World/nation briefs

NAACP endorses same-sex marriage The NAACP passed a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage as a civil right and opposing any efforts "to codify discrimination or hatred into the law." The group's board voted at a leadership retreat in Miami to back a resolution supporting marriage equality, calling the position consistent with the equal protection provision of the U.S. Constitution.

First tropical storm of the season forms The first tropical storm of the season formed off South Carolina, but it wasn't threatening land. No coastal watches or warning were effect for tropical storm Alberto. The official start to hurricane season is June 1, but tropical storms often occur before then.

Report: Joplin twister costliest since 1950 The tornado that tore through Joplin a year ago, killing 161 people, ranks as the deadliest twister in six decades. Now it carries another distinction -- the costliest since at least 1950. Insurance policies are expected to cover most of the $2.8 billion in damage. But taxpayers could supply about $500 million in the form of aid, low-interest loans and local bonds backed by higher taxes, records show.

2 arrested in killings of Chinese students Police arrested two men in the shootings deaths of two graduate students from China last month near the University of Southern California, an attack that stunned a school that has more international students than any other U.S. university. Javier Bolden, 19, and Bryan Barnes, 20, were arrested on suspicion of killing the two during an apparent robbery attempt, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said. The parents of Ming Qu, of Jilin, and Ying Wu, both 23, have filed a lawsuit accusing USC of misrepresenting safety at the campus.

School blast stokes fears of new violence A bomb exploded in front of a school in Brindisi, killing a 16-year-old student and wounding at least five, officials said, raising fears of a return to the kind of violence that shook Italy decades ago. The explosion occurred near a girls' school named after Francesca Morvillo, a magistrate who was killed with her husband, Giovanni Falcone, an anti-Mafia judge, by a Cosa Nostra bomb on May 23, 1992, an event Italy planned to commemorate this week. Some people link the government's austerity measures to a rash of suicides and a rise in violence.

Blast kills at least 9 A bomb targeting a military complex in Dair Alzour killed at least nine people amid growing fears that Al-Qaida might be behind some of the attacks.

NEWS SERVICES