Here's what's happening across the United States and around the world today.
Berkeley police shooting demonstration turns violent for 2nd night; protesters, officers clash
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Raucous demonstrations hit Berkeley's streets for a second straight night as protesters angered by police killings in Missouri and New York clashed with officers, vandalized businesses and even fought with each other, officials said.
Sunday's protest began peacefully on the University of California, Berkeley, campus but eventually grew rowdy and spilled into Oakland. Activists made their way onto a freeway and blocked traffic.
The California Highway Patrol said officers fired tear gas after protesters targeted them with rocks and bottles and tried to light a patrol vehicle on fire. Police also said explosives were thrown at officers, but there was no information immediately available on how potent they were.
Officers chased protesters off the roadway. The highway patrol said it made arrests but no figures were available.
The demonstrations were the latest of several in the Bay Area — including in Oakland where activism is strong — to protest recent grand jury decisions in Missouri and New York not to indict while police officers in the deaths of two black men.
US official says US did not know about talks on freeing South African who died in Yemen raid
U.S. & World
Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The United States did not know about talks on the reportedly imminent release of a South African hostage who died in a U.S. raid on al-Qaida militants in Yemen, the U.S. ambassador in South Africa said Monday.
Ambassador Patrick Gaspard said American officials were "unaware of ongoing negotiations that had any resolution" between the militants and Gift of the Givers, a South African humanitarian relief group that had been acting on behalf of the family of South African hostage Pierre Korkie. Gaspard also said it was "not altogether clear" to him that the South African government was even aware of the talks.
Korkie and American hostage Luke Somers were killed Saturday during a U.S.-led rescue attempt. Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, has said that Korkie was supposed to be released Sunday under a deal struck with al-Qaida.
Gaspard said the U.S. hadn't been informed about that. The U.S. decided to carry out the raid because the militants had threatened to kill Somers, Gaspard said.
"We were just completely unaware of those developments and had to act hastily," the ambassador said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
NYC chokehold case stirs debate: Should cases like this go to special prosecutors?
NEW YORK (AP) — After a police officer wasn't indicted in a fatal chokehold caught on video, some officials are reviving calls to entrust such cases to special prosecutors, rather than local district attorneys.
The city's elected public advocate and some state lawmakers are pressing for appointing special state prosecutors for police killings, saying Eric Garner's death has bared problems with having DAs lead investigations and prosecutions of the police who help them build cases. Similar legislation has been proposed in Missouri since the police shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old in Ferguson.
"This is a watershed moment," New York Public Advocate Letitia James said by phone. "It's clear that the system is broken and an independent prosecutor is needed."
She's advocating appointing such prosecutors whenever police kill or seriously injure someone. Assemblymen Karim Camara and Marcos Crespo are proposing special prosecutors for police killings of unarmed people.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" that the state should examine whether DAs should bring such cases and "potential roles for special prosecutors," as part of a broad look at the criminal justice system.
US, NATO ceremonially end Afghan combat mission, 13 years after Sept. 11 terror attacks
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan on Monday, 13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, which was in charge of combat operations, lowered its flag, formally ending its deployment.
U.S. Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of NATO and U.S. forces, said that the mission now would transition to a training and support role for Afghanistan's own security forces, which have led the fight against the Taliban insurgents since mid-2013.
"The Afghan security forces are capable," Campbell said. "They have to make some changes in the leadership which they're doing, and they have to hold people accountable."
From Jan. 1, the coalition will maintain a force of 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak around 140,000 in 2011. There are around 15,000 troops now in the country.
Analysis: After past high-profile defeats, House GOP looks for success in immigration showdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — After declaring President Barack Obama's new policy on deportations "null and void," House Republicans are ready to fund the federal government before a Thursday deadline without additional immigration-related controversy, adjourn for the year and await a new, GOP-controlled Senate in January.
Maybe.
If so, it would mark a rare occasion since a tea party-heavy Republican majority took over four years ago that Plan A went according to script. Last year's partial government shutdown, higher tax rates for millions enacted in 2012 and a humbling 2011 surrender on payroll taxes are evidence of that.
Nor is there any certainty Republicans will force Obama to back down, even if they do stick to the path they are on.
"We think this is the most practical way to fight the president's action," Speaker John Boehner recently told reporters, stopping short of predicting success.
As US gas consumption plateaus to help climate, fuel exports pollute elsewhere
GARDI SUGDUP, Panama (AP) — Solar panels glisten from every thatched hut on this crowded island, one of the largest in this remote chain off the Panamanian coast. But the tiny emblems of green energy offer no hope against climate change.
They have helped the island's Guna people reduce what was already a minuscule carbon footprint.
