In all, 24 Buddhists and five Muslims have been sentenced to jail this week for their roles in sectarian rioting March 20 and 21 in the central Myanmar town of Meikhtila. The violence killed at least 43 people and left 12,000 displaced, most of them Muslim.

Previously, few Buddhists had been prosecuted in connection with a wave of sectarian violence that has left more than 250 people dead and 140,000 others fleeing their homes over the past year in this predominantly Buddhist country. Muslims have been prosecuted more frequently, even though they make up the vast majority of the victims.

The state-run Keymon daily said eight people seven Buddhists and one Muslim were convicted Wednesday in Meikhtila district court for crimes connected to the massacre at the Mingalar Zayone Islamic Boarding School, where 36 of the deaths from the March rioting occurred.

Buddhist mobs torched the school, Muslim businesses and all but one of the city's 13 mosques following a dispute between a Muslim and a Buddhist at a gold shop and the burning death of a Buddhist monk by four Muslim men. While security forces stood by, a mob attacked Muslims with machetes, metal pipes, chains and stones as they tried to escape the burning school, leaving 32 teenage students and four teachers dead.

Tin Hlaing, a local reporter present during the hearings, told The Associated Press that four of the eight were found guilty of murder and causing other injuries, getting between 10 and 15 years in jail.

He did not provide details about their roles in the slaughter but said the other four convicted were involved in lesser offenses. The Keymon daily said the seven Buddhists received sentences of three to 15 years, but offered no details about the Muslim's case.

Tin Hlaing also said four Muslim men on Tuesday received sentences of at least seven years in prison with one getting a life sentence for their roles in the murder of a 19-year-old university student during the unrest.

The district court also sentenced 10 Buddhist men Wednesday to one to nine years for their involvement in the death of a Muslim man, and a township court sentenced six men and one woman, all Buddhists, to two years' imprisonment each for damaging the gold shop.

There have been several earlier sentencings, in Meikhtila and elsewhere, but the vast majority involved Muslim defendants. The Meikhtila district chairman, Tin Maung Soe, said most of the 73 people charged with crimes related to the rioting there are Buddhists.

Asked why Buddhists were given lighter sentences than some of the Muslims, Meikhtila district legal officer Khin Win Phyu said the sentences were handed down "based on the testimonies of the witnesses."

"The courts passed their verdict according to law and there is no bias or privilege toward any group," she said.

Sectarian violence in Myanmar began in Rakhine state just over a year ago in the country's west, then spread in March to the central towns of Meikthila and Okkan. The attacks, and the government's inability to stop them, have marred the Southeast Asian country's image abroad as it moves toward democracy and greater freedom following nearly five decades of military rule.

The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

1. "Inferno" by Dan Brown (Doubleday,

$29.95) 1

2. "And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $28.95) 2

3. "Bad Monkey" by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $26.95) -

4. "The Eye of Moloch" by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions, $26.00) -

5. "The Silver Star" by Jeannette Walls (Scribner, $26.00) -

6. "The King's Deception" by Steve Berry (Ballantine, $27.00) -

7. "The Last Original Wife" by Dorothea Benton Frank (William Morrow, $26.99) -

8. "Zero Hour" by Clive Cussler/Graham Brown (Putnam, $28.95) 3

9. "Revenge Wears Prada" by Lauren Weisberger (Simon & Schuster, $25.99) 4

10. "The Hit" by David Baldacci (Grand Central, $27.99) 9

Hardcover Non-fiction

1. "Happy, Happy, Happy" by Phil Robertson (Howard Books, $24.99) 1

2. "American Gun" by Chris Kyle (William Morrow, $29.99) 2

3. "The Duck Commander Family" by Willie & Korie Robertson (Howard Books, $23.99) 5

4. "Keep It Pithy" by Bill O'Reilly (Crown Archetype, $21.99) 6

5. "Lean In" bySheryl Sandberg (Knopf, $24.95) 4

6. "Dad Is Fat" by Jim Gaffigan (Crown Archetype, $25.00) 13

7. "Killing Kennedy" by O'Reilly/Dugard (Henry Holt, $28.00) 18

8. "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt, $40) 9

9. "Eleven Rings" by Phil Jackson (Penguin, $27.95) 8

10. "The 100" by Jorge Cruise (William Morrow, $25.99) 11

Week that ended June 16, 2013, powered by Nielsen BookScan (c) 2013 The Nielsen Company.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Xavier Briand)

In a closely watched climate change speech, Obama said as part of a new national climate action plan, the Environmental Protection Agency will come up with new standards governing power plant carbon standards.

