WASHINGTON (AP) — One after another and in sometimes evocative language, judges appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents are declaring it's too late to turn back on the topic of same-sex marriage.

The unbroken string of state and federal court rulings in support of gay and lesbian unions takes in every region of the country, including states of the Confederacy, and brings to 26 states where same-sex couples can get married or a judge has ruled they ought to be allowed.

It also may have pushed gay marriage to a legal tipping point, where the cause has won such wide-ranging approval that it will be hard for the Supreme Court to rule against it. The court rulings and the measured response of even elected officials who oppose same-sex marriage may be especially important for justices who have worried about acting too quickly to impose same-sex marriage nationwide.

The latest ruling, in Pennsylvania, was followed quickly by word from Republican Gov. Tom Corbett that he would not appeal and instead let the decision take effect. Corbett, who opposes gay and lesbian marriage, is facing a tough campaign for re-election this year.

"We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history," U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III wrote last week about the Pennsylvania marriage law.

Gay marriage opponents say they expect more of a mixed record in the courts by the time the Supreme Court gets involved, and they take issue with the notion that U.S. public opinion has shifted as dramatically as many polls show.

All the rulings came after the Supreme Court decision last June that struck down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law but did not apply to bans that were then in place in roughly three dozen states. Judges, though, have had no trouble extending the high court's ruling in U.S. v. Windsor to prohibit states from discriminating against same-sex couples who want to wed.

"Judges can read the tea leaves," UCLA law professor Adam Winkler said. "They know where the Supreme Court is going. They know where society is going. Do they want their grandkids knowing they wrote an opinion stopping gay marriage?"

In some respects, the series of rulings is just the latest manifestation of the extraordinary change in attitudes about same-sex marriage.

In 1972, it took the Supreme Court one sentence to dispose of an appeal asserting a same-sex couple's constitutional right to marry. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court declared the state's marriage ban unconstitutional. When President Barack Obama decided that his administration no longer would enforce the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 2011, there were five states that allowed same-sex couples to wed. By late June, the number had jumped to 13, after the high court paved the way for gay and lesbian couples in California to get married.

No appeals court has yet weighed in, although that could change any day, and it is not clear when the high court will jump back into the same-sex marriage debate. Appeals could start arriving at the court by late summer or early fall.

"The country is ready, but the Supreme Court needs to do the tipping," said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, a national coalition of advocacy groups working for same-gender marriage.

Gay rights advocates argue that the mushrooming list of rulings has created such an air of inevitability that, were the Supreme Court to reverse them, "a majority of the country would find that shocking," said Mary Bonauto, the director of the Civil Rights Project at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders.

On the other side of the issue, Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, said, "You have almost every avenue of elite power saying it's inevitable, might as well give up the fight. Why would you not expect some shift? What I'm surprised by is, given the massive amount of capital and power that's been exerted on this issue, a majority of Americans still support traditional marriage."

Brown pointed to a recent Politico poll of likely voters in hotly contested congressional and Senate races, which are taking place mainly in more conservative states. That survey found 52 percent of respondents opposed to same-sex marriage. The latest Gallup poll says 55 percent of Americans support it.

Ryan Anderson, a Heritage Foundation fellow and co-author of a book defending the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, said Supreme Court justices ultimately will have to wrestle with whether they want to impose same-sex marriage throughout the country. "Why rush in to put in a 50-state solution, when we can let the laboratories of democracy, the states, work things out?" Anderson said.

But those same arguments have been made in courtrooms across the country, with no success since the Windsor decision.

The run of courtroom victories for same-sex marriage has somewhat obscured other gay rights battles, including efforts to bar employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

"There's a difference between having a marriage license and feeling comfortable enough to put a picture of your spouse on your desk," said Dave Montez of One Colorado, a gay-rights advocacy group.

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Riccardi reported from Denver.

A string of rulings in support of gay and lesbian unions may have pushed the issue to the legal tipping point.
Reading tea leaves

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Monday branded sexual abuse of children by priests a crime comparable to a "satanic Mass" and said he would show zero tolerance for anyone in the Catholic Church who abused children, including bishops.

Speaking to reporters on the plane taking him back from a visit to the Middle East, the pope also announced that he would have his first meeting with a group of abuse victims at the Vatican early next month.

Asked about whether he would move against bishops who were accused of sexual abuse, he said "there will be no daddy's boys" and no privileges, adding that three bishops were currently under investigation.

"Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime ... because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord. It is like a satanic Mass," he said in some of the toughest language he has used on a crisis which has rocked the Church for more than a decade." We must go ahead with zero tolerance" he said.

He said he would hold a meeting with around eight victims of sexual abuse at the Vatican early next month. It would be attended by Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley of Boston, who is head of a commission set up to study ways of dealing with the crisis.

