Nation and World briefs for January 27

Navy finds no sign of shooting at center; lockdown lifted

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Authorities found no gunman or signs of a shooting on Tuesday after receiving a report from a Department of Defense employee that shots had been heard at one of the nation’s largest Naval medical facilities.

The report of a shooting grabbed attention across the country and led to the lockdown of Naval Medical Center San Diego in Balboa Park, near the San Diego Zoo, and three nearby schools.

Authorities lifted the lockdown at the schools and hours later at the facility after military police finished a thorough sweep of the building in question.

Fears were heightened when the medical center posted on its Facebook page: “An active shooter has just been reported in building #26 at Naval Medical Center San Diego. All occupants are advised to run, hide or fight.”

The unidentified Department of Defense employee reported hearing three gunshots just before 8 a.m. on the sprawling 78-acre campus, where Building 26 houses administrative offices, a gymnasium and dormitories for combat-wounded veterans in long-term care. As many as 800 people are in the building at that time, Navy officials said.

US again expands travel alert to pregnant women

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — U.S. health officials again expanded a travel alert to pregnant women about trips to the Caribbean and Latin America.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday added the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic to the list of destinations with Zika virus disease outbreaks. Research in Brazil is suggesting a link between the infection in pregnant moms and a rare birth defect.

Previously, the CDC recommended pregnant women should consider postponing trips to 22 destinations. In Latin America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela. In the Caribbean: Barbados, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, St. Martin and Puerto Rico. Also, Cape Verde, off the coast of western Africa; and Samoa in the South Pacific.

Abe Vigoda, sad-eyed character actor, dead at 94

NEW YORK (AP) — Character actor Abe Vigoda, whose leathery, sad-eyed face made him ideal for playing the over-the-hill detective Phil Fish in the 1970s TV series “Barney Miller” and the doomed Mafia soldier in “The Godfather,” died Tuesday at age 94.

Vigoda’s daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs, told The Associated Press that Vigoda died Tuesday morning in his sleep at Fuchs’ home in Woodland Park, New Jersey. The cause of death was old age. “This man was never sick,” Fuchs said.

His death brought to an end years of questions on whether he was still alive — sparked by a false report of his death more than three decades ago. Though Vigoda took it in stride, the question of whether he was dead or alive became something of a running joke: There was even a website devoted to answering the much-Googled question, “Is Abe Vigoda dead?” (On Tuesday, it had been updated with “Yes,” with the date of his death.)

Vigoda worked in relative obscurity as a supporting actor in the New York theater and in television until Francis Ford Coppola cast him in the 1972 Oscar-winning “The Godfather.”

Vigoda played Sal Tessio, an old friend of Vito Corleone’s (Marlon Brando) who hopes to take over the family after Vito’s death by killing his son Michael Corleone (Al Pacino). But Michael anticipates that Sal’s suggestion for a “peace summit” among crime families is a setup and the escorts Sal thought were taking him to the meeting turn out to be his executioners.

Judge orders release of documents in Boston Marathon bombing

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the public release of hundreds of documents in the case of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death last year for his role in the 2013 bombing. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan placed two bombs near the finish line.

Prosecutors and Tsarnaev’s attorneys recently submitted a list of more than 600 court filings and exhibits that both sides agree can now be made public.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. on Tuesday ordered the documents unsealed. The judge did not say exactly when the court clerk’s office will begin making them public.

Among the documents to be unsealed are search warrants, reports of expert witnesses and DNA reports.

After setting iPhone record, Apple forecasts rare sales drop

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is bracing for its first sales decline in 13 years, despite selling a record 74.8 million iPhones in the final three months of 2015.

The giant tech company says revenue could fall at least 8.6 percent during the January-March quarter, compared with a year earlier. Analysts say the latest iPhone models are selling reasonably well, but they’re not providing the boost Apple needs to match the massive sales growth it enjoyed last year.

The company inched past its previous record, established when it sold 74.5 million iPhones in the holiday quarter of 2014. But Tuesday’s forecast implies Apple doesn’t expect to match the 61 million iPhones sold in last year’s January-March quarter.

Apple’s stock has been in a slump for months, as investors worry that the company won’t be able to duplicate last year’s growth in sales, which were in the double-digit percentages. In an interview, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said a strong dollar helped reduce revenue, as sales made with foreign currencies abroad convert into fewer dollars. He also said the company isn’t concerned about what he characterized as a short-term slowing of growth, because it has a large base of customers who can be relied on to buy new devices and pay for other services.

“We think we’re in the strongest position we’ve ever been,” Maestri told The Associated Press, adding that the company estimates 1 billion Apple devices — including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Mac computers — are now in active use.