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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Two endangered parrots born in wild for first time in 144 years

From Wire Reports

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Two endangered Puerto Rican parrots were born in the wild in a natural nest found outside a national forest in the U.S. territory for the first time in 144 years, officials said Tuesday.

Scientists discovered the nest in May near the Rio Abajo Nature Preserve in western Puerto Rico and monitored it with cameras until they saw the parrots take flight in late July, according to Natural Resources Secretary Carmen Guerrero.

“The historical importance of this makes your hairs stand up,” she said in a phone interview. “They’re one of the top 10 most endangered birds in the world.”

The two parrots were born to birds that had been reintroduced into the wild by scientists in the Rio Abajo Nature Preserve, one of two breeding centers in the island located in western Puerto Rico.

Parrots previously had been born in natural nests in 1973 and 1993 in El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest system that also serves as a breeding center in northeast Puerto Rico. Scientists also found eggs in a natural nest last year, but the birds didn’t hatch.

U.S. official: American killed in Syria was fighting for terrorists

WASHINGTON – A U.S. official says an American man reported to have been killed in Syria was there to fight alongside a terrorist group, most likely the Islamic State.

The official said Tuesday that investigators were aware that Douglas McArthur McCain, of San Diego, had traveled to the country to join a militant group.

A relative, Kenneth McCain, said the State Department had called his family to report that Douglas McCain had been killed in Syria.

The official said investigators did not yet have McCain’s body and still were trying to verify information about his death.

As it heads toward Bermuda, hurricane blamed for 5 deaths

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Hurricane Cristobal hurled heavy rains across Atlantic and Caribbean islands on Tuesday as it headed toward Bermuda, and officials said the storm had caused at least five deaths.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the hurricane likely would avoid a collision with the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, but it was generating life-threatening surf and rip current conditions from central Florida to North Carolina.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, and it was expected to strengthen slightly by Thursday after passing northwest of Bermuda today. It was centered 460 miles west-southwest of Bermuda and was moving north at 15 mph. Hurricane force winds extended outward up to 60 miles from the center.

26-year-old American woman held hostage by Islamic State

WASHINGTON – The Islamic State militant group is holding hostage a young American woman who was doing humanitarian aid work in Syria, a family representative said Tuesday. The 26-year-old woman is the third American known to have been kidnapped by the militant group.

The Islamic State group recently threatened to kill American hostages to avenge the crushing airstrikes in Iraq against militants advancing on Mount Sinjar and the Kurdish capital of Irbil.

The 26-year-old woman was captured last year while working with three humanitarian groups in Syria. A representative for the family and U.S. officials asked that the woman not be identified out of fear for her safety.

More than a week ago, freelance journalist James Foley, of Rochester, New Hampshire, was beheaded by the Islamic State group, which kidnapped him in November 2012.

Journalist home in Boston after release by extremists

BOSTON – Journalist Peter Theo Curtis returned home to the United States on Tuesday, two days after being freed by a Syrian extremist group that held him hostage for 22 months, his family said.

Curtis family spokeswoman Betsy Sullivan said in a statement that Curtis arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday afternoon after leaving Tel Aviv. By evening, he had been reunited with his mother Nancy Curtis at Boston Logan International Airport.

Curtis, 45, of Boston, was released by al-Nusra Front, a Sunni extremist group. He said he was “deeply indebted” to the U.S. officials who worked to get him released.

Police seize 3.3 tons of cocaine hidden in coal shipment in Peru

HUANCHACO, Peru – Peruvian police say they have seized at least 3.3 tons of cocaine, the year’s biggest haul, hidden in a shipment of coal that was bound for Belgium and Spain.

Counter-narcotics police chief Vicente Romero flew reporters from the capital to see the drugs Tuesday near the northern port of Trujillo.

He said the house in the countryside holding the cocaine was raided the previous day after a six-week joint operation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that included wiretapping.

He said two Mexicans and five Peruvians were arrested and that a Mexican cartel was believed to be behind the operation.