AP News in Brief 07-08-18

New wildfires sweep through California, burning homes

LOS ANGELES — Firefighters toiled in stifling heat Saturday on the lines of destructive wildfires across the U.S. West, making progress against some blazes while struggling to tame others that have forced evacuations of hundreds of homes.

In heat-stricken Southern California, powerful winds that sent an overnight inferno hopscotching through the Santa Barbara County community of Goleta vanished in the morning, allowing firefighters to extinguish smoldering ruins of an estimated 20 structures, including homes.

Authorities announced that mandatory evacuation orders were being greatly reduced and many of the 2,500 people who fled Friday night would be able to return home by late afternoon.

County Fire Chief Eric Peterson thanked residents for heeding the call to evacuate, allowing firefighters to focus on fire suppression rather than rescues.

“There very likely would have been fatalities last night had those evacuations not occurred,” Peterson said.

Kids as young as 1 in US court, awaiting reunion with family

PHOENIX — The 1-year-old boy in a green button-up shirt drank milk from a bottle, played with a small purple ball that lit up when it hit the ground and occasionally asked for “agua.”

Then it was the child’s turn for his court appearance before a Phoenix immigration judge, who could hardly contain his unease with the situation during the portion of the hearing where he asks immigrant defendants whether they understand the proceedings.

“I’m embarrassed to ask it, because I don’t know who you would explain it to, unless you think that a 1-year-old could learn immigration law,” Judge John W. Richardson told the lawyer representing the 1-year-old boy.

The boy is one of hundreds of children who need to be reunited with their parents after being separated at the border, many of them split from mothers and fathers as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance policy.” The separations have become an embarrassment to the administration as stories of crying children separated from mothers and kept apart for weeks on end dominated the news in recent weeks.

Critics have also seized on the nation’s immigration court system that requires children — some still in diapers — to have appearances before judges and go through deportation proceedings while separated from their parents. Such children don’t have a right to a court-appointed attorney, and 90 percent of kids without a lawyer are returned to their home countries, according to Kids in Need of Defense, a group that provides legal representation.

Trump lawyers call Comey ‘Machiavellian’ in note to Mueller

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Donald Trump unleashed a blistering attack on former FBI Director James Comey in a confidential memo last year to the special counsel, casting him as “Machiavellian,” dishonest and “unbounded by law and regulation” as they sought to undermine the credibility of a law enforcement leader they see as a critical witness against the president.

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, underscores the intense effort by Trump’s legal team over the last year to tarnish Comey’s reputation and pit the president’s word against that of the former FBI director. Comey’s firing in May 2017 helped set in motion the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, and one-on-one conversations with Trump that Comey documented in a series of memos helped form the basis of Mueller’s inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice.

The June 27, 2017, letter was written by Marc Kasowitz, then the president’s lead lawyer, as Mueller and his team were in the early stages of their investigation into Trump associates and as they had begun examining whether the president, by firing Comey, had sought to stymie an FBI investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. The White House initially pointed as justification for the firing to a Justice Department memo that faulted Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, though Trump later said that “this Russia thing” was on his mind when he made the move.

It’s not clear to what extent, if any, the attacks on Comey have resonated with Mueller’s team, which is broadly investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and continues to seek an interview with the president to assess whether he had a corrupt intent when he fired the FBI director. And even in the face of withering criticism, Comey has been largely consistent in his telling of his interactions with Trump in his memos, his book and numerous press interviews he’s given in recent months.

The 13-page document provides a window into the formation of a legal strategy that remains in use today by Trump’s lawyers — to discredit Comey’s value as a witness. It could have new relevance in the aftermath of a Justice Department inspector general report that criticized Comey for departing from established protocol in the Clinton investigation.

Anti-violence protesters shut down part of Chicago freeway

CHICAGO — Thousands of anti-violence protesters marched along a Chicago interstate on Saturday, shutting down traffic to draw attention to the gun violence that’s claimed hundreds of lives in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods and pressure public officials to do more to stop it.

Marchers chanted, “Stop the killing,” and carried signs reading, “We need jobs,” and other messages. Some stopped to scrawl on the road with chalk: “Enough is enough” and “Peace.” Toward the front of the march the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Roman Catholic priest on the city’s South Side who organized the protest; Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson; and the Rev. Jesse Jackson linked arms.

