Extreme cold to test New Year's revelers; some events iced

Dress in layers, lay off the booze and bring some hand warmers. Those are some of the tips offered for the huge crowd of revelers expected in Times Square for what could be one of the coldest New Year's Eve ball drops on record.

Brutal weather has iced plans for scores of events in the Northeast from New Year's Eve through New Year's Day, but not in New York City, where people will start gathering in Times Square up to nine hours before the famous ball drop.

"Hundreds of thousands have withstood very cold weather over the years for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we expect this year to be no different," said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance which puts on the event.

The coldest New Year's Eve in Times Square came in 1917, when it was 1 degree at midnight. This year, the forecast is for 11 degrees with a wind chill around zero, which would tie for second with 1962.

City and state health officials are advising people to cover all exposed skin, and wear a hat, scarf and gloves. Drinking alcohol is discouraged because it causes the body to lose heat faster.

___

Ruling but no resolution on which teen killers merit parole

Nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prison inmates who killed as teenagers are capable of change and may deserve eventual freedom, the question remains unresolved: Which ones should get a second chance?

Now the ruling — which came in the case of a 71-year-old Louisiana inmate still awaiting a parole hearing — is being tested again in that same state, where prosecutors have moved in recent months to keep about 1 in 3 former juvenile offenders locked up for the rest of their lives.

"There is no possible way to square these numbers with the directive of the Supreme Court," said Jill Pasquarella, supervising attorney with the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights, which found that district attorneys are seeking to deny parole eligibility to 84 of 255 juvenile life inmates whose cases are up for review.

Some prosecutors countered that the heinousness of some of the crimes makes these inmates the rare teen offenders the court said could still be punished with life behind bars.

"In this community, some of the most violent crimes we've had have been committed by juveniles," said Ricky Babin, district attorney for Ascension, Assumption and St. James parishes, who has filed motions seeking new life-without-parole sentences in four of five cases.

___

Report: 2 protesters in western Iran killed at night rally

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Two protesters taking part in demonstrations roiling Iran were killed at a rally overnight, a semi-official news agency reported Sunday, the first deaths attributed to the ongoing protests.

The demonstrations, which began Thursday over the economic woes plaguing Iran, appear to be the largest to strike the Islamic Republic since the protests that followed the country's disputed 2009 presidential election.

In Doroud, a city some 325 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Tehran, in Iran's western Lorestan province, protesters gathered for an unauthorized rally that lasted into the night Saturday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Mehr quoted Habibollah Khojastepour, the security deputy of Lorestan's governor, as saying the illegal gathering ignited clashes. The two protesters were killed in the clashes, he said.

"The gathering was to be ended peacefully, but due to the presence of the (agitators), unfortunately, this happened," Khojastepour was quoted as saying.

___

Erica Garner dies; fought police brutality after dad's death

NEW YORK (AP) — The daughter of key Black Lives Matter figure Eric Garner died Saturday after a weeklong hospital stay following a heart attack.

"She was a warrior to the end. She stood up for justice for her father," the Rev. Al Sharpton said in announcing the death of Garner, 27, at a New York hospital.

Garner's official Twitter account, run by her family and friends since she became ill, asked that she be remembered as a mother, daughter, sister and aunt with a heart "bigger than the world."

In 2014, her father, Eric Garner, who was black, was stopped on Staten Island for selling untaxed cigarettes and died after a white police officer subdued him with a chokehold. A grand jury declined to indict the officer; the city agreed to pay a $6 million civil settlement.

Garner's last words, "I can't breathe," became a slogan for activists.

___

Brother-in-law of Martin Luther King Jr. dies at 83

ATLANTA (AP) — The brother-in-law of Martin Luther King Jr. and a founding member of The Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change has died.

Isaac Newton Farris Sr., who suffered from prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease, died at his Atlanta home on Saturday morning, his daughter Angela Farris-Watkins told The Associated Press. He was 83.

Farris married Christine King in a ceremony performed by Martin Luther King Jr. and their brother A.D. King on Aug. 19, 1960.

"He wasn't caught up marrying into a prominent family," Farris-Watkins said by phone. "He was secure in his own right."

Farris was a successful entrepreneur and founder of Farris Color Visions. He also served a project manager for the construction of The King Center.

___

Thousands remain missing after Iraq's victories against IS

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — In 2014, Abdulrahman Saad was taken from his home in Mosul by Islamic State fighters, leaving his family in limbo.

They asked IS security offices and judges: Where is our husband and father? No answer. When the operation to retake Mosul began, they heard he was being held in the western part of the city, with hundreds of other prisoners. But when the area was liberated, they found no trace of Saad, the 59-year-old owner of a wholesale food store.

