AP EXCLUSIVE: US not reporting all Afghan attacks

AP EXCLUSIVE: US not reporting all Afghan attacks

An Army carry team marches away from a transfer case containing the remains of Staff Sgt. Dick A. Lee Jr. Sunday, April 29, 2012 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Lee, 31, of Orange Park, Fla., died April 26, 2012 in Ghazni province, Afghanistan from injuries sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The military is under-reporting the number of times that Afghan soldiers and police open fire on American and other foreign troops.

The U.S.-led coalition routinely reports each time an American or other foreign soldier is killed by an Afghan in uniform. But The Associated Press has learned it does not report insider attacks in which the Afghan wounds - or misses - his U.S. or allied target. It also doesn't report the wounding of troops who were attacked alongside those who were killed.

Such attacks reveal a level of mistrust and ill will between the U.S.-led coalition and its Afghan counterparts in an increasingly unpopular war. The U.S. and its military partners are working more closely with Afghan troops in preparation for handing off security responsibility to them by the end of 2014.

In recent weeks an Afghan soldier opened fire on a group of American soldiers but missed the group entirely. The Americans quickly shot him to death. Not a word about this was reported by the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, as the coalition is formally known. It was disclosed to the AP by a U.S. official who was granted anonymity in order to give a fuller picture of the "insider" problem.

ISAF also said nothing about last week's attack in which two Afghan policemen in Kandahar province fired on U.S. soldiers, wounding two. Reporters learned of it from Afghan officials and from U.S. officials in Washington. The two Afghan policemen were shot to death by the Americans present.

Just last Wednesday, an attack that killed a U.S. Army special forces soldier, Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Brittonmihalo, 25, of Simi Valley, Calif., also wounded three other American soldiers. The death was reported by ISAF as an insider attack, but it made no mention of the wounded - or that an Afghan civilian also was killed.

The attacker was an Afghan special forces soldier who opened fire with a machine gun at a base in Kandahar province. He was killed by return fire.

That attack apparently was the first by a member of the Afghan special forces, who are more closely vetted than conventional Afghan forces and are often described by American officials as the most effective and reliable in the Afghan military.

Coalition officials do not dispute that such non-fatal attacks happen, but they have not provided a full accounting.

The insider threat has existed for years but has grown more deadly. Last year there were 21 fatal attacks that killed 35 coalition service members, according to ISAF figures. That compares with 11 fatal attacks and 20 deaths the previous year. In 2007 and 2008 there were a combined total of four attacks and four deaths.

ISAF has released brief descriptions of each of the fatal attacks for 2012 but says similar information for fatal attacks in 2011 is considered classified and therefore cannot be released.

Jamie Graybeal, an ISAF spokesman in Kabul, disclosed Monday in response to repeated AP requests that in addition to 10 fatal insider attacks so far this year, there have been two others that resulted in no deaths or injuries, plus one attack that resulted in wounded, for a total of 13 attacks. The three non-fatal attacks had not previously been reported.

Graybeal also disclosed that in most of the 10 fatal attacks a number of other ISAF troops were wounded. By policy, the fact that the attacks resulted in wounded as well as a fatality is not reported, he said.

Asked to explain why non-fatal insider attacks are not reported, Graybeal said the coalition does not disclose them because it does not have consent from all coalition governments to do so.

"All releases must be consistent with the national policies of troop contributing nations," Graybeal said.

Graybeal said a new review of this year's data showed that the 10 fatal attacks resulted in the deaths of 19 ISAF service members. His office had previously said the death total was 18. Most of those killed this year have been Americans but France, Britain and other coalition member countries also have suffered fatalities.

Graybeal said each attack in 2012 and 2011 was "an isolated incident and has its own underlying circumstances and motives." Just last May, however, an unclassified internal ISAF study, called "A Crisis of Trust and Cultural Incompatibility," concluded, "Such fratricide-murder incidents are no longer isolated; they reflect a growing systemic threat." It said many attacks stemmed from Afghan grievances related to cultural and other conflicts with U.S. troops.

Mark Jacobson, an international affairs expert at the German Marshall Fund in Washington and a former deputy NATO senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, said attacks of all types are cause for worry.

"You have to build up trust when working with partners, and years of trust can be destroyed in just a minute," Jacobson said. No matter what the motivation of the Afghan attacker, "it threatens the partnership."

Until now there has been little public notice of non-fatal insider attacks, even though they would appear to reflect the same deadly intent as that of Afghans who manage to succeed in killing their foreign partners.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said the army has tightened its monitoring of soldiers' activities recently and, in some cases, taken action to stop insider attacks.

For example, "a number of soldiers" have been arrested for activity that might suggest a plot, such as providing information on army activities to people outside the military, he said. Some have been dismissed from the Army, but he did not provide figures.

U.S. officials say that in most cases the Afghans who turn their guns on their supposed allies are motivated not by sympathy for the Taliban or on orders from insurgents but rather act as a result of personal grievances against the coalition.

Invisible man casts shadow over US-China talks

Invisible man casts shadow over US-China talks

In this photo taken in late April, 2012, and released by Zeng Jinyan, blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng is seen at an undisclosed location in Beijing during a meeting with human rights activists Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan. Chen, an inspirational figure in China's rights movement, slipped away from his well-guarded rural village on April 22, 2012, and made it to a secret location in Beijing on Friday, April 27. Activists say Chen is under the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The blind Chinese lawyer at the center of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing is a taboo topic in each capital. Neither side wants the biggest human-rights issue between the two since Tiananmen Square to disrupt high-level strategic and economic talks set to begin on Thursday.

President Barack Obama's administration and China's officials have signaled that the global economy, North Korea, Iran and Sudan - issues in which millions of lives are at stake - have become far more important in U.S.-Chinese relations. Thus, both refuse to admit anything is amiss as a high-profile dissident is believed to be sheltering with U.S. diplomats in China.

To listen to officials in both countries, Chen Guangcheng is an invisible man.

Obama himself refused to address the issue on Monday, declining to confirm that the blind lawyer is under U.S. protection in China or that American diplomats are attempting to negotiate an agreement for him to receive asylum.

"Obviously, I'm aware of the press reports on the situation in China, but I'm not going to make a statement on the issue," the president said at a joint White House news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

He added obliquely, "What I would like to emphasize is that every time we meet with China the issue of human rights comes up."

