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

Newman began practicing law in Botswana in 1983. He became a managing partner in Collins Newman & Co., a well-connected law firm in the capital city, Gaborone. Newman was appointed to the high court in 2005. Newman is close to Botswana President Ian Khama, and is considered to be a member of Khama’s inner circle. He was a shareholder in a company involved in some questionable land sales in 2006 involving the government. Newman is believed to be one of the richest people in Botswana.   read more

The lawsuit was filed against Nestle and others by former child slavery victims originally from Mali in West Africa. Their lawsuit claims that, aware of the child slavery problem, the companies offered financial and technical assistance to local farmers in a bid to guarantee the cheapest source of cocoa. "On behalf of current and former child slaves in the cocoa sector in West Africa, the plaintiffs hope their case will help to end this inhumane practice," IRA's Collingsworth said.   read more

President Obama's State of the Union pledge to better manage fossil fuel development will face a test within days, when federal officials rule on whether to open public lands containing more than 600 million tons of coal to more mining. Interior Dept. officials are due to decide Jan. 27 on whether to lease two mine sites on federal land in Wyoming's coal-rich Powder River Basin. Environmentalists strongly oppose more coal mining on federal land, saying it would exacerbate climate change.   read more

"These findings are concerning because the U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure," said CDC study author Israel Agaku. Secondhand smoke has been linked with several illnesses in children, including breathing problems, ear infections, bronchitis and pneumonia. In adults, it has been linked with heart disease and lung cancer. The study results are based on a national survey of more than 17,000 middle school and high school kids.   read more

"You can't use hairspray because hairspray is going to affect the ozone," complained Trump. "They want me to use the pump because the other one, which I really like better than going 'bing,' 'bing,' 'bing,' and then it comes out in big globs, right? And it's stuck in your hair, and you say, 'Oh my God, I got to take a shower again, my hair's all screwed up..." He also criticized limited-flow shower heads. "You have showers where I can't wash my hair properly," he said. "It's a disaster."   read more

Lima, Ohio, police say Donald "Chip" Pugh was arrested Tuesday in Century, Florida, and is being held on another warrant out of Georgia. Police in Ohio say Pugh also is wanted for failing to appear in court and is a person of interest in several other cases. Lima police say Pugh, displeased with his mug shot, sent them a picture of himself in a sport coat and sunglasses along with a message stating, "Here is a better photo that one is terrible."   read more

An untold number of "ghost" Afghan troops are paid salaries but only exist on paper. "When we say we have 100 soldiers on the battlefield, in reality it is just 30 or 40," said Afghan lawmaker Nasiri. "It is an indication of massive corruption — the reason Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt nations in the world." Nasiri said the government "doesn't seem to want to know about it," and that he received death threats after revealing the names of those who are allegedly in on the scam.   read more

Florida's unique system for sentencing people to death is unconstitutional because it gives too much power to judges — and not enough to juries — to decide capital sentences, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. Writing for the court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said a jury's "mere recommendation is not enough. The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death." News of the high court's decision stunned Florida legislators.   read more

By far, the U.S. is the country with the largest portion of the world's migrants: 47 million. Germany and Russia had about 12 million each, followed by Saudi Arabia (10 million), Britain (9 million) and the United Arab Emirates (8 million). Asia is the biggest regional source of international migrants, with 104 million. Europe contributed 62 million. Migrants made up just 3.3% of the global population in 2015, yet global migration is growing faster than the world's population,   read more

Sixty-three percent of Americans overall said they would like to see the next president push for stricter gun laws. Nearly 80 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of Republicans said they would support the next president, who takes office next January after the Nov. 8 election, pushing for more research. Forty-four percent of Republicans said the next president should work to tighten federal gun control laws, while 49 percent were opposed.   read more

Prosecutors say Swisher enlisted in the Marine Corps a year after the Korean War ended but was never wounded in the line of duty. Swisher was honorably discharged in 1957, and discharge documents indicate that he didn't receive any medals, according to the 9th Circuit ruling. During his 2007 trial, prosecutors showed the jury a photograph of Swisher wearing several military medals and awards, including the Silver Star, Navy and Marine Corps Ribbon and Purple Heart.   read more

An investigation by the NTSB revealed that pilots weren't closely monitoring the plane's airspeed, which began to decrease to dangerously slow levels. Thus the captain was startled when a safety system activated, violently rattling the control yoke. Instead of pointing the plane downward to pick up speed, the captain pulled back on the yoke to increase altitude. That slowed the plane even more, eventually leading to an aerodynamic stall. The plane fell from the sky and landed on a house.   read more

There are bans on TV commercials and some other types of marketing for regular cigarettes but there are no restrictions on advertisements for e-cigarettes. About 7 out of 10 kids said they've seen the ads, mostly in stores. CDC officials worry e-cigarettes may hook a new generation on nicotine, and lead some to take up cigarettes — possibly reversing a long and gradual decline in smoking rates. Its marketing "has the potential to compromise decades of progress," said CDC's Brian King.   read more

Animal rights groups on Monday applauded Ringling's new timeline and announcement. "Ringling had been one of the biggest defenders of this kind of archaic animal exploitation, and the imminent end of its traveling elephant acts signaled that even one of the most tough-minded and hardened animal-use companies now recognized that the world is changing and it had to adapt," wrote Wayne Pacelle, CEO of Humane Society of United States. Elephants have been a symbol of the Ringling circus for decades.   read more

Joining other major U.S. Internet firms who oppose the bill, Apple said the British proposals could weaken online security by providing a backdoor to users' data for "bad guys" as well as "good guys." If approved, the bill will let police and spies access Internet connection records —websites, apps and messaging services someone has visited. Civil liberties groups have also expressed alarm at the bill. A previous version of the legislation was thrown out by lawmakers in 2013 as overly intrusive.   read more

Oklahoma has become one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, with the number of quakes magnitude 3.0 or greater skyrocketing from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 800 in 2015. Many of the quakes are occurring in swarms in areas where injection wells pump salty wastewater — a byproduct of oil and gas production — deep into the earth. Among the recent quakes was a 4.2 magnitude temblor on New Year's Day.   read more