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WEST HAWAII TODAY | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015
IN BRIEF
EU holds
emergency talks on
sharing refugees
BRUSSELS
—
European Union inte-
rior ministers meet for
emergency migration
talks on Monday, a day
after Germany reintro-
duced checks at its bor-
der with Austria to stem
the continuing flow of
refugees.
The ministers will
try to narrow a yawn-
ing divide over how to
share responsibility for
thousands of migrants
arriving daily and ease
the burden on frontline
states.
Their talks will focus
on distributing 160,000
refugees over the next
two years, and the
German decision to
have checks at a bor-
der that for 20 years
has usually been open
as part of the EU’s
landmark
Schengen
passport-free zone has
added urgency.
The arrival of around
500,000 migrants so
far this year has taken
the EU by surprise and
it has responded slowly.
Lacking a quick and
comprehensive policy
answer, countries have
begun tightening bor-
der security or, in the
case of Hungary, erect-
ing fences. Greece is
simply overwhelmed
by the numbers and
cannot properly screen
migrants let alone lodge
them.
Kentucky clerk
allows same-sex
licenses, but
questions legality
MOREHEAD, Ky. —
Undaunted in her reli-
gious faith but facing
the specter of another
courtroom reckoning,
Kim Davis, the Rowan
County clerk who was
jailed for defying a fed-
eral judge’s order that
she issue marriage
licenses, said Monday
that she would not stop
her employees from
processing licenses for
same-sex couples.
But the condition
that Davis attached to
her admittedly make-
shift solution — that
the licenses would
lack her authoriza-
tion — was the latest
indication that her
protracted legal and
political battles would
not go away soon.
Davis’ strategy could
spur new litigation to
challenge the disput-
ed licenses, and it was
unclear how Judge
David L. Bunning of
U.S. District Court, who
jailed Davis on Sept. 3,
would respond.
By wire sources
At least 12 killed when Egyptian forces fire on Mexican tour
CAIRO — At least 12
people were killed and 10
injured in Egypt’s south-
western desert Sunday
when security forces mis-
takenly fired on a group
of Mexican tourists,
Egyptian officials said.
The Mexican Foreign
Ministry confirmed the
incident and said at least
two of the dead were
Mexican nationals. It said
in a statement that the
victims were still being
identified, and Foreign
Ministry personnel were
working with the families
of the victims.
Mexican President
Enrique Pena Nieto
posted a statement
on his Twitter feed
Monday morning say-
ing his government
“condemns these acts
against our citizens”
and demanding a thor-
ough investigation.
A joint military-police
force was pursuing “ter-
rorist elements” in the area
and fired on four cars that
turned out to be carry-
ing tourists, according to
Egypt’s Interior Ministry.
The ministry said the vic-
tims were Egyptian and
Mexican.
Egyptian officials claim
the safari convoy had
wandered into a restrict-
ed area of the western
desert. The tour com-
pany involved “did not
have permits and did not
inform authorities,” Rasha
Azazi, a spokesperson for
the Egyptian Ministry
of Tourism, told The
Associated Press, adding
that any trips to that area
are required to be cleared
by officials.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Grand jury
indicts mother
in death of child
found in swing
BY MATTHEW BARAKAT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LA PLATA, Md. — A
Maryland woman who
was found pushing her
dead son in a playground
swing earlier this year has
been indicted and charged
with manslaughter and
child abuse, authorities
announced Monday.
At an arraignment
Monday in Charles County
Circuit Court, prosecutors
said Romechia Simms,
24, of LaPlata, spent two
entire days in a LaPlata
playground pushing her
3-year-old son, Ji’Aire
Donnell Lee.
Authorities say Lee died
of dehydration and low
body temperature while he
was in the swing. Medical
examiners ruled the death
a homicide.
At Monday’s arraign-
ment, Simms objected
when prosecutors declared
her a danger and a flight
risk, according to Kristen
Ayers, a spokeswoman for
the state’s attorney.
“I’m not a risk to any-
body,” Simms said, before
her
public
defender
advised her to be quiet. “I
didn’t even mean for this
to happen.”
Prosecutors said Simms’
mental state is in question
and they wanted her held
while she receives another
evaluation.
Sheriff’s deputies found
the toddler dead in the
swing the morning of May
22 after receiving a call
that a woman had been
pushing a child in the
swing at odd hours.
Ferocious wildfire devastates
California mountain town
MIDDLETOWN, Calif.
— Earlier this summer,
this small mountain town
north of San Francisco
opened its modest high
school to residents flee-
ing an unusually ferocious
wildfire nearby.
Now it is Middletown
itself that has been evac-
uated — and gutted —
by another blaze that
shocked firefighters with
its strength and speed.
The town’s small clus-
ter of shops and cafes
was spared, but behind
them flames propelled
by erratic winds zig-
zagged down leafy streets,
torching some houses
while sparing others. On
Monday, some residents
returned to find nothing
left of their homes but
concrete foundations and
smoldering rubble.
One weeping woman
embraced her mother
where their family home
once stood, surrounded
by blacked appliances,
metal furniture and ash.
Beige homes trimmed in
white stood untouched
nearby.
“I’m in shock. I want
to cry. I’m looking at my
neighbors’ places, and
they’re all gone, and I’m
still here,” homeowner
Jim Maurer said. “We’re
just shaking our heads.”
Over the weekend, the
blaze killed an elderly, dis-
abled area resident who
was trapped in her home.
The fire and another in
the Gold Rush country of
the Sierra Nevada foot-
hills, about 120 miles to
the southeast, were the
worst of a dozen burn-
ing in the state. Between
them, they have destroyed
535 homes and hundreds
of other structures and
displaced 23,000 peo-
ple, Mark Ghilarducci,
director of the Governor’s
Office of Emergency
Services, told reporters.
Citing dry condi-
tions from four years of
drought,
Ghilarducci
called this summer’s fires
some of the most vola-
tile he’s seen in 30 years
of emergency response
work.
The fire that maraud-
ed through Middletown
and other parts of rural
Lake County, less than
100 miles north of San
Francisco, was burning
nearly unchecked, despite
the efforts of fire crews.
Since starting Saturday,
it has consumed more
than 95 square miles.
BY JANIE HAR AND
JUSTIN PRITCHARD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Acting Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb
shakes hands with officials as he arrives to visit
injured Mexican tourists at the Dar Al Fouad
Hospital in Cairo, on Monday.
NARIMAN EL-MOFTY/
THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Deanna Hingst, right, embraces her mother, Shirley Leuzinger, as they stand at the family’s
destroyed home Monday in Middletown, Calif. Two of California’s fastest-burning wildfires in
decades overtook several Northern California towns, killing at least one person and destroying
hundreds of homes and businesses and sending thousands of residents fleeing highways lined
with buildings, guardrails and cars still in flames.
ELAINE THOMPSON/
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
