Obama visits Sioux reservation

Obama visits Sioux reservation

CANNON BALL, N.D.

President Barack Obama on Friday became only the third U.S. sitting president in eight decades to set foot in Indian country, encountering both the wonder of Native American culture and the struggle of tribal life on a breeze-whipped afternoon in the prairie. Amid snapping flags and colorful, befeathered dancers, Obama declared that there was more the U.S. could do to help Native Americans.

Obama drew attention to inroads his administration has made with tribes even as he promoted the need to help reservations create jobs, strengthen justice, and improve health and education.

“Young people should be able to live and work and raise a family right here in the land of your fathers and mothers,” Obama told a crowd of about 1,800 during a Flag Day celebration at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

Same-sex marriages in Wis. put on hold

MADISON, Wis.

A federal judge put same-sex marriages in Wisconsin on hold Friday, a week after she struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional, a move that allowed more than 500 couples to wed over the past eight days.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb’s ruling Friday means that gay marriages will end while the appeal from Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is pending. Couples who were in the middle of the five-day waiting period to get a license, which most counties waived, are caught in limbo.

Ukrainian troops drive out rebels

MARIUPOL, Ukraine

Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia separatists clashed Friday in a southern port town, as the United States confirmed earlier reports that a convoy of armored vehicles including three T-64 Russian tanks moved into Ukraine from Russia and now are in the hands of the rebels.

About 100 soldiers emerged triumphant from the previously rebel-occupied buildings in Mariupol, shouting the name of their battalion, Azov, and singing the Ukrainian national anthem. They also destroyed an armored vehicle and a heavy truck used by the separatists, leaving the vehicles scorched and riddled with large-caliber bullet holes.

Parents of teen gunman apologize

PORTLAND, Ore.

The parents of a teenager who fatally shot a classmate and himself at an Oregon high school released a statement Friday in which they apologized for their son’s actions and said they never promoted violence or hatred.

Michael Padgett and his ex-wife, Kristina, said they are at a loss as to how and why the shooting occurred. The letter states they taught Jared Padgett and their other children the values of compassion, forgiveness, patience and love in Jesus Christ.

The statement was hand-delivered Friday afternoon to KPTV, the FOX affiliate in Portland.

Thailand’s junta lifts nationwide curfew

BANGKOK

Thailand’s military government announced that it has fully lifted a nationwide curfew it imposed after seizing power last month, saying there is no threat of violence and that tourism needs to be revived.

Political protests and criticism of the coup, however, remain banned by the junta, which said a return to elected civilian rule cannot be expected for at least 15 months.

The curfew earlier had been reduced to four hours from seven hours, and had been lifted in several resort areas popular with tourists after complaints from the tourism industry over the financial damage it was causing.

Associated Press