In brief

United States

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of police officers were on the hunt yesterday for one of their own: a former Los Angeles officer angry over his firing and sought for a deadly shooting rampage after warning he would wage “warfare” on those who wronged him. Authorities issued a state-wide “officer safety warning,” and police were sent to protect people named in a manifesto that was believed to be written by the fired officer, Christopher Dorner, who has military training.

BOSTON — A blizzard of potentially historic proportions threatened to strike the Northeast with a vengeance today, with up to 60cm of snow forecast along the densely populated corridor from the New York City area to Boston and beyond. Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, called off school today, and airlines cancelled more than 500 flights and counting, with the disruptions certain to ripple across the US.

WASHINGTON — Top Democrats in the US House of Representatives unveiled a broad proposal yesterday to curb gun violence that mirrors the one offered last month by President Barack Obama, including a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons. But it remained unclear if the proposals will be put to a vote. The House Republican leadership has said it doesn’t intend to bring legislation to the floor until the Senate has acted, and there are doubts the Senate will pass gun control legislation.

Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE — A Haitian judge yesterday postponed a court hearing on possible human rights abuse charges against Jean-Claude Duvalier because the former dictator known as “Baby Doc” failed to show up. The defence team asked to have the hearing rescheduled because it fell on the 27th anniversary of Duvalier’s ouster and there could be trouble in the streets if the judge decided to drop the prosecution of Duvalier.

Venezuela

CARACAS — Venezuela’s top prison authority says officials have found 106 firearms and more than 8,000 rounds of ammunition inside a lockup following recent riot. The government has said that 58 people were killed. Nearly all of those were prisoners. Officials said yesterday the weapons included revolvers, shotguns, submachine -uns and assault rifles used by the military.

Uruguay

MONTEVIDEO — Uruguay’s Health Minister Jorge Venegas submitted his resignation to President José Mujica following a complaint by an opposition party saying that Chilean-born Venegas was not a Uruguayan citizen. However, Mujica will wait to receive a decision by the Electoral Court before deciding whether to accept the resignation, local media said yesterday.