(CNN) -- Blasts hit two churches in northeastern Kenya on Sunday, leaving scores injured in the latest attack in the East African nation, the Red Cross said.
The exact number of injuries in the explosions at Garissa town was unclear, the Red Cross said.
CNN affiliate NTV said the blasts killed at least nine people, but CNN was not able to independently confirm the report.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the incidents.
Attacks have escalated since Kenyan forces invaded neighboring Somalia last year to battle Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, which it blamed for kidnappings of foreigners in the nation.
When Kenya pursued the militants, the terror group threatened with retaliatory attacks, saying it considers the incursion an affront to Somalia's sovereignty.
Since the invasion in October, Kenya has been targeted by a series of grenade attacks blamed on al-Shabaab or its supporters.
The grenade attacks have mostly targeted the capital of Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and northeastern towns and refugee camps near the border with Somalia.
Garissa is close to the Somali border and the Dadaab refugee camp, where gunmen kidnapped four aid workers and killed a driver last week.
Al-Shabaab is linked to al Qaeda and has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
U.S. officials have issued warnings of potential attacks in the country since the incursion.
CNN's Faith Karimi and Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report
(CNN) -- Friends and family of Rodney King gathered in Los Angeles to bid final farewell to the man whose 1991 beating by the city's police sparked riots after the acquittal of the four officers involved.
King was found dead in his swimming pool at his Rialto, California, home almost two weeks ago. He was 47.
"I'm extremely proud. Still, today, I can be up here and be sad, but I could have lost you when I was 6 so I'm thankful and I'm grateful. I wouldn't have had my sister if he would have died. I'm grateful for all of you for coming to show your support," King's daughter, Dene, said during the service.
A spray of flowers perched atop King's black casket, which was set next to a smiling photograph of him. Music played over a sideshow of family photographs.
Listen to King's fiancee's 911 call 
2011: Rodney King's nightmare 
Rodney King death apparently accidental Rialto police received a 911 call from King's fiancee, Cynthia Kelly, about 5:25 a.m. on June 17, according to Capt. Randy De Anda.
Responding officers found King at the bottom of the pool, removed him and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital, police said.
A preliminary autopsy report will not be released, coroner spokeswoman Jody Miller said. The coroner will wait until a full report based on the toxicology exam findings is available in six to eight weeks, Miller said.
There were no preliminary signs of foul play and no obvious injuries on King's body, De Anda said. Police are conducting a drowning investigation.
King's beating after a high-speed car chase and its aftermath forever changed Los Angeles, its police department and the dialogue on race in America.
The video that captured the beating shows King cowering on the ground and attempting to crawl away as he is surrounded by a crowd of police officers. Four of them used their nightsticks to strike him.
King was beaten nearly to death. Three surgeons operated on him for five hours.
The video appeared on national television two days later, focusing attention on the issue of racially-motivated police brutality.
Four LAPD officers -- Theodore Briseno, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Sgt. Stacey Koon -- were indicted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force by a police officer.
But following a three-month trial in the predominantly white Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley, three of the officers were acquitted of all charges. The jury, which had no black members, deadlocked on one charge of excessive force against Powell, and a mistrial was declared on that charge.
African-Americans in Los Angeles exploded in outrage. Rioters ran through the streets -- looting businesses, torching buildings and attacking those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The violence led to more than 50 deaths and $1 billion in property damage.
On the third day of rioting, King emerged from seclusion to make a plea: "People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along?"
Nearly a year later, the four officers stood trial in federal court on civil rights charges. Two African-Americans were picked for the jury, and King testified. Koon and Powell were found guilty and sentenced to 30 months in prison. Briseno and Wind were acquitted.
King also sued the city of Los Angeles, and was awarded $3.8 million in damages.
In later years, King had several more run-ins with the law, including a 90-day jail stint in 1996 for a hit-and-run involving his wife at the time. On the 20th anniversary of the beating in 2011, he was pulled over and ticketed for a minor traffic violation.
King said last year on the anniversary that he has forgiven the officers who beat him.
"Yes, I've forgiven them, because I've been forgiven many times," he said. "My country's been good to me ... This country is my house, it's the only home I know, so I have to be able to forgive -- for the future, for the younger generation coming behind me so ... they can understand it and if a situation like that happened again, they could deal with it a lot easier."
