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Houthis accept 5-day truce in Yemen proposed by Saudi Arabia

CAIRO/ADEN - Iranian-allied Houthi fighters in Yemen accept a five-day humanitarian ceasefire proposed by their adversary Saudi Arabia but say they will respond to any violations. (YEMEN-SECURITY/ (WRAPUP 3, PICTURES, TV), by Mohammed Ghobari and Mohammed Mukhashaf, moved, 804 words)

Raul Castro meets pope, says he might return to the Church

VATICAN CITY - Cuban President Raul Castro thanks Pope Francis for brokering the thaw between Havana and Washington and says the pope has so impressed him that he might return to the Church, despite being a communist. (POPE-CUBA/CASTRO (UPDATE 3, PICTURES, TV), moved, by Philip Pullella, 460 words)

China cuts interest rates for 3rd time in six months as economy sputters

BEIJING - China cuts interest rates for the third time in six months in a bid to lower companies' borrowing costs and stoke a sputtering economy that is headed for its worst year in a quarter of a century. (CHINA-ECONOMY/RATES (UPDATE 4), by Judy Hua and Kevin Yao, moved, 725 words)

Typhoon lashes northeast Philippines, landslides feared

MANILA - Typhoon Noul crashes ashore on the northeastern tip of the Philippines, as officials warn of landslides and call on residents along the coast to evacuate to safer ground.(PHILIPPINES-TYPHOON/ (UPDATE 2, PICTURES, TV), moved, by Rosemarie Francisco, 307 words)

UNITED STATES

Hudson River oil leak after fire at nuclear reactor near New York City

Oil leaks into the Hudson River after a transformer fire and explosion Saturday at the Indian Point nuclear plant north of New York City, and Governor Andrew Cuomo says he is concerned about environmental damage. (USA-NUCLEARPLANT/INCIDENT, 370 words)

Man, woman charged with murdering two Mississippi policemen

JACKSON, Miss. - A man and woman in Mississippi are arrested and charged with murder after two police officers were shot dead a day earlier while conducting a routine traffic stop in Hattiesburg, officials say. (USA-POLICE/MISSISSIPPI (UPDATE 3, TV), moved, by Therese Apel, 379 words)

Hail, snow, a tornado and a tropical storm for Mother's Day

CHARLESTON, S.C./SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Hail, snow, a tornado and a tropical storm make it a "severe weather" Mother's Day in much of the center of the United States and on the Carolina coast. (WEATHER-STORM/ANA (UPDATE 3, TV), moved, by Harriet McLeod and Todd Epp, 402 words)

AMERICAS

New Alberta leader says industry should upgrade more oil in province

TORONTO - Energy companies operating in Alberta should aim to upgrade more of the oil they produce within the province, its newly elected premier says in an television interview. (CANADA-POLITICS/ALBERTA, moved, 276 words)

ASIA

Nearly 600 rescued off northern Indonesia, thought to be Rohingyas

BANDA ACEH - Nearly 600 migrants thought to be Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are rescued from two wooden boats stranded off the coast of Indonesia's northern Aceh province, authorities say. (INDONESIA-ROHINGYA (UPDATE 1, PICTURES), 198 words)

After Nepal disasters, more climbers eye Chinese route to top of world

KATHMANDU - Climber Carsten Pedersen has not given up his childhood dream of scaling Everest, despite last month's avalanche that killed 18 people at base camp after a devastating earthquake. But if he does try again, it may well be from China, not Nepal. (QUAKE-NEPAL/EVEREST (PICTURES, TV), moved, by Krista Mahr and Andrew MacAskill, 824 words)

INSIGHT-Afghan clerics uneasy as civil rights movement gains momentum

KABUL - Powerful religious leaders in Afghanistan are growing uneasy about the challenge to their authority posed by rare civil rights protests in Kabul and widespread anger over the lynching of a young woman wrongly accused of burning a Koran. (AFGHANISTAN-WOMEN/CLERICS (INSIGHT, PICTURES), moved, by Mirwais Harooni and Jessica Donati, 838 words)

MIDDLE EAST

Saudi king sending crown prince to summit with Obama

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's King Salman designates his crown prince to attend a Gulf Arab summit with U.S. President Barack Obama, the state news agency reports. (GULF-USA/SUMMIT (UPDATE 2), 488 words)

EUROPE

Putin says Ukraine peace "moving forward" despite problems

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin says after talks with Germany's Angela Merkel that a peace deal over the separatist conflict in east Ukraine is progressing despite problems. (UKRAINE-CRISIS/PUTIN-MERKEL (UPDATE 1, PICTURES, TV), moved, 300 words)

SPECIAL REPORT-Russian soldiers quit over Ukraine

MOSCOW/DONETSK - Moscow says it has not sent troops to Ukraine. But some soldiers say they have quit rather than be sent there. (UKRAINE-CRISIS/SOLDIERS (SPECIAL REPORT, PICTURES, GRAPHIC), moved, by Maria Tsevtkova, 1,800 words)

