| Rebel gives bizarre account of MH17 crash Posted: 18 Jul 2014 11:22 AM PDT  Separatist commander suggests many victims may have died days before plane took off.
|
| Panel to vote on early release for drug felons Posted: 18 Jul 2014 11:04 AM PDT  Tens of thousands of federal drug inmates may be eligible for early release under a proposal adopted by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
|
| Massive Wash. wildfire burns homes, leads to evacuations Posted: 18 Jul 2014 10:26 AM PDT  A large, wind-whipped wildfire in rural north-central Washington destroyed an estimated 100 homes, forced the evacuation of a small town and cut power to most of the scenic Methow Valley.
|
| After tragedy, world urges truce in Ukraine Posted: 18 Jul 2014 10:09 AM PDT  World leaders demanded speedy access for investigators to the MH17 crash site.
|
| Obama identifies American on downed MH17 Posted: 18 Jul 2014 09:35 AM PDT  The president called the missile attack on the Malaysian jet a global tragedy.
|
| Obama encourages Israel to minimize civilian casualties Posted: 18 Jul 2014 10:10 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Friday that he encouraged Israel's leader to minimize civilian deaths in its ground push into Hamas-ruled Gaza, while letting him know that the U.S. supports Israel's right to self-defense.
|
| 'Unimaginable' stories from victims' families emerge Posted: 18 Jul 2014 09:44 AM PDT Dutch families jetting off to exotic destinations, more than 100 AIDS experts, British football fans and a twice unlucky Australian family were among victims of the doomed Malaysia Airlines plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine. "It was my brother and best friend," said a distraught Sander Essers, 66, who lost his brother Peter, sister-in-law Jolette Neusink and their two children Emma, 20 and Valentijn, 17 in the crash. Peter Essers' wife, Jolette, was a clinical psychologist who ran her own practice and ironically worked with victims traumatised by war. Also on board was prominent former International AIDS Society president Joep Lange, who together with as many as 100 other Aids activists were on their way to Melbourne for the 20th International Aids Conference, media reports said. |
| U.N. demands full investigation of MH17 Posted: 18 Jul 2014 09:46 AM PDT  U.S. envoy makes case that pro-Russian separatists fired missile with Russian help.
|
| Russia may reap whirlwind if it had hand in missile launch Posted:  Analysis: Russia may reap whirlwind if it had hand in missile launch
|
| Boko Haram Islamists 'kill many' in Nigeria attack Posted: 18 Jul 2014 10:08 AM PDT  Boko Haram gunmen killed many people in an attack in the restive northeast, throwing explosives into residential homes and shooting dead civilians who tried to surrender, an official and witnesses said Friday. Residents in the town of Damboa said they were left completely defenceless after the security forces pulled out of the area following a militant attack two weeks ago. Women and children fled into the bush," said an official with the Damboa local government, who requested anonymity. Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group in Nigeria blamed for slaughtering more than 2,000 civilians already this year, has increasingly targeted remote northeastern communities, razing entire villages while firing indiscriminately on the population.
|
| Jihadis seize Syria gas field, 100 feared dead Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:54 AM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic militants killed about 100 Syrian troops, guards and workers as they captures a gas field in central Syria following daylong clashes, activists said Friday.
|
| Dozens of leading AIDS experts lost in Ukraine crash Posted: 18 Jul 2014 07:11 AM PDT  By Sonali Paul and Robin Emmott MELBOURNE/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The world of AIDS research was in shock on Friday after dozens of leading HIV experts were feared killed when a Malaysian plane was shot down over Ukraine, fuelling concerns that research on curing the disease could suffer. Among them was Joep Lange, who researched the condition for more than 30 years and was considered a giant in the field, admired for his tireless advocacy for access to affordable AIDS drugs for HIV positive patients living in poor countries. "Global health and the AIDS response have lost one of their great leaders," Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a former executive director of UNAIDS, told Reuters in London. "Joep Lange was one of the most creative AIDS researchers, a humanist, and tireless organizer, dedicated to his patients and to defeating AIDS in the poorest countries." The United Nations AIDS program, UNAIDS, said it feared "some of the finest academics, health-care workers and activists in the AIDS response may have perished" on the plane.
|
| Indiana U. student among victims on Malaysian airliner Posted: 18 Jul 2014 09:29 AM PDT  (Reuters) - A Dutch doctoral student and former member of the Indiana University rowing team was among the passengers killed when Malaysian airliner went down in Ukraine, the university said Friday in a statement. Karlijn Keijzer, 25, was a doctoral student in the chemistry department in the university's college of Arts and Sciences, had earned a master's degree from the university and was a member of the women's rowing team in the 2011 season, the university said. "The Indiana rowing family is deeply saddened by the news of Karlijn's sudden passing," Indiana head rowing coach Steve Peterson said in a statement.
|
| Black box confusion: Who has them? Posted: 18 Jul 2014 05:13 AM PDT  Ukraine government says it found two at crash site of Malaysian airliner. Pro-separatists say they have some too.