Speaking later, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, similarly declined to talk about Chen but said she would raise human rights issues at the upcoming meetings in Beijing. She said she and Obama had worked hard to have "an effective, constructive and comprehensive" relationship with the Chinese

"A constructive relationship includes talking very frankly about those areas where we do not agree, including human rights," she said. "That is the spirit that is guiding me as I take off for Beijing tonight. And I can certainly guarantee that we will be discussing every matter, including human rights, that is pending between us."

Clinton added that "the freedom and free movement of people inside China" were "issues of great concern to us."

Neither Obama nor Clinton offered information as the administration and the Chinese government sought to prevent the biggest human rights issue with China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations to disrupt high-level strategic and economic talks set to begin in Beijing on Thursday.

Earlier, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland was also tight-lipped, refusing to answer any questions about Chen. She confirmed that the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, Kurt Campbell, is in Beijing to prepare for the fourth round of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, but would not say if he was discussing Chen and pointedly did not utter the dissident's name.

Campbell arrived in Beijing early Sunday, at least a day ahead of schedule and, according to activists, is in intensive discussions with the Chinese to strike a deal over where Chen should go - either to asylum in the United States or to stay in China or go to a third location - before Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner get there. But Nuland said the meetings will go on as planned.

"Both sides want to solve this in a low-key manner and they do not want this to dominate other issues in the (strategic and economic) dialogue so that's why they are working hard to find a speedy solution," said Bob Fu of the Texas-based rights group ChinaAid, which was involved in Chen's escape from house arrest last week and his subsequent arrival into the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing.

Despite the silence, the handling of his case - the most serious issue between the two nations since an American spy plane was forced to land on China's Hainan Island in 2001 - will have profound ramifications on both sides of the Pacific.

Obama's options are limited. Facing a tough fight for re-election in November, he cannot afford to ignore the situation. Doing nothing to help a visually impaired, self-taught lawyer who has fought against forced abortions and corruption in China would open Obama up to attacks from his presumed Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. It would also draw intense criticism from the human rights community in the United States, one of his core constituencies.

But at the same time, pressing the issue too hard may prompt a backlash from China, on which the U.S. is increasingly reliant for foreign capital and support as it seeks to lead the global economic recovery, deal with North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs and prevent a potential war between Sudan and South Sudan.

The key to resolving the situation may well rest with an aging cadre at the top of China's Communist Party, who could either promise protection for Chen and his family in China or allow him to leave the country, possibly even to Hong Kong or Macao, as they prepare for their own leadership transition later this year.

"Mr. Chen prefers to stay in China if he and his family's safety can be guaranteed. In the current environment in China that might not be possible so a viable solution is to have him and his family come to the U.S.," said Fu. He said a face-saving option may be to let Chen and his family come to the U.S. for medical treatment.

The ouster of powerful politician Bo Xilai following a deputy's visit to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu in February has already laid bare some of the party's dirty laundry ahead the changes and the Chinese will be loath to lose more face over Chen, whose case was raised repeatedly by American officials, including Clinton herself, until the information blackout began last week.

Human rights has been a distasteful issue for Beijing for decades and it has criticized the U.S. approach as lecturing. Clinton made waves on her first trip abroad as secretary of state when she said that human rights could not dominate the entire agenda with China at the expense of other pressing issues.

Her comments drew fire at the time, but the relationship has clearly evolved as global priorities have shifted.

While China in the 1990s was in need of foreign investment and diplomatic partners and was willing to send jailed dissidents into exile to get them, Beijing sees little need for such concessions now, with its diplomatic clout and coffers bulging with foreign exchange. As the first and second largest economies, the U.S. and China have intertwining interests, and as the reigning superpower and burgeoning world power, they are frequently jostling for advantage across the globe.

Van plunges off NY road into zoo grounds; 7 killed

Van plunges off NY road into zoo grounds; 7 killed

Police investigate the destroyed van that plunged over the Bronx River Parkway, Sunday April 29, 2012, in New York. Authorities say the out-of-control van plunged off a roadway near the Bronx Zoo, killing seven people, including three children.

NEW YORK (AP) -- An out-of-control van careered across several lanes of traffic on a highway overpass Sunday, then plunged more than 50 feet off the side of the road and landed in a ravine
on the grounds of the nation's largest city zoo, killing all seven people aboard, authorities said.

Three of the victims in the crash near the Bronx Zoo were children, including girls ages 12 and 10 and a younger girl whose age wasn't known, fire department spokesman Jim Long said. The others were an 84-year-old man and three women, ages 80, 45 and 30. Their names weren't immediately released.

The van was headed south on the highway that cuts through a working-class neighborhood when it bounced off the median, crossed all southbound lanes and hit the guardrail, police said. Next to the guardrail is a pedestrian path, and the 4-foot-high iron fence between that walkway and the ground below was intact after the accident, meaning the van likely flipped over it.

The van landed nearly upside down on zoo property that's closed to the public and far from any animal exhibits, zoo spokeswoman Mary Dixon said. The vehicle lay mangled hours later, its right doors ripped off and strewn amid the trees along with items from the car. Next to the heavily wooded area are subway tracks and a train yard.

It's not clear what caused the van to go out of control. The southbound side of the highway was closed briefly Sunday afternoon while police investigated.

The accident was the second in the past year where a car fell off the same stretch of the Bronx River Parkway. Last June, the driver of an SUV heading north lost control and the SUV hit a divider, bounced through two lanes of traffic and fell 20 feet over a guardrail, landing on a pickup truck in a parking lot. The two people in the SUV were injured.

City agencies will be asked to look at safety issues on the highway including guardrail height, Bronx borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said in a statement Sunday.

"My prayers, as well as those of my office and all Bronxites, go out to the families of the seven victims," he said.

The wreck was the deadliest in New York City since the driver of a tour bus returning from a Connecticut casino in March 2011 lost control and slammed into a pole that sheared the bus nearly end to end, killing 14 passengers.

In 2009, just north of New York City in suburban Westchester County, a woman carrying a vanload of children drove nearly two miles in the wrong direction on a highway before colliding with an SUV. Eight people were killed, including four children. An autopsy determined that the woman, Diane Schuler, had downed at least 10 drinks and had smoked marijuana as recently as 15 minutes before the wreck.

