarily unlikely, but it happened. They believe it came from a smallish, plant-eating dinosaur that lived 67 million years ago. They say only two such finds are previously documented in the world. The hockey-puck-shaped fossil sample is now on display in the museum.

Thousands celebrate baby hippo Moo Deng's first birthday at a Thailand zoo

CHONBURI, Thailand (AP) — Thousands of fans have flocked to a Thailand zoo to celebrate the first birthday of Moo Deng, the baby pygmy hippo that's become a social media sensation. The Khao Kheow Open Zoo on Thursday launched a four-day event featuring free entry for children under 12. Fans from around the world, including the United States and Malaysia, traveled to see Moo Deng, who charmed visitors with her playful antics. The zoo also held auctions of Moo Deng-themed items to support animal care. Pygmy hippos are native to West Africa. They are endangered, with only 2,000-3,000 left in the wild.

A pacing Chihuahua helps Swiss rescuers find a man who fell into a glacier

GENEVA (AP) — Rescuers in Switzerland are hailing as a “four-legged hero” a furry Chihuahua that paced atop an Alpine rock after its owner fell into a crevasse. The dog's presence helped a helicopter crew find its owner. Training and rescue squad Air Zermatt says the man was exploring the Fee Glacier on Friday when he broke through an ice bridge. He called for help using a walkie-talkie. Rescuers noticed the dog to zero in on his location. They rappelled down and extracted the man, who was not identified. A spokesperson for the rescuers says, “Imagine if the dog wasn’t there."