Museum attack in Tunisian capital kills 19; 2 gunmen slain

Museum attack in Tunisian capital kills 19; 2 gunmen slain 
 

A victim arrives at the Charles Nicoles hospital after gunmen attacked the National Bardo Museum in central Tunis, Wednesday, March 18, 2015. Gunmen opened fire Wednesday at a major museum in Tunisia's capital, killing scores of people, mostly foreigners, in one of the worst terrorist attacks in this struggling North African democracy that depends heavily on tourism.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- Foreign tourists scrambled in panic Wednesday after militants stormed a museum in Tunisia's capital and killed 19 people, "shooting at anything that moved," a witness said.

Two gunmen were slain by security forces following the deadliest attack on civilians in the North African country in 13 years, and the president said the young democracy was embroiled in a war with terror.

The militants, who wore military-style uniforms and wielded assault rifles, burst from a vehicle and began gunning down tourists climbing out of buses at the National Bardo Museum. The attackers then charged inside to take hostages before being killed in a firefight with security forces.

Authorities launched a manhunt for two or three accomplices in the attack. Prime Minister Habib Essid said the two Tunisian gunmen killed 17 tourists - five from Japan, four from Italy, two from Colombia, two from Spain, and one each from Australia, Poland and France. The nationality of one dead foreigner was not released. Essid said two Tunisian nationals also were killed by the militants.

At least 44 people were wounded, including tourists from Italy, France, Japan, South Africa, Poland, Belgium and Russia, according to Essid and doctors from Tunis' Charles Nicolle.

"I want the people of Tunisia to understand firstly and lastly that we are in a war with terror, and these savage minority groups will not frighten us," said newly elected President Beji Caid Essebsi in an evening address to the nation. "The fight against them will continue until they are exterminated."

Tunisians overthrew their dictator in 2011 and kicked off the Arab Spring that spread across the region. While the uprising built a new democracy, the country has also struggled with economic problems and attacks by extremists.

Essid identified the slain gunmen as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui.

Twitter accounts associated with the extremist Islamic State group based in Syria and Iraq were described as overjoyed at the attack, urging Tunisians to "follow their brothers," according to Rita Katz of SITE, a U.S.-based organization that monitors militant groups.

The assault at the Bardo, Tunisia's largest museum that is housed in a 15th century palace, began sometime after noon local time as scores of European tourists were visiting.

Josep Lluis Cusido, the mayor of the Spanish town of Vallmoll, said he saw people being gunned down on the plaza outside the museum before the gunmen moved inside.

"After they entered the museum. I saw their faces: They were about 10 meters away from me, shooting at anything that moved," Cusido told Spain's Cadena Ser radio station.

"I managed to hide behind a pillar, there were unlucky people who they killed right there," he said, adding that he and his wife spent nearly three hours in the museum until they got out uninjured.

Dozens of tourists scrambled from the museum linking arms or clutching children as Tunisian police and security forces pointed their weapons at the building. The museum, 4 kilometers (2 1/2 miles) from the city center, is located near the national parliament building, which was evacuated.

Some of the Italians at the museum were believed to have been passengers from the Costa Fascinosa, a cruise liner that had docked in Tunis while on a seven-day tour of the western Mediterranean. Ship owner Costa Crociere confirmed that some of its 3,161 passengers were visiting Tunis and that a Bardo tour was on the itinerary, but said it couldn't confirm how many were in the museum at the time.

The Bardo, a popular tourist attraction, houses one of the world's largest collections of Roman mosaics among its 8,000 works.

On Wednesday night, parliament held an extraordinary session where Speaker Mohammed Ennaceur called for the creation of a special fund to combat terrorism. He also called for the rapid passage of the anti-terror law that parliament had been debating when the attack took place.

Hours after the police ended the siege, thousands of Tunisians flocked to downtown's landmark Bourguiba Avenue, where the revolution took place, for a nighttime rally. They chanted for a "Free Tunisia" in defiance of terrorism.

Essid said the attack was an unprecedented assault on the economy. It came as Tunisia's all-important tourism business was starting to rebuild after drastic losses following the post-revolutionary turmoil. Numbers of arrivals for 2014 had begun to approach the levels of 2010 - before the revolution.

It was the worst attack in the country since an al-Qaida militant detonated a truck bomb in front of a historic synagogue on the Tunisia's island of Djerba in 2002, killing 21, mostly German tourists.

Tunisia has been more stable than other countries in the region, but has struggled with violence by Islamic extremists who have sworn allegiance to both al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

A disproportionately large number of Tunisian recruits - some 3,000, according to government estimates - have joined Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq and many have received training in neighboring Libya.

The U.S. Embassy in Tunis was attacked in September 2012, seriously damaging the embassy grounds and an adjoining American school. Four of the assailants were killed.

Overall, though, violence in Tunisia in recent years has been largely focused on security forces, not foreigners or tourist sites.

In October 2013, a young man blew himself up on a beach in the coastal town of Sousse after being chased from a hotel, causing many to expect a new wave of attacks on tourism. None materialized until now.

The United States, France, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations denounced the bloodshed. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington "condemns in the strongest possible terms today's deadly terrorist attack" and praised Tunisia's "rapid response" to resolve the hostage situation and restore calm.

Speaking at the Louvre museum to call for international efforts to preserve the heritage of Iraq and Syria against extremist destruction, French President Francois Hollande said he had called Tunisia's president to offer support and solidarity.

"Each time a terrorist crime is committed, we are all concerned," Hollande said.

North Africa analyst Geoff Porter said an attack on a tourism site has long been expected as the militants come under pressure from increasingly effective Tunisian security forces.

"Today's attack did not come out of nowhere. In fact, it comes amid ongoing counterterrorism efforts elsewhere in the country," he said about the attack. "Increasing pressure on terrorist activities ... may have squeezed the balloon, with terrorists seeking softer targets with more symbolic impact in the capital."

The attack came the day after Tunisian security officials confirmed the death in neighboring Libya of Ahmed Rouissi, leading suspect in Tunisian terror attacks and in the killings of two opposition figures in Tunisia.

Rouissi had become a field commander for the Islamic State in Libya and died fighting near the town of Sirte, highlighting how Libya has increasingly become a sanctuary for Tunisian radicals.

Tunisia has repeatedly expressed concern over the security threat from Libya, where central government has broken down since the 2011 ouster of Moammar Gadhafi and is now run by competing militias.

Oregon is first state to adopt automatic voter registration

Oregon is first state to adopt automatic voter registration 
 

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown holds up an automatic voter registration bill after signing it, Monday, March 16, 2015, in Salem, Ore. Seventeen years after Oregon decided to become the first state in the nation to hold all elections by mail ballot, it is taking another pioneering step to encourage more people to cast ballots, by automatically registering them to vote.

  

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Seventeen years after Oregon decided to become the first state to hold all elections with mail-in ballots, it took another pioneering step on Monday to broaden participation by automatically registering people to vote.

Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill that puts the burden of registration on the state instead of voters.

Under the legislation, every adult citizen in Oregon who has interacted with the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division since 2013 but hasn't registered to vote will receive a ballot in the mail at least 20 days before the next statewide election. The measure is expected to add about 300,000 new voters to the rolls.

