Ballot language OK’d for age limits on smartphone sales

Ballot language OK’d for age limits on smartphone sales

denver

Colorado officials have cleared the language of a proposed ballot measure that would establish the nation’s first legal limits on buying smartphones for children. Backers of the move to forbid the sale of smartphones to children younger than 13 would need about 300,000 voter signatures for the proposal to make the 2018 ballot.

The ban would require cellphone retailers to ask customers about the age of the primary user of a smartphone and submit monthly reports to the Colorado Department of Revenue on adhering to the requirement.

Retailers who sell a phone for use by a youngster could be fined $500, after a warning.

Police: Vehicle hits several by mosque, causing casualties

LONDON

A vehicle struck pedestrians outside a mosque in north London early today, causing several casualties, police said.

One person has been arrested. The London Ambulance Service says the injured are being taken to hospitals. Eyewitnesses reported seeing police give emergency medical treatment to at least one of the injured.

The Muslim Council tweeted that worshippers were struck by a van as they were leaving prayers at the Finsbury Park mosque. It said its prayers are with the victims.

The Finsbury Park mosque was associated with extremist ideology for several years after the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. but was shut down and reorganized. It has not been associated with radical views for more than a decade.

Suspected jihadists attack spa; 2 dead

BAMAKO, Mali

Suspected jihadists attacked a hotel resort Sunday in Mali’s capital, taking hostages at a spot popular with foreigners on the weekends. About 30 people managed to escape though at least two people were killed as the assault continued into the evening, authorities said.

Mali’s security minister later issued a statement confirming at least two deaths, one of which was a dual French-Gabonese citizen. One of the suspected attackers who was wounded in the attack managed to escape, the ministry added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came amid the final week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Sunday’s violence came about a week after the U.S. State Department warned of possible attacks on Western diplomatic missions and other locations in Bamako that Westerners frequent.

UK: London tower may have used banned siding

LONDON

The new exterior cladding used in a renovation on London’s Grenfell Tower may have been banned under U.K. building regulations, two British ministers said Sunday as police continued their criminal investigation into the inferno that killed at least 58 people.

Trade Minister Greg Hands said the government is carrying out an “urgent inspection” of the roughly 2,500 similar tower blocks across Britain to assess their safety, while an opposition lawmaker urged the government to quickly secure documents in the Grenfell renovation for the criminal probe.

Late Sunday, the Metropolitan Police released three photos from inside Grenfell Tower, which showed in close detail how the fire charred the 24-story building that once housed up to 600 people in 120 apartments.

Experts believe the building’s new exterior cladding, which contained insulation, helped spread the flames quickly up the outside of the public housing tower early Wednesday.

Associated Press