Aircraft carrier is rushed to the hurricane-battered Keys
MIAMI (AP) - Authorities sent an aircraft carrier and other Navy ships to help with search-and-rescue operations in Florida on Monday as a flyover of the hurricane-battered Keys yielded what the governor said were scenes of devastation.
"I just hope everyone survived," Gov. Rick Scott said.
He said boats were cast ashore, water, sewers and electricity were knocked out, and "I don't think I saw one trailer park where almost everything wasn't overturned." Authorities also struggled to clear the single highway connecting the string of islands to the mainland.
The Keys felt Irma's full fury when the storm blew ashore as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday morning with 130 mph (209 kph) winds. How many people in the dangerously exposed, low-lying islands defied evacuation orders and stayed behind was unclear.
As Irma weakened into a tropical storm and finally left Florida on Monday after a run up the entire 400-mile length of the state, the full scale of its destruction was still unknown, in part because of cutoff communications and blocked roads. Monday night, the storm had weakened to a tropical depression near Columbus, Georgia.
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Cuba's decrepit buildings no match for Hurricane Irma
HAVANA (AP) - The historic but often decrepit buildings of Havana and other colonial Cuban cities couldn't stand up to Hurricane Irma's winds and rainfall, collapsing and killing seven people in one of the highest death tolls from the storm's passage through the Caribbean.
Authorities said Monday that three more people were killed by falling objects or drowning, pushing the death toll to 10 in Cuba and at least 24 others in the Caribbean. It was Cuba's worst hurricane death toll since 16 died in Hurricane Dennis in 2005.
Most of Cuba's grand old buildings were confiscated from the wealthy and distributed to the poor and middle classes after a 1959 revolution that promised housing, health care and education as universal rights. But with state salaries of about $25 a month and government agencies strapped for cash, most buildings have seen little maintenance in decades.
Tropical rain and sea spray have chewed into unpainted facades and seeped through unpatched roofs. Trees have sprouted from balconies. Iron rebar has rusted, sloughing off chunks of powdery concrete.
Damage wasn't limited to Havana. More than 100 houses in a small town on Cuba's coastline were destroyed in Matanzas Province when Irma swept through the area, leaving hundreds of people homeless.
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10 Things to Know for Tuesday
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday:
1. KEYS FELT IRMA'S FULL FURY
Authorities send an aircraft carrier and other Navy ships to help with search-and-rescue operations as a flyover of the hurricane-battered Florida islands yields what the governor says were scenes of devastation.
2. WHERE HELP HAS BEEN SLOW TO ARRIVE
Caribbean officials struggle to get aid to islands devastated by Irma, with at least 34 people reported killed across the region, including 10 in Cuba.
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US marks 9/11 anniversary with resolve, tears and hope
NEW YORK (AP) - Americans commemorated 9/11 on Monday with tear-streaked tributes, a presidential warning to terrorists and appeals from victims' relatives for unity and hope 16 years after the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Looking out at the solemn crowd at ground zero, Debra Epps said she views every day as time to do something to ensure that her brother, Christopher Epps, and thousands of others didn't die in vain.
"What I can say today is that I don't live my life in complacency," she said. "I stand in solidarity that this world will make a change for the better."
Thousands of family members, survivors, rescuers and others gathered for the hourslong reading of victims' names at the World Trade Center, while President Donald Trump spoke at the Pentagon and Vice President Mike Pence addressed an observance at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Elsewhere, thousands of Americans marked the anniversary with service projects. Volunteer Hillary O'Neill, 16, had her own connection to 9/11: It's her birthdate.
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Republicans jumping ship amid dissatisfaction in Trump era
WASHINGTON (AP) - Veteran Republicans are bailing on Congress in growing numbers, as GOP control of Washington fails to produce the unity or legislative successes party leaders wish for. With President Donald Trump willing, if not eager, to buck fellow Republicans and even directly attack them, a number of lawmakers no longer wish to be involved.
The latest was two-term Rep. Dave Trott of Michigan, who said in a statement Monday that he'd decided after careful consideration that the best website to buy soccer jerseys course for him was to spend more time with his family and return to the private sector.
In contrast to those diplomatic words was Trott's most recent tweet, sent in mid-August: "I think America needs more unity and less divisiveness...meaning @realDonaldTrump should focus more on golf & have less press conferences."
Trott joins a string of moderate Republicans, including Reps. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Dave Reichert of Washington state and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, who are not seeking re-election.
