Glimmer of hope in Syrian peace talks
Glimmer of hope in Syrian peace talks
GENEVA
Syria’s government said stopping terrorism — not talking peace — was its priority, while the Western-backed opposition said “the road to negotiations” had begun, offering a glimmer of hope Thursday for a way to halt the violence that has killed more than 130,000 people.
The two sides did not meet face-to-face, buffered by a famously patient U.N. mediator who shuttled between representatives of Syrian President Bashar Assad and members of the opposition trying to overthrow him. And they did not seem ready to do so today as originally scheduled.
Men plead innocent to 1978 airport heist
NEW YORK
More than 30 years after hooded gunmen pulled a $6 million airport heist dramatized in the hit Martin Scorsese movie “Goodfellas,” an elderly reputed mobster was arrested at his New York City home Thursday and charged in the robbery and a 1969 murder.
Vincent Asaro, 78, was named along with his son, Jerome, and three other defendants in a wide-ranging indictment alleging murder, robbery, extortion, arson and other crimes from the late 1960s through last year. The Asaros, both identified as captains in the Bonanno organized-crime family, pleaded not guilty through their attorneys and were ordered held without bail at a brief appearance in federal court in Brooklyn.
Pope: Internet is ‘gift from God’
VATICAN CITY
The Internet is a “gift from God” that facilitates communication, Pope Francis said in a statement released Thursday, but he warns that the obsessive desire to stay connected can actually isolate people from their friends and family.
Francis made the observations in a message about Catholic Church communications, meditating on the marvels and perils of the digital era and what that means for the faithful going out into the world and interacting with people of different faiths and backgrounds.
In comments that likely will rile the more conservative wing of the church, Francis suggested that in engaging in that dialogue, Catholics shouldn’t be arrogant in insisting that they alone possess the truth.
Communications satellite launched
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
NASA’s super-high-flying fleet of communication satellites just got bigger.
An unmanned rocket blasted into a chilly, clear sky Thursday night carrying the latest, third-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.
NASA uses the TDRS satellites to support the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope, among other craft. The network is 22,300 miles high, at various locations above the equator, and allows continuous two-way contact with the space station and its six inhabitants.
5 dead, 30 missing in senior-home fire
L’ISLE-VERTE, Quebec
A fire raged through a seniors’ home in eastern Quebec on Thursday, trapping residents dependent on wheelchairs and walkers. Five died, about 30 were missing and Canada’s prime minister said there is little doubt the death toll will be high.
Officials said firefighters saw and heard people in the building that they were unable to save.
Many of those unaccounted for were confined to wheelchairs and walkers, and only five residents in the center were fully autonomous, said Ginette Caron, acting mayor of the small town of L’Isle-Verte, about 140 miles northeast of Quebec City.
Associated Press