Friday, January 16, 2015
Mexican birth certificates in US
SANTA ANA, Calif.
For Mexicans living in the U.S. illegally and hoping to stay in the country under President Barack Obama’s new immigration policy, things just got one step simpler.
On Thursday, the Mexican government began issuing birth certificates to its citizens at its consulates in the United States.
That will make it a little easier for Mexicans hoping to obtain U.S. work permits, driver’s licenses and protection from deportation.
Pope to Filipinos: Reject corruption
MANILA, Philippines
Pope Francis is urging Filipino officials to reject the corruption that has plagued this Asian nation for decades and urged them to instead work to end the “scandalous” poverty and social injustices that afflict its people.
Francis made the comments today during a speech to President Benigno Aquino III and other Filipino authorities at the start of his visit to Asia’s largest Catholic nation, where nearly a quarter of the 100 million people live in poverty.
Arizona students must pass civics test
PHOENIX
Arizona became the first state in the nation Thursday to enact a law requiring high-school students to pass the U.S. citizenship test on civics before graduation, giving a boost to a growing nationwide effort to boost civics education.
Both the Arizona House and Senate quickly passed the legislation on just the fourth day of the legislative session, and newly elected Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed it into law Thursday evening.
The swift action in Arizona comes as states around the country take up similar measures. Arizona’s law requires high-school students to correctly answer 60 of 100 questions on the civics portion of the test new citizens must pass.
UN Ebola report
UNITED NATIONS
At least 50 Ebola hotspots remain in the three hardest-hit West African countries but new cases are declining, and the deadly disease will be defeated, the U.N.’s Ebola chief said Thursday.
The latest report from the World Health Organization showing reductions in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone “is very good news,” Dr. David Nabarro said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Okla. executes man
McALESTER, Okla.
Oklahoma executed a death-row inmate Thursday for killing a baby in 1997 in the state’s first lethal injection since a botched one last spring.
Prison officials declared Charles Frederick Warner dead at 7:28 p.m. CST Thursday. The execution lasted 18 minutes.
After the first drug was administered, Warner said, “My body is on fire.” But he showed no obvious signs of distress.
Teacher convicted
COLUMBUS
A former central Ohio substitute teacher who showed a classroom movie that included graphic sex and violence has been convicted of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.
The jury in Columbus convicted 58-year-old Sheila Kearns of the four felony counts Thursday. The convictions carry possible jail sentences, but she is expected to get probation when she’s sentenced March 4.
Prosecutors said Kearns showed the film “The ABCs of Death” during five periods of a Spanish class at East High School in Columbus in April 2013. The movie consists of 26 “chapters,” each depicting some form of a grisly death.
Associated Press