What happened in Colombia didn't stay in Colombia

What happened in Colombia didn't stay in Colombia

FILE - In this Monday, March 30, 1981 file photo, a Secret Service agent, automatic weapon drawn, yells orders after shots were fired at President Ronald Reagan outside a hotel in Washington. The Secret Service has been tarnished by a prostitution scandal that erupted April 13, 2012 in Colombia involving 12 Secret Service agents, officers and supervisors and 12 more enlisted military personnel ahead of President Barack Obama's visit there for the Summit of the Americas.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Secret Service does not often get a black eye behind those oh-so-cool sunglasses. It's got a shiner now.

The public face of the service is one of steely professionals in impeccable suits, wearing discreet earpieces and packing even more discreet weapons. Agents are expressionless except for their ever-searching gaze, lethal automatons ready to die for a president.

By reputation, stoked by Hollywood myth and the public's fleeting glances at dark-windowed motorcades, they are anything but party animals.

But what happened in Colombia didn't stay in Colombia.

The exposed Secret Service secrets have put the storied agency under a different line of fire, as lawmakers and internal investigators try to get to the bottom of officers' behavior and any implications for the safety of those they protect, starting with President Barack Obama.

Eight Secret Service officers have been fired and three disciplined, and a dozen military personnel have had their security clearances suspended, in the unfolding investigation of sexual misbehavior by agents who traveled to Cartagena, Colombia, this month to set up security for Obama's visit.

The agency says it is also looking into whether agents hired prostitutes and strippers in El Salvador in advance of the president's trip last year. More reports are emerging of allegedly ribald conduct, off duty on official trips.

John Brennan, Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, said Sunday investigators want to know whether there was any time "these activities put at risk either classified information or security." He said officials are satisfied the Colombian episode did not pose a threat to the president.

Obama joked about agents being on a shorter leash in his remarks to the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday night. "I really do enjoy attending these dinners," he said. "In fact, I had a lot more material prepared, but I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew."

Altogether, the perception is forming of frat boys being frat boys, except these ones have top security clearance, access to the president and constant knowledge of his whereabouts.

"They're on the receiving end of this incredibly powerful fire hose" of allegations and rumors, says Eric Dezenhall, a scandal-management consultant and author who counsels corporations and institutions. "They're going to be under it for a while. You cannot control this torrent."

As a young aide in Ronald Reagan's White House, Dezenhall looked upon Secret Service agents as "superhuman" and their professional culture "as the coolest thing in the world."

The code words - "Rawhide" for Reagan, "Stagecoach" for the helicopter (and now "Renegade" for Obama) - feed into the cool factor. So does the one thing that most people have known about the trusted band of bodyguards, their willingness to take a bullet for those they protect. Talk about commitment.

"I just don't think their reputation could be much higher," Dezenhall says. "But, as with happens with everybody now, we're going to see the humanity in it, which takes some of the mythology away from it."

The Secret Service was formed to chase counterfeiters at the end of the Civil War, a mission it still carries out as part of its portfolio of financial crime investigation. Its protective work began informally, as part-time security for President Grover Cleveland in 1894.

After President William McKinley's 1901 assassination by an anarchist who hid his gun in a handkerchief, Congress put the agency in charge of protecting presidents, then an expanding list of family members, U.S. and visiting foreign officials, and political candidates.

Presidents and their families often beef about the confines of a life shadowed by the protective detail. But it's a gentle complaint because they know the risks of being exposed without them.

In the nation's history, 10 presidents have been victims of direct assaults by assassins, says a Congressional Research Service study of the agency. Four died: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, McKinley and John Kennedy, whose slaying in 1963 was the only assassination on the Secret Service's watch.

"The work you do here is pretty scary," first lady Michelle Obama said after seeing Secret Service headquarters last year. "All I can say is, after my little tour, ignorance is bliss - I just don't want to know.

"Just tell me when - where - to run."

The book, "In the President's Secret Service," tells stories of men behaving badly, but those men were president or vice president, not agents. For all the bawdy tales of Lyndon Johnson and Kennedy, their protectors are portrayed as loyal if overworked and, with some leaders, underappreciated.

The author, Ronald Kessler, said in an interview that the Colombian episode "is the biggest scandal in the history of the Secret Service" yet, from his knowledge of how agents conduct themselves, "an aberration."

Consorting with prostitutes opened agents to the risk of blackmail or other avenues to eavesdrop on or harm the president, had the women been tied to terrorists or spies, Kessler said. To his mind, that makes the breach worse than the 2009 infiltration into Obama's state dinner by Michaele and Tareq Salahi, a security lapse that could have had grave consequences if pulled off by people other than two social climbers from Virginia.

Whether the Colombian shenanigans were part of a "cultural blueprint," as Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina suggested, or closer to the act of "a couple of knuckleheads," as Obama initially put it, will be seen in time.

To be sure, no organization has a clean slate and the Secret Service is no exception. In a 2002 story, U.S. News & World Report catalogued a San Diego bar brawl involving agents, the hiring of strippers in Ohio and Miami offices, superiors' tolerance of repeated incidents of suspect drunken driving by an officer, and other bad-apple episodes stretching back years.

Now, secrets, half-truths and pure innuendo spread at light speed in the age of thumb drives, smartphones and tattlers' other digital tools, Dezenhall says, so it's not easy to divine whether an organization's lapses are a departure from the norm or part of a tradition that people never heard about in the pre-digital age.

"So much comes down to somebody with a thumb drive," he says. "It doesn't mean that the inherent behavior is new. It means people who want to come after you now have the goodies to do it."

How does a scandal manager manage that?

Dezenhall says it may take an "organizational CAT scan" of the service's leadership and personnel, not mere public relations spin, to get the agency's reputation back in line with the mythology. "You don't communicate your way out of this stuff."

Chaperones among new Secret Service conduct rules

Chaperones among new Secret Service conduct rules

FILE - In this April 25, 2012 file photo, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Secret Service prostitution scandal. Seeking to shake the disgrace of a prostitution scandal, the Secret Service late Friday, April 27, 2012 tightened conduct rules for its agents to prohibit them from drinking excessively, visiting disreputable establishments while traveling or bringing foreigners to their hotel rooms.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Embarrassed by a prostitution scandal, the Secret Service will assign chaperones on some trips to enforce new rules of conduct that make clear that excessive drinking, entertaining foreigners in their hotel rooms and cavorting in disreputable establishments are no longer tolerated.

