South Africa Repatriates Journalist's Remains

The remains of journalist Nat Nakasa, in a coffin draped in a South African flag, arrives in Durban, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014 where he will be reburied, South Africa's arts and culture ministry said. South Africa is repatriating the remains of Nakasa, a black anti-apartheid journalist, who died in the United States in 1965 and was buried there until his recent exhumation.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (AP) — South Africa's "native of nowhere" is finally home.

The remains of Nat Nakasa, a black anti-apartheid journalist from South Africa who died in the United States in 1965 and was buried there until his recent exhumation, arrived on Tuesday in the South African coastal city of Durban.

Nakasa's casket was escorted on its long journey by a delegation including his sister, Gladys Maphumulo, and other members of his family. On arrival, soldiers marched beside the flag-draped coffin. At an airport ceremony, an animal skin lay underneath the casket in line with mourning tradition.

It was an elaborate homecoming for a talented, anguished man described by many as a victim of apartheid, the system of white minority rule that ended with South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994. Nakasa's repatriation served as a sad reminder of the harsh racial politics of the time, but also as an opportunity to celebrate South Africa's democratic advances since that era of conflict.

"Today Nakasa returns to a South Africa that is remarkably different from the one that he left fifty years ago," Nathi Mthethwa, South Africa's arts and culture minister, said in a speech. "He would be pleased to know that this year we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the freedom that he fought for so courageously."

Nakasa's family had viewed his remains and decided not to remove the soil from the bones, keeping a symbolic connection with the American people and the rest of the world, Mthethwa said. Nakasa worked for DRUM magazine and other publications in Johannesburg half a century ago. He left South Africa in 1964 for a Nieman fellowship at Harvard University. The South African government had not issued him a passport, making it impossible for him to return home.

In an article titled "A Native of Nowhere," he wrote with sardonic humor about the implications of leaving South Africa with only a government-issued "exit permit." "According to reliable sources, I shall be classed as a prohibited immigrant if I ever try to return to South Africa. What this means is that self-confessed Europeans are in a position to declare me, an African, a prohibited immigrant, bang on African soil. Nothing intrigues me more."

At the age of 28, Nakasa plunged from the seventh floor of a building in New York City. His death was ruled a suicide, and he was buried at Ferncliff cemetery in Hartsdale, north of the city. Ryan Brown, author of "A Native of Nowhere: The Life of Nat Nakasa," has reported how Nakasa felt increasingly alienated in the United States, partly because of his uncertain legal situation as a South African unable to return to his country. She also wrote that Nakasa was concerned for himself because of a history of mental illness in his family.

The U.S. and South African governments monitored Nakasa while he was in the United States, which was struggling with its own legacy of racism at the time, according to Brown. There are conspiracy theories about his death despite a lack of evidence of foul play.

"He died under mysterious circumstances," South Africa's arts and culture ministry said in a statement. The South African National Editors Forum said only that Nakasa died "tragically," and has welcomed the return of his remains. Nakasa will be reburied on Sept. 13, ending a long repatriation effort that began in the late 1990s and eventually secured necessary resources and state involvement, it said.

"This is a proud moment for South African journalism and the nation as a whole that we have been able to give Nat his last wish, returning to the land of his birth and to rest eternally with his ancestors," the editors' forum said in a statement.

In the United States, the writer was buried in the same cemetery as Malcolm X, the civil rights activist assassinated a few months before Nakasa's death. Nakasa's new resting place will be the Heroes' Acre cemetery in Chesterville, the Durban township where he was born.

Rap Musician Stackz Joins Protesters In Ferguson

Rap musician Stackz sits on his white Corvette as he joins protesters in Ferguson, Mo. Though he now lives in Atlanta, he grew up in the neighborhood. "This happened right in my area. It was a must to be here," said Stackz, who said his real name was Demarco Williams.

FERGUSON, MO. (AP) — Protesters who have for days lined a busy suburban St. Louis street not far from the place where a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager have walked from nearby apartments, driven from neighboring communities and flown in from states hundreds of miles away. Some are young parents carrying infants. Others, college students. Retirees. Professionals taking a break from their jobs.

They have chanted, marched, shouted, danced on vehicles and — though most have remained peaceful — also looted and vandalized stores during late-night clashes with armored police who have fired smoke canisters and tear gas into the crowds.

The demonstrators are demanding justice for 18-year-old Michael Brown, which they say can only be accomplished if Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson is charged and convicted for the shooting. Many also cite larger causes.

Some vent frustration about what they describe as a pattern of harassment and intimidation of black residents by police — not just in Ferguson, but in numerous other predominantly low-income minority communities. Others see an opportunity to participate in what they consider a modern civil rights movement.

"Being black in America is basically being born with a target," said Keyon Watkins, a 26-year-old college graduate with a computer science degree who joined in the protests on a late weekend night. "All of this is just built-up, pent-up aggression by being mistreated on a daily basis."

