Las Vegas Strip Shooting Suspect ID'd

Las Vegas police identified a suspect today in a shooting on the strip that caused a Maserati to hit a taxi and burst into flames, killing three people.

Ammar Harris, 26, has been named a suspect in the Thursday skirmish that killed three people, including rapper Kenny Clutch.

The altercation between Harris and Clutch, 27, whose legal name was Kenneth Cherry Jr., is believed to have originated in the valet area of a Las Vegas hotel, police said.

Police said Harris fired several rounds into a Maserati that was being driven by Cherry as both vehicles continued northbound on glitzy Las Vegas Boulevard.

The rapper's expensive sports car careened out of control after he was shot, slamming into several cars, including a taxi. The impact caused the cab to burst into flames, killing the driver, Michael Boldon and a female passenger. Witnesses said it looked like the car exploded.

"He was a number one guy," Carolyn Jean Trimble, Boldon's sister, told ABC News.

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"I looked out my window and I could see one vehicle down here on the corner of the intersection totally engulfed in flames," witness John Lamb told ABC News.

Boldon, 62, and his passenger, who has not yet been identified, were both killed, as was Clutch.

Timble said her brother loved driving his taxi around Vegas.

"He came to live with me in Las Vegas last year to help take care of our mother, and the first day he got here he said, 'I have to get a job.' The second day, I came home from work, and he said he got a job," she recalled.

"He says, 'You'll never guess what it is,' and I said, 'what,' and he said, 'taxi cab driver,' and we both fell out laughing," Trimble said. "He loved that job. He never complained. He'd come home and tell me stories about what happened, who he picked up."

Boldon was a single father who raised a 36-year-old son and was a new grandfather. His grandson was named after him, Trimble said.

"Of all the people to take from this earth," she said. "But I guess the Lord needed him."

A passenger in the Maserati was hit and sustained only a minor injury to his arm. Clutch died at University Medical Center.

His father, Kenneth Cherry Sr., expressed his grief for the loss of his son while speaking with ABC News.

"This is something you never really, really ever want to experience as a parent, to lose a child before you go," he said.

Harris is described as 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Las Vegas Metro Police Department's homicide division.

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Rusty rocks reveal ancient origin of photosynthesis

SUN-WORSHIP began even earlier than we thought. The world's oldest sedimentary rocks suggest an early form of photosynthesis may have evolved almost 3.8 billion years ago, not long after life appeared on Earth.

A hallmark of photosynthesis in plants is that the process splits water and produces oxygen gas. But some groups of bacteria oxidise substances like iron instead – a form of photosynthesis that doesn't generate oxygen. Evolutionary biologists think these non-oxygen-generating forms of photosynthesis evolved first, giving rise to oxygen-generating photosynthesis sometime before the Earth's atmosphere gained oxygen 2.4 billion years ago (New Scientist, 8 December 2012, p 12).

But when did non-oxygen-generating photosynthesis evolve? Fossilised microbial mats that formed in shallow water 3.4 billion years ago in what is now South Africa show the chemical fingerprints of the process. However, geologists have long wondered whether even earlier evidence exists.

The world's oldest sedimentary rocks – a class of rock that can preserve evidence of life – are a logical place to look, says Andrew Czaja of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. These rocks, which are found in Greenland and date back almost 3.8 billion years, contain vast deposits of iron oxide that are a puzzle. "What could have formed these giant masses of oxidised iron?" asks Czaja.

To investigate, he analysed the isotopic composition of samples taken from the oxidised iron. He found that some isotopes of iron were more common than they would be if oxygen gas was indiscriminately oxidising the metal. Moreover, the exact isotopic balance varied subtly from point to point in the rock.

Both findings make sense if photosynthetic bacteria were responsible for the iron oxide, says Czaja. That's because these microbes preferentially oxidise only a small fraction of the dissolved iron, and the iron isotopes they prefer vary slightly as environmental conditions change (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, doi.org/kh5). His findings suggest that this form of photosynthesis appeared about 370 million years earlier than we thought.

It is "the best current working hypothesis for the origin of these deposits", says Mike Tice of Texas A&M University in College Station – one of the team who analysed the 3.4-billion-year-old microbial mats from South Africa.

