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ByDiaaHadid The Associated Press BEIRUT A Syrian govern- ment airstrike hit a school Wednesday in an opposition- held district of the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 19 people, including 10 chil - dren, activists reported. A missile slammed into the Ein Jalout school in east- ern part of Aleppo as teach- ers and students were pre- paring an exhibit of chil- dren's drawings depicting Syria at war, activists said. Activist videos of the scene showed bulldozers removing rubble from the smashed building, with the school's name visible. They also showed some of the children's drawings and paintings. One showed a hanging skeleton sur - rounded by skulls with a child nearby being shot by a gunman in a ditch. The child has a speech bubble written above her head in broken English that partly reads: "Syria will still free." In another video by op - position activists, the bod- ies of 10 children wrapped in brown and blue sheets are seen on the floor of a hospi- tal ward. A woman's uncon- trollable screams are heard in the background. The videos appeared gen- uine and corresponded to Associated Press reporting of the events. The Britain-based Syr - ian Observatory for Human Rights, which covers the conflict through a network of activists on the ground, said at least 19 people were killed in the strike, includ - ing 10 children. The local Aleppo Media Center put the toll at 25 killed, most of them children. The United Nations' chil - dren agency said in a state- ment it was "outraged by the latest wave of indiscrim- inate attacks perpetrated against schools and other ci- vilian targets across Syria." Thousands of Syrian children have died in Syr- ia's 3-year-old conflict, which began as an uprising against Assad's rule, but has now become a civil war that has killed over 150,000 people and displaced mil - lions. Parts of the two-story Ein Jalout school appeared to have been completely smashed, according to the videos, which showed blood splatters, twisted metal and children's items, like a lit - tle red-heart shaped box. A man speaking in one of the videos said the exhibition was for drawings by chil - dren from schools around the area. An opposition activist from Aleppo now based in Berlin provided the AP with a copy of the invitation to the exhibition to confirm it was taking place. Moham - med Neser, the activist, said he feared that his col- leagues who organized the show were now dead. "I haven't been able to get in touch with them," he said. Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has been divided be - tween government forces and rebels for nearly two years, with constant fight- ing doing little to change the balance on the ground. Forces loyal to Syrian Pres- ident Bashar Assad have been carrying out airstrikes and dropping crude barrel bombs in rebel-held dis - tricts in the eastern part of the city, at times hitting schools, mosques and mar- kets. Rebels have hit back with mortar strikes and car bombs. Meanwhile Wednesday, mortar fire killed three peo - ple near the Central Prison complex in Damascus, state news agency SANA said. A day earlier, a mortar strike in Damascus and a double car bombing in the central city of Homs killed at least 54 people. In a statement Wednes - day, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned those attacks, calling them "horrendous acts of terror against innocent civilians." CIvIl WaR ActivistssayairstrikeonSyrianschoolkills19 TheAssociATedPress This photo provided by the anti-government activist group Aleppo Media center (AMc), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows two syrian men standing inside a school that was hit by a syrian government air strike Wednesday in Aleppo, syria. By laura Dean The Associated Press CaIRO Egypt's Justice Min- ister on Wednesday rebuffed international criticism of a mass trial this week in which some 680 defendants were sentenced to death, saying the judiciary is not a tool of executive authority and that rulings can be overturned up on a pp ea l. The death sentences on Monday sparked an inter - national outcry. While they were not final and are very likely to be overturned on appeal, the judge was crit - icized for not giving enough time for defendants and law- yers to present their case and after holding only one session last month. "Egyptian judges are in- dependent and there is no control over them," Nayer Osman told reporters. "No one in the state is directing the judge — neither a min - ister, nor an official." After a death penalty rul- ing, the prosecutor must ap- peal along with the defen- dant in line with normal ju- dicial process, he added. "The judge is a human be- ing. He can make a mistake like any other human be- ing," he said. Osman added that com- menting on the verdicts "is not acceptable by all means ... we don't accept any inter- vention by any means." The mass trials were linked to riots in which sup- porters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi alleg- edly attacked police stations and churches in retaliation for security forces violently breaking up Cairo sit-ins by Islamists in August, leaving hundreds dead. On Tuesday, a key U.S. lawmaker said that he wo ul d n' t al lo w th e re le as e of any U.S. aid to Egypt until the government proves it is committed to the rule of law. The same day, Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart said that the mass death sentences are troubling and call into ques - tion the rule of law. Among those sentenced to death is the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader Mohammed Badie who also faces several other separate trials. On Wednesday, Badie al on g wi th a n ul tr ac on se r - vative Salafi preacher Saf- wat Hegazy and 19 others were sentenced to one year in prison for "insulting the court" in a separate case ei - ther by turning their back to the room or speaking in in- appropriate manner, court officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity be- cause they were not autho- rized to speak to journalists. RUlIng Eg yp t' s ju dg es re bu ff cr it ic is m of d ea th s en te nc es By Mark Stevenson The Associated Press MEXICOCITY The Mexican government on Wednesday unveiled its proposed rules for a historic opening of the state-owned oil and energy industry, saying contracts and production licenses should be put out for public bid and go to the company that offers the best return. Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said the service station monopoly of state-owned Petroleos Mexi - canoswouldfadeonlygradu- allyasthenecessarydistribu- tionandotherinfrastructure is made ready. Private com- panies will not be allowed to immediately open gas sta cent years Petroleos Mexica- noshasstruggledwithfalling oilproductionandaninability toharnessnewgasandoilde- positsindeepoceanwateror in shale deposits. And more than seven decades of state ownership have neither en - sured prosperity for Mex- ico nor provided low gas and oil prices. A bloated union, corruption within the state- owned oil company and the government's dependence onoilrevenuestofundpublic spending have reduced any benefits that might have trickled down to the aver - age citizen. The proposed regula- tions aim to make the oil in- dustry more transparent by make information on proj OIl Mexico lays out energy reform rules ThursdAy, MAy 1, 2014 redBLuFFdAiLyNeWs.coM | NEWS | 5 B