How soon will the world forget?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It seemed like a friendly chat between neighbors. Only after a bomb exploded in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning could Rick Laude grasp the sinister meaning behind his neighbor's smiling remark that the city and the rest of the world would never forget him. Laude told The Associated Press on Monday that he was speechless when he learned that authorities identified his 63-year-old neighbor, Anthony Quinn Warner, as the man suspected of detonating a bomb that killed himself, injured three other people and damaged dozens of buildings. Laude said he saw Warner standing at his mailbox less than a week before Christmas and pulled over in his car to talk. After asking how Warner's elderly mother was doing, Laude said he casually asked, "Is Santa going to bring you anything good for Christmas?" Warner smiled and said, "Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me," Laude recalled. Laude said he didn't think much of the remark and thought Warner only meant that "something good" was going to happen for him financially. "Nothing about this guy raised any red flags," Laude said. "He was just quiet." Warner left behind clues that suggest he planned th Warner had recently given away a vehicle and told the person he gave it to that he had been diagnosed with cancer, though it is unclear whether he indeed had cancer. Investigators used some items collected from the vehicle, including a hat and gloves, to match Warner's DNA and DNA was taken from one of his family members.

Southwest pulls threat of furloughs

DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines is lifting the threat of furloughs or pay cuts for thousands of workers now that U.S. airlines will get up to $15 billion more in taxpayer aid contained in the coronavirus-relief bill. American and United Airlines, which together furloughed 32,000 employees in October, said Monday they will bring those workers back temporarily. The $900 billion relief package signed after some delay by President Donald Trump on Sunday night includes $15 billion for airlines to keep all their employees on the payroll through March 31. A previous round of $25 billion in payroll aid expired Sept. 30, leading to the furloughs at American, United and smaller carriers. Delta and Southwest avoided furloughs by convincing thousands of workers to take voluntary buyouts or early retirement and, in the case of Delta, negotiating contract concessions from pilots.

Lawyer who broke story jailed

BEIJING -- A Chinese court on Monday sentenced a former lawyer who reported on the early stage of the coronavirus outbreak to four years in prison on charges of "picking fights and provoking trouble," one of her lawyers said. The Pudong New Area People's Court in the financial hub of Shanghai gave the sentence to Zhang Zhan following accusations she spread false information, gave interviews to foreign media, disrupted public order and "maliciously manipulated" the outbreak. Lawyer Zhang Keke confirmed the sentence but said it was "inconvenient" to provide details -- usually an indication that the court has issued a partial gag order. He said the court did not ask Zhang whether she would appeal, nor did she indicate whether she would. Zhang, 37, traveled to Wuhan in February and posted on various social media platforms about the outbreak that is believed to have emerged in the central Chinese city late last year. She was arrested in May amid tough nationwide measures aimed at curbing the outbreak and heavy censorship to deflect criticism of the government's initial response. Zhang reportedly went on a prolonged hunger strike while in detention, prompting authorities to forcibly feed her, and is said to be in poor health. China has been accused of covering up the initial outbreak and delaying the release of crucial information, allowing the virus to spread and contributing to the pandemic that has sickened more than 80 million people worldwide and killed almost 1.8 million.

COVID office pool was for morale

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- One of the Tyson Foods managers fired for betting on how many workers would contract COVID-19 at an Iowa pork plant said the office pool was spontaneous fun and intended to boost morale. Don Merschbrock, a former night manager at the plant in Waterloo, Iowa, said he was speaking in an attempt to show that the seven fired supervisors are "not the evil people" that Tyson has portrayed. "We really want to clear our names," he told The Associated Press. "We actually worked very hard and took care of our team members well." Tyson announced the terminations of the Waterloo managers Dec. 16, weeks after the betting allegation surfaced in wrongful death lawsuits filed by the families of four workers who died of COVID-19. Tyson said an investigation led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder found sufficient evidence to terminate those involved, saying their actions violated the company's values of respect and integrity. The company had asked Holder's law firm to investigate the allegation after a public backlash threatened to damage its brand and demoralize its workers. Merschbrock said managers conducted the office pool last spring within minutes following mass testing of the plant's roughly 2,800 workers. County officials said last May that more than 1,000 workers tested positive for the virus, which hospitalized several and killed at least six.

