Briefs package

A boat carrying at least 70 Muslim Rohingya capsized and sank Sunday off the western coast of Myanmar, an aid worker said. Only eight survivors were found. The boat was in the Bay of Bengal and headed for Bangladesh when it went down early Sunday, said Abdul Melik, who works for a humanitarian organization in the region. The incident comes after the United Nations warned that an annual and often deadly exodus of desperate people from Myanmar’s Rakhine state appears to have begun. As many as 1,500 people have fled in the last week, said Dan McNorton, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

CHICAGO

Survey suggests drop in prostitution

Fewer American men say they have ever paid for sex — or been paid for it — than a few decades ago, according to a nationally representative survey. But scholars and activists are divided over whether men are really turning away from prostitution, or just becoming less likely to admit to it. In a string of surveys between 1991 and 1996, nearly 17 percent of men said they had ever paid for or received payment for sex. That fell to 13.2 percent between 2006 and 2012. Last year, that number hit the lowest point since the question was first asked — 9.1 percent — though statisticians caution that the unusually small number could be a fluke. The survey drew no distinction between buying and selling sex, but men are widely assumed to be customers far more often than they are sellers.

TEXAS

Ex-House speaker denied voter card

Former House Speaker Jim Wright was denied a voter ID card over the weekend at a Texas Department of Public Safety office. Wright said he has worked things out with DPS and that he will get a state-issued personal identification card in time for him to vote Tuesday in the state and local elections. Wright and his assistant, Norma Ritchson, went to the DPS office to get a State of Texas Election Identification Certificate. Wright said he realized earlier in the week that the photo identifications he had — a Texas driver’s license that expired in 2010 and a TCU faculty ID — do not satisfy requirements of the voter ID law, enacted in 2011 by the Legislature. DPS officials concurred.

CHICAGO

Alligator found under airport escalator

A small alligator found under an escalator at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport has left authorities puzzled. A maintenance worker discovered the alligator, which is about a foot long, on Friday in Terminal 3, Chicago Police spokesman Jose Estrada said Sunday. An officer captured the reptile by putting a trash can over it. Officials weren’t sure how the reptile wound up in the airport. The gator is now being cared for by the Chicago Herpetological Society.

OHIO

Hospital killing trial starts today

A man charged with fatally shooting his wife in her hospital bed killed her out of love and will tell jurors about the heartbreak he felt over her debilitated condition, his attorney said. John Wise, of Massillon, Ohio, goes on trial today and will ask for the jury’s understanding, not sympathy, attorney Paul Adamson said. Wise, 68, could face life in prison if convicted. Police say Wise walked into his 65-year-old wife’s room and shot her on Aug. 4, 2012. Barbara, his wife of 45 years, died the next morning. A week earlier, she had suffered triple cerebral aneurysms that left her unable to speak.

ISRAEL

Israeli drone crashes inside Gaza Strip

An unmanned Israeli surveillance aircraft crashed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after experiencing a technical malfunction, the military said. The military said it was investigating what caused the Skylark drone to go down. In a statement, Hamas said it had “seized” the aircraft. It gave no further details and did not provide any photos.