57-year-old man charged with arson in 1 of 10 Southern California wildfires
SAN DIEGO — A 57-year-old man has been charged with setting one of 10 wildfires that swept the San Diego region this week.
Alberto Serrato pleaded not guilty Friday to arson in connection with a 105-acre fire in suburban Oceanside — one of the smaller fires. The fire started Wednesday and is fully contained.
Tanya Sierra, a spokeswoman for the San Diego County district attorney’s office, says witnesses saw Serrato adding brush to the flames near homes but he was not seen starting the fire. The spokeswoman says he has not been connected to any other fire.
The spokeswoman says Serrato was arrested Thursday in Oceanside and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Volunteer response against east Ukraine’s pro-Russian rebels threatens new violence
MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Steelworkers from plants owned by Ukraine’s richest man retook government buildings from pro-Moscow insurgents, reversing the tide of rebellion and lawlessness that has gripped this industrial port and dealing a setback to anti-Kiev forces aspiring to merge with Russia.
Wearing overalls and hard hats, dozens of workers cleared away barricades of debris and tires outside the Mariupol city hall on Friday, scoring early successes against the pro-Russian forces, but threatening to open a new and dangerously unpredictable cycle of confrontation.
“People are tired of war and chaos. Burglaries and marauding have to stop,” said Viktor Gusak, a steelworker who joined in the effort to banish the pro-Russia militants from Mariupol, the Donetsk region’s second-largest city and the site of bloody clashes last week between Ukrainian troops and the insurgents.
Turkey, mining firm deny negligence in mine fire, survivor says lax inspections contributed
SAVASTEPE, Turkey — Government and company officials denied Friday that negligence caused Turkey’s worst mining disaster, as opposition lawmakers raised questions about oversight and a survivor said safety inspectors never visited the lower reaches of the mine.
Anger continued to surge in the wake of the coal mine inferno in the western town of Soma that has killed at least 298 miners. On Friday, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse rock-throwing protesters in Soma, where about 1,500 demonstrators urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government to resign.
In Istanbul, police forcefully broke up a crowd of about 150 people who lit candles and lined up mining helmets on the ground to honor the victims of the disaster, the DHA news agency reported.
House GOP leaders block immigration vote, dealing blow to chances for action
WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders intervened Friday to prevent a vote on immigration legislation, dealing a severe blow to election-year efforts to overhaul the dysfunctional system.
The move came after a Republican congressman from California announced plans to try to force a vote next week, over strong conservative opposition, on his measure creating a path to citizenship for immigrants who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children and serve in the military.
Rep. Jeff Denham labeled his bill the ENLIST Act and said he would seek a vote as an amendment to the popular annual defense bill, the National Defense Authorization Act.
In response, Doug Heye, spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, said: “No proposed ENLIST amendments to NDAA will be made in order.”
Heye said no stand-alone vote on the measure would be permitted, either.
By wire sources