Man charged in cocaine plot

A 39-year-old Montreal man is facing a cocaine trafficking charge that was part of a broader effort to transport 1,500 kilos (3,300 pounds) of the drug from Peru to Vermont, federal court documents say. The court documents do not say what the ultimate destination of the cocaine was, but a number of people involved in the deal were from Canada. Apparently none of the cocaine reached the intended destination. Georges Yaghmour was arrested in Florida last month and was charged with conspiring to distribute more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of cocaine. A federal court affidavit said the cocaine was part of the same plan that resulted in the kidnapping of a couple from Moira, New York, in late September. T

he couple was smuggled across the border to Canada before being rescued by police in Quebec.

South Africa bans liquor sales

JOHANNESBURG -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reimposed a ban on alcohol sales and ordered the closure of all bars Monday as part of new restrictions to help the country battle a resurgence of the coronavirus, including a new variant. In a nationwide address, Ramaphosa also announced the closure of all beaches and public swimming pools in the country's infection hotspots, which include Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and several coastal areas. South Africa will extend its nighttime curfew so all residents must be at home from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m., the president said. The president said that wearing masks is mandatory and that anyone found not wearing a mask in a public place will be subject to a fine or a criminal charge punishable by a possible jail sentence. The country surpassed the 1 million mark in confirmed virus cases on Sunday night, when authorities reported that the country's total cases during the pandemic had reached 1,004,413, including 26,735 deaths. Like Britain, South Africa is battling a variant of COVID-19 that medical experts think is more infectious than the original.

4-year-old's parents face charges

COLE CAMP, Mo. -- The parents of a 4-year-old Missouri girl allegedly killed by neighbors to remove a "demon" now face charges. Mary S. Mast, 29, and James A. Mast, 28, both of Lincoln, Missouri, were charged Thursday with felony child endangerment resulting in death and are jailed without bond. They don't yet have attorneys. The couple's other children, a 2-year-old son and an infant, were placed in protective custody, Benton County Sheriff Eric Knox said in a news release. The 4-year-old girl was found dead at the family home on Dec. 20. Knox said she had been severely beaten and dunked in an icy pond as part of what appeared to be a "religious-type episode." Across-the-road neighbors Ethan Mast, 35, and Kourtney Aumen, 21, were charged last week with second-degree murder and other offenses. Both are jailed without bond. Ethan Mast is not believed to be related to James and Mary Mast, Knox said. Both families attend the same church, but Knox said that the actions involving the girl are not condoned by the church, which he declined to name. "The investigation done so far indicates that this is an isolated incident and NOT the actions of a cult," Knox wrote in a news release on the department's Facebook page. A probable cause statement from Benton County Sgt. Chris Wilson said the girl was already dead and had "severe purple bruising" over her body, along with ruptured blisters, when he was called to the home. Knox said the girl's parents also had been beaten along with the 2-year-old. The infant was unharmed.

Killings make these cities blue

DETROIT -- In Detroit, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and even smaller Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Milwaukee, 2020 has been deadly not only because of the pandemic, but because gun violence is spiking. Authorities and some experts say there is no one clear-cut reason for the spike. They instead point to social and economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 virus, public sentiment toward police following George Floyd's death in Minneapolis police custody and a historic shortage of jobs and resources in poorer communities as contributing factors. It's happening in cities large and small, Democrat and Republican-led. Two years ago, Detroit had 261 homicides -- the fewest in decades. That year there were about 750 nonfatal shootings in the city of more than 672,000. But with only a few days left in 2020, homicides already have topped 300, while non-fatal shootings are up more than 50% at more than 1,124 through the middle of December. Washington, D.C., a city of about 700,000, has seen more than 187 homicides this year, eclipsing last year's total by more than 20. Among the most horrible: A 15-month-old baby boy was shot to death during a drive-by shooting.

