By Barbara Goldberg

NEW YORK -Police in New York and Washington, D.C., on Monday were searching for a suspect they believe had shot five homeless men in the two cities, saying forensic evidence had linked a lone gunman to all of the shootings.

The mayors of New York City and the Washington, during an evening news conference in the nation’s capital, asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspect, whose photo they distributed after he was caught on surveillance cameras.

“He must be brought to justice. We will bring him to justice,” New York Mayor Eric Adams told reporters. Two of the victims died from their wounds.

The shootings targeting homeless men began on March 3 when Washington’s Metropolitan Police officers were alerted to sounds of gunshots on New York Avenue at about 4 a.m. The victim was taken to hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

On March 8, police in that city found another homeless man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was transported to a hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

The following day, police spotted a tent fire on New York Avenue and found a deceased homeless man inside. Further investigation determined that he had suffered multiple stab and gunshot wounds.

Three days later, a 38-year-old man was shot in the arm in New York City’s lower Manhattan.

A short time later, police responding to a 911 call about a man suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and neck found the victim dead inside a sleeping bag on Lafayette Street.

Police said a sixth victim initially thought connected to the attacks had been ruled as an unrelated medical incident.

The violence, which took place overnight in northeast Washington, D.C., and in lower Manhattan, comes amid a rise in violent crime in both cities and a spate of seemingly random attacks in New York City.

Police in the New York suburb of Yonkers said on Monday that they had arrested a man in the beating of a 67-year-old woman that was captured on surveillance video.

The attacker is accused of a hate crime in the case because he referred to the victim’s Asian heritage in the attack, police said.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York;Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los AngelesEditing by Aurora Ellis and Stephen Coates)

By Brian Ellsworth and Don Burgess

– A London tribunal on Monday ruled that a 2018 Bermuda law that bans same-sex marriage in the British overseas territory is constitutional, a departure from the broad trend towards legalisation of gay marriage in the West.

Bermuda’s top court in 2018 ruled that the 2018 Domestic Partnership Act, which allows same-sex couples to form partnerships but prohibits them from marrying, violates constitutional freedom of conscience.

London’s Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for British territories, ruled on Monday that the constitution does not in fact require the state to recognise same-sex marriages, in response to an appeal by Bermuda’s government.

“Our supporters often say ‘love wins.’ This time it didn’t,” said Roderick Ferguson, lead co-plaintiff in the legal case against the law, in a statement by LGBTQ advocacy group OUTBermuda. “Our work as a society is not done until everyone’s humanity is recognized both in law and in life.”

OUTBermuda called on the government to clarify how it will treat same-sex marriages that had been lawfully performed since 2017. The Bermuda court’s 2018 ruling had suspended the prohibition.

“The Government is pleased with the outcome of the appeal,” Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Kathy Simmons said in a statement. “The Government will now take time to consider the full judgment and its impact.”

Authorities in Bermuda, a wealthy, socially conservative island in the Atlantic of 60,000 people, have said that domestic partnerships provide the same rights as marriage. Thousands of people support the gay marriage ban.

(Editing by Nick Macfie and Kenneth Maxwell)

By Andrea Shalal, Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON -U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Brussels next week to meet with NATO leaders to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine, U.S. and foreign sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

The plan, which is still being finalized, calls for Biden to meet with other leaders from the NATO alliance in Brussels on March 23, said three of the sources.

They cautioned that the plans could still change given the rapidly evolving situation in Ukraine.

The meeting comes as Russian forces continue to escalate their attacks on Ukraine.

One source said Biden could also travel to NATO member Poland, where concerns are running high after a Russian attack on a large Ukrainian base just miles from the border killed 35 people.

NATO members are worried about being drawn into a military conflict with nuclear power Russia. Biden has repeatedly said that the United States will not send forces into Ukraine, but will defend “every inch” of NATO territory.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said that the United States was closely engaged with its NATO partners and European allies but that there had not been any final decision about a presidential trip.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, the United States and its allies have coordinated broad sanctions against Moscow and President Vladimir Putin as punishment.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington, writing by Kanishka Singh and Andrea Shalal; editing by Grant McCool and Stephen Coates)