Briefs CHINA QUAKE LEAVES 13 DEAD, 175 INJURED

BEIJING» A strong earthquake shook a mountainous region in southwestern China near a famous national park, killing 13 people, injuring 175 and knocking out power and phone networks. At least five of the dead were tourists, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said. At least 28 people had serious injuries. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for rapid efforts to respond to the quake and rescue the injured. The quake, which hit 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, struck a region on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was magnitude 6.5 and just 5.5 miles deep.

Pro-Maduro institutions encroach on opposition.

Institutions loyal to President Nicolas Maduro encroached further on his opponents’ dwindling power base in the nation’s government Tuesday, taking over the halls of the endangered, oppositioncontrolled congress and sentencing a mayor at the center of recent protests to prison.

Delegates to the new, all-powerful constitutional assembly convened in the stately, gold-domed chamber where congress normally meets in another sign that it intends to muscle aside any authority still held by the opposition.

Opposition lawmakers were barred from entering the legislative palace.

Vote count begins in fiercely contested election.

Polls closed across Kenya after millions voted peacefully Tuesday in a fiercely contested election pitting President Uhuru Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga in the East African country known for its stability but also its divided ethnic allegiances.

Long lines formed at many of Kenya’s 40,000 polling stations before dawn, but the Kenyan election commission tweeted in the evening that the balloting concluded “with minimal hitches.” Some sites remained open to process those people still waiting to cast their votes.

In preliminary results, Kenyatta was ahead with 55.4 percent while Odinga had 43.9 percent after votes from nearly onequarter of 40,883 polling stations had been counted, according to the Kenyan election commission.

President survives noconfidence motion again.

President Jacob Zuma survived a no-confidence vote Tuesday in the seventh and most serious attempt to unseat him after months of growing anger in South Africa over alleged corruption and a sinking economy. But his African National Congress party, which has ruled since the end of apartheid, continued to fracture.

O’Connor pleads for help, says she’s living in motel.

Sinead O’Connor pleaded for help from her family and opened up about her mental illness in a Facebook video posted from a New Jersey motel she has been living in. The video is the latest public glimpse of her ongoing struggle with mental health problems. The 50year-old singer lamented what she described is a lack of support from loved ones, saying that “strangers on Facebook” are kinder to her than her own family. She asked her adult children and their fathers to make an effort to bring her home to Ireland.

“Dukes of Hazzard” star regrets arrest, aims for sobriety.

“The Dukes of Hazzard” star Tom Wopat says he’ll be taking time to address his ongoing struggle with substance abuse after his arrest in Massachusetts. Wopat pleaded not guilty Thursday to grabbing the buttocks of a female member of a local production of “42nd Street” he was supposed to star in. Police said they found what they suspect to be cocaine in the actor’s possession.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Wopat expressed “his deepest regrets to friends, family, and his many loyal fans” for the “unfortunate events” but denied any wrongdoing. He said he hopes his “good name will be restored” after his team investigates the allegation.

Samberg, wife welcome first child.

Andy Samberg is now a dad. The “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star has welcomed a baby girl to his family with wife, singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom. Samberg’s publicist did not provide details about the girl’s name or when she was born. The couple were married in 2013.