Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/61046
WORLD BRIEFING fire hopes BEIRUT (AP) — Syria launched a blistering assault Thursday on the outskirts of its capital, shelling residential areas and deploying snipers on rooftops as international envoy Kofi Syrian attack dims cease- demanded every fighter lay down arms in time for a U.N.-brokered cease- fire. Annan The bloodshed under- mined already fading hopes that more than a year of violence will end soon, and France accused President Bashar Assad of trying to fool the world by accepting Annan's dead- line to pull the army back from population centers by April 10. exactly the kind of bipar- tisan action we should be taking in Washington to help our economy,'' Obama said. in terror case NEW YORK (AP) — A notorious Russian arms dealer dubbed the Mer- chant of Death was sen- tenced Thursday to 25 years in prison following his conviction on terror- ism charges that grew from a U.S. sting opera- tion. Viktor Bout, 45, had Ex-Soviet arms dealer gets 25 years According to the plan, rebels are supposed to stop fighting 48 hours later, paving the way for talks to end Assad's vio- lent suppression of the uprising against his rule. The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have died. ''Can we be opti- mistic? I am not. Because I think Bashar Assad is deceiving us,'' French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters in Paris. faced a mandatory mini- mum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of life when he faced U.S. Dis- trict Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan four years after his arrest in Thailand, where he was held before his extradition to the U.S. for trial in late 2010. U.N. Secretary-Gener- al Ban Ki-moon said the crisis was getting worse, even though the Syrian government accepted Annan's plan March 27. Activists have accused the regime of stepping up attacks across the country, and they described Thurs- day's assault in Douma as among the worst around the capital since the upris- ing began. penalty HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — After executing just one prisoner in more than 50 years, Connecti- cut moved Thursday to become the fifth state in five years to do away with the death penalty for good. Conn. moves to end death n't be a lifeline for the state's 11 death row inmates, including two men who killed a woman and two children in a hor- rifying home invasion supporters touted as a key reason to keep the law on the books. The state Sen- ate debated for hours Thursday about whether the law would reverse those sentences before voting 20-16 to repeal the law. But the repeal would- death penalty law and would join New Mexico, Illinois, New Jersey and New York as the most recent to outlaw capital punishment. Repeal pro- posals are also pending in several other states including Kansas and Kentucky, while an initia- tive to end the death penalty goes before Cali- fornia voters in Novem- ber. Like Connecticut, states that have recently decided to abolish capital punishment were among those that in practice rarely executed inmates. New Jersey, for example, hasn't executed anyone in more than 40 years; Con- necticut's death row pop- ulation is more than seven times below the national average. ghost ship OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard unleashed cannon fire Thursday at a Japanese vessel set adrift by last year's tsunami, stopping the ship's long, lonely voyage across the Pacific Ocean. Coast Guard unleashes cannon fire at Japanese After the state Senate's 20-16 Thursday vote to repeal the law, the heavily Democratic state House of Representatives is expected to follow with approval within weeks. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the first Democratic gov- ernor elected in two decades, has vowed to sign the same bill vetoed by his Republican prede- cessor. The wealthy, liberal state is one of the last in the Northeast to have a fired on the abandoned 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru in the waters of the Gulf of Alaska and more than 150 miles from land, spokesman Paul Webb said. He said it could take at least an hour to sink it. Officials decided to sink the ship, rather than risk the chance of it run- ning aground or endan- gering other vessels. The ship has no lights or com- munications system and has a tank that could carry more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. They don't know how much fuel, if any, is aboard. ''It's less risky than it would be running into shore or running into A Coast Guard cutter (maritime) traffic,'' Webb said. The ship had been des- tined for scrapping when the Japan earthquake struck, so there is no cargo on board, according to Webb. He said he does- n't know who owns the Ryou-Un Maru, which has been traveling about 1 mile per hour in the past days. Obama signs bill aimed at helping Friday, April 6, 2012 – Daily News 7A Parents of mildly affected children worry their kids will be left out and lose access to academic and behavioral services — and any chance of a normal life. Wyoming town sells for capital WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed bipartisan jobs legislation Thursday that will help small busi- nesses and make it easier for startups to raise capi- tal, saying it could be a ''game-changer'' startups raise entrepreneurs dreaming of founding the next Microsoft or Facebook. ''When their ideas take root, we get inventions