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Woman in stand your ground case freed

A Florida woman who became a cause celebre for civil-rights activists after she received a 20-year prison sentence for firing a warning shot has been released on house arrest this week as she awaits another trial. Marissa Alexander’s supporters said that she was at home for Thanksgiving with her children Thursday after she was released on $200,000 bond following a judge’s ruling on Wednesday. Alexander’s sentence, which she received after she unsuccessfully invoked Florida’s “stand your ground” law, came to prominence after the nation was gripped by the Trayvon Martin case, in which George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder after shooting the unarmed 17-year-old. Alexander, like Martin, is black, and advocates like the Rev. Jesse Jackson have argued for her release, calling Florida’s self-defense laws unfair and unevenly applied to people of color.

Prime minister survives no-confidence vote

Thailand’s prime minister easily survived a no-confidence vote Thursday, but hundreds of protesters continued to besiege ministries in the capital as her embattled government sought a way out of its political crisis. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s ruling Pheu Thai party prevailed in parliament by a vote of 297 to 134. The crisis was sparked by a bill presented in parliament last month that would have granted amnesty to Yingluck’s older brother, former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, following his 2008 conviction on corruption charges. The motion was defeated, but it awakened opponents of Thaksin, who accused him of buying his sister’s landslide election and directing her administration from abroad.

Student killed in clashes with security forces

A Cairo University student was killed Thursday in clashes with Egyptian security forces, as a backlash grew over harsh sentences handed down to female Islamist demonstrators and a strict new protest law. There were further clashes at the University of Alexandria on Egypt’s north coast, where students stayed away from classes in three institutes in solidarity with 21 young Muslim Brotherhood women who received 11-year sentences on Wednesday, Al-Ahram said.

Questions raised about stadium’s safety

A safety engineer at the World Cup stadium where a giant crane collapse killed two workers allegedly warned his supervisor of possible problems with the operation, only to have his concerns brushed aside, a labor union leader charged Thursday, as sniping over the accident heated up. The incident has fed worries about Brazil’s capacity to host next year’s showcase tournament, as well as the 2016 Olympics, though authorities insist they will be ready for both. Sao Paulo’s Arena Corinthians was slated to be completed by the end of December, and workers have suggested that speed was a top priority on the construction site, with many working 12-hour shifts and skipping vacations.

Drone strikes draw new vow to forego security pact

Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at his U.S. allies again on Thursday after word came that at least one, and possibly two, NATO drone strikes had killed civilians in southern Afghanistan. The attacks came at a delicate moment, when talks between Karzai and the United States over a long-term security agreement had reached an impasse.Karzai vowed this week, at the conclusion of a loya jirga, or grand council, that he would cancel the security agreement completely if there was even one more raid that killed civilians. On Thursday, he said in effect, that moment had come. “For as long as such arbitrary acts and oppression of foreign forces continue, the security agreement with the United States will not be signed,” he said.

Rate of HIV and AIDS rises among adolescents

The U.N. Children’s Fund says it is alarmed about increasing HIV and AIDS rates among adolescents over the last seven years and is advocating an aggressive program that includes condom distribution and antiretroviral treatment. In a more positive development, UNICEF found that mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus has been dramatically reduced and estimated that some 850,000 cases were prevented in low- and middle-income countries. Its 2013 Stocktaking Report on Children and AIDS released Friday said AIDS-related deaths among those aged 10 to 19 increased between 2005 and 2012 from 71,000 to 110,000. About 2.1 million adolescents were living with HIV in 2012. Nearly 90 percent of children newly infected with HIV live in just 22 countries. All except one are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Maker says diet drug passes first key test

The makers of the proposed weight-loss drug Contrave said this week they have taken a key first step in showing that the medication does not boost the heart and stroke risks of those taking it, and they announced plans to return to the Food and Drug Administration to seek its approval in the coming weeks. Contrave, an investigational drug that pairs the antidepressant and anti-smoking drug bupropion with the anti-addiction medication naltrexone, could be approved by the drug agency for the U.S. market as early as June.

Police capture man sought in killings

A man suspected in the deaths of a young mother and her three children was being held on $5 million bail after police captured him walking outside in frigid temperatures and wearing sodden clothes in a southeastern Kansas city. David Cornell Bennett Jr., 22, who was arrested in Independence, Mo., had not been formally charged in the killings of 29-year-old Cami Umbarger and her children, 9-year-old Hollie Betts, 6-year-old Jaxon Betts and 4-year-old Averie Betts. The bodies of Umbarger and her children were discovered Monday night at their home in Parsons, about 35 miles from Independence.

Man arrested after nine-hour standoff

A gunman who fired several shots at a pair of Southern California police officers, hitting one, and held two people hostage for nearly nine hours was booked Thursday on suspicion of attempted murder, a sheriff’s official said. Christopher Warsaw, 45, was being held on $1 million bail, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Guillermina Saldana. Authorities said Warsaw angaged police in a nearly nine-hour standoff after taking his girlfriend and her 14-year-old daughter hostage. The worst injury occurred when an Inglewood policeman was shot in his bulletproof vest. He was taken to a hospital in good condition but “in a lot of pain,” police Capt. James D. Madia said.

Court orders asylum review for gay Russian

A federal appeals court has ordered immigration officials to review their decision not to grant asylum to a gay man who said he was attacked for his sexual orientation in 2002 and 2003 in his native Russia and feared he would be persecuted if forced to return there. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Board of Immigration Appeals was wrong when it concluded that the man had failed to show that government officials in Russia were either unwilling or unable to control his attackers, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. It ordered the board to review the case and said federal officials had to show circumstances had changed in Russia to allay the man’s fears, or that he could be relocated to a safe area in the country.

Most families who fled leak back home

Most of the estimated 425 families evacuated from Willard, Ohio, after a train derailment and chemical spill were allowed to return home Thursday. About three dozen homes closest to the scene of Tuesday night’s derailment remained off-limits and residents could be out of their homes until late Friday, the city said. Gov. John Kasich was briefed in Willard by officials and visited with evacuated families having a Thanksgiving dinner provided by the railroad at the high school.

Rocket once again fails to make liftoff

A new communications satellite that has both public and government applications is still sitting on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The privately owned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has experienced several technical issues this year and two attempts to launch on Thanksgiving were aborted. SpaceX says it will try again in a few days to launch the 7,000-pound satellite into geostationary orbit.