Strong earthquake strikes Chile’s disaster area; no damage reported
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A magnitude-6.1 earthquake has hit the same part of Chile that suffered a catastrophic quake in February. The new temblor has caused alarm but no reported damage or injuries. It struck the regions of Maule, BioBio and Araucani.
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South African murder rate drops to lowest level in decades
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s murder rate, one of the highest in the world, has dropped by 8.6 percent to its lowest level in nearly two decades, according to statistics released Thursday.
Authorities credited better policing for the decline. Officers had stepped up their efforts in preparation for the World Cup in June and July, when South Africa hosted hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors.
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Today marks 75 years since Huey P. Long’s death
(AP) — He was either a corrupt tyrant and petty dictator, as his detractors still say, or an “unconquered friend of the poor,” in the words of the epitaph chiseled into the base of the statue that marks his grave outside the towering art-deco Louisiana state Capitol.
Today marks 75 years since Huey P. Long’s death, less than two days after he was shot down inside the Capitol that he constructed. The fiery former governor, U.S. senator and potential presidential candidate was 42.
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Former judge gets five years in prison for bribery scheme
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former state judge has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a bribery scheme to allow inmates to get out of jail without paying any bond money.
Wayne Cresap, 62, who sat in St. Bernard Parish, also was ordered Thursday to pay a $100,000 fine and has been placed on three years of supervised release following his prison term.
Cresap and two attorneys, Victor Dauterive and Nunzio Salvadore Cusimano, pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud conspiracy charges.
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New Orleans federal agents seize $210,000 in fake sports gear
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For some federal agents in New Orleans, the question as football season opens is not “Who Dat.” It’s “Where did dat come from?”
In a release Wednesday, the Customs agency said agents have recently seized fake sports merchandise and other counterfeit consumer products from city vendors.
Working with the NFL, authorities say more than 1,400 counterfeit hats, T-shirts and jerseys worth approximately $210,000 have been seized.
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One of original Navajo Code Talkers dies in Arizona
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — Allen Dale June, one of the 29 original Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language, has died. He was 91.
June died of natural causes Wednesday night at the Veteran Assistance Hospital in Prescott, his wife, Virginia, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
With his death, only two of the 29 original Code Talkers are still living.
The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They sent thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other communications critical to the war’s ultimate outcome. Several hundred Navajos served as Code Talkers during the war.
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Judge declares military’s ban on homosexuals unconstitutional
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge in California has declared the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional because the ban violates the First Amendment rights of gays and lesbians.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips said Thursday she will issue an injunction that would halt the enforcement of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy nationwide.
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Igor weakens to tropical depression in Atlantic off coast of Africa
MIAMI (AP) — Igor has weakened to a tropical depression drifting in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa near the Cape Verde Islands.
Maximum sustained winds for the storm Thursday are near 35 mph (55 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says the storm could begin strengthening some on Friday.
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