ROOF LAUGHED DURING FBI CONFESSION

charleston, s.c.» Dylann Roof wanted the world to know he hated black people and thought they were criminals. He told the FBI he picked the historic black church in Charleston because he worried drug dealers might shoot back.

In a videotaped confession shown Friday during his death penalty trial, Roof laughed and made exaggerated gun motions as he recounted the massacre. He explained he wanted to leave at least one person alive to tell what happened and complained his victims “complicated things” when they hid under tables.

Company recalls 1,300 slides. Pennsylvaniabased

playground equipment company Playworld Systems Inc., has issued a recall of its line of stainless steel Lightning Slides, after damaged slides amputated the fingers of two children.

The welds that held the slide bed to its walls were susceptible to cracking, the company said, leaving a sharp and dangerous gap.

Of 1,300 Lightning Slides installed on playgrounds, Playworld was aware of 13 broken slides. The separated welds were dangerous, creating a hazard that could catch appendages.

Syrian forces squeeze Aleppo B

beirut» Nearly two weeks into a crushing blitz, Syrian forces and their allies have taken control of nearly all of what was once an opposition stronghold in eastern Aleppo, touching off a new wave of evacuations Friday and raising concerns about hundreds of men who have disappeared and are feared to have been seized by the government.

A flood of civilians streamed out on foot in the wake of the relentless campaign by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad to drive rebels from their rapidly crumbling enclave.

Senate works to avoid shutdown over miners’ benefits B

washington» The Senate pushed to avert a government shutdown at midnight Friday as coalstate Democrats evoked President-elect Donald Trump in pleading for a more generous extension of health care benefits for retired miners.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., had hoped to provide a one-year extension for the miners rather than the shorter, four-month fix in the stopgap spending bill.

Pilot of balloon that crashed was on 10 drugs

B washington» The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas in July, killing 16 people, was taking medications that should have precluded him from flying, medical experts testified at a federal hearing on Friday.

Experts also testified Alfred “Skip” Nichols, who was killed along with 15 passengers, went up despite knowing that the weather wasn’t good.

The six-hour hearing is part of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the July 30 accident in which the balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing about 60 miles northeast of San Antonio.

Nichols was prescribed at least 10 drugs, including insulin and oxycodone for igh blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, diabetes, depression, attention deficit disorder, insomnia, fibromyalgia and chronic back pain.

Medical experts said some of the medications, including oxycodone, would have disqualified him from flying.