Convoys of coffins streamed through the streets and mourners fired guns in the air Tuesday as two Syrian coastal towns – government strongholds that had gone relatively untouched throughout the civil war – reeled from coordinated bombings that killed more than 160 people.

A vast majority of white Americans say there should not be reparations for African-American descendants of slaves, but more than half of blacks say it’s a good idea and Hispanics are almost evenly split, according to a new poll.

The Confederate flag will return temporarily to the South Carolina State House this summer.

Police in Hot Springs, Arkansas, have evacuated about 20 homes after a man mistook a Civil War-era landmine for a cannonball and took it home.

Mississippi’s attorney general says he will defend the Confederate-themed state flag against a lawsuit that seeks to remove the banner, even though he thinks the flag hurts the state and should change.

Technology breakthroughs that increased output have slowed.

Vernon Adams Jr. is grateful the No. 18 Ducks are on track to finish strong after a senior season of ups and downs.

The past may not be past, as William Faulkner once put it. But it sure seems to be leaving. As I watched the broadcast of the Confederate battle flag being brought down from its post on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds Friday morning, my thoughts went to Gen. Robert E. Lee, who surely would have raised a toast to this new day.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — President Barack Obama delivered a passionate discourse on America's racial history Friday in his eulogy for a state senator and pastor, slain along with eight other black churchgoers in what police called a hate crime. "What a life Clementa Pinckney lived!" Obama said to rounds of applause and "amens." ''What an example he set. What a model for his faith. And then to lose him at 41. Slain in his sanctuary with eight wonderful members of his flock."

JERUSALEM – At least two rockets launched from Syria struck the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Tuesday and Israel responded with artillery fire, the military said. The exchange came after an airstrike last week in Syria attributed to Israel killed six members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and an Iranian general. Israel has braced for a response to that strike, beefing up its air defenses and increasing surveillance along its northern frontier.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama may soon sign off on a project to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, in an open move that would significantly boost U.S. support to forces who have been asking for three years for military help in their quest to oust President Bashar Assad, administration officials said Tuesday. The step would send a limited number of American troops to Jordan to be part of a regional training mission that would instruct carefully vetted members of the Free Syrian Army on tactics, including counterterrorism operations, the officials said. They said Obama has not given approval for the initiative and that there is still internal discussion about its merits and potential risks.