Mission

A Lewiston mission that provides clothing, free meals and a safe place for at-risk youth to do homework has been vandalized twice in the past week. Chris Pope, director of The Root Cellar, says a rock the size of a softball was thrown through a double-paned glass door in the rear of the building on Monday, landing 20 to 30 feet inside the dining area. Then on Tuesday, a rock was hurled through a front window. Police are investigating. Pope tells the Sun Journal he is not angry.

German Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to extend the country's contribution to the NATO-led mission in Kosovo for another year. Parliament voted 486 for the extension and 70 against on Friday, with eight abstentions. Under the approved mandate, Germany can send as many as 1,850 soldiers but currently only has about 1,200 there, and is expected to reduce that even further to about 700 in the coming weeks. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and is recognized by many countries, including most EU nations and the United States, but not by Serbia or Russia.

As it enters its 25th year, the Nashua Pastoral Care Center is assuming a new name. The nonprofit will now be called the Front Door Agency, but its mission will not change: helping area residents, primarily single mothers, transition from crisis to self-suffiency. The name change was made to avoid the misconception that the organization is a faith-based group.Tom Long

Your May 7 editorial " Sweeping changes needed to curb abuses at local housing authorities " tars all housing authorities based on transgressions at two large urban agencies — two out of 242 authorities, 200 of which are small town agencies; a number of these town agencies take no support from the state, but pay their own way. All 242 authorities comply with 19 sets of state regulations and numerous federal rules. Rents are capped, as are operating expenses. Subsidies are underfunded by $50 million a year.

Imax Corp., the maker of giant-screen movie systems, said box-office revenue rose 45 percent this year through Feb. 12 from the same period in 2011. The Ontario company said worldwide receipts at Imax cinemas totaled $55 million. About half of that was from the Tom Cruise movie "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," which has grossed $70 million at Imax theaters since December.

The U.N. says it's critical that the Syrian government give the Arab League's observer mission unhindered access and its full cooperation as thousands of protesters take to that country's streets to underscore their defiance of the regime. Martin Nesirky, spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, said Friday that the league efforts to peacefully resolve the crisis in Syria are important. Nesirky spoke as a deeply divided Security Council has yet to pass a resolution condemning the violence which the U.N. says has killed more than 5,000 people.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Arab League halted its observer mission to Syria today, sharply criticizing the regime of President Bashar Assad for escalating violence in recent days that has killed nearly 100 people across the country. The rising bloodshed has added urgency to new attempts by Arab and Western countries to find a resolution to the 10 months of violence that according to the United Nations has killed at least 5,400 people as Assad seeks to crush persistent protests demanding an end to his rule.

Three of Doolittle's Raiders who helped boost American morale during the early days of World War II recalled the dangers of their bold bombing attack on Japan mainland. Airman Edward Saylor didn't expect to come back alive when his B-25 set off on the 1942 mission. "Some of the group thought they'd make it," Saylor said Saturday. "But the odds were so bad. " Saylor and the other 79 Doolittle's Raiders were forced to take off in rainy, windy conditions significantly further from Japan than planned, straining their fuel capacity.

ORONO, Maine -- An Army staff sergeant who was buried yesterday was worried about the mission on which he died in Iraq, his young widow said. Eric Ross, 26, told his wife that the mission in the city of Baqubah, just outside the notorious Sunni Triangle, was poorly planned. "He was scared about it," said Allison Ross, 19, of Lisbon. That online communication was the last they had. The next day, an Army official arrived on her doorstep. Governor John Baldacci ordered flags lowered to half-staff yesterday as Ross's funeral was held in the...

EVEN BEFORE the Arab League observers arrived in Syria last month, they found themselves the butt of jokes and widespread scorn. Syrian opposition expressed skepticism that the unarmed, untrained observers - dressed in bright orange vests that resemble lifejackets - would stop President Bashar al-Assad's forces from killing civilians. Human rights activists pointed out that the group's leader - Mustafa al-Dabi, a Sudanese general with close ties to a regime that has been accused of genocide in Darfur - hardly boosted its credibility.