William Martin at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, agrees. "Anoxygenic photosynthesis is a good candidate for the isotope evidence they see," he says. "Had these fascinating results been collected on Mars, the verdict of the jury would surely remain open," says Martin Brasier at the University of Oxford. "But [on Earth] opinion seems to be swinging in the direction of non-oxygen-generating photosynthesis during the interval from 3.8 to 2.9 billion years ago."

This article appeared in print under the headline "Photosynthesis has truly ancient origins"

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China reports second fatal case of bird flu this year

BEIJING: A man in southwestern China has died of bird flu, health authorities said Saturday, becoming the second fatality from the H5N1 virus this year.

The 31-year-old died in hospital in the city of Guiyang on Friday, the Guizhou province health department said in a statement, adding that no other human cases of avian flu had been reported in the province.

Another city resident, a 21-year-old woman, died from the virus earlier this month.

The Xinhua news agency said both of them had come into close contact with birds but it was not known if the cases were related.

The H5N1 virus typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact, but experts fear it could mutate into a form transmissible between humans with the potential to trigger a pandemic.

More than 365 people have died of bird flu globally since the virus re-emerged in 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Its figures show that China saw 25 deadly cases of the virus between 2003 and 2009 before numbers tailed off to one fatality in each of the three following years. The deadliest year of the past decade in China saw eight deaths in 2006.

China is considered one of the nations most at risk from bird flu epidemics because it has the world's biggest poultry population and many chickens in rural areas are kept close to humans.

China has in the past been accused of covering up the extent of bird flu outbreaks, exacerbating fears when new cases are reported.

Separate outbreaks among birds were reported last year in the northern region of Ningxia and the remote northwestern region of Xinjiang, prompting massive culls of chickens.

- AFP/ir

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Obama administration to high court: End marriage law

Edith Windsor (shown with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in December), is at the center of the upcoming Supreme Court case.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Justice Department files first in a series of legal briefs involving two big cases


• Supreme Court will hear arguments next month on Defense of Marriage Act


• Lawyers for House GOP say they should be able to defend the marriage law in court


• U.S. still deciding whether to intervene in second case involving California law

Washington (CNN) -- In a preview of a major constitutional showdown at the Supreme Court over same-sex marriage, the Obama administration said on Friday that a federal law denying financial benefits to legally wed gay and lesbian couples is unconstitutional.

The Justice Department filed the first of a series of briefs in a pair of cases dealing with the multilayered issue, outlining the executive branch's positions.

The high court will hear oral arguments next month on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 congressional law that says for federal purposes, marriage is defined as only between one man and one woman.

That means federal tax, Social Security, pension, and bankruptcy benefits, and family medical leave protections -- do not apply to gay and lesbian couples.

This case deals with Edith "Edie" Windsor, forced to assume an estate tax bill much larger than other married couples would have to pay. Because her decades-long partner was a woman, the federal government did not recognize the same-sex marriage in legal terms, even though their home state of New York did.

But now, led by President Barack Obama's recent political about-face, the administration opposes the law.

"Moral opposition to homosexuality, though it may reflect deeply held personal views, is not a legitimate policy objective that can justify unequal treatment of gay and lesbian people" contained in the DOMA law, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli said in the Justice Department's legal brief.

The separate case from California deals with Proposition 8, a 2008 voter-approved referendum banning same-sex marriage. This after the California high court had earlier concluded same-sex couples could legally wed. That case too will be heard in late March.

Though technically a party in the California case, government sources say the Justice Department was prepared next week to file an "amicus" or supporting brief asserting a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and that Proposition 8 should be struck down as a violation of constitutionally guaranteed "equal protection" of the laws.

Those sources say Obama was expected to make the final call on whether to intervene in the state dispute.

"I have to make sure that I'm not interjecting myself too much in this process, particularly when we're not a party to the case," Obama said Wednesday in an interview with CNN affiliate KGO-TV in San Francisco.

Of more immediate concern was the DOMA fight, where the administration is squarely involved. But a tricky gateway or "jurisdictional" question threatens to stall any final consideration of the law's constitutionality. That was the focus of much of the Friday legal papers.

The DOMA law will be defended by House Republicans, after Obama concluded the law was unconstitutional.

