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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria » Days later, the survivors' faces tensed at the memory of the grim evening: soldiers dousing thatched-roof homes with gasoline, setting them on fire and shooting residents when they tried to flee. As the village rose up in smoke, one said, a soldier threw a child back into the flames.

New contracts giving raises to the bulk of the roughly 8,500 city employees are projected to cost the city about $26 million in the coming year.

Six Hawaii high schools have earned spots on a list of the nation's most challenging public secondary schools.

An 83-year-old United Airlines passenger who earlier this month hid his 31⁄2-inch pocketknife in an empty toothbrush container said he was afraid it would be confiscated.

Puccini's "Tosca" remains one of the most popular of operas, partly because of its jam-packed melodramatic plot (don't blink — every line is essential), but also because it serves as a parable about the struggle between good and evil.

Our state leaders were busy angling for power and giving away money as we plant tongue in cheek and "flASHback" on the week's news that amused and confused:

On May 9, Hawaii will be the only state to see the first solar eclipse of 2013. At the peak of the eclipse, at 3:48 p.m., a viewer using a safe filter will see 44 percent of the sun blocked by the moon.

Each Sunday, the Star-Advertiser publishes Oahu vital statistics for marriage licenses, civil unions and birth certificates filed with the state Department of Health's Vital Statistics System.

Neighborhood Board e-voting to begin • Study shows importance of seafloor algae • Woman's death might be result of foul play; and more

6 kayakers safe after Coast Guard rescue • 19-year-old charged with robbing teens

Property owners who persistently leave trash or excessive overgrowth on their land, beware!

A suspicious item left in front of a Waikiki jewelry store prompted police to close Kalakaua Avenue for two hours Friday afternoon and evacuate part of Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, the second bomb scare in Hono­lulu in as many days.

情報提供：人気ツアーを日本から安心予約　TPハワイ・ツアーズ

　ホノルル市のロン・メイナー議員が、オアフ島内にある市バスの停留所での喫煙を禁止する新法案を提案していることが明らかになった。　今回メイナー議員が提案している法案28では、島内に約4,000カ所設置されているバス停の周囲20フィート圏内での喫煙を禁止するというもので、 メイナー議員は「バス停での禁煙法案は、バスを利用する市民の健康を守ることになるでしょう」と語っている。　一方バス停での禁煙法案反対派からは「バスの利用者は、バス停でバスを待つ間にタバコの何倍も影響のある車の排気ガスなどにさらされており、タバコ1本の影響を懸念してバス停での喫煙を禁止するなんて馬鹿げている」、「喫煙をするか否かは個人の自由で、バス停での喫煙を禁止する事は個人の自由を侵害することになります」などの意見が上がっている。　なお、法案28は5月8日に正式に市議会に提出される見込みとなっている。
参考：ハワイ・ニュース・ナウ

 ハワイアン電気局（HECO）は昨日、州内で利用されている太陽光発電などの再生可能エネルギーによる発電量が、順調に増加傾向にあると発表した。　HECOによると、2012年度の州内の再生可能エネルギーによる発電量は13.9%で、前年の12%より飛躍的に増加しており、このまま発電量が順調な伸びを示せば、2015年には目標として掲げている発電量15%、2030年の40%も達成できるのではないかとしている。　なお、今回の再生可能エネルギーの発電量は、オアフ島、マウイ島、ハワイ島の3島の住宅や公共施設などの屋根に設置されている太陽光発電のほか、マウイ島とオアフ島の風力発電、ハワイ島の地熱発電が含まれている。
参考：ホノルル・スター・アドバタイザー

WASHINGTON » Andy Welsh of Portland, Ore., was so enthusiastic about President Barack Obama's first run for the White House that he voted absentee while spending a semester abroad in Spain. But Welsh, now 26 and an aspiring diplomat, said the gridlock in Washington has been "a real bummer ever since."

SAN MARINO, Calif. » Beneath the palm trees that line Huntington Drive, named for the railroad magnate who founded this Southern California city, hang signs to honor families who have helped sponsor the centennial celebration here this year.

The forecast called for record snowstorms, and Luis Octavio Lopez Vega had no heat in his small hide-out.

Lawmakers on Thursday signed off on $116 million to pay for raises and health benefits built into the first two years of the contract that teachers overwhelmingly approved last week.

Hawaii is poised to become the second state, after New York, to grant basic employee rights to in-home domestic workers by ensuring they be eligible for minimum wage, maximum hours and other protections.