The Latest On Waco Shooting: Autopsy Finds 9 Died By Gunshot

People arrested during the motorcycle gang related shooting at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas on Sunday, May 17, 2015. Top row from left; Jonathan Lopez, Richard Luther, Michael Lynch, Sandra Lynch, Eleazar Martinez and Tom Mendez. Middle row from left; Marshall Mitchell, Diego Obledo, Danny Oehlert, Larry Pina, Jerry Pollard and Jimmy Pond. Bottom row from left; Clayton Reed, Rolando Reyes, Sergio Reyes, Kyle Smith, Jimmy Spencer and Blake Taylor. (McLennan County Sheriff's Office via AP)

12:05 p.m. (CDT)

Preliminary autopsy reports show the nine people killed in a large fight in Central Texas involving rival motorcycle gangs all died of gunshot wounds. The reports provided by a McLennan County justice of the peace show the nine men ranged in age from 27 to 65, and some were shot in the head, neck or torso.

Police have said all the dead were members of two of the five biker gangs that gathered for a meeting Sunday at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco. Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton says about 50 weapons have been confiscated from the scene, primarily knives and firearms.

Swanton has said officers outside the restaurant who were monitoring the gathering Sunday fired on armed bikers as the shooting moved outside. 11:30 a.m. (CDT) About 50 weapons were confiscated from the scene of the weekend shooting involving rival motorcycle gangs in Central Texas that left nine gang members dead and another 18 injured.

Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said Tuesday that nearly all the weapons were firearms and knives, but also included a chain with a padlock for the purpose of beating others. He says upward of 100 weapons may be found once authorities are done investigating the crime scene at a Twin Peaks restaurant where the gangs had gathered Sunday for a meeting.

Preliminary findings indicate a parking dispute at the restaurant led to the violence. Swanton says the shooting began inside Twin Peaks and continued outside, where bodies were seen in the aftermath laying in the parking lot.

10:40 a.m. (CDT) Texas police say a weekend shootout involving rival motorcycle gangs that killed nine people and injured 18 apparently began with a parking dispute and someone running over a gang member's foot.

Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said Tuesday that an uninvited group appeared for the meeting of a loose confederation of biker gangs held at a Twin Peaks restaurant on Sunday. He says one man was injured when a vehicle struck his foot. This caused a dispute that continued inside the restaurant, where fighting and then shooting began, before spilling back outside.

Swanton also said that of the 18 injured, seven remain hospitalized. He described their conditions as stable. He says the police investigation is being hampered by some who "are not being honest with us."

10 Chinese Nationals Charged With Illegal Firearms In Ghana

Plain clothes police officers accompany Chinese nationals accused of illegal mining out of a courtroom, following a hearing in Accra, Ghana, Monday May 18, 2015. Authorities say 10 Chinese nationals accused of illegal mining in Ghana now face firearms charges in court. Justice Francis Obiri on Monday granted the subjects $12,000 bail each and adjourned the case until a hearing later this month. Each of the defendants is accused of illegal firearms possession, and they pleaded not guilty to the charges through an interpreter in court

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Authorities say 10 Chinese citizens suspected of illegal gold mining in Ghana are facing firearms charges in court.

Justice Francis Obiri on Monday granted the defendants $12,000 bail each and adjourned the firearms case until a hearing later this month in Accra, capital of this western African nation. Each of the defendants is accused of illegal firearms possession and they pleaded not guilty to the charges through an interpreter.

Authorities say they were tipped off to reports that the Chinese were illegally mining in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Police say a search of their premises prompted the seizure at least nine firearms along with ammunition.

It was not clear what authorities were doing about the alleged gold mining.

Appeals Court Sides With Google In Anti-Muslim Film Case

Cindy Lee Garcia, one of the actresses in "Innocence of Muslims," right, and attorney M. Cris Armenta hold a news conference in Los Angeles asking a judge to issue an injunction demanding a 14-minute trailer for the film be pulled from YouTube. A federal appeals court on Monday, May 18, 2015 overturned an order for YouTube to take down the anti-Muslim film that sparked violence in the Middle East and death threats to actors.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court panel should not have forced YouTube to take down an anti-Muslim film that sparked violence in the Middle East and death threats to actors, a larger group of judges ruled Monday in a victory for free speech advocates.

The 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal sided with Google, which owns YouTube, saying the previous decision by a three-member panel of the same court gave "short shrift" to the First Amendment and constituted prior restraint — a prohibition on free speech before it takes place.

"The mandatory injunction censored and suppressed a politically significant film — based upon a dubious and unprecedented theory of copyright," Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote in an opinion joined by nine other judges. "In so doing, the panel deprived the public of the ability to view firsthand, and judge for themselves, a film at the center of an international uproar."

