Six Flags Inc. will sell seven of its 30 North American parks for $312 million. The company said the sale is part of its strategy to reduce debt and enhance its operational and financial flexibility. Six Flags had total long-term debt of $2.1 billion as of Sept. 3, 2006, when it filed its most recent quarterly report.
Expired drugs, unlicensed nurses, stray cats and scuttling rats were among the horrors that emerged from police inspections of Italian hospitals that recommended possible investigations against more than 100 people, health officials said Thursday. Health Minister Livia Turco promised swift action, but insisted that Italians could still trust their health system. Special health units from the Carabinieri paramilitary police inspected 321 of Italy's 672 public medical centers this week, reporting shocking instances of poor hygiene.
Afghan insurgent leader helped al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden escape intense U.S. bombing in the Tora Bora mountains in 2001. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said in a television interview broadcast Thursday that when the United States began its assault on the rugged Afghan mountains five years ago, some of his fighters moved bin Laden, to "a safe place" where he met them later.
Democrats selected Denver to host their 2008 presidential convention, turning down New York in favor of a problematic but enthusiastic bid from the city in the growing Rocky Mountain West. The convention -- which is expected to attract 35,000, including 4,950 delegates and alternates -- will be held from Aug. 25 to 28 after the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The Republican National Convention will start just four days later, on Sept. 1 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
A 24-year-old man shot and wounded four co-workers Thursday morning in an Indianapolis manufacturing business that employs disabled people. Two men and two women were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, said Indianapolis Police Lt. Douglas Scheffel. Candy Morrison, director of marketing, said 85 percent of the production workers have physical or developmental disabilities.
