Tuesday,  May 6, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 292 • 29 of 34

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• Though the decision split the court along ideological lines, the Obama administration backed the winning side, the town of Greece, N.Y., outside of Rochester.
• The outcome relied heavily on a 1983 decision in which the court upheld an opening prayer in the Nebraska Legislature and said prayer is part of the nation's fabric, not a violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion.
• Writing for the court on Monday, Justice Anthony Kennedy said that forcing clergy to scrub the prayers of references to Jesus Christ and other sectarian religious figures would turn officials into censors. Instead, Kennedy said, the prayers should be seen as ceremonial and in keeping with the nation's traditions.
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Boko Haram leader threatens to sell girls it kidnapped in Nigeria

• LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigeria's Islamic extremist leader is threatening to sell the nearly 300 teenage schoolgirls abducted from a school in the remote northeast three weeks ago, in a new videotape received Monday.
• Abubakar Shekau for the first time also claimed responsibility for the April 15 mass abduction, warning that his group plans to attack more schools and abduct more girls.
• "I abducted your girls," said the leader of Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful."
• He described the girls as "slaves" and said, "By Allah, I will sell them in the marketplace." The hourlong video starts with fighters lifting automatic rifles and shooting in the air as they chant "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great."
• It was unclear if the video was made before or after reports emerged last week that some of the girls have been forced to marry their abductors -- who paid a nominal bride price of $12 -- and that others have been carried into neighboring Cameroon and Chad. Those reports could not be verified.
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Civilian diver dies while searching for missing people from sunken South Korean ferry

• SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A civilian diver involved in searches for dozens of missing people from the South Korean ferry disaster died Tuesday, as other divers helped by better weather and easing ocean currents were picking up efforts to retrieve more bodies from the sunken ship.

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