Speaking at Georgetown University, Obama said he wants to see a market-based solution to climate, but that the problem demands attention now. He said there are no federal limits to the amount of carbon emissions that power plants can pump into the atmosphere.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; editing by Jackie Frank)

And he did it at a high level.

"I always said I'd go right until the tank was empty," he said. "And, I believe I did."

Chelios and fellow defensemen Scott Niedermayer along with forward Brendan Shanahan found out Tuesday they will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November.

Only Hall of Famer Gordie Howe was an older NHL player than Chelios, the only player in league history to play in at least 400 games with three different teams. His career ended with the Atlanta Thrashers during the 2009-10 season when he was 48.

"I was part of an era, Chris was part of a few," Niedermayer joked.

Chelios, Niedermayer and Shanahan will be joined in the 2013 class by Geraldine Heaney, the third woman to be enshrined in the hall, and coach Fred Shero, who led the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup in 1974 and '75. He was selected posthumously in the builder category.

"There's no sense looking back as to why it didn't happen sooner, because today's a happy day to celebrate the fact that a guy that deserves it immensely has finally been elected to the Hall of Fame," Flyers chairman Ed Snider said.

Chelios and Niedermayer earned hockey's biggest individual honor in their first year of eligibility, and Shanahan got in on his second shot.

New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello raved about all three players, each of whom he had a connection to during their careers.

"Scott was an integral part of our success in New Jersey, not just on the ice, but off the ice," Lamoriello said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

"Shanahan was a part of my first draft back in 1987 and he went on to establish himself as one of the best, all-time power forwards in the history of the game. Chelios, who I was with in the 1996 World Cup and the Olympics, is one of the best success stories for an American hockey player."

Shanahan was a teammate of Chelios' in Detroit, and played with Niedermayer during the Olympics in 2002 when Canada won gold by beating Chelios and the Americans in Salt Lake City.

"When you got to play with them, it was a thrill," Shanahan said. "I spent some years playing with Cheli, and there's not another guy that you would want to go into a tough situation looking out for you.

"It absolutely makes it more special to go in with people I not only played against, but played with and got to know well."

Shanahan and Niedermayer are members of what's known as the Triple Gold Club, a group of players who have won the worlds, the Olympics and a Stanley Cup.

Each player is still working in the sport. Chelios is an adviser to hockey operations in Detroit. Niedermayer is an assistant coach in Anaheim. Shanahan is the NHL senior vice president of player safety.

Niedermayer won four Stanley Cups in 17 full NHL seasons to go along with a Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy. He played for the New Jersey Devils from 1991-92 through the 2003-04 season and finished his career in Anaheim in 2010.

Among the game's best U.S.-born players, Chelios won the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman three times.

The Chicagoan split much of his career with three storied franchises in Montreal, Chicago and Detroit and was asked which team he will be affiliated when he is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"U.S.A.," he said.

Shanahan finished his career with 656 goals and 698 assists. He won three Stanley Cups with the Red Wings, an Olympic gold medal and was the quintessential scoring power winger of his era.

Shanahan started his career with the Devils, went on to play in St. Louis, Hartford, Detroit and for the New York Rangers before ending his playing career back in New Jersey.

Heaney was a defenseman on Canada's gold-medal-winning team at the 2002 Olympics and is considered one of the best female players in history.

"As a young girl playing hockey, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be going into the hall," she said.

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Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage

WASHINGTON - What happened to Egypt's high-powered lobbying team?

The military overthrow of the government of Mohamed Morsi has put $1.5 billion in U.S. aid suddenly on the line, and Egypt no longer employs any registered lobbyists to help keep the money flowing.

