Nation & World Watch
vLos Angeles: Trump’s Hollywood star destroyed
Los Angeles police are investigating a pre-dawn attack that destroyed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame less than two weeks before the election.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which bestows and maintains the stars, said Wednesday it would repair Trump’s star, which police said was smashed by blows from a hammer.
A man who identified himself as Jamie Otis told the website Deadline Hollywood that he’s responsible for the damage. Police said they couldn’t comment on whether Otis is a suspect.
vUnited Nations: US abstains on Cuba measure
The United States abstained for the first time in 25 years Wednesday on a U.N. resolution condemning America’s economic embargo against Cuba, a measure it had always vehemently opposed.
The U.S. was joined in abstaining by Israel, the only other country to vote against the embargo resolution in the General Assembly last year. When the vote — 191-0 with two abstentions — was shown on the electronic board, diplomats from the 193 U.N. member states burst into applause.
The U.S. decision to change its vote comes after President Barack Obama’s restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba and his support for lifting the embargo, which the Republican-led Congress is against.
vItaly: 2 powerful quakes send residents into streets
A pair of strong earthquakes shook central Italy late Wednesday, crumbling churches and buildings, knocking out power and sending panicked residents into the rain-drenched streets just two months after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 300 people.
One person was injured in the epicenter of Visso, where the rubble of collapsed buildings tumbled into the streets. But the Civil Protection agency, which initially reported two injured, had no other immediate reports of injuries or deaths.
The first quake carried a magnitude of 5.4, but the second one was eight times stronger at 6.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
vSyria: Airstrikes kill 22, including many children
Airstrikes in Syria killed up to 22 people, mostly children, Wednesday when warplanes struck a residential area housing a school complex in the northern rebel-held province of Idlib, activists and rescue workers said.
A team of first responders, the Syrian Civil Defense in Idlib, said 22 people were killed and at least 50 wounded in the raids on the village of Hass. Most of those killed were children, the group said in a posting on its Facebook page.
Another activist group, the Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, gave the same death toll and said 14 children and a woman were among those killed.
vVenezuela: Protest demands Maduro’s ouster
Masses of protesters jammed the streets of Venezuela’s capital Wednesday on the heels of a move by Congress to open a political trial against President Nicolas Maduro, whose allies have blocked moves for a recall election.
Some schools and shops were shut as demonstrators crowded key points around Caracas to demand Maduro’s ouster. Electoral authorities blocked a recall campaign against the deeply unpopular president last week, and the faceoff escalated Tuesday when the opposition-led Legislature voted to put Maduro on trial, accusing him of effectively staging a coup.