Each of these seats will be heavily contested by Democrats eager to take back control of the House, and rumors abound of other GOP retirements still to come. New Jersey's Leonard Lance is weighing retirement, while another Michigan Republican, Rep. Fred Upton, is mulling a campaign for U.S. Senate, according to party operatives who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
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UN approves watered-down new sanctions against North Korea
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously approved new sanctions on North Korea but not the toughest-ever measures sought by the Trump administration to ban all oil imports and freeze international assets of the government and its leader, Kim Jong Un.
The resolution, responding to Pyongyang's sixth and strongest nuclear test explosion on Sept. 3, does ban North Korea from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates. It also bans all textile exports and prohibits any country from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers - two key sources of hard currency for the northeast Asian nation.
As for energy, it caps Pyongyang's imports of crude oil at the level of the last 12 months, and it limits the import of refined petroleum products to 2 million barrels a year.
The watered-down resolution does not include sanctions that the U.S. wanted on North Korea's national airline and the army.
Nonetheless, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council after the vote that "these are by far the strongest measures ever imposed on North Korea." But she stressed that "these steps only work if all nations implement them completely and aggressively."
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'Proof' of Rohingya-set fires in Myanmar fails inspection
BANGKOK (AP) - Pointing to the ashes of a destroyed village that was once home to dozens of Rohingya Muslim families, the abbot of a nearby Buddhist monastery insisted he knew who had set it ablaze. It was the Rohingya themselves, he said, and there was photographic evidence to prove it.
"I even tried to stop them," the abbot, Zawtika, told reporters who visited violence-torn northern Rakhine state last week after an explosion of communal violence that has so far compelled a staggering 313,000 Rohingya to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. "I told them not to do that, but it seemed like they wanted to."
Shortly afterward, a local Buddhist resident who is close to the monk, a man named Maung Maung Htwe, shared photos he said he had taken on his mobile phone that showed several people setting fire to the buildings.
The alleged perpetrators could be clearly seen - too clearly for anyone trying to advance the lie that Rohingya were responsible.
Journalists on the trip recognized two of the people in the photos as Hindus from a nearby public school the government officials had brought them to hours earlier. The school was filled with displaced Hindus who said their own homes had been burned by Muslims. An Associated Press reporter interviewed one of them.
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Police: 9 dead, including suspect, at suburban Dallas home
PLANO, Texas (AP) - Nine people, including a suspect who was fatally shot by an officer, have died after a man opened fire during a gathering to watch football at a suburban Dallas home, police said Monday.
Plano police Chief Gregory W. Rushin said at a Monday afternoon news conference that one of two people hospitalized after the Sunday night shooting had died.
An officer responding to a report of shots fired at about 8 p.m. confronted the suspected shooter and opened fire, killing the suspect. Police then found the nine gunshot victims - seven were dead and two were taken to the hospital.
"The first responding officer actually heard gunshots taking place inside the residence," police spokesman David Tilley said.
Rushin said the officer approached the house from the back and saw bodies in the backyard before confronting the suspect inside.
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How to fix identity-theft issues posed by the Equifax hack
NEW YORK (AP) - The Equifax breach didn't just expose sensitive personal information of 143 million Americans - it underscored the huge vulnerabilities that make widespread identity theft possible.
More than 15 million Americans were victims of ID fraud last year, a record high; fraudsters stole about $16 billion, according to an annual survey by Javelin Strategy & Research. The theft of personal information can turn peoples' lives inside out, damage their finances, eat away at their time and cause tremendous anxiety and emotional distress.
The Equifax attack was particularly damaging. Intruders made off with precisely the information needed to pose as ordinary citizens and defraud them - and did so with data for roughly 44 percent of the U.S. population.
Experts have warned for years that the widespread use of Social Security numbers, lax corporate security and even looser individual password practices could lead to an identity-theft apocalypse.
As Congress, state law enforcement and the nation's chief financial watchdog look into the Equifax debacle, here are some of today's biggest security problems and what it could take to fix them.
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Hey 19: Blazing Indians extend win streak to 19 straight
CLEVELAND (AP) - One more day. One more game. One more win.
The Cleveland Indians are ripping off victories like few teams before them.
And, they're not finished.
With their latest lopsided win, the Indians extended the majors' longest winning streak in 15 years to 19 games on Monday night by blowing out the Detroit Tigers 11-0 to move closer to a record that has stood for 101 years.
Francisco Lindor tripled home three runs off rookie Myles Jaye (0-1) in the second inning, and the Indians, who haven't lost since Aug. 23, prolonged the third-best winning streak since 1947.