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Boris re-elected
mayor of London

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LONDON — London’s rumpled, comic and outspoken Boris Johnson has won a second term as mayor of the British capital, triumphing in a surprisingly close election that installs the unvarnished and unpredictable Conservative as host of the 2012 Olympics.

Johnson’s victory, in election results confirmed late Friday, was a bright spot on a rough day for his colleagues in Prime Minister David Cameron’s governing Conservative Party, who took a drubbing in local elections.

Voters stripped both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats — the junior partner in Britain’s coalition government — of hundreds of local authority seats, punishing them for biting austerity measures and Britain’s stalled economy.

Known best for his shock of blond hair, and sometimes shocking outbursts, the 47-year-old Johnson narrowly beat out the Labour Party’s Ken Livingstone — his predecessor as mayor — for the privilege of leading Britain’s capital into the global spotlight when the Summer Games begin on July 27.

In his victory speech, Johnson thanked voters for giving him a “new chance” and promised to continue “fighting for a good deal for Londoners.”

Syrian forces kill teen in Aleppo protests following deadly university raid

BEIRUT — Syrian forces fired on thousands of protesters Friday in Aleppo, killing a teenager, after a raid on dormitories at the city’s main university killed four students and enflamed tensions in a key bastion of support for the regime.

An Aleppo-based activist said the protests were the largest the city has seen since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 2011. Aleppo is a major economic hub that has remained largely loyal to Assad over the course of the 14-month uprising.

“The people are incensed by what happened at the university,” said the activist, Mohammed Saeed. “Everyone wants to express solidarity with those students.”

Saeed said security forces were out in full force, firing live ammunition to disperse protesters and arresting people randomly.

“With our blood, we sacrifice for you students!” people shouted.

Researchers: Men with breast cancer fare worse than women, don’t recognize the warning signs

CHICAGO — Men rarely get breast cancer, but those who do often don’t survive as long as women, largely because they don’t even realize they can get it and are slow to recognize the warning signs, researchers say.

On average, women with breast cancer lived two years longer than men in the biggest study yet of the disease in males.

The study found that men’s breast tumors were larger at diagnosis, more advanced and more likely to have spread to other parts of the body. Men were also diagnosed later in life; in the study, they were 63 on average, versus 59 for women.

Many men have no idea that they can get breast cancer, and some doctors are in the dark, too, dismissing symptoms that would be an automatic red flag in women, said study leader Dr. Jon Greif, a breast cancer surgeon in Oakland, Calif.

The American Cancer Society estimates 1 in 1,000 men will get breast cancer, versus 1 in 8 women. By comparison, 1 in 6 men will get prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men.

By wire sources