Rocket fire kills 5

Rocket fire kills 5

DONETSK, Ukraine

Rocket salvoes hit a previously safe section of Ukraine’s rebel stronghold of Donetsk on Wednesday, killing at least five people and damaging a hospital, six schools and five kindergartens, rebels said.

The fighting between Russia-backed separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine escalated sharply in January, with more than 220 civilians killed in the past three weeks alone, according to the United Nations. The world body has sharply criticized both sides for indiscriminate shelling that is causing civilian deaths.

Mont. is last state to mull anti-bully bill

HELENA, Mont.

Montana legislators on Wednesday considered whether to join every other state in the nation in putting anti-bullying policy into law.

A bill introduced by Rep. Kimberly Dudik, a Missoula Democrat, in the Montana House Education Committee would define bullying, prohibit it in public schools and require public school districts to adopt their own policies addressing the issue.

Driver’s behavior eyed in train crash

VALHALLA, N.Y.

Federal investigators looking into a fiery commuter train wreck that killed six people zeroed in Wednesday on what they called the big question on everyone’s mind: Why was the driver of an SUV stopped on the tracks, between the lowered crossing gates?

A team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived to examine the blackened and mangled wreckage and the Metro-North train’s data recorders the morning after the rush-hour collision with the sport utility vehicle about 20 miles north of New York City.

Argentine leader’s tweets cause furor

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina

Embattled Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, while on a state visit to China seeking badly needed investment, caused a furor Wednesday by joking about her hosts’ accents on Twitter.

Fernandez tried to mimic a Chinese accent by switching “r’s” with “l’s” in a tweet in Spanish that translates as: “Did they only come for lice and petloleum.”

A few minutes later, she added: “Sorry, the levels of ridiculousness and absurdity are so high they can only be digested with humor.”

The tweets came as she met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Twitterverse in Argentina and beyond exploded with criticism of what many considered a racist tweet.

230 given life terms by Egyptian court

CAIRO

An Egyptian court sentenced 230 people, including one of the leading activists behind the country’s 2011 uprising, to life in prison after convicting them Wednesday of taking part in clashes between protesters and security forces later that year.

All were tried in absentia except Ahmed Douma, a secular activist who already is serving a three-year-sentence for breaking a draconian law regulating protests. Thirty other people, all minors, were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Mich. to recognize 300 gay marriages

LANSING, Mich.

Michigan will recognize more than 300 same-sex marriages that were performed quickly in the hours before an appeals court blocked a ruling legalizing the unions, Gov. Rick Snyder announced Wednesday.

The Republican said he wouldn’t appeal a federal court’s ruling last month that required the state to recognize the marriages performed March 22, 2014.

Associated Press