Blasts rock Yemen factory overtaken by militants

A local resident says multiple explosions have been heard from inside a weapons factory that has been overtaken by Islamic militants in a southern Yemen province.

The resident says the blasts can be heard as far as 10 miles (15 kilometers) from the factory in southern Abyan. It's unclear if the explosions are accidental or intentional.

The factory in Khanfar area close to Jaar city makes munition and Kalashnikov rifles.

Resident Seif Mohammed says several ambulances have been bringing the injured to al-Razi hospital in Jaar on Monday.

The factory was seized on Sunday by a Salafi Jihad militant group, one of many roaming mostly lawless Yemen. The group is not an al-Qaida offshoot.

Yemen has been rocked by weeks of political turmoil and deteriorating security.

Geraldine Ferraro, dead at 75, spent early years in Newburgh

Former vice presidential candidate, congresswoman and US Ambassador to the United Nations Geraldine Ferraro died Saturday at age 75 of complications from blood cancer.

Ferraro, of New York City, had roots in the Hudson Valley as she was born on August 26, 1935, and spent her first eight years in Newburgh.

She served as a congresswoman representing a New York City district, from 1979-1985, ran for vice president along with Democrat presidential candidate Walter Mondale in 1984 and served from 1993-1996 as US Ambassador to the United Nations for Human Rights under President Bill Clinton.

Ferraro would visit Orange County periodically during and after her political career and always tout the fact that she was local, having been born in Newburgh.

She was “one of my earliest inspirations, and an inspiration for all women in politics,” said State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester County. Ferraro campaigned with Stewart-Cousins during her 2006 Senate race.

US Senator Charles Schumer said Ferraro “broke barriers with a matter-of-factness, modesty, and grace that made her achievements all the more important and becoming.”

“Through her life in the public arena, Geraldine’s accomplishments served as a milestone in our country’s acceptance of equality and diversity,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo.

New drug developed to fight skin cancer melanoma

A new drug named Yervoy has been developed in the U.S. to prolong the lives of people with the skin cancer melanoma, according to media reports Monday.

Developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Yervoy is in a new class of drugs designed to fight cancer by removing molecular brakes that prevent immune system cells from destroying tumors.

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Yervoy is hailed by experts as the first drug in the melanoma field that could extend survival in a meaningful way.

The effect of the drug was shown in a randomized clinical trial involved metastatic melanoma patients who had already failed to benefit from treatment with another drug.

After treated with Yervoy, they were found to live a median of about 10 months, 3.6 months longer than a control group who received an ineffective treatment. More than 20 percent of the people with Yervoy treatment lived at least two years, and some of them even longer.

According to Bristol's announcement Monday, Yervoy also improves the survival of previously untreated patients with metastatic melanoma.

A complete course of the treatment consists of four infusions given over three months and costs 120,000 U.S. dollars.

Drug researchers noted Yervoy is not specific for any type of tumor, that it might conceivably be effective for many types.

However, Yervoy's function of loosening the restraints on the immune system may lead to dangerous side effects such as colitis, diarrhea, hepatitis, endocrine dysfunction and skin problems. Its negative effects have already been discovered in 12.9 percent of the patients who participated in the clinical trial.

Wildcats put end to 13-year drought

NEWARK, N.J. -- Kentucky spent 13 consecutive springs watching other schools play in the Final Four, a destination college basketball's winningest program considers its birthright.

At most places, that's hardly a drought. In the Bluegrass State, it's a lifetime.

Now coach John Calipari and the Wildcats -- finally -- are two wins away from another national title.

Brandon Knight scored 22 points and fourth-seeded Kentucky advanced to the Final Four for the first time since their 1998 national title with a 76-69 win over second-seeded North Carolina on Sunday in the East Regional final.

The Wildcats (29-8) will play Connecticut in Houston on Saturday night after turning back a late surge by the Tar Heels (27-10), who erased an 11-point deficit before running out of gas in the final 2 minutes.

DeAndre Liggins added 12 points for Kentucky, including a 3-pointer from the corner with 37 seconds remaining to help lift the Wildcats.

"Coach said if there's a kick out you'd better shoot it, and I just shot it and made it," Liggins said. "My job was to run the floor and try to make plays, so that's what I tried to do."

A season after falling a game short of the Final Four behind a roster filled with future NBA stars, the Wildcats are heading to the national semifinals for the 14th time behind the heady play of Knight and senior Josh Harrellson's emotional leadership.

Philippine senator accused of murder faces public

A Philippine senator who fled double murder charges more than a year ago faced the public Monday for the first time since his return, claiming that he went into hiding because the previous government had conspired to put him behind bars.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson arrived in the Philippines on Saturday from Hong Kong after a court voided the arrest warrant against him. He told a news conference Monday that he had been "a fugitive from injustice."

Lacson was charged with the killings of high-profile publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer, who represented a number of top political figures, and Dacer's driver in 2000.

He said he became a fugitive after justice department contacts told him that the government of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo allowed prosecutors to set aside rules of evidence to jail him for a crime he did not commit.

Lacson, a former national police chief, was one of Arroyo's staunchest critics. He left for Hong Kong on Jan. 5, 2010, and in a statement a month later said he was a victim of an alleged conspiracy involving Arroyo and feared for his life.

A spokesman for Arroyo has said in the past that the case is a matter for the courts.

The Court of Appeals ruled last month that there was no probable cause for the arrest warrant and said the main witness against him - one of his former police deputies - was unreliable. The trial court's options include ordering a reinvestigation or dismissing the case on a motion by Lacson's lawyers.