AP News in Brief at 5:58 am EST

Crimean lawmakers schedule March 16 referendum on joining Russia

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Lawmakers in the embattled Crimean region of Ukraine decided Thursday to hold a referendum March 16 on whether Crimea should become part of Russia, a move likely to further ratchet up tensions.

“This is our response to the disorder and lawlessness in Kiev,” Sergei Shuvainikov, a member of the local Crimean legislature, said. “We will decide our future ourselves.”

The parliament in Crimea, which enjoys a degree of autonomy under current Ukrainian law, voted 78 with eight abstentions in favor of holding the referendum. Local voters will also be given the choice of deciding to remain part of Ukraine, but with enhanced local powers.

There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian central government to the vote. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s prime minister told The Associated Press that Crimea would remain part of Ukraine.

A referendum had been already scheduled in Crimea on March 30, but the question to be put to voters was on whether their region should enjoy “state autonomy” within Ukraine.

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EU’s 28 leaders gather to decide on sanctions against Russia over Ukraine conflict

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are holding an emergency summit to decide on imposing sanctions against Russia over its military incursion in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

The EU leaders were gathering Thursday as the 28-nation bloc seeks to find the right response to the conflict unfolding just beyond its eastern border in Ukraine.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said that Europe “needs to send a very clear message to the Russian government that what has happened is unacceptable and should have consequences.”

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said”Russia today is dangerous.”

The EU on Monday told Russia to withdraw its troops on the Crimean peninsula to its barracks or face sanctions. Among the initial punitive measures considered are suspending talks with Russia on visa liberalization and an economic agreement.

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Poverty, disparity grow along with prosperity in Silicon Valley’s boom

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Arwin Buditom guards some of the most successful high-tech firms in America. Joseph Farfan keeps their heat, air and electric systems humming. But these workers and tens of thousands like them who help fuel the Silicon Valley’s tech boom can’t even make ends meet anymore. Buditom rooms with his sister an hour’s drive from work. Farfan gets his groceries at a food pantry.

“It’s unbelievable until you’re in the middle of it,” Farfan said, standing in line at the Sacred Heart Community Center in San Jose for free pasta, rice and vegetables. “Then the reality hits you.”

Silicon Valley is entering a fifth year of unfettered growth. The median household income is $90,000, according to the Census Bureau. The average single-family home sells for about $1 million. The airport is adding an $82 million private jet center.

But the river of money flowing through this 1,800-square-mile peninsula, stretching from south of San Francisco to San Jose, has also driven housing costs to double in the past five years while wages for low- and middle-skilled workers are stagnant. Nurses, preschool teachers, security guards and landscapers commute for hours from less-expensive inland suburbs.

Now the widening income gap between the wealthy and those left behind is sparking debate, anger and sporadic protests.

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New SAT: Essay becomes optional and computer-based testing to be rolled out in 2016

WASHINGTON (AP) — The perfect score will again be 1,600. What’s more, the essay will be optional, students will no longer be penalized for wrong answers and the vocabulary is shifting to do away with some high-sounding words such as “prevaricator” and “sagacious.”

The SAT college entrance exam is undergoing a sweeping revision.

College Board officials said Wednesday the update — the first since 2005 — is needed to make the exam more representative of what students study in high school and the skills they need to succeed in college and afterward. The test should offer “worthy challenges, not artificial obstacles,” said College Board President David Coleman at an event in Austin, Texas.

The new exam will be rolled out in 2016, so this year’s ninth-graders will be the first to take it, in their junior year. The new SAT will continue to test reading, writing and math skills, with an emphasis on analysis. With the 1,600-point scale, which had been used until 2004, there will be a separate score for the optional essay. Some complicated vocabulary words will be replaced by words more widely used in classroom and work settings.

For the first time, students will have the option of taking the test on computers.

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American CEO of bitcoin exchange found dead in Singapore, no ‘foul play’ suspected

SINGAPORE (AP) — The CEO of a virtual currency exchange was found dead in her home in Singapore.

A police spokesman said Thursday that initial investigations indicated there was no suspicion of “foul play,” meaning officers do not suspect murder.

The spokesman said 28-year-old Autumn Radtke, an American, was found dead in her home on Feb. 26.

Police have so far classified the death as “unnatural,” which can mean an accident, misadventure, or suicide.

Radtke’s company, First Meta, said it was “shocked and saddened by the tragic loss.”

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Senate to vote on bill that would strip commanders of authority to prosecute sex crimes

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation to curb sexual assaults in the military by stripping senior commanders of their authority to prosecute rapes and other serious offenses is headed for a highly anticipated vote in the Senate.

The bill, which is expected to come up for a vote Thursday afternoon, is firmly opposed by the Pentagon’s leadership, which argues officers should have more responsibility, not less, for the conduct of the troops they lead.

A solid majority of the Senate backs the bill, sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., illustrating the deep frustration among Republicans and Democrats over the military’s failure to stem the epidemic of sexual assaults in the ranks. Gillibrand, however, will likely need 60 votes to prevent a filibuster that would block the bill’s passage.

