Clippers’ Sterling slams Magic Johnson
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling repeatedly disparaged Magic Johnson’s HIV-positive status in an interview that aired Monday, saying he was not a fit role model for children and dismissing his work in business and charity.
The interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper was meant to be a mea culpa in Sterling’s first public comments since racist recordings emerged last month and earned him a lifetime NBA ban, but when the subject turned to Johnson, who was mentioned in the recordings, Sterling is anything but apologetic.
“He’s got AIDS!” Sterling said loudly at one point, cutting off Cooper as the interviewer attempted to cite Johnson’s accomplishments after Sterling asked, “What has he done, big Magic Johnson, what has he done?”
Official: Slain Zetas founder was robber
MEXICO CITY – A Mexican official says a founding member of the brutal Zetas cartel who was killed by soldiers last week was no longer a major player in the drug trade.
A Tamaulipas state security official says Galdino Mellado Cruz operated in the border city of Reynosa, where he and his group kidnapped for ransom, robbed banks and stole cars.
The official said Monday it’s not clear if Mellado Cruz still belonged to a drug cartel. Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, is controlled by the Gulf Cartel.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to be quoted by name for security reasons.
Mellado Cruz was one of the 30 former special forces soldiers who created the Zetas gang.
Ukrainian insurgents declare 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.
New Hampshire officer shot to death
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 Stephen Arkell of Brentwood, New Hampshire, 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.
Neighbor Wayne Hughes told the Portsmouth Herald that police responded to the house after neighbors heard an argument Monday afternoon and called 911. Hughes wife, Susan, said that she saw a police officer arrive at the home and then heard “rapid gun fire.”
Associated Press