(CNN) -- Forecasters issued another round of excessive heat warnings Sunday for large swaths of the Midwest and Southeast as the regions dug out from deadly storms that left millions without power.
At least 12 people were killed, from Ohio to New Jersey, as a result of downed trees and power lines, according to officials. The destruction prompted state of emergency declarations by governors of Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia.
"This is not a one-day situation; it is a multiday challenge," said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who called it the largest power outage unrelated to a hurricane in the state's history.
The National Weather Service issued warnings in 14 states, from Illinois to Georgia, indicating dangerous conditions for those unable to find refuge in a cool locale -- an advisory complicated by widespread power outages.
Forecasters, meanwhile, warned of another round of storms Sunday in areas hit hard by thunderstorms that barreled through Friday and Saturday and downed power lines.
Temps soar across the U.S.
America is having a heat wave 
Storms leave millions without power 
Triple digit highs scorch the U.S. Nearly 4 million people were without power across the affected states at one point Saturday, a number that dropped by early Sunday morning to around 3 million.
In Ohio, where 900,000 were still without power late Saturday night, the governor was asking for federal help to get ice, gas and generators.
"I'm very concerned with the problems created by the combination of power outages and severe heat," said Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who said it could take up to a week to get the power back up to everybody in the state.
Kasich also called out the National Guard to check on and help the state's most vulnerable, primarily the elderly and the ill.
In West Virginia, power outages forced the closure of a large number of gas stations after pumps were rendered inoperable.
Brian Duckworth waited in line for gas for nearly two hours in Vienna, along the West-Virginia-Ohio border.
"I wouldn't even be here because I have plenty of gas in my truck," Duckworth told CNN affiliate WTAP. "But I have to get gas for my generators and some backup gas."
The storm also affected Amtrak service, including shutting down service between Washington and Philadelphia on Saturday morning.
But those most inconvenienced were aboard a train that ended up grinding to a halt Friday night in Prince, West Virginia, after trees blocked tracks both in front of and behind it, Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said.
By late Saturday night, the 232 passengers -- who stayed aboard the Chicago-bound train, which had air conditioning and food -- had been taken off and put on buses so they could reach their final destinations, according to Kulm.
Neighboring Virginia was also hard hit, with six deaths. At one point, the state had about 1 million power outages -- more than any other state.
The storms raced east Friday and into Saturday from Indiana through Ohio and into West Virginia and the nation's capital, carrying winds gusting as strong as 80 miles per hour.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said there was a particular need for fuel, generators and communications equipment following the storm that caused enormous damage.
Those killed included two cousins in New Jersey, ages 2 and 7, who'd huddled with their families in a tent in Parvin State Park when strong winds felled a pine tree, crushing them. Their relatives all survived relatively unscathed, said Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection.
In Washington, a couple was electrocuted after they went outside to check on downed power lines. The husband was killed while the wife -- who is in critical condition at a local hospital with burns -- is expected to survive, said police spokesman Araz Alali.
Emergency rooms in Prince George's County, Maryland, filled up over the weekend by people looking to escape the heat, said Fran Phillips, deputy secretary for the state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She noted that libraries and community centers across the state would stay open late to act as cooling centers.
Even in places where power was not disrupted, people with no air-conditioning were advised to spend the day in a library, a cooling center or some other such place to avoid heat exhaustion.
In Atlanta, where temperatures hit a record-breaking 106 degrees on Saturday and were projected to hit 103 degrees on Sunday, cooling centers were ordered open across the city.
CNN's Moni Basu, Greg Botelho and Nick Valencia contributed to this report.
(CNN) -- More than half of the over 14,000 people killed since the Syrian began 16 months ago were slaughtered in the past four months, according to tallies from opposition activists.
June was a particularly gruesome month, with 2,386 people killed compared to 1,196 in May, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
The bloodshed continued Sunday, when five people were killed in Hama province "in another massacre committed by regime forces," the LCC said. In addition, three bodies were found in Idlib province, the group said.
A day after world diplomats agreed on a new plan to help end the violence, the LCC slammed the efforts and dismissed them as superficial.
