US gas prices rise

US gas prices rise

CAMARILLO, Calif.

The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline spiked 9 cents a gallon over the past two weeks to $2.83.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the jump was driven primarily by rising crude oil costs.

The current gas price is 37 cents above where it was a year ago.

The highest average price in the contiguous 48 states was $3.68 in the San Francisco Bay area. The lowest was $2.45 in Baton Rouge, La.

China’s ZTE seeks solution to tech ban

BEIJING

ZTE Corp., one of China’s biggest tech companies, said Sunday it’s taking steps to comply with a U.S. technology ban and is seeking a solution to the issue it says threatens its survival.

The ban on state-owned ZTE was imposed last Monday in a case involving exports of telecoms equipment to Iran and North Korea. U.S. companies are barred from selling technology to ZTE for seven years.

The penalty comes as tensions mount between Beijing and President Donald Trump over technology policy, though the case dates to before Trump took office in January 2017.

ZTE pleaded guilty in March 2017 and agreed to pay a $1.19 billion penalty for having shipped equipment to Iran and North Korea in violation of U.S. regulations.

Service for woman killed during flight

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Family and friends gathered Sunday to mourn an Albuquerque bank executive who died after the Southwest Airlines plane she was on blew an engine in midair.

Nearly a thousand people attended the evening service for Jennifer Riordan, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The service took place at Popejoy Hall on the University of New Mexico campus, her alma mater.

The 43-year-old community leader and mother of two was heading home from a business trip Tuesday from New York’s LaGuardia Airport bound for Dallas.

Early in the flight, one of its twin engines exploded. The impact showered the jet with debris and shattered the window next to Riordan.

Syrian military slams IS-held districts

BEIRUT

Syrian government forces used warplanes, helicopters and artillery Sunday to pound districts of the capital held by the Islamic State group, in a bid to enforce an evacuation deal reached with the militants last week.

Two Palestinian refugees, a father and a son, were killed during the fighting at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, according to the United Nation’s Palestinian refugee agency, which added that thousands of homes have been destroyed in four days of fighting.

Hundreds of IS militants hold parts of the Yarmouk camp and nearby area of Hajar al-Aswad in southern Damascus. They agreed to give up their last pocket there on Friday but have yet to begin surrendering to government forces and relocating to IS-held areas elsewhere in the country.

Ortega cancels social security overhaul

MANAGUA, Nicaragua

Nicaragua’s president Sunday withdrew changes to the social security system that had triggered deadly protests and looting.

President Daniel Ortega said in a message to the nation that the social security board of directors had canceled the changes implemented April 16.

The overhaul was intended to shore up Nicaragua’s troubled social security system by both reducing benefits and increasing taxes.

The changes touched off protests across the Central American nation that escalated into clashes with police as well as looting.

Human-rights groups said at least 26 people were killed in several days of clashes.

Associated Press