US gas prices drop

US gas prices drop

CAMARILLO, Calif.

The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline dropped a nickel nationally during the past three weeks, to $2.31.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the decline comes despite a slight rise in crude oil prices.

Gas in Los Angeles was the highest in the continental United States at an average of $2.87 a gallon Friday. The lowest average was in Cleveland, Ohio, at $1.97 a gallon.

Roof wants new trial

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof has asked for a new federal trial, saying prosecutors didn’t have jurisdiction to bring their case against him.

Roof’s attorneys made that request Friday, claiming the government failed to prove his use of the internet, highways and a gun manufactured out of state were sufficient enough links to allow religious obstruction charges.

Roof, 22, was sentenced to die earlier this year for killing nine black members of Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church in June 2015.

Roof remains in custody in the Charleston County jail, where he awaits a death penalty trial in state court.

Officials: Airport scare was likely pepper spray

BERLIN

Hundreds of passengers at Hamburg Airport were evacuated and more than a dozen flights canceled after some 68 people were injured by a hazardous material that likely spread through the airport’s air-conditioning system.

The airport said in a statement that police and firefighters had concluded from their initial investigation the substance most likely was pepper spray. Authorities still are working to determine how it got into the airport’s air conditioning system, the statement said.

The 68 injured people – both passengers and staff members – had complained about breathing problems, burning eyes and nausea.

Easing citizenship

BASEL, SWITZERLAND

Voters in Switzerland decided Sunday to make it easier for young “third-generation foreigners” to get Swiss citizenship, agreeing to extend to about 25,000 people under age 25 access to the fast-track process now available to foreign spouses of Swiss nationals.

The national statistics office said the “naturalization of third-generation immigrants” initiative passed with 60.4 percent of the vote, paving the way to a simplified path to citizenship for young people whose parents and grandparents have lived in Switzerland for decades.

Associated Press