As Watkins stood on the curb of West Florissant Avenue, a parade of vehicles slowly passed by — some with teenagers dancing atop the hoods, some blaring music profaning police, many honking their horns in what has become a sounding call for the protest.

On another night, the rap musician Stackz drove up in a new white Corvette, parked it in the street and joined in the protest. Though he now lives in Atlanta, he grew up in the neighborhood. "This happened right in my area. It was a must to be here," said Stackz, who said his real name was Demarco Williams.

Police say Brown had been walking with a friend down nearby Canfield Drive when Wilson stopped them because they were in the middle of the street. They say a scuffle ensued, Wilson was injured and Brown was shot. Witnesses say the teenager had his hands in the air as Wilson fired multiple rounds.

So the protesters chant "Hands up! Don't shoot!" while raising their own arms. They write the words on posters, and print them on T-shirts. Some of the protesters said they previously had been shot by police, or know relatives and friends who had been. Michael Johnson, 42, lifted up his shirt to show the scars on his torso that he said he received when he was shot by a St. Louis police officer at age 18, during a confrontation that he said never resulted in charges against him or the officer. Because of the injuries, he said, he had to abandon his dream of joining the Marines.

"That one night cost me my whole future," said Johnson, standing in front of a looted and burnt-out convenience store. "If I got to die tonight, I don't mind ... I'm dying for a cause." There have been no reports of protesters dying in their clashes with police.

After several tumultuous nights, police tried to change their tactics. State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson took command of security from local authorities and walked the streets side-by-side with the protesters. So did celebrity civil rights activists, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The festive atmosphere lasted only one night, and protests again turned violent during the weekend, prompting Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to declare a state of emergency and impose a midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew in Ferguson. Some who defied the curfew clashed again with police early Sunday, but Johnson again encouraged peaceful demonstrations for the nights to come.

LaVon Stennis-Williams flew in from Omaha, Nebraska, to join the protest with her daughter who is attending law school at Saint Louis University. Stennis-Williams, 52, wanted to experience the civil rights movement that she had heard about as a child in the 1960s.

"I felt like it was an obligation to come here and be a part of this," she said. "Maybe this will be a catalyst of change in this country to get people to become more tolerant and more respectful of their civil rights."

Follow David A. Lieb at: https://twitter.com/DavidALieb

Liberia: Ebola Fears Rises As Clinic Is Looted

Health workers wearing protective gear go to remove the body of a person who is believed to have died after contracting the Ebola virus in the city of Monrovia. Image: Abbas Dulleh/AP

\MONROVIA, LIBERIA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) -- Liberian officials fear Ebola could soon spread through the capital's largest slum after residents raided a quarantine center for suspected patients and took items including bloody sheets and mattresses.

The violence in the West Point slum occurred late Saturday and was led by residents angry that patients were brought to the holding center from other parts of Monrovia, Tolbert Nyenswah, assistant health minister, said Sunday.

Up to 30 patients were staying at the center and many of them fled at the time of the raid, said Nyenswah. Once they are located they will be transferred to the Ebola center at Monrovia's largest hospital, he said.

West Point residents went on a "looting spree," stealing items from the clinic that were likely infected, said a senior police official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press. The residents took medical equipment and mattresses and sheets that had bloodstains, he said. Ebola is spread through bodily fluids including blood, vomit, feces and sweat.

"All between the houses you could see people fleeing with items looted from the patients," the official said, adding that he now feared "the whole of West Point will be infected."

Some of the looted items were visibly stained with blood, vomit and excrement, said Richard Kieh, who lives in the area.

The incident creates a new challenge for Liberian health officials who already were struggling to contain the outbreak.

Liberian police restored order to the West Point neighborhood Sunday. Sitting on land between the Montserrado River and the Atlantic Ocean, West Point is home to at least 50,000 people, according to a 2012 survey.

Distrust of government runs high in West Point, with rumors regularly circulating that the government plans to clear the slum out entirely.

Though there had been talk of putting West Point under quarantine should Ebola break out there, assistant health minister Nyenswah said Sunday no such step has been taken. "West Point is not yet quarantined as being reported," he said.

Ebola has killed 1,145 people in West Africa, including 413 in Liberia, according to the World Health Organization.

Other countries across Africa are grappling to prevent Ebola's spread with travel restrictions, suspensions of airline flights, public health messages and quarantines.

Nigeria appears to be making progress in containing the disease. The country has 12 confirmed cases of Ebola, all of which stem from direct contact with the Liberian-American man who flew to Nigeria late last month while ill. He infected several health workers before dying.

Since then three others have died in Nigeria from Ebola, according to figures released over the weekend.

One Nigerian doctor has survived the disease and was sent home Saturday night and five others confirmed with Ebola have almost fully recovered, said the Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu in a statement Saturday night.

The most important part of containing the disease is to track all those who had contact with Ebola patients and to closely monitor them in order to quarantine if they show any symptoms. Nigeria had 242 people under surveillance but now 61 have been cleared and released, after completing the 21-day period without showing any signs of Ebola, said the health ministry.