The Guna cook with clean-burning gas. They use a small amount of diesel fuel to power fishing boats and a generator that lights bare bulbs dangling above dirt floors after sunset. They own one of the most pristine stretches of tropical rainforest in Panama, cleansing the atmosphere of carbon dioxide naturally.
But larger forces threaten to uproot them, stemming from the failure by the rest of the world to rein in carbon emissions.
Pollution linked to global warming keeping rising even though the world's two largest carbon polluters have pledged to combat climate change, with the U.S. committing to deeper cuts and China saying its emissions will stop growing by 2030.
It's a dangerous trajectory the U.S. is stoking with record exports of dirty fuels, even as it reduces the pollution responsible for global warming at home.
Royal visit begins: Prince William to meet Obama while Kate tours NY child development center
NEW YORK (AP) — While Britain's Prince William meets with President Barack Obama at the Oval Office on Monday and discusses illegal wildlife trafficking at the World Bank, his wife, Kate, will tour a child development center with New York City's first lady, Chirlane McCray.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in New York City on Sunday, the royal couple's first official visit to the U.S. and their first taste of the Big Apple. During their three-day trip, they'll be staying at the Carlyle Hotel, a favorite of William's mother, the late Princess Diana, when she frequently visited Manhattan in the 1990s.
William and Kate, who are expecting their second child in April, have scheduled a full slate of events in New York, including a visit to the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum and a basketball game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Their visit also will include some events with other high-profile guests. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton are accompanying William and Kate to a New York reception highlighting conservation efforts.
William and Kate also are due to join Tom Hanks, opera singer Renee Fleming and others at a black-tie, up-to-$10,000-per-seat scholarship fundraiser for the University of St. Andrews, the Scottish institution where the royal couple met and earned degrees.
Criminal probe after gas evacuates Illinois hotel, convention attendees in animal costumes
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Dressed as rabbits, foxes and dragons, the costumed delegates to an annual conference chatted and exchanged high-paws as they filed out of a suburban Chicago hotel and across the street to a convention center that was hosting a dog show.
Although some participants at the Midwest FurFest convention thought the mass evacuation was just part of the fun, investigators weren't laughing. They were probing as a criminal matter the release of a gas that sickened several hotel guests Sunday morning and forced thousands of people — many dressed as cartoon animals — to temporarily leave the building.
Nineteen people who became nauseous or dizzy were treated at local hospitals, and at least 18 were released shortly thereafter. Within hours, emergency workers decontaminated the Hyatt Regency O'Hare and allowed people back inside.
The Rosemont Public Safety Department said someone apparently intentionally left chlorine powder in a ninth-floor hotel stairway, causing the gas to spread.
While authorities conducted their investigation, organizers tried to assure the participants that the evacuation would not overshadow the FurFest event, in which attendees celebrate animals that are anthropomorphic — meaning they've been given human characteristics — through art, literature and performance. Many of costumed attendees refer to themselves as "furries."
Sci-fi smokes: Evolving e-cigarette technology may make developing industry standards tougher
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Just a few years ago, early adopters of e-cigarettes got their fix by clumsily screwing together a small battery and a plastic cartridge containing cotton soaked with nicotine.
Now, the battery-powered contraptions have computer chips to regulate puffs and temperature, track usage, talk to other electronic devices and even blink when "vapers" are near each other.
Federal officials say the technology race could make creating standards the devices, which heat a liquid to create vapor rather than burning tobacco, more difficult in the future. Unlike traditional smokes that are simply chopped tobacco rolled in paper with a filter, e-cigarettes come in many shapes and sizes and the technological changes only make regulating them more of a headache.
At the same time, a rapidly growing market for e-cigarettes and the possibility that the devices could be safer than regular cigarettes have some in the industry worried that regulation that's too heavy-handed would stifle the technological innovation — and their businesses.
"I think it's fair to say that there will always be some degree of a gap between (data) and the latest innovations," Mitch Zeller, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "But that's the beauty of regulation because over time, regulation closes that gap. ... We will get to a point where new products have to come through us first."
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston on the Heisman bubble after roller-coaster season
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston has won a national championship, the Heisman Trophy and every single game he's played in college.
Now he's waiting to see if he gets an invitation to this year's Heisman ceremony.
There are questions whether Winston will be among the finalists that will be announced Monday for this year's award after a roller-coaster season that included a game suspension and student code of conduct hearing.
The Seminoles have won 27 consecutive games since Winston was named the starter before the 2013 season. He led them through a season of close games this year, and the team has a spot in the first college football playoffs. But Winston's candidacy may hinge on how voters feel about his off-field distractions.
Winston completed a university hearing this week to determine whether he violated any or all of four sections of the code of conduct — two for sexual misconduct and two for endangerment.
That's what's happening. Read more stories to jump start your day in our special Breakfast Buzz section.