The stricter measures, issued by the Secret Service on Friday for agents and employees, apply even when traveling personnel are off duty.

The policies, outlined in a memorandum obtained by The Associated Press, are the agency's latest attempt to respond to the scandal that surfaced as President Barack Obama was headed to a Latin American summit in Cartagena, Colombia, earlier this month.

The embattled Secret Service director, Mark Sullivan, urged agents and other employees to "consider your conduct through the lens of the past several weeks."

Sullivan said the rules "cannot address every situation that our employees will face as we execute our dual-missions throughout the world." He added: "The absence of a specific, published standard of conduct covering an act or behavior does not mean that the act is condoned, is permissible or will not call for - and result in - corrective or disciplinary action."

"All employees have a continuing obligation to confront expected abuses or perceived misconduct," Sullivan said.

Ethics classes will be conducted for agency employees next week.

The changes were intended to staunch the embarrassing disclosures since April 13, when a prostitution scandal erupted in Cartagena involving 12 Secret Service agents, officers and supervisors and 12 more enlisted military personnel who were there ahead of Obama's visit to the Summit of the Americas.

But the new policies raised questions about claims that the behavior discovered in Cartagena was an isolated incident: Why would the Secret Service formally issue new regulations covering thousands of employees if such activities were a one-time occurrence?

"It's too bad common-sense policy has to be dictated in this manner," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "New conduct rules are necessary to preventing more shenanigans from happening in the future, and whether these are the best, and most cost effective, rules to stop future misconduct remains to be seen."

The rules did not mention prostitutes or strip clubs. But they prohibit employees from allowing foreigners, except hotel staff or foreign law enforcement colleagues, into their hotel rooms. They also ban visits to "nonreputable" establishments, which were not defined. The State Department was expected to brief Secret Service employees on trips about areas and businesses considered off-limits to them.

During trips in which the presidential limousine and other bulletproof vehicles are transported by plane, senior-level chaperones will accompany agents and enforce conduct rules, including one from the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility.

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., praised the new rules as "very positive steps by the Secret Service to make clear what is expected of every agent and also makes clear what will not be tolerated."

The Secret Service has forced eight employees from their jobs and was seeking to revoke the security clearance of another employee, which would effectively force him to resign. Three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing. The military was conducting its own, separate investigation but canceled the security clearances of all 12 enlisted personnel.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano assured senator this week that the incident in Colombia appeared to be an isolated case, saying she would be surprised if it represented a broader cultural problem. The next day, the Secret Service acknowledged it was investigating whether its employees hired strippers and prostitutes in advance of Obama's visit last year to El Salvador. Prostitution is legal in both Colombia and El Salvador.

"If they are true, the emergence of these anecdotes about past Secret Service misconduct is precisely why our committee will be trying to determine if such behavior is widespread," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who heads the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The committee has asked Sullivan for information "related to misconduct by agents on assignment," he said.

In a confidential message to senators on Thursday, the Secret Service said its Office of Professional Responsibility had not received complaints about officer behavior in El Salvador but would investigate.

On Capitol Hill, early signs surfaced of eroding support for the Secret Service director. Grassley said Sullivan's job could be secure if the scandal were an isolated incident. "But if it goes much deeper, you know, nothing happens or nothing's changed in Washington if heads don't roll," Grassley said on CBS "This Morning."

The White House said the president remained supportive of Sullivan and confident in the capabilities of the Secret Service.

New photo shows work at NKorea nuclear test site

New photo shows work at NKorea nuclear test site

This April 18, 2012 satellite image provided by GeoEye appears to show a train of mining carts, at the lower center of the frame, and other preparations underway at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site but no indication of when a detonation might take place, according to analysis by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New satellite imagery appears to show a train of mining carts and other preparations under way at North Korea's nuclear test site but no indication of when a detonation might take place.

Early this month, South Korean intelligence reported digging of a new tunnel at the Punggye-ri site, which it took as a sign that North Korea was covertly preparing for a third nuclear test.

The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies provided The Associated Press on Friday with its analysis of a sequence of photos of the site obtained from a private satellite operator and taken between March 8 and April 18.

The analysis estimates that 8,000 cubic meters (282,500 cubic feet) of rubble have been excavated at the site, where the communist country conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

"While it's very clear from looking at these photos that the North has stepped up preparations for a nuclear test over the past few months, it's unclear exactly when the blast will occur," said Joel Wit, editor of the institute's website, "38 North."

North Korea already has drawn U.N. Security Council condemnation for a failed, long-range rocket launch April 13 which tried to put a satellite into orbit but was viewed by the U.S. and other nations as a cover for a test of its ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang could face tougher sanctions if it goes ahead with a nuclear test.

Punggye-ri site lies in the country's northeast, and the analysis says the images show various activities at the site since March. The latest photo shows a train of mining carts, which are believed to be used to carry material excavated from within the test site.

The size of the spoil pile appears unchanged in the latest image, and it is unclear whether the test device has been placed in the chamber and the shaft sealed with other material for the final preparation stage before a detonation, the analysis says.

North Korea's longtime ruler Kim Jong Il died in December and was succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong Un. The North has stepped up its tough rhetoric against rival South Korea and the United States since the failed rocket test that blemished its commemorations of the centennial of the birth of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung.

On Wednesday, a top military chief in Pyongyang said the North is armed with "powerful modern weapons" capable of defeating the U.S. - a claim questioned by experts.

Washington worries about the possibility that North Korea might develop a reliable intercontinental ballistic missile and wed it with a nuclear bomb. Outside experts say the North has enough plutonium for about four to eight "simple" bombs, but does not yet appear to have the ability to make bombs small enough to mount on a missile.

New Secret Service rules on alcohol, unsavory bars

New Secret Service rules on alcohol, unsavory bars

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Seeking to shake the disgrace of a prostitution scandal, the Secret Service late Friday tightened conduct rules for its agents to prohibit them from drinking excessively, visiting disreputable establishments while traveling or bringing foreigners to their hotel rooms.

