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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge has overturned a North Dakota law banning abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The measure bans abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected. The state's only abortion clinic, in Fargo, filed a lawsuit against it in July. U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland today ruled that the law is "invalid and unconstitutional." The measure was among four anti-abortion bills that Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed into law last year with overwhelming support from the state's Republican-led Legislature.
CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal judge has stayed his ruling ordering Ohio to recognize the marriages of gay couples who wed in other states. Judge Timothy Black says he wants to avoid "premature celebration and confusion" in case his ruling is overturned on appeal. However, Black made an exception for the four couples who filed a February lawsuit that led to the court case. He's ordered Ohio to immediately list both spouses in each relationship as parents on their children's birth certificates.
BOSTON (AP) — Authorities in Massachusetts have sent the man arrested near the Boston Marathon finish line carrying a backpack containing a rice cooker to a state psychiatric facility for an evaluation. Kayvon Edson was stopped last night after passers-by told an officer they saw him yelling, walking barefoot down the middle of a street, veiled in black, in pouring rain. The backpack was destroyed. His mother says Edson has bipolar disorder.
BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR' tsahr-NEYE'-ehv) are offering some clues about their defense strategy in court proceedings today. They told the judge that understanding their client's family is key to their case, as they argued that the government shouldn't be allowed to monitor prison visits Tsarnaev has with his two sisters. Authorities say Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, placed two homemade bombs near the finish line of last year's marathon.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic militants are suspected of being behind another deadly rampage in Nigeria. Officials say gunmen attacked a village in the country's northeast, killing 18 people, while a traditional ruler was shot to death in his palace along with his security guard. The string of attacks this week began with a massive explosion at a busy bus station in Nigeria's capital that killed at least 75 people. Yesterday, extremists posing as government soldiers kidnapped about 100 female students from a school in the northeast.
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