Magnitude-6.5 earthquake hits Japan; tsunami alert issued
NEW YORK (AP) — A magnitude-6.5 earthquake shook eastern Japan off the quake-ravaged coast on Monday morning (2223 GMT Sunday), the U.S. Geological Survey reported, prompting Japan to issue a tsunami alert.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, but the Japan Meteorological Agency announced that a tsunami of up to 1.6 feet (a half meter) may wash into Miyagi Prefecture.
Hundreds of illegal Africans flee Libya by boat for Italy
 
ROME (AP) — Boatloads of illegal African migrants have resumed setting sail from Libya for Italy, authorities said, overwhelming tiny islands and towns in southern Italy already struggling to host thousands fleeing unrest in Tunisia.
Before dawn Sunday, Italian coast guard vessels escorted a boat crowded with 284 Somalis, Eritreans and Ethiopians to shore, the first boat to resume the long-established routes of smugglers’ boats toward Italy from Libya’s long coastline.
South African government to launch its own newspaper
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The South African government is launching a newspaper to rectify media censorship of government information, South Africa’s newly appointed government spokesman Jimmy Manyi said Sunday.
Manyi said it is the government’s responsibility to ensure media don’t selectively publish government news. The government is turning its bimonthly magazine into a 20-page, free, monthly newspaper called Vuk’uzenzele.
Radiation found in Massachusetts, rainwater likely from Japan
BOSTON (AP) — Health officials said Sunday that one sample of Massachusetts rainwater has registered low concentrations of radiation, most likely from the Japanese nuclear power plant damaged earlier this month by an earthquake and tsunami.
John Auerbach, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health, said that radioiodine-131 found in the sample — one of more than 100 that have been taken around the country — has a short life of only eight days.
New York zoo closes Reptile House after cobra goes missing
NEW YORK (AP) — Officials have closed the Reptile House at New York’s Bronx Zoo after a poisonous Egyptian cobra disappeared from an enclosure that’s separate from the animal exhibits.
Zoo officials say the building was immediately closed and secured after staff learned that the adolescent snake was missing Friday afternoon.
The zoo released a statement Saturday saying it’s confident the 20-inch-long snake is in an area of the building that’s not accessible to the public.
Term limits impact state legislative remapping, 17 unable to run again
(AP) — Although the redrawing of state political maps happens every decade in the Louisiana Legislature, a new wrinkle is being manipulated to shield incumbents and increase minority representation in this redistricting special session: term limits.
With six state senators and 11 state representatives unable to run again for their current seats, their districts are on the chopping block to protect other lawmakers’ re-election bids and boost the number of lawmakers representing majority black districts.
Two senators who can’t run again this fall are strongly objecting to the divisions of their districts to help create new minority districts.
State considers using BP money for bicentennial celebrations
(AP) — State officials are looking at using some of the money BP PLC. gave Louisiana to cover the costs of putting on bicentennial celebrations next year.
Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater says Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration wants Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne to spend money his office got from BP on bicentennial events.