Gun battle in ethnic Albanian region deepens Macedonian crisis

KUMANOVO, Macedonia - Macedonia says its police have wiped out a group of ethnic Albanian "terrorists" in a day-long gun battle that left at least 22 people dead at a moment of deep political crisis in the former Yugoslav republic. (MACEDONIA-POLICE/ (UPDATE 4, PICTURES, TV), by Matt Robinson and Fatos Bytyci, 606 words)

Merkel's party suffers another state loss as eurosceptics roll on

BERLIN - The Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party are set to win seats in a fifth straight regional parliament after an election in the city-state of Bremen where Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives were badly beaten. (GERMANY-ELECTION/BREMEN (UPDATE 2), by Michael Nienaber and Erik Kirschbaum, 388 words)

British PM Cameron rules out another Scottish independence vote

LONDON - British Prime Minister David Cameron rules out giving Scotland another independence referendum despite spectacular gains by Scottish nationalists in a UK-wide election, saying Scots had "emphatically" rejected a breakaway only last year. (BRITAIN-ELECTION/SCOTLAND, moved, 199 words)

'Winner takes all' vote system exaggerates Britain's divisions

LONDON - David Cameron can thank Britain's winner-takes-all voting system for handing him an outright majority in parliament on just 37 percent of the vote. But by boosting the power of Scottish nationalists, it has also intensified one of his biggest headaches. (BRITAIN-ELECTION/REFORM (GRAPHIC), moved, by Mark Trevelyan, 726 words)

Polish president suffers shock defeat in first round vote: exit poll

WARSAW - Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski suffers a shock defeat by his conservative opponent in the first round of a presidential election, and must now face him in a run-off later this month, an exit poll shows. (POLAND-ELECTION/PRESIDENT (UPDATE 3, PICTURES, TV), by Marcin Goclowski and Pawel Florkiewicz, 491 words)

Eyeing greater power, Erdogan rallies Turks in Europe before election

KARLSRUHE/ISTANBUL - Defying opposition calls to stay out of campaigning, President Tayyip Erdogan rallies Turks in Europe, urging them to vote in a June general election he hopes will help bring him greater powers. (TURKEY-ELECTION/ERDOGAN-DIASPORA (UPDATE 1, TV, PICTURES), moved, by Frank Simon and Nick Tattersall 466 words)

Turkish PM crosses into Syria to visit historic Ottoman tomb

ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu briefly crosses into Syria to visit the tomb of a revered Ottoman figure and vows Turkey's flag will fly there forever, prompting Damascus to accuse him of aggression. (MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-TURKEY-DAVUTOGLU (UPDATE 3, PICTURES), moved, by Ercan Gurses and Tuvan Gumrukcu, 314 words)

AFRICA

After surviving Boko Haram, returnees face hunger in Nigerian towns

MICHIKA - Since Nigeria's army began clearing large areas of its northeast from Boko Haram, some of the 1.5 million internally displaced people have started returning home but thousands could now face severe food shortages as reconstruction lags behind. (NIGERIA-VIOLENCE/ (PICTURES, TV), moved, by Julia Payne, 713 words)

East African leaders seek to break political deadlock in Burundi

DAR ES SALAAM - East African leaders will hold a summit in Tanzania on May 13 aimed at breaking the political deadlock in Burundi and ensuring the country holds peaceful elections, Tanzania's presidency says. (BURUNDI-POLITICS/, moved, by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala and Patrick Nduwimana, 400 words)

First black leader heads South Africa's opposition party

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), says it votes Mmusi Maimane as leader, making him the first black person to head the traditionally white party. (SAFRICA-POLITICS/ (UPDATE 1, TV), moved, by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura, 435 words)

Central African Republic militias agree to disarmament deal

BANGUI - Rival armed groups in Central African Republic agree to a peace accord requiring them to disarm and potentially face justice for war crimes committed during two years of conflict. (CENTRALAFRICA-POLITICS/ (UPDATE 1, TV), moved, by Sebastien Lamba, 380 words)

ENTERTAINMENT

'Avengers: Age of Ultron' Tops With $77.2 Million, 'Hot Pursuit' Flounders

LOS ANGELES - "Avengers: Age of Ultron" ices out "Hot Pursuit" at the weekend box office, picking up $77.2 million and topping charts for a second consecutive time. (USA-BOXOFFICE/ (UPDATE 1), moved, by Brent Lang, 671 words)

Watkins aces Cumberbatch as best actor in British TV awards

LONDON - Jason Watkins beats out Benedict Cumberbatch to take the best actor honour at Britain's top television awards, while Georgina Campbell is named best actress by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. (TELEVISION-BAFTAS/, moved, 223 words)