8 | EXPRESS | 08.19.2014 | TUESDAY
nation+world MOSUL, IRAQ
PROVIDENCE, R.I.
Kurdish forces say they control key dam in Iraq
Providence ex-mayor selling misleading sauce
Boosted by two days of U.S. airstrikes, Kurdish forces said Monday they had wrested back control of the Mosul Dam, the country’s largest dam, from militants of the extremist Islamic State group, though Islamic State militants earlier denied the claim. The retaking of the dam would mark the first major victory for the Iraqi and Kurdish forces since U.S. airstrikes began earlier this month. (AP)
Former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci’s face beams from the label of his Mayor’s Own Marinara Sauce, which promises that sales are “Benefiting Providence School Children” and have helped students attend college. But in recent years, no money from the sauce’s sales has been donated to Cianci’s scholarship fund, The Associated Press has learned. Cianci adviser Charles Mansolillo acknowledged the label could be misunderstood. (AP)
Ukraine on Monday accused pro-Russia separatists of killing dozens of civilians in an attack on a convoy fleeing the besieged rebel-held city of Luhansk. The rebels denied the attack took place, while the U.S. confirmed an attack but said it did not know who shelled the convoy. (AP) IVANPAH DRY LAKE, CALIF.
Solar plant kills birds Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant’s concentrated sun rays — “streamers,” for the smoke that comes from birds that ignite in midair. Wildlife investigators who visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year reported an average of one “streamer” every two minutes. They’re urging California officials to halt the operator’s application to build a bigger version. (AP) NEW DELHI
India poachers set sights on smaller animals Wildlife poachers, hindered by India’s efforts to protect majestic endangered animals including tigers and rhinos, have begun to think smaller. Activists say scores of the country’s lesserknown species are vanishing as a result. Wildlife specialists say the growing affluence of several Asian countries has helped drive demand for exotic animals. (AP)
Your uncle will look a lot less clueless Have you or someone you know been fooled by an outrageous “news” article only to find that it was written by a parody website like the Onion? Facebook feels your pain. The technology website Mashable reported that the social network is testing out a feature that would tag links to fake news sites as satire. The new feature has been tested for about a month, Mashable reported. “We are running a small test which shows the text ‘[Satire]’ in front of links to satirical articles in the related articles unit in News Feed. This is because we received feedback that people wanted a clearer way to distinguish satirical articles from others in these units,” a Facebook representative told Mashable. (AP)
GREGORIO BORGIA (AP)
LUHANSK, UKRAINE
Ukraine: Rebels kill civilians fleeing city
TECHNOLOGY
LONDON
While returning from Asia, Pope Francis said he may visit D.C. next year.
Pope condones using force in Iraq ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE Pope Francis on Monday endorsed the use of force to stop Islamic militants from attacking religious minorities in Iraq but said the international community — and not just one country — should decide how to intervene. “One nation alone cannot judge how you stop this, how you stop an unjust aggressor,” he said. Francis also said he and his advisers were considering whether he might go to northern Iraq himself to show solidarity with the country’s persecuted Christians. But he said he was holding off for now on a decision. His comments were significant because the Vatican has vehemently opposed any military intervention in recent years, with St. John Paul II actively trying
$245K
to head off the Iraq war in 2003 and Francis himself staging a global prayer and fast for peace when the U.S. was threatening airstrikes on Syria last year. But the Vatican has been increasingly showing support for military intervention in Iraq, given that Christians are being directly targeted because of their faith and that ancient Christian communities have been emptied by the extremists’ onslaught. In other comments to journalists returning from South Korea, Francis confirmed he hoped to travel to the United States in September 2015 for a possible three-city tour: to attend a family rally in Philadelphia and to address Congress in Washington and the United Nations in New York. (AP)
Assange comments lead to confusion over fate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sowed confusion Monday with an announcement that appeared to indicate he was leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, but his spokesman later clarified that would not happen unless the impasse over his extradition were resolved. (AP)
verbatim
“Tonight marks the second time a random person has tried to get in my car because they thought I was an Uber driver.” @JAMIECOLETTA, in a tweet spotlighted by news website Valleywag about people mistakenly identified as drivers for the Uber ridesharing service
KIDS
The average amount a child born in 2013 will cost a middle-income American family until he or she reaches the age of 18, according to a new report released Monday. Those costs that are included — food, housing, childcare and education — rose 1.8 percent over the previous year, the Agriculture Department’s new “Expenditures on Children and Families” report said. And that doesn’t include college — or expenses if a child lives at home after age 17. (AP)
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