Soldier gets 24 years for Afghan murders

Soldier gets 24 years for Afghan murders

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash.

A U.S. soldier was sentenced to 24 years in prison Wednesday after saying “the plan was to kill people” in a conspiracy with four fellow soldiers to kill unarmed Afghan civilians.

His sentencing came after he pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and one count each of conspiracy, obstructing justice and illegal drug use at his court martial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle.

The 22-year-old soldier was accused of taking a lead role in the killings of three unarmed Afghan men in Kandahar province in January, February and May 2010.

Study of air-traffic control ordered

WASHINGTON

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is directing that two air-traffic controllers be on duty at Reagan National Airport late at night after an incident in which two airliners landed without tower clearance because they couldn’t reach the lone controller.

LaHood said in a statement he also has ordered the Federal Aviation Administration administrator to study tower staffing at other airports around the country.

An aviation official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the controller had fallen asleep. Pilots of the two planes were in contact with controllers at an FAA facility about 40 miles away.

15 die in shootings in southern Syria

DARAA, Syria

Syrian police launched a relentless assault Wednesday on a neighborhood sheltering anti-government demonstrators, fatally shooting at least 15 in an operation that began before dawn, witnesses said.

At least six were killed in the early-morning attack on the al-Omari mosque in the southern agricultural city of Daraa, where protesters have taken to the streets in calls for reforms and political freedoms, witnesses said. An activist in contact with people in Daraa said police shot three more people protesting in its Roman-era city center after dusk. Six more bodies were found later in the day, the activist said.

Ohio: Funeral home can’t dissolve bodies

COLUMBUS

An Ohio funeral home that is the first in the nation to use a cremation alternative that dissolves bodies with lye and heat has effectively been blocked from using the procedure by state regulators.

Edwards Funeral Service in Columbus is the only U.S. funeral business offering the procedure called alkaline hydrolysis to the public, according to Jessica Koth, a spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association. The process is touted by proponents as being better for the environment than cremation. Edwards’ owner, Jeff Edwards, told The Columbus Dispatch that he has used the method on 19 bodies since January.

Study: No heart risk from mercury in fish

LOS ANGELES

In an unusual health study, researchers analyzing toxin levels in tens of thousands of toenail clippings determined that mercury from eating fish does not raise the risk of heart disease or stroke.

Health experts long have urged people to eat fish to lower heart risks, but some have worried that the mercury in certain types of fish might offset any benefits.

The latest government-funded work measured mercury in people’s toenails — a good gauge of long-term exposure to the metal.

No differences were seen in the rates of heart and stroke among those with the highest concentrations of mercury compared with those with the lowest.

Associated Press