World/Nation
Iraqi ministry: Militants 'bulldozed' famed Nimrud site
BAGHDAD - Islamic State militants "bulldozed" the renowned archaeological site of the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq on Thursday using heavy military vehicles, the government said.
A statement from Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities didn't elaborate on the extent of the damage, saying only that the group continues to "defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity" with this latest act, which came after an attack on the Mosul museum just days earlier.
The destruction of the site of one of ancient Mesopotamia's greatest cities recalled the Taliban's annihilation of large Buddha statues in Afghanistan more than a dozen years ago, experts said.
Trove of Hillary Clinton emails reviewed for public release
WASHINGTON - The government will review a huge cache of Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails for possible release after revelations she conducted official business as secretary of state in the shadows of a private account. The disclosure has raised questions in the buildup to her expected presidential run about whether she adhered to the letter or spirit of accountability laws.
The matter is expected to result in the eventual release of thousands of emails from her private account, opening a new window on her tenure in high office and providing potential fodder to critics.
Officials said Thursday the review by the State Department could take months, potentially a drawn-out distraction for Clinton and an unnerving development for the many Democrats who see her as the party's presidential nominee-in-waiting for 2016.
Grieving father tells jury about son's death at Boston Marathon
BOSTON - With Dzhokhar Tsarnaev seated at the defense table no more than 15 feet away Thursday, the father of an 8-year-old boy killed in the Boston Marathon bombing described the moment when he looked down at his son's pale, torn body and realized he wouldn't make it.
"I saw a little boy who had his body severely damaged by an explosion," Bill Richard told the jury, "and I just knew from what I saw that there was no chance, the color of his skin, and so on."
Martin Richard was one of three people killed in the bombing near the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013. The boy's younger sister, 6-year-old Jane, had a leg blown off, while their older brother, Henry, suffered minor injuries.
Their father, testifying at Tsarnaev's federal death penalty trial, spoke in a slow, halting voice but remained largely composed as he described the chaos and confusion.
He said he scooped Jane up in one arm and took Henry in the other and "tried to shield both of their eyes" from the carnage around them as he took them away.
Experts: Ferguson must move quickly, publicly to rebuild trust
ST. LOUIS - The federal government's withering report on the Ferguson Police Department issued a stern mandate to city leaders: Reform your law-enforcement practices and rebuild relations with the black community.
It won't be swift or simple, particularly if the same police chief is in charge and many of the same officers are on the beat. Some residents and civic leaders want to see wholesale changes in leadership or even complete dissolution of the department.
At the very least, experts said Thursday, Ferguson must move quickly, and publicly, to prove it is serious about regaining public trust.
The Justice Department on Wednesday cleared Darren Wilson, the white former Ferguson officer who shot Michael Brown, of federal civil rights charges in the death of the 18-year-old, who was black and unarmed.
But a separate report released simultaneously found patterns of racial profiling, bigotry and profit-driven law enforcement and court practices in the St. Louis County suburb that has come to represent the tension between minorities and American police nationwide. Most of Ferguson's police officers and city leaders are white, but two-thirds of the 21,000 residents are black.
Jurors in Jodi Arias case say they were 11-1 for death penalty
PHOENIX - It took just one juror to spare the life of convicted murderer Jodi Arias on Thursday - and the woman had to survive an attempt by her colleagues to boot her from the jury before she could do it.
In the end, the jury voted 11-1 in favor of death - not enough to send Arias to death row in the case that became a global sensation with its tawdry revelations about her sexual relationship with the victim and that she had slit his throat so deeply that he was nearly decapitated.
The deadlock took the death penalty off the table and left a judge to decide whether to sentence Arias to life in prison or to life with the possibility of release after 25 years. That decision is expected at an April 13 hearing.
Arias was convicted in 2013 of killing her lover, Travis Alexander, but that jury also deadlocked on her punishment, prompting the sentencing retrial that began in October.
- Associated Press