In East Africa, Kenya will bar passengers traveling from the three West African countries badly hit by the Ebola outbreak. The suspension is effective midnight Tuesday for all ports of entry for people traveling from or through Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, said Kenya's Health Ministry. Nigeria was not included in the ban, which also allows entry to health professionals and Kenyans returning from those countries.

Following the government's announcement Saturday, Kenya Airways said it would suspend flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Kenya Airways, a major transport provider in Africa flies more than 70 flights a week to West Africa.

Several airlines have already suspended flights to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, including British Airways, Emirates Airlines, Arik Air and ASKY Airlines.

Officials in Cameroon, which borders Nigeria, announced Friday it would suspend all flights from all four Ebola-affected countries. Korean Air announced on Thursday it would temporarily halt its service to Kenya despite the fact there are no cases of Ebola in the country.

AP writers Corinne Chin in Nairobi, Kenya, and Maram Mazen in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this piece.

UN: Iran Ready To Cooperate On Nuclear Probe

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, right, talks with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano, left, as an unidentified interpreter listens at center, in their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014.

VIENNA (AP) — Iran's president has promised to back a United Nations probe into suspicions that the country secretly worked on nuclear arms, the U.N.'s chief nuclear inspector said Sunday after talks in Tehran.

Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency described the meetings as "useful." Still, it was unclear whether his agency would be able to make much progress by Aug. 25 — the deadline agreed on by the two sides to advance an IAEA investigation that has essentially been stalled for seven years.

Amano said Sunday's talks with President Hasan Rouhani resulted in Iran's "firm commitment ... to resolve all present and past issues" — a euphemism for the IAEA investigation. But he offered no specifics, and it was clear that stubborn differences remained.

The optimistic note came a day after two diplomats told The Associated Press that the probe was deadlocked. As part of step by step concessions, Iran agreed in May to cooperate with agency suspicions that it experimented with high explosives that can be used to set off a nuclear charge, and that it modeled a nuclear warhead from uranium metal.

But the diplomats — who are familiar with the investigation but demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss it — said that since then, Iranian officials had ignored repeated IAEA requests for information.

Amano's trip was meant to kick-start the stalled probe, they said. Iran's official IRNA news agency cited the country's nuclear agency chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, as urging Amano to close the books on allegations that Iran also tested detonators as part of nuclear weapons experiments. But Amano said in a statement that his agency was not yet ready to do so, even while acknowledging that such detonators could be used in the oil industry, as Tehran claims.

Iran insists it has never worked on nuclear arms, describing such allegations as based on false intelligence from Israel, as well as the U.S. and its Western allies. It also asserts that its present nuclear programs are purely for peaceful purposes. Still, it is negotiating with the U.S. and five other world powers on reducing uranium enrichment and other activities that could be turned from making nuclear fuel toward creating the core of an atomic missile. It hopes in return for an end to nuclear-related sanctions crippling its economy.

The IAEA investigation is separate from those talks. But Washington has said that any overarching nuclear agreement that lifts Iran sanctions must include assurances from the agency that it was able to complete its probe to its satisfaction.

The U.S. also seeks to curb Iran's long-range missile program as part of the negotiations. That's something Iran rejects, and IRNA on Sunday cited Rouhani as repeating his country's objections. Iran's long-range missile program is of major concern to Israel, which fears it may one day mount nuclear warheads on the projectiles and has not ruled out military action to prevent that from happening. Iran insists the missile program is a vital deterrent to a possible Israeli attack.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi contributed from Tehran.

Ugandan Gays Who Fled To Kenya Still Feel Danger

A 26-year-old gay Ugandan man, who insisted on anonymity because of fears for his safety, speaks to The Associated Press, in Nairobi, Kenya. When a Ugandan court overturned the country's Anti-Homosexuality Act this month, rights activists worldwide claimed a victory - but not gay Ugandans who fled persecution to live in a refugee camp in neighboring Kenya.

NAIROBI, KENYA (AP) — When a Ugandan court overturned the country's Anti-Homosexuality Act this month, rights activists worldwide claimed a victory. But not gay Ugandans who fled persecution to live in a refugee camp in neighboring Kenya.

"The reaction shocked me. I went there. I thought it would be a celebration, but ... nothing," said Brizan Ogollan, founder of an aid organization that works in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp. "They knew at an international level and at the diplomatic level, the decision is going to have impact, but at the local level, it won't really. You can overrule the law, but you can't overrule the mind."

Of the 155,000 refugees at Kakuma camp, 35 are registered with the U.N. refugee agency as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Ugandans who fled because of the country's Anti-Homosexuality Act, which became law in February.

The now-overturned law called for life jail sentences for those convicted of gay sex and criminalized vague offenses like "attempted homosexuality" and "promoting homosexuality" in a country where being gay has long been illegal.

