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Around the World: April 16, 2015

Here's what's happening across the United States and around the world today.

Search area for Flight 370 to be doubled if plane not found

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia says the search area for the missing Flight 370 will be expanded by another 23,000 square miles in the Indian Ocean if the jetliner is not found by May.

The transport minister says Malaysia, Australia and China, which are leading the search for the Boeing 777 that went missing on March 8 last year, are "committed to the search."

He says so far 61 percent of the 23,000-square-mile search area has been scoured off Australia's west coast. He says the remaining area will have been searched by the end of May.

The plane went missing while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. It dropped off radar, and investigators later figured out that it made a series of turns and headed in a completely opposite direction from where it was heading before crashing into the Indian Ocean.

NEW: Putin says Russian economy remains strong

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin is hailing the nation's economic performance.

Putin said today in a televised call-in show that the nation's economic performance has remained strong, despite Western sanctions slapped on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis and a slump in global oil prices.

He noted a 3.7-percent increase in agricultural production and low unemployment, but acknowledged that an 11.4-percent annual inflation rate has put a strain on consumers' budget.

Putin pointed to the ruble's recent recovery following its sharp devaluation last year as a sign of the Russian economy's resilience.

He said the sanctions have given Russian a strong impetus to diversify away from its heavy reliance on oil and dependence on imports, and would encourage it to develop high-tech industries.

UPDATE: Friend feared Capitol gyrocopter pilot would get shot down

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A friend of the Florida postal worker who piloted a gyrocopter onto the U.S. Capitol's lawn says he feared the man would get shot down.

Mike Shanahan was quoted by The Tampa Bay Times as saying that Doug Hughes called him Wednesday and said he was in the D.C. area and ready to take off. Shanahan said he feared law enforcement would open fire on the small aircraft emblazoned with the Postal Service logo, so he alerted the U.S. Secret Service.

Police arrested the 61-year-old Hughes on Wednesday afternoon. They say he steered his tiny aircraft onto the Capitol's West Lawn after flying through restricted airspace around the National Mall.

Hughes says on a website that he wanted to call attention to his belief that campaign finance laws are too weak and allow corruption.

Court rules GM is shielded from death claims by bankruptcy

DETROIT (AP) — A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that General Motors is shielded from death and injury claims in crashes that happened before it emerged from bankruptcy protection.

But Judge Robert Gerber ruled that under narrow circumstances, some plaintiffs who sued over a loss to the value of their cars due to faulty ignition switches can file claims against the company for actions after it left bankruptcy protection in 2009.

The ruling is a victory for GM. One plaintiffs' attorney said the decision shields GM from $7 billion to $10 billion in potential liabilities from lawsuits.

Lawyers for plaintiffs in about 140 class-action lawsuits had argued that their clients never got a chance to dispute the bankruptcy order because GM concealed the defective ignition switches.

Disney-linked measles outbreak soon to be over in California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Health officials in California say a measles outbreak that began at Disneyland will be declared over if no new cases pop up by Friday.

Disease investigators worked for months to contain the highly contagious disease that originated at Disney theme parks in December and spread to several other states and countries.

In all, 131 people in California were infected.

SKoreans remember ferry disaster

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president is promising to salvage the ferry that sank a year ago, killing 304 people, most of whom were high school students.

But President Park Geun-hye (goon-hay) was snubbed by angry relatives of victims as Park visited a small port near the site of the sinking.

The families refused to meet with the president, but she gave a speech anyway.

Flags have been lowered at half-staff across the country to mark the anniversary of the disaster.

Israel marks Holocaust memorial day with sirens, ceremonies

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis are marking Holocaust memorial day today.

They stood still for two minutes as sirens pierced the air in remembrance of the 6 million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.

Motorists stepped out of their cars and pedestrians stopped in their tracks and bowed their heads.

Melancholic music and interviews with Holocaust survivors are filling the airwaves while TV stations show documentaries about the genocide.

UN special envoy to Yemen stepping down

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy to Yemen is calling it quits after four years of efforts at a peaceful political transition in the Arab country.

