Obama to mourn with Fort Hood families...Signals raise hope in search for lost airliner

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is making his second somber trip to Fort Hood today to mourn with families of those killed last week and offer solace to the nation. It the latest in a list of similar trips for Obama including Tucson, Aurora, Oak Creek, Newtown, Boston and the Washington Navy Yard. Each community has been another challenge for the president to find ways to impart meaning to senseless death.

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Underwater signals that may be from the missing Malaysian airliner apparently persist. A search ship has detected two more underwater signals that may be emanating from the aircraft's black boxes. Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search in the southern Indian Ocean, expressed hope today that the plane's wreckage will soon be found.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel (AHN'-geh-lah MEHR'-kuhl) is calling for an international monitoring mission in Ukraine to be strengthened. She suggested today that Russia isn't doing enough to defuse tensions as Ukraine grapples with pro-Moscow agitation in its eastern regions. Merkel tells German lawmakers that Berlin will make clear that "the Ukrainians must decide themselves on their fate."

HOUSTON (AP) — The punishment phase begins today in the trial of a woman convicted of fatally stabbing her boyfriend with the 5 ½-inch stiletto heel of her shoe. A Texas jury is to hear further testimony before deciding her punishment. The same jury took just two hours to convict Ana Trujillo (troo-HEE'-yoh).

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese scientist accused of falsifying data in a widely heralded stem-cell research paper is still maintaining the accuracy of the results. Haruko Obokata struggled to maintain her composure today during a televised news conference packed with hundreds of reporters, but insisted she did not tamper with the data to fabricate results. She acknowledges mistakes in presentation.