Traces of DNA found in helicopter crash

Traces of DNA found in helicopter crash

HONOLULU

Trace elements of DNA have been found from Marines killed in a helicopter crash off Hawaii last month, the Marine Corps said Tuesday.

DNA traces were found during search and rescue operations that ended Jan. 19, Capt. Cassandra Gesecki, a spokeswoman for the III Marine Expeditionary Force, said in a statement.

The families of the identified Marines were notified. The Marine Corps wouldn’t provide further information at this time about what was found, Gesecki said.

Twelve Hawaii-based Marines were killed when two helicopters crashed during nighttime training Jan. 14.

Syria allows aid into areas held by rebels

GENEVA

The Syrian government allowed aid into a rebel-held area near Damascus on Tuesday in what appeared to be a goodwill gesture after U.N.-mediated indirect peace talks got off to a rocky start in Geneva.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent delivered 14 trucks of aid provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross to the al-Tal suburb, said Damascus-based ICRC spokesman Pawel Krzysiek. He told The Associated Press the delivery included food and hygiene kits for some 3,500 families as well as 25 metric tons of bulk food.

Officer gets prison time for assault

DETROIT

A Detroit-area police officer whose bloody beating of a motorist was captured on dashcam video was sentenced to at least 13 months in prison Tuesday, with the judge rebuking him for “Dirty Harry tactics” but still handing down a punishment significantly below the guidelines.

William Melendez was an Inkster police officer a year ago when he stopped Floyd Dent, whose car had rolled past a stop sign.

Dent, 58, was pulled from his car and then punched in the head 16 times by Melendez. He suffered broken ribs, blood on his brain and other injuries.

The violent incident was recorded on a dashcam, but it wasn’t known publicly until weeks later when WDIV-TV aired the video. Inkster quickly agreed to pay $1.4 million to Dent, and assault charges against the veteran officer followed.

Cops: Fake priest sold phony tickets to pope’s appearance

LOS ANGELES

A man who purportedly posed as a priest and officiated at Masses, funerals, confessions and at least one marriage was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of selling thousands of dollars in phony tickets to see Pope Francis during last year’s U.S. visit.

Erwin Mena, 59, declined to comment to the Los Angeles Times as detectives escorted him in handcuffs from police headquarters. He remained jailed, and it was unclear whether he had an attorney.

Mena faces about 30 charges, including grand theft, perjury – for filing a marriage license he signed as a priest – and practicing medicine without a license in connection with offering “a system or mode of treating the sick,” according to an arrest warrant.

US, EU strike deal on data-sharing

BRUSSELS

The European Union and the United States struck a deal Tuesday over data-sharing that will allow the likes of Facebook and Apple to continue sending people’s information across the Atlantic – but a legal challenge to the pact is widely anticipated.

The new deal, once put in place, potentially brings an end to a period of uncertainty that had raised the prospect of legal challenges by individuals across the 28-country EU worried about privacy.

Associated Press