Q: I had an Arizona ash tree planted in my front yard last month. It is approximately 10 feet tall and the trunk is 2.5 inches in diameter at the base. The lower branches are 3 to 4 feet in length and spindly. As such, they droop like a weeping willow. Is this typical for an Arizona ash that was in a 24-inch wood box, or should the lower branches be pruned?  A: The small ... [full story]

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- An explosion killed two people Thursday afternoon at a California test site operated by space entrepreneur Burt Rutan. At least four people were injured in the blast, The Los Angeles Times reported. Scaled Composites -- a Rutan company -- tests small rocket engines at Mojave Airport in Kern County. Northrop Grumman, which owns 40 percent of the company, plans to buy the rest of it. The explosion, which occurred at about 2:45 ... [full story]

HEBRON, West Bank -- Observers in the West Bank town of Hebron say tensions and confrontations are rising between the Palestinian population and Jewish settlers. The city, which was split into Israeli- and Palestinian- controlled sections by a 1996 accord, is now host to 150,000 Arabs and about 700 Jewish settlers, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The Temporary International Presence in Hebron, which was put in place after the 1996 deal was reached, says violence ... [full story]

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Ethiopia's government denied it blocked trade and humanitarian aid to its southeastern Somali region, IRIN reported Thursday. Media reports and aid agencies, however, claimed that limited humanitarian access and the rising prices of food are the results of security-related restrictions implemented to combat the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front. ONLF spokesman Abdirahman Mahdi told IRIN the Ethiopian government ensures "nothing is entering the region, whether it is commercial or aid." Mahdi said ... [full story]

BELGRADE, Serbia -- A U.S. envoy in Belgrade said Kosovo's independence from Serbia is the best solution for a future status of the predominantly ethnic-Albanian province. Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Michael Polt Thursday said a new round of talks between the Belgrade government and Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian leaders won't solve the problem of who would govern Kosovo. In an interview with the Serbian news agency Beta, Polt said Serbia and its Slavic ally Russia are ... [full story]

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles City Council voted to temporarily stop medicinal marijuana shops from opening and, at the same time, U.S. agents raided facilities in the city. The council voted to stop medicinal marijuana clinics from opening while it works to find out which locations are violating the intention of 1996's Proposition 215, which allows residents of the state to use marijuana for treatment of chronic pain, anorexia, cancer and other serious illness, ... [full story]

GUWAHATI, India -- Wildlife officials in India said two rampaging elephants running through northeastern villages killed eight people and injured nine others. The officials said the elephants crushed eight people and damaged several houses while stomping through villages in the state of Mizoram, the Press Trust of India reported Thursday. "I was forced to give the order to kill the two elephants in a bid to save the lives of dozens of more villagers," H. ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Phillip Kensinger could lose a star for his part in the investigation into the death of Pat Tillman, the Pentagon said Thursday. Sources told CNN that the decision is up to Army Secretary Pete Geren. Tillman, a football player who rejected a new contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army, was killed in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan in 2004. The Army, which had ... [full story]

LONDON -- The British government unveiled plans to add a pair of new aircraft carriers, costing more than $8 billion, to its Royal Navy fleet. Dubbed the Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales, the two 65,000-ton carriers are expected to have service lives of 40 years and be the "jewel in the crown" of Britain's navy when completed, The Telegraph reported Thursday. Constructing the largest warships in British naval history should provide about 10,000 ... [full story]

BRANDENBURG, Ky. -- A Kentucky teenager is suing the Imperial Klans of America and five alleged members, claiming they were responsible for a beating he received last summer. Jordan Gruver, who is of Central American Indian descent, claims in his suit that a beating he sustained at the Meade County, Ky., fair in 2006 was the work of Klansmen at the fair to promote a "white only" Klan function, the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal reported Thursday. ... [full story]