WORLD DIGEST || Protesters call for boycott of Lowe’s

Protesters call for boycott of Lowe’s

ALLEN PARK, Mich.

Protesters descended on a Lowe’s store in one of the country’s largest Arab-American communities Saturday, calling for a boycott after the home- improvement chain pulled its ads from a reality-television show about five Muslim families living in Michigan.

About 100 people gathered outside the store in Allen Park, a Detroit suburb adjacent to the city where “All-American Muslim” is filmed. Lowe’s said this week that the TLC show had become a “lightning rod” for complaints after an email campaign by a conservative Christian group.

Protesters including Christian clergy and lawmakers called for unity and held signs that read “Boycott Bigotry” and chanted “God Bless America, shame on Lowe’s” during the rally, which was organized by a coalition of Christian, Muslim and civil-rights groups.

Officials: Shooter was office employee

LOS ANGELES

A man who shot four people, killing two, at a utility office east of Los Angeles before turning the gun on himself was a 48-year-old company employee from Southern California, authorities said Saturday.

Investigators identified the shooter as Andre Turner of Norco in Riverside County and ruled that his death was a suicide, Los Angeles County coroner’s Lt. Larry Dietz told The Associated Press.

The two other men killed were Henry Serrano, 56, of Walnut and Robert Scott Lindsay, 53, of Chino Hills, coroner and company officials said.

Pope Benedict XVI appears tired, weak

VATICAN CITY

Pope Benedict XVI seems worn out.

People who have spent time with him recently say they found him weaker than they’d ever seen him, seemingly too tired to engage with what they were saying. He no longer meets individually with visiting bishops. A few weeks ago, he started using a moving platform to spare him the long walk down St. Peter’s Basilica.

Benedict turns 85 in the new year, so a slowdown is only natural. And given his age and continued rigorous work schedule, it’s remarkable he does as much as he does and is in such good health overall.

But a decline has been noted as Benedict prepares for the coming grueling Christmas celebrations, which kick off two weeks of intense public appearances. And that raises questions about the future of the papacy given that Benedict himself has said popes should resign if they can’t do the job.

Manning’s sexual orientation is raised

FORT MEADE, Md.

The young Army intelligence specialist accused of leaking government secrets spent his 24th birthday in court Saturday as his lawyers argued that his status as a gay soldier before the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” played an important role in his actions.

Lawyers for Pfc. Bradley Manning began laying out a defense to show that his struggles in an environment hostile to homosexuality contributed to mental and emotional problems that should have barred him from having access to sensitive material.

Manning is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive items to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, including Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, State Department cables and a military video of a 2007 American helicopter attack in Iraq that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

Associated Press