Residents emerge in shell-shocked city

Residents emerge in shell-shocked city

LUHANSK, Ukraine

Months of daily shelling reduced the east Ukraine city of Luhansk to a ghost town, silent but for the explosions. On Sunday, after a cease-fire agreement signed Sept. 5, residents in the second-largest city held by pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine emerged in a rare show of jubilation.

In the largest rebel stronghold of Donetsk, fighting around the government-held airport has caught many neighborhoods in the crossfire. The city council of Donetsk confirmed Sunday that there were civilian casualties, but couldn’t specify how many.

Sweden shifts to left

STOCKHOLM

Sweden’s Social Democrats were poised to return to power after a left-leaning bloc defeated the center-right government in a parliamentary election Sunday that also saw strong gains by an anti-immigration party.

With more than 99 percent of districts counted, the Social Democrat-led Red-Green bloc had 43.7 percent of the votes Sunday while the governing coalition got 39.3 percent, official preliminary results showed.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party more than doubled its support to 13 percent, giving it the balance of power in Parliament. The result marks the end of an eight-year era of tax cuts and pro-market policies under Fredrik Reinfeldt, who said he would resign both as prime minister and leader of the conservative party.

A Vt. milestone in green-energy efforts

BURLINGTON, VT.

Vermont’s largest city has a new success to add to its list of socially conscious achievements: 100 percent of its electricity now comes from renewable sources such as wind, water and biomass.

With little fanfare, the Burlington Electric Department crossed the threshold this month with the purchase of the 7.4-megawatt Winooski 1 hydroelectric project on the Winooski River at the city’s edge.

When it did, Burlington joined the Washington Electric Co-operative, which has about 11,000 customers across central and northern Vermont, which reached 100 percent earlier this year.

Cop faces 2nd trial in 7-year-old’s death

DETROITT

A member of an elite Detroit police unit is set to stand trial again, accused of killing a 7-year-old girl during a 2010 raid on her house that was captured on video by a reality-TV crew.

Nobody alleges that Officer Joseph Weekley intended to kill Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who was sleeping on a couch near the front door when officers burst through around midnight in search of a murder suspect. But prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter because they believe he handled his submachine gun recklessly, causing the girl’s death.

Jury selection starts today in Wayne County court, 15 months after Weekley’s first trial ended with jurors unable to agree on a verdict.

The raid was recorded for a police reality-TV show, “The First 48,” but there was no footage from inside the house. The target, Chauncey Owens, eventually was arrested and convicted of killing a 17-year-old boy.

110 saved from ferry

MANILA, Philippines

Survivors from a ferry that sank after encountering steering problems in the central Philippines said Sunday that they were tossed about by the churning sea in darkness for six hours.

Rescuers, including the crew on two passing foreign vessels, plucked at least 110 survivors from the water. They recovered at least three bodies from the M/V Maharlika II, which listed and sank at nightfall Saturday.

Associated Press