IRELAND
35,000 march against abortion bill
Bearing rosary beads and placards declaring “Kill the bill! Not the child,” more than 35,000 anti-abortion activists marched Saturday through Dublin to demand that the Irish government scrap plans to legalize terminations for women in life-threatening pregnancies. The two-year-old coalition government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny drafted the bill following last year’s death of a woman in an Irish hospital. Three investigations since have determined that Savita Halappanavar, 31, an Indian dentist, died of blood poisoning one week after admission for a miscarriage. Doctors denied her pleas for an abortion, even though her uterus had ruptured, because the 17-week-old fetus still had a heartbeat.
WASHINGTON
Bail set in Brazil weapons case
A judge set bail at $2 million Friday for a Las Vegas man arrested near the University of Washington in a truck that authorities said contained multiple weapons, maps to three Seattle campuses and a recording in which he said he planned to do something in the West to support protesters demanding reform in Brazil. Montana authorities said Justin Jasper, 22, stole a pickup truck and guns from a truck driver in Butte, Mont., who had let Jasper stay at his home. Police found evidence that Jasper was planning some kind of action in support of the protesters, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Hamilton said. Hamilton said that on an podcast, Jasper said he was going to back the “Brazilian revolution” by doing something “somewhere in the Western United States.”
SOUTH AFRICA
Mandela’s grandson loses leadership role
A tribal king in South Africa on Saturday removed a grandson of Nelson Mandela from his post of traditional authority while the former president is hospitalized in critical condition. King Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo of the Thembu tribe said Mandla Mandela was being expelled “from all rank of duties” over a family feud, which erupted after it was revealed that the grandson had moved the bodies of three of Nelson Mandela’s children to his village of Mvezo in 2011. The bodies were recently returned. Dalindyebo said Mandla Mandela, a chief in the Mvezo area, wouldn’t be allowed any involvement in tribal affairs until he apologizes.
MEXICO
Volcano spits 2-mile-high ash cloud
The Popocatepetl volcano just east of Mexico City has spit out a cloud of ash and vapor 2 miles high over several days of eruptions, and Mexico City residents awoke Saturday to find a fine layer of volcanic dust on their cars. It has been years since the center of the nation’s capital has seen a noticeable ash fall because prevailing winds usually blow the volcanic dust in other directions. Ash fell last week in some neighborhoods on Mexico City’s south and east sides. Mexico’s National Center for Disaster Prevention raised the volcano alert from Stage 2 Yellow to Stage 3 Yellow, the final step before a Red alert, when possible evacuations could be ordered.
COLORADO
Batman robbery suspect surrenders
A 16-year-old boy wearing a Batman shirt and mask broke into a building at the Colorado State Fair, then turned himself in to police after seeing his likeness on television, police said. The boy is one of three accused of breaking into the Fair’s VIP building early Thursday. The trio took televisions, a laptop and an empty cash register. The suspects managed to lock themselves in the building and had to break out. Surveillance video shows the suspect dressed as Batman. After surveillance video aired on a television news show, the boy turned himself in to police. Police were still seeking the other two suspects.
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