In a statement, YouTube said it has long believed the previous ruling was a misapplication of copyright law. It did not say whether the movie would go back up. Actress Cindy Lee Garcia sought the injunction to have "Innocence of Muslims" removed from the website after receiving death threats. Her lawyer argued that she believed she was acting in a different production and had a copyright claim to the low-budget film.

Google countered that Garcia had no claim to the film because the filmmaker wrote the dialogue, managed the production and dubbed over her lines. Garcia was paid $500 to appear in a movie called "Desert Warrior" that she believed had nothing to do with religion. But she ended up in a five-second scene in which her voice was dubbed over and her character asked if Muhammad was a child molester.

A call to Garcia's attorney, Cris Armenta, was not immediately returned. The ruling likely ends any further consideration of the case by the 9th Circuit, though an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court would be possible.

The film's writer and director, Mark Basseley Youssef, initially posted the nearly 15-minute trailer on YouTube in 2012, according to the appeals court. The film sparked rioting by those who considered it blasphemous to the Prophet Muhammad. President Barack Obama and other world leaders asked Google to take it down.

The larger 9th Circuit panel said it was sympathetic to Garcia's concerns, but copyright law is not intended to protect people from the type of harm Garcia claimed to have suffered, including death threats.

The court cited a decision by the U.S. Copyright Office that denied Garcia's copyright claim to the film. The copyright office said it does not allow such claims by individual actors involving performances in movies, according to the court.

Garcia's theory of copyright law would result in a "legal morass" in which each of the thousands of extras in films such as "Ben-Hur" and the "Lord of the Rings" would have a copyright to the film, the court said.

"We are sympathetic to her plight," McKeown wrote. "Nonetheless, the claim against Google is grounded in copyright law, not privacy, emotional distress, or tort law, and Garcia seeks to impose speech restrictions under copyright laws meant to foster rather than repress free expression."

In a strongly worded dissenting opinion, Judge Alex Kozinski said the court appeared to be badly misinterpreting copyright law. "In its haste to take Internet service providers off the hook for infringement, the court today robs performers and other creative talent of rights Congress gave them," he wrote.

Google was joined in the case by an unusual alliance of filmmakers, other Internet companies and prominent news media organizations that didn't want the court to alter copyright law or infringe on First Amendment rights. YouTube and other Internet companies were concerned they could be besieged with takedown notices, though it could be hard to contain the film that is still found online.

The court's decision was not surprising and was consistent with previous copyright rulings, said Alex Lawrence, an intellectual property lawyer in New York not connected with the case. Garcia's goal of protecting herself was laudable, Lawrence said, but the attempt to bend copyright law had the potential to create unintended consequences that made many people nervous.

"A sigh of relief was heard today in Silicon Valley and Hollywood," he said.

Melley reported from Los Angeles.

Records Offer Murky View Into Affleck's Ancestor And History

An archival document made available by the Chatham County Probate Court, Ga., showing the appraised dollar value of slaves owner by Ann S. Norton, the mother-in-law of Benjamin L. Cole. Cole is the great-great-great-grandfather of actor Ben Affleck. After Norton died in 1858, Cole was tasked with holding her slaves in trust for his three sons until they reached adulthood. Cole served as local sheriff during the Civil War and public records show he and his wife owned at least one slave of their own. Evidence that Cole owned slaves drove Affleck to ask PBS and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates to remove his relative from a TV program exploring Affleck's family tree. (AP)

SAVANNAH, GA. (AP) — A family death in 1858 left Ben Affleck's great-great-great grandfather with legal custody of his mother-in-law's most valuable property — her slaves.

There was Cuffey, whose value was estimated at $500 in handwritten estate records still on file with the Chatham County Probate Court. There were Henry and James, valued at $1,000 apiece. And Robert and Becky, worth $600 as a couple. They were among 24 slaves willed to Benjamin L. Cole with instructions to turn them over to his three sons once they reached adulthood.

Nineteenth century documents offer a window into the life of the Hollywood star's ancestor and put Benjamin Cole right at the center of the South's reckoning with slavery. He had the personal ties — his family's at least two dozen slaves. But as sheriff of Chatham County, which includes Savannah, he had deep public ties as well.

His nearly a decade as the top law enforcement official in one of the South's most important cities started before the Civil War, when slavery was a way of life, continued throughout the war, when its citizens were fighting to maintain slavery, and ended years after the Confederates surrendered, when tensions between newly freed slaves and whites desperate to maintain control coursed through the city.

"Slavery touched everything. Everybody had some kind of a connection to it in some way," said W. Todd Groce, president of the Georgia Historical Society. Evidence that Cole owned slaves drove Affleck to ask PBS and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates to remove his relative from a TV program exploring Affleck's family tree. After Affleck's actions became public in April, the "Argo" actor and director identified the relative as Benjamin Cole on Twitter. A publicist for Affleck reached by The Associated Press offered no further comment. The AP used historical public records to independently confirm that Cole was Affleck's ancestor.

