In the news

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was formally censured by the Arizona Republican Party, which cited a voting record that members called insufficiently conservative and his support on issues “associated with liberal Democrats,” such as funding for President Barack Obama’s health-care law.

Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, underwent emergency surgery after having a stroke and was in stable condition afterward, the Ministry of Presidential Affairs said.

Maquel Morris, 25, of Los Angeles faces more than two dozen felony charges after being accused of attacking the driver of a moving Greyhound bus while Morris was hallucinating, causing the bus to careen from an Arizona highway, which resulted in the injury of 24 passengers.

Andre Nzapayeke, who has held several positions with the Central African States’ Development Bank, was chosen to serve as prime minister of Central African Republic’s interim government.

George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the 2012 death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, received a cease-and-desist letter from The Associated Press, which has accused Zimmerman of using a copyrighted photograph of Florida State Attorney Angela Corey as the basis for his latest painting.

Mayor Ignazio Marino of Rome spoke out on Twitter against what he called the intimidation of the city’s Jewish community after someone sent pig heads to Rome’s main synagogue, the Israeli Embassy and a city museum hosting an exhibit on the Holocaust.

President Barack Obama, who is promoting a White House task force that he created to address sexual assaults on college campuses, said in his weekly radio and Internet address that such assaults are an affront to basic decency and humanity, and that victims are not alone because, “I’ve got your back.”

Fatemeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, received a six-month suspended prison sentence on charges of slandering top officials over comments she made about the country’s judiciary chief.

Samuel McDonough, 33, of Preston, Wash., who told police that he was a pirate and that he took the Victoria Clipper ferry from a Seattle dock as a birthday present to himself, was sentenced to nearly 2½ years in prison for burglary and theft.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/26/2014