compilation of national and world briefs

Wildfire forces evacuations, school closings

A wildfire driven by surging Santa Ana winds sent a choking pall of smoke through foothill neighborhoods on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of at least 1,650 homes and the closure of at least seven schools. No homes burned, but the smoke prompted mandatory evacuation orders for several areas of town nestled at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles.

MONTANA

Former teacher faces longer rape sentence

A former high school teacher who served one month in prison after being convicted of raping a 14-year-old student faces more time behind bars after the Montana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that his original sentence was too short. Justices unanimously ordered the case of Stacey Dean Rambold assigned to a new judge for re-sentencing. The decision means Rambold must serve a minimum of two years in prison under state sentencing laws, Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito said.

AUSTRALIA

Officials dismiss plane wreckage claim

The Australian agency heading up the search for the missing Malaysian jet has dismissed a claim by a resource survey company that it found possible wreckage in the northern Bay of Bengal. The location cited by Australia-based GeoResonance Pty Ltd. is thousands of miles north of the area in the Indian Ocean where the search for Flight 370 has been concentrated. GeoResonance stressed that it is not certain it found the plane, but called for its findings to be investigated.

GREAT BRITAIN

Actor Bob Hoskins dies at 71

Bob Hoskins never lost his Cockney accent, even as he became a global star who charmed and alarmed audiences in a vast range of roles. Short and bald, Hoskins was a remarkably versatile performer. As a London gangster in “The Long Good Friday,” he moved from bravura bluster to tragic understatement. In “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” he cavorted with a cast of animated characters. A family statement said Hoskins died after a bout of pneumonia. He was 71 and had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012.

GREAT BRITAIN

Drug-resistant bacteria found worldwide

Bacteria resistant to antibiotics have now spread to every part of the world and might lead to a future where minor infections could kill, according to a report published Wednesday by the World Health Organization. In its first global survey of the resistance problem, WHO said it found very high rates of drug-resistant E. coli bacteria, which causes problems including meningitis and infections of the skin, blood and the kidneys. The agency noted there are many countries where treatment for the bug is useless in more than half of patients.

ILLINOIS

Chicago steps up effort to cut homicides

With the number of shootings in Chicago already climbing with the temperatures, police are being dispatched by the hundreds on overtime to high-crime neighborhoods, parks, public housing buildings and other spots around the city to combat the spike in crime that comes every summer. Last summer, as many as 400 officers were sent to high-crime areas every day, an initiative that helped drive the cost of police overtime to $100 million. The number of homicides dropped to 415 — still tops in the nation but nearly 90 fewer than were recorded in 2012.

CHINA

3 die in blast at train station

An explosion rocked a railway station in China’s restive far-western region of Xinjiang, and the state broadcaster said three people were killed and 79 people were injured. The attack Wednesday came as President Xi Jinping wrapped up a four-day visit to the area. CCTV said assailants attacked crowds with knives and set off explosions at the Urumqi South Station. The station called it a terrorist act.

EGYPT

Official dismisses critics of mass trial

Egypt’s justice minister on Wednesday rebuffed international criticism of a mass trial this week in which some 680 defendants were sentenced to death, saying the judiciary is not a tool of executive authority and that rulings can be overturned upon appeal. While the death sentences earlier this week were not final and are very likely to be overturned on appeal, the judge was criticized for not giving enough time for defendants and lawyers to present their case.

SYRIA

Missile hits school, killing 19

A Syrian fighter jet struck a school with a missile in the northern city of Aleppo Wednesday as teachers and students were preparing an exhibit of children’s drawings depicting their country at war, killing at least 19 people, including 10 children, activists said. The United Nations Children’s Fund said in a statement it was “outraged by the latest wave of indiscriminate attacks perpetrated against schools and other civilian targets across Syria.”

NIGERIA

Report: Kidnapped girls forced to marry

Scores of girls and young women kidnapped from a school in Nigeria are being forced to marry their Islamic extremist abductors, a civic organization reported Wednesday. At the same time, the Boko Haram terrorist network is negotiating over the students’ fate and is demanding an unspecified ransom for their release, a Borno state community leader said. Parents say the girls are being sold into marriage to Boko Haram militants.

CALIFORNIA

Coach accused of trying to have teens killed

A San Francisco Bay Area golf coach who was set to receive an award from the PGA before he was arrested and accused of molesting three boys tried to hire a hit man to have them killed, prosecutors said. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged 32-year-old Andrew Michael Nisbet with three felony counts for solicitation of murder, authorities said. Nisbet already was facing more than six dozen molestation charges.

NEW YORK

Police: Bridge-jumpers were homicide suspects

A woman and her boyfriend moved in with her uncle, stole from his bank accounts and then suffocated him before jumping to their deaths off the George Washington Bridge, police said Wednesday. Suffern Police Chief Clarke Osborn said investigators are confident they have pieced together the strange story but acknowledged that with all three principals dead, “We may never be able to answer some of the questions.”

OHIO

Lawsuit asks judge to throw out ban on gay marriage

Civil rights attorneys filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a judge to strike down Ohio’s gay marriage ban as unconstitutional and allow same-sex couples to wed in the state, echoing arguments that have led judges to throw out gay marriage bans in five other states. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Cincinnati on behalf of six gay Ohio couples who say they are in love and want to get married.

CALIFORNIA

Navy dolphin trainer drowns in bay

A contractor with a Navy program that trains dolphins and sea lions for missions drowned during a nighttime exercise in San Diego Bay, the first death for the program that started in 1959, a Navy spokesman said Wednesday. Coll Perske, 29, was part of a team of contractors training Navy dolphins and sea lions to intercept someone in the water, Navy spokesman Jim Fallin said.

CALIFORNIA

Court orders EPA to adopt new smog rule

A federal court has given the Obama administration a deadline for updating federal standards for smog that are more than a year overdue. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue ground-level ozone standards by Dec. 1 and a final rule by Oct. 1, 2015. Ozone is the main ingredient in smog, a powerful lung irritant. The ruling came after environmental groups sued the Obama administration for failing to issue a new standard by March 2013, as required by the federal Clean Air Act.

MICHIGAN

Gray wolves struggling to survive

Isle Royale National Park’s inbred gray wolf population remains dangerously low for a third consecutive year, while the moose on which they feed have doubled during the same period — trends that could lead to long-term problems for the Lake Superior archipelago’s ecosystems, scientists said Wednesday. Only nine wolves roamed the park this winter — one more than the eight recorded last year. “The wolves are struggling,” said Rolf Peterson, a research professor with Michigan Technological University and co-director of the study. “There’s definitely a chance they might not last much longer.”