UN chief pessimistic about Mideast peace

October 22, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

UNITED NATIONS

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered the Security Council a grim assessment Wednesday of prospects for defusing the latest wave of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, a British diplomat said.

British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said council members were “struck by the pessimistic tone” Ban took during the closed video briefing.

Ban spoke to council members after meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during a surprise trip to the Middle East.

Surveys: Pot use by US adults increases

CHICAGO

Marijuana use among U.S. adults doubled over a decade, rising to almost 10 percent or more than 22 million mostly recreational users, government surveys show.

The trend reflects a cultural shift and increasingly permissive views about the drug, the researchers say, noting that other studies have shown increasing numbers of adults think marijuana should be legalized. Recreational use is now permitted in four states.

Almost 1 in 3 users had signs of marijuana dependence or abuse, a slight decline from a decade ago.

The results come from a comparison of health surveys from 2001-02 and 2012-13 sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Almost 80,000 adults age 18 and older participated in face-to-face interviews about various health-related behaviors. Results were published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

Marine pilot dies after jet crashes

LONDON

A U.S. Marine fighter pilot was killed Wednesday when his F-18 crashed after taking off from a British air base in eastern England, U.S. and British officials said.

The pilot was ejected from the single-seat aircraft after it went down near the Royal Air Force Lakenheath station, said Gunnery Sgt. Donald Bohanner at California’s Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, where the F/A-18C Hornet is stationed. No other casualties were reported.

Study: 99.9% chance of big LA-area quake

LOS ANGELES

There is a 99.9 percent chance of a magnitude-5 or greater earthquake striking within three years in the greater Los Angeles area, where a similar-sized temblor caused more than $12 million in damage last year, according to a study by NASA and university researchers.

The study released Tuesday was based on Global Positioning System and airborne radar measurements of how the Earth’s crust was deformed by the magnitude-5.1 quake March 28, 2014, in La Habra, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The damage included broken water mains and cracked pavement.

Man detained in killing of girl, 4

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Police detained a man Wednesday in connection with the road-rage killing of a 4-year-old girl who was shot in the backseat of her father’s truck after he picked up her and her brother from school, signaling a possible break in a case that has horrified the public.

Albuquerque police would not say if they believe the person of interest taken into custody is the shooter, but they said he matched the description of the gunman.

Four-year-old Lilly Garcia was riding in the backseat of her dad’s truck with her 7-year-old brother Tuesday when someone in a Toyota opened fire on the family as they traveled down the main east-west freeway in Albuquerque. The father quickly pulled the truck into the median and tried to administer first aid on his daughter as a bystander called 911.

Associated Press