When Pope John Paul II visited Damascus in May 2001, Bashar used his welcoming speech to denounce the Jews, saying, “They tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad.”   read more

The district is offering blood tests of as many as 17,000 kids who were potentially exposed. "By the time school opened Wednesday morning, we were shutting off all water fountains and other affected sites at any school that had received a positive reading," Cerf said. But Newark's teachers union has criticized the state-controlled district for not taking such action in previous years.   read more

In 2005, Basáñez became chief pollster and advisor to state of Mexico then-governor del Mazo. More recently, Basáñez has been professor of values, culture and development at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy. When Basáñez was appointed ambassador, it created some controversy among some who pointed out he had no diplomatic experience and that it was his close association with del Mazo, a cousin of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, that accounted for his appointment.   read more

Abdullah, who is seen as a somewhat progressive free-market advocate, was named governor of SAGIA in 2000. When he resigned from the agency in 2004, it was said to be due to his frustration with government bureaucracy, the slow pace of reforms and privatization in the country, and his inability to bring in enough foreign investment. However, under Abdullah’s governorship at SAGIA, close to 2,000 foreign business licenses were issued, holding a total value of about $15 billion.   read more

Testing turned up PFOA in drinking water in Petersburgh, N.Y., and N. Bennington, Vermont, which had plastics plants. Vermont officials said water testing in North Bennington yielded readings of up to 2,730 ppt. The Pentagon is checking for traces of PFOS in the water at 664 U.S. military sites. Michael Hickey, who exposed the contamination in Hoosick Falls, said "My father died of kidney cancer. My grandmother had kidney cancer. My concern isn't really about me; it's about my 5-year-old son."   read more

"When I look at the new February 2016 temperatures, I feel like I'm looking at something out of a sci-fi movie," said climate scientist Kim Cobb. "In a way we are: it's like someone plucked a value off a graph from 2030 and stuck it on a graph of present temperatures. It is a portent of things to come, and it is sobering that such temperature extremes are already on our doorstep." NOAA's Deke Arndt said, ""We are in a new era. We have started a new piece of modern history for this climate."   read more

“There’s a climate emergency happening,” said protester Coby Schultz. “It’s a life-or-death struggle.” A wave of actions across the nation combines not-in-my-backyard protests against fossil-fuel projects with concern about climate change. Activists have been energized by President Obama's decisions to block offshore drilling along the Eastern Seaboard and to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Far-flung activists are opposing virtually all new oil, gas and coal infrastructure projects.   read more

The constitutional obligation to provide criminal defense for the poor has been endangered by funding problems across the U.S., but nowhere is it in free fall like in Louisiana, where public defenders represent 80% of criminal defendants. Offices have been forced to lay off lawyers, leaving those remaining with caseloads well into the hundreds. Judges have ordered private lawyers to represent people for free. Some are tax and real estate lawyers without any background in criminal law.   read more

Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson is being nominated to head U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. If confirmed by the Senate, Robinson would be the seventh commander to head the Colorado-based command. She currently is head of the Pacific Air Force. Northern Command was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate and improve homeland defense and to provide support for national disasters.   read more

On March 19, 2016, the popular novelist Irving Wallace—my father—would have turned 100 years old. Instead of honoring my father by presenting a review of his achievements and recalling what a generous, warm-hearted person he was and how much enjoyment he brought to millions of readers around the world, I have decided to look at some of the developments he would have most appreciated if he had lived to be 100, instead of dying at the age of 74.   read more

The probe is a fresh blow to a nuclear missile corps that has been under intense scrutiny in recent years for a string of lapses in training and personal conduct. The 14 have been removed from duty while the Air Force Office of Special Investigations looks into the case. Rand said the allegations are "credible." Two other defense officials said the drugs included cocaine; a third said the allegations include the possession, use or distribution of illegal drugs.   read more

Most Americans support it. All other developed countries already do it. And the two leading presidential candidates say: government should lower drug prices. But experts say the chances for government action in the near-term are close to nil. The reasons are familiar: political gridlock, pharmaceutical industry influence and the structure of the U.S. health system itself. "There's not much they can do, that's the sad truth," says Ira Loss. "They can't do much so they're not gonna do much."   read more

In more than one in six cases, or 129,825 times, government searchers said they came up empty-handed last year. Such cases contributed to an alarming measurement: People who asked for records under the law received censored files or nothing in 77 percent of requests, also a record. "It's incredibly unfortunate when someone waits months, or perhaps years, to get a response to their request — only to be told that the agency can't find anything," said attorney Adam Marshall.   read more

Even when women join men in the same fields, the pay gap remains. Men and women are paid differently, not just when they do different jobs but also when they do the same work. Research has found that a pay gap persists within occupations. Female physicians earn 71% of what male physicians earn, and lawyers earn 82%. One union said its female members working full time at Dow Jones publications made 87 cents for every dollar earned by their full-time male colleagues.   read more

"This is transcendental. We believe it's a huge gesture," said Marcos Pena, Argentina's Cabinet chief. The U.S. has previously released 4,000 State Dept documents related to that period. Notes from a 1976 meeting between Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Argentina's foreign minister seemed to show Kissinger urging his counterpart to clamp down on dissidents they referred to as "terrorists." "If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly," Kissinger said..   read more

Some Apple employees say they may quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have created. “It’s an independent culture and a rebellious one,” said a former Apple engineering manager. “If the government tries to compel testimony or action from these engineers, good luck with that.” The fear of losing a paycheck may not have much impact on security engineers whose skills are in high demand. Indeed, hiring them could be a badge of honor at other companies.   read more

The misuse of the information has raised questions on privacy abuse in cases across the country, and in some instances has raised the risk of physical harm to residents. In one case, a former police officer was convicted of using a police database to look up information for a plot to kidnap, torture, kill and eat women. The conviction was later overturned. In another case, an officer gave information from a database to a friend that was used to harass her ex-boyfriend’s pregnant girlfriend.   read more