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Women in Cleveland kidnap case thank public for support, donations in YouTube video
• CLEVELAND (AP) -- Three women held captive in a Cleveland home for a decade issued a YouTube video Monday night in which they thanked the public for the encouragement and financial support that is allowing them to restart their lives.
• Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight broke their public silence in the 3-minute, 30-second video posted at midnight. They said the support and prayers of family, friends and the public is allowing them to rebuild their lives after what Berry called "this entire ordeal."
• The women had gone missing separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16, and 20 years old.
• In the video, none of the women had any visible scars of the abuse they said they suffered at the hands of Ariel Castro, who has pleaded not guilty to a 329-count indictment alleging he kidnapped them off the streets and held them captive in his two-story home. They were smiling and appeared upbeat.
• Castro, a 52-year-old former bus driver, fathered a 6-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry. He was arrested May 6, shortly after Berry broke through a door at the home and yelled to neighbors for help.
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Captain stands trial alone in Italy over cruise liner shipwreck that killed 32
• GROSSETO, Italy (AP) -- The trial of the captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner has begun in a theater converted into a courtroom in Tuscany to accommodate all the survivors and relatives of the 32 victims who want to see justice carried out in the 2012 tragedy.
• The sole defendant, Francesco Schettino, his eyes shaded by sunglasses and slipping in through a back door, made no comment to reporters as he arrived for his trial Tuesday on charges of multiple manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing the shipwreck near the island of Giglio.
• His lawyer, Domenico Pepe, told reporters that, as expected, the judge was postponing the hearing due to an eight-day nationwide lawyers strike.
• Pepe said some 1,000 witnesses are expected to eventually testify. Many of them are expected to be from among the 4,2000 passengers and crew aboard the (Continued on page 30)
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