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

Many managers and staff dealing with emissions problems in the department knew of or were involved in developing the "defeat devices." A culture of collective secrecy prevailed, where the installation of the defeat software that would cause the carmaker's biggest ever corporate crisis was openly discussed as long ago as 2006. VW has said it is not aware of any involvement by top management in the affair, which toppled its chief executive last year and is likely to cost billions of dollars.   read more

U.S. security officials intercepted a record 2,653 firearms - 83 percent of them loaded - from carry-on bags at airport security checkpoints in 2015, a 20 percent increase from the previous year, TSA said on Thursday. The firearms were intercepted at 236 airports, 12 more than in 2014, TSA said. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport seized the most guns in 2015 with 153, followed by international airports in Atlanta with 144, Houston with 100, Denver with 90 and Phoenix with 73, TSA reported.   read more

Susan Hedman, the second official to resign over the crisis, had played down an EPA memo that said tests had shown high levels of lead in the city's water, telling Flint and Michigan administrators it was only a draft report. "Our strength can become a weakness if we interpret our responsibility as ending with simple technical compliance," said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. The White House said President Obama will ensure officials will be held accountable if any wrongdoing is found.   read more

To help the incumbent's chances at Sunday's poll, Prime Minister Abe's government has dangled prospects of a bigger budget for Okinawa, backing for a Disney resort and aid for impoverished children. Defeat would galvanize resistance to moving the airbase to the less populated Henoko area as agreed with the U.S. two decades ago. The opposition candidate, like Okinawa's governor and many island voters, resents hosting the majority of U.S. troops in Japan and wants the base off Okinawa altogether.   read more

One cause Jackson took up was a fight against cholera. He coordinated the installation of 100 latrines in Cameroon to provide decent sanitation. He also worked to promote trade between that country and the U.S. Jackson testified to Congress on multiple occasions about the Boko Haram kidnapping of girls in Nigeria. He said in an interview that he’d wanted to join the Foreign Service since he read “The Ugly American” as an eighth-grader.   read more

Coal has been the primary source of fuel for U.S. power plants for the last century, but its use has been declining since peaking in 2007, which is expected to continue as the federal government imposes rules to limit carbon emissions. EIA said gas produced a record high 37 million megawatt hours per day of electricity on average during the first ten months of 2015. Coal, meanwhile, produced about 39 MWh per day. One megawatt is enough to power about 1,000 U.S. homes.   read more

"As the role of the Internet in the daily lives of consumers increases, this means an increased potential for surveillance," said the letter to FCC chairman Wheeler. Critics say providers are already harvesting huge amounts of consumer data for use in targeted advertising. "This can create a chilling effect on speech and increase the potential for discriminatory practices derived from data use," the letter said. Wheeler said providers must make sure data they collect about consumers is secure.   read more

The justices will consider whether Obama violated the Constitution, raising the possibility that the court could limit the reach of a president’s executive authority. In 2008, Obama ran for president criticizing President George W. Bush’s expansive use of executive power, which included a warrantless wiretapping program and indefinite detention of terror suspects. Once in office, Obama continued many of Bush’s counterterrorism policies and has zealously guarded presidential power.   read more

From medical marijuana growers to pot private equity firms, many weed entrepreneurs see Mexico as a tempting new business opportunity even though cannabis is still illegal and the market is currently controlled by ruthless drug cartels. Daniel Sparks of BioTrackTHC, a U.S.-based marijuana software firm, said that just as bootleggers gave up on illicit moonshine after Prohibition ended in the U.S., Mexico's drug gangs would have little interest in a legal marijuana market.   read more

Joint employment has emerged as a major issue in franchising, contracting, temporary staffing and other arrangements in which companies use workers but do not directly employ them. The guidance comes as the Obama administration is moving to make millions more Americans eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA. It is also part of a broader federal government push to hold employers accountable to workers.   read more

The EPA said Tuesday that while it "worked within the framework of the law to repeatedly and urgently communicate the steps the state needed to take to properly treat its water, those necessary (EPA) actions were not taken as quickly as they should have been." The agency said its oversight was hampered "by failures and resistance at the state and local levels to work with us in a forthright, transparent and proactive manner."   read more

The FBI report, grouping data from almost 13,000 police agencies, reported increases in murders, manslaughter, two definitions of rape, aggravated assaults and robberies. Murders rose 6.2 percent in the first half of last year, compared with the same period in 2014. Aggravated assaults rose 2.3 percent and robberies were up 0.3 percent. Rapes that includes penetration rose 1.1 percent. Rapes categorized under an older definition of forcible carnal knowledge of a female were up almost 10 percent.   read more

Lettre got a job as a staff member for the House Select Intelligence Committee in 2002. He stayed there until 2005, when he joined the staff of Sen. Harry Reid as senior defense and intelligence adviser, remaining there as Reid took over as Senate Majority Leader. There he worked on intelligence and defense appropriation legislation and confirmation of defense officials. He went on to be special assistant to secretaries of defense Bob Gates, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel.   read more

Feeley returned to Mexico City in 2009 as the deputy chief of mission. Beginning in 2011, he served as chargé d’affaires upon the departure of Ambassador Carlos Pascual after some embarrassing cables were released as part of Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning’s WikiLeaks dump. Feeley later testified in secret at Manning’s trial concerning the release’s impact on relations with Mexico and Ecuador. Feeley also oversaw preparation for Secretary of State Clinton’s work at the Cartagena Summit.   read more

His first Washington assignment came in 1998, when he was stationed at his country’s embassy as a first secretary. Kriščiūnas returned to Lithuania in 2001, but this time to the Finance Ministry, where he was the director of the European Union Program Management Department. In 2004, he was named an undersecretary of finance. In 2008, he completed a management studies program at The Swedish Institute in Stockholm. The following year he was named vice minister at the Finance Ministry.   read more

"I want to see Donald Trump come to this country ... I want him to get a sense of the fury and the frustration with his xenophobic remarks," said lawmaker Gavin Robinson. "To have someone come to our shores who demonizes all of the Muslim community would be fundamentally wrong and would undermine the safety and security of our citizens and that is not a risk I am prepared to take," said Labour Party's Jack Dromey. "I don't think Donald Trump should be allowed within a 1,000 miles of our shore."   read more