Heat wave scorches Phoenix, Las Vegas

Heat wave scorches Phoenix, Las Vegas

PHOENIX

A blazing heat wave expected to send the mercury soaring to nearly 120 degrees in Phoenix and Las Vegas over the weekend settled across the West on Friday, threatening to ground airliners and raising fears that pets will get burned on the scalding pavement.

The heat was so punishing that rangers took up positions at trailheads at Lake Mead in Nevada to persuade people not to hike. Zookeepers in Phoenix hosed down the elephants and fed tigers frozen fish snacks. And tourists at California’s Death Valley took photos of the harsh landscape and a thermometer that read 121.

The mercury there was expected to reach nearly 130 through the weekend — just short of the 134-degree reading from a century ago that stands as the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

Violence flares in Egypt; protests set

CAIRO

Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi rallied Friday in Cairo, and both sides fought each other in the second-largest city of Alexandria, where two people were killed — including an American — and 85 were injured while at least five offices of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood were torched, officials said.

The competing camps were trying to show their strength before even-bigger nationwide protests planned by the opposition Sunday — the first anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration — aimed at forcing his removal.

The opposition says it will bring millions into the streets across Egypt, and more violence is feared. Already, six people have been killed in clashes this week, including Friday’s deaths.

Immigration faces hurdles in House

WASHINGTON

The focus of hotly contested immigration legislation swung Friday from the Senate to the House, where conservative Republicans hold power, there is no bipartisan template to serve as a starting point and the two parties stress widely different priorities.

“It’s a very long and winding road to immigration reform,” said Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who said it could be late this year or perhaps early in 2014 before the outcome is known. His own constituents are “very skeptical, mostly opposed,” he said.

Supporters of the Senate’s approach sought to rally support for its promise of citizenship for those who have lived in the United States unlawfully, a key provision alongside steps to reduce future illegal immigration.

Librarians to help with health law

CHICAGO

The nation’s librarians will be recruited to help people get signed up for insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Up to 17,000 U.S. libraries will be part of the effort to get information and crucial computer time to the millions of uninsured Americans who need to get coverage under the law.

The undertaking will be announced Sunday in Chicago at the annual conference of the American Library Association, according to federal officials who released the information early to The Associated Press.

The initiative starts Oct. 1, when people without health coverage will start shopping for insurance online on new websites where they can get tax credits to help pay the cost. Low-income people will be enrolled in an expanded version of Medicaid in states that adopt it.

Associated Press