The departure of Jamal Benomar creates a diplomatic vacuum in Yemen, where he had been the key international figure working to bring the feuding parties together.

Yemen is now under weeks of airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition in an attempt to push back Shiite Houthi (HOO'-thee) rebels who swept south and caused the Western-backed president to flee.

NEW: Pakistani court stays executions of 6 convicted militants

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's top court has halted the executions of six suspects sentenced by military courts on charges ranging from terrorism, murder to suicide bombing and kidnapping for ransom, after allegations that the legal proceedings against them were unlawful.

Today's decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan followed a petition raised by an organization of lawyers that challenged a recently adopted constitutional amendment allowing military courts to try suspects wanted on terror charges.

The court adjourned the hearing until April 22 to give the government time to submit its reply.

The death sentences handed down to the six in early April marked the first such ruling since Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty last December following a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that killed 150 people, mostly children.

Legal troubles not over for Hernandez

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Former New England Patriots star tight end Aaron Hernandez is nowhere near done with his legal troubles.

Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday, after being convicted of killing the boyfriend of his fiancee's sister.

But Hernandez still faces a double murder charge in Boston.

Prosecutors allege that Hernandez killed two men in 2012, after one of them accidentally bumped into him at a nightclub and spilled Hernandez's drink.

Boy found in basement after search could testify in hearing

DETROIT (AP) — More testimony is expected today at a hearing in the case of a Detroit father and stepmother accused of torture and abuse after the man's son was found in their basement following an 11-day search by police.

The hearing is to determine if Charlie Bothuell (BAHTH'-yoo-ehl) and Monique Dillard-Bothuell will go to trial. They deny the charges and say they didn't know the boy, also named Charlie Bothuell, was there. The boy could testify.

Prosecutors say he was struck with a plastic pipe, forced to perform rigorous workouts and given a limited diet. Charlie went missing in June.

Detroit Police officer Lori Dillon testified Wednesday that she hugged the "hesitant" boy after he was discovered amid boxes. The pipe that investigators say Charlie's father used to beat the now-13-year-old boy also was introduced as evidence.

Common Core tests halted in 3 states because of server issue

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Officials say a problem with a computer server is stopping Common Core testing in Nevada, Montana and North Dakota.

A previous technical issue delayed it last month.

The three states contract with the New Hampshire-based Measured Progress to administer the tests, which are linked to the hotly disputed federal education standards.

The company says its platform isn't able to support the number of students taking the tests.

Coroner: Woman skirts crossing gate, is killed by train

MERIDIAN, Miss. (AP) — The coroner in Lauderdale County, Mississippi says a woman died within seconds after she drove her SUV around an active crossing gate and collided with an Amtrak train.

The collision happened Wednesday afternoon on Norfolk Southern Railway tracks near downtown Meridian.

The 57-year-old woman's SUV was pushed nearly a quarter mile. No one on the train was hurt.

New Kansas rules would limit spending of welfare benefits

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Poor families in Kansas will no longer be able to use cash assistance from the state to attend concerts, get tattoos, see a psychic or buy lingerie.

There are several dozen items on the list of don'ts.

More than 20 other states have similar lists. But, officials from the state Department for Children and Families say the one Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback plans to sign today appears to be the most exhaustive.

Jon Stewart even mocked the list on "The Daily Show."

USDA to propose standards for organic seafood raised in US

WASHINGTON (AP) — After more than a decade of delays, the government is moving toward allowing the sale of U.S.-raised organic fish and shellfish. But don't expect it in the grocery store anytime soon.

The Agriculture Department says it will propose standards for the farmed organic fish year this year. That means the seafood could be available in as few as two years — but only if USDA moves quickly to complete the rules and seafood companies decide to embrace them.

Some fish farmers are concerned that the new standards will be unworkable because of strict restrictions on feed. And some environmentalists and consumer advocates are concerned they won't be strict enough.

The European Union and Canada already export organic products to the U.S.


That's what's happening. Read more stories to jump start your day in our special Breakfast Buzz section.

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