U.S., Russia agree on Syria probe
Syria. Until the chemical attack, the Trump administration had sought to step back from the U.S. position that Assad should leave power. But Tillerson repeated the administration’s new belief that “the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end.”
Tillerson said Syria’s government had committed more than 50 attacks using chlorine or other chemical weapons over the duration of the conflict. And he suggested that possible war crimes charges could be levied against the Syrian leader. Russia has never publicly acknowledged any such attack by Assad’s forces and has tried for the past 18 months to help him expand his authority in Syria.
The civil war is separate from the U.S.-led effort against the Islamic State group in the north of the country.
While most immediate, U.S.Russian dispute concerned culpability for the chemical weapons, broader disagreements over everything from Ukraine to Russia’s support for once-fringe candidates in European elections were among other sore points.
Steeped in geopolitical intrigue, the meeting between Putin and Tillerson wasn’t formally confirmed until the last minute, following days of speculation about whether the Russian would refuse to grant the former oil executive an audience. Putin’s decision to host Tillerson signalled Moscow’s intent to maintain communication with the U.S. even as the countries bash each other publicly in louder and louder tones.
The men know each other well from Tillerson’s days as Exxon Mobil CEO. Putin had even honoured Tillerson with a friendship award.
Still, Tillerson was greeted frostily in the Russian capital as Lavrov began their meeting Wednesday by demanding to know America’s “real intentions.”
“We have seen very alarming actions recently with an unlawful attack against Syria,” Lavrov said, referring to the 59 Tomahawk missiles Trump launched at a Syrian
PITTSBURGH — Federal prosecutors say Ancestry.com helped the family of a baby who died in Texas in 1972 discover that a Pennsylvania man had assumed the child’s identity.
Forty-four-year-old Jon Vincent was arrested in Lansdale, near Philadelphia, on Monday. Prosecutors say Vincent stole Nathan Laskoski’s identity after escaping from a Texas halfway house to start another life.
Prosecutors say he first obtained a Social Security card as Laskoski in 1996.
Federal prosecutors say he’s also lived in Mississippi and Tennessee under his assumed name, holding jobs, getting drivers’ licenses and even getting married and divorced.
Laskoski’s aunt was doing an Ancestry.com search late last year and found a “green” leaf on the family tree for him — meaning he was alive.
PHILADELPHIA — Foul language is being discouraged at one construction site in Philadelphia.
WTXF-TV reports a sign saying “No Foul Language” has been spotted at the site of the new library being built on the Temple University campus.
The station asked about the sign and was told nobody complained about bad language. Instead, Madison Construction says it put up the sign so workers will keep it clean around the students and anybody else who happens by. Contractor David Buehler says the company has meetings about workplace safety, and that avoiding cursing is also emphasized.
One student asked about the ban tells the TV station that they didn’t understand the point of it.
LYNN, Mass. — A Massachusetts man has a ready answer when asked for his two cents’ worth: He presents a check he got from the government. Bruce Rideout, of Lynn, tells
he got the 2-cent check from the U.S. Treasury Department a couple of days ago and has been carrying it around and showing his friends ever since.
He’s not sure why he got the check air base to punish Assad for using chemical weapons. “We consider it of utmost importance to prevent the risks of replay of similar action in the future.”
Trump and others have indeed threatened similar action. But in a Fox Business Network interview, the U.S. president said he wouldn’t intervene militarily against Assad unless the Syrian leader resorts to using weapons of mass destruction again. “Are we going to get involved with Syria? No,” Trump said. But, he added, “I see them using gas ... we have to do something.”
Only weeks ago, it appeared that Trump, who praised Putin throughout the U.S. election campaign, was poised for a potentially historic rapprochement with Russia. Any expectations of an easy rapport have crashed into reality amid the nasty back-and-forth over Syria and ongoing U.S. investigations into Russia’s activity connected to the U.S. presidential election.
Allegations of collusion between Russian officials and Trump campaign associates also have weakened Trump’s ability to sweeten any offer for greater co-operation, such as by easing economic sanctions on Moscow related to its 2014 annexation of Ukarine’s Crimea region and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Trump even criticized Putin on Wednesday, something he has largely left to top aides over the last several days.
“Frankly, Putin is backing a person that’s truly an evil person,” Trump said, referring to Assad. “I think it’s very bad for Russia. I think it’s very bad for mankind.”
Of Assad, Trump added: “This is an animal.”
Putin, whom U.S. intelligence agencies say tried to help Trump get elected, insisted that relations with the U.S. had only gone downhill since Trump took office in January.
“The level of trust at the working level, especially at the military level, has not become better but most likely has degraded,” Putin said in an interview broadcast Wednesday by state television channel Mir.
Ancestry.com helps family find man posing as dead boy
and doesn’t plan on asking.
The 79-year-old Air Force veteran and Lynn Water and Sewer Commission retiree had already received his income tax refund and his monthly pension.
He’s not going to cash the check. He has already visited a store to have a custom frame made. The cost? More than $82.
Foul language banned at school’s construction site Man gets 2-cent check and doesn’t know why Egypt beefs up security near churches for Easter
CAIRO — Outside of Cairo’s St. Mark’s Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope, a dozen high-ranking police officers are stationed on all entrances, searching cars and scanning the area, as security measures are visibly beefed up outside churches before Easter prayers on Sunday.
The usually festive occasion is tainted with fearful apprehension after twin bombings in two cities killed 45 Coptic Christians this week on Palm Sunday.
The increased security measures on display outside churches across the country are meant to restore a sense of security for Egypt’s Copts amid a war on the embattled minority declared by the Islamist State group, which has claimed Sunday’s bombings. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi declared a three-month state of emergency following the Palm Sunday attacks.
Sisters hurt on waterslide that killed boy reach deal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sisters injured in a Kansas waterslide accident that killed a state lawmaker’s 10-year-old son have reached a settlement with the water park’s owner.
Attorney Lynn Johnson on Wednesday confirmed the out-ofcourt deal with the Schlitterbahn park over the “Verruckt” slide accident last summer. Johnson wouldn’t reveal details of the settlement. The sisters’ names haven’t been publicly released.
Authorities said Caleb Schwab was killed and the sisters injured last Aug. 7 while riding the Verruckt, which was billed as the world’s tallest waterslide. That ride has since been closed, and a Schlitterbahn spokeswoman says it will be demolished as soon as a court rules it’s no longer needed for evidentiary purposes. — Postmedia wire services