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BEIRUT (AP) — President Bashar Assad said in an interview published Wednesday that Syria needs a national unity government that would secure the transition to a new constitution, rejecting the “transitional body” demanded by the opposition, which wants him to step down.

In the interview with Russia’s state news agency Sputnik, Assad said Syrian refugees will begin returning home when they see hope for improvement, adding that one of the main causes of migration is Western sanctions against Syria.   Continue reading “Syria’s Assad rejects ‘transitional body’ demanded by rebels”

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ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia death row inmate scheduled to die this week has grown into a quiet man who has a positive effect on others and bears little resemblance to the teenager who helped beat a man to death two decades ago, his lawyers argue.

Joshua Bishop, 41, is set to be executed Thursday for the 1994 killing of Leverett Morrison in Milledgeville. A clemency hearing is scheduled for Wednesday before the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, the only entity in Georgia authorized to commute a death sentence.   Continue reading “Panel to hold clemency hearing for Georgia death row inmate”

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LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — An Egyptian man wearing a fake explosives belt who hijacked a domestic EgyptAir flight and forced it to land in Cyprus on Tuesday has surrendered and was taken into custody after he released all passengers and crew unharmed.

His surrender ended an hours-long standoff at Larnaca airport on the island nation’s southern coast. The hijacker had earlier freed most of the passengers but kept on board seven people — four crew members and three passengers.   Continue reading “Egypt plane drama ends: hijacker arrested, passengers freed”

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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian official says a girl suicide bomber arrested in Cameroon is not one of the 276 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from a school in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok nearly two years ago, but is from a nearby community.

The official says Cameroonian authorities gave them the names of the girl and an older accomplice but are holding them for questioning about how the Islamic extremists operate. The official is in Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital, waiting for the girls to be handed over. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is sensitive.   Continue reading “Official: Arrested girl suicide bomber not a “Chibok girl””

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a short-range projectile from an area near its eastern coast on Tuesday, South Korean officials said, in what appears to be another weapons test seen as a response to ongoing military drills between Washington and Seoul.

The projectile was fired near the North Korean port city of Wonsan and flew about 200 kilometers (125 miles) before crashing into land northeast of the launch site, South Korean military officials said.   Continue reading “South Korea says North Korea fired short-range projectile”

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SYCAMORE, Ill. (AP) — A former security guard serving a life sentence in the 1957 slaying of a 7-year-old Illinois girl returns to court Tuesday in his battle to convince a judge he’s innocent, while the victim’s brother has demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor to keep the man behind bars.

Jack McCullough, 76, was convicted in 2012 in one of the oldest cases in the U.S. ever to go to trial. But last week, the DeKalb County state’s attorney released the findings of a six-month review that convinced him McCullough could not have committed the crime. State’s Attorney Richard Schmack, who had no role in McCullough’s prosecution, found fault with the investigation and said new evidence corroborated an alibi.   Continue reading “Man convicted in 1957 slaying of Illinois girl could go free”

RT

The Flydubai FZ981 crash in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, could have followed the pilots’ failure to manage the landing after taking control of the system, media reveal citing flight data. The final minutes are said to have been full of arguments and screams of terror.

Now that decoding of the flight data recorders of the crashed Boeing is complete, an unnamed source told Russian daily Kommersant that pilot error is now dominating the investigation as the probable cause.   Continue reading “Leaked Flydubai recorder data reveals argument, panic in cockpit before ‘fatal nosedive’”

RT

Democratic leaders in California, the eighth-largest economy in the world, reached an agreement with labor unions this weekend to raise the state’s minimum wage from $10 to $15, according to Los Angeles Times sources on the condition of anonymity, but the top wage won’t take effect until 2022.   Continue reading “‘Fight for $15’ movement wins major battle in California with minimum wage agreement”

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HANCEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Mother Mary Angelica, a folksy Roman Catholic nun who used a monastery garage to begin a television ministry that grew into a global religious media empire, has died. She was 92.

Known to millions of viewers simply as “Mother Angelica,” the founder of the Eternal Word Television Network died Easter Sunday at the rural Alabama monastery where she lived about 45 miles north of Birmingham, according to EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw.   Continue reading “Global Catholic Network founder Mother Angelica has died”

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CHICAGO (AP) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel has rejected three finalists recommended by the Chicago police board for the city’s top police post and selected the force’s current chief of patrol as the new interim superintendent, his office said.

The mayor’s office said in a statement late Sunday that Emanuel was appointing Chicago Chief of Patrol Eddie Johnson as interim superintendent. A formal announcement was set for Monday. Emanuel is trying to replace Superintendent Garry McCarthy, whose firing was part of a frantic effort to restore trust in the Police Department and his own leadership following the release in November of dash-camera footage showing a white police officer fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager 16 times.   Continue reading “Chicago mayor to introduce new interim police superintendent”

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Backed by Russian airstrikes, Syrian government forces on Thursday pushed into the ancient town of Palmyra that has been held by the Islamic State group since May, state TV reported, as an Iraqi military spokesman announced the start of a long-awaited military operation to recapture the northern city of Mosul from IS militants.

