Lobster prices strong as season picks up

Lobster prices strong as season picks up

PORTLAND, Maine

New England’s lobster industry faces big new challenges in selling to Europe and China, but the trouble hasn’t caused prices to budge much for American consumers.

The business is in the midst of its busiest part of the year, when tourists flock to coastal states with a beachside lobster dinner in mind. Summer is also when prices tend to fall a bit because it’s when the majority of lobsters are caught.

But the prices haven’t fallen much. Retailers are selling live lobsters in the $7 to $12 per pound range in Maine, where the American lobster industry is based. That’s not too far behind recent summers.

Activist to star as TV’s 1st trans superhero

BURBANK, Calif.

A transgender activist who won a discrimination lawsuit after her school refused to let her use the girls’ bathroom will be TV’s first transgender superhero.

Nicole Maines will star in The CW/Warner Bros.’ “Supergirl” as Nia Nal, aka Dreamer.

Maines gained national attention for her battle against her Orono, Maine, school district over her right to use the girls’ bathroom.

Maine’s highest court ruled in 2014 that school officials violated state anti-discrimination law when they required her to use a staff restroom. It was the first time a state high court concluded that a transgender person should use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.

Indonesian teen raped by brother jailed for abortion

JAKARTA, Indonesia

A 15-year-old Indonesian girl who was raped by her brother has been sentenced to six months in prison for having an abortion, police said Sunday.

Both the girl and her 18-year-old brother were convicted Thursday by the District Court of Muara Bulian in Batanghari district in Jambi province, said Singgih Hermawan, deputy chief of the local police.

The brother received a two-year prison sentence for having sex with a minor, Hermawan said.

Abortion is illegal in Indonesia, but is allowed in cases of rape, especially if the woman’s life is at risk. However, the abortion must take place within 11/2 months of becoming pregnant and be performed by professionals.

The girl had her abortion when she was six months’ pregnant, according to a court official.

Kabul blast kills 14

KABUL, Afghanistan

A suicide bomber carried out an attack near Kabul’s airport in Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 14 people and narrowly missing the country’s vice president who was returning home after living in Turkey for over a year, security officials said.

Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the blast occurred near Kabul International Airport shortly after the convoy of the controversial vice president had just left the airport.

Danish said 14 people, including both civilians and military forces, were killed in the attack and 50 others hurt.

The Islamic States group’s local affiliate claimed responsibility.

Taxi drivers killed

JOHANNESBURG

South African police say gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying members of a taxi drivers’ association, killing 11 people and critically wounding four others.

Police Brig. Jay Naicker said the victims of the Saturday night attack had attended a colleague’s funeral and were returning home when the ambush occurred.

Police are investigating possible motives.

Tensions between groups of taxi drivers vying for the same routes sometimes spill into deadly violence in South Africa.

Associated Press