Francis, who spoke to reporters for nearly an hour, said the victims, several from Europe, would attend his morning Mass and then he would meet with them.

It will be the first time for Francis to meet sexual abuse victims since his election in March, 2013.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Pope Francis to meet sexual abuse victims

He compares abuse of children by priests to a "satanic Mass," and vows zero tolerance for perpetrators.
3 bishops investigated

Seoul (AFP) - North Korea on Tuesday warned that recent "provocative" activities by US troops at a truce village on the heavily fortified inter-Korean border could lead to a "catastrophic" military clash.

The warning came from the head of the North Korean forces stationed in the frontier village of Panmunjom -- where the ceasefire agreement to end fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War was signed.

Panmunjom has hosted multiple inter-Korean talks over the decades and is heavily guarded, with mostly South Korean and US troops on the southern side under the auspices of the UN Command (UNC).

The North Korean military official, who was not named, said recent activities by US troops threatened to destabilise the sensitive area.

In remarks carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, he particularly cited the construction of a steel watchtower, saying it was being used for "acts of spying" involving sophisticated surveillance equipment.

Given the military sensitivity of Panmunjom, where North and South Korean border guards stand almost eyeball-to-eyeball, the official said such activity was particularly dangerous.

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A North Korean soldier walks along his side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Z …

"The slightest accidental mistake or undesirable behaviour could lead to a catastrophic military clash," he said.

North Korea regularly denounces the US troop presence in the South, but it is unusual for it to focus on activities in Panmunjom -- one of the few avenues of cross-border communication.

A UNC spokesman dismissed the North's concerns, saying the watchtower had been constructed for "ordinary monitoring purposes".

The North Korean official cited other "sinister" activity by US troops, including messages relayed across the border by loudspeaker and letters with "dishonest contents" that were left in huts straddling the border.

Such actions had multiplied since US President Barack Obama visited South Korea in April, he said.

During that visit, Obama called the impoverished but nuclear-armed North a weak "pariah state" that was intent on taking "a path that leads only to more isolation".

Military tensions between the two Koreas have been elevated for several months.

Last week, Seoul said a North Korean warship fired shells near one of its naval corvettes and denounced Pyongyang's denial as a "blatant lie".

Panmunjom has generally been sheltered from the volatile swings in inter-Korean relations, although it has witnessed a number of deadly incidents.

There were fears of a full-scale conflict in 1976, after a group of axe-wielding North Korean troops killed two American soldiers who were trimming a tree on the border.

Rebel says 30 insurgents killed in eastern Ukraine

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — At least 30 bodies of killed fighters have been brought to a hospital following a day of heavy fighting in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, in which government forces used combat jets against pro-Russia rebels, an insurgent said Tuesday.

The rebel fighter, who wouldn't give his name because of security concerns, said outside the hospital in Donetsk that 30 bodies of his fellow insurgents were delivered there. He said the truck carrying the bodies was still parked outside the hospital, waiting for explosives experts to check it for any unexploded ordnance.

Donetsk, a city of 1 million, was engulfed by heavy fighting Monday when rebels moved to seize the airport, Ukraine's second largest, and were repelled by government forces using combat jets and helicopter gunships. Associated Press journalists witnessed sustained intensive gun fire throughout the day and into the night. Plumes of black smoke rose in the air.

The battles came just as billionaire candy magnate Petro Poroshenko claimed victory in Sunday's presidential vote. Poroshenko, who is yet to be sworn in, has vowed to negotiate a peaceful end to an insurgency in the east, where rebels have seized government offices and fought Ukrainian troops for more than a month.

Officials closed Donetsk airport and police shut nearby streets for traffic amid the fighting. The city mayor went on television advising residents to stay at home.

Early Tuesday, a group of unidentified men stormed Donetsk's main ice-hockey arena, which was to host the 2015 world championships and set it ablaze, according to the mayor's office.

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A woman reacts after seeing the lifeless body of a man killed by shrapnel following a shelling from …

In the neighboring Luhansk region, the Ukrainian Border Guards Service said that its officers engaged in a gunbattle with a group of gunmen who were trying to break through the border from Russia. It said one intruder was wounded and the border guards seized several vehicles loaded with Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket grenade launchers and explosives.

The interim government has pledged to press ahead with the operation against insurgents, which has angered local residents, many of whom see the authorities in Kiev as nationalists bent on repressing Russian speakers in the east.

Speaking at a televised government session on Tuesday, Vitaly Yarema, a deputy prime minister in the interim cabinet said the "anti-terrorist operation" in eastern Ukraine will go on "until all the militants are annihilated."

Poroshenko has described the separatists as "Somali pirates," saying that arms should be used against "killers and terrorists," but he also indicated that he wants a quick end to the military operation in the east.

"The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months," he said Monday. "It should and will last hours."

