Storms kill 4 in Alabama

Storms kill 4 in Alabama

A powerful storm system that moved across the South on Monday killed four people in Alabama and left a trail of damage over several states, officials said.

The line of severe thunderstorms spawned several possible tornadoes, and the threat continued into early today for southern Alabama, southwest Georgia and the Florida Panhandle.

Four people were killed Monday evening when a tree fell on their mobile home in Rehobeth, Ala., said Kris Ware, a spokeswoman for the Dothan Houston County Emergency Management Agency.

The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for Houston County in the southern part of the state Monday evening. Local media outlets reported that emergency officials advised residents to stay in their homes and assess damage in the morning.

Finland to pay basic monthly income to unemployed

HELSINKI

Finland has become the first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587), in a unique social experiment that is hoped to cut government red tape, reduce poverty and boost employment.

Olli Kangas from the Finnish government agency KELA, which is responsible for the country’s social benefits, said Monday that the two-year trial with the 2,000 randomly picked citizens who receive unemployment benefits kicked off Sunday.

Those chosen will receive 560 euros every month, with no reporting requirements on how they spend it. The amount will be deducted from any benefits they already receive.

IS suicide bomber kills 36 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD

A suicide bomber driving a pickup loaded with explosives struck a bustling market in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 36 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group hours after French President Francois Hollande arrived in the Iraqi capital.

The bomb went off in a fruit and vegetable market that was packed with day laborers, a police officer said, adding that an additional 52 people were wounded.

Bundy friends, family protest monument decision

BUNKERVILLE, Nev.

Supporters of cattleman and anti-federal government figure Cliven Bundy are protesting a presidential decision to give national monument protection to public land where Bundy grazes cows near his southern Nevada ranch.

With Bundy and four sons in federal custody awaiting trial on conspiracy and other charges, a small group of other family members and friends staged a peaceful weekend rally near the Bundy home and the Gold Butte area outside Bunkerville, a small town near Arizona.

Quake swarm gets scientists’ attention

More than 250 small earthquakes have struck since New Year’s Eve near the California-Mexico border, causing unease among residents and attention from scientists.

The strongest earthquake in the sequence was magnitude 3.9, directly underneath Brawley, about 170 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

The earthquakes struck in the southern end of the Brawley Seismic Zone, a seismically active region where tectonic plates are moving away from each other and the Earth’s crust is getting stretched out “and basically adding land,” said Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson.

Combined dispatches