Cleveland killer sentenced to death

Cleveland killer sentenced to death

CLEVELAND

A serial killer was sentenced to death Friday for murdering 11 troubled women and scattering their remains around his property, horrors that shook the city over police handling of crime in poor neighborhoods.

Anthony Sowell, 51, his eyes closed at times, sat impassively as Judge Dick Ambrose — accepting the recommendation of jurors who convicted Sowell of aggravated murder — announced 11 death sentences.

Jurors, some wiping tears, returned to court to watch. The judge had the option of reducing the sentence to life in prison without chance of parole.

9 NATO troops die in Afghanistan

KABUL

Insurgent attacks have killed nine NATO service members in the past two days in Afghanistan, where the U.S.-led coalition is mourning the deaths of 30 American troops and eight Afghans in a helicopter crash last week, military officials said Friday.

The Aug. 6 crash was the single deadliest loss for U.S. forces in the nearly decade-long war.

Aruban officials: American likely dead

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Authorities in Aruba believe a missing American tourist is no longer alive and are seeking to extend a detention order for her travel companion as they seek witnesses who will help them build a case against him, a prosecutor on the Dutch Caribbean island said Friday.

Investigators have few witnesses who saw Robyn Gardner and Gary V. Giordano together in Aruba before he reported her missing, said Solicitor General Taco Stein. Giordano has told police she apparently was pulled away by the ocean current as they snorkeled off the southern tip of the island Aug. 2.

Syrians call for death of president

BEIRUT

Tens of thousands of Syrian protesters shouted for President Bashar Assad’s death Friday in a dramatic escalation of their rage and frustration, defying bullets and rooftop snipers after more than a week of intensified military assaults on rebellious cities, activists and witnesses said.

Security forces killed at least 14 protesters, according to human-rights groups.

The calls for Assad’s execution were a stark sign of how much the protest movement has changed since it erupted in March seeking minor reforms but making no calls for regime change.

The protests grew dramatically over the five months that followed, driven in part by anger over the government’s bloody crackdown in which rights groups say at least 1,700 civilians have been killed.

Associated Press