Egyptian officials say they found the two black boxes from a Russian passenger plane that crashed on its way from Sharm El-Sheikh to St Petersburg this mooring. They say there are no survivors. NPR's AF reports the airbus went down in the Sinai Peninsula with 224 people on board. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi addressed those condolences to the leadership, government and people of Russia and to the families of the 224 people on the plane, all of whom were killed in the crash according to a twitter from Russian embassy in Cairo. Prime minister Sherif Ismail flew to an area near the crash site and oversaw the transport of 15 bodies to a morgue in Cairo. Egyptian authorities say the wreckage is spread over a wide area and it will take some time to find all the bodies. AF, NPR news. Meanwhile * and * say they are suspending flights over Sinai until the cause of the crash is determined. A doctor in California has been convicted of second-degree murder for the deaths of three patients who died of prescription drug overdoses. NPR's NR reports it's viewed as a landmark case. The LA district attorney's office says this is the first time that a US doctor has been convicted of murder charges from reckless prescribing drug. Prosecutor linked Dr. Lisa Tseng to the overdose deaths of 9 of her patients saying that you prescribed quote 'crazy outrageous amounts of powerful painkillers. Tseng's defense attorneys argued that doctor was overly trusting over her patients and was overworked, saying that her acts were not criminal. But jurors found her guilty in the deaths of three of her patients in part because she ignored the warning signs. Tsung's lawyer says she plans to appeal. NR, NPR news, LA.
Hundreds of federal inmates are being released early this weekend from either prison, halfway houses or home confinement. They're among some 6100 prisoners who're being released as part of the US Sentencing Commission's decision to reduce prison terms or * for some drug crimes. In his weekly address today, president Obama called for more judicial reforms. I believe we can disrupt the pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails. I believe we can address the disparities in applications of criminal justice from arrest rates to sentence in incarceration. Mr Obama says judicial reform is a priority for the remainder of his presidency.
Chipotles says it's closed some of its restaurants in Oregon and Washington state out of caution after cases of E. coli were traced to the chain. Jonathan Modai is an Oregon's public health spokesman. We're still working very hard to find the exact source of the infection. We're still looking into whether it came from outside Chipotles *, whether it was a supplier, or a product that they used at the restaurant. Modai says at least 22 people have been sickened. This is NPR.
In Bangladesh, police say an online publisher who criticized religious militancy was hacked to death today in the capital Dhaka. Hours earlier, another secular publisher and two writers were attacked. Fears are growing in the Muslim majority country about the rise of radical Islam.
In Britain, a new law takes effective today that's aimed at enforcing a ban on female genital mutilation. Britain prohibited the practice 30 years ago but some minority groups continued to carry it out on religious ground. As LM reports, the new law penalize professionals who fail to report suspected cases of genital mutilation among girls under 18. Teachers, doctors, nurses and social workers are among those who will face disciplinary action and risk losing their jobs if they suspect female genital mutilation has taken place and it about to take place either in Britain or while traveling abroad and don't notify police. Nearly 140,00 women and girls in England and Wales have undergone female genital mutilation, most of them are abroad. An international estimate, 6000 girls in Britain may be at risk. Lawmakers hope the new requirement will encourage professionals to overcome ethnic sensitivities and report the crime which is seen as a form of child abuse. When in its advocates, fear of law could make the girls reluctant to seek medical care. For NPR news, I'm LM in London.
A reminder. The standard time takes effective 2:00 tomorrow mooring. Time for most people in the US to turn their clocks back an hour. I'm BC, NPR news.