"I didn't want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves," Affleck said in a Facebook post April 21. "I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth." Nearly 144 years before he was dismissed by his great-great-great grandson as an embarrassment, Cole was praised as a "universally respected" citizen by the Savannah Morning News after he died on Nov. 16, 1871.

When Cole became sheriff in 1860, after briefly holding the job in 1856, slaves made up roughly a third of Savannah's 22,000 people. Many labored on vast rice plantations south of the city. Others worked as house servants, wagon drivers, hotel waiters and messengers.

Cole himself had a modest farm with about 100 acres of cleared land. Census records from 1850 identify Cole as the owner of 25 slaves. City and county tax digests paint a different picture. They show Cole paid taxes on his land, a dog, a horse and a carriage. But he never paid for any slaves, which were also taxed as personal property.

The 1860 census offers a possible explanation. It shows Cole held 31 slaves as an estate executor and trustee for Ann S. Norton and S.L. Speissegger, Cole's in-laws from two marriages. It was Norton who left her slaves to Cole's sons from a previous marriage. In 1857 he married Georgia A. Cole, Speissegger's daughter. She was Affleck's great-great-great grandmother.

Benjamin and Georgia Cole had at least one slave of their own. Cole's wife paid taxes on a single slave in 1863 and 1864. It's not clear if the slaves Cole held in trust worked for him. "You can pretty much count on him not letting them sit around," said Jacqueline Jones, history department chair at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the book "Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War." ''If he's going to feed and clothe them, he wants them to be productive."

But the end was near. Savannah surrendered to the Union in December 1864 and the Confederate army itself surrendered the following April, forcing the South to yield to the abolition of slavery. Sheriff Cole was left to keep the peace between fearful, resentful whites and freed blacks demanding access to the ballot and other citizenship rights.

In April 1867, in the yard of the county jail, the sheriff presided over the hanging of two black men condemned for murder. The Savannah Daily News and Herald reported Cole personally placed white caps over the men's faces before releasing the trapdoor beneath their feet.

A year later, during Cole's final months as sheriff, the newspaper reported a courthouse clash between Cole's men and military authorities as crowds of freed blacks tried to vote in an election. "Sheriff Cole's Bailiff, who was there by virtue of orders from Headquarters, was thrust out at the point of a bayonet in the hands of an irate corporal," the newspaper said. It's not clear why.

Cole still served as a deputy sheriff at the time of his 1871 death, which newspapers attributed to "consumption of the bowels." Though his birth date isn't precisely known, Cole lived about 57 years.

Ending slavery had a devastating effect on the wealth of many white Southerners. Public records suggest Cole's family fortunes may have suffered too. In 1858, Cole held in trust slaves worth an estimated $13,100. Thirteen years later, he died with $575 in the bank and $543 worth of land and household furniture. Estate records show Cole's heirs received another $1,000 from the Georgia Legislature as compensation for unpaid services during Cole's time as sheriff.

Cole's body now lies buried in an unmarked grave at Laurel Grove Cemetery, where he had purchased a family plot for $10.

Pope Canonizes 2 Saints From 19th-Century Palestine

Pilgrims hold a banner as they wait for Pope Francis's arrival to celebrate a canonization ceremony of four new saints in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 17, 2015. Among them are Arab nuns Sts. Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas, who lived in what was Ottoman-ruled Palestine in the 19th century. They are the first from the region to receive sainthood since the early days of Christianity and are the first Arabic-speaking Catholic saints. (AP Photo)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis canonized two nuns from what was 19th-century Palestine on Sunday in hope of encouraging Christians across the Middle East who are facing a wave of persecution from Islamic extremists.

Sisters Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas were among four nuns who were made saints Sunday at a Mass in a sun-soaked St. Peter's Square. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and an estimated 2,000 pilgrims from the region, some waving Palestinian flags, were on hand for the canonization of the first saints from the Holy Land since the early years of Christianity.

Church officials are holding up Bawardy and Ghattas as a sign of hope and encouragement for Christians across the Mideast at a time when violent persecution and discrimination have driven many Christians from the region of Christ's birth.

They were canonized alongside two other nuns, Saints Jeanne Emilie de Villeneuve from France and Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception from Italy. "Inspired by their example of mercy, charity and reconciliation, may the Christians of these lands look with hope to the future, following the path of solidarity and fraternal coexistence," Francis said of the women at the end of the Mass.

Bawardy was a mystic born in 1843 in the village of Ibilin in what is now the Galilee region of northern Israel. She is said to have received the "stigmata" — bleeding wounds like those that Jesus Christ suffered on the cross — and died at the age of 33 in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, where she founded a Carmelite order monastery that still exists.

