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Police in Bosnia and Croatia have arrested 38 people accused of smuggling illegal migrants into the European Union in a coordinated crackdown on human trafficking in the region. _0"> The so-called "Balkan smuggling route" is used to ferry contraband drugs and people from Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Police in Croatia, which joins the European Union on July 1, arrested 25 people and were looking for eight more suspects, while 13 were arrested in Bosnia, said Dean Savic, head of the Croatian police unit for corruption and organized crime. "This is a message to the smugglers - rest assured we'll come knocking on your door," Savic told a news conference. In preparation for EU entry, Croatia has almost tripled the number of border police to around 6,000. They will patrol its 1,400-km land border with non-EU neighbors Serbia and Bosnia, equipped with thermal vision cameras and infrared binoculars that can spot illegal migrants at night.

Nigeria launched a military campaign on Wednesday to flush Islamist militants out of their bases in remote border areas, after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the northeast. Nigerian troops deployed in large numbers, part of a plan to rout an insurgency by the Boko Haram Islamist group that has seized control of parts of the region. "The operations, which will involve massive deployment of men and resources, are aimed at asserting the nation's territorial integrity," a Defense Headquarters statement said. The campaign targets semi-desert areas of three states in which Jonathan declared an emergency on Tuesday - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, three of the country's poorest and most remote. The Islamist insurgency has cost thousands of lives and destabilized Africa's top energy producer since it began in 2009, but it has mostly happened far from economic centers such as Lagos. The capital Abuja was, however, bombed in 2011 and 2012. It

Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday during demonstrations to mark 65 years since what they call the Nakba (Catastrophe) when the creation of Israel's caused many to lose their homes and become refugees. A shell fired from Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, exploded in an open area of Israel but caused no injuries, according to an Israeli military spokesman. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to return to the region on Tuesday in another bid to revive peace talks frozen since 2010. But a resolution remains elusive and many Palestinians want refugees and their descendants to return to lands now in Israel - an idea Israel rejects, saying it would spell the end of the Jewish state. Protesters skirmished with Israeli forces outside a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Hebron and at a prison near Ramallah. Several Palestinians were injured. Israeli police in Jer

As Alabama's Jefferson County readies a workout proposal for its landmark $4.2 billion bankruptcy, officials on Tuesday announced an agreement with creditors JPMorgan Chase and Bayerische Landesbank covering $105 million of defaulted debt. The deal, one of a series the county has reached since filing the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy in late 2011, covers the county's 2001b general obligation warrants and was expected to be approved on Thursday by the Jefferson County Commission.   The Jefferson County case is seen as a testing ground for how bondholders fare when a local issuer breaks under excessive financial pressure. The bankruptcy is the result of debts taken on in a costly overhaul of the county's sewer system. The agreement announced on Tuesday saves the county $2 million in fees and interest payments and shifts its variable rate payments on the bonds issued for infrastructure projects to a 4.9 percent fixed interest rate, officials said. The deal will end

As Alabama's Jefferson County readies a workout proposal for its landmark $4.2 billion bankruptcy, officials on Tuesday announced an agreement with creditors JPMorgan Chase and Bayerische Landesbank covering $105 million of defaulted debt. The deal, one of a series the county has reached since filing the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy in late 2011, covers the county's 2001b general obligation warrants and was expected to be approved on Thursday by the Jefferson County Commission.   The Jefferson County case is seen as a testing ground for how bondholders fare when a local issuer breaks under excessive financial pressure. The bankruptcy is the result of debts taken on in a costly overhaul of the county's sewer system. The agreement announced on Tuesday saves the county $2 million in fees and interest payments and shifts its variable rate payments on the bonds issued for infrastructure projects to a 4.9 percent fixed interest rate, officials said. The deal will end

Lawyers seeking to overturn the murder conviction of a Honduran man who has been on Florida's death row since 2006 presented new DNA and blood stain evidence in a Florida court on Tuesday. Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin, 33, was convicted in the 2004 murders of his neighbors at a Seminole County trailer park. Cheryl Williams, 47, was stabbed 129 times, and her mother, Carol Bareis, 69, was stabbed twice.   Blood stain expert Barie Goetz testified Tuesday that the killer would have been splattered with blood spurting from 131 stab wounds from a 10-inch knife at close range. Goetz said the blood found on the thigh area of Aguirre's shorts were contact stains and matched Aguirre's claim that he found the bodies and rolled them over to check for a pulse. "The wearer of those shorts did not inflict the injuries to Cheryl Williams," said Goetz, a Pennsylvania-based forensic consultant. Goetz also testified that Aguirre's bloody shoe prints at the scene indicated car

