China Marks Lunar New Year with Prayers, Incense, Fireworks

China Celebrates Year of the Rooster

Beijing (ap) — Chinese are lighting incense sticks and praying at temples to wish for an auspicious start to the Lunar New Year.

Thousands visited Beijing’s major temples on Saturday, the first day of the Year of the Rooster. Wearing heavy winter coats, they lit incense sticks and bowed as they prayed for good fortune and health. As many as 80,000 people were expected at the Lama Temple in central Beijing, state television reported.

Beijing’s sprawling spring festival temple fair opened at Ditan Park, where empty tree branches were festooned with red lanterns and traditional goods and foods were for sale.

Other New Year’s traditions include the eating of dumplings in northern China and the lighting of fireworks. Beijing’s government called on Communist Party cadres and government staff not to set off firecrackers due to environmental concerns, but local media reported air pollution levels in Beijing and several other cities still shot up Friday night and early Saturday morning.

California Gov. Brown to Be Treated For Prostate Cancer

Los Angeles (Los Angeles Times) — California Gov. Jerry Brown, who was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, will begin a new round of treatment for the disease, his office said Saturday.

Brown, 78, will continue his duties as governor during the treatment, his staff said. The office did now say how long the treatment will take, or what prompted its timing.

“Fortunately this is not extensive disease, can be readily treated with a short course of radiotherapy, and there are not expected to be any significant side effects,” Dr. Eric Small, a oncologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said in an emailed statement. “The prognosis for Gov. Brown is excellent.”

N.J. Gov. Christie Wont Face Misconduct Charge in Bridge Scandal

Newark, n.j. ��(Bloomberg News) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won’t be charged with official misconduct over his role in the politically motivated traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge in 2013, a county prosecutor decided.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said in a letter that it wouldn’t pursue a citizen’s complaint for a “simple, but compelling” reason �� the “charge cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Bill Brennan, a retired firefighter, claimed that Christie should have done more to stop the traffic jams that led to convictions of three of the governor’s allies in federal court.

Brennan filed a citizen’s complaint in the middle of the trial of two Christie allies last fall, leading a municipal judge, Roy McGeady, to say that probable cause existed for the county prosecutor’s office to consider an indictment. But a county judge overturned that finding this month and ordered a new hearing after ruling that Christie’s lawyers should have been allowed to question Brennan.

Britain’s May in Turkey For Talks with Erdogan

Ankara, Turkey (ap) — British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a day after a friendly meeting in Washington with U.S. President Trump.

May flew overnight to Ankara by RAF Voyager jet from the U.S., where she and Trump proclaimed a new chapter in the trans-Atlantic “special relationship.”

She arrived for talks with Erdogan to find her own image dominating television screens in the presidential palace, which were showing images of her visit to the White House on Friday.

May laughed when the president said her trip to Washington “was well-covered in Turkey.”

The talks with Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim were expected to focus on boosting trade between Turkey and Britain once the U.K. leaves the European Union, and on increasing cooperation over security and counterterrorism.

Key Emmett Till Witness Gave False Testimony, Historian Says

New York (ap) — The woman at the center of the trial of Emmett Till’s alleged killers has acknowledged that she falsely testified he made physical and verbal threats, according to a new book.

Historian Timothy B. Tyson told The Associated Press on Saturday that Carolyn Donham broke her long public silence in an interview with him in 2008.

“She told me that ‘Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him,’ ” said Tyson, a Duke University research scholar.

Emmett Till, who was black, was 14 when he was tortured and killed in 1955 in Mississippi after allegedly whistling at a white woman, then known as Carolyn Bryant.

His murder became national news, was a galvanizing event in the civil rights movement and has been the subject of numerous books and movies. During the trial, Bryant said that he had grabbed her, and, in profane terms, bragged about his history with white woman. The jury was not present when she testified.

Woman Nearly Carjacked After Stopping For Dummy in Road

Newport, n.c. (ap) — A sheriff’s office says a woman narrowly escaped being carjacked after spotting what she thought was a child sitting in the middle of the road in the dark of night.

It turned out to be a dummy, dressed in children’s clothing. And as the woman slowed her car, two men wearing dark hoodies approached and pulled on her door handles.

She sped away and called for help as the suspects fled, according to the sheriff’s office in Carteret County, North Carolina.

Maj. Jason Wank says authorities destroyed the dummy later Sunday, just in case. He’s asking for help finding those responsible.