Kerry talks Ukraine, Syria with Putin
Kerry talks Ukraine, Syria with Putin
SOCHI, Russia — The United States and Russia emerged Tuesday from their most extensive, high-level talks in years vowing closer cooperation on Ukraine and Syria but unable to point to any breakthrough or new approach to bridge the major differences separating the two powers.
The atmosphere was cordial and the tone was promising as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held eight hours of talks with President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Kerry’s first trip to Russia since the Ukraine crisis began coincided with the 70th anniversary of the allied defeat of Nazi Germany, and both sides hailed the virtues of U.S.-Russian engagement.
The result appeared to be to the liking of Moscow, which had spoken of Kerry’s trip as a possibility for “normalizing” relations that have been soured by the civil wars in Ukraine and Syria as well as Russia’s treatment of political dissidents and homosexuals and its granting of asylum to former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Suspect identified in deaths of 7 found buried in Connecticut
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — A man who has been behind bars for a decade for killing a woman is suspected in the slayings of seven people whose bodies were found buried in the woods behind a Connecticut shopping center, a government official said Tuesday.
William Devin Howell, 45, has been identified as the suspect in the serial killings that have sent a chill through this working-class Hartford suburb of 73,000, the official said.
The official was briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
On Monday, police announced the discovery of four more bodies last month in the woods where three partial skeletons were found in 2007. All seven victims were believed to have been killed a decade or more ago by the same person, investigators said. But police added — without explanation at the time — that the killer was no longer a threat to the public.
Howell is serving a 15-year sentence for manslaughter in the 2003 killing of Nilsa Arizmendi, a 33-year-old woman who was last seen in his van in Connecticut, where he had been cutting grass and doing other odd jobs.
By wire sources