"The new agreement provides vague language which is open to interpretation," the opposition network said in a statement Sunday. "This provides yet another opportunity for the regime's thugs to play their favorite game in utilizing time in order to stop the popular Syrian Revolution and extinguish it with violence and massacres across Syria."
U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan invited diplomats from the U.N. Security Council and envoys from Turkey, the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League to the global meeting in Geneva on Saturday.
Those at the meeting agreed that the first step should be a renewed commitment to a cease-fire by both the regime and opposition fighters, as well as the implementation of Annan's six-point peace plan without waiting for the actions of others, Annan said.
Read the final communiqué from world diplomats (pdf)
But a key to the process will be a transitional government, which Annan said could include members of the current Syrian regime. That makes it possible for President Bashar al-Assad to be a part of the transition, but Annan pointed out it is the Syrians who will decide the make-up.
"I think people who have blood on their hands are hopefully not the only people in Syria," Annan said. "I think the government will have to be formed through discussion, negotiations, and by mutual consent. And I will doubt that the Syrians -- who have fought so hard for their independence, to be able to say how they're governed and who governs them -- will select people with blood on their hands to lead them."
But the LCC said it was "gravely concerned" by what could happen in a transitional period with President Bashar al-Assad's military and security forces.
There are "core conflicts between the Revolutionaries and Bashar al-Assad's pillars and symbols, whose hands are stained with blood and must be excluded from the transitional phase," the opposition group said. "No Syrian will accept a regime waiver of responsibility over crimes and violations against human rights."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the plan makes clear the Syrian president cannot stay in power.
"Assad will still have to go. He will never pass the mutual consent test, given the blood on his hands," she said.
The agreement in Geneva also calls on the Syrian government to release detainees and allow journalists access to the country. The right to peaceful demonstrations must be respected, Annan said.
Clinton said the U.N. Security Council should endorse the plan, thus allowing the possibility of sanctions against Syria if the requirements aren't met.
Russia, widely viewed as a key ally to the Syrian regime, said the agreement should not be interpreted as outside powers imposing a transitional government on the Syrians. That process must come from inside Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
As diplomats plotted their next strategy Saturday, a large funeral procession made its way through a Damascus suburb, clapping and chanting loud slogans against the government.
The man they were burying was wrapped in a Syrian revolutionary flag and had allegedly been killed by government forces. The crowd waved additional flags and shouted for freedom.
Then there was a deafening explosion.
In what opposition activists say was a government-organized car bombing, 85 people were killed and more than 300 people were wounded, most of them in critical condition.
Activists posted videos to YouTube purportedly showing the moment of the bombing in Zamalka and its aftermath.
After the loud crack and orange flash of the explosion come moaning and screams of "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") from every direction. As the brown dust clears, the carnage becomes visible: charred bodies, missing limbs and pools of blood.
The flag-wrapped body of the funeral victim was lying on the ground.
The security forces even fired on the crowd in the bombing's aftermath, killing a doctor who was trying to help the wounded, said an opposition activists named Bassem, who asked that his last name not be used.
The 85 slain in Zamalka were among 174 people killed across the country Saturday, the LCC said.
CNN cannot independently confirm the reports of casualties or violence because Syria restricts access by international journalists.
CNN's Saad Abedine, Holly Yan and Jill Dougherty contributed to this report.
Geneva, Switzerland (CNN) -- Members of the international community on Saturday forged an agreement for a transition to end the violence in and bring peace to Syria.
The first step should be a recommitment to a ceasefire by both sides and implementation of a U.N. and Arab League-backed six-point plan without waiting for the actions of others, Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan said.
A key to the process will be a transitional government, which Annan said could include members of the current Syrian regime. The make-up of such a body would be decided by the Syrians, he said.
"We are determined to work together urgently and intensively, to bring an end to the violence and the human rights abuses and the launch of a Syrian-led political process leading to a transition that meets the legit aspiration of the Syrian people," Annan said.
The agreement also calls on the Syrian government to release detainees and allow journalists access to the country. The right to peaceful demonstrations must be respected, Annan said.
The agreement is a last-gasp attempt to end the carnage in Syria and contain a growing crisis that some diplomats warn could potentially engulf the entire region. The meeting took place in Geneva Saturday.
