Panel: Renewable energy is key

Panel: Renewable energy is key

DOHA, Qatar

The world’s top scientific body concluded that renewable energy in the coming decades will be widespread and could one day represent the dominant source for powering factories and lighting homes, according to a draft report obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. But the report also warned that such expansion will be costly, and policy changes will have to be enacted to ensure that renewable energy can achieve its potential in helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Last WWI combat veteran dies at 110

SYDNEY

The last known combat veteran of World War I was defiant of the tolls of time, a centenarian who swam in the sea, twirled across dance floors, and published his first book at 108. He also refused to submit to his place in history, becoming a pacifist who wouldn’t march in parades commemorating wars like the one that made him famous.

Claude Stanley Choules, a man of contradictions, humble spirit and wry humor, died in a Western Australia nursing home Thursday at age 110. And though his accomplishments were many — including a a 41-year military career that spanned two world wars — the man known as “Chuckles” to his comrades in the Australian Navy was happiest being known as a dedicated family man.

50th anniversary of 1st US man in space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

Fifty years to the moment Alan Shepard rocketed away, more than 100 Project Mercury workers joined former astronauts and NASA leaders at the original Redstone launch pad Thursday to celebrate the event that opened space travel to Americans.

Shepard became the first American in space May 5, 1961, soaring 116 miles high in his Freedom 7 capsule.

The Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin beat him into space by just 23 days. Then, as now, those who helped launch Shepard took solace in the fact that “it was the first one for the free world.”

Shepard died in 1998 at age 74. NASA played the original capsule recording of his voice for the entire 15-minute flight, during the hourlong ceremony.

More teens plead in bullying case

HADLEY, Mass.

Three teenagers admitted Thursday that they participated in the bullying of a 15-year-old girl who later committed suicide, with one of their lawyers complaining that they had been unfairly demonized as “mean girls.”

Sharon Chanon Velazquez, 17, and Flannery Mullins and Ashley Longe, both 18, were sentenced to less than a year of probation after they admitted to sufficient facts to misdemeanor charges in the bullying of Phoebe Prince, a freshman at South Hadley High School who hanged herself in January 2010.

Brazil’s top court OKs civil unions

SAO PAULO

Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday night that civil unions between same-sex couples must be allowed in this nation with more Roman Catholics than any other.

In a 10-0 vote, with one abstention, the justices said gay couples deserve the same legal rights as heterosexual pairs when it comes to alimony, retirement benefits of a partner who dies and inheritances, among other issues.

The ruling, however, stopped short of legalizing gay marriage. In Latin America, that is legal only in neighboring Argentina and in Mexico City.

Associated Press