NewsCosmos

Five years ago today, four American contractors were killed in one of the Iraq war’s most heinous slayings, their bodies mutilated and strung up from a bridge. Blackwater has since changed its name; the families say many questions remain. “I lost my son, and Blackwater lost the dignity of the company they thought they were,” Donna Zovko says.

By the time the police officer kicked the door in, it was too late. Kerby Revelus was holding his 5-year-old sister, Bianca, and while the officer watched, he dragged a kitchen knife across her throat with such fury that he decapitated her.

Desperation, sophisticated smuggling operations and the emergence of a small Italian island as a migrant destination provide the sad backdrop to Monday’s tragedy in the Mediterranean — the capsizing of boats carrying migrants from Libya to Italy.

Addie Polk, who became the national face of the foreclosure crisis last fall when she shot herself during an eviction, was a quiet woman who never asked for help.

Hundreds of French workers, angry about proposed layoffs at a Caterpillar office, were holding executives of the company hostage Tuesday, a spokesman for the workers said.

Ford is the only major U.S. carmaker that is getting by without U.S. taxpayer money.

Amanda Mezyk had developed a close bond with her employers’ children as their live-in nanny, which is why it was so painful when her bosses told her she was being laid off.

For Cathy Miller, the night of February 17, 1986, was like any other in the quiet Georgia town of Warner Robins. Then came a knock at the door. A child told Miller that her 13-year-old son, Chuck Mauk, was hurt. Chuck had gone to the store for candy and gum. As Miller arrived, a crowd was gathering. Chuck had been shot to death. Twenty-three years later, the shooting remains a mystery.

Here’s something to think about:

David Bill isn’t annoyed when Twitter gets so bogged down with traffic that he can’t post a message.