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Ukrainian minister: Security officer killed, 5 wounded in gunfight with pro-Russian militia
SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's interior minister says one security officer has been killed and five others have been wounded in a gunfight with pro-Russian militia.
Arsen Avakov said in a Facebook post Sunday the Security Service officer was killed in Slovyansk where a police station was seized by camouflaged armed men.
An Associated Press reporter on the ground didn't see any unrest there when he arrived.
The unrest in Slovyansk and the nearby major industrial city Donetsk were the latest signs of spiraling anger in eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population.
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Black box batteries may be dead, making efforts to find missing Malaysian plane much harder
PERTH, Australia (AP) — Following four strong underwater signals in the past week, all has gone quiet in the hunt for the missing Malaysian airline, meaning the batteries on the all-important black boxes may have finally died.
Despite having no new pings to go on, crews are continuing their search Sunday for debris and any sounds that could still be emanating. They're desperately trying to pinpoint where the Boeing 777 could be amid an enormous patch of deep ocean.
No new electronic pings have been heard since April 8, and the batteries powering the locator beacons on the jet's black box recorders may already be dead. They only last about a month, and that window has passed. Once officials are confident no more sounds will be heard, a robotic submersible will be sent down.
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NTSB looking into driver's claim that FedEx truck was on fire before slamming into tour bus
RED BLUFF, Calif. (AP) — Federal investigators are looking into a driver's claim that a FedEx tractor-trailer was already on fire when it careened out-of-control across a freeway median and slammed into a bus taking high school students on a college tour, killing 10 people in a fiery wreck.
The investigators are looking for more witnesses who could corroborate the driver's claim, and planned to examine crash scene evidence for clues of a fire before the vehicles exploded into towering flames on a Northern California highway, National Transportation Safety Board member Mark Rosekind said Saturday.
He said the truck left no skid marks, on either the roadway or the median, as it veered into oncoming traffic, sideswiping a Nissan Altima before crashing into the bus. Five students, three adult chaperones and both drivers died in Thursday's collision on a stretch of Interstate 5 in Orland, a small city about 100 miles north of Sacramento.
Some of the victims were thrown from the bus, Rosekind said.
The woman who drove the sedan told investigators and a KNBC-TV reporter that flames were coming from the lower rear of the truck cab.
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Feds cite safety concerns before releasing all 400 cows rounded up from Nevada rancher
Federal land managers say "escalating tensions" led them to release all 400 or so head of cattle rounded up on public land in southern Nevada from a rancher who has refused to recognize their authority.
Bureau of Land Management Chief Neil Kornze announced an abrupt halt to the weeklong roundup just hours before the release.
"Based on information about conditions on the ground and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concerns about the safety of employees and members of the public," Kornze said in a statement.
Hundreds of states' rights protesters, including militia members, showed up at corrals outside Mesquite to demand the animals' return to rancher Cliven Bundy. Some protesters were armed with handguns and rifles at the corrals and at an earlier nearby rally.
Las Vegas Police Lt. Dan Zehnder said the showdown was resolved with no injuries and no violence. Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie was able to negotiate a resolution after talking with Bundy, he said.
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4 dead in Chile forest fire; 500 homes destroyed, thousands evacuated
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A large forest fire raging in the Chilean port city of Valparaiso has killed at least four people and destroyed 500 homes, officials said Sunday. Thousands of people have been evacuated, including more than 200 female inmates at a prison.
Firefighters were having difficulty combating the blaze because of the topography of the city, which is surrounded by dozens of steep hills where most people live.
"This is the worst disaster I have seen," regional governor Ricardo Bravo said. "Now we fear that the fire will spread to the center of the city, which would increase the severity of the emergency."
President Michelle Bachelet has declared the city of 250,000 people a catastrophe zone, which puts the armed forces in charge of maintaining order and evacuating thousands of residents affected by the smoke and flames. Authorities have evacuated an estimated 5,000 people, a figure that is expected to rise.
Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said the fire has caused the deaths of four people — three men and a woman.
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Clutching palms, olive branches, faithful join pope at Holy Week's start in St. Peter's Square
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Tens of thousands of Romans, tourists and pilgrims have joined Pope Francis in a solemn Palm Sunday service in St. Peter's Square.
Under cloudy skies, Francis celebrated Mass on the steps of the square as the crowd spread out before him. Faithful clutched olive tree branches, tall palm fronds or tiny braided palm leaves shaped like crosses.
Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, which culminates next Sunday on Easter. Francis used a pastoral staff made of wood carved by Italian prison inmates, who donated it to him. The pope is determined to put people on the margins of life at the center of the Roman Catholic church's attention.
Francis wore red vestments, symbolizing blood shed by the crucified Jesus. On Friday, he'll preside at the Colosseum Way of the Cross procession.
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In key document, UN climate panel warns emissions rising but drops statistics showing where
BERLIN (AP) — The U.N.'s expert panel on climate change on Sunday highlighted the disconnect between international goals to fight global warming and what is being done to attain them.
Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases must drop by 40-70 percent by 2050 to keep the global temperature rise below the 2-degree C (3.6-degree F) cap set in U.N. climate talks, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.
The opposite is happening now. On average global emissions rose by 1 gigaton a year between 2000 and 2010, outpacing growth in previous decades to reach "unprecedented levels" despite some efforts to contain them, the IPCC said.
"There is a clear message from science: To avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, we need to move away from business as usual," said Ottmar Edenhofer, one of three co-chairs of the IPCC working group looking at ways to fight climate change.
The panel didn't get into who should do what in the 33-page summary meant to serve as a scientific guide to governments negotiating a new climate agreement, which is supposed to be adopted next year.
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Top finance ministers say global economy gaining strength but remains fragile
WASHINGTON (AP) — The world's top financial officials say they believe the global economy is strengthening but that growth remains fragile and open to risks of new geopolitical strife, as in Ukraine.
Rich countries have been helping power the recovery led by the United States and Britain, and the eurozone and Japan are doing better. However, there has been some slowing in major emerging markets such as China even though these economies have been powering along at growth rates ahead of developed nations. Many countries still are experiencing painfully high unemployment rates with millions looking for work.
The conclusion of discussions Saturday at the International Monetary Fund and its sister institution the World Bank ended three days of talks that began with meetings by finance ministers of the Group of 20 nations, the mix of traditional economic powers such as the United States, Japan and Germany and emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China.
"Creating a more dynamic, sustainable and job-rich global economy remains our paramount collective goal," the policy-setting panel of the 188-nation IMF said in a closing communique.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and the finance ministers who sit on this panel said they believed the world had entered a new phase with stronger growth that will begin to make inroads on unemployment.
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Jennifer Lopez, Laverne Cox among winners at GLAAD Media Awards in L.A.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Lopez has added a couple of more trophies to her block.
The pop star and "American Idol" judge was honored Saturday night at the 25th annual GLAAD Media Awards with the Vanguard Award, which lauds efforts to increase visibility and understanding of the gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender community. In addition to being an outspoken advocate for gay rights, Lopez serves as executive producer of the ABC Family series "The Fosters," which centers on a lesbian couple raising their children. "The Fosters" also won the award for outstanding drama series.
Other winners at the Beverly Hilton Hotel ceremony included NBC's "Days of Our Lives" for daily drama, Fuse's "Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce" for reality program, Tegan and Sara for music artist and "Young Avengers" for comic book. "Bridegroom" and "Call Me Kuchu" tied for the outstanding documentary trophy.
"Orange is the New Black" star Laverne Cox was presented with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, which is given to a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender member of the entertainment community. Previous recipients include Wanda Sykes, Rufus Wainwright, Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres and Ian McKellen.
Norman Lear, the veteran producer of such sitcoms as "All in the Family" and "Maude," was honored with the Pioneer Award.
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Pacman wins: Manny Pacquiao dominates Timothy Bradley by unanimous decision, avenges defeat
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nearly two years later, Manny Pacquiao finally got the decision most people thought he deserved the first time against Timothy Bradley.
Pacquiao won a unanimous decision in his rematch with Bradley on Saturday night, avenging his 2012 loss and claiming the WBO welterweight title.
Pacquiao (56-5-2) pursued and peppered the previously unbeaten Bradley around the MGM Grand Garden ring with an aggressive effort occasionally recalling the Pacman in his prime. Bradley fought back with counterpunching and elusiveness, but Pacquiao kept up his attack while Bradley (31-1) struggled down the stretch.
In the same arena where the fighters met for their first bout, Pacquiao left little doubt about the result — although that's what he thought last time, too. Bradley's split-decision victory astonished most ringside observers, who felt Pacquiao had earned a clear decision.
"I knew I had to do more in this fight than I did in the last fight," Pacquiao said.
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