Syrian rebels call on world for action

Syrian rebels call on world for action

BEIRUT

Syrian opposition groups called Friday for international action after the Obama administration said U.S. intelligence indicates President Bashar Assad’s regime has used chemical weapons. The government likened the accusation to false U.S. claims of weapons of mass destruction used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Washington’s declaration was its strongest so far, although the administration said it still was working to pin down definitive proof — holding back from saying Damascus had outright crossed what President Barack Obama has said would be a “red line” prompting tougher action.

Professor to be tried in lab-fire death

LOS ANGELES

A University of California, Los Angeles chemistry professor will face a rare prosecution when he stands trial for workplace safety violations in the death of a 23-year-old research assistant who died of burns from a lab fire, according to county prosecutors.

Judge Lisa Lench on Friday ordered 43-year-old Patrick Harran to be tried on three felony counts of violating workplace safety standards in the death of Sheharbano “Sheri” Sangji, according to a district attorney’s statement.

Sangji was in Harran’s organic-chemistry laboratory Dec. 29, 2008, when she transferred a highly flammable material without wearing a protective lab coat.

Sangji was burned over nearly half of her body when air-sensitive chemicals burst into flames and ignited her clothes. She died of her injuries 18 days later.

Perry disgusted over explosion cartoon

AUSTIN, Texas

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Friday he’s disgusted with a Sacramento Bee cartoon that depicts him boasting about business booming in his state and then shows an explosion, and says he wants an apology from the newspaper on behalf of a town where 14 people died in a fertilizer-plant blast last week.

The cartoon in Thursday’s edition shows Perry crowing that “Business is Booming,” flanked by signs saying “Low Tax!” “‘Low Regs!,” a play on the Republican’s often-repeated mantra that his state’s low-regulation, business-friendly climate has its economy humming.

The next panel reads “Boom!” as a blast engulfs the area behind the governor and his signs.

Obama to speak at OSU commencement

WASHINGTON

The White House says President Barack Obama is delivering the commencement address at Ohio State University on May 5.

The university says it will be Obama’s fifth visit to the campus in little more than a year.

Last May, Obama kicked off his successful drive for re-election with a rally at the university. He also won the political battleground state in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Obama’s other commencement speeches this season are scheduled for Morehouse College in Atlanta on May 19, and at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on May 24.

13-year-old’s remains found

SNYDER, Texas

Remains found in a remote West Texas location last month are those of a 13-year-old middle-school cheerleader missing since December 2010, authorities announced Friday.

An unidentified person contacted authorities after finding the remains near Lake J.B. Thomas in Scurry County on March 16, more than two years after Hailey Darlene Dunn’s mother reported her daughter missing.

Associated Press