Since the law was first proposed in 2009, public opinion in Uganda has grown increasingly anti-gay, said Geoffrey Ogwaro, a coordinator for the Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which is based in Uganda's capital, Kampala. Many gay Ugandans have lived in constant fear of arrest. Some were imprisoned. Landlords evicted tenants. One man tried to run over his gay son with a car, Ogwaro said.

"Unfortunately, the law's nullification has actually polarized society more," Ogwaro said. Members of parliament have started petitions to resurrect the legislation, although President Yoweri Museveni is reported to have requested the parliamentarians to reconsider.

Three years ago, when a 26-year-old gay Ugandan man was caught with another man, his stepfather threatened to report him to authorities and he fled to Nairobi. "I thought, 'No one loves you in your family,'" said the man, who insisted on anonymity because of fears for his safety.

With little money in his pocket, he could not afford to stay in the Kenyan capital. He registered with the U.N.'s refugee agency, and for three years he has waited in Kakuma camp for refugee status, which would make him eligible for resettlement in a new country.

The man does not want to stay in Kenya, where same-sex conduct is also illegal, and where a bill recently introduced in parliament proposes that foreign gays be stoned to death. He continued to face harassment in Kakuma but at least he got support from fellow gay Ugandans, he said.

"For the first time, I met these people who were just like me," he said. "You think to yourself, 'OK, I'm not alone.' At least I felt there was someone who understood me." But last month he left for Nairobi because he thought the camp had grown too hostile. A Ugandan refugee was hospitalized in June after another refugee hurled stones and slurs at him, said Anthony Oluoch, executive director of the Gay Kenya Trust.

Recognizing the risks for LGBT refugees, the U.N. refugee agency said it is prioritizing their cases for resettlement. The 26-year-old gay Ugandan has been trying to find work, but few employers in Nairobi are willing to hire a refugee. Two of his seven roommates have turned to prostitution. The house keeps a special fund for bribing police officers if they are arrested, he said.

Kenyan police could legally send him back to Kakuma. Some police officers have even deported asylum seekers back to Uganda against their will, said Neela Ghoshal, an LGBT rights researcher for Human Rights Watch.

"There's no place in Kenya where I really think they can live freely and safely," Ghoshal said of the gay refugees from Uganda. "They're basically set up for a lot of bad options in life."

Pope Makes Biggest Gestures Yet To China, Eyes Ties

In this photo provided by the L' Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis baptizes Lee Ho Jin, the father of one of the children who died in South Korea's April ferry disaster, in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014.

HAEMI, SOUTH KOREA (AP) — Pope Francis made his strongest gesture yet to reach out to China on Sunday, saying he wants to improve relations and insisting that the Catholic Church isn't coming in as a "conqueror" but is rather a partner in dialogue.

Francis outlined his priorities for the Catholic Church in Asia during a meeting of about 80 of the region's bishops, urging them to engage with people of different cultures empathetically. "In this spirit of openness to others, I earnestly hope that those countries of your continent with whom the Holy See does not yet enjoy a full relationship may not hesitate to further a dialogue for the benefit of all," he said.

Then deviating from his text, he added: "I'm not talking here only about a political dialogue, but about a fraternal dialogue. These Christians aren't coming as conquerors, they aren't trying to take away our identity." He said the important thing was to "walk together."

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope's remarks were "obviously a sign of goodwill for dialogue" with China as well as the other countries in Asia with which the Vatican doesn't have diplomatic relations: North Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Bhutan and Brunei. "This offer of the pope for dialogue is to all these lands and not just one, even if China is the biggest," he said.

He acknowledged that Francis has so far refrained from making any outwardly political statement about China, which counts some 12 million Catholics, but that the speech was a clear affirmation of a desire for dialogue. It was also a message to the region's bishops that they can sow the seeds for dialogue through charitable works and educational services even before official diplomatic relations with the Holy See are established.

China cut relations with the Vatican in 1951, after the Communist Party took power and set up its own church outside the pope's authority. China persecuted the church for years until restoring a degree of religious freedom and freeing imprisoned priests in the late 1970s. The Vatican under then-Pope Benedict XVI sought to improve ties by seeking to unify the state-sanctioned church with the underground church still loyal to Rome.

Vatican-China ties have already broken new ground on Francis' first Asian trip, with Beijing agreeing to let Francis' Alitalia charter fly through its airspace; when St. John Paul II last came to South Korea in 1989, Beijing refused to let him fly overhead. With the fly-by confirmed, Francis sent the traditional greetings he sends to the leadership of countries he flies over. That said, there have been reports that some Chinese Catholics who wanted to participate in the Asian Catholic youth festival here were prevented from coming.

For the Vatican, the main stumbling block in relations remains the insistence of the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association on naming bishops without papal consent. For China, the naming of bishops is a matter of its national sovereignty, while it also objects that the Holy See has diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Lombardi sought to stress that the Vatican was always open to dialogue, and was not interested in questions of political sovereignty. "Authorities have not to fear the Holy See as a power that comes to exercise its foreign powers in the land, but is a religious authority that is of another order than the political and civil authorities," he said.