That's a notable departure from just last year, when Egypt employed a trio of D.C. power players to hold meetings and shepherd its military officers around the Hill. Before - and even after - the days of Hosni Mubarak's regime, Egypt employed super-lobbyist Tony Podesta of the Podesta Group, former Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., of the Livingston Group, and former Rep. Toby Moffett, D-La., of the Moffett group - all under the umbrella of their joint venture, the PLM lobbying group.

In 2009, for instance, Podesta accompanied military officers to meetings with Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.

Not anymore.

After the uprising that , Egypt kept its lobbying team on the payroll. But contracts with all three lobbying firms were terminated in January 2012, according to documents filed with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Morsi was elected president in June 2012, five months after the lobbyists stopped working for Egypt, but the country didn't hire any replacements.

Egypt currently has no registered lobbyists working for it, according to the Justice Department database.

The timing might be bad. The apparent coup that removed Morsi from power could halt U.S. military and economic aid to Egypt, as U.S. law states that aid must stop to any country where the military plays an active role in a "coup d'etat" that overthrows a democratically elected government.

The Obama administration appears to be weighing whether, and how, to keep sending aid.

Unnamed administration officialsthat the administration is looking for ways around the "coup" label, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told ABC's Jonathan Karl at Monday's press briefing that "it would not be in the best interests of the United States to immediately change our assistance programs to Egypt."

The U.S. company agreed to sell its continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) business, that accounts for almost a fifth of total sales to ease competition concerns.

"The European Commission is expected to clear the deal based on the remedy," said one of the people who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The EU executive is scheduled to decide on the deal by July 22. The Commission's spokesman for competition policy, Antoine Colombani, did not immediately respond to an email asking for comments.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Martin Santa)

Parkinson, 78, who interviewed Muhammad Ali, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire and Orson Welles in a career spanning 50 years, said he was diagnosed with the disease in May, was undergoing radiotherapy and suffering no side effects or pain.

"I'm 78 and I have had a good life," said Parkinson, who announced his retirement from television in 2007. "I shall be around for a while yet, to the delight of my friends and the dismay of my enemies."

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

On the second anniversary of his 81-day secret detention, Ai released his first music album "The Divine Comedy," which includes the previously released single, "Dumbass."

The song is meant to reconstruct his detention, which was part of an overall crackdown on dissent in 2011. Ai's subsequent conviction for tax evasion has been seen by his supporters as punishment for his activism.

The full album released Saturday has five other songs documenting Ai's experiences with police and sharing his reflection on China's current conditions.

Musician Zuoxiao Zuzhou, a friend of Ai, wrote the music, with influences from pop, rock, punk and heavy metal. Ai's vocals appear to spoken more than sang, and the lyrics include obscenities to express his anger at what he sees as a repressive police state.

"I had been thinking about how to recover from the trauma. And I came up with the idea of using music to convey a sentiment that is tremendously secret, and private, to the public," Ai said last month when "Dumbass" was released.

A sculptor, designer and documentary-maker, Ai has irked Beijing by using his art and online profile to draw attention to injustices in China and the need for greater transparency and rule of law.

After his release in June 2011, Ai's design firm was slapped with a $2.4 million tax bill, which he fought unsuccessfully in the Chinese courts.

The New York Jets coach joined thousands of thrill-seekers on Sunday and Monday in the annual running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain.

The team confirmed Monday that Ryan was uninjured while participating both days in the run, which is the highlight of a nine-day street festival and is televised nationally.

Ben Patton, a contestant on NBC's matchmaker show "Ready for Love," tweeted an Instagram photo http://instagram.com/p/bf6Qk0x2t5/# of himself and some friends posing with Ryan in Pamplona. Ryan is wearing a red T-shirt with a picture of a bull in the middle with the words "Bad Toro" printed underneath.

The Jets report for training camp on July 25 in Cortland, N.Y.

The powerful blast struck a bustling commercial and residential neighborhood as many Lebanese Shiites began observing the holy month of Ramadan. It was the worst explosion to hit Beirut's southern suburbs in years. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, there have been growing fears in Lebanon that Hezbollah could face retaliation for its now overt role fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's troops inside Syria, including, activists say, in the embattled city of Homs near the Lebanese border.