"It just changes expectations for who's responsible for making elections work," said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and director of the Elections Research Center. "In every other state it's the responsibility for the voters to make sure it happens."

Some other states have considered such legislation but none has gone as far as Oregon.

Minnesota nearly implemented automatic voter registration in 2009 before the plan was vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who said "registering to vote should be a voluntary, intentional act."

Similar concerns were raised by Oregon's minority Republicans.

"Simply because it makes us unique or makes us first does not necessarily mean that it actually improves on what we're doing," said state Sen. Jackie Winters, a Republican from Salem.

Oregon Republicans also voiced worry about potential voter fraud, the cost of implementing the measure, and whether the DMV can ensure personal information remains secure.

Information the DMV has on file, such as age, residential information, signature and citizenship status, will be transferred to the secretary of state, who will then automatically update registration information.

When it came up for a vote in the state Senate last week, all Republicans and one Democrat voted against it. The Democrats hold a 18-12 advantage in the Senate so the bill easily passed.

State Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, a Portland Democrat who carried the bill in the Senate, said there were rumblings the measure was a "secret plot" to enroll more Democrats. But she denied that was true.

Oregon already has one of the highest voter registration rates in the nation - 73 percent of Oregonians were registered to vote and 70 percent of them cast ballots during the 2014 general election.

Tony Green, spokesman for the secretary of state, said the legislation is expected to eventually capture all unregistered voters who are in the DMV database after taking actions such as obtaining or renewing a driver's license.

Two years ago, when the measure was first proposed, Green said there were questions about whether the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division records were confidential under federal law. The legislative counsel determined the secretary of state and the division could share information as long as it was for legitimate government purposes, he said.

People eligible to vote will get a postcard saying they've been registered and have three weeks to opt out. They'll be automatically registered as unaffiliated but can select a political party from the postcard and return it to election officials through the mail.

Automatic registration is not uncommon in other countries. A 2009 report by the Brennan Center for Justice says nations where the government takes the lead in enrolling voters have much higher registration rates. Argentina has a 100 percent registration rate, while Sweden, Australia and Canada all have registration rates over 90 percent.

Myrna Perez, deputy director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, said a state needs to already have reliable agency records of eligible Americans who have demonstrated citizenship in order to successfully follow in Oregon's footsteps.

Oregon only grants driver's licenses to people who can prove they're in the U.S. legally by presenting passports, birth certificates or other documents.

David House, a spokesman for the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division, has said the agency can separate citizens from noncitizens based on those documents.

Oregonians were the first to see all-mail elections, and the state has since been followed by Washington state and Colorado.

"Oregon is a true leader in accessibility to voting and I challenge every other state in this nation to examine their policies and find ways to ensure there are as few barriers as possible in the way of the citizen's right to vote," Brown said.

Part-time Ferguson mayor in full-time spotlight

Part-time Ferguson mayor in full-time spotlight 
 

FILE - In this March 11, 2015 file photo, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III announces the resignation of police chief Thomas Jackson during a news conference in Ferguson, Mo. Despite calls for him to go, Knowles is the last man standing in Ferguson city government after a Justice Department report highly critical of the city’s police force and court system prompted six officials to resign.

  

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- In the days since the release of a Justice Department report that found widespread racial bias in the Ferguson Police Department, the mayor of the St. Louis suburb has become a part-time public servant in a full-time spotlight.

The attention has only intensified as six city employees - most notably the police chief and city manager - have been fired or stepped down.

But Mayor James Knowles III remains, making just $4,200 a year in a job he called basically ceremonial before a white police officer shot an unarmed black 18-year-old in August, prompting weeks of sometimes-violent protests and the Justice Department inquiry. He's now so involved that he's opened a City Hall office and insists he will stay to see the city through the changes it must make.

On Friday, five residents filed an affidavit seeking to recall Knowles. They have 60 days to collect enough signatures - 15 percent of registered voters in the last mayoral election - to qualify for a special election.

Knowles said he has no plans to step aside.

"Obviously there are people on the street calling for my resignation, but my voicemail, my text messages and my Facebook are full with literally hundreds of people who want me to stay," Knowles said in an Associated Press interview Friday. "Somebody has to show leadership, and I'm focused on how we can move this community forward."

He argues that Ferguson's city manager form of government made him more figurehead than administrator, leading the city council but lacking the power to do much else. But critics say he must have known about the lax police oversight, racial profiling and profit-driven court practices cited in the Justice Department report released March 4.

"I want the mayor out," said Kayla Reed, 25, of the Organization for Black Struggle. "True accountability means clean house, top to bottom."

Knowles, who grew up in Ferguson, was just a few years out of Truman State University when he defeated an incumbent for election to the city council in 2005. He was elected state chairman of the Missouri Federation of Young Republicans in 2008 and was on the fast-track, earning mention in 2009 in the St. Louis Business Journal's "30 Under 30" list. He was elected to his current post in 2011, becoming one of Missouri's youngest mayors, and re-elected without opposition in 2014.

But he was little known outside the area until Aug. 9, when Officer Darren Wilson shot 18-year-old Michael Brown and Ferguson found itself suddenly in the national spotlight. After the shooting, Knowles and Police Chief Tom Jackson became the public face of Ferguson, holding news conferences, hosting public forums and reaching out to civil rights leaders and protesters. Meanwhile, City Manager John Shaw, who made $120,000 a year until he resigned Tuesday, remained out of sight. Assistant city manager, Pam Hylton, has been named the interim city manager.

Knowles has a full-time job: general manager of the state-contracted motor vehicle license office in Ferguson. He said he typically works about 60 hours a week, evenly splitting the time between the two duties.

"I'm a phenomenal multitasker," he joked, adding that he bounces between the offices, which are within walking distance of each other, throughout the day.

Knowles has sought to be a reassuring presence for supporters and critics alike. At a council meeting Tuesday, he sat patiently as some residents loudly called for his ouster. He was equally passive as others praised him and the council. When a brief shouting match began between a city critic and supporter, he urged both sides to calm down.

Knowles, who is white, has deep roots in the city of 21,000, where two-thirds of residents are black. He was a top wrestler at McCluer High School and has been an assistant wrestling coach at another mostly black high school for several years. He and his wife are expecting their first child in May.

He was drawn to politics in fourth grade, when his father ran for city council (he lost but won on a subsequent try.) Former Mayor Brian Fletcher, who worked alongside him when he was a young councilman, said Knowles has a bit of ego, like most politicians. He isn't up for re-election for another two years, and Fletcher believes he'll ride out the storm.

"He's in a tough situation," Fletcher said. "He's taken a lead. From the people I've talked to they're very pleased with the way he's handled himself under a very difficult circumstance, a very difficult time for our community."

But Rasheen Aldridge, director of Young Activists United St. Louis and a member of the Ferguson Commission appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon, believes Knowles needs to follow the police chief and city manager out the door. The Justice Department report - a companion to one that cleared Wilson of any wrongdoing - laid bare instances of racial profiling and bias in the police department and a municipal court system that profited largely on the backs of blacks.

