Yemeni forces open fire on crowd; 26 die

Yemeni forces open fire on crowd; 26 die

SANAA, Yemen

Yemeni government forces opened fire with anti-aircraft guns and automatic weapons on tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators in the capital demanding ouster of their longtime ruler, killing at least 26 and wounding dozens, medical officials and witnesses said. After nightfall, Sanaa sank into complete darkness after a sudden power outage, as protesters took control of a vital bridge, halting traffic and setting up tents. Thousands of other protesters attacked government buildings and set fires to buildings they said were used by snipers and pro-government thugs.

Doctors separate twins joined at head

LONDON

Sudanese twins born with the tops of their heads joined have been separated in a rare and risky series of operations at a London children’s hospital, officials said Sunday.

Facing the World, a charity that helps disfigured children, said it had helped fund the four-stage operation on 11-month-olds Rital and Ritag Gaboura.

Twins born joined at the head are known as craniopagus twins, and they occur in about one in 2.5 million births. Separating them can be dangerous, especially if — as in this case — there’s significant blood flow between their brains.

Cops: Man kills wife, wounds 2 pastors

LAKELAND, Fla.

A gunman killed his wife at their Florida home and then burst through the front door of a nearby church Sunday, wounding a pastor and associate pastor before parishioners tackled him, authorities and relatives said.

The suspect, 57-year-old Jeremiah Fogle, killed one person at a home about a block away from the church before shooting the pastors, the Polk County Sheriff’s office said. The two men, pastor William Boss and associate pastor Carl Stewart, were in critical condition. No other church members were hurt.

Strauss-Kahn: No force in encounters

PARIS

Dominique Strauss-Kahn broke his silence four months after a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault, calling his encounter with the woman a “moral failing” he deeply regrets, but insisting in an interview on French television Sunday that no violence was involved. Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund and a one-time top presidential contender in his native France, also denied using violence against a French writer who claims he tried to rape her in a separate 2003 incident.

Trucker charged in prostitutes’ deaths

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Long-haul trucker John Boyer’s gray beard and round face give him a grandfatherly appearance, but when he opens his mouth, he seethes with anger toward women. This hatred had murderous results, authorities said, as he picked up prostitutes around the Southeast, killed them and dumped their bodies near interstate highways. He’s accused of at least three slayings and is suspected in a fourth.

Boyer has pleaded guilty to killing a woman in North Carolina. He faces murder charges in slayings in Tennessee and South Carolina, and authorities said he confessed both of those crimes. The similarities of the cases and the apparent lack of remorse from Boyer have investigators encouraging their counterparts along highways around the Southeast to review unsolved killings and missing-person files. Even his own attorney in the North Carolina case felt uneasy around him and wondered what else he might have done.

Associated Press