Gillibrand’s spokesman, Glen Caplin, said Wednesday the senator is “optimistic there will be enough senators to break the filibuster and provide our brave men and women the fair shot at justice they deserve.”

The Pentagon came under pressure last month to disclose more information about how sexual assault cases are adjudicated following an Associated Press investigation that found a pattern of inconsistent judgments and light penalties for sexual assaults at U.S. bases in Japan.

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Israel says naval raid seizes Iranian shipment of advanced rockets bound for Gaza militants

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli naval forces on Wednesday seized a ship laden with rockets allegedly bound for militants in the Gaza Strip, and officials accused Iran of orchestrating the delivery in an elaborate 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) journey that included covert stops across the region.

The Syrian-made M-302 rockets would have put Israel’s biggest cities well within range of Gaza, where militants already possess thousands of less powerful rockets. During eight days of fighting in 2012, armed groups fired 1,500 rockets into Israel, including several that reached the outskirts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The naval raid, which took place in the Red Sea hundreds of miles from Israel, came as Iran showed off powerful new ballistic missiles equipped with multiple warheads. The arms bust drew renewed Israeli calls for world powers to toughen their stand in negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program.

“Iran has been exposed for what it is. It smiles in the Geneva talks about its own nuclear ambitions, gives soothing words, and as they’re doing that, they’re shipping these deadly weapons to the world’s worst terrorists,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in California during a U.S. visit. “Such a regime must not be able to have the capacity to make nuclear weapons.”

Israel believes that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies. Israel says a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat to the existence of the Jewish state, citing Iranian calls for Israel’s destruction, its development of long-range missiles and its support for hostile militant groups.

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Libya says Niger handed over Gadhafi’s son al-Saadi, wanted by authorities in Tripoli

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Niger on Thursday extradited to Libya one of Moammar Gadhafi’s sons, al-Saadi, who fled as his father’s regime crumbled in 2011 and who was under house arrest in the desert West African nation ever since, the government in Tripoli said.

The authorities said al-Saadi — one of the deposed Libyan leader’s eight children — will be treated “in accordance with international law.”

A Libyan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said al-Saadi arrived in the early hours on Thursday at the Tripoli airport and was transferred to a prison in the capital.

Shortly after the news broke, photographs circulated on social media showing al-Saadi in a blue prison uniform while Libyan guards were shaving his hair and beard.

Al-Saadi was known for his love of professional soccer and a playboy lifestyle. His brief career in Italian football ended after a failed drug test. He headed Libya’s Football Federation and was also the former head of the country’s special forces.

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Survey shows fewer college freshmen attending first-choice school as concerns over cost rise

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new survey of the nation’s college freshmen has found that the percentage attending their first-choice school has reached its lowest level in almost four decades, as cost and the availability of financial aid have come to play an influential role in decisions of where to enroll.

The annual survey released Wednesday, conducted by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, found that while more than three-quarters of those who started college last fall were admitted to the school they most wanted to attend, only 57 percent ended up going to their top school. That was the lowest rate in the 39 years that the institute has asked first-time freshmen if they enrolled at their dream college.

Kevin Eagan, the institute’s interim managing director and an assistant professor at UCLA, said the cost of attending college appears to be largely responsible for the decline. A record 46 percent of students reported that cost was a very important factor in where they ended up, compared with 31 percent nine years ago. Meanwhile, the share of respondents who said being offered financial aid was a crucial factor in the decision to enroll at their current campus reached 49 percent — an all-time high.

“The difficult financial decisions that students and their families have to make about college are becoming more evidence,” Eagan said. “Colleges that can reduce net costs to families are gaining an edge in attracting students.”

Although many colleges are turning to online courses as a way to reduce costs and the time it takes to earn a degree, the survey showed that the idea was not very popular with students. Fewer than 7 percent indicated there was a very good chance they would take an online course offered by their college. The percentage was twice as high, however, among students at historically black colleges and universities.

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16th-century artillery manual shows illustration of ‘rocket cat’ weaponry

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — You’re a 16th century German prince plotting to crush a peasant rebellion, or perhaps you’re leading an army against the Ottoman Empire or looking to settle the score with a rival nobleman. What’s a guy looking for a tactical edge to do?

Bring on the rocket cats!

Fanciful illustrations from a circa-1530 manual on artillery and siege warfare seem to show jet packs strapped to the backs of cats and doves, with the German-language text helpfully advising military commanders to use them to “set fire to a castle or city which you can’t get at otherwise.”

Digitized by the University of Pennsylvania, the unusual, full-color illustrations recently caught the attention of an Australian book blog and then found their way to Penn researcher Mitch Fraas, who set out to unravel the mystery.

“I really didn’t know what to make of it,” said Fraas, a historian and digital humanities expert at the Penn library. “It clearly looks like there’s some sort of jet of fire coming out of a device strapped to these animals.”

AP News in Brief at 5:58 am EST