Syrian families grieve after attack on school
DAMASCUS, Syria – Families in a central neighborhood of the Syrian capital wept quietly Tuesday as they retrieved the bodies of four children and their bus driver killed in a mortar attack on their school in a predominantly Christian area a day earlier.
The strike was the latest rebel reprisal to hit Damascus as government troops press ahead with a crushing weeks-long advance into opposition-held suburbs, often relying on indiscriminant artillery fire themselves. Such mortar attacks by rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad have been on the rise.
Monday’s shelling of Risaleh school in the Bab Sharqi neighborhood shocked residents in particular because the casualties were children.
A fifth pupil died early Tuesday. Four other children and two supervisors also were wounded in the strike, and another mortar attack the same day on nearby John of Damascus school wounded 11.
Orange diamond fetches $35.5M at auction
GENEVA – The largest fancy vivid orange diamond ever sold at auction went for $35.5 million in Geneva, where a pink diamond estimated to be worth more than $60 million also is on the block.
The rare pear-shaped orange diamond sold Tuesday is 14.82 carats, meaning it went for an eye-popping $2.4 million per carat. That’s a world-record price per carat for any colored diamond sold at auction, Christie’s said.
Sotheby’s auctions are headlined by today’s offering of “The Pink Star,” a vivid and flawless 59.60-carat pink diamond.
Despite ruling, Egypt delays ending curfew
CAIRO – A court declared that Egypt’s 3-month-old state of emergency expired Tuesday, two days earlier than expected, but the military and security officials held off from implementing the ruling and lifting a nighttime curfew amid worries that the measures’ end will fuel protests by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
Morsi, meanwhile, held his first extensive meeting with lawyers in a prison near Alexandria. He had been held in secret military detention with almost no contact with the outside world since he was ousted in a July 3 popularly backed coup, but he was moved to a regular prison last week after the first session of his trial on charges of inciting murder.
The lawyers today will relay a message from Morsi addressing the Egyptian people and “all parties,” said Morsi’s son Osama, a lawyer who was among those who met him.
Associated Press
