Briefs: Illinois to settle fraud charge over pensions

Nation

Springfield, Ill. — Federal authorities announced Monday that Illinois has agreed to settle a securities-fraud charge that accused the state of misleading investors about the financial health of its public-employee pension systems, which are now $96.7 billion short of what's needed to cover promised retirement benefits.

In a cease-and-desist order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commissions, Gov. Pat Quinn's administration admitted no wrongdoing in the way state officials borrowed money to pay pension obligations through $2.2 billion in municipal bond sales from 2005 to early 2009.

Cops probe Ohio crash that killed 6

Warren, Ohio — Investigators on Monday tried to piece together what eight teenagers crammed into a stolen SUV were up to before the vehicle flipped over into a pond, killing six of them.

Authorities gave no details on where the group of friends had been and why they were out around daybreak Sunday.

State police said the SUV hit a guardrail on a two-lane road in an industrial section of town and landed upside down in about 5 feet of water, filling up in a matter of minutes. Five boys and a young woman, ages 14 to 19, were killed. Two boys smashed a rear window, wriggled out of the wreckage, swam away and called 911.

In other headlines

Comet to provide photo op in N. Hemisphere : Now's your chance to see the comet that passed within 100 million miles of Earth last week. Twilight today will provide the best photo op for the comet called Pan-STARRS. It will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere just above the western horizon.

Financial info on celebs, officials leaked online: Authorities and celebrities were grappling Monday with how to respond to a website that posted what appears to be private financial information about top government officials and stars such as Jay-Z and Mel Gibson. The site, which bears an Internet suffix originally assigned to the Soviet Union, expanded throughout the day.

Florida lawmakers reject Medicaid expansion: Florida legislative committees rejected an expansion of Medicaid for the poor under President Barack Obama's health care law.

World

Family: India rape suspect was killed

New Delhi — A man on trial for the gang rape and fatal beating of a 23-year-old student aboard a New Delhi bus committed suicide in an Indian jail Monday, police said, but his lawyer and family allege he was killed.

Ram Singh, who was accused of driving the bus during the December attack, was under suicide watch in a cell with three other inmates at New Delhi's Tihar Jail when he hanged himself with his own clothes about 5:30 a.m., police officials said.

In other headlines

Pistorius lawyers appeal bail conditions: Lawyers for Oscar Pistorius have filed an appeal in a South African court against bail restrictions imposed on the Olympian, who is charged with murder in his girlfriend's death, according to papers released by the Pistorius family on Monday.

The lawyers said evidence presented at the athlete's bail hearing showed he is not a flight risk and should have the option of traveling outside South Africa as long as he has official permission.

From Detroit News wire services