Report: 70 journalists died on the job in ’13

Report: 70 journalists died on the job in ’13

NEW YORK

At least 70 journalists were killed on the job around the world in 2013, including 29 who died covering the civil war in Syria and 10 slain in Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The dead in Syria included a number of citizen journalists working to document combat in their home cities, broadcasters who worked with media outlets affiliated with either the government or the opposition, and a handful of correspondents for the foreign press, including an Al-Jazeera reporter, Mohamed al-Mesalma, who was shot by a sniper.

The CPJ is looking into the deaths of an additional 25 journalists in 2013, not included in the tally of 70, to determine whether they had anything to do with their work.

Time running out to find facility for girl

OAKLAND, CALIF.

The family of a California girl declared brain dead after complications from tonsil surgery was running out of time Sunday to find a new facility to take her in and keep her on a ventilator.

A judge’s ruling will allow Children’s Hospital Oakland to remove 13-year-old Jahi McMath from life support at 5 p.m. today unless her family appeals.

The family is pinning its hopes on a New York facility after two California care homes withdrew offers to accept the teen.

Chris Dolan, the family’s attorney, said he was waiting to hear from the New York hospital.

Saudi Arabia to give $3B to Lebanon

beirut

Saudi Arabia has pledged $3 billion to Lebanon to help strengthen the country’s armed forces and purchase weapons from France, Lebanon’s president said Sunday, calling it the biggest grant ever for the nation’s military.

Michel Sleiman, who made the surprise announcement in a televised national address, did not provide any further details. The Lebanese army has struggled to contain a rising tide of violence linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria, a conflict that has inflamed sectarian tensions in Lebanon and threatened the country’s stability.

2 hikers are rescued

MOUNT WASHINGTON, N.H.

Two hikers who triggered an avalanche on Mount Washington that carried them 800 feet over rocks, cliffs and ice were rescued early Sunday and treated for nonlife-threatening injuries, officials said.

The two were separated from a pair of fellow hikers and missed a turn on a trail because of low visibility and unknowingly entered an avalanche area, triggering the avalanche that carried them to the bottom of Tuckerman Ravine, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Colleen Mainville. Mainville said the avalanche occurred at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, and the call for help came in just after 8 p.m.

The injured and disoriented hikers climbed about 200 feet before they were met by rescuers, Mainville said.

White House urges compromise in talks

WASHINGTON

The White House is urging leaders involved in peace talks over Northern Ireland to compromise because negotiations have failed to produce an agreement.

White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden says the multiparty talks have reached a critical juncture. She says the goal is still to finish a deal before the year ends. Hayden says the U.S. is confident a deal can be reached if all sides have the political will to get there.

The talks hinge on Catholic opposition to Protestant marches, the right of each side to fly its preferred flags and how to honor those who have died in decades of conflict.

Associated Press