"Life without my father is difficult," says his son, Rami. Without him, the Saads struggle to get by, and his wife pines for her spouse.

In their misery, they have company. Since Mosul was declared liberated in July, residents have submitted more than 3,000 missing-persons reports to Nineveh's provincial council, according to council member Ali Khoudier. Most of them are men or teenage boys. Some were arrested by IS during the group's extremist rule; others were detained by Iraqi forces on suspicion of extremist ties.

Regardless, Iraqi government bureaucracy, inefficiency and neglect have left thousands of families across Iraq hanging as the country's leadership celebrates the defeat of IS.

___

Merkel sees Germany split over pace of social change

BERLIN (AP) — Germans have rarely been so divided about the changes taking place in their society, the country's long-time leader Angela Merkel said Sunday, adding in her New Year's address that she is committed to helping tackle the challenges of the future by swiftly forming a new government.

Germany has been in political limbo since elections in September, which saw heavy losses for the centrist 'grand coalition' that's run the country since 2013. Merkel's attempt to forge a new government with two smaller parties failed, forcing her to reach out to her erstwhile partners, the Social Democrats, again.

Merkel acknowledged the concerns some in Germany have about the pace of social change, including the influx of asylum-seekers that saw many conservatives question her leadership. But she noted that others in Europe's biggest economy, which has seen rapid growth and a continued fall in unemployment, are optimistic about the future.

"Some are even talking about a split that goes through our society," she said of the differing views she's heard over the past year.

Merkel said she took seriously the voters' mandate "especially when it comes to working on swiftly forming a stable government for Germany in the new year," citing among her priorities the need to safeguard prosperity, improve education and the use of digital technology, strengthen families and elderly care, even out regional imbalances and ensure security.

___

2 men charged in deaths of women, children found in home

TROY, N.Y. (AP) — Two men were arrested Saturday on murder charges in the deaths of two women and two children who were found dead in their upstate New York apartment.

Justin Mann and James White were arrested in their hometown, Schenectady, and pleaded not guilty in Troy City Court.

According to the Times Union , Troy Police Chief John Tedesco said one of the defendants knew one of the victims. He declined to elaborate.

Information given in court said the killings took place at about 9 p.m., Dec. 21. It wasn't until Tuesday, five days later, that a property manager found 36-year-old Shanta Myers; her children, 11-year-old Jeremiah Myers and 5-year-old Shanise Myers; and 22-year-old Brandi Mells in a basement apartment along the Hudson River, just north of Albany. Meyers and Mells became engaged earlier this year, Mells' cousin, Sharonda Bennett, told the newspaper.

Tedesco and District Attorney Joel Abelove, who appeared at a press conference, declined to answer questions about a possible motive and the method of the killings.

___

'Make America Gay Again' sign greets Pence in Colorado

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Neighbors of the home where Vice President Mike Pence has been staying in Colorado this week have a message.

They've placed a rainbow-colored banner on a stone pillar at the end of the driveways to both homes near the posh ski resort of Aspen. The banner reads "Make America Gay Again" — a play on President Donald Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again."

Pitkin County sheriff's deputy Michael Buglione tells the Aspen Times that Secret Service agents weren't bothered by the sign.

Pence has described himself as a "Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order." He has opposed legislation prohibiting discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in the workplace.

Pence and his family arrived in the Aspen area Tuesday and plan to leave Monday.

___

Ray of hope, then deep hostility between US and North Korea

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first month of Donald Trump's presidency, an American scholar quietly met with North Korean officials and relayed a message: The new administration in Washington appreciated an extended halt in the North's nuclear and ballistic missile tests. It might just offer a ray of hope.

North Korean officials responded defiantly. The nearly four-month period of quiet wasn't a sign of conciliation, they retorted, insisting supreme leader Kim Jong Un would order tests whenever he wanted. As if to ram the point home, North Korea only two days later launched a new type of medium-range missile that ended Trump's brief honeymoon.

The February launch heralded a year of escalating tensions that have left the U.S. and North Korea closer to hostilities than at any time since the Korean War ended in 1953. The North is now at the brink of realizing its decades-old goal of being able to strike anywhere in America with a nuclear weapon. And two leaders untested in the delicate diplomacy of deterrence have exchanged personal insults and warned of the other nation's annihilation.

"Pyongyang and Washington are caught in a vicious cycle of action and reaction," Korea expert Duyeon Kim wrote in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. "If nothing happens to break the cycle, it will continue until one side either stands down, which is very unlikely, or, far worse, takes military action."

The exchanges at the unofficial U.S.-North Korean talks 10 months ago hadn't been reported before. They were recounted to The Associated Press by a participant who requested anonymity to describe them. No U.S. government officials took part.