A New York couple was charged with manslaughter in the death of their 19-year-old son after allegedly beating him for hours during a family counseling session inside the "sanctuary room" of an upstate Christian church, police said on Wednesday.

The victim's parents, Bruce Leonard, 65, and Deborah Leonard, 59, were arraigned on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. They were being held in lieu of $100,000 bail each.

In addition, four of the couple's fellow parishioners were charged with assaulting the teenager's younger brother on Sunday at the Word of Life Church in Chadwicks, New York, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Syracuse.

A school in Lübeck, Germany, included "practical work experience" at a local asylum center into a week activities. The plan angered parents opposed the idea of their children changing linen on refugees' beds, helping to cook food and sorting clothes.

An extract from a letter was posted in Facebook by a mother who obtained it from a friend whose son received it at school. Initially, the text sparked a mixture of bewilderment and disbelief in social media, but after a local newspaper got in touch with Schleswig-Holstein authorities, they confirmed the document was real.

"I am definitely not a hater, I am super tolerant, but this is taking the matter a bit too far. Is there a new discipline at school which is called servitude?" the angry post reads.

The post got over 2,000 shares and more than 600 comments most of them asking why the refugees can't take care of them themselves.

The Kiel Ministry of Education has made it clear that starting this week, 13-14-year-old eighth-graders from one school in the city of Lübeck have been putting fresh linen on refugees' beds, helping out in the kitchen of the asylum seekers' center and sorting clothes collected for the migrants. The chores last from 8:30am till 1:30pm.

"The idea came to light because the school and actually also this class are attended by refugee children. The students go on a daily basis with this issue," said a spokeswoman for the ministry, which insists the commitment was initiated by the students themselves and have not been prescribed by the teachers.

The comments left by indignant parents in social networks could be narrowed down to between 'good advice to refugees to help themselves' and calls to 'clean their mess with their own hands'.

Over 70 percent of Russians have a negative view of the role played by the US in international politics, while only a mere 4 percent view Washington's current course positively.

According to the results of the latest research conducted by the independent polling organization the Levada Center, 71 percent of the Russian public think that the United States currently plays a negative role in the world. The researchers noted this was the highest figure ever since it started to carry out this poll eight years ago.

The previous peak in negativity towards the US was in 2008, after a brief war that erupted after Georgia, backed by Washington, attacked the self-proclaimed republic of South Ossetia, which was protected by Russian peacekeepers under an international agreement.

Back then 53 percent of Russians said that they were against the United States' international politics and 12 percent assessed it in positive way.

What began as a mundane Sunday evening on the internet for one Seattle man quickly turned to one of impulsive charity when he clicked away from football scores to read about financial troubles facing a local school district.

Brian Jones grew concerned reading about Seattle's Alki Elementary and the parents struggling to raise funds for the school. The parents started an online crowdfunding campaign to raise $90,000 so that a first-grade teacher wouldn't have to leave or take a cut in pay and benefits. They only had $20,000 raised until Jones swooped in with a swift $70,000 donation to cover the difference.

Amazingly, he didn't even know who the teacher was.

A ten-week-old baby boy died on the night his family were evicted from their Warwickshire home, after being failed by the agencies who should have been supporting them, according to a serious case review. The circumstances around the death of the child, named 'John', emerged on 14 October. The baby boy was born six weeks prematurely. He and his sister Amber, who was under two, had been regarded as 'children in in need' by social services because of concerns over neglect.

His family's eviction from their housing association property took place on on September 1st 2013 and they ended up staying with relatives. "They had to leave numerous things behind in the flat including a travel cot, nappies, children's clothes and toys as there would not be enough room for them at the grandmother's home," noted the review. John had been taken downstairs for a feed and died after sleeping on the sofa with his mother. The dangers of the sleeping arrangements, with "a premature baby and high likelihood of mum falling asleep with him on the sofa" risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, "were not ascertained," by any of the professionals involved, it said. An open verdict into the baby's death was recorded by the coroner in September 2013.

