The spirit of Baltimore

April 29, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

Anger and violence don't define Baltimore. The widespread desire to rebuild and reform do.

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Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it has arrested a total of 93 people with ties to the Islamic State group in recent months, foiling their plans to carry out multiple terrorist attacks, including a strike on the US Embassy in the kingdom's capital. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said the arrests include a cell of 65 people arrested in March who were involved in a plan that included targeting residential compounds, prisons and security forces. Authorities also disrupted a plot for a suicide car bomber to attack the US Embassy in Riyadh after receiving information about the plan in mid-March, he said.

Eight drug-trafficking convicts from several countries were executed by an Indonesian firing squad shortly after midnight on Wednesday, media said, but a Filipina who was on death row with them was unexpectedly spared at the last minute. Earlier, Jakarta rejected last-ditch pleas from around the world for clemency to be granted the drug traffickers from Nigeria, Australia, Brazil and Indonesia, ordering their mass execution to proceed within hours. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said the execution of Mary Jane Veloso, a mother of two who was arrested in 2010 after she arrived in Indonesia with 2.6 kg of heroin hidden in her suitcase, had been delayed.

The South Korean ferry captain responsible for last year's disaster that killed more than 300 people, mostly schoolchildren, was given an increased sentence of life in prison Tuesday by an appellate court that convicted him of homicide. A district court in November had sentenced Lee Joon-seok to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning passengers in need, but acquitted him of homicide. Victims' relatives criticized the verdict at the time, saying it was too lenient. Prosecutors earlier had demanded the death penalty for Lee. Lee's sentence was increased because the Gwangju High Court convicted him of the homicide charges while upholding most of other charges that led to his November conviction, according to a court statement.

Police fired tear gas and shot in the air to disperse hundreds of people protesting in the outskirts of Burundi's capital on Tuesday against President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term. Crowds gathered from early in the morning waving placards and chanting slogans accusing the president of breaking the constitution. Some blocked one road with burning tires on the third day of sometimes violent demonstrations in Bujumbura.

US home prices climbed at a faster pace in February than the previous month, driven by higher sales and a limited supply of available houses. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5 percent in February from 12 months earlier, S&P said Tuesday. That is up from a 4.5 percent pace in January.

US consumer confidence fell this month to the lowest level in four months, knocked down by a slowdown in hiring. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 95.2 in April from 101.4 in March, the lowest reading since December's 93.1. Consumers' assessment of current economic conditions fell for the third straight month, and their expectations for the future fell as well.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

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