Charles Manson gets a marriage license

November 18, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

CORCORAN, Calif.

Mass murderer Charles Manson, 80. plans to marry a 26-year-old woman who left her Midwestern home and spent the past nine years trying to help exonerate him.

Afton Elaine Burton, the raven-haired bride-to-be, said she loves the man convicted in the notorious murders of seven people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate.

No date has been set, but a wedding coordinator has been assigned by the prison to handle the nuptials, and the couple has until early February to get married before they would have to reapply.

FBI probes laws on shipping body parts

LAS VEGAS

U.S. investigators are trying to determine whether any laws were broken by two American tourists who police say tried to ship preserved human parts from Thailand to Las Vegas.

FBI spokeswoman Bridget Pappas said Monday that investigators are aware that Ryan McPherson and Daniel Tanner were questioned after Bangkok police confiscated the three packages labeled “toys.”

Police say they contained body parts including an infant’s head, a baby’s foot and an adult heart.

The 31-year-old McPherson and 33-year-old Tanner were released. They left Thailand on Sunday and couldn’t be reached to comment.

Scientists hope comet lander will wake up

BERLIN

A burst of sunshine in the spring could be just the wakeup call for Europe’s comet lander.

Scientists raised hopes Monday that as the Philae lander nears the sun its solar panel-powered battery will recharge, and the first spacecraft to touch down on a comet will send a second round of scientific data back to Earth.

Since landing with a bounce on the comet Wednesday, Philae already has sent back reams of data that scientists are eagerly examining. But there were fears its mission would be cut short because it came to rest in the shadow of a cliff. Its signal went silent Saturday after its primary battery ran out.

Putin, Merkel take some tough stances

MOSCOW

The leaders of Russia and Germany squared off over Ukraine from opposite sides of the globe, with Vladimir Putin warning that Moscow will not accept a defeat for the pro-Russia rebels and Angela Merkel accusing the Kremlin of undermining peace across Europe.

But despite the harsh rhetoric, European Union foreign ministers refrained from increasing the sanctions against Moscow, voicing support for a floundering peace deal in eastern Ukraine that has been undermined by continuing hostilities.

At least 10 people were killed and 17 others wounded in the latest fighting, authorities reported Monday.

Suspect sought in fatal subway shove

NEW YORK

Police on Monday hunted for the man who shoved a stranger off a subway platform to his death and circulated surveillance footage of the suspect walking calmly away from the station just minutes after the fatal push.

Wai Kuen Kwok, 61, was standing with his wife on the platform at the Grand Concourse and East 167th Street station in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx on Sunday when he was pushed from behind.

Kwok was struck by a southbound D train about 8:40 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene. His wife was not injured.

There was no indication that Kwok knew the man, police said.

Associated Press