The new behavior policies apply to Secret Service agents even when they are off duty while traveling, barring them from drinking alcohol within 10 hours of working, according to a memorandum describing the changes obtained by The Associated Press. In some cases under the new rules, chaperones will accompany agents on trips. The embattled Secret Service director, Mark Sullivan, urged agents and other employees to "consider your conduct through the lens of the past several weeks."

The Secret Service said it would conduct a training session on ethics next week.

Sullivan said the rules "cannot address every situation that our employees will face as we execute our dual-missions throughout the world." He added: "The absence of a specific, published standard of conduct covering an act or behavior does not mean that the act is condoned, is permissible, or will not call for - and result in - corrective or disciplinary action."

"All employees have a continuing obligation to confront expected abuses or perceived misconduct," Sullivan said.

The agency-wide changes were intended to staunch the embarrassing disclosures since April 13, when a prostitution scandal erupted in Colombia involving 12 Secret Service agents, officers and supervisors and 12 more enlisted military personnel who were there ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to a South American summit.

But the new policies announced Friday raised questions about claims that the behavior discovered in Cartagena was an isolated incident: Why would the Secret Service formally issue new regulations covering thousands of employees if such activities were a one-time occurrence?

"It's too bad common sense policy has to be dictated in this manner," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "New conduct rules are necessary to preventing more shenanigans from happening in the future, and whether these are the best, and most cost effective, rules to stop future misconduct remains to be seen."

The new rules did not mention prostitutes or strip clubs, but they prohibit employees from allowing foreigners - except hotel staff or foreign law enforcement colleagues - into their hotel rooms. They also ban visits to "non-reputable" establishments, which were not defined. The State Department was expected to brief Secret Service employees on trips about areas and businesses considered off-limits to them.

During trips in which the presidential limousine and other bulletproof vehicles are transported by plane, senior-level chaperones will accompany agents and enforce conduct rules, including one from the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility.

In a Wonderland moment, the operator of the "Lips" strip club in San Salvador, Dan Ertel, organized a news conference late Friday and said he didn't know whether any Secret Service employees were among his customers. Ertel said the club was the only one in the country where prostitutes don't work. But a dancer who identified herself by her stage name, Yajaira, told the AP earlier in the day that she would have sex with customers for money after her shift ended.

"You can pay for dances, touch a little, but there's no sex," she said. "But if somebody wants, if they pay me enough, we can do it after I leave at 3 in the morning."

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., praised the new rules as "very positive steps by the Secret Service to make clear what is expected of every agent and also makes clear what will not be tolerated."

The Secret Service already has forced eight employees from their jobs and was seeking to revoke the security clearance of another employee, which would effectively force him to resign. Three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing. The military was conducting its own, separate investigation but canceled the security clearances of all 12 enlisted personnel.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano assured senators earlier this week that the incident in Colombia appeared to be an isolated case, saying she would be surprised if it represented a broader cultural problem. The next day, the Secret Service acknowledged it was investigating whether its employees hired strippers and prostitutes in advance of Obama's visit last year to El Salvador. Prostitution is legal in both Colombia and El Salvador.

In a confidential message to senators on Thursday, the Secret Service said its Office of Professional Responsibility had not received complaints about officer behavior in El Salvador but would investigate.

"Fifteen years in business, it's the one club in this country that does not prostitute the girls," said Ertel, the owner of Lips, at his news conference. "Look, every guy that comes in there propositions the girls, and the answer is always going to be `no.' Was there Secret Service in there? I have no idea."

On Capitol Hill, early signs surfaced of eroding support for the Secret Service director. Grassley said Sullivan's job could be secure if the scandal were an isolated incident. "But if it goes much deeper, you know, nothing happens or nothing's changed in Washington if heads don't roll," Grassley said on CBS "This Morning."

A member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., warned against a "knee-jerk reaction" and urged a full investigation. But he compared Sullivan as the agency's director to the captain of a foundering ship: "I'm a Navy guy," he said. "The captain of the ship can be in his cabin sleeping and if the ship runs aground the captain of the ship is responsible. I'm not saying anybody's head should roll here, but I expect the captain of the ship to do the right thing."

The White House said Friday that the president remained supportive of Sullivan and confident in the capabilities of the Secret Service.

The fallout from the scandal remained raw. When an AP reporter on Friday visited the home in Maryland of Gregory Stokes, who lost his job in the agency's first round of disciplinary action, someone in the home called police, who asked the AP to leave his property.

Secret Service investigating another overseas trip

Secret Service investigating another overseas trip

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 25, 2012, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Secret Service prostitution scandal that embarrassed the White House and overshadowed the president's visit to a Latin American summit.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Expanding the prostitution investigation, the Secret Service acknowledged Thursday it is checking whether its employees hired strippers and prostitutes in advance of President Barack Obama's visit last year to El Salvador.

The disclosure came not long after the Homeland Security secretary assured skeptical senators that the recent prostitution scandal in Colombia appeared to be an isolated incident.

A spokesman for the Secret Service, Edwin Donovan, said the agency was investigating allegations raised in news reports about unprofessional behavior that have emerged in the aftermath of the Colombia incident. The latest, by Seattle television station KIRO-TV (http://bit.ly/IeN6bv ), quoted anonymous sources as saying that Secret Service employees received sexual favors from strippers at a club in San Salvador and took prostitutes to their hotel rooms ahead of Obama's visit to the city in March 2011.

Prostitution is legal in both Colombia and El Salvador.

Separately, The Washington Post this week cited unnamed "confidants" of the Secret Service officers implicated in Colombia saying senior managers had tolerated similar behavior during previous official trips. The Post described a visit to Buenos Aires in 2009 by former President Bill Clinton, whose protective detail it said included agents and uniformed officers. During that trip, the Post said, members of the detail went out for a late night of partying at strip clubs.

Donovan said Thursday, "Any information brought to our attention that can be assessed as credible will be followed up on in an appropriate manner."

In a confidential message to senators, also Thursday, the Secret Service said its Office of Professional Responsibility had not received complaints about officer behavior in El Salvador but would investigate. In the message, the agency sought to cast doubt on the KIRO report, noting that it does not routinely send K-9 or explosive-detection units as part of its advance teams; KIRO said the advance team included those elements.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said he doubted that Obama was aware of the allegations about El Salvador when he was briefed by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan last week in the Oval Office.

