In the news

Monday, February 17, 2014

Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, told the BBC it will be “extremely difficult, if not impossible” for Scotland to get European Union nations to approve it as a new member if voters in September decide to break away from Britain and form an independent country.

Mitt Romney, the former GOP presidential candidate, said on NBC’s Meet The Press that if Hillary Rodham Clinton decides to run for office in 2016, she should not have to answer for the sex scandal of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, adding that Hillary Clinton will have plenty to discuss about her own record.

Javier Chivite, a spokesman for Madrid’s emergency services, and other Spanish officials said a student from Madrid’s Alfonso X University fell into a brief coma and 10 others became seriously ill after eating a birthday cake baked with marijuana.

Steven S. Cook, 35, of Ketchikan, Alaska, was sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended, for accidentally killing his friend Thomas Guthrie IV, 32, by putting him in a chokehold.

George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the 2012 death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, said in an interview with Spanish-language network Univision that he is now homeless, jobless and struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Matteo Renzi, the 39-year-old mayor of Florence, Italy, will meet with President Giorgio Napolitano today and is expected to be tasked with forming a new government so he can become the country’s youngest-ever premier.

Shaaban el-Shamy, the judge presiding over the trial of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and 35 others accused of conspiring with foreign groups and undermining national security, adjourned proceedings until Sunday after defense lawyers walked out of court to protest the soundproof glass cage in which the defendants are held.

Kevin Myers, a spokesman at Reed College in Portland, Ore., said two students building a boulder-sized snowball at the school caused $2,000 to $3,000 in damage after it rolled into a dormitory, knocking in part of a bedroom wall.

Morou Amadou, a Niger government spokesman, said Abdallah Mansour, a former high-ranking intelligence official under Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, has been extradited from Niger to face accusations of “plotting against the Libyan state.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/17/2014