Nation and World briefs for November 15

Catholic bishops’ meeting nears end, no vote on abuse plan

BALTIMORE — U.S. Catholic bishops made clear their frustrations Wednesday as a national assembly focused on clergy sex-abuse neared its conclusion without strong new steps to combat the multifaceted crisis.

Avoiding any direct confrontation with the Vatican, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops ended the public sessions of its three-day meeting without any vote on two major anti-abuse proposals that had been drafted weeks ago. On the eve of this week’s meeting, the Vatican issued a surprise order for such action to be delayed until after a global meeting on sex abuse scheduled for February.

“The decision of the Holy See to constrain us did allow a limited response,” Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, Vermont said. “All of us are disappointed that we weren’t able to do as much as we wanted.”

The U.S. Catholic church has been grappling with sex-abuse scandals for many years, but events this year have taken a heavy toll on the leadership’s credibility.

In August, a grand jury report in Pennsylvania detailed decades of abuse and cover-up in six dioceses, alleging more than 1,000 children had been abused over the years by about 300 priests. Since then, federal prosecutors and attorneys general in several other states have launched investigations.

Michael Avenatti arrested in LA on domestic violence charge

LOS ANGELES — Michael Avenatti, who skyrocketed to fame as a critic of President Donald Trump and the lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels, was arrested Wednesday and booked on a felony domestic violence charge, Los Angeles police said.

The victim in the case had visible injuries, according to Officer Tony Im, a police spokesman. But Avenatti slammed the allegation as “completely bogus” in a statement released by his law firm.

Avenatti, who has said he’s mulling a 2020 presidential run, was being held on $50,000 bail, Im said. He was arrested around 2 p.m. Wednesday on the same block where he lives in a skyscraper apartment.

Police declined to provide any details about the victim, including the victim’s relationship to Avenatti.

“I wish to thank the hard working men and woman of the LAPD for their professionalism, they were only doing their jobs in light of the completely bogus allegations against me,” Avenatti said in a statement released through his law firm. “I have never been physically abusive in my life nor was I last night. Any accusations to the contrary are fabricated and meant to do harm to my reputation. I look forward to being fully exonerated.”

White House claims right to exclude ‘grandstanding’ Acosta

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is trying to fend off a legal challenge from CNN and other outlets over the revocation of journalist Jim Acosta’s White House “hard pass.”

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly heard arguments Wednesday afternoon from lawyers representing CNN and the Justice Department. The news network is seeking an immediate restraining order that would force the White House to return Acosta’s press credentials — which grant reporters as-needed access to the 18-acre complex.

Kelly said he would announce his decision Thursday afternoon.

Acosta has repeatedly clashed with Trump and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in briefings over the last two years. But the dynamic devolved into a near-shouting match during a combative press conference last week following midterm elections in which Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives.

Acosta refused to give up a microphone when the president said he didn’t want to hear anything more from him. Trump called Acosta a “rude, terrible person.”

May wins Cabinet backing for Brexit deal but pitfalls remain

LONDON — In a hard-won victory, British Prime Minister Theresa May persuaded her fractious Cabinet to back a draft divorce agreement with the European Union on Thursday, a decision that triggers the final steps on the long and rocky road to Brexit.

But she faces a backlash from her many political opponents and a fierce battle to get the deal through Parliament as she tries to orchestrate the U.K.’s orderly exit from the EU.

May hailed the Cabinet decision as a “decisive step” toward finalizing the exit deal with the EU within days. It sets in motion an elaborate diplomatic choreography of statements and meetings.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier declared there had been “decisive progress” — the key phrase signaling EU leaders can convene a summit to approve the deal, probably later his month.

Crucially, Barnier said that “we have now found a solution together with the U.K. to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.”

Hearing reveals chilling details of fatal Southwest flight

There was a loud bang, and suddenly the Southwest Airlines jet rolled sharply to the left. Smoke began to fill the cabin, and flight attendants rushed row by row to make sure all passengers could get oxygen from their masks.

When flight attendant Rachel Fernheimer got to row 14, she saw a woman strapped in her lap belt but with her head, torso and arm hanging out a broken window.

Fernheimer grabbed one of the woman’s legs while flight attendant Seanique Mallory grabbed her lower body. They described being unable to bring the woman back in the plane until two male passengers stepped in to help.

The harrowing details from the April 17 fatal flight were released for the first time as the National Transportation Safety Board began a hearing Wednesday into the engine failure on Southwest Flight 1380, which carried 144 passengers and five crew members.

The flight attendants told investigators at least one of the male passengers put his arm out of the window and wrapped it around the woman’s shoulder to help pull her back in. Fernheimer said when she looked out the window, she could see that one of the plane’s engines was shattered, and there was blood on the outside of the aircraft.

After midterms, Democratic hopefuls eye early-voting states

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Democrats pondering 2020 presidential bids in the aftermath of the midterm elections are pivoting from campaigning for other candidates across the country to refocusing on their own efforts, including moves in early-voting states like South Carolina.

On Friday, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is set to deliver a keynote address at an Urban League fundraiser in Charleston. It’s the latest visit to the state for Patrick, Massachusetts’ first black governor. He is among the more than two dozen Democrats whose names are being mentioned as potential White House contenders.

Many of them, including U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Jeff Merkley, have already begun to visit South Carolina. Home to the first-in-the-South primary, South Carolina provides the first real opportunity for potential White House contenders to see how their messages play to a significant population of minority voters.

Ahead of the 2018 midterms, former Vice President Joe Biden stumped in the state with Democratic gubernatorial nominee James Smith. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke at a “Medicare for All” rally, organized by the South Carolina arm of Our Revolution, an offshoot of Sanders’ 2016 White House bid. Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti campaigned with Democratic congressional candidate Sean Carrigan, telling AP he got a warm reception from voters, who see him “as a fighter, someone who could potentially take down Donald Trump.” Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at a Charleston NAACP gathering.

Some potential candidates are making staff moves in the early state, too.

Rare conservation win: Mountain gorilla population ticks up

WASHINGTON — There are more gorillas in the mist — a rare conservation success story, scientists say.

After facing near-extinction, mountain gorillas are slowly rebounding. On Wednesday, the Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature updated mountain gorillas’ status from “critically endangered” to “endangered,” a more promising, if still precarious, designation. There are now just over 1,000 of the animals in the wild, up from an estimated population of 680 a decade ago.

“In the context of crashing populations of wildlife around the world, this is a remarkable conservation success,” said Tara Stoinski, president and chief scientist of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

The Atlanta-based nonprofit is named for the primate researcher whose work helped draw international attention to mountain gorillas and whose memoir became the basis for the 1988 Sigourney Weaver film “Gorillas in the Mist.”

“This is a beacon of hope — and it’s happened in recently war-torn and still very poor countries,” said Stoinski, who is also a member of the IUCN’s primate specialist group, which recommended the status change.