"When all of this stuff was going on, there's no way you can be the mayor of the town and not look at how much money is coming in, and even if you see it you don't raise a concern," Aldridge said. "This is his city. He's the mayor, and he needs to be held accountable."

Iraq militia leader hails Iran's 'unconditional' support

Iraq militia leader hails Iran's 'unconditional' support 
 

Members of an Iraqi Shiite militant group called Soldiers of Imam Ali Brigades prepare to launch rockets against Islamic State extremists' positions in Qadisiyya neighborhood in Tikrit, 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 13, 2015. Iraqi forces entered Tikrit for the first time on Wednesday from the north and south. On Friday, they fought fierce battles to secure the northern Tikrit neighborhood of Qadisiyya and lobbed mortars and rockets into the city center, still in the hands of IS. Iraqi military officials have said they expect to reach the center of Tikrit within two to three days.

  

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -- The U.S. has failed to live up to its promises to help Iraq fight Islamic State extremists, unlike the "unconditional" assistance being given by Iran, the commander of Iraq's powerful Shiite militias alleged Friday.

In a battlefield interview near Tikrit, where Iraqi forces are fighting to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown from the militants of the so-called Islamic State, commander Hadi al-Amiri criticized those who "kiss the hands of the Americans and get nothing in return."

Iraqi forces entered Tikrit for the first time Wednesday from the north and south. On Friday, they waged fierce battles to secure the northern neighborhood of Qadisiyya and lobbed mortar shells and rockets into the city center, still in the hands of IS militants. Iraqi military officials have said they expect to reach central Tikrit in two to three days.

The Iranian-backed Shiite militias have played a crucial role in regaining territory from the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group, supporting Iraq's embattled military and police forces.

An Iraqi government official told The Associated Press that Iran has sold Baghdad nearly $10 billion in arms and hardware, mostly weapons for urban warfare like assault rifles, heavy machine-guns and rocket launchers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

In November, President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of up to 1,500 more U.S. troops to bolster Iraqi forces, which could more than double the total of American forces in Iraq to 3,100. The Pentagon has made a spending request to Congress of $1.6 billion, focusing on training and arming Kurdish and Iraqi forces. According to a Pentagon document prepared in November, the U.S. is looking to provide an estimated $89.3 million in weapons and equipment to each of the nine Iraqi brigades.

The U.S.-led coalition of eight countries has launched more than 2,000 airstrikes in Iraq alone since August 2014, and the U.S. is also hitting the militant group from the air in Syria. Iraqi and U.S. officials have acknowledged the role airstrikes have played in rolling back the militants, saying the air campaign was an essential component in victories at the Mosul Dam, in Amirli, and more recently, in the crucial oil refining town of Beiji.

But the U.S. is not taking part in the operation in Tikrit, with U.S. officials saying they were not asked by Iraq to participate.

Al-Amiri, the Shiite militia commander who also is head of the Badr Organization political party, said that "help from Iran is unconditional."

He warned that Iraq should not sacrifice its sovereignty for the sake of receiving weapons and assistance from the U.S., suggesting the Iraqi government is taking instructions from Washington.

"Our sovereignty is more important than U.S. weapons," he said. "We can bring weapons from any country in the world."

Separately, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, urged the government to step up its support for the Shiite militias and to take care of the families of militiamen killed in battle. His remarks were relayed by his spokesman Ahmed al-Safi in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

As many as 30,000 men are fighting the extremists in Tikrit - most of them volunteers with various Shiite militias, Iraqi officials say. U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey said Wednesday that up to 20,000 militiamen may be involved.

Karim al-Nouri, a spokesman for the Popular Mobilization Forces, the official name of the Shiite militias, said as many as 40 Iranian advisers are also taking part.

In its march across Syria and northern and western Iraq, the Islamic State group - also known as ISIS or ISIL - has seized cities, towns and vast tracts of land. Its predominantly Sunni fighters view Shiites as apostates and have carried out a number of massacres.

On Friday, a prominent Iraqi Sunni preacher urged authorities to prevent Shiite militias from carrying out revenge attacks on Sunnis in Tikrit. In his appeal, Sheik Abdel Sattar Abdul Jabbar cited reports of Shiite militiamen burning Sunni homes in the battle.

"We ask that actions follow words to punish those who are attacking houses in Tikrit," Abdul Jabbar said during his Friday sermon in Baghdad. "We are sorry about those acting in revenge that might ignite tribal anger and add to our sectarian problems."

Abdul Jabbar said that if the government failed to stop revenge attacks by Shiite militias, Iraq would face reignited sectarian tensions, similar to those it witnessed at the height of Iraq's sectarian wars in 2006 and 2007.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi last week called on his forces to protect civilians and their property in recaptured areas, vowing zero tolerance for any violations. He also urged Sunnis who may have welcomed the initial onslaught or fought beside the militants to give up their support for IS.

"I call upon those who have been misled or committed a mistake to lay down arms and join their people and security forces in order to liberate their cities," al-Abadi said.

Human Rights Watch said Friday the Shiite militias have engaged in "deliberate destruction of civilian property" after security forces recaptured the town of Amirli and other areas where Sunni militants were driven out. In a report titled, "After Liberation Came Destruction: Iraqi Militias and the Aftermath of Amerli," the rights group cited evidence that militias looted the property of Sunni civilians who had fled fighting, burned their homes and businesses, and destroyed at least two villages.

"Iraq clearly faces serious threats in its conflict with ISIS, but the abuses committed by forces fighting ISIS are so rampant and egregious that they are threatening Iraq long-term," said Joe Stork, the deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Iraqis are caught between the horrors ISIS commits and abusive behavior by militias, and ordinary Iraqis are paying the price."

 

On two fronts, Iraqi forces battle Islamic State for Tikrit

On two fronts, Iraqi forces battle Islamic State for Tikrit 
 

Iraqi security forces patrol in Tikrit, 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 12, 2015. Rockets and mortars echoed across Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Thursday as Iraqi security forces clashed with Islamic State militants a day after sweeping into the Sunni city north of Baghdad.

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqi troops clashed along two fronts with Islamic State militants in Tikrit on Thursday as rockets and mortars echoed across Saddam Hussein's hometown a day after soldiers and allied Shiite militiamen swept into this Sunni city north of Baghdad.

Recapturing Tikrit is seen as a key step toward rolling back the gains of the extremist Islamic State group, which seized much of northern and western Iraq in a blitz last summer and now controls about a third of both Iraq and Syria.

The offensive also will serve as a major crucible for Iraqi forces, which collapsed under the extremists' initial offensive last year and now face one of the Sunni militant group's biggest strongholds.

Iraqi forces entered Tikrit for the first time on Wednesday from the north and south. On Thursday, they were fighting their way through the city and expected to reach the center within three to four days, according to Lt. General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, the commander of the Tikrit operation.

The IS militants were trying to repel the Iraqi forces with snipers, suicide car bombs, heavy machine guns and mortars, said al-Saadi, speaking to The Associated Press at the front-lines.

Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin province, sits on the Tigris River about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad. Several of Saddam's palaces remain there, and supporters of the deceased dictator are believed to have played a key role in the Islamic State group's seizure of the city last year.

Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, who was also at the front-line on Thursday, told the AP that the operation to retake Tikrit is "essential to opening a corridor for security forces to move from the south to Mosul," he said, referring to Iraq's second-largest city and the militants' biggest stronghold.

He described the operation as "100% Iraqi, from the air and ground."

When the Islamic State last year swept into Mosul, the U.S.-trained Iraqi military crumbled and the militants seized tanks, missile launchers and ammunition, steamrolling across northern Iraq. The CIA estimates the Sunni militant group has access to between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria. Military officials believe there may about 150 foreign fighters with the IS inside Tikrit, including fighters from Chechnya and the Arab Gulf countries.

Iraqi officials now say that at least 30,000 men - including the military, militias, Sunni tribes and police - are fighting to capture Tikrit.

U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs chairman, said Wednesday that at least 20,000 militiamen are taking part in the Tikrit fighting.

On Thursday, militiamen were heard intercepting IS walkie-talkie signals, listening to the militants' call for reinforcements and ordering mortar fire on the soldiers as they closed in. Along the route between Salahuddin's command center and the battlefield, charred remains of tankers and cars used by suicide bombers litter the roads, and homes bear signs of months of war, damaged by bombs and bullets.

Military officials told the AP they are advancing with caution in an effort to limit damage to the city's infrastructure, so that residents can return quickly once Tikrit is retaken. A satellite image of Tikrit, released last month by the United Nations, showed that at least 536 buildings in Tikrit have been affected by fighting, with at least 137 completely destroyed and 241 severely damaged.

Earlier Thursday, al-Obeidi visited troops and met with senior military commanders of the Tikrit operation as well as Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Soleimani and other Iranian advisers have played a key role in Iraq in pushing the Islamic State back in recent months.

The overt Iranian role and the prominence of Shiite militias in the campaign have raised fears of possible sectarian cleansing should Tikrit, an overwhelmingly Sunni city, fall to the government troops.

The United States, which spent billions of dollars training and equipping Iraq's army during its eight-year intervention, has said its allied coalition carrying out airstrikes targeting the extremists has not been involved in the ongoing Tikrit offensive.

In November, President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of up to 1,500 more American troops to bolster Iraqi forces, which could more than double the total number of U.S. forces to 3,100. None has a combat role.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has appealed for more aid for his country's beleaguered ground forces, although the U.S. spent billions of dollars training and equipping Iraq's army during its eight-year occupation.

The growing Iraqi impatience in many ways stems from concerns about the speed and success of the Islamic State's advance, and the Baghdad government's inexperience in handling a security crisis of this magnitude. Until recently, Iraqi security forces were focused on protecting themselves and the population against insurgent bombings and other attacks, not on repelling an advancing force or retaking areas seized by the militants.

By contrast, Islamic State militants appear to operate in a fluid, decentralized command structure that has enabled them to adapt quickly and more nimbly to the changing environment amid airstrikes and Iraqi and Kurdish ground offensives.

Democrats deplore Republican letter to Tehran on nuke talks

Democrats deplore Republican letter to Tehran on nuke talks 
 

FILE - In this Oct. 31, 2014 file photo, then-Rep., now Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark, speaks in Jonesboro, Ark. The man leading the effort to torpedo an agreement with Iran is a rookie Republican senator, an Army veteran with a Harvard law degree and a long record of tough rhetoric against President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. Cotton’s previous forays into foreign policy raised as many hackles as the letter he authored this week lecturing Iran’s leaders on American democracy. This time, 46 fellow Republicans signed onto the document.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats said Tuesday that the GOP letter about nuclear talks with Iran undercuts the U.S. at the negotiating table and threatens to torpedo bipartisanship on Capitol Hill when it comes to the delicate issue of preventing a nuclear-armed Iran.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also weighed in, saying Republicans were either trying to help the Iranians or hurt President Barack Obama.

As negotiators rush to reach an accord with Iran by the end of the month, partisan bickering continued on Capitol Hill, prompting Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia to ask, rhetorically: "Is the Senate capable of tackling challenging national security questions in a mature and responsible way?"

Kaine said the letter freshman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote to the leaders of Iran amounted to a partisan "sideshow."

The letter, signed by 47 of the Senate's 54 Republicans, including members of the leadership and potential presidential candidates, warned that unless Congress approved it, any nuclear deal they cut with Obama could expire the minute he leaves office.

The U.S. and five other nations are working to craft an agreement that would prevent Iran from being able to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its nuclear work is peaceful. Republicans worry that Iran is not negotiating in good faith and that a deal would be insufficient and unenforceable, allowing Iran to eventually become a nuclear-armed state.

Cotton denied undermining Obama's negotiating position. Appearing on MSNBC, he said, "We're making sure that Iran's leaders understand that if Congress doesn't approve a deal, Congress won't accept a deal." 

He accused Iran of seeking "a nuclear umbrella so they can continue to export terrorism around the world."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif was quoted by the website of Iranian state TV on Tuesday as saying the letter's warning that any nuclear deal could be scrapped once Obama leaves office suggests the United States is "not trustworthy." He called the letter "unprecedented and undiplomatic." Earlier, he had dismissed it as a "propaganda ploy."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended the letter.

"If there is not a deal, we've had some of our Democratic friends say the choice is between this deal and war," he told reporters. "No, the choice is between this deal and greater sanctions because we've finally discovered one thing that works."

In a news conference on another issue, Clinton wondered aloud about the purpose of the letter.

"There appear to be two logical answers: Either these senators were trying to be helpful to the Iranians or harmful to the commander in chief in the midst of high-stakes international diplomacy," Clinton said. "Either answer does discredit to the letter's signatories."

The signatories include a handful of Republican White House prospects, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, among them. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued statements suggesting their Senate colleagues were justified in sending the letter.

"The senators are reacting to reports of a bad deal that will likely enable Iran to become a nuclear state over time," Bush said.

Said Walker, "Unless the White House is prepared to submit the Iran deal it negotiates for congressional approval, the next president should not be bound" by it.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the GOP letter weakens the American position because it "shows division."

"Everything is done to attack," Feinstein said about Congress. "And that's not what our government should be."

In remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., pronounced the letter reckless, much as it would have been for U.S. lawmakers to "reach out to the Vietnamese" a generation ago. He said he hoped it would not cause the negotiations to fail.

Democrats didn't always agree with President George W. Bush's foreign policy decisions, but Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said he would have never contemplated writing such a letter when Bush was in office. "You can disagree and you can disagree without being disagreeable about issues," Nelson said.

Kaine spoke about what he called a "rigorously bipartisan" bill - authored by Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - to allow Congress to review any final agreement with Iran.

Corker, one of seven Republicans who did not sign the letter, also lamented the discord.

"There are a lot of frustrations no doubt around the Iran issue and I hope we can move beyond some of the drama to focus, if there's a deal, on its content," Corker said. "But also to make sure that Congress has an appropriate role."

