NATIONAL AND WORLD NEWS DIGEST: Madoff won’t attend funeral of son in NYC

Madoff won’t attend funeral of son in NYC

NEW YORK

Imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff won’t seek to attend his son’s funeral out of consideration for the privacy of his son’s wife and four children, his lawyer said Monday. Attorney Ira Sorkin said Madoff instead will mourn privately at the North Carolina prison where he’s serving a 150-year sentence for his fraud conviction in what authorities have called history’s largest Ponzi scheme.

GOP chairman seeking re-election

WASHINGTON

Embattled GOP Republican Party chairman Michael Steele announced Monday that he will seek a second term despite a rocky two years marked by allegations of financial mismanagement and frequent verbal gaffes. After weighing a decision for weeks as challengers lined up, Steele alerted the 168-member Republican National Committee during an evening conference call that he would run.

Sex offender pleads not guilty in death

GOSHEN, N.Y.

A sex offender pleaded not guilty Monday in the killing of an aspiring dancer who vanished two years ago after leaving a New York City nightclub with him, and his lawyer wants to get him out of prison on bail. Michael Mele, 25, is charged with murder, manslaughter and evidence tampering in the death of Laura Garza, 25, who had moved from McAllen, Texas to New York five months before her disappearance. He could face 25 years to life in prison if he’s convicted of murder.

Reagan pictured on newest stamp

SIMI VALLEY, Calif.

An image of President Ronald Reagan graces the U.S. Postal Service’s newest 44-cent stamp. ormer first lady Nancy Reagan helped unveil the design of the Ronald Reagan Centennial postage stamp during a ceremony Monday at the Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif. The stamp features a close-up of the 40th president’s face with his Santa Barbara ranch in the background. The Ventura County Star reports the stamp will go on sale Feb. 10, four days after what would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. This is the third Ronald Reagan stamp. The first was released after his death in 2004. It was reissued after the Postal Service hiked its first-class rate from 37 cents to 39 cents.

4 bodies found at remote NY beach

BABYLON, N.Y.

Four bodies have been discovered at a beach on New York’s Long Island during a search for a missing woman. Suffolk County police say three bodies were found Monday at Oak Beach, which is on a remote barrier island that divides the Great South Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The bodies were near where skeletal remains were discovered over the weekend. Police were continuing to search into Monday evening. A police canine unit searching the area Saturday came upon the first body. Oak Beach is one of a series of beaches run by towns and municipalities. The bodies found there haven’t been identified.

Search ends for missing fishermen

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

Seventeen fishermen missing for more than 30 hours after their South Korean boat sank near Antarctica were given up for dead Tuesday, with officials saying no one could have survived the icy waters. New Zealand’s rescue coordination center, which was running a search by private vessels in the remote region, said it had suspended the operation indefinitely. The No. 1 Insung went down Monday some 1,400 miles south of New Zealand, about halfway to Antarctica. Nearby ships quickly pulled 20 survivors from the sea, along with the bodies of five dead crewmen, leaving 17 unaccounted for.

Associated Press