There was no immediate response Sunday from Beijing authorities — either from the government or the Patriotic Association. But earlier in the week, after the pope's greetings to China's leadership were sent, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, told the government's China Daily that "we have noticed the remarks of Pope Francis."

"China has always been sincere in improving relations with the Vatican and has been making positive efforts for that," she said. The comments don't appear on the government website, however. The church in North Korea is under tight government control and is not recognized by the Vatican. Organizers of the papal trip had invited a delegation from the North to attend a Mass that Francis is celebrating on Monday for peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula, but Pyongyang authorities declined the invitation.

In other communist nations such as Vietnam, governments exert tremendous control over the Catholic Church. There are 6 million Roman Catholics in Vietnam, the second-largest Catholic community in Southeast Asia after the Philippines, but tensions have existed for decades over church property seized by the Communists and other issues.

Francis' diplomatic outreach Sunday followed another gesture of solidarity earlier in the morning: He baptized the father of one of the victims of the sinking of a South Korean ferry that killed more than 300 people, most of them high school students.

Lee Ho Jin took the Christian name "Francis" during the rite, which the pope administered in the Vatican's embassy in Seoul, according to Lombardi. Lee had been one of a dozen relatives of victims and survivors of the April ferry sinking who met privately with the pope Friday. He asked to be baptized and Francis agreed.

Francis has gone out of his way to show support for the families of the victims of the ferry sinking, who are demanding an independent inquiry into the tragedy. Aside from meeting publicly and privately with them, he has worn a symbolic yellow ribbon on his cassock in solidarity for three straight days.

Lombardi has said Francis isn't getting involved in the families' demands for a parliamentary inquiry, but is merely offering them support and prayers. He said Francis was particularly pleased to have been asked to perform a baptism since Korea's Catholic Church has been growing steadily thanks in large part to an unusually high number of adult baptisms each year.

Francis' final event Sunday was to close the Asian Youth Day festival with a Mass in a 15th century fortress in Haemi, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Seoul, where some 132 Korean martyrs were tortured and killed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

A steady rain turned the castle grounds into giant mud puddles, but the skies cleared by the time Francis arrived and was greeted by the enthusiastic crowd.

Associated Press writer Gillian Wong in Beijing contributed to this report.

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Ukraine Says Troops Entered Rebel Held City

Volunteers take an oath of allegiance to Ukraine, before being sent to the eastern part of Ukraine to join the ranks of special battalion "Azov" fighting against pro-Russian separatists, in Kiev, Ukraine Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014. Ukraine's national security council said government forces captured a district police station in Luhansk after bitter clashes, but the government also reported Sunday that separatists have shot down a Ukrainian fighter plane in Luhansk region after army troops entered deep inside a rebel-controlled city in the east.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Army troops have penetrated deep inside a rebel-controlled city in eastern Ukraine in what could prove a breakthrough development in the four-month-long conflict, the Ukrainian government said Sunday.

However, the military acknowledged that another one of its fighter planes was shot down by the separatists, who have been bullish about their ability to continue the battle and have bragged about receiving support from Russia. An Associated Press reporter spotted a column of several dozen heavy vehicles, including tanks and at least one rocket launcher, rolling through rebel-held territory on Sunday.

Ukraine's national security council said government forces captured a district police station in Luhansk on Saturday after bitter clashes in the Velika Vergunka neighborhood. Weeks of fighting have taken their toll on Luhansk, which city authorities say has reached the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. The siege mounted by government forces has ground delivery of basic provisions to a halt and cut off power and running water.

Although rebel forces have regularly yielded territory in recent weeks, they have continued to show formidable fighting capabilities. Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksiy Dmitrashkovsky said Sunday that the separatists shot down a Ukrainian fighter plane over the Luhansk region after it launched an attack on rebels. The pilot ejected and was taken to a secure place, he said. Another military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, later said that the status of the pilot was still being clarified.

The column of armored vehicles was spotted southeast of Luhansk outside a town very close to the Russian border and was heading west, deeper into rebel-held territory. It was unclear whether the column had come from Russia. Among the armored vehicles was a Strela-10, a short-range surface-to-air missile system capable of hitting targets up to 3,500 meters (11,500 feet.)

The area is just across the border from where a large Russian aid convoy is poised to cross with supplies intended for Luhansk and other afflicted zones. Part of the aid convoy headed to the frontier crossing on Sunday, but the 16 white trucks then stopped. The convoy of nearly 270 vehicles has been marooned for days in a town near the border amid objections from Ukraine, which initially complained that the mission was not authorized by the International Committee for the Red Cross.

The Red Cross, which would have responsibility for distributing the aid, on Saturday said the main holdup was a lack of security guarantees from all sides in the conflict. A large X-ray machine was brought to the Russian crossing point in the afternoon, and Paul Picard, the head of a border-monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said it would be used to inspect the cargo.

