Riots spread in UK

Riots spread in UK

london

Violence and looting raged across London and spread to three other major British cities today, as authorities struggled to contain the country’s most serious unrest since race riots set the capital ablaze in the 1980s.

In London, a third-straight night of disorder saw buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps set alight, stores looted and police officers pelted with bottles and fireworks, as groups of young people rampaged through neighborhoods.

The violence spread to the central city of Birmingham, the western city of Bristol and the northwestern city of Liverpool. Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his vacation in Italy and was headed home for a meeting of the national crisis committee this morning.

Defense minister is replaced in Syria

beirut

Syrian President Bashar Assad replaced his defense minister Monday with the army chief of staff in the midst of a brutal military crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising, the state-run news agency said.

Gen. Ali Habib, the country’s defense minister since 2009, was removed because of health problems, the SANA report said. He was replaced by Gen. Dawoud Rajha, a 64-year-old Christian, SANA said.

Hearing for soldier

fort leavenworth, kan.

Witnesses at a military hearing for a U.S. soldier accused of shooting and killing five fellow service members in 2009 at a mental health clinic in Iraq testified Monday that Army Sgt. John Russell was frustrated at the psychiatric care he was receiving.

The testimony came in the first day of a hearing at Fort Leavenworth on whether Russell will face a military trial. He is charged with five counts of premeditated murder, two counts of attempted premeditated murder and one count of assault.

So long, House pages

washington

After nearly 200 years, the House page program that allowed high school students to serve as messengers and learn about Congress is ending, rendered obsolete by the Internet and email in cost-cutting times.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday that the $5 million annual expense can no longer be justified when messages and other materials are delivered electronically.

The blue-jacketed pages, who have been a common sight in the House since the 1820s, now have little to do, according to the two leaders.

The program, which also has been touched by scandal, will end by Aug. 31.

Associated Press