Major survey shows gun ownership declining

Major survey shows gun ownership declining 
 

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2015, file photo, a dealer arranges handguns in a display case in advance of a show at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock, Ark. A major U.S. trend survey finds that the number of Americans who live in a household with at least one gun is lower than it's ever been. That the number of households with at least one gun is declining doesn’t necessarily mean that the number being purchased is on the decline. Data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system shows that in recent years there’s actually been an increase in the number of background checks being run, suggesting the total number of firearms being purchased is going up.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of Americans who live in a household with at least one gun is lower than it's ever been, according to a major American trend survey that finds the decline in gun ownership is paralleled by a reduction in the number of Americans who hunt.

According to the latest General Social Survey, 32 percent of Americans either own a firearm themselves or live with someone who does, which ties a record low set in 2010. That's a significant decline since the late 1970s and early 1980s, when about half of Americans told researchers there was a gun in their household.

The General Social Survey is conducted by NORC, an independent research organization based at the University of Chicago, with money from the National Science Foundation. Because of its long-running and comprehensive set of questions about the demographics, behaviors and attitudes of the American public, it is a highly regarded source of data about social trends.

Data from the 2014 survey was released last week, and an analysis of its findings on gun ownership and attitudes toward gun permits was conducted by General Social Survey staff.

The drop in the number of Americans who own a gun or live in a household with one is probably linked to a decline in the popularity of hunting, from 32 percent who said they lived in a household with at least one hunter in 1977 to less than half that number saying so now.

That the number of households with at least one gun is declining doesn't necessarily mean that the number being purchased is on the decline. Data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check system shows that in recent years there's actually been an increase in the number of background checks being run, suggesting the total number of firearms being purchased is going up.

But those are concentrated in fewer hands than they were in the 1980s, the General Social Survey finds. The 2014 poll finds that 22 percent of Americans own a firearm, down from a high of 31 percent who said so in 1985.

The survey also finds a shrinking gender gap in personal firearm ownership as a result of a decline in the percentage of men who own one, from 50 percent in 1980 to 35 percent in 2014.

Fewer women than men own guns, but the percentage among women has held fairly steady since 1980, with 12 percent now saying they personally own a gun.

Only 14 percent of adults under age 35, but 31 percent of those over age 65, say they personally own a gun. That gap has increased over time - in 1980, younger adults were only slightly less likely than older ones to report that they owned a gun.

The poll finds half of Republicans live in households with at least one gun, which is twice as high as ownership among Democrats or independents.

People in higher-income households are significantly more likely than those in lower-income households to own a gun, the survey finds. Gun ownership rates also vary by race, with 4 in 10 white Americans living in households with a gun compared with less than 2 in 10 blacks and Hispanics.

Blacks and Hispanics are also more likely than whites to support requiring a permit to own a gun, although large majorities among all three groups support requiring a permit.

Support for requiring a gun permit climbed to a peak of 82 percent in the late 1990's, but has fallen since then. The 72 percent who support requiring a permit now is at its lowest level since 1987.

---

The General Social Survey is administered by NORC at the University of Chicago, primarily using in-person interviewing. The GSS started in 1972 and completed its 30th round in 2014. The typical sample size was 1,500 prior to 1994, but increased to 2,700-3,000 until 2008, and decreased to 2,000 for the most recent surveys. Resulting margins of error are between plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the smaller sample sizes and plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for the larger sample sizes at the 95 percent confidence level. 

The 2014 survey was conducted March 31-Oct. 11, 2014, among 2,538 American adults. The GSS 1972-2014 Cumulative File was used to produce the statistics presented.

Bloody Sunday 50th anniversary: Thousands crowd Selma bridge

Bloody Sunday 50th anniversary: Thousands crowd Selma bridge 
 

President Barack Obama, fourth from left, walks holding hands with Amelia Boynton Robinson, who was beaten during "Bloody Sunday," as they and the first family and others including Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga, left of Obama, walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala,. for the 50th anniversary of the landmark event of the civil rights movement, Saturday, March 7, 2015. At far left is Sasha Obama and at far right is former first lady Laura Bush. Adelaide Sanford also sits in a wheelchair.

 

SELMA, Ala. (AP) -- Thousands of people crowded an Alabama bridge on Sunday, many jammed shoulder to shoulder, many unable to move, to commemorate a bloody confrontation 50 years ago between police and peaceful protesters that helped bring about the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

A day after President Barack Obama had walked atop the Edmund Pettus Bridge, police said at least 15,000 to 20,000 people had joined the crush on and around the small bridge. Many came from around the country for several events commemorating the landmark moment.

William Baldwin, 69, of Montgomery, brought his two grandsons, ages 11 and 15, to the bridge Sunday so they could grasp the importance of the historic march he took part in a half century earlier.

"They're going to take this struggle on and we have to understand the price that was paid for them to have what they have now," Baldwin said. "It wasn't granted to them, it was earned by blood, sweat and tears."

Some sang hymns and others held signs, such as "Black lives matter, all lives matter."

On March 7, 1965, police beat and tear-gassed marchers at the foot of the bridge in Selma in a spasm of violence that shocked the nation. The attack help build momentum for passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year.

Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking at Brown Chapel AME Church Sunday, drew parallels, without being explicit, between the events of 1965 and today. He noted that the "Bloody Sunday" march was sparked by the murder of activist Jimmie Lee Jackson, "an unarmed, young black man."

"An unarmed, young black man," he repeated.

Annie Pearl Avery, 71, recalled being arrested on Bloody Sunday as she tried to get a nurse to the bridge. She said it was one of many times she was arrested during the freedom rides of the 1960's.

The nurse was needed, she said, because the young activists were uncertain if local white doctors were members of the Ku Klux Klan.

"I heard the explosions. I thought it was gunshots. It was the tear gas," Avery said.

Earlier Sunday, Selma officials paid tribute to the late President Lyndon Johnson for the Voting Rights Act. The attack on demonstrators preceded a Selma-to-Montgomery march, which occurred two weeks later in 1965. Both helped build momentum for congressional approval of the Voting Rights Act later that year.

Luci Baines Johnson accepted the award on behalf of her father, saying it meant so much to see him honored.

"It means the world to me to know that a half-century later you remember how deeply Daddy cared about social justice and how hard he worked to make it happen," his daughter Luci Baines Johnson said.

An anniversary march from Selma to Montgomery is set to begin Monday morning and culminate with a rally at the Alabama Capitol Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, Obama joined civil rights leaders and others at the bridge and talked about progress in race relations since the 1960s. He mentioned recent high-profile clashes between citizens and law enforcement on the circumstances leading to fatal police shootings and law enforcement tactics toward minorities.

"We just need to open our eyes, and ears, and hearts, to know that this nation's racial history still casts its long shadow upon us," Obama said. "We know the march is not yet over, the race is not yet won, and that reaching that blessed destination where we are judged by the content of our character requires admitting as much."

Obama was joined by others including Georgia Rep. John Lewis - an Alabama native who was among the demonstrators attacked by law officers on a march for equal voting rights.

Bishop Dennis Proctor of the Alabama-Florida Episcopal District said his group brought five buses to the anniversary commemoration. But he told members not to come to Selma if they couldn't commit to fighting to restore protections in the Voting Rights Act that were recently eliminated.