The expansion of any investigation into behavior by the Secret Service could represent another mark against an agency that has been tarnished by the prostitution scandal. At a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill, senators struggled to reconcile the image of courageous agents assigned to protect the lives of the president and his family with the less savory image that has emerged from its investigation in Colombia so far.

Senators on Thursday questioned Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's statement during the hearing that she believed the incident in Colombia was an isolated case. Napolitano had said there was no evidence of similar behavior, based on a review of complaints during the past 2.5 years to the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility. She said that if there was a pattern of such behavior, "that would be a surprise to me."

"It sort of defies logic," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who serves on the Judiciary and Armed Services committees, both of which were investigating the case. "The idea that this is the first and only time, it doesn't make sense. For something to get this out of control it has to be a ... cultural blueprint."

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said he has heard additional examples of misconduct, so Napolitano's assurances surprised him. His committee is expected to hold hearings in May.

"I keep running into people who tell me that they've talked to agents who tell them about misconduct of this kind over the years," Lieberman said. "Whether anybody knew about it or whether there were files on people I don't know."

The Colombia scandal arose the morning of April 12, when a dispute over payment between a prostitute and a Secret Service officer spilled into the hallway of the Hotel Caribe.

Eight Secret Service officers have been forced out, and the agency is trying to permanently revoke the security clearance of another. Three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing but face administrative discipline. One of the Secret Service officers was staying at the Hilton hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, the same hotel where Obama later stayed for the Summit of the Americas.

Another dozen military personnel also have been implicated. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said this week that all have had their security clearances suspended.

The Defense Department briefed senators on Wednesday about its investigation, but Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Thursday he was unsatisfied with what the Pentagon told lawmakers. Unlike for civilian U.S. government employees, soliciting prostitutes is a criminal offense for U.S. military personnel even in countries where prostitution is otherwise legal.

"Secretary Napolitano and especially the director of the Secret Service has been pretty forthcoming in many aspects of this, unlike the Pentagon, which has completely stonewalled, using the excuse that a Uniform Code of Military Justice - as you know, that's the military law - somehow is a barrier to us receiving information," McCain said the CBS program "This Morning."

Graham proposed Thursday that military commanders and Secret Service supervisors should conduct surprise visits for personnel working overseas.

"People get away from home, get deployed and believe they're on vacation," he said. "They work hard, but they believe their off-duty time is something that doesn't matter. It does matter."

Supreme court moves to center of presidential race

Supreme court moves to center of presidential race

FILE - In this April 25, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Suddenly at the heart of presidential politics, the Supreme Court is preparing what could be blockbuster rulings on health care and immigration just before the election. President Barack Obama already seems to be running against the justices at times in a year that's brought unprecedented campaign spending after the high court rewrote the nation's election finance laws.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court, suddenly at the heart of presidential politics, is preparing what could be blockbuster rulings on health care and immigration shortly before the fall election.

The court, sometimes an afterthought in presidential elections, is throwing a new element of uncertainty into the campaign taking shape between President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Sharply divided between four conservatives, four liberals and one conservative-leaning swing justice, the court already is viewed as being nearly as partisan as Congress. Within weeks it will rule on the contentious 2010 Democratic-crafted health care overhaul and a Republican-backed Arizona law that's seen as a model for cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Obama sometimes seems to be running against the court, or at least its conservative members. Whether that will sway voters in November is unclear. The public receives far less information and visual imagery of the Supreme Court than it does of the White House and Congress.

An anti-court strategy by Obama "will fire up his base, but I doubt it will make any bigger impact on swing voters," said Republican consultant John Feehery.

Meanwhile, strategists in both parties are hoping they can turn the upcoming decisions to their advantage - for instance, possibly boosting Democratic turnout among Hispanic voters unhappy with GOP immigration policies or emboldening the Republican base if Obama's landmark health care law is ruled unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court already has played a huge and direct role in U.S. presidential politics. Its 5-4 ruling in Bush v. Gore settled the bitter 2000 contest by barring a Florida ballot recount, which Democrats hoped would prevent George W. Bush's election.

And the 2010 Citizens United case, also decided 5-4, greatly eased political spending restrictions on corporations and unions. It gave birth to the "super PACs" that are reshaping campaigns by raising millions of anonymously donated dollars for TV ads attacking Obama, Romney and targeted congressional candidates.

By holding well-publicized hearings on the health care and immigration cases - and now writing keenly awaited decisions - the court is stirring passions on key issues in this year's elections. Less clear, however, is how the politics might play out.

Many court-watchers expect the justices to throw out most or all of the health law, which Republicans derisively call "Obamacare." During public oral arguments, the most conservative justices questioned Congress' authority to require all Americans to obtain health insurance.

Romney may be poorly positioned to exploit such a ruling, however. The similar "individual mandate" that he successfully pushed as Massachusetts governor was a model for Obama's federal plan.

"I don't think the Romney campaign will want to make health care a major issue," said Democratic strategist Doug Hattaway. "Every time Romney criticizes the president's health care reform, he opens himself up to the Etch A Sketch attack."

Hattaway was referring to claims that Romney switches back and forth on important policies, erasing and redrawing pages when convenient.

Republican strategist Terry Holt said a court decision overturning the health care law would be an unmistakable setback for Obama.

"It repudiates the singular achievement of this administration," Holt said.

Feehery agreed, saying such a ruling would make Obama "look like a weak president."

But it might help other Democrats, Feehery said. "It takes away a law that is unpopular," he said, "but puts health care back on the agenda for the Democrats, which has been a winning issue in the past."

In the immigration case, the Obama administration opposes Arizona's requirement that police check the legal status of people they stop for other reasons.

The law, pushed by a Republican governor and Legislature, has angered some voters, including Hispanics, in battleground states such as Florida, New Mexico and Colorado.

A number of court analysts predict the justices will uphold parts of the Arizona law but may overturn others. That could energize Americans who want tougher sanctions, including deportation, against millions of illegal immigrants in the country.

"This could prove problematic for Romney," Feehery said, because it would pit his conservative base against much-needed Hispanic voters in targeted states. "If Romney handles it right, by largely ignoring it, it could take out a major source of irritation for Hispanics and maybe help a portion of them see the good side of Romney," Feehery said.