Traditionally, that role would fall to the solicitor general's office. But Obama, in an election-year stunner, said last May that he supported same-sex marriage.

The president had already ordered Attorney General Eric Holder not to defend DOMA in court. That raised the question of whether any party could rightfully step in and defend the law.

Besides the constitutional issue, the justices had specifically ordered both sides to argue a supplemental question: whether congressional Republicans -- operating officially as the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives -- have "standing" or legal authority to make the case.

Lawyers representing the House GOP said Friday that they should be able to take the lead and defend the law, since both Windsor and the Obama administration are taking the same legal position.

"Without the House's participation," said attorney Paul Clement, representing House leaders, "it is hard to see how there is any case or controversy here at all. Both Ms. Windsor and the executive agree that DOMA is unconstitutional and that Ms. Windsor was entitled to a [tax] refund. And the lower courts granted them all the relief they requested. Only the House's intervention provides the adverseness that Article III [federal court jurisdiction] demands."

But the Justice Department said it alone should present the government's case.

"House Republicans lack "any basis for supplanting the executive branch's exclusive role in representing the United States' interests in this litigation, and has no interests of its own that would satisfy" federal court scrutiny, said administration lawyers.

Windsor's legal team also said the House leaders could defend DOMA, at least partially, suggesting the woman wants ultimate resolution on the constitutional questions as soon as possible.

"I was devastated by the loss of the great love of my life, and I was also very sick, then had to deal with pulling together enough money to pay for the taxes," the 83-year-old Windsor told CNN recently. "And it was deeply upsetting."

The story of Edith and Thea

That fundamental unfairness, as Windsor and her supporters see it, is at the center of DOMA legal fight.

In November, three states -- Maryland, Washington, and Maine -- approved same-sex marriage, adding to the six states and the District of Columbia that already have done so. Minnesota voters also rejected an effort to ban such unions through a constitutional amendment.

As more states legalize same-sex marriage, one of the key questions the justices may be forced to address is whether a national consensus now exists supporting the idea of expanding an "equal protection" right of marriage to homosexuals.

A bill known as the Respect for Marriage Act is working its way through Congress and would repeal DOMA.

That law does not prohibit states from allowing same-sex marriages, but it also does not force states to recognize them from other states. Most of the current plaintiffs are federal workers, who are not allowed to add their spouses to health care plans, and other benefits.

Many other states, including New Jersey, Illinois, Delaware, Rhode Island and Hawaii, have legalized domestic partnerships and civil unions for such couples -- a step designed in most cases to provide the same rights of marriage under state law.

But other states have passed laws or state constitutional amendments banning such marriages. California's Proposition 8 is the only such referendum that revoked the right after lawmakers and the state courts previously allowed it. That makes it a somewhat unique legal case for review by the justices.

The DOMA cases are U.S. v. Windsor (12-307) and Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives v. Windsor (12-785).

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Pentagon grounds F-35 fleet after engine crack found

Updated 9:03 PM ET

WASHINGTON The Pentagon on Friday grounded its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked engine blade in one plane.

The problem was discovered during what the Pentagon called a routine inspection at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., of an F-35A, the Air Force version of the sleek new plane. The Navy and the Marine Corps are buying other versions of the F-35, which is intended to replace older fighters like the Air Force F-16 and the Navy F/A-18.

All versions -- a total of 51 planes -- were grounded Friday pending a more in-depth evaluation of the problem discovered at Edwards. None of the planes have been fielded for combat operations; all are undergoing testing.

In a brief written statement, the Pentagon said it is too early to know the full impact of the newly discovered problem.

A watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight, said the grounding is not likely to mean a significant delay in the effort to field the stealthy aircraft.

"The F-35 is a huge problem because of its growing, already unaffordable, cost and its gigantically disappointing performance," the group's Winslow Wheeler said. "That performance would be unacceptable even if the aircraft met its far-too-modest requirements, but it is not."

The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program at a total estimated cost of nearly $400 billion. The Pentagon envisions buying more than 2,400 F-35s, but some members of Congress are balking at the price tag.

Friday's suspension of flight operations will remain in effect until an investigation of the problem's root cause is determined.

The Pentagon said the engine in which the problem was discovered is being shipped to a Pratt & Whitney facility in Connecticut for more thorough evaluation.