Ghattas, born in Jerusalem in 1847, opened girls' schools, fought female illiteracy, and co-founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Rosary. The order today boasts dozens of centers all over the Middle East, from Egypt to Syria, that operate kindergartens, homes for the elderly, medical clinics and guest houses.

In his homily, Francis praised Bawardy as having been "a means of encounter and fellowship with the Muslim world," while Ghattas "shows us the importance of becoming responsible for one another, of living lives of service to one another."

"Their luminous example challenges us in our lives as Christians," he said. The canonization was celebrated in the Holy Land as well as by Palestinians in Rome. Bassam Abbas, a Palestinian-born doctor who has lived in Italy for 35 years, traveled from Civitavecchia, northwest of Rome, for the event with his wife and three children. They are Muslim, but their children go to a Catholic school.

"We are proud of this event," Abbas said outside St. Peter's Square as he waved a giant Palestinian flag. "We want peace for Palestine, peace which transcends religion." In addition to the Palestinian delegation on hand for the Mass, Israel sent a delegation headed by its ambassador to the Holy See, while France, Italy and Jordan also sent official delegations.

In the birthplace of Christianity, Christians make up less than 2 percent of the population of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Although they have not experienced the violent persecution that has decimated Christian communities elsewhere in the region, the population has gradually shrunk over the decades as Christians have fled conflict or sought better opportunities abroad.

Francis has raised the plight of Christians across the Middle East as a cause for concern, denouncing how the Islamic State group has violently driven thousands of religious minorities from their homes in Syria and Iraq.

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

BURUNDI: 5 Generals Arrested For Plotting Failed Coup

Demonstrators opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in office rebuild a barricade after it was dismantled by soldiers in the Nyakabiga neighborhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, Saturday, May 16, 2015. According to presidential spokesman, Gervais Abayeho, President Pierre Nkurunziza returned to the capital on Friday although he did not appear in public, and thanked his security forces for crushing an attempted military coup, while calling for an immediate halt to protests in Burundi.

BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (AP) — A top Burundi official says that five generals have been arrested for plotting a failed coup attempt against President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho said Saturday that three army generals and two police generals were arrested Friday. He said three lower-ranking officers and eight soldiers were also arrested. The coup attempt came as Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in office has triggered turmoil in this central African nation. After weeks of street protests against Nkurunziza's efforts to stay in power, a general announced the coup on Wednesday. Nkurunziza was in Tanzania attending an emergency regional summit to discuss Burundi's crisis when the attempted coup started but soldiers loyal to the president stopped the rebellion.

Officials said Friday that Nkurunziza had returned to the capital though he hasn't been seen in public.

Tsarnaev Could Be 1st Terrorist Executed In The US Since 9/11

From left, Martin Richard, 8, Krystle Campbell, 29, and Lingzi Lu, a Boston University graduate student. Richard, Campbell and Lu were killed in the two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, 2013. On Friday, May 15, 2015, a jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death by lethal injection for the 2013 terror attack. (Family Photos via AP)

BOSTON (AP) — The death sentence jurors imposed on Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sets the stage for what could be the nation's first execution of a terrorist in the post-9/11 era, though the case is likely to go through years of appeals.

In weighing the arguments for and against death, the jurors decided among other things that Tsarnaev showed a lack of remorse. And they emphatically rejected the defense's central argument — that he was led down the path to terrorism by his big brother.

The Friday decision — which came just over two years after the April 15, 2013, bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260 — brought relief and grim satisfaction to many in Boston. "We can breathe again," said Karen Brassard, who suffered shrapnel wounds on her legs.

A somber-looking Tsarnaev stood with his hands folded, his head slightly bowed, as he learned his fate, sealed after 14 hours of deliberations over three days. His lawyers left court without comment. His father, Anzor Tsarnaev, reached by phone in the Russian region of Dagestan, let out a deep moan upon hearing the news and hung up.

The 12-member federal jury had to be unanimous for Tsarnaev to get the death penalty. Otherwise, the former college student would have automatically received life in prison with no chance of parole. Tsarnaev was convicted last month of all 30 charges against him, including use of a weapon of mass destruction, for joining his now-dead brother, Tamerlan, in setting off two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line of the race. Tsarnaev was also found guilty in the killing of an MIT police officer during the getaway.

Seventeen of the charges carried the possibility of a death sentence; ultimately, the jury gave him the death penalty on six of those counts. The speed with which the jury reached a decision surprised some, given that the jurors had to fill out a detailed worksheet in which they tallied up the factors for and against the death penalty.

The jury agreed with the prosecution on 11 of the 12 aggravating factors cited, including the cruelty of the crime, the extent of the carnage, the killing of a child, and Tsarnaev's lack of remorse. "Today the jury has spoken. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will pay for his crimes with his life," said U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz.

