Estimated read time: 10-11 minutes
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The world at 6:10 p.m. Times are EDT.
At the Nerve Center, Stephanie Siek and Mike Stewart can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Swayne Hall (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com. For access to AP Exchange and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 877-836-9477.
NEW & DEVELOPING
— Adds NYPD INTELLIGENCE, PAP SMEAR DEBATE-FDA.
— IRAN-NUCLEAR — APNewsBreak: Diplomats say UN report will show Iran cutting half of uranium stock closest to nuke-arms grade. SENT:
— EPA-EMISSIONS — Appeals court rejects state and industry challenges to EPA mercury standards for power plants. SENT: 730 words.
— OBAMA-CLEMENCY — Obama commutes sentence of inmate who got more than 3 years extra time due to typo. SENT: 570 words. UPCOMING: 800 words by 7 p.m.
— WOMAN SLAIN — Law school grad gets life term in woman's torture, death; cellphone made accidental call and recorded her begging for life. SENT: 310 words.
— NEW LA NEWSPAPER — Los Angeles Register to launch as Freedom Communications Inc. expands print empire in southern California. SENT: 720 words, photos.
TOP STORIES
UKRAINE
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — In the first Ukrainian military action against a pro-Russian uprising in the east, government forces say they repel an attack on a small airbase by a group of some 30 gunmen. Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, had earlier announced an "anti-terrorist operation" against the insurgents who have seized control of numerous buildings in the east of the country. By Yuras Karmanau. SENT: 950 words, photos.
— AP VIDEO — A look at developments in Ukraine (ukraine_latest).
NYPD INTELLIGENCE
NEW YORK — The New York Police Department disbands a special unit whose efforts to detect terror threats in Muslim communities sparked outrage. The program relied on plainclothes officers to eavesdrop on people in bookstores, restaurants and mosques but had come under fire by community activists who accused the department of abusing civil rights. The move comes just months after the city got a new mayor and police commissioner. By Tom Hays and Jake Pearson. SENT: 130 words. UPCOMING: 500 words by 8 p.m., photos.
NIGERIA-VIOLENCE
LAGOS, Nigeria — The kidnapping of about 100 girls from a school in northeastern Nigeria and a bombing that killed at least 75 people in the capital increase doubts about the military's ability to contain an Islamic uprising that threatens to spread to neighboring countries. Some Muslims say they suspect the violence is kept simmering for political reasons, a year before elections. By Michelle Faul. SENT: 980 words, photos.
POLITICAL MONEY
WASHINGTON — Deep-pocketed donors are turning over multimillion-dollar checks to influence November's elections, and the sums raised by the national parties and their super PAC allies are already approaching the $1 billion mark, according to financial reports still being filed Tuesday evening. An imprecise snapshot of political giving is coming into focus as outside organizations detail their fundraising and spending through March 31. By Philip Elliott. SENT: 820 words. UPCOMING: Updates possible as reports become available through the night.
IMMIGRATION
WASHINGTON — Latinos and immigration activists are warning of political peril for President Barack Obama and Democrats in the fall election if the president doesn't curb deportations and allow more immigrants to remain in the U.S. legally, including parents of children who were born in the U.S. or were brought to the country illegally. Many activists say Obama has been slow to grasp the anger and despair building within the Latino community. By Erica Werner. SENT: 980 words, photo.
WOMEN IN COMBAT
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — First Lieutenant Kelly Requa is breaking new ground at Fort Bragg. She's one of a small number of female lieutenants brought into the 3rd Battalion of the 321st Field Artillery Regiment to lead a cannon platoon at the North Carolina base. For the women, the integration into the once men-only artillery platoons means more pressure and scrutiny. For the men, it means more training for sexual-assault prevention and awareness, and more lectures on respect, team building and moral character. By Lolita C. Baldor. SENT: 1,100 words, photos, audio, video.
— AP VIDEO — First women move to army platoon artillery jobs (0415dv_women_combat_roles).
BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING
BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING-ANNIVERSARY
BOSTON — Survivors, first responders and relatives of those killed in the Boston Marathon bombing mark the anniversary with tributes combining sorrow with pride over the city's resilience. Vice President Joe Biden says the courage shown by survivors and the grieving is an inspiration for other Americans, and he praises the 36,000 runners who plan to run the marathon next week, saying they will send a message to terrorists: "America will never, ever, ever stand down." By Denise Lavoie. SENT: 760 words, photos, video.
BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING-TRIPLE SLAYING
BOSTON — It was a shocking slaying in a suburb that sometimes goes years without one homicide, let alone three at once. The victims' throats had been sliced in an apartment on a tree-lined street, marijuana and cash strewn over their bodies. The 2011 case remains unsolved, though bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was fingered in the killings after his death in a police shootout. Clues that might early on have led local investigators to Tsarnaev, who was already on the FBI's radar as a possible religious extremist, raise questions about whether the marathon bombings could have been averted. By Denise Lavoie. SENT: 1,100 words, photo.
— BOSTON MARATHON-THEN AND NOW — A year later, AP revisits sites of Boston Marathon bombing, search for suspects. SENT: 220 words, photos.
HEALTH
PAP SMEAR DEBATE-FDA
WASHINGTON — A high-tech screening tool for cervical cancer is facing pushback from more than a dozen patient groups, who warn that the genetic test could displace a simpler, cheaper and more established mainstay of women's health: the Pap smear. By Health Writer Matthew Perrone. SENT: 860 words.