As the status of the Russian aid convoy remained uncertain, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France met in Berlin late Sunday to discuss ways to end the crisis. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter-Steinmeier said ahead of the meeting that the search for a political solution mustn't be neglected even as efforts are made to provide humanitarian aid to civilians in the rebel-held cities of Luhansk and Donetsk.

"Today's news shows that things could get worse," he told reporters. "If we aren't very careful ... we may slide further toward a direct confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian forces." But Steinmeier lamented that previous accords reached in Geneva and Berlin had failed to hold, and added: "There's no guarantee that today's talks will result in the success we're looking for." Officials familiar with the talks, who asked not to be named because they weren't authorized to brief reporters until the meetings were over, also dampened any expectations of a major breakthrough.

The four diplomats began the evening with a demonstration of cordiality for the cameras, walking together around a tranquil park on the shores of Berlin's Lake Tegel before retreating into a government villa for closed-doors discussions.

Fighting, including frequent shelling, is also affecting Donetsk, Ukraine's main rebel-held city. Ten civilians have been killed and eight wounded in the past 24 hours, city authorities reported Sunday.

The leader of the self-proclaimed separatist government in the Donetsk region, Alexander Zakharchenko, has boasted that his forces have been bolstered by 1,200 fighters who underwent training in Russia and were brought in at a "crucial moment." In a video of his speech that was posted online over the weekend, he said the fighters have 150 armored vehicles, including 30 tanks, and have gathered near a "corridor" along the Russian border. Zakharchenko did not specify whether the armored vehicles had also come from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Sunday denied that Russia had supplied any armored vehicles to the separatists. Lysenko, the military spokesman, said the government had information that separatists had received reinforcement from Russia, but added that there is evidence rebels are complaining about not receiving some of the equipment they have been promised.

Russia has consistently denied allegations that it is supporting the rebels with equipment or training. But Ukraine's president on Friday said that Ukraine had destroyed a large number of military vehicles that had recently crossed from Russia.

Jim Heintz in Kiev, Ukraine, Mstyslav Chernov in Krasnodon, Ukraine, Alexander Roslyakov in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Russia, and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

New US Strikes In Iraq Include Land-Based Bombers

A Kurdish peshmerga fighter prepares his weapon at his combat position near the Mosul Dam at the town of Chamibarakat outside Mosul, Iraq, Sunday, Aug 17, 2014. Kurdish forces took over parts of the largest dam in Iraq on Sunday less than two weeks after it was captured by the Islamic State extremist group, Kurdish security officials said, as U.S. and Iraqi planes aided their advance by bombing militant targets near the facility.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is expanding its air campaign in Iraq with attacks aimed at helping Iraqi forces regain control of the strategic Mosul dam.

The White House said President Barack Obama notified Congress Sunday that the widened mission would be limited in duration and scope. The White House says "the mission is consistent with the president's directive that the U.S. military protect U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, since the failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians and threaten U.S. personnel and facilities — including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad."

The latest round of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq against the Islamic State extremist group includes the first reported use of land-based bombers in the military campaign. Kurdish security officials say Kurdish forces, aided by U.S. and Iraqi airstrikes, have now taken over parts of the dam.

Palestinian Divisions Emerge In Gaza Truce Talks

A Palestinian protester throws a glass bottle at Israeli soldiers during clashes, following a protest against the Israeli military action over Hamas in Gaza, in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, Aug. 15 , 2014. Israel and Hamas are now observing a five-day temporary cease-fire in an attempt to allow indirect talks in Cairo to continue. The negotiations are meant to secure a substantive end to the monthlong Gaza war and draw up a roadmap for the coastal territory, which has been hard-hit in the fighting.

CAIRO (AP) — The Palestinians appeared divided Sunday as the clock was winding down on the latest Gaza cease-fire, with officials saying Hamas was still opposed to a compromise Egyptian proposal that would ease the closure of the territory, while other factions, including delegates representing President Mahmoud Abbas, were inclined to accept.

Hamas officials said they were holding out in hopes of getting more concessions in the Egyptian-mediated talks. With a temporary truce set to expire late Monday, a range of outcomes remained possible, including a return to fighting that has brought great devastation to Gaza, an unofficial understanding that falls short of a formal negotiated deal or yet another extension in negotiations.

The negotiations are aimed at ending the latest war between Israel and Hamas-led militants in Gaza. Nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been killed — mostly civilians — and more than 10,000 people have been wounded since the war began July 8, according to United Nations figures. In Israel, 67 people have been killed, all but three of them soldiers.

The indirect talks have been going on, through Egyptian mediators, since early last week. As Palestinian and Israeli negotiators returned to Cairo on Sunday following a weekend of consultations across the Middle East, the gaps remained wide.

The current five-day cease-fire is due to end Monday night at midnight (2100 GMT). A member of the Palestinian delegation told The Associated Press on Sunday that the gaps between the sides were still significant and that it was far from certain whether a deal could be reached before the cease-fire expires.

