September 8th, 2013
09:18 PM ET
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NAACP leader Benjamin Jealous resigns, will leave in December

Benjamin Todd Jealous will step down as president of the NAACP after five years as president of the oldest and largest U.S. civil rights organization, he announced Sunday.

"The NAACP has always been the largest civil rights organization in the streets, and today it is also the largest civil rights organization online, on mobile and at the ballot box too," Jealous said in a statement issued Sunday afternoon. "I am proud to leave the Association financially sound, sustainable, focused, and more powerful than ever."

Jealous, 40, was named president 2008 after working as a community organizer, a newspaper editor and Amnesty International official. He took over from Bruce Gordon, a retired telecommunications executive who clashed with the NAACP's governing board.

In announcing his resignation, he said he wanted to spend "a lot more time with my young family." Jealous and his wife, Lia, have two children, a 1-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter.

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Filed under: Politics
September 8th, 2013
04:24 PM ET
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13 children injured after ride loses power at Connecticut festival

An accident on a children's swing ride at a festival in Norwalk, Connecticut, on Sunday injured 13 children, some seriously, according to police.

The ride "apparently lost power causing the children on the ride to forcefully fall to the ground," Norwalk police said on the department's Facebook page.

Most of the injuries were minor, police said, but "several" were seriously injured, "including two which appeared to be the most serious."

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Filed under: Connecticut
September 8th, 2013
04:44 AM ET
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Syria Islamist rebels seize town

An al Qaeda-linked rebel group has wrested control of the historic Christian town of Maaloula from regime forces, opposition groups said Sunday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the hardline Islamist rebels of the al-Nusra Front seized control Saturday night.
Videos posted on YouTube in recent days showed fighting between rebels and government forces in the tiny sleepy town, an hour's drive from the capital Damascus.

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Filed under: Uncategorized
September 8th, 2013
02:28 AM ET
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Chinese journalist Shi Tao released

A Chinese journalist jailed for eight years for leaking government restrictions on reporting is now free.

Shi Tao's early release was announced by the writers' organization PEN International on Saturday - 15 months before he was scheduled to be freed.

Shi made headlines in 2004 when he sent the media restrictions to a human rights group - an act that China said amounted to "leaking state secrets," PEN said.

What's more: Internet giant Yahoo played a part in his conviction.

In a widely criticized move, Yahoo handed over Shi's e-mail account information, which the Chinese government used in the case against Shi.

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Filed under: China • Justice • Technology • Yahoo
Rescued from Alaska volcano
The team's iced-over helicopter. "There were blue skies when we landed," Lopez said, but within a half-hour he told the researchers he was concerned about ice on the rotors.
September 8th, 2013
12:36 AM ET
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Rescued from Alaska volcano

Taryn Lopez doesn't think it got too terribly cold during the two days she was stranded on Alaska's Mount Mageik volcano.

"I think about 28 degrees was the lowest we saw - but then the temperature gauge was frozen," she said Saturday evening from King Salmon, Alaska.

Thanks to sleeping bags, waterproof gear and emergency supplies, Lopez, a fellow researcher and a pilot survived unharmed in their iced-over helicopter from Wednesday until a rescue chopper scooped them up Friday.

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Filed under: U.S.