Care-unit closure in Arizona contested

PHOENIX — Arizona is contesting a long-term care facility’s decision to shut down the unit where an incapacitated woman was raped and later gave birth.

State regulators in a letter Friday say Hacienda HealthCare’s contract does not allow it to close its intermediate-care facility without written consent from the state.

They said Hacienda’s board of directors had until 4 p.m. to answer questions about the closure decision.

The facility has been in turmoil since a 29-year-old patient gave birth on Dec. 29. A nurse who cared for the woman has been charged with raping her.

Wall bargainers trade offers

WASHINGTON — Congressional bargainers traded offers and worked toward a border security compromise Friday that would avert a fresh federal shutdown and resolve a clash with President Donald Trump that has dominated the opening weeks of divided government.

Both sides’ negotiators expressed optimism that an accord could be reached soon on a spending package for physical barriers along the Southwest border and other security measures. Participants said the agreement would all but certainly be well below the $5.7 billion Trump has demanded to build his proposed wall, and much closer to the $1.6 billion that was in a bipartisan Senate bill last year.

“That’s what we’re working toward,” said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, DCalif., one of the bargainers.

Besides the dollar figure, talks were focusing on the type and location of barriers, participants said. Also in play were the number of beds the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency could have for detained migrants, and how much aid for natural disaster relief would be included.

Money for high-tech surveillance equipment and more personnel was also expected to be included.

At least 11 killed in Rio shootout

RIO DE JANEIRO — Law enforcement officials in Brazil’s second largest city say that at least 11 suspected drug traffickers were killed in a shootout with police in a slum located in the bohemian Santa Teresa neighbourhood.

Police spokesman Col. Mauro Fliess said the confrontation took place Friday as officers entered the area where the suspects were hiding. He said that none of the police were hurt.

Officers seized drugs, rifles, guns and ammunition during the anti-drug trafficking operation.

Rio de Janeiro is one of the world’s most violent cities with frequent shootouts between police and drug gangs and an annual homicide rate of around 50 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Death toll hits 15 in building collapse

ISTANBUL — Turkish emergency services on Friday recovered four more bodies from the rubble of an eight-story building that crashed down in Istanbul, bringing the death toll to 15. One man said he lost nine members of his extended family.

Earlier in the day, rescuers pulled a 16-year-old boy out alive from under the rubble two days after the collapse of the building in the Kartal district on the Asian side of the city, raising the number of people who have been rescued to 14.

Friends and relatives waited near the wreckage for news of their missing loved ones as emergency teams, aided by sniffer dogs, worked around the clock to reach possible survivors.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation, but a senior Turkish official has said the building’s top three floors were added illegally.

Officials have not disclosed how many people are still unaccounted for. The building had 14 apartments with 43 registered residents.

UN probe urged for Khashoggi killing

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey and other countries will soon submit a formal request to establish a UN committee to investigate the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Turkish foreign minister said Friday.

Mevlut Cavusoglu’s comments came a day after UN human rights expert Agnes Callamard said Saudi Arabia had undermined Turkey’s efforts to investigate the death, which she described as a “brutal and premeditated killing.”

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. His remains have still not been found.