World/Nation
• Terrorist leader: Girls gone until fighters are freed
LAGOS, Nigeria - Under the guns of their captors, dozens of barefoot girls sat huddled together wearing gray Muslim veils as they chanted Quranic verses in Arabic. Some Christians among them said they had converted to Islam.
"I swear to almighty Allah, you will not see them again until you release our brothers that you have captured," the leader of the Boko Haram terrorist network threatened, an assault rifle slung across his chest.
A video released by the group Monday offered the first public glimpse of what it claimed were some of the nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped a month ago. The girls' plight has spurred a global movement to secure their freedom.
It is not known how many suspected Boko Haram members are detained by security forces. Hundreds were killed last month when leader Abubakar Shekau's fighters stormed the military's main northeastern barracks in Maiduguri, the terror group's birthplace and the headquarters of a year-old military state of emergency to put down the 5-year-old Islamic uprising.
• Eastern Ukraine insurgents claim independence
DONETSK, Ukraine - Pro-Moscow insurgents in eastern Ukraine declared independence Monday and sought to join Russia, undermining upcoming presidential elections, strengthening the Kremlin's hand and putting pressure on Kiev to hold talks with the separatists following a referendum on self-rule.
Russia signaled it has no intention of subsuming eastern Ukraine the way it annexed Crimea in March. Instead, Moscow is pushing to include eastern regions in negotiations on Ukraine's future - suggesting that Russia prefers a political rather than a military solution to its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War.
Such talks are central to a potential path toward peace outlined Monday by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The plan laid out by Swiss President Didier Burkhalter calls on all sides to refrain from violence and urges immediate amnesty, talks on decentralization and the status of the Russian language. That's a key complaint of insurgents who have seized power in eastern regions and clashed with government troops and police.
But it's up to the Ukrainian government to take the next step.
Acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk pledged to hold a dialogue with Ukraine's east. But he gave no specifics and stopped short of addressing Sunday's referendum and the declarations of independence in the pro-Moscow regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
• Officer shot to death before explosion, fire
BRENTWOOD, N.H. - A New Hampshire police officer was shot to death after he responded to a domestic disturbance at a home that later exploded and burned, authorities said Monday.
The gunman was presumed dead in the ensuing blaze.
Attorney General Joseph Foster said late Monday night 48-year-old Steven Arkell of Brentwood was shot to death when he answered the call in a suburban neighborhood for people older than 55.
After the shooting, the house burst into flames. A massive explosion blew the front off the house and within an hour, it was leveled.
Foster said Michael Nolan, 47, the son of the homeowner, is the suspected gunman. He is presumed dead.
• Gay couples flood Little Rock for marriages
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - More than 200 gay couples obtained Arkansas marriage licenses Monday after a judge tossed out the state's 10-year-old same-sex marriage ban, but only at a handful of courthouses as an overwhelming majority of county clerks in this part of the Bible Belt said they first wanted the state Supreme Court to weigh in.
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel - who recently announced his personal support for same-sex marriage rights but said he would defend the law - filed paperwork Monday to at least temporarily preserve the ban, which voters approved by a 3-to-1 margin.
In other states that have seen gay-marriage bans overturned, judges either issued stays with their orders or state lawyers sought them with some immediacy. McDaniel's office requested a stay from the local judge Friday night but had to wait until the full court record was available Monday before going to the state Supreme Court, under the justices' rules.
Seventy of the state's 75 clerks have not granted licenses. A handful of clerks, including one who granted licenses Monday, filed a stay request saying the judge's decision didn't address a law that threatens clerks with fines for "wrongful issuance of a marriage license."
With the weddings Saturday and Monday, Arkansas became the 18th state to allow same-sex marriages, and the first among former states of the Confederacy.