The advance on Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site, came after the troops managed this week to capture several hills and high ground around the town, famed for its priceless archaeological site and Roman ruins. Syrian troops have been on the offensive for days in an attempt to capture the town.   Continue reading “Syrian forces enter IS-held Palmyra; intense clashes with IS”

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand has voted to keep its current flag by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent in a nationwide poll that ended Thursday. More than 2 million people voted in the ballot to decide whether to keep the British Union Jack on their flag or replace it with a silver fern.

The current flag has been the national symbol since 1902. It was up against a new design that was winnowed from more than 10,000 entries submitted by the public. Those advocating change argued the flag was a relic of the nation’s colonial past and too similar to Australia’s flag.   Continue reading “Fern spurned: New Zealanders vote against changing flag”

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A University of California committee agreed Wednesday to single out anti-Semitism as a form of intolerance that campus leaders should challenge but rejected a more far-reaching denouncement of arguments against Israel’s right to exist.

A year in the making, the formal position opposing anti-Semitic behavior comes amid a wave of impassioned campus activism that has sparked tensions between Palestinian rights supporters and strong allies of Israel.   Continue reading “University of California approves anti-Semitism statement”

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Bob Ebeling spent three decades filled with guilt over not stopping the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, but found relief in the weeks before his death. Ebeling’s daughter Leslie Serna told The Associated Press that her father died Monday at the age of 89 in Brigham City, Utah.

She said he was finally able to forgive himself thanks to the hundreds of supportive phone calls and letters he received following a January NPR story about the 30th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. She said they tried to ease Ebeling’s guilt, and he was soon able to let go.   Continue reading “Man who predicted space shuttle Challenger disaster dies”

RT

The lifestyle of more than 97 percent of Americans cannot be considered “healthy” according to a new study that examined people’s diets, exercise, body fat, as well as whether they smoked. Researchers also found trends based on age, gender, and ethnicity.

A study conducted by Oregon State University in partnership with the University of Mississippi and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga looked at 4,745 people included in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2003 to 2006, and found that only 2.7 percent met a four-part criteria for having a healthy lifestyle.   Continue reading “‘Mind boggling’: Study shows less than 3% of Americans have ‘healthy lifestyle’”

RT

Belgian police have discovered that the alleged suicide bombers in the CCTV footage at the Brussels airport were brothers, Khalid and Brahim El Bakroui, both residents of the capital and connected to Paris attacks’ key suspect Salah Abdeslam.

The two brothers and one more suspect, believed to be Najim Laachraoui, 25, were caught on the airport CCTV before the explosions, with Laachraoui thought to be the one who planted the explosive charges, according to Belgian newspaper DH.   Continue reading “Brussels terror: 3 suspects identified, suicide bombers were brothers, media reveals”

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DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Some American Muslims feel they are once again on the defensive following presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s suggestion that Muslim-dominated neighborhoods should be subject to increased surveillance in the wake of the deadly attacks in Brussels claimed by the Islamic State militant group.

“We’re targeted even if it’s not our fault,” said Omar Ghanim, 23, eating Lebanese pizza Tuesday at a suburban strip mall in Orange County’s Little Arabia neighborhood, just miles from Disneyland in California.   Continue reading “American Muslims decry Cruz community surveillance comments”

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California family appealed Tuesday to the state’s highest court in their fight to keep a 6-year-old foster child who was removed from their home after a lower court said her 1/64th Native American bloodline requires that she live with relatives.

The family’s lawyer, Lori Alvino McGill, filed the request for the California Supreme Court to hear the appeal. McGill also requested that custody of the child named Lexi be returned to Rusty and Summer Page until the appeal is decided.   Continue reading “Custody case of Native American girl appealed to high court”

RT

A new two-shot, double-barreled handgun can be neatly folded into the shape of a box resembling a smartphone – and its release is making police nervous.

The concept handgun, patent pending, would be manufactured by Ideal Conceal, a Minnesota startup. The .380 caliber pistol is small enough to be folded into a palm-sized square that can be easily slipped into a back pocket. Because it looks similar to a smartphone, it could be left out in plain view on a shop counter without arousing suspicions.   Continue reading “‘Ready to fire’ cellphone-shaped double-barrel handgun could be released”

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MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced a Ukrainian pilot to 22 years in prison after convicting her for complicity to murder in the 2014 deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine, opening a door to a possible prisoner swap between the two countries.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko quickly offered to exchange two Russians held in his country for the return of the pilot, 34-year old Nadezhda Savchenko. Moscow has refused to consider a swap until the legal proceedings were finished.   Continue reading “Court finds Ukrainian pilot guilty of complicity to murder”