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Cyberattacks Bring Attention to Security Reform

Recent accusations of a large-scale cyber crime effort by the Chinese government left many wondering what immediate steps the president and Congress are taking to prevent these attacks from happening again.

On Wednesday, the White House released the administration's Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets as a follow-up to the president's executive order. The strategy did not outwardly mention China, but it implied U.S. government awareness of the problem.

"We are taking a whole of government approach to stop the theft of trade secrets by foreign competitors or foreign governments by any means -- cyber or otherwise," U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel said in a White House statement.

As of now, the administration's strategy is the first direct step in addressing cybersecurity, but in order for change to happen Congress needs to be involved. So far, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is the most notable Congressional legislation addressing the problem, despite its past controversy.

Last April, CISPA was introduced by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md. The act would allow private companies with consumer information to voluntarily share those details with the NSA and the DOD in order to combat cyber attacks.

Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

The companies would be protected from any liabilities if the information was somehow mishandled. This portion of the act sounded alarm bells for CISPA's opponents, like the ACLU, which worried that this provision would incentivize companies to share individuals' information with disregard.

CISPA passed in the House of Representatives, despite a veto threat from the White House stemming from similar privacy concerns. The bill then died in the Senate.

This year, CISPA was reintroduced the day after the State of the Union address during which the president declared an executive order targeting similar security concerns from a government standpoint.

In contrast to CISPA, the executive order would be initiated on the end of the government, and federal agencies would share relevant information regarding threats with private industries, rather than asking businesses to supply data details. All information shared by the government would be unclassified.

At the core of both the executive order and CISPA, U.S. businesses and the government would be encouraged to work together to combat cyber threats. However, each option would clearly take a different route to collaboration. The difference seems minimal, but has been the subject of legislative debates between the president and Congress for almost a year, until now.

"My response to the president's executive order is very positive," Ruppersberger told ABC News. "[The president] brought up how important information sharing is [and] by addressing critical infrastructure, he took care of another hurdle that we do not have to deal with."

Addressing privacy roadblocks, CISPA backers said the sharing of private customer information with the government, as long as personal details are stripped, is not unprecedented.

"Think of what we do with HIPAA in the medical professions; [doctors do not need to know] the individual person, just the symptoms to diagnose a disease," Michigan Gov. John Engler testified at a House Intelligence Committee hearing in an attempt to put the problem into context.

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Mood-sensing smartphone tells your shrink how you feel

PEOPLE with anxiety, depression or stress are often asked to record their mood changes throughout the day, helping psychologists fine-tune their treatment. But they often forget, recording only sparse information at best. Now an emotion-sensing smartphone app that automatically generates someone's "mood diary" could give psychologists all the data they need.

It's the brainchild of Matt Dobson and Duncan Barclay, founders of speech recognition firm EI Technologies, based in Saffron Walden, UK. Instead of relying on people writing diaries, the app, called Xpression, listens for telltale changes in a person's voice that indicate whether they are in one of five emotional states: calm, happy, sad, angry or anxious/frightened. It then lists a person's moods against the times they change, and automatically emails the list to their psychologist at the end of the day.

To work, the app has to be always on, listening out for the user's voice once every second, whether they are talking to family, friends, colleagues or even pets. It also listens in on phone calls. If the user is silent, the app does nothing. Crucially for the users' privacy, it doesn't record their words, instead seeking out telltale acoustic features – like pitch – that are indicative of emotional state.

This kind of emotion recognition via voice pattern already works well and is a "hot area" of research, says Stephen Cox, head of the speech processing lab at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, who is scientific adviser for the firm.

Initially, Xpression will send 200-millisecond-long acoustic snapshots to a remote server where a machine-learning system will work out a person's emotional state before sending it back to the app for storage. Factors like voice loudness, intensity, changes in pitch and speaking pace allow the system to accurately estimate somebody's emotional state. "We extract acoustic features and let the machine-learning system work it out," says Cox. This ability will be built into the app itself eventually, says Dobson.

There's a strong need for this kind of technology, says Adrian Skinner, a clinical psychologist with the UK's National Health Service in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. "With conditions like depression, people tend to stop doing things like filling in mood diaries. If this app gives us more complete diaries it could help us better find the day-to-day triggers that raise or lower a patient's mood," he says.