that can change the way we live,'' Obama said in the Rose Garden, flanked by lawmakers of both par- ties who backed the bill. ''And when their busi- nesses take off, more peo- ple become employed.'' He said the initiatives in the bill paralleled many of the provisions that he sought last fall in his jobs agenda to encourage small-business growth. Republicans, who pro- moted the pro-small busi- ness ideas in the House, joined Obama at the sign- ing ceremony, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., whose seat has been tar- geted by Democrats, also looked on as Obama signed the bill into law. ''This bill represents for The judge also ordered a $15 million forfeiture. The sentencing came after the government por- trayed Bout as one of the world's worst villains, capable of empowering dictators in war-torn countries by supplying weapons that they could turn on their own people. The defense had coun- tered that Bout was a political prisoner, a victim of a sting operation that made it seem as if he hated Americans and was willing to sell surface-to- air missiles to a Colom- bian terrorist organization to shoot down American helicopters. The government had asked for Bout to be imprisoned for life. A defense lawyer requested that the jury verdict be reversed and the charges dismissed. Manson at 77 LOS ANGELES (AP) — It is a mug shot for the ages. Photo shows Charles Manson, the most notorious mass mur- derer imprisoned in Cali- fornia and perhaps the nation, stares glumly at a camera, holding his book- ing number in front of him. autism CHICAGO (AP) — One child doesn't talk, rocks rhythmically back and forth and stares at clothes spin- ning in the dryer. Another has no trouble talking but is obsessed with trains, methodically naming every station in his state. Autistic kids like these hate change, but a big one is looming. For the first time in near- Doctors want to redefine — A Wyoming town adver- tised as the smallest in the United States has sold at auction for $900,000. Buford is located between Cheyenne and Laramie in southeast Wyoming. An unidentified Vietnamese man placed the winning bid at auction Thursday. As owner of the place along Interstate 80, he will get a gas station and conve- nience store, a schoolhouse from 1905, a cabin, a garage, 10 acres of land, and a three-bedroom home. The town has had just one inhabitant, Don Sam- mons, who served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam in the late 1960s. He plans to retire from his unofficial title as ''mayor'' of the unincorporated community and write a book about his experiences in Buford. $900K BUFORD, Wyo. (AP) ly two decades, experts want to rewrite the defini- tion of autism. Some par- ents fear that if the defini- tion is narrowed, their chil- dren may lose out on special therapies. For years, different autism-related labels have been used, the best known being Asperger's disorder. The doctors working on the new definition want to elim- inate separate terms like that one and lump them all into an ''autism spectrum disor- der'' category. Some specialists contend the proposal will exclude as many as 40 percent of kids now considered autistic. In the latest photo released by the California Department of Correc- tions, the 77-year-old Manson is gray-haired and gray-bearded, a shadow of the shaggy haired, wild- eyed killer whose visage glared from the covers of magazines in 1969. He was a cult leader back then, the domineer- ing force behind a rag-tag family of followers who said they killed for him. Next Wednesday, Man- son faces his 12th parole hearing. It could be his last because state law now allows a denial of parole for up to 15 years. $12,000 tip MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) — Authorities have decided to return a $12,000 tip to a Minnesota waitress that police believed was drug money. Stacy Knutson of Moor- head says a customer told her she could keep a takeout container she left behind at the Fryn' Pan restaurant. The box turned out to con- tain $12,000 in bills in vari- ous denominations. Waitress reclaims Police initially told her she could keep the money if no one claimed it, but later said it was part of a drug investigation. On Thursday, after the case drew national atten- tion, Assistant Clay County Attorney Michelle Lawson told reporters the money could not be tied to a crimi- nal investigation, and that Knutson would get a check. Knutson says she believed the money was an anonymous gift from some- one who knew her family had financial difficulties. Easter Champagne Easter Sunday April 8th 10am-1pm Lobster Claw's Eggs Benedict & much much more Adults $11.00 Kids 6-16 $8.00 under 5 free! 355 Gilmore Road, Red Bluff • 527-3421 Red Bluff Elks Open to Public. Everyone Welcome Tehama District Fairgrounds Sunday, April 8th We invite you to join us at the Pauline Davis Pavilion Big Daddy Weave to lead us in worship of our Lord Jesus Christ Easter Service with special guest Community for a www.suncountrycrusade.org For more information call Calvary Chapel: 527-8219 or visit at 10 am MICHAEL MARTIN MURPHEY America's #1 Selling Cowboy Music Singer In Concert April 14th 50, Premium $ 30/$ General Admission $25/$ Tickets available at , 7:00 PM Red Bluff's State Theatre on Oak St. VIP Meet & Greet 5:30 PM Oddfellow's Hall Tickets - VIP includes Meet and Greet VIP $ 35 door, 30 door The Loft 529-5638 & Crossroads Feed & Ranch 529-6400 Seating is limited so get your tickets NOW.