With Friday's decision, community leaders and others talked of closure, of resilience, of the city's Boston Strong spirit. "Today, more than ever, we know that Boston is a city of hope, strength and resilience that can overcome any challenge," said Mayor Marty Walsh.

In weighing the mitigating factors, only three of the 12 jurors found Tsarnaev acted under the influence of his brother. The defense argued that sending him to the high-security Supermax prison in Colorado for the rest of his life would be a sufficiently harsh punishment and would help the victims move on without having to read about years of death row appeals.

Massachusetts is a liberal, staunchly anti-death penalty state that hasn't executed anyone since 1947, and there were fears that a death sentence for Tsarnaev would only satisfy his desire for martyrdom.

But some argued that if capital punishment is to be reserved for "the worst of the worst," Tsarnaev qualifies. Tsarnaev's chief lawyer, death penalty specialist Judy Clarke, admitted at the start of the trial that he participated in the bombings.

But Clarke argued that Dzhokhar was an impressionable 19-year-old led astray by his domineering 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan. The defense portrayed Tamerlan as the mastermind of the plot to punish the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries.

Tamerlan died days after the bombing when he was shot by police and run over by Dzhokhar during a chaotic getaway attempt. Prosecutors depicted Dzhokhar as an equal partner in the attack, saying he was so coldhearted he planted a bomb on the pavement behind a group of children, killing an 8-year-old boy.

Jurors also heard grisly and heartbreaking testimony from numerous bombing survivors who described seeing their legs blown off or watching someone next to them die. Killed in the bombing were Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China; Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager; and 8-year-old Martin Richard, who had gone to watch the marathon with his family. Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier was gunned down in his cruiser days later. Seventeen people lost legs in the bombings.

Tsarnaev did not take the stand at his trial and showed a trace of emotion only once, when he cried while his Russian aunt was on the stand. The only evidence of any remorse on his part came from the defense's final witness, Sister Helen Prejean, the Roman Catholic nun and death penalty opponent portrayed in the movie "Dead Man Walking." She quoted Tsarnaev as saying of the victims: "No one deserves to suffer like they did."

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. will formally impose the sentence at a later date during a hearing in which bombing victims and Tsarnaev himself will be given the opportunity to speak. Tsarnaev probably will be sent to death row at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, where Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was put to death in 2001.

1,000 Survivors Of Violence, Hunger At Sea Land In SE Asia

Bangladeshi migrants walk toward a temporary shelter upon arrival at Kuala Langsa Port in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia, Friday, May 15, 2015. Hundreds of Bangladeshi and ethnic Rohingya migrants have landed on the shores of Indonesia and Thailand after being adrift at sea for weeks, authorities said Friday. They are among the few who have successfully sneaked past a wall of resistance mounted by Southeast Asian countries who have made it clear the boat people are not welcome. (AP Photo)

LANGSA, INDONESIA (AP) — More than 1,000 people fleeing persecution in Myanmar and poverty in Bangladesh came ashore Friday around Southeast Asia, describing murder, extortion and near-starvation after surviving a harrowing journey at sea.

An increasingly alarmed United Nations warned against "floating coffins" and urged regional leaders to put human lives first. The waves of weak, hungry and dehydrated migrants who arrived Friday were the latest to slip into countries that have made it clear they're not welcome. But thousands more are still believed stranded at sea in what has become a humanitarian crisis no one in the region is rushing to solve.

Most of the migrants were crammed onto three boats that Indonesian fishermen towed ashore, while a group of 106 people were found on a Thai island known for its world-class scuba diving and brought to the mainland.

"If I had known that the boat journey would be so horrendous, I would rather have just died in Myanmar," said Manu Abudul Salam, 19, a Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state where three years of attacks against the long-persecuted Muslim minority have sparked the region's largest exodus of boat people since the Vietnam War.

Manu was aboard the largest boat to come ashore Friday, a wooden vessel crammed with nearly 800 people that was towed to the Indonesian village of Langsa in eastern Aceh province. The vessel was at sea when authorities around the region began cracking down on human trafficking two weeks ago. Aid groups and rights workers have warned that the crackdown prompted some captains and smugglers to abandon their ships and leave migrants to fend for themselves — a claim that was corroborated by survivors who came ashore Friday.

Manu said she watched the captain on her ship fleeing on a speed boat several days ago after apparently receiving a call on his cell phone. Before he left, he destroyed the boat's engine, she said, and the boat began to drift.

With food and water running out, tempers flared and fighting broke out, Manu said, sobbing, saying that her 20-year-old brother was among dozens killed in violent clashes between the Bangladeshis and Rohingya on board.

