Nation & World Glance
Toxic cloud caused by Hawaii volcano lava emerges over ocean
PAHOA, Hawaii — White plumes of acid and extremely fine shards of glass billowed into the sky over Hawaii as molten rock from Kilauea volcano poured into the ocean, creating yet another hazard from an eruption that began more than two weeks ago: A toxic steam cloud.
Authorities have warned the public to stay away from the cloud that formed by a chemical reaction when lava touched seawater.
Further upslope, lava continued gushing out of large cracks in the ground in residential neighborhoods in a rural part of the Big Island. The molten rock made rivers that bisected forests and farms as it meandered toward the coast.
The rate of sulfur dioxide gas shooting from the ground fissures tripled, leading Hawaii County to repeat warnings about air quality. At the volcano’s summit, two explosive eruptions unleashed clouds of ash. Winds carried much of it toward the southwest.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump dined Monday evening with Republican governors supportive of his immigration policies to discuss plans for border security and deporting people in the U.S. illegally.
Trump says the nation’s immigration laws are the worst of anywhere in the world, particularly so-called catch-and-release policies, under which federal immigration officers release those detained for being in the U.S. illegally pending legal proceedings. Trump says, “We have to end it.”
Trump says progress on a border wall is being made but calls on Congress to provide more funding toward his signature campaign promise.
Govs. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Doug Doucey of Arizona, Phil Bryant of Mississippi, Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Henry McMaster of South Carolina joined the president for dinner.
LGBT community cheers pope’s ‘God made you like this’ remark
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis’ reported comments to a gay man that “God made you like this” have been embraced by the LGBT community as another sign of Francis’ desire to make gay people feel welcomed and loved in the Catholic Church.
Juan Carlos Cruz, the main whistleblower in Chile’s clerical sex abuse and cover-up scandal, said Monday he spoke to Francis about his homosexuality during their recent meetings at the Vatican. The pope invited Cruz and other victims of a Chilean predator priest to discuss their cases last month.
Cruz said he told Francis how Chile’s bishops used his sexual orientation as a weapon to try to discredit him, and of the pain the personal attacks had caused him.
“He said, ‘Look Juan Carlos, the pope loves you this way. God made you like this and he loves you,’” Cruz told The Associated Press.
The Vatican declined to confirm or deny the remarks in keeping with its policy not to comment on the pope’s private conversations.
Police search past nightfall for suspects in officer’s death
PERRY HALL, Md. — Police backed by aircraft and trained dogs scoured a greater Baltimore suburb into the night, seeking suspects believed armed and dangerous after the death of a female officer killed as she investigated a report of a suspicious vehicle.
Baltimore County Police Cpl. Shawn Vinson said Monday evening that the enormous manhunt was continuing unabated in the suburban community of Perry Hall, Maryland, where witnesses reported hearing a pop and then seeing the officer being run over by a Jeep on Monday afternoon.
The officer, who wasn’t immediately identified, was bleeding badly from significant injuries and was pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital. Vinson said investigators have recovered the suspects’ abandoned Jeep, but police declined to confirm whether it was used to injure the officer.
Tony Kurek told The Associated Press his adult son was outside in the family’s yard Monday afternoon in the northeast Baltimore County community when the son saw the officer with her gun drawn, confronting the occupants of a Jeep.
“The next thing he heard was a pop, and he saw the Jeep take off and run right over her,” said Kurek. The car left skid marks behind, he said, leaving the officer down and bleeding.