The Pentagon told its civilian workforce on Tuesday that it will put most of them on unpaid leave for one day a week starting in July, a deeply unpopular move that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel blamed on sweeping budget cuts imposed by Congress. The U.S. defense budget has taken the single biggest hit from automatic spending cuts, known in Washington as the "sequester," and Hagel said he had tried to spare civilians the financial hardship ahead by first cutting elsewhere.   "We did everything we could not to get to this day, this way," Hagel told an audience of Defense Department employees. "But that's it. That's where we are ... And I'm sorry about that." For those of the more than 600,000 civilian defense employees affected, the decision translates to a salary cut of roughly 20 percent during the furlough period - which runs from July 8 until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Although the total will vary, most civilian emplo

The Seattle public school system, facing a rebellion that stoked the national protest movement over standardized testing in U.S. public schools, is backing away from the contentious multiple-choice exam for its upcoming school year. Teachers, educators, and students at several Seattle schools staged a boycott in January against the computerized Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, saying it was not aligned with the state's curriculum and produces "meaningless results" upon which teachers' performances are evaluated. The school system, which serves more than 45,000 students, had initially threatened protesting teachers with punishment, including a possible 10-day unpaid suspension, according to a memo obtained by Reuters. It later softened its stance, saying no teachers would be penalized. "High schools can opt out for the next academic year but they have to show evidence of another way to assess and monitor students," Seattle Public Schools spokes

Investigators will announce on Thursday the results of a probe into what caused last month's fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, that killed 14 people and obliterated sections of the small town, a state agency said on Tuesday. The State Fire Marshal's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will release the findings of their joint investigation at a news conference, according to a news release from the fire marshal's office.   Texas officials on Friday announced a criminal investigation into the blast. Investigators confirmed a week ago that ammonium nitrate stored at the West Fertilizer Co detonated in the April 17 explosion. The cause of the fire and subsequent blast at the facility, which also injured around 200 people, is expected to be announced by officials on Thursday. More than 70 investigators have developed more than 200 leads, from which more than 400 interviews have been conducted, investigators said last week. Investiga

California will spend an extra $2.9 billion on public education over the next two years thanks to higher-than-expected revenue, money that could help Governor Jerry Brown win support for his plan to funnel funds to the state's poorest districts. Brown announced the boost in spending on Tuesday as part of the annual mid-year revision of the state's budget projections, a ritual in California that marks the beginning of the legislative season for fighting over the next year's spending plan.   The extra money - mostly the result of higher property tax revenue from an improving housing market and a better general economy - could help Brown win support for his quest to dramatically reform the way California pays for education. It would send more money to the poorest school districts and allow local officials to spend the funds as they see fit. The plan has drawn criticism from suburban school districts and legislators on both sides of the aisle, who say it would leave commu

Governor Mark Dayton on Tuesday made Minnesota the nation's 12th state to allow same-sex couples to marry and only the second in the Midwest, signing a bill on the steps of the state Capitol before thousands of supporters. The Democratic governor's signature came a day after state senators approved the bill, which made Minnesota the third state this month to approve same-sex nuptials after Rhode Island and Delaware.   The Minnesota law takes effect on August 1 and Minneapolis, the state's biggest city, has already announced that city hall will open just after midnight on that day to hold marriage ceremonies. Iowa is the only other Midwestern state that permits same-sex couples to marry, by a state Supreme Court order in 2009. Opponents of the bill questioned whether the rights of religious groups and individuals who believe marriage should be only between one man and one woman will be protected. They also questioned the speed of the law's adoption. The votes wer

Governor Mark Dayton on Tuesday made Minnesota the nation's 12th state to allow same-sex couples to marry and only the second in the Midwest, signing a bill on the steps of the state Capitol before thousands of supporters. The Democratic governor's signature came a day after state senators approved the bill, which made Minnesota the third state this month to approve same-sex nuptials after Rhode Island and Delaware. The Minnesota law takes effect on August 1 and Minneapolis, the state's biggest city, said on Tuesday that City Hall would open just after midnight on the first day same-sex couples can marry and Mayor R.T. Rybak will be on hand to officiate that night. "It is now my honor to sign into law this next step for the state of Minnesota to fulfill its promise to every Minnesotan," Dayton told the crowd in St. Paul before signing the bill flanked by its key Democratic sponsors, Senator Scott Dibble and Representative Karen Clark. Iowa is the only other

