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WASHINGTON (AP) — The mother of an American serving a prison sentence in Cuba for covertly setting up internet access there has died, and it seems doubtful her son will be allowed to return for her funeral despite the urging of U.S. officials.

The family of 92-year-old Evelyn Gross said Wednesday that she died in Plano, Texas. She had suffered from lung cancer.

Her son, Alan Gross, was arrested in Cuba in 2009. The Maryland man had been setting up hard-to-detect Internet networks for the island's small Jewish community as a subcontractor for the U.S. government's Agency for International Development. Cuba considers such programs to be an affront to its sovereignty and sentenced Gross to 15 years for crimes against the state.

Gross had a close relationship with his mother, even in prison. He called regularly, and when Gross began a hunger strike this year, his mom persuaded him to end it.

Gross had previously asked to visit his ill mother before she died and promised to return to prison in Cuba if he were allowed to visit.

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the State Department said that officials "urged the Cuban government to grant Mr. Gross a humanitarian furlough so that he can travel to the United States and be with his family during this time of mourning."

But the Cuban government appeared to reject that possibility. Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, a top official for U.S. affairs at Cuba's Foreign Ministry, said in a statement that neither the American nor Cuban prison systems allow prisoners to travel abroad.

Vidal's statement also drew a parallel between Gross' case and that of the so-called Cuban Five, intelligence agents who were sentenced to long jail terms in the United States in 2001. She noted that the U.S. did not allow one of the five, Gerardo Hernandez, to return to Cuba when his mother died. The statement did not say when she passed.

However, in 2012 and 2013, another one of the Cuban Five, Rene Gonzalez, was allowed to return to Cuba. Gonzalez was granted visits with his brother, who had lung cancer, and for the funeral of his father. Unlike Gross, however, Gonzalez had been released from prison and was serving three years on probation at the time of the visits.

After Gonzalez returned to Cuba in 2013 he was allowed to renounce his dual U.S. citizenship and stay in Cuba permanently. Another one of the five, Fernando Gonzalez, returned to the island in February after serving more than 15 years behind bars.

Cuban officials have repeatedly linked Gross' case with that of the Cuban Five. However, U.S. officials have said the cases are different and refused to link them.

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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Curt Anderson in Miami and Peter Orsi in Havana contributed to this report.

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Follow Jessica Gresko at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

Baseball's most notable offseason signing is currently the best pitcher in the league. Masahiro Tanaka, signed by the New York Yankees for $155 million, is dominating the sport. Jonah Keri of Grantland.com talks to Robert Siegel about Tanaka's amazing start.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister said Wednesday that his government has regained the initiative after the "shock" defeat of its army and security forces in a lightning attack by Sunni militants in the country's north. Meanwhile, diplomats said they were investigating claims of some 100 foreign workers being kidnapped in areas under militant control.

Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who has been in office since 2006, said in a televised address that the loss last week of a large swath of territory has helped Iraq restore its national unity.

"We were able to contain the strike and arrest deterioration. ... We have now started our counteroffensive, regaining the initiative and striking back," al-Maliki said.

Al-Maliki's upbeat assessment came as news broke of government forces regaining parts of a strategic city near the Syrian border that was captured Monday by fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

It also came hours after the chief military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, said government forces on Wednesday repelled an attack by militants on the country's largest oil refinery at Beiji, north of the capital. He said 40 attackers were killed in fighting there overnight and on Wednesday morning.

The Beiji refinery accounts for a little more than a quarter of the country's entire refining capacity — all of which goes toward domestic consumption for things like gasoline, cooking oil and fuel for power stations. Any lengthy outage at Beiji risks long lines at the gas pump and electricity shortages, adding to the chaos already facing Iraq.

In New Delhi, the Foreign Ministry said that 40 Indian construction workers have been kidnapped in Iraq. Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said its diplomats were investigating claims that militants abducted 60 foreign construction workers, including some 15 Turks, near the oil city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said the government has been unable to contact the workers.

There are about 10,000 Indian citizens working and living in Iraq. Akbaruddin said only about 100 are in violent, insecure areas. That includes the construction workers near Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, as well as 46 Indian nurses working in a hospital in the Iraqi town of Tikrit. Both Mosul and Tikri were captured by the Islamic State last week.

Akbaruddin said humanitarian organizations have been in touch with the nurses, who are safe and have been advised to avoid travel by road.

India sent a senior diplomat to Baghdad on Wednesday.

Near Kirkuk, which Kurdish fighters took over from fleeing Iraqi soldiers amid the militants' advance, the Islamic State kidnapped 60 foreign construction workers building a hospital, Turkey's private Dogan news agency reported Wednesday. The agency based its report on an unnamed worker who was reportedly freed by the militants.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry could not immediately confirm the report but said its embassy was investigating.

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Associated Press writers Katy Daigle in New Delhi and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of Macy's claim that J.C. Penney interfered with a contract with Martha Stewart Living Media Inc. when it cut a deal to create a collection of home goods in 2011.

But the judge, Jeffrey Oing, said Macy's failed to prove that Penney was liable for punitive damages.

The 63-page decision, issued Monday, came six months after Macy's and Martha Stewart resolved a legal battle to sell home furnishings at Penney. The terms of that deal were not disclosed.

It also follows a move last fall by Penney to scale back its merchandising partnership with Martha Stewart.