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SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine have released seven military observers and five Ukrainian assistants who had been held for more than a week. The observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were seized on April 25 in Slovyansk (SLAHV'-yansk), the epicenter of eastern Ukraine's unrest. An insurgent leader is quoted as saying he ordered the release because of increasing insecurity in the city, where fighting broke out yesterday.
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say that the death toll from two car bombs that struck two small villages in the central province of Hama is likely to rise again after reaching 23 today, including 14 children. The rigged vehicles exploded yesterday in the villages which are about a 20-minute drive apart. It wasn't immediately clear if the two attacks were coordinated. Car bombs have been increasingly used by rebels.
CAIRO (AP) — Ten-year prison terms have been handed down in Egypt to 102 defendants in connection with demonstrations staged to protest the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi by the military in July. Another two defendants got seven year terms. An Egyptian criminal court describes the defendants as Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton is picking up more backing for a possible presidential run in 2016. Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, an early supporter of Barack Obama in 2008, plans to support the former secretary of state. The Associated Press obtained a copy of remarks that Kaine plans to deliver today at a breakfast of Democratic activists in Columbia, South Carolina.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says it reviewing how executions are carried out. Word of the review comes days after a botched lethal-injection execution in Oklahoma in which an inmate writhed in pain, convulsed and tried to speak after he had initially been declared unconscious. The procedure had to be halted. President Barack Obama said yesterday that the crime committed by convicted murderer Clayton Lockett was "heinous," but that the execution was "deeply troubling."
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