President Barack Obama on Tuesday called the findings in a government report about the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny intolerable and said he has directed his administration to hold those responsible for the agency's actions accountable. "The report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable," Obama said in a statement on the Treasury Department's investigation. "The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test." Obama was commenting on a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration into IRS practices that came to light in recent days. The IRS had used key words such as "Tea Party" and "Patriot" for picking out applications by groups seeking tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny. Lois Lerner, a senior IRS official, apologized for the actions l

A U.S. Army sergeant who worked as a sexual assault prevention coordinator at Fort Hood, Texas, has been accused of sex crimes, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, the second man in the military's anti-sexual assault effort to be accused since last week. News of the investigation sparked renewed anger and frustration over military's inability to deal quickly with its sexual assault problem. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed disappointment over the "breakdown in discipline" implied by the allegations, and lawmakers voiced outrage.   "This is sickening," said Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat. "Twice now, in a matter of as many weeks, we've seen the very people charged with protecting victims of sexual assault being charged as perpetrators." Representative Buck McKeon, a Republican who heads the House Armed Services Committee, said he was "outraged and disgusted" by the reports and that the chain of command bore some res

A federal judge sentenced four men to prison on Tuesday for helping recruit young men in Minnesota to travel to Somalia and fight for the militant group al Shabaab. _0"> Investigators believe about 20 young, ethnic Somali men left Minnesota from 2007 to 2009 to go to Somalia to fight for al Shabaab, which the United States designated a terrorist organization. Three men who cooperated with investigators were each sentenced to three years and a fourth man was sentenced to 12 years in prison.   "These defendants, by providing material support to a designated terrorist organization, broke both the law and the hearts of family members across the Twin Cities," U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said in a statement. Eighteen men were charged after a four-year investigation. Eight were convicted and the rest are thought to be fugitives or to have been killed in Somalia while fighting for al Shabaab. On Tuesday, Omer Abdi Mohamed, 28, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after

He may have been the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He may have written a book extolling constitutional values in a democracy. And he may have run for president on a civil liberties banner, pledging to reverse the legacy of George W. Bush. But as U.S. president for the last 4-1/2 years, Barack Obama has faced accusation after accusation of impinging on civil liberties, disappointing his liberal Democratic base and providing fodder for rival Republicans as he deals with the realities of office.   News in the past week of the federal seizure of phone records from the Associated Press news agency and the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative Tea Party groups, has intensified criticism already simmering over the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and aerial drone strikes abroad. Asked at a news conference on Tuesday why the administration had not done more for civil liberties, Attorney

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday he had ordered the FBI to open a criminal probe in a growing scandal over the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative political groups for extra tax scrutiny. Holder's announcement came about four hours before an inspector general's report on the IRS portrayed the tax agency as plagued by disarray and "insufficient oversight" during its struggles to review the cases of hundreds of advocacy groups that claimed they should be tax exempt.   The audit, which drew some backlash from IRS officials, also underscored what the agency had acknowledged last Friday: that the IRS had used "inappropriate criteria" for evaluating tax-exempt groups, in part by singling out scores of conservative Tea Party and "Patriot" organizations for increased scrutiny. The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration sharply criticized the way the IRS had screened the conservative group

Jodi Arias, the California woman convicted in a sensational trial of brutally murdering her ex-boyfriend, will face an Arizona jury on Wednesday charged with deciding if she deserves the death penalty for her crime. Arias was found guilty a week ago of murdering 30-year-old Travis Alexander, whose body was found slumped in the shower of his Phoenix area home five years ago. She had stabbed him 27 times, slashed his throat and shot him in the face.   Arias, a petite 32-year-old former waitress, had tried unsuccessfully to convince the jury during the four-month trial that she had acted in self-defense after Alexander attacked her because she dropped his camera while taking photographs of him in the shower. The trial, which aired evidence including a sex tape and photographs of the blood-sprayed crime scene, became a sensation on cable television news with its lurid tale of a bright, soft-spoken young woman charged with an unthinkable crime. Jurors could have convicted Arias of a