|
| Russian President Putin makes post-crash plea for peace Posted: 18 Jul 2014 05:41 AM PDT  ROZSYPNE, Ukraine (AP) — Emergency workers, police officers and even off-duty coal miners — dressed in overalls and covered in soot — spread out Friday across the sunflower fields and villages of eastern Ukraine, searching the wreckage of a jetliner shot down as it flew miles above the country's battlefield.
|
| 23 Palestinians, Israeli soldier killed in Gaza ground offensive Posted: 18 Jul 2014 10:06 AM PDT  By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel intensified its land offensive in Gaza with artillery, tanks and gunboats on Friday and warned it could "significantly widen" an operation Palestinian officials said was killing ever greater numbers of civilians. Palestinian health officials said 35 Palestinians, including a baby, four children and a 70-year-old woman, had been killed since Israel sent ground forces on Thursday into the densely-populated enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians. One Israeli soldier was killed and several others were wounded in the Gaza Strip operations, in which some 150 targets, including 21 concealed rocket launchers and four tunnels, have been attacked, according to the military. U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, underscoring the U.S. support for Israel to defend itself but raising concerns about consequences of wider conflict.
|
| Why airlines didn't avoid Ukraine airspace Posted: 18 Jul 2014 07:33 AM PDT  Some carriers steered clear of the country, but others continued to fly near the fighting.
|
| Growing wildfire empties small Wash. town Posted: 18 Jul 2014 12:10 AM PDT SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A small north-central Washington town and a nearby hospital threatened by a wind-whipped wildfire have been evacuated, and the blaze has burned at least 35 homes in Okanogan County, the sheriff said. |
| Clinton: Will have 'specific agenda' if she runs Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:10 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday if she decides to run for the White House in 2016 she will have "a very specific agenda" but acknowledged in an interview that the modern role of U.S. president has "gotten even bigger and more difficult." |
| Obama warns Russia, Ukrainian separatists over downed airliner Posted: 17 Jul 2014 12:18 PM PDT  President Obama delivered an unmistakable warning to Russia and Moscow-backed Ukrainian separatists not to tamper with the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet apparently shot down over rebel-controlled territory.
|
| Mississippi hate crime investigation grows with 4 indictments Posted: 17 Jul 2014 04:56 PM PDT  A three-year federal investigation into groups of suburban white teens crossing into Mississippi's capital city to attack blacks has grown to 10 indictments and six convictions.
|
| FedEx charged with illegal drug shipments Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:23 PM PDT  FedEx is accused of delivering painkillers, other drugs to customers without prescriptions.
|
| Israeli ground offensive under way in Gaza Posted: 17 Jul 2014 06:24 PM PDT  Thousands of soldiers have invaded Gaza as Israel resumes attacks against Hamas.
|
| Buk missile suspected in MH17 crash Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:48 PM PDT  The Malaysia Airlines jet was flying far above the range of conventional portable anti-aircraft launchers when it was destroyed Thursday — but it was well within the altitude range of the powerful Buk missile-launcher.
|
| Bank robbers intended to take hostages, prosecutor says Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:31 PM PDT  Prosecutors say the three men who robbed a California bank and took three hostages before engaging in a gun battle with police intended to take hostages.
|
| One in three Iowa Republicans dislikes Chris Christie: poll Posted: 17 Jul 2014 12:27 PM PDT  Possible presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie face challenges in Iowa, a new NBC News/Marist poll finds.
|
| Israel sending ground troops to Gaza Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:23 PM PDT  Israeli forces have launched a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, the military said.
|
| Judge overturns gay marriage ban in Florida Keys Posted: 17 Jul 2014 11:52 AM PDT  MIAMI (AP) — A judge in the Florida Keys overturned the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on Thursday after a legal challenge by gay couples said it effectively made them second-class citizens.
|
| Elaine Stritch, Broadway icon and TV star, dies at 89 Posted: 17 Jul 2014 11:17 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — Elaine Stritch, the brash theater performer whose gravelly, gin-laced voice and impeccable comic timing made her a theatrical icon, has died, according to Brigade Marketing. She was 89.
|
| Downed plane could alter course of Ukraine fight Posted: 18 Jul 2014 11:26 AM PDT  PARIS (AP) — The downing of a passenger jet in Ukraine is likely to be a turning point in the country's conflict. But which way it turns depends mainly on who carried out the attack and how convincingly it can be proved to the world.
|
| Israel PM says expansion of Gaza assault possible Posted: 18 Jul 2014 09:48 AM PDT  GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops pushed deeper into Gaza on Friday to destroy rocket launching sites and tunnels, firing volleys of tank shells and clashing with Palestinian fighters in a high-stakes ground offensive meant to weaken the enclave's Hamas rulers.
|
| AP ANALYSIS: Israel and Hamas dislike status quo Posted: 18 Jul 2014 11:26 AM PDT  If Israel and Hamas can agree on one point, it seems, it's that things have to change.
|
| Child migrant surge shifts politics of immigration Posted: 18 Jul 2014 11:18 AM PDT  The surge of Central American children crossing the U.S. southern border has shifted the politics of immigration, weakening one of the most potent arguments Democrats plan to make against Republicans in November and in the next presidential election.
|
