Nation and World briefs for October 29

IS victims see satisfaction but no closure in leader’s death

PARIS — For Georges Salines, whose 28-year-old daughter Lola was killed when Islamic extremists went on a bloody rampage in Paris in 2015, the death of the man who inspired the attack brought a welcome “sense of satisfaction.”

But like other survivors and families of victims of the Islamic State group, Salines stressed that the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, does not mean the fight against terrorism is over.

“It would have been even better if al-Baghdadi could have been captured and sent to trial,” Salines told The Associated Press. “That was probably impossible. We knew that for a long time.”

Al-Baghdadi was responsible for directing and inspiring attacks by his followers around the world. In Iraq and Syria, he steered his organization into committing acts of brutality on a mass scale: massacres of his opponents; beheadings and stonings that were broadcast to a shocked audience on the internet; and the kidnapping and enslavement of women.

His death was announced Sunday by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said al-Baghdadi detonated an explosive vest while being pursued by U.S. forces in Syria, killing himself and three of his children. It was another major blow to the Islamic State group, which in March was forced by U.S. and Kurdish forces out of the last part of its self-declared “caliphate” that once spanned a swath of Iraq and Syria at its height.

EU delays Brexit to Jan. 31; Johnson election bid fails

LONDON — Britain got Brexit breathing space but no clarity on Monday when the European Union granted a three-month delay to the U.K.’s departure from the bloc, postponing it until Jan. 31.

British politicians immediately began using the extra time to do what they have done for more than three years: bicker about Brexit.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed for an early election as a way of breaking the political deadlock over the country’s stalled departure from the EU, only to be rebuffed by lawmakers.

Legislators voted by 299-70 for Johnson’s motion to hold a Dec. 12 election — short of the two-thirds majority of the 650 members of Parliament needed for it to pass.

Still, an election appears inevitable well before the next scheduled one in 2022 if Britain is to move on from the stasis caused by a prime minister who vowed to deliver Brexit “do or die” and a Parliament that has repeatedly thwarted him.

S&P 500 hits all-time high as market extends recent gains

The S&P 500 index closed at an all-time high Monday, extending a recent string of gains in what’s mostly been a solid month for the market.

The benchmark index closed at 3,039.42, around 14 points above its previous record set on July 26. The S&P 500 notched its latest milestone after weeks of hovering just below its prior high.

Investors have been balancing worries over the impact that the costly trade war between the U.S. and China is having on corporate profits and the global economy against renewed optimism that negotiations that got underway this month could lead to some kind of resolution in the conflict.

“U.S.-China is not going away any time soon,” said Ben Phillips, chief investment officer of EventShares. “The market’s sentiment tends to swing from overly fearful to overly exuberant, and we’re probably starting to swing a little to the exuberant side right now. There are still a lot of risks out there.”

Monday’s rally came at the beginning of a busy week of corporate earnings and economic reports and with investors expecting another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

Man arrested in Texas shooting that left 2 dead, 12 hurt

GREENVILLE, Texas — A man suspected of opening fire at an off-campus college party in Texas, killing two people and injuring 12 others, was arrested Monday.

Brandon Ray Gonzales, 23, of Greenville, Texas, was taken into custody less than 48 hours after Saturday’s shooting, Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks said. Gonzales, who was arrested at the auto dealership where he worked, was booked into the Hunt County jail on a charge of capital murder of multiple persons. Bond was set at $1 million.

The shooting happened around midnight Saturday outside Greenville, 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of a satellite campus of the Texas A&M University System. Authorities believe the shooter may have been targeting just one person at the party of about 750 people, and that others may have been shot at random, Meeks has said.

Kevin Berry Jr. of Dallas and Byron Craven Jr. of Arlington, both 23, were killed, authorities said.

The shooting took place at a Halloween and homecoming party for Texas A&M University-Commerce at a facility called The Party Venue, according to Meeks, though officials said it was not a school-sanctioned event.

Students join Iraq protests as clashes kill 3 demonstrators

BAGHDAD — Thousands of students joined Iraq’s anti-government protests on Monday, as clashes with security forces firing tear gas canisters killed at least three demonstrators and wounded more than 100.

The students skipped classes at several universities and secondary schools in Baghdad and across Iraq’s majority-Shiite south on Monday to take part in the protests, despite the government ordering schools and universities to operate normally.

One of those killed was a 22-year-old female medical student, the first woman to be killed since the protests began earlier this month. Seventeen students were among the wounded.

Authorities later announced a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. in the capital, as renewed protests there and across the south raged for a fourth day. A senior security official estimated that 25,000 protesters took part in the demonstration in the capital.

In a separate development, three rockets struck a large military base north of Baghdad that houses U.S. and Iraqi forces, according to another senior Iraqi security official. The official said there were no casualties, and that the attack is being investigated. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Arkansas lawmaker, civil rights attorney John Walker dies

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — John Walker, an Arkansas lawmaker and civil rights attorney who represented black students in a long-running court fight over the desegregation of Little Rock area schools, has died. He was 82.

The Pulaski County coroner said Walker died at his Little Rock home Monday morning but the cause of death was not yet known. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Walker, a Democrat, had represented a Little Rock district in the state House since 2011. He had been involved in some of the state’s most high-profile discrimination and civil rights cases, including the desegregation case, which stemmed from a 1982 lawsuit the Little Rock school district filed against the state and neighboring districts over racial disparities that remained decades after the 1957 integration of Central High School.

“What he did in this state made a difference for everyone in this state,” state Sen. Joyce Elliott, chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus. “I don’t think everyone will realize the full measure of that for quite some time.”

Federal judges have ruled Little Rock and North Little Rock schools substantially complied with a 1998 desegregation plan, and the two remaining districts in the case are seeking release.

Pope declares Vatican’s Secret Archive not so secret anymore

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has declared that the Vatican Secret Archive isn’t so secret after all.

Francis on Monday officially changed the name of the Holy See archive to remove what he said were the “negative” connotations of having “secret” in its name.

From now on, the vast trove of documents, manuscripts and papyrus of popes past will be officially known as the “Vatican Apostolic Archive.”

In a new law, Francis noted the archive has long been open to scholars and that he himself decreed the archives of World War II-era Pope Pius XII, accused by some of not speaking out enough about the Holocaust, would be open to researchers ahead of schedule on March 2, 2020.

He said the name change better reflects the archive’s reality and “its service to the church and the world of culture.”