Billie Sol Estes, a flamboyant Texan who was convicted of bilking millions of dollars from a federal crop subsidy program, died on Tuesday at age 88, police said. Estes, whose exploits in the 1960s captured headlines across the country, was found dead in his home in Granbury, a town about 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth, said Lieutenant Johnny Rose of the Hood County Sheriff's office. He died of natural causes, according to a statement from the sheriff's office. Estes obtained more than $20 million a year for growing and storing non-existent crops of cotton, according to a website, www.billiesolestes.com, created by his daughter, Pamela Estes Padget. The scandal involved phony financial statements and led to the resignation of several agriculture officials at the time. Estes was convicted of conspiracy to defraud in 1965. He was released in 1971 and later found guilty of mail fraud and tax evasion. He was sentenced again to prison and released in 1983. Estes was frequ

A Texas paramedic, who responded to a fertilizer plant explosion last month, is expected to plead not guilty in federal court on Wednesday to possessing pipe bomb components, his lawyer said. Bryce Reed, 31, faces one count of unlawfully possessing an unregistered destructive device. Texas officials have said no evidence linked Reed's arrest to the plant disaster.   Reed was among the first to respond to the April 17 fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people and injured about 200 in the town of West. Texas officials on Friday announced a criminal probe into the blast. Federal prosecutors said in court papers on Friday that authorities had found a section of pipe 3-1/2 inches long and 1-1/2 inches in diameter, end caps, fuses and explosive powder this month at a home in Abbott, Texas, a town near West. The resident of that home, whom they did not identify, told police the components came from Reed, who was arrested on Thursday. "Mr. Reed vigorously denies those a

A U.S. citizen began a 15-year hard labor sentence at a "special prison" in North Korea on Wednesday, for what authorities described as crimes against the state, North Korean state news agency KCNA said. _0"> Kenneth Bae, 44, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in South Korea , was sentenced on April 30 after a North Korean court convicted him of what it said was an attempt at state subversion.   Members of his family had told U.S. media at the time of his sentencing that Bae had been working as a tour guide, bringing people from China into North Korea. They said they were baffled by his arrest. Bae was one of five tourists who visited the northeastern city of Rajin in North Korea in November, and has been held since then. The State Department recommends that U.S. citizens avoid travel to North Korea, although it does not block trips. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

The man charged with holding three women captive and raping them during a decade in his Cleveland home plans to plead not guilty to criminal charges, one of his lawyers said on Wednesday. The lawyer, Jaye Schlachet, said in a phone interview that the suspect, Ariel Castro, 52, is on suicide watch in Cuyahoga County jail in Ohio, but it was not clear whether Castro planned to go to trial.   Castro last week was charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. The three women kidnapped, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight along with a six-year old girl that Castro fathered with Berry during her captivity, escaped from his home in a working class section of Cleveland. The news that the three had been held for so long in such a populated neighborhood stunned the close-knit community. Two of the women were held in harsh conditions, restrained with chains and duct tape for long periods of time. In an earlier interview with Cleveland's WKYC television, an

A 25-year-old man has been arrested after five people were found dead in one morning in northern Nevada, officials said. _0"> Officers are investigating the deaths of four people at two homes and a related house fire on Monday in Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno, the Lyon County Sheriff's Office said in a statement released on Tuesday. Authorities also are probing a suspicious death on Interstate 80 near the Mustang exit in Washoe County, it said. Jeremiah Bean, of Fernley, was arrested on burglary charges after being found near one of the Fernley homes. His bail has been set at $50,000, the statement said.   Bean was found with items from one of the homes, Lyon County Sheriff Allen Veil said in comments carried by Reno's KRNV-TV. The station quoted fire officials as saying the house fire was caused by arson. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Scott Malone and Maureen Bavdek)

Mounds of dirt decorated with fake flowers sit at the northern edge of the cemetery in this town about 80 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Small metal placards mark the graves of the unknown, generally by gender, while others simply say "bones" or "skull case." It is here that more than 50 unidentified immigrants were buried after dying in heat and punishing terrain while they tried to seek new lives in the United States. As legislators in Washington debate bipartisan proposals for an immigration overhaul, Texas officials say this small town, the seat of Brooks County and part of the U.S. Border Patrol region known as the Rio Grande Valley sector, is emerging as an epicenter of death and misery. Sheriffs' deputies in the county - population less than 5,000 - found 129 bodies in 2012, about double the number from the year before and six times that recorded in 2010. This year so far - before the hot summer months, when the majority of deaths occur - the