The review, published on 13 October by Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB), revealed that the family's need for help was apparent months earlier. They had been threatened with eviction in September 2012, and in April 2013 John's mother went to her GP to ask for an abortion. But since she was already more than 24 weeks pregnant "there was no choice but to carry on the pregnancy." The family's "social situation or social needs were not considered" and "there was no consideration of the impact upon Susan of the unplanned pregnancy, or if there could possibly be any safeguarding issues to consider."

The Kremlin has launched an incredible volte-face in economic policy and turned to traditional industries like farming in the face of tumbling oil prices

Russia has abandoned hopes for a lasting recovery in oil prices, bracing for a new era of abundant crude as US shale production transforms the global energy market. The Kremlin has launched a radical shift in strategy, rationing funds for the once-sacrosanct oil and gas industry and relying instead on a revival of manufacturing and farming, driven by a much more competitive rouble.

"We have to have prudent forecasts. Our budget is based very conservative assumptions of oil at around $50 a barrel," said Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. "It is no secret that if the price goes down, investment peters out and disappears," he told a group of investors at VTB Capital's 'Russia Calling!' forum in Moscow.

The Russian finance minister, Anton Siluanov, said over-reliance on oil and gas over the last decade had been a fundamental error, leading to an overvalued currency and the slow death of other industries in a textbook case of the Dutch Disease. "We should stop caring so much about the oil industry and leave more space for others. We have to take very tough decisions and redistribute our resources," he said.

Problems and outages affecting Customs and Border Protection computers have been reported at multiple American airports. The cause of the problem is unknown.

So far, problems have been reported at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, Los Angeles International Airport, Logan International Airport in Boston, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas, and other airports in Seattle, Charlotte and Baltimore.

There have also been reports of problems at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest.


According to NBC News, which cited government sources, the outage is affecting a Department of Homeland Security computer system that screens passengers against a terrorist watch list.

A report card is out on the Mississippi River basin, and the grade is not good: a D+, with an aging transportation infrastructure topping the list of concerns.

The report by America's Watershed Initiative, released Wednesday in St. Louis, assesses categories such as the abundance of clean water, flood control and risk, ecosystem health, the economy and recreation on the river and its watershed, which includes the Missouri, Tennessee and Ohio rivers and other tributaries. All told, the watershed touches parts of 31 states and covers two-fifths of the continental U.S.

The category of biggest concern is the condition of infrastructure such as locks and dams, creating what initiative members call a threat to the nation's economy. The report card gave a D grade to infrastructure condition, and an F to infrastructure maintenance.

A brutal ritual where girls as young as 10 are forced to have their breasts pounded and burned with hot stones to disguise signs of pubescent development could be on the rise in Britain, campaigners warn.

Breast ironing, a process which involves using stones, hammers or hot spatulas to mutilate breast tissue, is often performed by mothers intending to prevent their daughters from being sexually harassed or raped.

It is mostly practiced in Western and Central African countries such as Cameroon and Nigeria, where many boys and men believe girls whose breasts have grown are ready to have sex.


The ritual, which experts say can lead to breast cancer, is growing at an alarming rate and has affected more than 3.8 million women across the world, according to a UN report.

There could be many more cases of this horrifying breast flattening technique in Britain.

'Thousands of UK girls may be at risk'

Speaking to the Independent, the UK National Committee for UN Women's London branch said breast ironing happens "under misguided intention to 'protect' women and girls from men."

Israeli authorities have fired tear gas at Palestinian protesters in Bethlehem, with a young boy being injured in the clashes. The unrest comes as thousands gather in the city for the funeral of Mutaz Zawahreh, who was killed by Israeli forces on Tuesday.

Video footage shows tanks firing tear gas while armed soldiers stand guard. Palestinian protesters can be seen throwing stones as clouds of smoke rise from the pavement.

It's the latest set of clashes between Palestinian civilians and Israeli forces, following similar unrest, which has been an almost daily occurrence near the separation wall in Bethlehem over the past week, Ma'an news agency reported.

Ongoing clashes have also been taking place throughout the rest of the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.