“The people won today because the people showed up. They saw this many people out here, black and white and brown and young and old, and saying, ‘We’re tired of the damn violence in Chicago,’” Pfleger said after completing the roughly 1.5-mile route.

“We want the governor, the mayor, the elected officials and the community all to come together and say, ‘We want peace now.’”

The march took place along the northbound lanes of Interstate 94, known as the Dan Ryan Expressway, after a roughly hourlong standoff between police and the protesters. The expressway was fully reopened less than 90 minutes later, after the protest ended.

___

Thai officials aim to rescue kids from cave before rain hits

MAE SAI, Thailand — Worried that heavy monsoon rain could soon make the job even more difficult, Thai officials said Saturday that they may need to quickly rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a partially flooded cave by helping them make risky dives to safety.

The boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach have been trapped for two weeks — since June 23, when they went exploring in northern Thailand’s Tham Luang Nang Non cave after a practice game. Monsoon flooding cut off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.

The only way to reach them was by navigating dark and tight passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents, as well as oxygen-depleted air.

Getting out via the same route looks like the only feasible option, but a high-risk one, Thai officials say. Experienced cave rescue experts consider an underwater escape a last resort, especially with people untrained in diving, as the boys are.

The path out is considered especially complicated because of twists and turns in narrow flooded passages.

___

Prosecutor: 2 dead in house blast, no foul play suspected

NEWFIELD, N.J. — A house exploded in New Jersey early Saturday, killing a husband and wife and reducing the two-story home to piles of scattered rubble, but no foul play was suspected, authorities said.

The blast initially reported as a gas explosion shattered windows in nearby homes, KYW-TV reported. Debris was strewn over several blocks, and pieces could be seen hanging from a tree and power line.

John Paladino, 73, and Carole Paladino, 72, were the only occupants of the Newfield home when the blast occurred at 6:15 a.m. Saturday, the Gloucester County prosecutor’s office said. Autopsies on the victims were slated for Sunday.

Prosecutors said the cause and origin of the explosion remained under investigation by their office and the county fire marshal, but no foul play is suspected.

Neighbors said the Paladinos had a new stove delivered on Friday, but it wasn’t clear if officials believed the explosion was related to the appliance, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Judge insists timeline be met to reunite children at border

SAN DIEGO — A judge insisted on Friday the Trump administration stick to a deadline to reunite children separated from their parents at the border, instead acknowledging that more time may be justified only in specific cases.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the administration to share a list of the 101 children with the American Civil Liberties Union, which successfully sued to force the reunions, by Saturday afternoon. The two sides will try to determine over the weekend which cases merit a delay in an effort to present a unified front in court on Monday morning.

“The government must reunite them,” the judge said. “It must comply with the time frame unless there is an articulable reason.”

The administration said it needed more time to reunite 101 children under 5 years old to ensure the children’s safety and to confirm their parental relationships.

“There’s always going to be tension between a fast release and a safe release,” said Sarah Fabian, a Justice Department attorney.

___

Family of Thai boat disaster victims reveals ominous video

PHUKET, Thailand — The family of a Chinese woman and her two children who were among the victims of a tourist boat disaster off the Thai resort island of Phuket shared ominous video of the chaotic scene on the boat before it capsized, and said Saturday they’re demanding “justice” from the Thai authorities.

The short video clip, shared with The Associated Press, was taken at a section of the boat’s cabin, and shows the boat tilting, with rough waves seen through the windows. A passenger tumbles down the aisle as belongings fall on the cabin floor, and a voice is heard shouting.

Chen Wei, a businesswoman from China’s Chongqing province, noted that the video sent by her 47-year-old sister, Chen De Qiong, to the family’s WeChat group just before the boat capsized on Thursday showed strong waves and passengers not wearing life vests. She said the disaster was caused by human error and could have been avoided.

“It’s shaking violently, and I’m feeling very dizzy,” Chen De Qiong wrote to her family. “I want to go ashore immediately,” she said in another message, adding that her 12-year-old son, also on the boat, was feeling ill.

Chen De Qiong, a doctor, arrived in Phuket on July 1 for a long-planned vacation with her son and 21-year-old daughter, Chen Wei said.