In the news

James Meredith, the man who integrated the University of Mississippi in 1962, said it was “foolish” for someone to leave a noose and a flag with a Confederate emblem on a statue of him at the Oxford campus, but added that it should not deter black students from attending Ole Miss.

Michael Barron, 29, was arrested in San Antonio after a mother accused him of sticking a jalapeno pepper in her 9-year-old son’s eye.

Ulf Lindgren, a spokesman for the Stockholm Police Department, said officers were called to restore order downtown after Sweden’s public employment service accidentally sent an email invitation for a recruitment event to 61,000 job-seekers instead of 1,000.

Mary Porter, a teacher at Richland High School in Jackson, Miss., who showed the R-rated film Dolan’s Cadillac to her 10th-grade students and later was forced to resign, has filed a federal complaint alleging discrimination.

Gerald Campos, 46, of western Missouri was charged with burglary, invasion of privacy, operating a methamphetamine lab, child endangerment, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of child pornography after a search of his duplex, prompted by neighbors who reported finding a camera in their attic that was connected to a cord leading next door.

David Cameron, the British prime minister, ordered a judge-led inquiry into a government policy under which 200 letters were sent to Irish Republican Army fugitives assuring them they were no longer wanted by police as part of a peace deal with the group.

Lawrence Joynes, 55, a former Maryland music teacher, was indicted on 39 criminal counts on accusations that he sexually abused 14 elementary school girls and raped a middle-school student during his lengthy career in the Montgomery County school system.

Ryan Wilson, a 5-year old boy with kidney cancer that has spread to his lungs, served as the marshal in a Mardi Gras parade at North Bay Elementary School in Biloxi, Miss., riding on the back of a Corvette and tossing beads and other trinkets to students.

Benedict XVI, 86, the retired pope, denied speculation that he was pressured to leave office, saying in a letter to the Vatican correspondent for La Stampa newspaper that his decision was freely made and his alone.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/02/2014

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