The bombing also is likely to inflame already simmering tensions in Lebanon itself, where deadly clashes between Shiites and Sunnis have grown increasingly common as the civil war in Syria has taken on ever darker sectarian overtones. Some Sunnis in Lebanon, many of whom support Syria's rebels, have expressed growing resentment over what they see as Hezbollah's unchecked power in the country.

Tuesday's blast struck the area of Beir el-Abed, and was most likely caused by a car bomb, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. They said it went off in the parking lot near the Islamic Coop, a supermarket usually packed with shoppers, and a petrol station.

"The explosion was so strong I thought it was an Israeli air raid," said Mohammad al-Zein, who lives near the blast site. "My wife was sleeping in bed and all the glass fell on her, injuring her in the mouth, arms and legs."

Another resident said that he was fasting on the first day of Ramadan and was on his way to shop for the evening meal that would break his daylong fast. Some Shiites began observing Ramadan on Tuesday while other Shiites and Sunnis across the Muslim world will start on Wednesday.

"I was riding my motorcycle on my way to a sweets shop and then there was this massive explosion that knocked me off and I fell on the ground," said a 52-year-old employee of a private company. He declined to be named out of security concerns.

Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said 53 people were wounded. He said most of injuries were light, and that many of them were caused by breaking glass.

The parking lot where the bomb went off is a few hundred meters (yards) away from what is known as Hezbollah's "security square," where many of the party's officials live and have offices. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah received dignitaries there before the 2006 war. The area was bombed by Israel in that conflict and Nasrallah has gone underground since then, only rarely appearing in public and never for more than few minutes, fearing Israeli assassination.

"This (blast) is a message, but we will not bow," said Ziad Waked, a municipal official speaking to Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.

With smoke still hanging in the air after the bombing, a group of about 100 outraged Hezbollah supporters stormed through the area, carrying pictures of Nasrallah, shouting in support of their leader and chanting sectarian slogans.

Hezbollah operatives fired in the air to disperse people who attacked the interior minister with stones after he inspected the scene of the blast, trapping him for 45 minutes in a building before he was escorted through a backdoor.

"The Shiite blood is boiling," the Hezbollah supporters shouted.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel is seen by some Shiites as sympathetic to hardline Sunni cleric Ahmad al-Assir, who was agitating against Hezbollah for months and is now on the run.

Tuesday's explosion is one of the biggest in the capital's southern suburbs since the end Lebanon's 15-year civil war in 1990, and a major breach of a tightly controlled, high security area.

"It is a large area heavily populated. No force in the world can protect every area and every street," Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Moqdad said.

President Michel Suleiman said "such acts are a reminder of darker days, which the Lebanese would like to erase from their memories."

Syria-based militant Islamic groups and rebels have vowed to target Hezbollah areas in Lebanon in retaliation for the group's role in Syria's conflict. At least one Islamist brigade claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack on its Facebook page, but its authenticity could not be verified.

The Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group, denounced "in the strongest terms the terrorist explosion."

"Targeting civilians is a criminal act that goes against the aims of the (Syrian) revolution and its principles," it said in a statement.

Television footage from the scene revived memories of that conflict, when car bombs set by sectarian groups were common. There have been numerous car bombs targeting politicians and journalists since then, but random car bombings have been rare.

Hezbollah operatives in civilian clothes, some of them carrying Kalashnikov rifles, cordoned off the site of the explosion with yellow ribbons. They and Lebanese security officials barred journalists from approaching the site itself.

Ambulances and fire engines raced to the area, and witnesses said casualties were rushed to two nearby hospitals.

The power of the explosion shattered windows and damaged several buildings in the busy area. A security official said the bomb was placed in a car and that it weighed 35 kilograms (70 pounds).

In May, two rockets slammed into a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut, wounding four people. The rockets struck hours after Nasrallah vowed in a speech to help propel Assad to victory in Syria's civil war. In June, a rocket slammed into the same area, causing no casualties.

Hezbollah has openly joined the fight in Syria, and the group's fighters were instrumental in a recent regime victory when government forces regained control of the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanese border.

Lebanon's Sunni Muslims mostly back the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels in Syria, while many Shiites support Assad, who is a member of Syria's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

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Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed to this report.