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

In brief: Reports: IS leader’s wife in custody

From Wire Reports

Beirut – Uncertainty surrounded reports Tuesday that Lebanese authorities had detained a wife of Abu Bakr Baghdadi, head of the militant group Islamic State.

Various news outlets cited security sources as saying that a woman identified as one of Baghdadi’s wives had been taken into custody while trying to cross into Lebanon from neighboring Syria. The reports made worldwide headlines and sparked speculation about potential hostage swaps and a possible intelligence bonanza.

But there was no official confirmation from Lebanese authorities. Conflicting details circulated about the reported arrest of the woman, identified as Saja Dulaimi. The varying accounts and lack of confirmation led some observers to doubt that the person arrested was Baghdadi’s wife.

All sides sign new cease-fire in Ukraine

After more than 1,000 combat-related deaths in eastern Ukraine since a cease-fire was declared three months ago, government forces and pro-Russia separatists have signed a new truce to take effect Friday and require withdrawal of all heavy weaponry, international monitors reported Tuesday.

But as with the Sept. 5 cease-fire that has been violated on an almost daily basis, the renewed pledge to end eight months of fighting over territory in eastern Ukraine is likely to have little deterrent effect on irregular forces fighting on both sides.

Nevertheless, mediators with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced that representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the separatists had agreed “in principle” to commit themselves to a new disengagement plan.

DNA proves skeleton is King Richard’s

It’s a 500-year-old missing person case and researchers say it has now been solved, definitively.

The missing person was King Richard III, the controversial English monarch, described as having one shoulder higher than another. He ascended to the throne in 1483 and died in battle just two years later in August 1485 at the age of 32.

A sprawling research team of archaeologists, historians, engineers and scientists was fairly confident that the twisted skeleton discovered in 2012 beneath a Leicester parking lot where a friary once stood belonged to the king. But now they say they can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

In a paper published Tuesday in Nature Communications, scientists report that mitochondrial DNA obtained from the skeleton was a perfect match with one of King Richard’s living relatives, and a near-perfect match with a second relative.