Prosecutor: Their lives mattered...Vigil planned in Baltimore...Gains against Islamic State

BOSTON (AP) — A prosecutor has told jurors in the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR' tsahr-NEYE'-ehv) that they will come to know the four people he killed and "why their lives mattered." In her opening statement of the penalty phase of his trial, the prosecutor showed enlarged photographs of the four victims, and said, "They had time to be scared and frightened. They had no time to say goodbye. That is the very essence of terror." Three people died in the bombings. An MIT police officer was killed days later.

BALTIMORE (AP) — A vigil is planned this evening in Baltimore at the spot where Freddie Gray was arrested. Authorities say the arrest took place earlier this month after police "made eye contact" with him and another man, and the two started running. Gray was placed in a transport van, and about a half-hour later he was rushed to the hospital with what's described as a "significant spinal injury." He died a week later. A civil rights group is calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether officers have committed civil rights violations.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi security officials are reporting gains against Islamic State fighters. They say Iraqi troops have recaptured areas that were lost earlier to the militants in and around the battleground city of Ramadi. According to the officials, troops have been engaged in intense clashes today as part of an offensive to regain control of one of three villages that fell into the hands of the Islamic State group last week.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks have been wavering today as big companies turn in a mixed batch of earnings results. Overseas, markets in Asia surged on optimism about recent reforms in China. And major markets in Europe continued their recent climb.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is giving Ukraine more than $260 million in low-interest loans. It's part of a package aimed at reviving that country's economy. It was battered by almost a year of fighting between government troops and Russian-backed separatists.

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