The head of the U.N. nuclear agency arrived Monday in Tehran on a key mission that could lead to the resumption of probes by the watchdog on whether Iran has secretly worked on an atomic weapon. It would also strength the Islamic Republic's negotiating hand in crucial nuclear talks with six world powers later this week in Baghdad. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano and his two aides were quickly whisked away after landing at the Tehran airport before dawn Monday.

When little Caleigh Harrison went missing from a Rockport beach last month, local police, state troopers, and the Coast Guard — with divers, helicopters, and teams of dogs — joined the search. Several days later, the family called in another resource: Mission for the Missing. Mission for the Missing is a nonprofit, volunteer group of private investigators, crime analysts, and forensic specialists who search for missing people, at no cost to their frantic families. Alan Tate, who has his own investigative firm, Metro Investigation in...

Poland's president says he will press NATO leaders at an upcoming summit to stick to plans to end its military mission in Afghanistan in 2014, and for member states to offer financial support to the nation after troops have left. Bronislaw Komorowski said Friday he will press for NATO to confirm U.S. President Barack Obama's plans for the withdrawal at the summit in Chicago from May 20-21. Poland has some 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, and has been reducing its contingent. Komorowski also said those giving any financial aid will face "tough decisions" as to whether the...

FBI Special Agent Harold Haberfeld's ill-fated mission to North Africa during World War II was so secret that even now, 69 years after the plane crash that kept him from completing it, his home bureau in Buffalo isn't entirely sure what his role was. As Buffalo agents dedicated a memorial in Haberfeld's honor on Thursday, they said they're asking FBI headquarters in Washington to declassify the information. "Special Agent Haberfeld never reached his final destination," Buffalo Special Agent In Charge Christopher Piehota said.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent The city said it has approved a proposal for a 39 affordable senior rental units in a four-story building in Mission Hill. The plans for 28-30 Gurney St. call for constructing an about 35,000 square foot building with 35 units reserved for tenants at or below 50 percent of the area median income and four units for those at or below 30 percent of area median income, city officials announced in a statement Wednesday. Led by the Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services and the...

American military advisers in Uganda are drawing on lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan to help train African Union soldiers to fight Somalia's most powerful insurgent group, al-Shabab. Earlier this year, a small contingent of U.S. Marines joined American military contractors at a training base nestled in Uganda's rolling countryside about 2 ½ hours drive from the capital, helping fill gaps where the al-Qaida-linked fighters have found weaknesses. The base, called Singo, was built by the U.S. and is a key part of the Obama...

Bedford-based iRobot Corp. has received a $21 million order from the Naval Sea Systems Command for more than 100 robots that can perform bomb-disposal operations and other dangerous missions. This is the fourth order under a larger $230 million contract. The company said it has received $36 million in orders under this contract so far. It has delivered more than 4,000 unmanned ground vehicles to military and civil defense forces worldwide. A separate iRobot division makes robotic household vacuum cleaners.

THE BOSTON Scholar Athletes program, profiled in Lawrence Harmon's April 14 Op-ed column "Boston's A+ student athletes," is an exemplary organization whose important, compelling mission is backed by dedicated volunteer leaders. I have the good fortune to collaborate daily with nonprofits across the Commonwealth. They have similarly important missions and equally dedicated volunteers, and are all engaged in essential work. Why then, in shining a well-deserved light on Boston Scholar Athletes, would Harmon denigrate other nonprofits with the line "A lot of nonprofit groups would...

Three of Doolittle's Raiders who helped boost American morale during the early days of World War II recalled the dangers of their bold bombing attack on Japan mainland. Airman Edward Saylor didn't expect to come back alive when his B-25 set off on the 1942 mission. "Some of the group thought they'd make it," Saylor said Saturday. "But the odds were so bad. " Saylor and the other 79 Doolittle's Raiders were forced to take off in rainy, windy conditions significantly further from Japan than planned, straining their fuel capacity.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned troops Friday that it takes just seconds for misconduct to make headlines and said that enemy insurgents can use recent military scandals to fuel their fight. Speaking to soldiers at Fort Benning, Ga., where Panetta began his military career as an Army lieutenant nearly 50 years ago, the defense chief delivered a personal plea, urging troops to honor their military values. "These days, it takes only seconds — seconds — for a picture, a photo, to suddenly become an international headline," Panetta said.