INTERNATIONAL
PISTORIUS-TRIAL
PRETORIA, South Africa — For five days, Oscar Pistorius endured a withering cross-examination at his murder trial from a prosecutor who pounced on apparent inconsistencies in his testimony in an effort to undermine the athlete's credibility. Yet, legal analysts predict that expert witnesses who are expected to testify for the defense could slow the prosecution's momentum in trying to prove Pistorius intentionally killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp after an argument. By Gerald Imray and Christopher Torchia. SENT: 910 words, video, photos.
MALAYSIA-PLANE
PERTH, Australia — A robotic submarine looking for the lost Malaysian jet begins its second mission after cutting short its first because the ocean waters where it was sent were too deep. By Margie Mason. SENT: 870 words, photos, video.
UNITED NATIONS-SYRIA-TORTURE PHOTOS
UNITED NATIONS — The bodies of the young men in the photographs are emaciated, their bones protruding. Some bear the marks of strangulation. Others have bruises and welts from being beaten. The U.N. Security Council meets privately to view projected slides of the dead, who offer mute testimony to the savagery of the Syrian civil war. By Peter James Spielmann. SENT: 630 words, photos.
MEXICO-A DOG'S LIFE
MEXICO CITY — Life is tough for dogs in Mexico, where pets are often left all day chained on rooftops or locked up inside apartments, while millions of the animals roam the streets fending for themselves. These days, though, a surge in the middle class has created a new market for fancy goods and services for dogs, including clothing and accessory boutiques, spas and restaurants with doggie snacks cooked by a pastry chef. By Isaac Garrido. SENT: 760 words, photos.
CHINA-LAWYERS ABUSED
BEIJING — His head covered in a black hood, lawyer Tang Jitian recalls being taken into a room and hearing the sound of a rope being pulled. Soon, he was dangling in the air. "Five or six people were hitting me and kicking me. All I heard was 'thud, thud, thud,'" Tang says. He is among four Chinese rights lawyers who say they were tortured by police after protesting outside a detention center in northeastern China, where they joined people demanding information about relatives believed locked up for membership in Falun Gong. By Didi Tang. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.
WASHINGTON
5 THINGS TO KNOW-TAXES
Five things to consider as the tax filing deadline nears. SENT: 270 words, photo.
— IRS-PRIVATE COLLECTORS — A public employees union is fighting a bipartisan plan in the Senate to revive an IRS program that used private bill collectors to dun deliquent taxpayers. SENT: 550 words.
TRANSPORTATION BLUES
DAYTON, Ohio — On an eight-state bus trip, the U.S. transportation secretary is spreading some bad news: the government's Highway Trust Fund is nearly broke. If allowed to run dry, that could set back or shut down projects across the country, force widespread layoffs of construction workers and delay needed repairs and improvements. Anthony Foxx is asking Congress to quickly approve legislation to pay for highway and transit programs. By Joan Lowy. SENT: 960 words, photos.
NATIONAL
TEXAS EXECUTION POLITICS
AUSTIN, Texas — The death penalty is like gun rights in Texas politics: Candidates don't dare to get in the way of either. But Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, the favorite to succeed Gov. Rick Perry next year, could soon put a kink in the nation's busiest death chamber. Abbott appears to face the choice of reversing his earlier legal opinions that Texas should disclose the supplier of execution drugs or appearing to side with anti-death penalty advocates who are trying to halt the executions. By Paul J. Weber. SENT: 670 words, photos.
SERIAL MURDERS ARREST
SANTA ANA, Calif. — GPS trackers help authorities link two convicted sex offenders to the rape and murder of at least four women, but some say the monitoring system should have done more to prevent the crimes in the first place. By Gillian Flaccus and Don Thompson. SENT: 790 words, video, photos.
ENTERTAINMENT
FILM-TRIBECA
NEW YORK — When the 13th annual Tribeca Film Festival opens Wednesday night, it will present 80-plus feature films and an "Innovation Week" that seems designed to capture some of the tech energy of SXSW. By Film Writer Jake Coyle. SENT: 820 words, photo.
SPORTS
ROBINSON DAY
NEW YORK — Baseball holds tributes across the country on Jackie Robinson Day, the 67th anniversary marking the end of the game's racial barrier. Commissioner Bud Selig is to speak on diversity and the Dodger great's impact on the sport. By Ronald Blum. UPCOMING: 500 words by 7 p.m., photos.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION
— SEVEN DEAD BABIES — Investigators seek answers about why Utah woman killed 6 babies and stored them in garage. SENT: 720 words, video, photos.
— MARIJUANA-BRAIN — A small study of casual marijuana smokers has turned up evidence of changes in the brain, a possible sign of trouble ahead, researchers say. SENT: 450 words.
— FATAL SHOOTING-KANSAS — Kansas prosecutors file state-level murder charges against the white supremacist accused in fatal shootings of three people at two Jewish community sites in suburban Kansas City. SENT: 650 words, photo. SENT: 590 words, photos.
— WISCONSIN GOVERNOR-WALKER — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the only governor in U.S. history to survive a recall, launches his gubernatorial re-election bid without mentioning any possible 2016 presidential run. SENT: 800 words, photos.
— ITALY-BERLUSCONI — Former Italian premier ordered to spend four hours a week helping the elderly to repay society for his tax fraud conviction. SENT 540 words, photos.
— NIEDRINGHAUS COURAGE AWARD — A women's media group creates a new award for courage honoring slain Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus. UPCOMING: 360 words, photos.
— DRONE ARREST — Ohio hobbyist facing charges after deputies say his drone interfered with medical helicopter. SENT: 260 words.
— AMISH UNDERCOVER — Male cop dresses as Amish woman to nab suspect who was flashing Amish children in Pennsylvania. SENT: 310 words, photos.
— LUNAR ECLIPSE — Sky-gazers in North and South America get treated to a full lunar eclipse — at least those fortunate enough to have clear skies. SENT: 260 words, photos.
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