"We are less optimistic than we were earlier," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the talks with the media. Hamas is demanding an end to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza tightened when it seized power in 2007. The blockade, which Israel says is needed to prevent arms smuggling, has ground Gaza's economy to a standstill by restricting imports, limiting the movement of people in and out of the territory and blocking virtually all exports.

Israel, meanwhile, wants Gaza to be demilitarized, essentially forcing Hamas to give up its large arsenal of rockets and other weapons. Hamas rejects this demand out of hand. Ahead of the resumption of talks late Sunday, both sides were sticking to their positions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet that Hamas had suffered a huge setback in the four-week war, which would be reflected in the Cairo talks. "If Hamas thinks its defeat on the battlefield will be papered over by a victory at the negotiating table it is mistaken," he said.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, directed equally tough words at Israel. "The Israelis will only return to their homes when the resistance decides. We are not seeking an agreement because we are weak but to fulfill our people's demands," he told a rally.

According to negotiators, the Egyptian proposal calls for compromises by both sides. It seeks to ease the blockade by allowing more imports and exports for Gaza, and increased movement of people in and out of the territory's Israeli-controlled crossing.

But key demands, such as Hamas' calls for Gaza's air and seaports to be reopened, are to be left until later. While Gaza would not be forced to disarm, Gaza's border crossings would be controlled by forces loyal to Abbas. The Western-backed Abbas would also oversee international reconstruction efforts in Gaza, to make sure that aid money and materials don't fall into the hands of Hamas.

The Egyptian compromise would give the Western-backed Abbas his first foothold back in Gaza since his forces were driven out seven years ago. In a show of unity, the Palestinian delegation in Cairo has included representatives of rival factions, including Abbas' Fatah movement and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad.

One member of the delegation said that even if Hamas opposes the deal, Abbas' forces are prepared to oversee the crossings and reconstruction. "We won't let our people down," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the negotiations with the media.

Other members said both Israel and Hamas appeared to be posturing ahead of Monday night's deadline. One positive sign was that neither side appeared to have any desire to return to the heavy fighting experienced over the past month.

"The proposed agreement is not bad and can be amended a little bit. That prevents bloodshed and opens the way for rebuilding Gaza," said one official, also speaking on condition of anonymity. The current round of fighting began after Hamas resumed firing rockets at Israel following the arrests of hundreds of Hamas members in the West Bank. Israel said the arrests came as part of the investigation into the abduction and killing of three Israeli teens in June.

Japan Criticized As 2 Ministers Visit War Shrine

Japanese men clad in outdated military costume march in to pay respects to the country's war dead at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Friday, Aug. 15, 2014. Japan marks the 69th anniversary of its surrender in World War II on Aug. 15.

TOKYO, JAPAN (AP) — Two Japanese Cabinet ministers paid respects Friday at a Tokyo shrine that honors the war dead including convicted criminals, a move that drew immediate criticism from South Korea, although Japan's prime minister stayed away.

Keiji Furuya, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, one of the two ministers who visited Yasukuni Shrine, said it was "only natural as a Japanese" to honor those who had given up their lives for their country.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo told reporters his visit was a vow to never wage war again, and shrugged off concerns it may set off a diplomatic row. "If it does, the government should give a clear and good explanation," he told reporters after praying at the shrine.

In Seoul, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said some Japanese politicians were acting in a way that hurts both South Koreans and Japanese and further pushes the countries' people apart. In a speech marking South Korea's independence from Japanese colonialism, Park also asked Japanese leaders to act wisely and expressed hopes that next year the countries will move together toward friendlier ties.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not go to the shrine, but sent a gift through an envoy. His visit to Yasukuni in December drew widespread criticism, including from the U.S., Japan's most important ally.

Abe signed the gift as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and not as prime minister, a party official said — a technicality some use to try to defuse the long-brewing controversy. The enshrinement of Class-A war criminals, such as wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, among the 2.5 million dead honored at Yasukuni Shrine makes the visits a target of condemnation from China and South Korea, which suffered from Japan's aggression and see the shrine as a symbol of brutality.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga defended the visits as religious freedom, noting that praying for the war dead is natural for any country and that the ministers acted in a private capacity. Dozens of lawmakers from various parties visited the shrine, wearing dark suits and outfits.

At a ceremony commemorating the end of World War II at a Tokyo hall, attended by thousands of people, Abe said later Friday that the sacrifices of the previous generation brought "peace and prosperity" to Japan.

"We will never forget that," Abe told the crowd, noting that Japan must "humbly face up to history." Emperor Akihito, whose father surrendered at the end of World War II, also offered prayers at the ceremony on a stage covered with chrysanthemums, flanked by his wife Michiko.

Although extremist nationalists throng Yasukuni, wearing old uniforms and tooting bugle horns, thousands of regular people also go to the shrine on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the end of the war. On that day in 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender on the radio, the first time the general public had ever heard his voice as he had been considered to be almost divine.