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Pro-Russian gunmen take positions near the airport, outside Donetsk, Ukraine, on Monday, May 26, 201 …

Poroshenko, known for his pragmatism, supports building strong ties with Europe but also has stressed the importance of mending relations with Moscow. Upon claiming victory, he said his first step as president would be to visit the east.

He said he hoped Russia would support his efforts to bring stability and that he wanted to hold talks with Moscow.

Russia welcomed his intention to engage in talks with people in the east and said it would be ready to work with Poroshenko.

Moscow has denied accusations by the Ukrainian interim government and the West that it has fomented the insurgency in the east. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stonewalled the insurgents' appeal to join Russia and welcomed the Ukrainian presidential election in an apparent bid to de-escalate tensions with the West, which has plunged to a post-Cold War low after Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Moscow was ready for direct talks with Poroshenko and doesn't want the United States and the European Union as mediators.

But Ukraine's acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine has no intention to talk to Russia directly. "Regarding the negotiations with the Russian Federation, the government's stance is unchanged: bilateral talks without the presence of the United States and the European Union do not seem possible under current conditions," he said.

Russia has kept pushing for Ukraine to decentralize its government, which would give more power to regions, including those in the east, and wants Kiev to withdraw its troops from the area.

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Nataliya Vasilyeva in Kiev, Ukraine contributed to this report.

At least 30 rebels reported killed in Ukraine

Government forces use combat jets against pro-Russia insurgents during heavy fighting in Donetsk.
Hockey arena set ablaze

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Officials said that possible rain forecast this week in Alaska could help crews gain control over a massive wind-whipped wildfire that forced dozens of people to flee to shelters and move some of their animals to safety at rodeo grounds.

The Funny River Fire in the state's Kenai Peninsula covered nearly 248 square miles as of Monday morning and was 30 percent contained, according to the Alaska Interagency Interagency Management Team.

No injuries or structure damage has been reported, officials said.

Authorities on Sunday ordered the evacuation of 1,000 homes and other structures in the sparsely populated area 60 miles south of Anchorage — Alaska's largest city, where haze from the fire has lingered for days.

The human-caused fire was sparked May 19 in the 1.9 million-acre Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

The weather forecast for the area calls for possible rain beginning Tuesday, said Willie Begay, a spokesman with the management team responding to the fire.

Two Red Cross shelters have been set up. Many of the displaced residents are staying with friends and relatives, and others are staying in campers in the parking lot of an elementary school where one of the shelters was opened.

"People are actually taking pretty good care of themselves," Red Cross spokeswoman Beth Bennett said.

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A helicopter dumps water on a portion of the Funny River Fire, Sunday, May 25, 2014, in the Funny Ri …

Hooligans Sport-Fishing Lodge in Soldotna offered free shelter to displaced residents and their pets. Hotel clerk Demri Healy said about 100 people were staying there Monday. Healy said people were horrified at the thought that their properties could soon be gone, but they were also "unbelievably astounded" at the generous response by locals, who are donating food, ice and bedding.

Laura Gabree and her extended family are among those juggling gratefulness for the community's response with the emotional limbo of not knowing if they would have homes to return to.

When Gabree's family fled their property three miles from the fire's edge, embers were falling on vehicles laden with photos, medications, files and clothing. The home her family built from the ground up seven years ago is not insured, and even though fire managers say no structures have been destroyed, rumors flying around the area say otherwise, she said.

"My ultimate nightmare is that that there's all these people, and we're homeless," she in a phone interview. "I'm just hoping and praying that my house is saved and that my neighbors' houses are saved."

At least 40 other displaced residents set up camp at the Soldotna Sports Center, staying in campers and RVs, said Brad Nelson with the Kenai Peninsula Central borough emergency services.

Nelson said displaced residents were keeping their horses, chickens, pigs and dogs at the nearby rodeo grounds.

The total number of people who fled their homes isn't clear, Begay said. The area, like many sections of the state prone to summer fires, is unlike more populated places threatened in the lower 48.

The fire is affecting an area where structures are scattered rather than lined up closely as in urban neighborhoods. The size of the blaze is not unusual for Alaska but the state does not usually see such large fires this early in the season.

The wildfire is the most active of several large wildfires burning in the vast state. Firefighters have been flown in from Oregon, Montana and Canada to help Alaska crews.

Wildfires in Alaska's remote areas are not unusual during the summer months, with an average of a million acres burned each fire season, according to fire managers.

The state is experiencing unusually dry conditions because of unseasonably warm spring temperatures.

The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1941 as the Kenai National Moose Range and was aimed at moose protection. Wildlife viewing, fishing, camping and hiking attract visitors from around the world.

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Follow Rachel D'Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro

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Alaska wildfire keeps growing after evacuations

Officials hope that rain forecast this week may help crews gain control over the massive wind-whipped blaze.
Community rallies to help