The U.S Supreme Court in 2013 struck down section 4 of the Voting Rights Act which required states with a history of minority voter suppression to get permission from the Justice Department before changing voting laws.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking at Sunday's unity breakfast, said the changes in voting laws threatened to push minority voters backward down the bridge.

"While we are celebrating, there are those that are trying to dismantle what we are celebrating," Sharpton said.

Groups traveled to Selma from across the nation, including five busloads from Nashville.

Gloria Haugabook McKissack, a retired college history teacher who participated in lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville, was the main organizer of the trip from Nashville.

"It just grew as people began to hear that we were going to make this journey," McKissack said.

Among those on the buses were some Freedom Riders.

"It's up to us ... to explain to them what actually happened and why this march is happening," said Ernest Patton, a Nashville Freedom Rider who made the trip. "They should walk up to somebody and say, `were you a part of this 50 years ago?' And get the history."

US clears officer in Ferguson case, criticizes police force

US clears officer in Ferguson case, criticizes police force 

Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, Wednesday, March 4, 2015, about the Justice Department’s findings related to two investigations in Ferguson, Mo. The Justice Department will not prosecute a white former police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old whose death in Ferguson sparked weeks of protests and ignited an intense national debate over how police treat African-Americans. But the government released a scathing report Wednesday that faulted the city for racial bias.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department cleared a white former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old on Wednesday, but also issued a scathing report calling for sweeping changes in city law enforcement practices it called discriminatory and unconstitutional.

The dual reports marked the culmination of months-long federal investigations into a shooting that sparked protests and a national dialogue on race and law enforcement as the tenure of Attorney General Eric Holder, the first black person to hold that office, draws to a close.

In pairing the announcements, the Obama administration sought to offset community disappointment over the conclusion that the shooting of Michael Brown was legally justified with a message of hope for Ferguson's majority-black citizens. Officials announced 26 recommendations, including training officers in how to de-escalate confrontations and banning the use of ticketing and arrest quotas, for the police force and municipal court.

Holder called the federal report a "searing" portrait of a police department that he said functions as a collection agency for the city, with officers prioritizing revenue from fines over public safety and trouncing the constitutional rights of minorities.

"It is not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson like a powder keg," Holder said.

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said the city had cooperated with the Justice Department and has made some changes, including a diversity training program for city employees.

The decision not to prosecute Darren Wilson, the white officer who was cleared in November by a state grand jury and has since resigned, had been expected. To win a federal civil rights case, officials would have needed to prove that Wilson willfully deprived Brown of his rights by using unreasonable force.

Instead, the report found no evidence to disprove Wilson's testimony that he feared for his safety during the Aug. 9 confrontation. Nor were there reliable witness accounts to establish that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot, Justice Department lawyers said.

One of Wilson's attorneys, Neil Bruntrager, said his client was satisfied with the outcome. Brown family lawyer Benjamin Crump said the family was not surprised but very disappointed, and one of Brown's uncles, Charles Ewing, said he believed Wilson was "getting away with it."

"I really was hoping they would have come up with better findings because this whole thing just does not add up," Ewing said. "Everything just doesn't make sense."

While the federal government declined to prosecute Wilson, it found the shooting occurred in an environment of systematic mistreatment of blacks, in which officials swapped racist emails and jokes without punishment and black residents were disproportionately stopped and searched without good reason, fined for petty offenses and subjected to excessive police force.

The report on the department found its lack of racial diversity - only four of 54 commissioned officers are black - undermined community trust. It also said the city relied heavily on fines for raise revenue and issued arrest warrants for minor infractions including jaywalking and late fees. The confrontation that led to Brown's death began when Wilson directed him and a friend to move from the street to the sidewalk.

The document was filled with examples of what it called a discriminatory criminal justice system. Among them: One black woman spent six days in jail because of a parking violation. A lawful protest was broken up with a police warning of "everybody here's going to jail." And a black man sitting in a car with tinted windows was accused without cause of being a pedophile by an officer who pointed a gun at his head.

Between 2012 and 2014, black drivers were more than twice as likely as others to be searched during routine traffic stops, but 26 percent less likely to be carrying contraband.

The report also included seven racially tinged emails, including some from city officials who remain employed, that did not result in punishment. The writer of one 2008 email stated that President Barack Obama wouldn't be in office for long because "what black man holds a steady job for four years." Knowles, the mayor, said one employee was fired and two others are on leave over the emails.

The report's recommendations, if accepted by city officials, could lead to an overhaul of basic police and court practices. Those include improving officer supervision, better recruiting, hiring and promotion, new mechanisms for responding to misconduct complaints and a new system to reduce fine amounts.

Federal officials on Wednesday described Ferguson city leaders as cooperative and seemingly open to change, saying there were already some signs of improvement. The city, for example, has eliminated bond requirements for many municipal offenses and has extended a program that allows individuals to have warrants recalled and assigned a new court date.

In the last five years, the Justice Department has investigated roughly 20 police departments over alleged civil rights violations. Some have led to the appointment of independent monitors and have been resolved with negotiated agreements in which the police department commits to major changes in its practices. Federal officials say they hope to avoid a protracted court fight with Ferguson to force change.

"It is time for Ferguson's leaders to take immediate, wholesale and structural corrective action," Holder said.

`It WAS him': Defense admits Tsarnaev bombed Boston Marathon

`It WAS him': Defense admits Tsarnaev bombed Boston Marathon 

It this courtroom sketch, U.S. Attorney William Weinreb, left, is depicted delivering opening statements in front of U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr., right rear, on the first day of the federal death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Wednesday, March 4, 2015, in Boston. Tsarnaev, depicted seated second from right between defense attorneys Judy Clarke, third from right, and Miriam Conrad, right, is charged with conspiring with his brother to place two bombs near the marathon finish line in April 2013, killing three and injuring 260 people.

  

BOSTON (AP) -- The question, for all practical purposes, is no longer whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev took part in the Boston Marathon bombing. It's whether he deserves to die for it.

In a blunt opening statement at the nation's biggest terrorism trial in nearly 20 years, Tsarnaev's own lawyer flatly told a jury that the 21-year-old former college student committed the crime.

"It WAS him," said defense attorney Judy Clarke, one of the nation's foremost death-penalty specialists.

But in a strategy aimed at saving Tsarnaev from a death sentence, she argued that he had fallen under the malevolent influence of his now-dead older brother, Tamerlan.

"The evidence will not establish and we will not argue that Tamerlan put a gun to Dzhokhar's head or that he forced him to join in the plan," Clarke said, "but you will hear evidence about the kind of influence that this older brother had."

Three people were killed and more than 260 hurt when two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line on April 15, 2013. Tsarnaev, then 19, was accused of carrying out the attacks with 26-year-old Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout and getaway attempt days later.

Authorities contend the brothers - ethnic Chechens who arrived from Russia more than a decade ago - were driven by anger over U.S. wars in Muslim lands.

Federal prosecutors used their opening statements, along with heartbreaking testimony and grisly video, to sketch a picture of torn-off limbs, ghastly screams, pools of blood, and the smell of sulfur and burned hair in the streets of Boston. They painted Tsarnaev as a cold-blooded killer.

