INTERNATIONAL
 
At least 8 killed, 18 wounded in fighting in Somalia’s capital city
 
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A medical official says at least eight people have died in fighting in Somalia’s capital.
 
Ali Muse, the head of the city’s ambulance service, said at least another 18 people were wounded.
 
The fighting took place Sunday between pro-government forces and Islamist militants.
 
Somalia has seen a spike in fighting over the last month. Militants led by the al-Qaida-aligned group al-Shabab are trying to overrun the country’s weak, U.N.-backed government.
 
Somalia hasn’t had a functioning government in almost 20 years.
 
 
Police arrest engineer Saturday in Indonesia train crash last Sunday
 
PETARUKAN, Indonesia (AP) — Police on Sunday arrested the engineer of a train that plowed into another at a station in central Indonesia, killing 36 people, and accused him of negligence, an official said.
 
“He was named a suspect this afternoon and officially arrested,” said Col. Djoko Erwanto, spokesman for Central Java police.
 
Halik Rudianto was driving a first-class train as it crashed early Saturday into an economy-class train stopped at a station in Petarukan, a coastal city in Central Java province, knocking several carriages off the track
.
Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said the engineer had failed to stop at a red signal,” Kompas newspaper reported. “The accident was caused by the engineer’s negligence,” it quoted Numberi as saying.
 
If found guilty of negligence leading to deaths, the engineer could face up to 6 1/2 years in jail.
 
The pre-dawn accident occurred as many passengers were sleeping. Both villagers and railway officials used their bare hands to search the mangled wreckage for survivors until equipment arrived.
 
 
NATIONAL
 
94-year-old man beaten to death at OC nursing home last Friday
 
LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say an 81-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder for allegedly beating to death his 94-year-old roommate at an Orange County nursing home.
 
Sheriffs spokesman Jim Amormino says William McDougall allegedly took a bar used to hang clothes from a closet to repeatedly strike his roommate, Manh Ban Nguyen, late Friday.
 
Amormino says detectives are still investigating a possible motive for the assault, which occurred at Palm Terrace Healthcare Center, a 99-bed residential facility in Laguna Hills.
 
The Los Angeles Times reports that Nguyen, who was found beaten around the head, was pronounced dead at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center on Friday.
 
 
STATE/LOCAL
 
LSU AgCenter chancellor invited to interview for ASU presidency
 
 
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas State University officials have been criticized for collecting and shredding notes that were taken during a recent meeting of the committee that’s looking for a new president.
 
As the dispute unfolded, officials disclosed that LSU AgCenter Chancellor William B. Richardson Jr. and Richard Federinko, the senior vice chancellor for student services and administration at Troy University in Alabama, had been invited to interview for the Arkansas State presidency.
 
Tom Meredith, who was hired to lead the presidential search, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Friday that it’s standard practice to destroy notes during such meetings to keep them from being made public.
 
“You don’t want that kind of stuff getting into the public if someone gets way out there,” said Meredith, of Effective Leadership LLC in Flowood, Miss. “It could be libelous.”
 
Meredith said if committee members wrote something disparaging about a candidate’s age, race or background, the candidate could sue the university system or the committee if those notes were made public.
 
 
Baton Rouge police investigate Saturday shooting on levee
 
(AP) — Authorities say a 17-year-old has been shot to death on the Mississippi River levee.
 
The Advocate reports that Darius Augustus was shot Saturday night near the flag poles across from the Baton Rouge dock around 10:50 p.m.
 
A police report says Augustus was standing on the levee with a group of friends after leaving the 13th Gate haunted house when shots were fired.
 
Authorities released no information about suspects.