The firm is a finalist in a UK government competition to identify the nation's top mobile tech company, to be judged on 26 February. An insurance company has already expressed an interest in using the app to ensure the workplace stress therapy it pays for is effective. Clinical trials are due to take place later this year.

This article appeared in print under the headline "We know how you really feel"

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Cricket: Hyderabad Test still on, says Australia chief

SYDNEY: Australia plan to play the second Test against India in Hyderabad as scheduled next week despite deadly bomb attacks in the city on the eve of the Test series opener, reports said on Friday.

The twin blasts on Thursday killed 14 people and wounded dozens more in a busy neighbourhood in the southern Indian city, raising questions over whether Australia would play the second Test starting on March 2.

But Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland told Fairfax newspapers the match was still on as planned as Australia prepared for the opening match in the four-Test series in Chennai starting later Friday.

"As far as I'm concerned we are playing the second Test in Hyderabad next week. That's where we are at," said Sutherland, who is with the team in Chennai.

Sutherland told Fairfax he was happy to continue to Hyderabad where the team is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday.

"We've got great confidence in the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and the relevant authorities here to be able to prepare as best as possible for whatever issues may change from day to day," he said.

"We're very comfortable with everything that has been done so far on this tour."

"We'll obviously take advice from relevant authorities and work with the BCCI and others here to make assessments around Hyderabad but at the same time plans have been in place for a long time," Sutherland said.

"At this stage I wouldn't be calling into question things going ahead in Hyderabad."

He added that team manager Gavin Dovey had sent players text messages overnight updating them on the blasts and that security had been stepped up.

Dozens of extra police reportedly surrounded the Chennai hotel where the Australian and Indian teams are staying.

Captain Michael Clarke said his players were focused on the Chennai game.

"From the team's point of view, our focus is wholly and solely on the field because we've got people off the field who are experts in what is going on. We'll be advised by them," he said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all the people of Hyderabad who have been affected."

Earlier, media reports raised doubts over the tour.

"Australia's cricket tour of India has been plunged into uncertainty," said the Herald-Sun newspaper, while the Sydney Morning Herald carried a headline "Hyderabad Test in doubt as bombings rock city".

Australia pulled out of a tour to Pakistan in 2008 over security concerns after a series of bombings in the troubled country. They also refused to play any matches in the 1996 World Cup in Sri Lanka after bombings there.

Cricket Australia, which said the safety of players was paramount, earlier said the tourists had received "no information to suggest there is any threat to the team" but that talks were ongoing.

The attacks targeted a Hindu district in the city, a hub of India's computing industry in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, home to local offices of Google and Microsoft among other Western IT companies.

After the blasts, the Foreign Affairs Department in Canberra warned Australians following the tour in India that terror attacks could happen anywhere.

"We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in India at this time because of the risk of terrorism, civil unrest, crime and vehicle accidents," the department said.

"Terrorist attacks could occur anywhere at any time in India with little or no warning," it said.

"Possible targets include public places in New Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities, and Indian security and political interests."

However, the overall level of advice for Australians in India has not changed, with the department recommending people exercise a high degree of caution.

No major international cricket has been played in Pakistan since a deadly attack on the Sri Lankan team bus by armed militants in Lahore in 2009.

- AFP/ck

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Rapper among dead in Las Vegas shooting, crash

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Kenneth Cherry Jr., a rapper known as Kenny Clutch, was killed, his lawyer says


• Gunfire and a fiery crash kill 3 in the heart of Las Vegas Strip


• Casino visitor describes seeing "fireball" from Caesars Palace


• Police are looking for a black Range Rover Sport with large black rims

Las Vegas (CNN) -- A shooting and a fiery crash left three people dead in the neon heart of the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, and police scrambled to find out who triggered the carnage.

The bloodshed closed the Strip for about a block and a half around some of its biggest draws, leaving tourists gaping at a wrecked Maserati, a burned-out taxi and four other vehicles.

"First time in Vegas, and then, like, the whole thing, what you know from movies only -- I was shocked," Christine Gerstenberger, who was visiting the desert gambling mecca from Germany, said Thursday afternoon. She and her brothers debated going back to the hotel "because I'm totally scared," but "We're too curious," she said.