Tsarnaev planted a bomb designed to "tear people apart and create a bloody spectacle," then hung out with his college buddies as if he didn't have a care in the world, prosecutor William Weinreb said.

"He believed that he was a soldier in a holy war against Americans," Weinreb said. "He also believed that by winning that victory, he had taken a step toward reaching paradise."

Among the first witnesses for the prosecution were two women who lost legs in the attack, including Rebekah Gregory, who walked slowly to the stand on an artificial limb.

"I remember being thrown back, hoisted into the air," said Gregory, who had gone to watch the race with her 5-year-old son, Noah. "My first instinct as a mother was, where in the world was my baby, where was my son?"

She said she looked down at her leg: "My bones were literally laying next to me on the sidewalk and blood was everywhere." She saw other peoples' body parts all around her, and "at that point, I thought that was the day I would die."

"I could hear Noah, I don't know how, but I could hear my little boy. She said he was saying, `Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,' over and over again."

"I said a prayer. I said, `God, if this is it, take me, but let me know that Noah is OK.'"

She said someone finally picked up her son and put him down beside her. Breaking down in tears, she testified that as she looked for the boy, she saw a woman dead on the pavement.

Karen Rand McWatters, whose left leg had to be amputated, described how she watched her close friend Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager, die on the pavement next to her.

"She very slowly said that her legs hurt, and we held hands, and shortly after that, her hand went limp in mine and she never spoke again after that," she said, choking back tears.

A shaggy-haired, goateed Tsarnaev slouched in his seat and showed little reaction as the case unfolded. The defense did not ask a single question of the four victims who testified Wednesday.

About two dozen victims who came to watch the case took up an entire side of the courtroom, listening somberly to details of the carnage. Several hung their heads and appeared to fight back tears.

Prosecutors also showed the jury a gruesome video of people lying in pools of blood. The footage was punctuated by screams, moans and the crying of a boy. The ground was strewn with ball bearings and chunks of metal, and smoke wafted over the victims.

The 10 women and eight men on the jury watched somberly. Several grimaced, especially at the sight of a gaping hole in a woman's leg.

In his opening statement, the prosecutor also described how 8-year-old Martin Richard stood on a metal barrier with other children so he could get a good view of the runners.

"The bomb tore large chunks of flesh out of Martin Richard," and he bled to death on the sidewalk as his mother looked on helplessly, Weinreb told the jury, with the boy's parents in the courtroom.

Because of a wealth of evidence against Tsarnaev - including a video of him leaving a backpack at the scene, and incriminating graffiti scrawled on the boat where he was captured - legal experts have said there is little chance of escaping conviction during the guilt-or-innocence phase of the trial.

Instead, they said, Tsarnaev's lawyers will concentrate on saving his life by arguing that Tamerlan was the driving force in the plot.

Clarke called the bombings "senseless, horribly misguided acts." But she asked the jurors to "hold your hearts and minds open" until the penalty phase, when the panel will decide whether Tsarnaev should be executed or get life in prison.

She held up two enlarged photos - one showing the two brothers years before the bombings, the other showing them carrying the backpacks containing the explosives - and asked the jury to contemplate: "What took Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from this ... to this?"

While the outcome of the guilt-or-innocence phase is now a foregone conclusion, it is not necessarily an empty exercise.

Robert Bloom, a Boston College law professor and former prosecutor, said the defense will use this phase to build the case that Tsarnaev was a follower, not a mastermind.

"They'll want to use every opportunity they can to show he was influenced by his brother," Bloom said. "Who bought the pressure cookers? Who bought the BBs? All of that."

Prosecutors, for their part, will use this portion of the trial to get across the horror of the attack and prime the jury to come back with a death sentence in the next stage, Bloom said.

Right up until the moment the jury filed into the courtroom, Tsarnaev's lawyers fought to have the trial moved out of Massachusetts, arguing that the emotional impact of the bombings ran too deep and too many people had personal connections to the case. But U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. and a federal appeals court rejected the requests.

It is the most closely watched terrorism trial in the U.S. since the Oklahoma City bombing case in the mid-1990s.

Clarke has saved a string of high-profile clients from the death penalty, including Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph; Unabomber Ted Kaczynski; and Jared Loughner, who shot and killed six people and gravely wounded then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a 2011.

LA police chief: Man killed on Skid Row reached for gun

LA police chief: Man killed on Skid Row reached for gun 
 

Los Angeles Police detective Meghan Aguilar points at photos released by police that could indicate evidence of a suspect holding a police officer's gun, seen in a video grab scene shot by a witness at the scene of the shooting of a homeless man on Skid Row of Los Angeles, displayed at a news conference at police headquarters Monday, March 2, 2015. Chief Charlie Beck says officers fatally shot a homeless man on Skid Row after he grabbed an officer's holster during a struggle. Three Los Angeles police officers shot and killed the man on Sunday, as they wrestled with him on the ground, a confrontation captured on video that millions have viewed online. Authorities say the man was shot after grabbing for an officer's gun.

  

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Police fatally shot a homeless man on Skid Row during a "brutal" videotaped struggle in which a rookie officer cried out that the man had grabbed his gun, the Los Angeles police chief said Monday.

Video showed the man reaching toward the officer's waistband, Chief Charlie Beck said. The officer's gun was found partly cocked and jammed with a round of ammunition in the chamber and another in the ejection port, indicating a struggle for the weapon.

"You can hear the young officer who was primarily engaged in the confrontation saying that `He has my gun. He has my gun,'" Beck said. "He says it several times, with conviction."

Then three other officers opened fire.

The man was black, as was the rookie officer who was just short of completing his probationary year on the force, police said.

Beck's narrative of the shooting, including photos from video showing the condition of the gun, was rare, emerging just 24 hours after an officer-involved shooting. It came amid heightened attention to killings by police officers that have led to protests, some violent, across the country.

Sunday's violence had echoes of the August police shooting of 25-year-old Ezell Ford, whose death in a struggle with LA officers brought demonstrations in the city. Ford was unarmed. Police said he was shot after reaching for an officer's gun.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said he and the police chief needed to respond quickly to reassure residents that there is a robust investigation into the shooting, which occurred in the downtown area that is home to the city's highest concentration of homeless people.

"I watched the video, I watched the tragic events on Skid Row unfold," the mayor said. "We owe the city a thorough investigation as to what happened."

The shooting was caught by at least four cameras, two held by witnesses and two worn by officers who fired their weapons. There was also a camera in a police car and a security camera on a nearby shelter captured events leading up to the incident.

The American Civil Liberties Union called on the Police Department to quickly release footage shot by the officers' body cameras.

One witness posted his video to Facebook, which drew millions of views.

Police were investigating a reported robbery when they tried to talk with the suspect and he refused to obey their commands and started fighting, Beck said. Stun guns fired at the man had "appeared to have little effect and he continued to violently resist."

As the man took swings, four officers wrestled him to the ground. Two other officers subdued and handcuffed a woman who had picked up a dropped baton.

The struggle became blurry and distant, but shouting could be heard, followed by five apparent gunshots.

A memorial sprung up where the shooting occurred. White roses were placed over a tent, blankets and clothing belonging to the dead man known as "Africa."

