First-class postage to go up 1 cent in ’13

First-class postage to go up 1 cent in ’13

WASHINGTON

It’ll cost another penny to mail a letter next year.

The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that it will raise postage rates on Jan. 27, including a 1-cent increase in the cost of first-class mail to 46 cents.

It also will introduce a new global “forever” stamp, allowing customers to mail first-class letters anywhere in the world for one set price of $1.10. Currently, the prices vary depending on the international destination, with letters to Canada and Mexico costing 85 cents.

Under the law, the post office cannot raise stamp prices more than the rate of inflation, or 2.6 percent, unless it gets special permission. The post office, which expects to lose a record $15 billion this year, has asked Congress to give it new authority to raise prices by 5 cents, but lawmakers have failed to act.

Chinese writer wins Nobel Prize

BEIJING

Novelist Mo Yan, this year’s Nobel Prize winner for literature, is practiced in the art of challenging the status quo without offending those who uphold it.

Mo, whose popular, sprawling, bawdy tales bring to life rural China, is the first Chinese winner of the literature prize who is not a critic of the authoritarian government. And Thursday’s announcement by the Swedish Academy brought an explosion of pride across Chinese social media.

The state-run national broadcaster, China Central Television, reported the news moments later, and the official writers’ association, of which Mo is a vice chairman, lauded the choice. But it also ignited renewed criticisms of Mo from other writers as too willing to serve or too timid to confront a government that heavily censors artists and authors, and punishes those who refuse to obey.

School-bus crash injures 17 in Calif.

VICTORVILLE, Calif.

A school bus carrying 40 children was knocked on its side Thursday when a U-Haul truck backed into it, injuring 16 students and the bus driver, authorities said.

Two of the children had “serious but nonlife- threatening” injuries and were taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, said Tracey Martinez, spokeswoman for San Bernardino County fire.

Ten others also were transported to hospitals. The remaining four were treated and released at the scene, said California Highway Patrol Officer Joaquin Zubieta.

Source: Teen dies in border shooting

PHOENIX

A U.S. Border Patrol agent opened fire on a group of people throwing rocks from across the Mexican border, killing a teenage boy and eliciting outrage from the Mexican government over the use of lethal force, authorities said Thursday.

The agents in Nogales, Ariz., had responded to reports of two suspected drugs smugglers near the border about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. The agents watched the two abandon a load of narcotics, then run back to Mexico, according to the Border Patrol.

As the agents approached to investigate, people on the Mexican side of the border began throwing rocks at them and ignored orders to stop, the agency said.

One agent opened fire. A Mexican official with direct knowledge of the investigation said Thursday a 16-year-old boy was killed in the shooting.

Associated Press