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BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni insurgents are expanding their offensive in western Iraq. The militants, who are led by an al-Qaida-inspired group, have captured three strategic towns in Anbar province and a border crossing with Syria. Qaim (kym), Rawah (RAY'-wah) and Anah are the first towns seized in the province since the militants overran Fallujah and parts of Ramadi earlier this year.
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin supports Ukraine's proposed cease-fire plan and is appealing to both sides to halt all military operations. But Putin says the plan "will not be viable or realistic" without negotiations. Ukraine's president says the cease-fire is the first step in a peace plan that would include an amnesty for pro-Russian separatist fighters.
CASSANO ALL'JONIO, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis says all mobsters are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church. At an outdoor Mass in Calabria, Italy, on Saturday Francis denounced the syndicate for what he called its "adoration of evil and contempt for the common good." Calabria is the power base of a global drug trafficking and extortion syndicate.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Border Patrol will fly nearly 300 Central American immigrants from South Texas to California on Monday for processing, as the government moves to ease the workload on agents at the nation's busiest corridor for illegal crossings. That's according to San Diego sector chief Paul Beeson who says the flights are expected to continue every three days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is accusing President Barack Obama and other Democrats of waging wars against religious liberty and education. Speaking Saturday night at an annual conference of evangelical leaders in Washington, D.C., Jindal said a rebellion is brewing in the U.S. with people ready for what he calls "a hostile takeover" of the nation's capital.
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