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

Only 23% of history students were in classes led by a teacher with both a college major and certification in the subject. Among history teachers, only 26% had both credentials—and 34% lacked both credentials. In comparison, most music teachers were fully qualified to teach their subject, according to the survey. Only 2% of music teachers lacked both certification and a degree in the field, while 87% held a postsecondary degree in the subject and were certified.   read more

“Using historical data on both the pageant winners and the average American woman, we were able to estimate that the only decades during which Miss America fell into the same range as the average U.S. woman were the 1940s and 1950s,” according to PsychGuides. But since then, “the pageant winners have become markedly thinner, while the average woman’s BMI has been increasing."   read more

The American-Statesman and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram requested that DPS release the number of seizures and arrests made only by its personnel and the department declined. It also refused to release the hotel bills run up by state troopers during “Operation Strong Safety,” Perry’s effort to look tough on immigration. DPS is now suing the state’s Attorney General to keep it from releasing those bills.   read more

Mulrean’s tour in Kabul began in 2011, when he served as State Department director for interagency provincial affairs. He returned to Geneva the following year as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. mission to the UN. In 2014, he made news by criticizing Vietnam’s civil rights policies at the quadrennial UN review of that country.   read more

The research showed 94% of these murders were committed by men the victims knew. Of those who knew their killers, 62% were wives or other intimate acquaintances of the murderers. In the majority of cases, the murders occurred in the course of an argument between the two individuals, and a gun was usually used as the murder weapon. Black women were victims of this violence at a much higher rate than any other racial group—two-and-a-half times higher than the murder rate for white females.   read more

Tropical reefs are also under assault, having lost more than half their reef-building coral over the last 30 years—and the possibility of the remaining ones disappearing by 2050 because of ocean warming produced by climate change. WWF adds that a collapse of marine ecosystems could cause “an impending social and economic crisis” for the billions of people, primarily from developing countries, who rely on the oceans for food.   read more

“Despite what the media would have you believe,” said Woods, “2015 is actually the safest year for police officers in 20 years.” The leading cause of police deaths during the past three years has been car accidents. Also, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that police work is far from the most dangerous in the country. On a list of the 18 deadliest jobs in America, police officers rank at the bottom, below such professions as bartenders, farmers, and garbage collectors.   read more

The billing prompted the ACLU to sue the police department. Government accountability and transparency "will be thwarted if Hayward is allowed to impose exorbitant costs for the public disclosure of police body camera footage," said ACLU' counsel Alan Schlosser. "Such a hefty price tag will put these public records beyond the reach of most Californians, including journalists investigating possible instances of excessive force by police.”   read more

He went to school with his homemade clock to show it off to an engineering teacher. But after the clocked beeped, school officials called police thinking he actually had a bomb. He was taken to a juvenile detention center where he was fingerprinted and a mug shot was taken. He was also suspended from school for three days. Critics pointed to Mohamed’s religion as reason why he found himself in handcuffs for a while, saying had he been white, authorities would have reacted differently.   read more

The reliance on outdated machines has resulted in unresponsive touchscreens, worn-out modems for transmitting election results, and failing motherboards and memory cards. The machines are prone to crashes and screen freezes, which can cause long lines at the polls and some voters to give up. Some are easily hacked, enabling an outsider to change votes without a trace. Some wealthier areas have been able to buy new machines, leaving the decrepit ones in areas with poorer voters.   read more

Twitter’s direct-message service will “identify the hyperlink and replace it with its own custom link” to give the false impression that it is the source of the traffic. Twitter does this, Raney says, to boost its advertising rates. For instance, if a user includes a link from the Times in her message, Twitter shortens the link and makes it so the Times knows the visitor came via Twitter. This happens without users’ consent, and in the process, violates their privacy, according to the lawsuit.   read more

“From bacon cheeseburgers to chicken nuggets, most meat served by America’s chain restaurants comes from animals raised in industrial-scale facilities, where they are routinely fed antibiotics,” said Kari Hamerschlag of Friends of the Earth. Twenty of the 25 companies received “F” grades for having no disclosed policy on antibiotic use in their meat and poultry or for having policies that fail to phase out this practice.   read more

In Boston, two brothers beat and urinated on a homeless Latino man last month. They said their actions were inspired by Trump. One brother reportedly told police: “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported.” When informed of the brothers’ actions, Trump said: “I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate. I will say that, and everybody here has reported it.”   read more

The investigation found the EPA over the past 20 years had dismissed 95% of all community claims alleging environmental discrimination. EPA officials as part of their strategic plan, will now do more targeted compliance reviews. The effort will begin next month, and within three years, EPA intends to complete six compliance reviews of state and local agencies per year. The agency intends to do more over time: 11 reviews a year by 2021, and 22 by 2024.   read more

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been criticized for years about its bureaucratic jumble of offices that are supposed to prevent weapons of mass destruction from threatening the country. DHS came up with a plan to reduce duplication and internal squabbling so officials could address WMD plots. However, the plan for divided offices is drawing criticism. “It’s nonsensical,” said former security director Rick Nelson. "It doesn’t make sense to any of us,” echoed a senior DHS employee.   read more

Their findings echoed what other scientists have said about the future effects of climate change on California—that he state’s snow levels may not return to what they once were. Warmer temperatures mean precipitation will fall not as snow, but rain, which the state is ill-equipped to store. Normally, California gets a third of its water from the snowpack. “This is probably the biggest water supply concern our state is facing,” said UCLA's Mark Gold.. “On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s 11.”   read more