LONDON — The raucous business of Britain's House of Commons was replaced by somber silence and heartfelt tributes Monday for slain lawmaker Jo Cox, while the man charged with her slaying made a brief appearance in court by video link from prison.

Lawmakers lined the benches and stood in the aisles of the House for a special session in Cox's memory. Some wiped away tears, and each wore a white rose, a symbol of Cox's home county of Yorkshire.

Parliament was in recess for campaigning in the European Union referendum when Cox was shot and stabbed to death outside a library in her northern England constituency on Thursday. The suspect, Thomas Mair, gave his name during a court appearance as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain.”

The killing — the first of a sitting British legislator in more than a quarter-century — prompted an outpouring of shock and grief and brought a three-day halt to campaigning for this week's referendum.

“An attack like this strikes not only at an individual, but at our freedom,” said Speaker John Bercow, who recalled the House from recess to allow lawmakers to honor their colleague.

Cox was a former aid worker and Labour legislator who had sought more help for Syrian refugees and strongly backed a “remain” vote in Thursday's EU poll.

Mair, who was arrested shortly after the attack, appeared briefly at London's Central Criminal Court by video link from a high-security prison.

His lawyer did not seek bail, and the suspect did not repeat the “death to traitors” outburst he made Saturday. Asked if he was Thomas Mair, he replied, “Yes, I am.”

Taliban suicide bomber kills

14 Nepalese guards in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban suicide bomber killed 14 Nepalese security guards in an attack Monday on their minibus in the Afghan capital, the Interior Ministry and an Afghan security official said.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a bomb rigged to a motorbike killed 10 Afghan civilians during morning rush hour in a busy market. A second Taliban bombing in Kabul killed an Afghan civilian and wounded five people, including a provincial council member who was the intended target of that attack, authorities said.

The Nepalese were on their way to the Canadian Embassy, where they work as guards, when the explosion occurred Monday morning, according to a Nepalese guard who was wounded in the attack.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks and frequently target government employees and Afghan security forces.

Polygamous leader Lyle Jeffs flees from home confinement

SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities say polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs has fled Salt Lake City, where he was supposed to be on home confinement pending trial on charges in a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme.

A U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman says a warrant was issued for Jeffs after he took off over the weekend.

No details were available about how he got loose.

After several previous requests were denied, Jeffs was let out of jail June 9 by U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart. He was ordered to wear a GPS monitor. In granting Jeffs' release, Stewart cited the fact that the other 10 defendants already out have complied with the court's conditions.

Prosecutors objected to his release, calling Jeffs a flight risk.

Searing temperatures grip parts of California and Southwest

The hottest weather in decades gripped parts of Southern California and the Southwest for a second day Monday as utilities urged customers to conserve power and cities opened public pools and cooling centers to people desperate for relief.

At least four hikers died in Arizona, where on Sunday the city of Phoenix set a record for the date of 118 degrees, AccuWeather reported.

The National Weather Service posted excessive heat warnings across Southern California, southern Arizona and into central Utah.

In California, firefighters made some progress against a blaze putting hundreds of homes and popular seaside campgrounds near Santa Barbara at risk when overnight winds pushed flames into previously burned areas.

Comic's party wins key mayoral races in Italy

ROME — An anti-establishment party founded by a comic has triumphed in Italian mayoral runoff elections, trouncing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's candidates in Rome and the key city of Turin and turning its sights Monday toward its next goal: national power.

The 5-Star Movement candidate in Rome, Virginia Raggi, a lawyer with a three-year stint as a city councilwoman, took 67.2 percent of the vote in a two-person runoff Sunday, becoming the corruption-stained capital city's first female mayor and, at 37, also its youngest.

Raggi promised to work to bring “legality and transparency” to Rome's City Hall, where prosecutors probing widespread corruption have found many municipal contracts were awarded without bids to political cronies and even to a Mafia-like clique.

Little evidence for charges in teen's gym mat death, U.S. says

MACON, Ga. — There's not enough evidence to support federal criminal charges in the case of a teenager found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat at a Georgia high school, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.

The decision comes after a lengthy review of circumstances surrounding the death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson of Valdosta.

Local and state authorities had ruled the teenager's death Jan. 10, 2013, was a freak accident. They concluded that Johnson got stuck upside down in the middle of a rolled up mat and was unable to breathe.

Johnson's parents insisted someone must have killed their son and have pushed to reopen the investigation.

Sheriff's investigators closed the case four months after Johnson turned up dead.

Claim about Jesus retracted: Harvard Divinity School professor Karen King, who caused a huge splash in 2012 when she unveiled a small fragment of papyrus that she said referred to Jesus being married, now says it's likely a modern forgery. Right from the beginning, it sparked controversy and debate among scholars.

Hastert reporting to prison: Dennis Hastert's attorney says the former House speaker will report to a federal prison in Minnesota this week to begin serving a 15-month sentence in his hush-money case. The Illinois Republican, who suffered a stroke last year, must report to the Rochester Federal Medical Center.