In brief: Craigslist suspect confesses in interview
Sunbury, Pa. – A Pennsylvania woman charged along with her newlywed husband in the murder of a man they met through Craigslist admitted to the slaying in a jailhouse interview with a newspaper and said she has killed more than 20 others across the country, claims police said they are investigating.
In an interview with the Daily Item in Sunbury, Pa., 19-year-old Miranda Barbour said she wants to plead guilty to killing Troy LaFerrara in November. She also said in the interview that she has killed at least 22 other people from Alaska to North Carolina in the last six years as part of her involvement in a satanic cult.
“I feel it is time to get all of this out. I don’t care if people believe me. I just want to get it out,” Barbour told the newspaper for a story published Saturday night.
Sunbury police Chief Steve Mazzeo told the newspaper that investigators have been in contact with the FBI and law enforcement in several other states.
“From information we gathered and from information gathered from her interview we are seriously concerned and have been in contact with the proper authorities,” Mazzeo said.
Mediator suspends Syrian peace talks
Geneva – U.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi ended direct talks between the Syrian government and opposition Saturday without finding a way of breaking the impasse in peace talks.
Saturday’s talks, which lasted less than half an hour, left the future of the negotiating process in doubt and no date was set for a third session.
Brahimi said he would consult with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about a way forward.
“I am very, very sorry, and I apologize to the Syrian people that their hopes which were very, very high that something will happen here,” Brahimi said.
Lebanon finally forms government
Beirut – Breaking a 10-month deadlock, Lebanon on Saturday unveiled a new unity government as leaders struggle to maintain stability despite profound political divisions and spillover violence from the war raging in neighboring Syria.
“A government in the national interest was formed in a spirit of inclusiveness,” said the new prime minister, Tammam Salam, a centrist.
The new Lebanese government was announced after an accord was finally crafted to the satisfaction of the nation’s two key political blocs, the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah organization and the Sunni Muslim-led Future Movement. Often-acrimonious talks between the parties had dragged on for months.