• MOSCOW (AP) -- A blast that tore through an electric bus in the southern Russian city of Volgograd during Monday's morning rush hour, killing 14, was probably carried out by suicide bombers from the same organization behind a railway explosion a day earlier, officials said.
• Together more than 30 people were killed in the explosions, putting the city of one million on edge and highlighting the terrorist threat Russia is facing as it prepares to host February's Winter Games in Sochi, President Vladimir Putin's pet project. While terrorists may find it hard to get to the tightly guarded Olympic facilities, the bombings have shown they can hit civilian targets elsewhere in Russia with shocking ease.
• Volgograd, located about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northeast of Sochi, serves as a key transport hub for southern Russia, with numerous bus routes linking it to volatile provinces in Russia's North Caucasus, where insurgents have been seeking an Islamic state.
• Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for Russia's main investigative agency said Monday's explosion involved a bomb similar to the one used in Sunday's bombing at the city's main railway station.
• "That confirms the investigators' version that the two terror attacks were linked," Markin said in a statement. "They could have been prepared in one place."
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The 2016 presidential campaign is well underway. Not in name, so much, but rather in the deeds of more than a dozen people who might run.
• They've been busy plugging holes in resumes, getting known on TV, networking with activists and party luminaries, taking early steps to build campaign organizations and much more. Most are methodically ticking off items on what could be called the presidential prep checklist, and they've picked up that pace since The Associated Press last took a broad look at who's doing what to advance their high am

(Continued on page 19)