nation and world briefs

Gov. Andrew Cuomo embraced a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags, introducing a bill to outlaw them by next year. The three-page bill, introduced by the governor a day after Earth Day, comes a little more than a year after he blocked a 5-cent surcharge that New York City had sought to place on single-use plastic bags. It also continues a trend of Cuomo tacking left on a number of social issues in the face of a spirited primary challenge from Cynthia Nixon.

A postal worker who prosecutors say hoarded more than 17,000 pieces of undelivered mail in New York City allegedly told investigators he was overwhelmed by the amount of mail he had to deliver. But officials say Aleksey Germash told them he "made sure to deliver the important mail." He was charged last week in Brooklyn with delaying or detaining mail. Federal officials say they arrested the 16-year employee after receiving a tip about a car owned by Germash that contained 20 full mail bags. Authorities say they found 10,000 pieces of mail in his car, 6,000 pieces in his apartment and 1,000 in his work locker.

An airstrike on a wedding party, carried out by the Saudi-led coalition waging war in Yemen, killed more than 20 people and wounded dozens of others, including the groom, Yemeni officials said. The strike hit an isolated village in northwestern Yemen, where families had gathered to celebrate late Sunday. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries, with support from Britain and the U.S., have been bombing Yemen for more than three years to try to remove an Iranian-aligned rebel group known as the Houthis from the capital, Sanaa, and to restore the internationally recognized government.

Serzh Sargsyan, who ruled Armenia for 10 years, resigned as prime minister after thousands of people poured into the streets to protest his political maneuvering to cling to power. The stunning development touched off jubilation in the capital of Yerevan, with car horns blaring and people dancing, hugging and waving the tricolor Armenian flag. The opposition called for a meeting with the acting prime minister to discuss a "peaceful transfer of power."

Salah Abdeslam, 28, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempted murder, after participating in a 2016 police shootout in Brussels. The Frenchman is thought to be the only survivor of a group of terrorists who orchestrated attacks across Paris in November 2015, leaving 130 people dead. Monday's verdict was handed down in a Belgian case against Abdeslam and one other man, Sofien Ayari.

Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fell to a new low in a poll published Monday, as a series of scandals continued to weigh on his government's credibility. A survey by TV news network ANN put his approval rating at 29 percent, the lowest since he took office in 2012 and down 3.6 percentage points on its previous poll. Two other polls also showed support continuing to slide.