Earlier this month, Obama, a former constitutional law professor, delivered what some considered a misleading warning to the court regarding the health care law.

"I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress," the president said. "And I'd just remind conservative commentators that for years what we've heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint - that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. Well, this is a good example."

White House spokesmen tried to explain that Obama recognizes the court's power to review laws passed by Congress. His point, said spokesman Jay Carney, is that the Supreme Court traditionally has "deferred to Congress' authority in matters of national economic importance."

FACT CHECK: Romney on his dad growing up poor

FACT CHECK: Romney on his dad growing up poor

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney takes the stage at an election night rally in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Romney added to his big lead in the race for convention delegates Tuesday with a five-state sweep of Republican presidential primaries.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney likes to talk on the campaign trail about how his father "grew up poor," but that's not the whole story.

The father of the presumptive Republican nominee, George Romney, grew up in a family that suffered financial losses and enjoyed prosperity. The elder Romney pursued an upwardly mobile path to become chairman of American Motors Corp. before being elected governor of Michigan.

Mitt Romney's reference to his father's financial hardships provides a way to blunt perceptions among voters that his vast personal wealth makes him insensitive to the concerns of Americans who are struggling. He joins a long parade of politicians who have played down their wealthy pedigrees while playing up their humble family roots in hopes of convincing voters they can identify with their concerns.

With economic concerns on the minds of most Americans, Romney and President Barack Obama already are jockeying for an edge. Obama generated a flurry of headlines last week by saying, "I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth." Many viewed that as a shot at Romney despite an Obama spokesman's denials.

On Tuesday night in Manchester, N.H., after another string of primary victories, Romney recalled the hardships his father faced growing up.

"I'll tell you about how much I love this country, this extraordinary land, where someone like my dad, who grew up poor and never graduated from college, could pursue his dreams and work his way up to running a great car company," Romney told the crowd. "Only in America could a man like my dad become governor of the state in which he once sold paint from the trunk of his car."

George Romney was born July 8, 1907, in Chihuahua, Mexico, where his parents and other Mormons had moved to avoid persecution and U.S. laws against polygamy.

"At 5 years old, Dad and his family were finally living pretty well. They had a nice home and a small farm, and Dad even had his own pony, called Monty," Mitt Romney wrote in his book "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness."

George Romney's father was Gaskell Romney, a carpenter who led a prosperous life in a Mormon colony in Mexico, according to the "The Real Romney," a book written by two Boston Globe reporters. But turmoil from the Mexican revolution later forced the Romneys and other Mormon families to flee back to the United States.

The family suddenly went from owning a large Mexican ranch to being nearly penniless, and the family moved from house to house in California, Idaho and Utah as they struggled to build a new life.

"Dad used to regale us kids with claims that one year in Idaho his family lived on nothing but potatoes - for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Mitt Romney recounted in his book.

Over time, though, Mitt's grandfather became prosperous, building some of the finest homes in Salt Lake City, according to the Globe book, but along with many other Americans suffered financial setbacks during the Great Depression.

"He never took out bankruptcy, which he could have done several times," George Romney wrote of his father, according to the Globe book.

George Romney worked as a plasterer during high school and later attended four colleges, but he never graduated. He spent two years as a Mormon missionary in England and Scotland. His first exposure to politics was in 1929, as an aide in Washington to Democratic Sen. David I. Walsh of Massachusetts.

He went on to work at ALCOA and the Aluminum Wares Association. His first job in Detroit came in 1939 when he was local manager of the Automobile Manufacturers Association.

He later became head of American Motors and Michigan's governor. Romney gave up the governor's office in 1969 to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Nixon administration.

His father's success ensured a more privileged path for Mitt Romney, who was raised in the posh Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills and attended an elite prep school before he went on to the business and law schools of Harvard University.

Supreme Court hints OK on Ariz. immigration law

Supreme Court hints OK on Ariz. immigration law

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer speaks to reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, April 25, 2012, after the court held a hearing on Arizona's "show me your papers" immigration law.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bucking the Obama administration, Supreme Court justices seemed to find little trouble Wednesday with major parts of Arizona's tough immigration law that require police to check the legal status of people they stop for other reasons.

But the fate of other provisions that make Arizona state crimes out of immigration violations was unclear in the court's final argument of the term.

The latest clash between states and the administration turns on the extent of individual states' roles in dealing with the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants. Immigration policy is essentially under the federal government's control, but a half-dozen Republican-dominated states have passed their own restrictions out of frustration with what they call Washington's inaction to combat an illegal flood.

Parts of laws adopted by Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah also are on hold pending the high court's decision.

Civil rights groups say the Arizona law and those in some other states encourage racial profiling and ethnic stereotyping, and debate over such laws could have an impact on this fall's elections. More than 200 protesters gathered outside the court, most of them opposed to the Arizona law.

However, in an unusual comment, Chief Justice John Roberts made clear at the outset of the administration's argument Wednesday that the court was looking only at state-versus-federal power, not the civil rights concerns that already are the subject of other lawsuits. "So this is not a case about ethnic profiling," Roberts said.

That matter dealt with, both liberal and conservative justices reacted skeptically to the administration's argument that the state exceeded its authority when it made the records check, and another provision allowing suspected illegal immigrants to be arrested without warrants, part of the Arizona law aimed at driving illegal immigrants elsewhere.

"You can see it's not selling very well," Justice Sonia Sotomayor told Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr.

Verrilli tried to convince the justices that they should view the law in its entirety, and as inconsistent with federal immigration policy. He said the records check would allow the state to "engage effectively in mass incarceration" of immigrants lacking documentation.

He said the law embodying Arizona's approach of maximum enforcement conflicts with a more nuanced federal immigration policy that seeks to balance national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, human rights and the rights of law-abiding citizens and immigrants.

But Roberts was among those on the court who took issue with Verrilli's characterization of the check of immigration status, saying the state merely wants to notify federal authorities it has someone in custody who may be in the U.S. illegally. "It seems to me that the federal government just doesn't want to know who's here illegally and who's not," Roberts said.

Verrilli did not mention Wednesday that the administration has deported nearly 400,000 people a year, far more than previous administrations, although the information was included in written submissions to the court.

