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her Houston, Texas, home. "He was a caring young man."
• Ballard's death last September, detailed in documents obtained by The Associated Press and in interviews with two city officials on condition of anonymity, came five months before another Rikers inmate in a similar mental health unit died in a cell that climbed to a suffocating 101 degrees because of malfunctioning heating equipment.
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China pursues influence, resources abroad but treads carefully to avoid straining ties with US
• SHANGHAI (AP) -- China is carrying on a high-stakes balancing act aimed at building influence and access to resources abroad without damaging ties with its most important economic partner -- the United States.
• In rapid-fire moves Wednesday, President Xi Jinping called at a conference of Asian governments for a new regional security structure that implicitly excludes Washington. Hours later, China agreed to buy Russian gas worth about $400 billion, binding the diplomatically isolated government of President Vladimir Putin more closely to Beijing and the huge Chinese economy.
• Russian politicians hailed the deal as part of a new strategic relationship and a thumb in Washington's eye. But Xi appeared to be trying to reassure the United States and its Asian allies. In his speech to an audience that included Putin and the president of Iran, the Chinese leader said a military alliance aimed at outsiders would not help regional security.
• Irked by the Obama administration's effort to shift its foreign policy emphasis to Asia at a time of Chinese territorial disputes with Japan, Vietnam and other neighbors, Beijing is nevertheless treading carefully because it knows it cannot dominate any international organization, experts say. Instead, it is pressing to have its needs respected abroad.
• Chinese leaders place "top priority" on the relationship with the U.S. even as they worry Washington is trying to contain their country's rise, said Joseph Cheng, a specialist in Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong.
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Neighbors shocked: Southern California man held for allegedly holding woman captive 10 years
• SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- In the neighborhood where Tomas Medrano lived, he (Continued on page 30)
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