Aid worker’s parents plea for his release
Aid worker’s parents plea for his release
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The parents of an Indiana man threatened with beheading by the Islamic State group are pleading with his captors to free him, saying in a video statement Saturday that their son has devoted his life to humanitarian work and aiding Syria’s war refugees.
Ed and Paula Kassig’s video was released a day after the Islamic State group’s online video threatened to behead 26-year-old Peter Kassig next — following the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning.
That video was a heartbreaking development for Kassig’s family and friends, who had stayed silent since his capture while working to secure his release.
In the family’s video, Ed Kassig says his son, who now goes by the first name Abdul-Rahman after converting to Islam during his captivity, was captured on Oct. 1, 2013, in Syria, where he was providing aid for refugees fleeing that country’s civil war.
He says his son has grown “to love and admire” the Syrian people, after growing up in an Indianapolis family with a long history of humanitarian work and teaching.
“Our son was living his life according to that same humanitarian call when he was taken captive,” says Ed Kassig, a teacher.
The family says Kassig, a former Army Ranger, formed the aid organization Special Emergency Response and Assistance, or SERA, in Turkey to provide aid and assistance to Syrian refugees.
General Motors recalls Cadillac, Pontiac sedans
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling more than 60,000 vehicles in North America, the latest round of recalls this year for the automaker.
The company outlined three new recalls Saturday, the biggest of which affects 46,873 vehicles in the U.S.
The recalls are Pontiac G8s from the 2008 through the 2009 model years and 2011-2013 model Chevrolet Caprice PPV left-hand-drive sedans imported from Australia.
The ignition switch key may shift from the “run” position when touched by the driver’s knee, GM said. The company is aware of one crash related to the problem, but no injuries.
Another U.S. recall covers over 10,005 Cadillac CTS-V sedans from the 2004-2007 model years and 2006-2007 model Cadillac STS-Vs. On some vehicles, the fuel pump module electrical terminal may overheat, causing the flange material to melt, GM said.
That can lead to a fuel leak, increasing the risk of a stall and fire, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
GM said it knows of no crashes or injuries related to the problem.
The automaker also issued a recall for 304 of the 2014 model-year Chevrolet Sonics in the U.S., saying the vehicles may have a loose electrical connection in the steering column that could affect the performance of the driver-side air bag.
GM is not aware of any crashes, injuries related to the potential malfunction.
All told, the latest recalls included 57,182 vehicles in the U.S. and 60,575 in North America.
GM’s safety problems began earlier this year with the recall of 2.6 million small cars with faulty ignition switches.
The problem caused crashes that are responsible for at least 23 deaths. GM has admitted knowing about the problem for more than a decade yet it failed to recall the cars until February of this year.
Heat from north to south smothers California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Temperatures approached triple digits in much of California on Saturday afternoon and surpassed 100 degrees in inland areas as a steaming autumn in the state seemed more like an endless summer.
Heat in the 90s was felt in the normally temperate San Francisco Bay Area, where temperature records were expected to fall before the day was over.
Throngs of thousands who crammed Golden Gate Park for the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival were chugging water and dumping it on their heads as they danced to banjos and fiddles in the midday swelter, with many wearing shorts and little else.
Heat in the Sacramento also pushed well into the 90s.
The mercury was at 95 degrees in downtown Los Angeles by midday and 101 in the suburbs of San Bernardino County.
Normally closed for the season by now, the Raging Waters theme park in San Dimas, where it was 97 degrees Saturday afternoon, was open to provide relief and recreation for another weekend.
A high-pressure system extending over the western part of the country, along with Santa Ana winds that blow across deserts and down mountain canyons before arriving in Southern California, are generating the sweltering conditions.
The heat brought a red-flag warning of critical wildfire conditions through Saturday night, the National Weather Service said.
The U.S. Forest Service has implemented 24-hour firefighter staffing. The Los Angeles County Fire Department has beefed up many of its firefighting crews from three to four people and stationed extra equipment in strategic locations.
“We’ve got wind, heat, the perfect combination, everything in alignment for a potential brushfire,” fire Capt. Rich Moody said as he and his crew patrolled a Southern California hillside.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is urging people to set thermostats at 78 degrees.