Earlier, Annan issued a dire warning as the opening session began at the United Nations' European headquarters.
"We should never have reached this point," he said. His plan, he said, has not been implemented. Some U.N. members, he said, "simultaneously took national or collective initiatives of their own, undermining the process."
"The way things have been going thus far -- we are not helping anyone."
Italian priest expelled from Syria 
Blast shakes Syrian capitol 
Turkey says Syria fired at second plane 
Syrian opposition armed and organized U.S. diplomats were pessimistic as well. "Discussions remain challenging," a senior State Department official told reporters. "We're continuing to work on this today but we need a plan that's strong and credible. We may get there; we may not."
The official spoke on background because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue.
A one-on-one meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the eve of the Geneva meeting also failed to yield any progress.
International diplomats say the United States and Russia remain divided on the key question of the fate of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
The United States and many other nations demand he step down to make way for a transitional unity government. Russia says his future must be decided solely by the Syrian people, with no outside interference.
Opinion: The shortcomings of Annan's Plan B
As various diplomats emerged from the morning session, some were more optimistic.
But even Annan, in his opening remarks, was blunt: division among the participating nations is tearing apart any effort at peace.
"In a scenario of open competition between outside powers," he said, "the outcome of this crisis will be measured not by gains made but by who suffers least."
Annan invited top diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with envoys from Turkey, the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League, to the emergency meeting.
Before going into the main conference, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Annan and the British and French foreign ministers. She also held talks with their Turkish and Qatari counterparts.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Russia and China were making negotiations on the subject "very difficult."
In his remarks to the conference, Hague urged his fellow delegates to heed Annan's words and "act with urgency and determination, to create a roadmap to lead Syria back from the brink, and to insist on its full implementation."
Without concrete steps there will be no hope of changing the situation on the ground, he said.
"None of us seek military action in Syria. None of us seek to impose a solution on the Syrian people. None of us seek to change regional power structures, or affect long-standing national interests in Syria," Hague said. "I believe all of us wish to see a peaceful Syrian-led settlement, and a stable, sovereign and free Syria."
Speaking from Cairo, the coordinator of the Preparatory Committee of the Syrian Opposition Conference, Rima Flihan, said no transition would be possible with al-Assad in power.
Photos: In Syrian hospital, no escape from war
"No dialogue will start before Assad steps down and we insist on our right to put on trial everyone who participated in the mass killings against our people and that every single official who ordered these crimes must be held responsible before we discuss a political road map for a political solution," she said.
The bloodshed continued in Syria as the latest round of discussions got under way.
At least 43 people died Saturday across Syria, the opposition group Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
They included 10 civilians, children among them, who were killed in Souran, Hama, by regime forces, the group said. Three more were killed in Aleppo, which security forces shelled with rockets and heavy machinery, the LCC said.
Syrian state TV reported deadly clashes between regime forces and "armed terrorists" in Idlib. The LCC earlier reported intense mortar shelling and heavy artillery in the area.
"We're confident that God's victory is near," marchers chanted Friday in demonstrations near the presidential palace in central Damascus. "We will no longer kneel to anyone but God."
They lambasted al-Assad's family with cries of, "We are coming after you, may God curse your soul."
In an interview Thursday with an Iranian state media, al-Assad said Syrians support the state in the face of foreign interference.
Some countries want to see military action against Syria of the same kind as was seen in Libya, al-Assad told Iran's Channel 4, according to Syria's state-run SANA news agency.
"We don't have any information of specific plans, but there are bids by the a few countries to push the issue toward military action," he said.
Zakaria: How to avoid a wider war in Syria
The death toll has mounted since March last year, when a bloody government crackdown on peaceful protests intensified into an anti-regime uprising.
The uprising against the al-Assad regime shows no sign of abating. The Local Coordination Committees estimates more than 14,000 people have died in Syria since it started.
Violence rages on 15 months after the anti-government protests started.
On Friday, several explosions hit Damascus neighborhoods, the opposition group said. And regime forces killed at least 70 people across Syria, more than 10 of them children, according to the group.
CNN cannot independently confirm the reports of casualties or violence because Syria restricts access by international journalists.
CNN's Saad Abedine, Joe Sterling, Mariano Castillo and Alla Eshchenko contributed to this report.
