NATION/WORLD BRIEFING Homeless man will get money; couple under investigation
California blaze shuts major highway through weekend
SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – A stretch of a major highway near the California-Oregon border will remain closed through the weekend as crews try to tame a roaring wildfire burning on both sides of the northsouth route, authorities announced Friday.
The blaze that shut down Interstate 5 on Wednesday was still burning out of control, said Denise Yergenson, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation.
“There is active fire close to the highway,” she said. “There is lots of damage, lots of emergency personnel. It’s just not a safe situation.”
Dallas officer in shooting to be charged with manslaughter
DALLAS – A white Dallas police officer who shot and killed her black neighbor and later explained that she had mistaken his apartment for her own will be charged with manslaughter, the police chief said Friday.
It’s not clear what the officer may have said to 26-year-old Botham Jean between entering his home and shooting him late Thursday, police Chief U. Renee Hall said during a news conference. But given what investigators know, they decided to pursue a manslaughter charge, she said.
Candidate’s stabbing shakes Brazil’s presidential race
SAO PAULO – The stabbing of a leading Brazilian presidential candidate jolted an already wildly unpredictable campaign to lead Latin America’s largest nation, with doctors saying Friday that Jair Bolsonaro will be hospitalized for at least a week.
Supporters of the far-right congressman who wants to crack down on crime said the attack would only boost his chances in next month’s election, but it was unclear when he would be able to return to campaigning in person.
A knife-wielding man whose motive was unknown stabbed Bolsonaro during a rally Thursday in Juiz de Fora as he was being carried on the shoulders of a supporter.
Bolsonaro, 63, suffered intestinal damage and serious internal bleeding, according to Dr. Luiz Henrique Borsato, one of the surgeons who operated on him.
FLORENCE, N.J. – A homeless man who claims a New Jersey couple mismanaged the $400,000 they raised for him online will receive all of the funds he’s due while the couple is now under criminal investigation.
In a statement, GoFundMe and the law firm representing Johnny Bobbitt said he will get an amount equal to the balance he didn’t receive through the fundraiser.
The announcement came several hours after authorities executed a search warrant at the New Jersey home of the couple, Mark D’Amico and Katelyn McClure. No charges have been filed.
Trump says he’s expecting letter from North Korea’s Kim
FARGO, N.D. – President Donald Trump says he’s expecting a letter in the coming days that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is sending him through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Trump told reporters Friday that Kim’s recent overtures amount to “a very positive statement, what he said about me, and also what he said about he wants to denuclearize during the Trump administration.”
South Korean officials who met with Kim this week said they forwarded a message from Trump and that Kim gave them a message to deliver to Trump.
Japan quake toll up to 18 as rescuers dig through landslides
ATSUMA, Japan – The toll from an earthquake that rocked Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido rose to 18 on Friday, and in one small town two dozen people remained unaccounted for after an entire mountainside collapsed on their homes.
The region was slowly restoring transport links and power, with lights back in about half of the homes on the island after a day of region-wide blackouts caused by the magnitude 6.7 quake that hit on Thursday.