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UNDATED (AP) — Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer ordered flags lowered to half-staff to honor boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who died Friday at age 74. The funeral is Wednesday in his hometown. Ali was hospitalized in the Phoenix area with respiratory problems earlier this week. He won and defended the heavyweight championship in epic fights, spoke loudly on behalf of blacks, and famously refused to be drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War because of his Muslim beliefs.
SINGAPORE (AP) — The fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria is coming from a new direction. The U.S. Navy's top admiral says the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman has begun launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group from the Mediterranean Sea. Adm. John Richardson said in an Associated Press interview that this unusual arrangement is a demonstration of the flexibility of naval power.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The derailment of a train towing a highly volatile type of crude oil has sparked renewed criticism of shipping oil by rail. The train carrying Bakken crude oil derailed Friday in Oregon's scenic Columbia River Gorge, igniting a fire that sent a plume of black smoke into the sky, spurring evacuations and road closures. Several cars caught fire and crews plan to work overnight keeping down the flames.
BEIJING (AP) — Police checked IDs and searched the bags of anyone seeking to enter the environs of the vast public space in the center of the Chinese capital known as Tiananmen Square where thousands of students, workers and ordinary citizens gathered in 1989 to demand political reforms. The extra security comes on the 27th anniversary Saturday of China's bloody military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has shortened the sentences of 42 people serving time for drug-related offenses, continuing a push for clemency that has ramped up in the final year of his administration. Roughly half of the 42 receiving commutations Friday were serving life sentences. Most are nonviolent offenders.
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