World/Nation

'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' becomes rallying cry

FERGUSON, Mo. - The word spread within minutes of Michael Brown's death - a young black man with his hands raised in surrender had just been shot by a white cop.

Soon, "Hands Up. Don't Shoot!" became a rallying cry for protesters in the streets of this St. Louis suburb and a symbol nationwide of racial inequality for those who believe that minorities are too often the targets of overzealous police.

Yet the witness accounts contained in thousands of pages of grand jury documents reviewed by The Associated Press show many variations about whether Brown's hands were actually raised - and if so, how high.

To some, it doesn't matter whether Brown's hands literally were raised, because his death has come to symbolize a much bigger movement.

"He wasn't shot because of the placement of his hands; he was shot because he was a big, black, scary man," said James Cox, 28, a food server who protested this week in Oakland, Calif.

Evangelicals with gay children blast churches

Rob and Linda Robertson did what they believed was expected of them as good Christians.

When their 12-year-old son Ryan said he was gay, they told him they loved him, but he had to change. He entered "reparative therapy," met regularly with his pastor and immersed himself in Bible study and his church youth group. After six years, nothing changed. A despondent Ryan cut off from his parents and his faith, started taking drugs and in 2009, died of an overdose.

"Now we realize we were so wrongly taught," said Rob Robertson, a firefighter for more than 30 years who lives in Redmond, Wash. "It's a horrible, horrible mistake the church has made."

The tragedy could have easily driven the Robertsons from the church. But instead of breaking with evangelicalism - as many parents in similar circumstances have done - the couple is taking a different approach, and they're inspiring other Christians with gay children to do the same. They are staying in the church and, in protesting what they see as the demonization of their sons and daughters, presenting a new challenge to Christian leaders trying to hold off growing acceptance of same-sex relationships.

"Parents don't have anyone on their journey to reconcile their faith and their love for their child," said Linda Robertson, who with Rob attends a nondenominational evangelical church. "They either reject their child and hold onto their faith, or they reject their faith and hold onto their child. Rob and I think you can do both: be fully affirming of your faith and fully hold onto your child."

Children rescued from snowbank in New York

NEWBURGH, N.Y. - Two boys who had gone out to build a snow fort were inadvertently trapped for several hours in a Newburgh, N.Y., snow bank when a plow operator clearing a parking lot pushed snow over them, not realizing they were there, officials said.

The children, ages 11 and 9, were taken to the hospital. Officials said one child was hospitalized for observation.

Authorities said the boys' parents became alarmed when they didn't come home from playing, and after a fruitless search called police around 11:50 p.m. Wednesday.

Officials searching a snow bank at a health center nearby found the boys around 2 a.m. Thursday, after an officer saw a shovel half buried. The officer took the shovel and started to dig, and saw a small boot. Others joined in, some digging with bare hands, and the boys were found.

Ebola fight in Guinea faces slow response

CONAKRY, Guinea - Eight months into West Africa's Ebola outbreak, officials and medical aid providers said aid efforts in Guinea still suffer from poor coordination, hampering deployments of international support to help quell the virus.

President Francois Hollande of France on Friday is to become the first non-African head of state to visit Guinea since the crisis began. Hollande will take stock of the response, cheer on heavily-burdened aid providers and help demystify fears about a highly stigmatizing virus.

Aid actors hope that his visit also inspires increased coordination in the Ebola fight.

In a contagion that has killed nearly 5,700 people across the region, Liberia has tallied the most deaths and Sierra Leone faces the fastest rate of expansion. That has made Guinea's outbreak the least urgent by comparison.

OPEC decides to keep its level of production

VIENNA - Reflecting its lessening oil clout, OPEC decided Thursday to keep its output target on hold and sit out falling crude prices that will likely spiral even lower as a result.

Oil prices fell sharply on the news. Even though the decision was largely expected, it showed the once-powerful cartel is losing the power to push up markets to its own advantage.

OPEC has traditionally relied on output cuts to regulate supply and prices. But it appeared to realize Thursday that with cheap crude in oversupply, a reduction would only cut into OPEC's share of the market without a lasting boost in prices and with others outside the cartel making up the difference.

- The Associated Press