The Justice Department has acknowledged flaws in forensic testimony by the FBI that helped convict a man in the 1992 slayings of two Mississippi State University students, and federal officials have now offered to retest the DNA in the case.
The extraordinary admission and offer come just days before the man is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday and present a quandary for Mississippi officials about whether to stop the execution of Willie Jerome Manning, 44.
Justice Dept. admits flaws in forensic testimony in Mississippi death-row case
New NRA President, Jim Porter, Calls the Civil War the ‘War of Northern Aggression’
On the eve of the National Rifle Association's annual meeting, in which up to 70,000 people with guns gather in Houston, Texas, under the slogan "Stand and Fight," the gun group has announced a new president who is more extreme than the old president. Jim Porter, whose father was also an NRA president, will begin his two-year term on Monday, after the party.
For some insight into how dealing with the gun lobby in the near future will be, please refer to this 2012 speech from Porter, in which he calls Barack Obama a "fake president."
Suicide rates increase dramatically among middle-aged Americans
Suicide now kills more Americans than car accidents, according to a new government report.
In 2010, the last year of available data included in the report, more than 38,000 people took their own lives. In the same year, less than 34,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) analysis of U.S. suicide rates found sharp increases among certain population groups, including middle-aged adults.
Winds ease but Calif. wildfire threat remains
A huge Southern California wildfire carved a path to the sea and burned on the beach Friday, but firefighters got a break as gusty Santa Ana winds turned into breezes.
Temperatures remained high, but humidity levels were expected to soar as cool air moved in from the ocean and the Santa Anas retreated. At the same time, the reversal of wind direction carried the risk of sending flames in new, dangerous directions.
"It could move just as quickly coming the other way," said Bill Nash, a Ventura County fire spokesman.
American journalist likely held by Syrian government
After a five-month investigation inside Syria and the wider Middle East, GlobalPost and the family of missing American journalist James Foley now believe the Syrian government is holding him in a detention center near Damascus.
“With a very high degree of confidence, we now believe that Jim was most likely abducted by a pro-regime militia group and subsequently turned over to Syrian government forces,” GlobalPost CEO and President Philip Balboni said during a speech marking World Press Freedom Day.
Google lists Palestinian territories 'Palestine'
Google is de facto recognizing a state of Palestine — at least on its local home page in the Palestinian territories.
Google spokesman Nathan Tyler said Friday "We're changing the name 'Palestinian territories' to 'Palestine' across our products."
He said Google consults with a number of sources and authorities when naming countries and is following the lead of several international organizations.
At Texas fertilizer plant, a history of theft, tampering
The Texas fertilizer plant that exploded two weeks ago, killing 14 people and injuring about 200, was a repeat target of theft by intruders who tampered with tanks and caused the release of toxic chemicals, police records reviewed by Reuters show.
Police responded to at least 11 reports of burglaries and five separate ammonia leaks at West Fertilizer Co over the past 12 years, according to 911 dispatch logs and criminal offense reports Reuters obtained from the McLennan County Sheriff's office in Waco, Texas through an Open Records Request.
Prosecutor in Musharraf case gunned down on his way to court
In an attack that shocked this usually sedate capital, gunmen on Friday morning shot to death the Pakistani government’s top prosecutor in a case accusing former military ruler Pervez Musharraf of involvement in the 2007 assassination of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, police said.
The gunmen opened fire on state prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar’s car as he was leaving his home here en route to an anti-terrorism court in nearby Rawalpindi for trial proceedings in the Bhutto case. The shooters used either a taxi or motorbike in the attack, police said in conflicting reports.
WSJ: U.S. beefs up super bomb to wipe out Iran nuke site
The Pentagon has beefed up its biggest "bunker buster" bomb so it can destroy Iran's most heavily armed and protected nuclear site, U.S. officials said.
The administration believes the enhanced Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the Pentagon's largest conventional bomb, will decrease the chances Israel will launch a unilateral bombing campaign against Iran, at least for this year and maybe next year too, the officials told The Wall Street Journal.
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