Tropical Storm Fay weakens, heads out

U.S. citizens in China get warning

The State Department warned U.S. citizens living in or traveling to China they may face arbitrary arrest, the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing.

“Exercise increased caution in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws for purposes other than maintaining law and order,” State said in a travel advisory on its website that was also emailed to U.S. citizens registered as being in China.

“This arbitrary enforcement may include detention and the use of exit bans.”

The warning, sent Saturday morning U.S. time, says Chinese security forces may “detain and/or deport” American citizens for “sending private electronic messages critical of ” China’s government.

Fire destroys much of old church

A fire early Saturday destroyed the rooftop and most of the interior of a California church that was undergoing renovation to mark its upcoming 250th anniversary celebration.

Fire alarms at the San Gabriel Mission rang around 4 a.m., and when firefighters responded to the historic structure they saw smoke rising from the wooden rooftop, San Gabriel Fire Capt. Paul Negrete said.

He said firefighters entered the church and tried to beat back the flames, but they had to retreat when roofing and other structural materials began to fall, Negrete said.

A tropical storm that brought heavy rain to mid-Atlantic states and southern New England was downgraded twice Saturday morning as it moved over New York, forecasters said.

Post-tropical cyclone Fay was about 30 miles south of Albany and had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. advisory. The forecasters said the advisory would be its last for the system that was expected to continue moving north Saturday.

5 dead in hostage situation at church

Five people are dead and more than 40 have been arrested after an early-morning hostage situation at a long-troubled church near Johannesburg, police in South Africa said Saturday.

A statement said police and military who responded to reports of a shooting at the International Pentecostal Holiness Church headquarters in Zuurbekom found four people “shot and burned to death in a car” and a security guard shot in another car. Six other people were injured.

Police said they rescued men, women and children who had been held hostage and appeared to have been living at the church. It was not clear how many were rescued.

The attack by a group of armed people “may have been motivated by a feud” between church members, the police statement said.