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

“In 2016, 1,685,210 new cancer cases and 595,690 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the United States,” according to the American Cancer Society's latest annual report. "Overall cancer incidence trends...are stable in women, but declining by 3.1% per year in men (from 2009-2012), The cancer death rate has dropped by 23% since 1991... Despite this progress, death rates are increasing for cancers of the liver, pancreas, and uterine corpus."   read more

"I think it's appropriate for people to feel frustrated about hearing this in the news. Bottom line is that if this were an easy problem, we would have solved it years ago," said Nate Galbreath, the senior executive adviser for the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention Office. "Unfortunately, this is a very hard problem to solve." The Army, Navy and Air Force academies received a total of 91 sexual assault reports in 2014-15, up from 59 in the previous school year, an increase of 54 percent.   read more

A new U.S. government report estimates 900 million short tons of coal were produced last year, a drop from about 1 billion short tons in 2014. That's the lowest volume since 1986. Power plants are increasingly relying on cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas to provide electricity and comply with regulations aimed at reducing pollution that contributes to climate change. Last year's drop in demand hit hardest in the central Appalachian basin, where production plunged 40 percent.   read more

The photos were taken during a 2011 trip to Sulawesi by British nature photographer David Slater. The monkey took the photos by "purposely pushing the shutter release multiple times, understanding the cause-and-effect relationship between pressing the shutter release, the noise of the shutter, and the change to his reflection in the camera lens," PETA said in its lawsuit. PETA had sought a court order allowing it to it administer all proceeds from the photos for the benefit of the monkey.   read more

Confronting ISIS on the Internet has raised difficult questions for U.S. policymakers about how to balance counterterrorism against privacy. While tech industry leaders say they want to be good citizens, they don't want to undercut free speech or be viewed as government agents. Especially thorny is the fed's desire for a way to circumvent encryption technology that individuals use to protect their privacy but that terrorists can exploit to keep their actions hidden from law enforcement.   read more

As part of a plan that would focus more on online accounts for the 150 million individual taxpayers and 11 million businesses seeking help and information, the IRS may soon dramatically scale back telephone and face-to-face service. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said service cutbacks may cause an increasing number of people to turn to tax preparers and software such as TurboTax to file their returns. That would increase tax compliance costs for millions of filers.   read more

President Mattarella reduced Lady's sentence to seven years from nine. He also wiped out the entire penalty — three years — faced by another American convicted in the case, Betnie Medero. They are among 26 Americans convicted in absentia in the kidnapping of Muslim cleric Abu Omar from a Milan street. The palace said Mattarella took into consideration Obama's ending the practice of renditions, which the European Union considers "incompatible with the fundamental principles of a State of law."   read more

While the trend toward specialty medicines is good news for industry and patients, it's likely to fuel the debate over rising prescription drug prices. That issue has become a subject of congressional scrutiny and even an issue on the presidential campaign trail. Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both outlined proposals designed to curb prices. The FDA is not allowed to consider prices when approving medicines, though some experts argue it should.   read more

The suits were among legal actions that followed reports that police infiltrated Muslim student groups, put informants in mosques and spied on Muslims. The NYPD didn't admit any wrongdoing, and the city won't pay any damages other than about $1.6 million for the plaintiff's legal fees. The department instead agreed to codify civil rights and other protections put in place in response to surveillance used against war protesters in the 1960s and '70s, but relaxed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.   read more

Pesticide chemical levels in the nectar depended on the crop, Jones said. While nectar of cotton and citrus fruits were above the harmful concentrations, the levels were not harmful for corn — the nation's top crop by far — most vegetables, berries and tobacco. Other crops weren't conclusive and need more testing, including legumes, melons, tree nuts and herbs. The problem crops of cotton and citrus are No. 7 and 9 in U.S. production value in 2014, according to Agriculture Dept. statistics.   read more

Even after President Barack Obama announced two years ago he would limit spying on friendly heads of state, the NSA kept watch on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and top Israeli officials. In the process the agency caught some conversations with U.S. lawmakers, according to the report. Some of the exchanges involved Israeli strategy around the Iran nuclear deal and, in some cases, the NSA overheard Israeli officials trying to convince undecided lawmakers to oppose the deal.   read more

The sexual assault of military dependents occurs hundreds of times each year. There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to Defense Dept. data. The abuse is committed most often by male enlisted troops, followed by family members. The figures offer greater insight into the sexual abuse of children committed by service members, a problem of uncertain scale due to a lack of transparency into the military's legal proceedings.   read more

"No worker should have to face the choice: Do I take a bathroom break, or do I get paid?" said Adam Welsh, a U.S. Dept. of Labor attorney. The department filed a lawsuit in November 2012, claiming the company violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act because employees weren't earning the minimum wage— $7.25 per hour —when the company required them to clock out for breaks.   read more

The amount of money the Kochs have to spend in the 2016 cycle is more than twice what the Republican National Committee is planning to put out. The Koch’s network operates from 107 offices nationwide with a workforce more than triple that of the RNC. The Kochs are even starting to rival the RNC’s infrastructure, with a data analytics service that some Republican candidates prefer to the GOP’s. “I don’t know of any precedent for this,” said campaign finance scholar Robert E. Mutch.   read more

Free housing. Free healthcare. Paid college tuition. Thirty days of vacation each year. The U.S. military might be the closest thing the U.S. has to a socialist utopia. All basic needs are taken care of. Families with children get more money than singles. Morale-boosting programs such as vacation lodging, golf courses and movie theaters. “The military invests time and money in service members while making the maximum effort to keep their morale high,” Scott Beauchamp wrote in The Atlantic.   read more

The wealthiest individuals and families in America spent two decades carving away at tax laws and regulations to reduce the size of their tax burden. They did this by employing lawyers, estate planners, lobbyists and anti-tax activists to develop new tax shelters or adjust tax rules that allowed them to keep more of their earnings. Much of that work was undone within a year because of changes championed by President Barack Obama.   read more