World/Nation
Fewer parents opting out of kindergarten vaccinations
LOS ANGELES - Fewer California parents opted out of vaccinations for their children entering kindergarten last year following the adoption of a law that makes it harder to go without the shots, state figures show.
The issue has taken new prominence as California deals with an outbreak of measles that originated at Disneyland last month, sickening 78 people. Most of the infections are in California and most of those who got sick were unvaccinated. Measles has also been confirmed in six other states - Utah, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Nebraska and Arizona - and Mexico.
The rate of personal-belief exemptions for kindergartners fell from 3.1 percent in 2013 to 2.5 percent last year, according to data collected by the California Department of Public Health. It's the first drop after years of record number of parents seeking waivers to avoid school immunization requirements.
California is among 20 states that allow parents to forgo vaccines for their children because of personal beliefs. Under the immunization law that took effect last year, parents claiming a personal-belief exemption from vaccines must have a signed form from their doctor saying that they have received information about the risks of opting out. Gov. Jerry Brown added a last-minute religious exemption that does not require a doctor's signature. Previously, parents were not required to supply any information to explain their decision.
$300,000 in fine wine stolen from famed restaurant recovered
SAN FRANCISCO - More than $300,000 in world-class wine stolen from a famed Napa Valley restaurant has been recovered from a private cellar on the other side of the country.
But the mystery of who broke into the unmarked wine room at the world-renowned French Laundry eatery and how the 76 bottles of fine wine got to a private cellar in Greensboro, N.C., has yet to be solved.
The theft occurred on Christmas, a day after Chef Thomas Keller's restaurant closed for a six-month kitchen remodel.
The Yountville establishment is rated three stars in the Michelin guide and twice has been named the world's best by Restaurant Magazine.
Napa County sheriff's Capt. Doug Pike said no arrests have been made. But he added authorities are withholding some information - including any clues about how the wines were found or who took them - to maintain the integrity of the investigation.
Shiite rebels try to avoid overstepping amid protests
SANAA, Yemen - Yemen's Shiite rebels faced mounting pressures and signs of internal divisions Friday after the U.S.-backed president and his cabinet resigned rather than submit at gunpoint to their increasing demands for greater power.
With thousands of demonstrators on both sides taking to the streets across the impoverished Arab country, the rebels appeared wary of the dangers of overstepping in Yemen's minefield of tribal politics, sectarian divisions, al-Qaida militancy and a strong secessionist movement.
Although rebel gunmen manned checkpoints throughout the capital and continued besieging the houses of government ministers, they made no public attempt to fill the vacuum created by the resignations of President Abed Rabbo Hadi, his prime minister and cabinet. And there were signs that the national parliament would reject the resignations when it meets Sunday.
Indeed, it seemed as though the rebels, known as the Houthis, do not want to rule the country outright and would prefer that Hadi remain as a figurehead president.
After 37 years in prison, innocent North Carolina man freed
WHITEVILLE, N.C. - For the first time in nearly 40 years, Joseph Sledge woke up behind bars with a chance of becoming a free man.
The 70-year-old man needed one more win at an innocence hearing. As three judges listened to closing statements Friday about how Sledge was wrongfully convicted in the 1976 stabbing deaths of a mother and her adult daughter, he wrote down a few words on a yellow Post-it note - "closure," "please" and "exonerated."
A few hours later, carrying his belongings in plastic bags, Sledge emerged from a North Carolina jail, saying he was looking forward to what most people consider the most mundane of activities: "Going home. Relaxing. Sleeping in a real bed. Probably get in a pool of water and swim for a little while."
A special three-judge panel unanimously voted Sledge had proven he was innocent of the killings and ordered his release.
But his freedom almost didn't happen because evidence had been lost for years.
His attorney, Christine Mumma, took the case in 2004 and felt like she had been running out of options and considered closing the case in 2012. Then court clerks discovered a misplaced envelope of evidence while cleaning out a high shelf of a vault.
The envelope contained hair, found on the victim and believed to be the attacker's, that turned out to be a key piece of evidence needed to do DNA testing, which wasn't available when Sledge went on trial 1978.
Salman appoints new generation to enter the line to Saudi throne
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - As Saudi Arabia mourned its late ruler, King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud quickly set the course for the monarchy's future Friday by naming a second-in-line to the throne from the next generation of princes for the first time.
The appointment came as the ultraconservative Sunni-ruled kingdom buried King Abdullah after a subdued and austere funeral attended by Muslim dignitaries from around the world. Abdullah, who led the country for nearly two decades, died early Friday at the age of 90 after falling ill with pneumonia.
Buried that same afternoon in an unmarked grave, Abdullah's body was shrouded in a simple beige cloth, his remains interred without a coffin in line with Islamic tradition that all people - even kings - are equal in death before God.
Just hours before, the ruling family once again showed its shrewd ability to coalesce quickly around thorny issues of succession.
A royal decree affirmed Salman's half brother Muqrin, 69, as Crown Prince and the king's immediate successor.
- The Associated Press