"They thought the captain was from our country, so they attacked us with sticks and knives," she said, sobbing. "My brother is dead." The bodies of the dead were thrown into the sea, she said. A 19-year-old Bangladeshi survivor, Saidul Islam, also said that dozens died on the ship from starvation and injuries after fighting broke out following the captain's evacuation. His voyage lasted three months, starting when a man turned up at his village and asked if anyone wanted a boat ride to Malaysia, known for better job prospects. But once at sea, the captain demanded hundreds of dollars and made the men call their families to secure payment. There were also beatings aboard the vessel, which was stifling hot and cramped.

"We could not stand up. When we asked for water, the captain hit us with wire," he said. Southeast Asia for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya but is now being confronted with a dilemma that in many ways it helped create. In the last three years, more than 120,000 Rohingya have boarded ships to flee to other countries, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

No countries want them, fearing that accepting a few would result in an unstoppable flow of poor, uneducated migrants. But Southeast Asian governments at the same time respected the wishes of Myanmar at regional gatherings, avoiding discussions of state-sponsored discrimination against the Rohingya.

Myanmar, in its first official comments as the crisis escalated in the past two weeks, indicated it won't take back migrants who claim to be Rohingya, who are denied citizenship in Myanmar and are effectively stateless.

"We cannot say that the migrants are from Myanmar unless we can identify them," said government spokesman Ye Htut. "Most victims of human trafficking claim they are from Myanmar is it is very easy and convenient for them."

Another official, Maj. Zaw Htay, said that Myanmar "will not attend a regional meeting hosted by Thailand if "Rohingya' is mentioned on the invitation." Even the name is taboo in Myanmar, which calls them "Bengalis" and insists they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though Rohingya have lived in the majority-Buddhist country for generations.

Thailand has convened a meeting of senior officials for May 29, but the Myanmar officials' comments show the difficulty in resolving the crisis. The deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Farhan Haq, told reporters Friday that Ban Ki-moon plans to speak with regional leaders to urge them to put human lives first in the migrant crisis. "We don't want them, in other words, to be in floating coffins," Haq said.

Most of the migrants are believed to be heading to Malaysia, a Muslim country that has hosted more than 45,000 Rohingya over the years but now says it can't accept any more. Indonesia and Thailand have voiced similar stances.

Earlier this week, about 1,600 migrants were rescued by the Malaysian and Indonesian navies, but both countries then sent other boats away. It wasn't clear whether those who came ashore Friday had been turned away earlier.

The U.N.'s top human rights official said it was "incomprehensible and inhumane" to turn the boats away. "I am appalled at reports that Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have been pushing boats full of vulnerable migrants back out to sea," said Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. "The focus should be on saving lives, not further endangering them."

The International Organization for Migration called on regional governments to help and said it was releasing $1 million to help migrants on shore and still stranded at sea. Director General William Lacy Swing said the IOM would assist with longer-term problems like transportation and living arrangements, "but in the name of humanity, let these migrants land."

As boats arrived in scattered spots of Indonesia and Thailand on Friday, it was increasingly clear that nobody knows how many boats are adrift or where. The boat that Manu was on was crammed with about 790 people, including 61 children and 61 women, many weak from lack of food and water, said Lt. Col. Sunarya, who uses only one name. Fishermen spotted the boat on the verge of sinking.

"Some of the people told police they were abandoned at sea for days and Malaysian authorities had already turned their boat away," said Sunarya, a Langsa police chief. Authorities in Langsa provided basic shelter for the migrants in two large warehouses, and residents came to donate food, drinks and clothing. More than 50 people were treated for dehydration and injuries, according to Syamsul, an official at the Langsa General Hospital.

About 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Langsa, fishermen rescued a smaller boat carrying 47 Rohingya, also dehydrated and hungry, said police chief Dicky Sandoni, from Aceh's Tamiang district. In neighboring North Sumatra province, fishermen rescued a third boat with 96 weak and hungry people adrift in a motorless boat, said Capt. Suroso of the Langkat district police. They were provided basic shelter and food, he said.

Separately, the Thai navy found 106 people, mostly men but including 15 women and two children, on a small island off the coast of Phang Nga province, an area known as the Surin Islands and famous for its scuba diving. They were brought to a police immigration facility on the mainland.

"It's not clear how they ended up on the island," said Prayoon Rattanasenee, the Phang Nga provincial governor. The group said they were Rohingya from Myanmar. "We are in the process of identifying if they were victims of human trafficking."

Gecker reported from Bangkok. AP writers Thanyarat Doksone in Bangkok, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Study: With Goats, Chickens, Program Helps Poorest Get By

A man stands at the entrance of a house in a shanty area in New Delhi, India. A study released on Thursday, May 14, 2015 concludes the very poorest of the poor can be helped with a program that includes providing goats, sheep, chickens or other livestock and training in how to make money from them. That approach didn't wipe out poverty among research participants in six countries, but they became "significantly less poor," said Yale University economist Dean Karlan (AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) — The very poorest of the poor can be helped with a program that includes providing goats, sheep, chickens or other livestock and training in how to make money from them, a large six-nation study concludes.

