Putin explains missile shipment to Iran...Putin says sanctions aren't destroying Russia's economy...Gyrocopter lands near US Capitol

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says he's allowed the delivery of an air defense missile system to Iran because progress has been made in nuclear talks. He tells a nationally-televised call-in show today that a 2010 Russian ban was voluntary, and that his decision this week to lift the ban doesn't contradict international sanctions against Iran, which are still in place. Putin says Iran "has shown a great degree of flexibility and a desire to reach compromise" in reaching a framework nuclear agreement earlier this month.

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin says Western sanctions slapped on his country because of the Ukraine crisis are not crushing Russia's economy. Putin told a nationally televised call-in show today that the ruble's recovery is a sign of renewed investor confidence in Moscow. He says there is low unemployment and a there's a 3.7 percent increase in agricultural production. But Putin acknowledges that an annual inflation rate of 11.4- percent is putting a strain on the budgets of Russians.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man says he alerted the U.S. Secret Service that his friend planned to fly a gyrocopter onto the U.S. Capitol lawn. Mike Shanahan tells The Tampa Bay Times that 61-year-old postal worker Doug Hughes phoned him Wednesday and told him of his plans, but Shanahan says he feared the small aircraft and his friend would be shot down. The gyrocopter landed about half a city block from the Capitol building. Hughes was arrested.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has halted the executions of six suspects sentenced by military courts on charges ranging from terrorism and murder to suicide bombing and kidnapping for ransom. There are allegations that the legal proceedings against the suspects were unlawful. Today's decision follows a petition raised by an organization of lawyers that challenged a recently adopted change to Pakistan's constitution, allowing military courts to try suspects wanted on terror charges.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Two men in South Carolina are charged with intentionally causing a train wreck so that they could file a false injury claim. An indictment has just been unsealed, charging 33-year-old James Love and 34-year-old Deon Roberts with fraud and causing a train wreck. Prosecutors say the men parked a stolen car on the tracks in Allendale County and left until an Amtrak train crashed into it. Then Love allegedly got back into the damaged car and Roberts lay down near it, both claiming to have been severely injured. No one on the train was hurt.

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