Cease-fire goes into effect in Syria

Cease-fire goes into effect in Syria

BEIRUT

A cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia went into effect across Syria today, marking the biggest international push to reduce violence in the country’s devastating conflict, but the Islamic State group and al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, were excluded.

The cease-fire aims to bring representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition back to the negotiating table in Geneva for talks on a political transition. The U.N.’s envoy, Staffan de Mistura, announced that peace talks would resume on March 7 if the cessation of hostilities “largely holds.”

Monarch butterflies rebound in Mexico

MEXICO CITY

Monarch butterflies have made a big comeback in their wintering grounds in Mexico, after suffering serious declines, experts said Friday.

The area covered by the orange-and-black insects in the mountains west of Mexico City this season was more than 31/2 times greater than last winter. The butterflies clump so densely in the pine and fir forests they are counted by the area they cover rather than by individual insects.

The number of monarchs making the 3,400-mile migration from the United States and Canada declined steadily in recent years before recovering in 2014. This winter was even better.

This December, the butterflies covered 10 acres, compared with 2.8 acres in 2014 and a record low of 1.66 acres in 2013.

Police: Fugitive chews off fingertips

TALLMADGE, Ohio

Police say a fugitive from Tampa, Fla., who didn’t want to be identified by his fingerprints during a traffic stop in Northeast Ohio chewed off his fingertips.

Kirk Kelly has been jailed on felony counts of evidence tampering and obstructing official business and misdemeanor charges of falsification and resisting arrest. A message left for his attorney after business hours Friday hasn’t been returned.

Report: Justice lawyer mishandled sensitive email

WASHINGTON

A Justice Department lawyer admitted improperly sending sensitive but unclassified work information to her personal email account, according to an investigative report obtained by The Associated Press.

As Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is scrutinized for her handling of sensitive government information, the report from the Justice Department’s inspector general makes clear the potential professional and legal perils for federal workers who mingle government business with their personal and unsecure email accounts. The Justice Department is investigating the security of a private email server Clinton and her aides used for State Department affairs during her tenure as secretary of state.

Teen gets life term for killing teacher

SALEM, Mass.

A teenager who raped and killed his high-school math teacher was sentenced Friday to life in prison with eligibility for parole in 40 years.

The 2013 slaying of Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer by Philip Chism was “brutal and senseless,” Salem Superior Court Judge David Lowy said as he pronounced the sentence.

Chism was 14 when he followed Ritzer, who was 24, into a school bathroom, strangled her, stabbed her at least 16 times and raped her. His lawyers acknowledged he killed her but argued he was mentally ill, a contention rejected by the jury.

Associated Press