That approach didn't wipe out poverty for participants, but they became "significantly less poor," said economist Dean Karlan of Yale University and the nonprofit Innovations for Poverty Action. "There's no panacea," Karlan said, but the approach is "better than anything else I'm aware of."

Karlan and colleagues conducted an independent evaluation of the anti-poverty strategy, which is widely used in Bangladesh, to see if it would work in a variety of settings. Their review included more than 10,000 households in Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Pakistan and Peru. Results were published Thursday by the journal Science.

The assessment focused on the poorest within villages. About half the households had incomes that translate to earning less than $1.25 per person a day in the United States. Key components of the programs include providing assets like livestock and training in how to manage them, a regular stipend to provide basic support, and encouragement to save money.

To evaluate the program, the study randomly assigned eligible households to either participate or not, and then compared the outcomes for the two groups over three years. Most of the program's activity was in the first few months. At the two-year mark, when the program ended, the participating group was doing better across a wide range of measures. The gains were largely maintained a year after that.

The study checked on things like household spending, value of assets, how often participants went to bed hungry, amount of time spent working, income, and physical health. The program's benefits exceeded its cost in all countries except Honduras, where a large fraction of the chickens died from disease.

Christopher Blattman of Columbia University, who studies poverty but didn't participate in the new research, praised Karlan's evaluation and said the anti-poverty strategy is "a great program." Stephen Smith of George Washington University, an adviser to the American affiliate of BRAC, an organization that uses the strategy in Bangladesh, said the results show that "graduation" from ultra-poverty is possible through self-employment or eventually jobs.

He said the finding of increased spending on food is particularly encouraging, because that is key to improving well-being and to escaping poverty traps.

Online:

Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

Rival Forces Fight Over Key Sites In Burundi's Capital

A civilian carries a Christian cross as a sign of impartiality as he and others walk down a major road in the capital Bujumbura, in Burundi Thursday, May 14, 2015. Gunfire and explosions rang out in Burundi's capital on Thursday as military forces backing an attempted coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza battled it out with forces loyal to the elected leader. (AP Photo)

BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (AP) — Gunfire and explosions rang out Thursday as military forces backing an attempted coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza battled troops loyal to him over key sites in Burundi's capital, while his office reported he had returned to the country.

Weeks of turmoil in this impoverished Central African country boiled over Wednesday when an army general announced that Nkurunziza was being ousted. The president was in Tanzania at the time for a meeting with regional leaders about the political crisis. Late Thursday, his office announced on Twitter that Nkurunziza was back in Burundi, although the report could not be independently verified.

The report also said Nkurunziza saluted the patriotism of the police and the patience of the Burundian people. His office had earlier said he had urged calm and said the situation was under control. Shooting and explosions could be heard in central Bujumbura as loyalist troops guarding the national broadcaster RTNB exchanged fire with forces believed to support Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, the senior army officer leading the coup attempt.

The RTNB building and its surroundings were under attack for about 25 minutes, presidential communication adviser Willy Nyamitwe said on Twitter. State radio was playing music after going briefly off the air amid the fighting.

Following one of the clashes, the body of one of the soldiers who supported the coup lay on the edge of a road near the state radio station as troops loyal to Nkurunziza looked on. Police patrolled a deserted major road and some civilians walked timidly down another street, carrying a cross to show neutrality.

The military is divided between supporters of Nkurunziza and Niyombare, who was fired in February as intelligence chief. The army chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Prime Niyongabo, said on state radio late Wednesday that he was against Niyombare.

A grenade attack Wednesday night seriously damaged the building of private broadcaster Renaissance TV, where Niyombare made his coup statement, said the station's director, Innocent Muhozi, who added that one of his offices was also burned overnight.

Police withdrew from the streets of Bujumbura after Niyombare's coup statement, and people thronged Bujumbura's streets and applauded soldiers who rode by in tanks and trucks. At least 15 people have been killed in demonstrations since April 26 over Nkurunziza's bid for a third term. Protesters say his candidacy violated the Constitution as well as peace accords that ended a civil war.

During the unrest, the military acted as a buffer between police and protesters. Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete, who chaired the summit on the Burundi crisis, said the region's leaders condemned the coup and called for return to constitutional order.

Following an emergency meeting Thursday, the African Union Peace and Security Council condemned any attempts to seize power through violence in Burundi and urged talks between the warring factions. The U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned leaders of the attempted coup for trying to oust the elected government.

The council also condemned those facilitating violence against civilians, an apparent reference to government supporters, and called for "the swift return of the rule of law and the holding of credible elections."