James Attaway, 48, said the man's first name was Shawn, but he nicknamed him because he was from Africa, though he had family in Boston. They met six months ago, and Attaway said they slept near each other.

Africa had been living on the street for about a year, Attaway said. They met talking about God and had done that earlier Sunday.

"He was on the spiritual side, very intelligent," Attaway said.

Tents and cardboard shelters cover the sidewalks of Skid Row, where an estimated 1,700 homeless people live. Many of them struggle with mental illness and addiction and are no strangers to the police.

Cmdr. Andrew Smith said the man had previous encounters with officers, though he would not elaborate. Authorities withheld the man's name.

The three officers who fired their weapons were veterans of the beat and had special training to deal with the homeless and mentally ill.

"They were trained to work with homeless," said Police Commission President Steve Soboroff. "It wasn't a SWAT team looking for problems."

The shooting is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department's inspector general and the city's district attorney.

Activists called on Gov. Jerry Brown to appoint a special investigator to examine the killing.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, head of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, urged the city Police Commission to hold a special hearing on use of force by officers in Skid Row.

Two of the officers suffered minor injuries in the scuffle, including the rookie officer, who is on crutches. All four officers were placed on paid leave.

30,000 marchers in Moscow mourn slain Putin foe

30,000 marchers in Moscow mourn slain Putin foe 

People with Russian national flags march in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 near the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, March 1, 2015. Thousands converged Sunday in central Moscow to mourn veteran liberal politician Boris Nemtsov, whose killing on the streets of the capital has shaken Russia’s beleaguered opposition. They carried flowers, portraits and white signs that said “I am not afraid.”

 

MOSCOW (AP) -- For the tens of thousands bearing flowers and tying black ribbons to railings in honor of slain Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, the solemn march through the Moscow drizzle on Sunday was a time for silence, not slogans.

The marchers occasionally broke into chants of "Russia without Putin," or "Say no to war," but often the only sound was the steady thwack of police helicopters overhead or the hum of police boats patrolling the shores of the Moscow River.

While the killing of Nemtsov has shaken the Russian opposition, which sees the Kremlin as responsible, it is unclear whether his death will be enough to invigorate the beleaguered movement. Despite the Ukraine conflict and Russia's economic crisis, support for President Vladimir Putin has been above 80 percent in the past year.

Since mass anti-Putin protests brought hundreds of thousands to the streets of Moscow in 2011 and 2012, Putin has marginalized and intimidated his political opponents, jailing some, driving others into exile, and ramping up fines and potential jail time for those detained at protests.

The 55-year-old Nemtsov was among the few prominent opposition figures who refused to be cowed. But while many at the march expressed respect for his long political career and grief at his loss, few believed that his death would spark major change in Russia because of the Kremlin's control over national television, where a vast majority of Russians get their news.

"Maybe if 100 people were to die people would rise up, but I don't really believe in that," said Sergei Musakov, 22. "People are so under the influence of the (TV) box that they will believe anything that television tells them. If it tells them that terrorists from the Islamic State group came to Russia in order to blow up the fifth column, they'll believe it."

The Kremlin had identified Nemtsov as among the leaders of a "fifth column," painting him and other opposition figures as traitors in the service of a hostile West.

About 30,000 people attended the march, making it the largest opposition rally in more than a year. The demonstrators bore Russian flags and signs that read "I am not afraid" or "Propaganda kills." At the site where Nemtsov was killed, a pile of flowers grew by the minute, as mourners tossed down bouquets of every color.

Nemtsov was gunned down shortly before midnight Friday as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin. The killing came just hours after a radio interview in which he denounced Putin's "mad, aggressive policy" in Ukraine.

At the time of his death, Nemtsov was working on a report that he believed proved that Russian troops were fighting alongside the separatists in Ukraine, despite the official denials.

No one has been arrested in the killing. Investigators said they were looking into several possible motives and have offered 3 million rubles (nearly $50,000) for information about the shooting.

TV Center, a station controlled by the Moscow city government, broadcast a poor-resolution video from one of its web cameras that it said shows Nemtsov and his date shortly before the killing.

The station, which superimposed its own time code on the footage, circled figures that it said were Nemtsov and the woman walking across the bridge on a rainy night. A snowplow that moved slowly behind the couple obscured the view of the shooting.

TV Center then circled what it said was the suspected killer jumping into a passing car. The authenticity of the video could not be independently confirmed.

Investigators said Sunday they were again questioning the woman, Ukrainian citizen Anna Duritskaya. Russian media have identified her as a model and shown photos of her in alluring poses.

Fellow opposition activists said they hoped Nemtsov's death would encourage people to take action, rather than intimidate them.

"Essentially it is an act of terror," said Ilya Yashin, an opposition leader and friend. "It is a political murder aimed at frightening the population, or the part of the population that supported Nemtsov or did not agree with the government. I hope we won't get scared, that we will continue what Boris was doing."

Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister who joined the opposition, told the crowd the killing should be a turning point for Russia "for the simple reason that people who before thought that they could quietly sit in their kitchens and simply discuss problems within the family, now will start reconsidering everything that's going on in our country."

Since Nemtsov's death, investigators, politicians and political commentators on state television have suggested numerous motives for the attack. The most popular theory seemed to be that Western secret services were behind the hit, with the aim of destabilizing Russia. Putin's spokesman said the president saw the attack as a "provocation" against the state.

Some bristled at Western coverage that suggested Nemtsov was killed for his relentless opposition to Putin.

"We haven't even recovered, the man hasn't even been buried, and the West is shoving down our throats that Russia supposedly has killed a key opposition politician," Dmitry Kiselyov, an influential television anchor famous for his anti-Western broadcasts, said on his Sunday evening show.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States had no intelligence on who was behind the shooting.

"The bottom line is we hope there will be a thorough, transparent, real investigation, not just of who actually fired the shots, but who, if anyone, may have ordered or instructed this or been behind this," Kerry said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

Kiselyov noted that while Nemtsov was known in Russia from his political activity in the 1990s, when he served as a deputy prime minister overseeing reforms, he was no longer popular. The anchor suggested that the West may have believed his death would resonate more with average Russians than his political activity: 

"When he was alive, Nemtsov was no longer necessary to the West, he had no prospects. But dead, he was a lot more interesting."

For those at the march, it's that rhetoric on state television that makes the prospects for change dim.

"From my experience, trying to convince people isn't possible," said Mikhail Trofimenko, a 42-year-old screenwriter. "I think things will only get worse, but I hope that by some miracle Russia will not fall apart and remain a united country."

He held up a painting of the Russian flag riddled with four bullet holes, the number found in Nemtsov's body.

Another mourning march was held earlier Sunday in St. Petersburg, drawing several thousand people.

Nelly Prusskaya, a 66-year-old doctor, said she came to pay her respects to Nemtsov. "I also came to say that I'm against the war in Ukraine," she said. "I'm against political murders."

From Van Stone: Nina Milano Best Selfie Model of Van Stone This Week Latinamerica and USA Fashion and Beauty Collection

From Van Stone: Nina Milano

Best Selfie Model of Van Stone This Week