Last month, Abe's Cabinet approved an interpretation of Japan's post-war constitution, which was written by the U.S., to allow Japanese troops a more active role, including working with the U.S. and other allies, in defensive military activities.

Relations with Asia's neighbors have been strained over such moves and longstanding territorial disputes. But pacifism remains a powerful public sentiment, especially among the elderly. War veteran Shirataka Kuribayashi, 88, was among those lining up to bow and pray at Yasukuni — but for no more war.

"The memory fades away, and people forget about the war. I think we need to stop that," he said.

Associated Press TV journalists Kaori Hitomi and Emily Wang, writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and researcher Jung-yoon Choi in Seoul contributed to this report.

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Follow Mari Yamaguchi at https://twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Hundreds Mourn AP Video Journalist Killed In Gaza

Monsignor Guglielmo Borghetti, bishop of Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello, second from right, stands in front of the coffin of Associated Press video journalist Simone Camilli, during the funeral service at the Pitigliano Cathedral, Italy, Friday, Aug. 15, 2014. Camilli was killed Wednesday along with a freelance Palestinian translator working with him when ordnance left over from Israeli-Hamas fighting exploded as they were reporting on the aftermath of the war in the Gaza Strip.

PITIGLIANO, ITALY (AP) — Several hundred mourners packed the ornate cathedral of this hilltop Tuscan town on Friday to remember Associated Press video journalist Simone Camilli as a committed storyteller who had found personal and professional contentment in the Middle East.

An image of Camilli, leaning pensively over the balcony of the AP office in Gaza with smoke billowing behind him, stood near the simple unfinished wooden casket that accompanied his body back to Italy, and which his family chose to retain in deference to his preference for simplicity.

"You might think he was a thrill-seeker. Simone wasn't one of those," said friend and AP colleague Chris Slaney. "His best work was filmed far from the front lines. He was proud of items which were simple, human stories well-told."

Camilli was killed Wednesday in the Gaza Strip when leftover ordnance believed to have been dropped in an Israeli airstrike blew up. Also killed was freelance Palestinian translator Ali Shehda Abu Afash, who was buried Wednesday. Four police engineers also died in the explosion and AP photographer Hatem Moussa was among three people badly wounded.

Video images made by Camilli were projected in the cathedral complex in Pitigliano, and mourners streaming to the funeral Mass were visibly moved as they paused to watch. AP chief executive Gary Pruitt, speaking outside the cathedral, lauded Camilli's commitment "to tell the human side of the story in a war" during nearly a decade with AP.

Monsignor Guglielmo Borghetti, bishop of Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello, remembered Camilli as "young, courageous, a passionate professional" and noted that Pope Francis had offered prayers for him this week from the papal plane on his way to South Korea.

"Simone died as a consequence of war," Borghetti said. Camilli's father is mayor of the small town of 4,000, which was in collective mourning. The city canceled festivities marking the Aug. 15 Ferragosto public holiday and traditional funeral notices from local associations were posted on the sides of buildings.

Camilli, who was 35, is survived by his long-time partner Ylva van den Berg, their 3-year-old daughter Nour, his parents and two sisters. Van den Berg told mourners the pair met on a Jerusalem street eight years ago this month, locking eyes as they approached one another. They started to talk.

"You talked about your work for the AP that you had just started, and you were so excited about," van den Berg said. "By the end of the evening, I had simply fallen for you and we have been together ever since that evening."

Van den Berg said Simone had found contentment in both his family and work lives in recent months as the family moved from Jerusalem to a new home in Beirut. "I know you were so happy together with our family in these last months," van den Berg said. "You felt the freedom to make the stories you wanted to make and you finally felt appreciated for it."

Camilli's father, Pier Luigi, spoke of how he was overwhelmed when traveling to Jerusalem to recover his son's body to meet all the people who called his son a close friend, and who were impressed by his journalistic gifts and commitment.

"Everyone said Simone was such a special person," Pier Luigi Camilli, a former journalist at RAI Italian state TV, said. He expressed wonder at "this discovery of a new image of my son, this boy — boy, at 35 years old. This man. I didn't know him. We didn't have time to notice how special he was. To lose a son is a pain that I don't think can be equaled. I don't think we understand it deep down yet."

Camilli's mother, Maria Daniela Vigna, read a letter written by a Palestinian history teacher who admired Camilli's courage. "'I am very touched by the loss of Simone Camilli,'" she read from an Italian translation of the letter. "'He could have chosen to stay, like many other journalists, in a peaceful place. His humanity pushed him to Gaza.'"

Vigna said she would travel herself to Gaza to honor her son's memory. "I don't know how, but I have to go back there, to do something. Otherwise my life is over," she said. Abu Afash, a Gaza resident who often worked with the international media as a translator and news assistant, was buried the same day as the explosion in line with Muslim custom. He is survived by his wife, Shireen, and daughters Majd, 7, and Wajd, 2 1/2.

AP photographer Moussa is recovering in a Jerusalem hospital.