Both the council and the U.N. chief, in separate statements, called for an urgent halt to all fighting and the restoration of peace. Ban stressed that anyone responsible for ordering or committing human rights violations will be held accountable, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The U.N. special envoy on Burundi Said Djinnit has been in touch with various parties on the ground, and calls have been made to regional leaders, Dujarric added. He briefed the Security Council by videoconference.

Djinnit was in Nairobi and was trying to get back to Bujumbura, Dujarric said. Burundi's Constitution states a president can be popularly elected to two five-year terms. Nkurunziza maintains he is eligible for a third because parliament elected him to his first term, leaving him open to be popularly elected to two terms.

The U.S. government urged all sides in Burundi to end the violence and expressed full support for the ongoing work by regional leaders. Hutus are the majority ethnic group in Burundi, making up about 85 percent of the population, while Tutsis make up the other 15 percent.

Burundi erupted into civil war in 1993 following the assassination of the country's first ethnic Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye. That conflict, which underscored longstanding ethnic tensions between the Hutu and the Tutsi people, lasted until 2005.

Nkurunziza, a Hutu, took over as president and embarked on a campaign of ethnic reconciliation and economic rehabilitation. In 2009, his government signed a peace agreement with Burundi's last rebel group.

Associated Press reporter Elias Meseret in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Cara Anna in New York contributed to this report.

Castro: This Pope's So Impressive, I Might Return To Church

Pope Francis meets Cuban President Raul Castro during a private audience at the Vatican, Sunday, May 10, 2015. Cuban President Raul Castro has been welcomed at the Vatican by Pope Francis, who played a key role in the breakthrough between Washington and Havana aimed at restoring U.S.-Cuban diplomatic ties.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Cuban President Raul Castro paid a call on Pope Francis at the Vatican Sunday to thank him for working for Cuban-US detente and later said he is so impressed by the pontiff he is considering a return to the Catholic church's fold.

"Bienvenido!" Francis said in his native Spanish, welcoming Castro to his studio near the Vatican public audience hall. The Cuban president, bowing his head, gripped Francis' hand with both of his, and the two men began private talks. The meeting lasted nearly an hour, as the Argentine-born Francis and Castro spoke in their native Spanish.

Francis will visit Cuba in September en route to the United States. After leaving the Vatican, Castro, the brother of Fidel, the revolutionary leader who brought the Communists to power in Cuba, gushed with praise for Francis.

The pontiff "is a Jesuit, and I, in some way, am too," Castro said at a news conference. "I always studied at Jesuit schools." "When the pope goes to Cuba in September, I promise to go to all his Masses, and with satisfaction," Castro said at a news conference at the office of Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, whom he met with after the Vatican talks.

"I read all the speeches of the pope, his commentaries, and if the pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the church, and I'm not joking," he said. It was a startling assertion for the leader of a Communist country, whose crackdown on dissidents in the past had drawn sharp Vatican criticism.

"I am from the Cuban Communist Party, that doesn't allow (religious) believers, but now we are allowing it, it's an important step," Castro said. Speaking about Francis, Castro said he has been "very impressed by his wisdom, his modesty, and all his virtues that we know he has."

Castro had already publicly thanked Francis for helping to bring Havana and Washington closer together after decades of U.S. government policy of strict isolation of the Communist-ruled Caribbean island. On Sunday, he stepped up his praise on Francis' push for the two nations to put enmity aside and work for reconciliation for the benefit of Americans and Cubans.

As he took his leave from the Vatican, Castro told journalists, "I thanked the pope for what he did." Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the president also "laid out to the pope the sentiments of the Cuban people in the wait and preparation for his upcoming visit to the island in September."

After his meeting with Renzi, Castro expressed hope that his country would quickly see more fruits of the thaw between Cuba and the United States. "Maybe the (U.S.) Senate will take us off the list of terrorist nations" soon, Castro told reporters.

Francis gave Castro a medal depicting St. Martin of Tours, known for caring for the destitute. "With his mantle he covers the poor," Francis told Castro, saying more efforts on behalf of the poor are needed.

Fidel Castro met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1996. That encounter helped pave the way for John Paul's 1998 pilgrimage to Cuba, the first visit by a pontiff to the island. John Paul was also eager for Cuba to grant more visas for foreign priests to bolster the dwindling corps of clergy on the island.

The Vatican's general policy of opposing economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool carries appeal for Cuban leaders and people, after decades under a U.S. economic embargo. With the Vatican keen on protecting the interests of its Catholic followers under Cuban Communist rule, Pope Benedict XVI also visited the island.

Castro told reporters that "we are trying to carry forward improvements of our political, social and cultural system. But it's very difficult to do it without causing shocks, without leaving some in the street."

He came to Rome on his way back from celebrations in Moscow of the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Follow Frances D'Emilio on twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio