Embassies warn of threats in Beijing

Embassies warn of threats in Beijing

BEIJING

Beijing police tightened security around a bar and shopping area popular with foreigners Thursday as embassies issued warnings for their citizens to be on guard against possible threats against Westerners.

The American, British, French and other embassies said they had received information of possible threats against Westerners in the Sanlitun area on or around Christmas Day, and urged their citizens to be vigilant.

Embassy spokesmen contacted said they had no more information to share.

District besieged by Taliban still under Afghan control

KABUL, Afghanistan

Afghan forces backed by U.S. air strikes pushed back a Taliban onslaught Thursday in a strategically important district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials said.

Sangin district had been besieged by the insurgents for weeks before an uptick in the ferocity of the fight this week sparked concerns it could fall to Taliban control.

But civilian and military officials said Sangin remained in government hands after the United States conducted two airstrikes overnight, and Afghan military helicopters dropped food and ammunition to soldiers and police who had been surrounded and trapped inside the district army base for days.

US-backed fighters in Syria capture areas from IS

BEIRUT

A U.S.-backed coalition of rebels in Syria – including Syrian Kurdish, Arab and Christian groups – captured several areas in the country’s north from the Islamic State extremists as government air raids on a rebel-held Damascus suburb killed at least 20 people Thursday.

Government warplanes and helicopter gunships struck the suburb of Hamouriyeh, which over the past weeks has been subjected to intense government airstrikes like other opposition-held areas near the Syrian capital.

Cafeteria worker offered job back

POCATELLO, Idaho

A southeastern Idaho cafeteria worker said she was fired for giving a student a free meal costing $1.70, but the school district offered her the job back after a national outcry.

Dalene Bowden received a termination letter from the Pocatello School District last week after she gave a tray of food to a 12-year-old student who said she didn’t have money for the meal.

The letter cited theft as the reason for her dismissal. Bowden says a supervisor placed her on leave after witnessing what she had done.

“I truly loved my job, and I can’t say that I wouldn’t do it again,” Bowden told news station KPVI-TV in Pocatello.

The district said in a statement Wednesday night that it doesn’t fire workers for single events but offered Bowden her job back in the spirit of the holidays. It’s not clear if she will return.

At least 3 prisoners released in error commit new crimes

OLYMPIA, Wash.

At least three Washington state prisoners released early because of a computer error committed crimes during the time they should have been behind bars, state officials said Thursday.

During a conference call with reporters, officials from the Department of Corrections said the three are among 27 others who have been released since June and potentially need to be arrested and returned to prison because of an error the agency made on calculating sentences.

Associated Press