See iReporter's video of fire

One of those killed was Kenneth Cherry Jr. -- a rapper also known as Kenny Clutch -- his attorney Vicki Greco said. According to his Facebook page, Cherry is from Oakland, California, and lived in Las Vegas.

Cherry's death was shocking, Greco said.

"Out of everyone I know in the rapping industry there is no way I would have ever, ever expected to find that he was shot on the Las Vegas strip in such an aggressive manner," said Greco, who said Cherry had two kids. "He didn't have a (criminal) record or a history. He was just a good kid trying to make it and be a good father."

Four of the Nevada city's biggest casinos -- Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Bally's and the Flamingo -- are nearby, and police collected surveillance-camera video from them to help the probe.

It started around 4:20 a.m. with a dispute in the valet lot of the Aria Hotel, about a block away, Sheriff Douglas Gillespie said. Investigators haven't confirmed the cause of the altercation, but he said it spilled onto the street as someone in a black Range Rover Sport fired several shots at the Maserati as it headed north on Las Vegas Boulevard.

When the driver was hit, the Maserati continued into the intersection of the boulevard and Flamingo Road and collided with a taxi, which caught fire. The sports car's driver, the cab driver and a passenger in the taxi all died; a passenger in the Maserati and three other people in the resulting pileup were hurt, Gillespie said.

The Maserati's passenger and other witnesses are helping detectives piece together what happened, he said. And the "top priority" for police is to find the Range Rover, which sped away from the intersection, and those inside it when the shooting happened.

"This act is totally unacceptable, and we are going to make a very clear message to these individuals in regards to that," Gillespie said.

Police in neighboring states have been asked to look for the sport-utility vehicle, and Gillespie warned the occupants should be considered armed and dangerous.

"Clearly, the suspects have no regard for the lives and safety of others," he said.

The Range Rover had an out-of-state dealer plate, tinted windows and large, black rims, Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said.

The block around the crash remained closed off into Thursday afternoon. John Lamb, who was inside Caesars Palace, told CNN affiliate KLAS he heard the commotion and saw the taxi on fire from a window.

"There was a loud bang, and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesars Palace ... and could see the fireball," he told KLAS.

Man kills 3, himself in Southern California shooting

CNN's Matt Smith, Tom Watkins, Jason Hanna and Deanna Hackney contributed to this report.

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Christians, threatened by Syrian war, flee to Lebanon

(CBS News) BEIRUT - A few of the many Syrian rebel groups are connected to Islamic radicals. Christians, who've lived in Syria for 2,000 years, are fleeing right next door.

A convent in the mountains of Lebanon is a refuge for Syrian Christians who have been forced from their homes and their country.

Syria rife with reports of sectarian kidnappings
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There have been Christians in Syria as long as there have been Christians. Now they are caught up in a civil war increasingly dominated by Islamic militants.

"We came to Lebanon because there is no more living in Syria," Sanharib Aphram told CBS News. "It's dead there."

Sanharib Aphram

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CBS News

Aphram made the dangerous journey out of Syria with his wife and three children two months ago.

Already churches have been burned, homes destroyed and Christians kidnapped.

"We are afraid of both sides, the armed militias and the government," he said. "One side is shelling us and the other side is shooting at us. We have no guns. We have nothing."

Christians make up roughly 10 percent of Syria's population. Traditionally, they have supported the Assad regime, which has always protected minorities.

Father Simon Faddoul

/

CBS News

"Many of them are loyal to the government, yes," said Father Simon Faddoul, president of the Catholic Caritas charity. "Maybe they'd say, 'you know, an evil I know is better than an angel I don't know.' It's like, 'I know the regime at least, I don't know what's going to come next."

Many Christians are fearful of what might happen if the rebels win. They worry they could face the same kind of religious persecution they've seen in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

"You'd see militiamen come in front of churches and making screams, and you know, shooting in the air and such to scare people off," Faddoul said.

There are no official statistics on how many Christians have left Syria since the civil war began. Aphram says he hopes to start a new life in the West.

"If things keep going the way they are in Syria, there will be no Christians left there," he said.

This ancient community may be the next casualty of the civil war.

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