Loughlin released from prison

"Full House" actor Lori Loughlin was released from prison Monday after spending two months behind bars for paying half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into college. Loughlin was released from the federal lockup in Dublin, California, where she had been serving her sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scheme. Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, is serving his five-month sentence at a prison in Lompoc near Santa Barbara, California. Giannulli is scheduled to be released on April 17. Prosecutors said Giannulli deserved a tougher sentence because he was "the more active participant in the scheme." Of the nearly 60 parents, coaches and others charged in the case, about a dozen are still fighting the allegations. The sentences for the parents who have pleaded so far in the case range from a couple weeks to nine months.

Shooting outside state prison

DAVISBORO, Ga. -- A Georgia corrections officer was shot and a man was killed after officers got into a shooting with men suspected of trying to smuggle contraband onto the grounds of a state prison, authorities say. The shooting happened Sunday on the perimeter of Washington State Prison near Davisboro, about 120 miles southeast of Atlanta. K-9 officers with the Georgia Department of Corrections were responding to a suspected contraband drop. The officers got into a shooting with 26-year-old Marquavious Rashod Parks of Athens. Parks was found dead in a nearby pond. One officer was shot and treated at a hospital in Augusta for non-life-threatening injuries. Law enforcement officers took another man, 51-year-old John Frank Snow of Monroe, into custody. The state agency said multiple charges are pending against Snow including charges of murder and aggravated assault against a peace officer. Investigators believe items found at the scene were intended to be smuggled into the prison.

Pfizer vaccine batch due in Iran

TEHRAN, Iran -- An unidentified group of U.S.-based philanthropists plans to send 150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Iran in the coming weeks, Iranian media reported Monday, in a step that could bring the hardest-hit country in the Middle East closer to inoculating its citizens against the coronavirus. Details remained scarce in the report by semiofficial Tasnim news agency. It quoted the chief of the country's Red Crescent Society as saying he expects the vaccine created by American drug maker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to be imported by Jan. 19 "based on coordination with a group of benefactors in the U.S." Iran has struggled to stem the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East, which has infected over 1.2 million people and killed nearly 55,000. Karim Hemmati, the Red Crescent director, said his organization plans to receive an additional 1 million vaccine doses, which on Sunday the semiofficial Khabaronline.it news website reported would come from China. The vaccines will be offered to citizens free of charge.

Ethiopia arrests Reuters journalist

JOHANNESBURG -- Media rights groups are protesting the Ethiopian government's arrest of journalists, saying it indicates the erosion of press freedom in the country. Kumerra Gemechu, a video journalist for the Reuters news agency, was arrested on Dec. 24 at his home in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, and is being detained for 14 days for police investigations, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. "Kumerra's work demonstrates his professionalism and impartiality, and we are aware of no basis for his detention," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said in a statement Monday. Kumerra's arrest follows the beating of Reuters photographer Tiksa Negari by two Ethiopian federal police officers on December 16, the statement said. With Kumerra's arrest, eight journalists have been jailed in Ethiopia this year. Authorities in Cameroon also have jailed eight reporters, and Eritrea has imprisoned 16 journalists.

UK hospitals scramble for space

LONDON -- British hospitals are canceling non-urgent procedures and scrambling to find space for COVID-19 patients as coronavirus cases continue to surge despite tough new restrictions imposed to curb a fast-spreading new variant of the virus. Another 41,385 confirmed cases were recorded across the U.K. on Monday. It was the first time the daily number of cases surpassed 40,000, although many more tests are being performed than earlier in the pandemic. British authorities are blaming a new variant of the coronavirus for soaring infection rates in London and southeast England. They say the new version is more easily transmitted than the original, but stress there is no evidence it makes people sicker.

Vatican secretariat loses assets

ROME -- Pope Francis has formally stripped the Vatican secretariat of state of its financial assets and real estate holdings following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation. Francis signed a new law over the weekend ordering the secretariat of state to complete the transfer of all its holdings to another Vatican office by Feb. 4. The law also calls for all donations to the pope -- the Peter's Pence collections from the faithful as well as other donations that had been managed by the secretariat of state -- to be held and managed by the Vatican's treasury office as separate funds that are accounted for in the Holy See's consolidated budget. The changes are a response to a spiraling Vatican criminal investigation into years-long allegations of mismanagement of donations and investments by the Vatican's secretariat of state which has resulted in losses of tens of millions of euros at a time of financial crisis for the Holy See.