*Just before midnight Wednesday, Ukraine’s president declared a truce in his nation, as well as the start of negotiations aimed at not only preventing further bloodshed but forging a lasting peace. The statement — agreed upon with leaders of Ukraine’s three top opposition parties — seemingly offered a welcome respite from the violence and acrimony that’s been emanating from …

  “Recently, our nation’s financial chieftains have been feeling a little unloved. Venture capitalists are comparing the persecution of the rich to the plight of Jews at Kristallnacht, Wall Street titans are saying that they’re sick of being beaten up, and this week, a billionaire investor, Wilbur Ross, proclaimed that “the 1 percent is being picked on for political reasons.” …

  “A Kentucky pastor who starred in a reality show about snake-handling in church has died — of a snakebite. Jamie Coots died Saturday evening after refusing to be treated, Middlesboro police said. On “Snake Salvation,” the ardent Pentecostal believer said that he believed that a passage in the Bible suggests poisonous snakebites will not harm believers as long as …

  “A Chevron well in the preparation stages for hydraulic fracturing exploded last Tuesday 50 miles south of Pittsburgh, Penn., causing a fire that lasted for four days and left one Chevron contractor unaccounted for and another one injured. The fire is now out, but Chevron’s damage control efforts may be far from over. An image of a coupon from …

  *The murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis has often compared with the killing of Trayvon Martin and, on Tuesday, another similarity between the two cases may have popped up. Just as acquitted Martin killer George Zimmerman recently told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that he was the victim, a newly-released phone call between Davis’ accused killer Michael Dunn and his fiancée Rhonda …

  *Ukraine has seen its deadliest day of violence since anti-government protests began, with fierce clashes bringing new intensity to a political crisis that has festered in Kiev since late November. At least 11 demonstrators and seven police officers were killed in street battles in the Ukrainian capital, with hundreds more injured and several of the dead suffering gunshot wounds…As …

  “Some of the Navy’s futuristic weapons sound like something out of “Star Wars,” with lasers designed to shoot down aerial drones and electric guns that fire projectiles at hypersonic speeds. That future is now…Rail guns, which have been tested on land in Virginia, fire a projectile at six or seven times the speed of sound — enough velocity to …