October 2nd, 2010
09:59 PM ET
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The day's most popular stories

The five most popular stories on CNN.com in the past 24 hours, according to NewsPulse.

Sanchez out after controversial comments: CNN anchor Rick Sanchez abruptly left the network Friday afternoon, just one day after making controversial comments on a satellite radio program.

J.K. Rowling hints about more Harry Potter: Fans, rejoice - J.K. Rowling offered a bit of hope on Friday that, perhaps, the final Harry Potter story has yet to be told.

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Filed under: Elections • Guatemala • Harry Potter • Health • History • Most Popular • Politics • Showbiz
October 2nd, 2010
09:00 PM ET
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Armed gang abducts busload of tourists in Mexico

A policeman stands guard in street where Mexican tourists were kidnapped Thursday.

Gunmen have abducted a busload of tourists in Acapulco, Mexico, a spokesman for the Guerrero State attorney general's office told CNN on
Saturday.

The 22 people were captured by an armed gang Friday night. All those aboard the bus were Mexican nationals from the neighboring state of Michoacan.

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Filed under: Crime • Hostages • Mexico
October 2nd, 2010
07:53 PM ET
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Man arrested in connection with quadruple slayings

Kimani Washington faces weapons charges in connection with the shooting deaths.

A Massachusetts man has been arrested in connection with the shooting deaths of four people, including a toddler, in Boston Tuesday, police said Saturday.

Kimani Washington, 35, was arrested without incident Friday night in an apartment complex in Manchester, New Hampshire, police there said. He is being held in New Hampshire pending his arraignment at Manchester District Court on a fugitive from justice charge.

"Today should serve as a warning to all those who seek to harm others,"
said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. "Our offices will not rest until you are hunted down, captured and locked up."

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Filed under: Crime • Massachusetts
October 2nd, 2010
05:45 PM ET
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Families of duck boat victims oppose resumption of service

The Ride the Ducks tour boat was carrying 35 passengers and two crew members in the collision.

The families of two young Hungarians who drowned in a duck boat accident in July said they opposed the tour company's decision to resume service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania next year.

Ride The Ducks and the City of Philadelphia announced Friday that the amphibious boat tours will resume in March 2011 using the Schuylkill River for the water portion of the tour.

Two student tourists from Hungary, Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20, died when a 250-foot sludge barge pushed by a tugboat overran a Ride the Ducks tour boat, plunging the amphibious vessel with its 35 passengers and two crew members under the surface of the Delaware River.

Boating accident brings tragic halt to summer exchange program

Regardless of the change in route, a lawyer for the victims' families said they disagreed with the decision. Citing safety concerns over the vessel's buoyancy raised by the National Transportation Safety Board in 2002, attorney Robert Mongeluzzi said the boats are inherently unsafe.

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Filed under: Pennsylvania
October 2nd, 2010
12:50 PM ET
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Sheriff: Body of American shot by Mexico pirates still missing

Days after an American man was fatally shot by pirates on a lake that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, his body still has not been found, a sheriff told CNN on Saturday.

Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. of Zapata County, Texas, said U.S. authorities have not made much progress because the incident happened on the Mexican side of Lake Falcon.

“The body was not recovered” by U.S. authorities and is presumably still in the lake, Gonzalez said.

“We’ve been in touch with Mexico authorities but they say they don’t know anything about a body,” Gonzalez said.

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Filed under: Crime • Drug violence • Mexico • Pirates • Texas
October 2nd, 2010
09:35 AM ET
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Drone strikes kill 18 in Pakistan

Tensions rippled through Pakistan's tribal region Saturday as three drone strikes killed 18 people and the government continued to block a NATO supply route into Afghanistan.

Pakistani intelligence officials said 10 people died in one drone strike targeting a militant hideout, four people died when a vehicle was struck, and four others were killed when another hideout was targeted.

All three occurred in the Data Khel area of North Waziristan.

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Filed under: Afghanistan • Pakistan • Terrorism • War • World
October 2nd, 2010
09:20 AM ET
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Rain lashes East Coast

A flood warning remained in effect for northeastern North Carolina on Saturday as heavy rains left some businesses underwater and scores of roads closed.

Flooding in North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and New England killed at least eight people, officials said.

Bertie County in North Carolina was the hardest hit with waters as high as stop signs in some areas.

Rescue shelters were set up and animals in a small zoo were taken to higher ground.

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Filed under: Weather
October 2nd, 2010
09:07 AM ET
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Indonesian train crash kills 34

A crash involving two trains in central Indonesia Saturday killed 34 people and injured 36, officials said.

The crash occurred when a train traveling from Semarang in Central Java to the capital of Jakarta was struck from behind by another train headed to Jakarta from Surabaya in East Java, according to Bambang Ervan, transport ministry spokesman.

Four coaches have been lifted off the track, and one remains, said Sugeng Priyono, spokesman for the Indonesian railway company. Many people were crushed in the last carriage of the first train, which was stationary when the other train slammed into it, survivors said.

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Filed under: Indonesia • World
October 2nd, 2010
06:00 AM ET
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Purported Bin Laden message urges support for flood victims

A second audio message presumably from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden surfaced Saturday on the internet.

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Filed under: Pakistan