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Court upholds murder conviction against Knox FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — An appeals court in Florence on Thursday upheld the guilty verdict against U.S. student Amanda Knox and her ex- boyfriend for the 2007 murder of her British roommate. Knox was sen- tenced to 28 1/2 years in prison, raising the specter of a long legal battle over her extradition if the con- viction is confirmed. Lawyers for Knox and her co-defendant, Raphael Sollecito, vowed to appeal to Italy's highest court, a process that will take at least another year and drag out a legal saga that has divided court watchers in three nations. In a statement from Seattle, where she had awaited the verdict at her mother's home, Knox said she was ''frightened and saddened'' by the deci- sion. She said it was ''unjust'' and the result of an overzealous prosecu- tion and narrow-minded investigation that worked to ''pervert the court of justice.'' ''This has gotten out of hand,'' she said. ''Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system.'' After nearly 12 hours of deliberations, the court reinstated the guilty ver- dicts first handed down against Knox and Sol- lecito in 2009 for the death of Meredith Kercher. Those verdicts had been overturned in 2011 and the pair freed from prison, but Italy's supreme court vacated that decision and sent the case back for a third trial in Florence. US concerned over delays on Syria chemical weapons BEIRUT (AP) — The United States accused the Syrian government Thurs- day of using stalling tac- tics to delay efforts to remove and destroy chemical agents, an indi- cation that the interna- tional community's patience is wearing thin over the slow pace of the operation. The comments, deliv- ered by the U.S. represen- tative to the international chemical weapons watch- dog, marked some of the strongest public criticism of Syria's commitment to relinquish its chemical stockpile. Syria agreed to surren- der its arsenal after a deadly chemical attack in August on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus raised the threat of puni- tive U.S. missile strikes. President Barack Obama has touted the agreement as a victory and a major policy achievement for his administration on Syria's intractable civil war. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemi- cal Weapons is leading the mission to eliminate Syria's 1,300-metric ton stockpile by a June 30 deadline. Under the OPCW's tight timeline, the most toxic chemicals in Syria's arsenal were to have been removed from the country by Dec. 31, but that dead- line was missed due to poor security amid Syria's raging civil war as well as other factors. So far, just two small consignments of chemicals have been shipped out. Feds will seek death penalty for Boston bombing suspect BOSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors Thursday announced they will seek the death penal- ty against 20-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bomb- ing, accusing him of betraying his adopted country by ruthlessly car- rying out a terrorist attack calculated to cause maxi- mum carnage. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to press for Tsarnaev's exe- cution was widely expect- ed. The twin blasts last April killed three people and wounded more than 260, and over half the 30 federal charges against Tsarnaev — including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill — carry a possible death sentence. ''The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,'' Holder said in a statement of just two terse and dispassion- ate sentences that instant- ly raised the stakes in one of the most wrenching criminal cases Boston has ever seen. Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set. In a notice of intent filed in court, federal prosecutors in Boston list- ed factors they contend justify a sentence of death against Tsarnaev, who moved to the U.S. from Russia about a decade ago. Immigration overhaul: Republican lawmakers wrestle with each other CAMBRIDGE, Md. (AP) — House Republi- cans wrestled with the outlines of immigration legislation on Thursday, sharply divided over both the contentious issue and the political wisdom of acting on it in an election year. At a two-day retreat on the frozen banks of the Choptank River on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Speaker John Boehner said he and other House leaders wanted to gather reaction from their rank and file to leadership-drafted principles that already have provoked a back- lash from some conserv- atives. The most divisive of the points is a proposed pathway to legal status for millions of adults who live in the U.S. unlawfully and would be required to pay back taxes as well as fines to come out of the legal shadows. The principles also include steps to increase security at the nation's borders and workplaces. As contentious as it is, the proposal for legal sta- tus falls short of full citi- zenship, which was included in a bipartisan measure that cleared the Senate last year with the support of President Barack Obama. The entire subject remains intensely contro- versial, particularly among conservatives in the House and Senate. Justin Bieber vs. Rob Ford: Canada's favorite bad boys? TORONTO (AP) — Pop star Justin Bieber is giv- ing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford a brief respite as Cana- da's favorite bad boy and butt of all jokes. Ford has admitted smok- ing crack while in a drunken stupor and is being sued for supposedly orchestrating the jailhouse beating of his sister's ex-boyfriend. The 19-year-old teen idol is fac- ing the equivalent of a mis- demeanor assault charge. ''It's a change from the Rob Ford show,'' said 14- year-old Jon Bullock, who braved glacial temperatures to catch a glimpse of the star as he turned himself in at a Toronto police station Wednesday evening to face charges over an altercation with a limousine driver in late December. The incident, which comes on the heels of Bieber's Miami arrest while apparently drag racing and driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs, is the lat- est to sully the image of the singer who has been draw- ing more attention for his brushes with the law than for his music. For now at least, Bieber has eclipsed Ford as fodder for late-night comedy talk- shows on both sides of the border. Report shows economic growth at end of 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers will spend more. Government will cut less. Businesses will invest more. And more companies will hire. Add it all up, and you can see why expectations are rising that 2014 will be the best year for the U.S. economy since the reces- sion ended 4 1/2 years ago. That's why the Federal Reserve is pressing ahead with a plan to scale back its economic stimulus. The optimists got a boost Thursday from a govern- ment report that showed consumers fueled solid eco- nomic growth in the final quarter of 2013. The report lifted hopes that the econo- my will be able to withstand turmoil in emerging economies, a pullback in the Fed's stimulus and mounting risks to the U.S. stock market over the next 12 months. Americans struggling with long-term unemploy- ment and stagnant pay might not get relief anytime soon. And areas such as manufacturing, construction and home sales remain far from full health. 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