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Florida
License plate sales to benefit charity
ORLANDO -- Florida highway officials on Friday announced that Florida drivers are now able to purchase new Walt Disney World license plates. The blue-shaded license plate features a silver drawing of Cinderella's Castle sketched with a "50" to commemorate the park's 50th anniversary.
Drivers interested in getting the new specialty plates were able to purchase presale vouchers, and so far 10,000 vouchers have been bought for the Disney World plates, officials said. Revenue collected from the sale will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and Northern Florida.
Washington
Anti-mask protests lockdown schools
VANCOUVER -- Three schools in Vancouver, Washington, were placed in lockdown Friday after anti-mask protesters tried to access school ground. Officials said the lockdowns were a safety precaution.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports Patriot Prayer, a far-right extremist group, and other far-right activists made posts online incorrectly claiming a student at the school who did not want to wear a mask would face arrest if they entered school grounds.
District of Columbia
Officials deter use of parasite drug
WASHINGTON -- Health experts and medical groups are pushing to stamp out the growing use of a decades-old parasite drug to treat COVID-19, warning that it can cause harmful side effects and that there's little evidence it helps.
With a fourth wave of infections, more Americans are turning to ivermectin, a cheap drug used to kill worms and other parasites in humans and animals.
England
Shredded Banksy artwork for sale
LONDON -- A Banksy artwork that sensationally self-shredded just after it sold for $1.4 million in 2018 is up for sale again. Auctioneer Sotheby's said Friday that "Love is in the Bin" will be sold in October. The piece has a pre-sale estimate of $5.5 million to $8.3 million. It is a half-shredded canvas with a girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon.
Just as an anonymous buyer made the winning bid, a hidden shredder embedded in the frame whirred to life, leaving half the canvas hanging from the frame in strips.
New Zealand
Extremist stabs six at supermarket
WELLINGTON -- New Zealand authorities were so worried about an extremist inspired by the Islamic State group that they were following him around the clock and were able to shoot and kill him within 60 seconds of him unleashing a knife attack that wounded six people Friday at an Auckland supermarket.
Three of the shoppers were taken to Auckland hospitals in critical condition, police said. Another was in serious, while two more were in moderate condition.
Poland
2nd boy dies of mushroom poisoning
WARSAW -- A second child of an Afghan family evacuated from Kabul to Poland died Friday after eating soup containing death cap mushrooms, which the family had unknowingly gathered in a Polish forest outside their quarantine center.
The 6-year-old boy had received an emergency liver transplant but doctors were unable to save him. His 5-year-old brother was pronounced dead on Thursday at Poland's main children's hospital, where both were treated.