Kentucky bishop says Catholic students were not instigators

COVINGTON, Ky. – A Kentucky diocese investigation has determined that Catholic school boys didn’t instigate a confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial that went viral on social media. Covington Bishop Roger Foys initially condemned the students’ behavior after a video showed one teenager face to face with a Native American. The students encountered a group of black street preachers who were shouting insults at both them and a group of Native Americans. The students have said they were attempting to defuse the situation.

NEW YORK – A white supremacist who killed a black man with a sword wanted to ignite a worldwide race war, a prosecutor told a judge who sentenced the man Wednesday to life in prison without parole. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance read excerpts from James Jackson’s hate-filled manifesto as he decried the “horror of his actions” when he fatally stabbed 66-year-old Timothy Caughman in March 2017 after stalking a number of black men. Jackson said he wanted to apologize for “this horrible and unnecessary tragedy.”

PHILADELPHIA – Bill Cosby says he “will never have remorse” for the sexual encounter that sent him to prison because he considers his conviction the work of “a low-life district attorney and a corrupt judge.” Cosby’s stance could leave him to serve the high end of a three- to 10-year prison term since sex offenders often must show remorse to win parole. Spokesman Andrew Wyatt says Cosby is prepared to stay in prison rather than apologize for an encounter he considers consensual. Cosby calls himself a political prisoner.

KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban will hold a previously unexpected round of peace talks with the United States in Pakistan on Monday, ahead of scheduled meetings in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar a week later, the insurgent group said in a statement Wednesday. The talks are aimed at finding a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s 17-year war. The Qatar meeting is expected to include a collection of prominent Afghan figures, many of whom attended a similar gathering in the Russian capital earlier this month.