Midday Roundup: Russia ramps up Syrian attacks despite Western protests

Putin’s playground. As Russia continues to flex its muscles in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to compare notes. By coordinating more closely with the United States and its allies in Syria, Putin says he hopes to avoid accidental clashes with coalition forces. But U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says the United States will not cooperate with the Kremlin until it stops attacking U.S.-backed rebel forces fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Putin claims his goal is to help defeat ISIS, but the White House says his real objective is to prop up the Assad regime. Russia has moved attack helicopters 100 miles inland in Syria to strike rebel positions, for the first time in concert with Syrian government forces. And Russian warships in the Caspian Sea have fired cruise missiles over Iran and Iraq to hit rebel targets in Syria, endangering U.S. warplanes in the region. Most troubling of all, Russian fighter jets have shadowed U.S. predator drones in Syria. NATO leaders are keeping a close eye on Russian infringement on Turkey’s airspace, calling Russia’s military escalation “troubling.”

Deadly drug mix-up. Oklahoma Corrections Department officials used the wrong drug to stop an inmate’s heart during a recent execution, state documents show. Executioners were supposed to use potassium chloride during Charles Frederick Warner’s execution in January, but they used potassium acetate instead. The same drug mix-up happened late last month before convicted murder Richard Glossip was scheduled to die. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin issued an emergency stay in that case after learning about the drug problems and put all other executions on hold until the investigation is complete. “It is imperative that the attorney general obtain the information he needs to make sure justice is served competently and fairly,” she said in an email to The Oklahoman. “Until we have complete confidence in the system, we will delay any further executions.”

Searching for answers. German prosecutors raided Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg headquarters and other offices today looking for documents and data storage devices in the investigation into the company’s rigging of emissions control devices on some of its diesel vehicles. Company officials say they are cooperating and handed over “comprehensive” documentation. Across the Atlantic, Volkswagen executives took a turn in the Washington hot seat today, appearing before a congressional panel inquiry into the emissions scandal. The company has admitted to installing software in the cars that turned on emissions controls during testing and turned them off during normal driving conditions, making the vehicles perform better but pollute more. Official investigations in several different countries are trying to figure out how high up the company’s chain of command the conspiracy to trick regulators went.

Hypnotic heartbreak. A Florida school district has agreed to pay $200,000 each to three families whose children died after being hypnotized by a high school principal. Parents of Wesley McKinley, Brittany Palumbo, and Marcus Freeman sued the Sarasota County School District because former principal George Kenney had protection from personal lawsuits as a district employee. Kenney apparently hypnotized 75 students and staff at North Port High School, even though he wasn’t a licensed hypnotherapist. McKinley and Palumbo killed themselves, and Freeman died in a car accident after self-hypnotizing using a technique Kenney taught him. The former principal resigned in 2012 and was charged with two misdemeanors, for which he served one year of probation. He also gave up his teaching license.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.