Officials won’t defend Nev. gay-union ban

Officials won’t defend Nev. gay-union ban

CARSON CITY, Nev.

Nevada’s attorney general and governor said Monday that they won’t defend the state’s gay-marriage ban when it goes before a federal appeals court, saying that a recent court decision makes the state’s arguments supporting its constitutional amendment “no longer defensible.”

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, in a motion filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Nevada’s legal arguments defending the voter-approved prohibition aren’t viable after the court’s recent ruling that potential jurors cannot be removed from a trial during jury selection solely because of sexual orientation.

Report: Cyberattacks not coordinated

WASHINGTON

A multi-agency government task force looking into cyberattacks against retailers says it has not come across evidence suggesting the attacks are a coordinated campaign to adversely affect the U.S. economy.

In a two-page report, the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force says the global implications of the retail attacks and the economic impact to private business and individual citizens cannot be overstated.

The report obtained by The Associated Press does not identify the retailers by name, but it comes after recent attacks on Target and Neiman Marcus.

Skeletal remains found along border

MEXICO CITY

Mexican officials have discovered hundreds of skeletal remains scattered on ranches in a stretch of towns along the U.S.-Mexico border as they carried out a wide search to locate missing people.

Coahuila state prosecutors’ spokesman Jesus Carranza said Monday that the remains were burned and extremely hard to identify.

News of the grisly finds came at the same time 12 bodies were unearthed from clandestine graves in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero and about two months after 67 bodies were found in western Mexico.

San Diego to pay $250K to settle suit

SAN DIEGO

The city of San Diego will pay $250,000 to a woman who was the first to go public with sexual-harassment allegations against former Mayor Bob Filner, the city attorney announced Monday, one day before voters return to the polls to elect a new leader.

The settlement ends a lawsuit filed by Filner’s former communications director, Irene McCormack Jackson, but harassment suits by two more women are pending.

McCormack was the first of 18 women to go public with harassment allegations last year against the disgraced mayor, who stepped down last year amid the scandal.

She claimed that Filner asked her to work without panties, demanded kisses, told her he wanted to see her naked and dragged her in a headlock while whispering in her ear.

Russia, China skip talks on Syria at UN

UNITED NATIONS

Russia is blocking Western efforts to push through a Security Council resolution that would raise the prospect of sanctions against Syria unless the government gives unrestricted access to deliver humanitarian aid.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin vowed to veto the proposed measure if necessary. Both he and China’s U.N. ambassador were no-shows at a meeting Monday to discuss the Western and Arab-backed resolution.

Associated Press