The other provisions that have been put on hold by lower federal courts make it a state crime for immigrants not to have registration papers and for illegal immigrants to seek work or hold jobs. Arizona's Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the law two years ago, was at the court Wednesday.

Arguing for Arizona, Paul Clement said the state law mirrored federal immigration law and that the state it took action because, with its 370-mile border with Mexico, Arizona "bears a disproportionate share of the costs of illegal immigration."

But Roberts expressed unease with the state's focus on illegal workers. "The State of Arizona, in this case, is imposing some significantly greater sanctions," he said.

Alone among the justices, Antonin Scalia appeared ready to uphold the entire law, which he described as an effort by Arizona to police its borders.

When Verrilli said that Arizona's immigration law could raise foreign policy concerns, especially with Mexico, Scalia said, "So we have to enforce our laws in a manner that will please Mexico. Is that what you're saying?"

Outside the courthouse, more than 200 protesters gathered. The law's opponents made up a clear majority of the crowd, chanting and carrying signs such as "Do I Look Illegal To You?" Some shouted "shame" at Brewer when she emerged from the building after the argument.

Brewer told reporters she was "very, very encouraged" by the justices' questions.

Republicans have far outpaced Democrats in pushing tough anti-immigration laws, posing potential political problems in some states for GOP candidates including Mitt Romney. The Republicans' aggressive stand has alienated many Hispanic voters, one of the electorate's fastest-growing segments.

President Barack Obama won two-thirds of the Hispanic vote in 2008, and hopes to do better this fall. In the GOP primary contests, Romney took the harshest anti-illegal immigration stance among the top contenders, but he has had little to say lately on the issue. Romney has not taken on stand on legislation proposed by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that would allow some undocumented immigrants a chance at visas to remain in the United States.

More than a decade ago, Republicans were making inroads among Hispanic voters. President George W. Bush, a former Texas governor, favored comprehensive immigration reform that could have established pathways to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants. But staunchly anti-illegal immigration forces gained influence in the GOP, and the reform plans were dropped.

Hispanic voters are especially important in a few battleground states that will help determine the Nov. 6 presidential election. They include Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. Romney's problems with Hispanics also might tempt Obama's campaign to make a push in Arizona, usually a reliably Republican state.

A recent poll of Hispanic voters by the Pew Research Center found that 67 percent supported Obama, and 27 percent Romney.

A decision in the high-profile immigration case is expected in late June.

California, New York and nine other states with significant immigrant populations support the Obama administration.

Florida, Michigan and 14 other states, many of which also are challenging Obama's health care overhaul, argue that Arizona's law does not conflict with federal law.

Justice Elena Kagan, who was Obama's first solicitor general, is not taking part in the case, presumably because she worked on it while in the Justice Department.

The case is Arizona v. U.S., 11-182.

Rodney King reflects on an up-down life since riot

Rodney King reflects on an up-down life since riot

On April 13, 2012, Rodney King poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. The acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating of King sparked rioting that spread across the city and into neighboring suburbs. Cars were demolished and homes and businesses were burned. Before order was restored, 55 people were dead, 2,300 injured and more than 1,500 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- We saw his face a bloody, pulpy mess. And in 1992, when the four Los Angeles Police officers who beat him after a traffic stop were acquitted, it touched off anger that affected an entire generation. Now, 20 years later, this is the face of Rodney King, and this is what has happened to him in the interim.

He's been a record company executive and a reality TV star among many other things.

To millions of Americans, though, he will always be either a victim of one of the most horrific cases of police brutality ever videotaped or just a hooligan who didn't stop when police attempted to pull him over.

He's indisputably the black motorist whose beating on a darkened LA street led to one of the worst race riots in American history.

It's been an up-and-down ride for King since he went on television at the height of those riots and pleaded in a quavering voice, "Can we all get along?"

He's been arrested numerous times, mostly for alcohol-related crimes. In a recent interview with The Associated Press he said, "I still sip, I don't get drunk."

He has been to a number of rehab programs, he said, including the 2008 appearance on "Dr. Drew" Pinsky's "Celebrity Rehab" program.

Still, he was arrested again just last year for driving under the influence.

It was his fear of being stopped for drunken driving on March 3, 1991, King said, that initially led him to try to evade police who attempted to pull him over for speeding.

After he did stop, four LA police officers hit him more than 50 times with their batons, kicked him and shot him with stun guns. A man who had quietly stepped outside his home to observe the commotion videotaped most of it and turned a copy over to a local TV station.

After a jury with no black members acquitted the officers on April 29, 1992, the city's black community exploded in rage. Fifty-five people died, more than 2,000 were injured over three days.

King received a $3.8 million settlement from the city, but said he lost most it to bad investments, among them a hip-hop record label he founded that quickly went broke.

He makes money these days taking part in events like celebrity boxing matches. He's also promoting his just-published memoir, "The Riot Within: My Journey From Rebellion to Redemption."

A tall, physically imposing man who is disarmingly friendly, self-effacing and soft-spoken, King, 47, maintains he is happy.

"America's been good to me after I paid the price and stayed alive through it all," he says. "This part of my life is the easy part now."

Obama pushes low-rate student loans, wooing young

Obama pushes low-rate student loans, wooing young

President Barack Obama speaks at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tuesday, April 24, 2012.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- President Barack Obama went after the college vote Tuesday, pitching cheaper student loans as he courted the one age group where he has a decided advantage over Republican rival Mitt Romney. The twist? Romney, too, has endorsed the idea, though it's unclear whether deficit-leery Republicans in Congress will go along.

In the race for the White House, both the Obama and Romney campaigns see huge opportunities to court younger voters. This week, their efforts are focused on the millions of students - and their parents - who are grappling with college costs at a time when such debt has grown so staggering it exceeds the totals for credit cards or auto loans.

Trying to make it personal, Obama told students at the University of North Carolina that he and first lady Michelle Obama had "been in your shoes" and didn't pay off their student loans until eight years ago.

"I didn't just read about this. I didn't just get some talking points about this. I didn't just get a policy briefing on this," Obama said. "We didn't come from wealthy families. When we graduated from college and law school, we had a mountain of debt. When we married, we got poor together."

Obama's emphasis on his personal experience set up a contrast with Romney, whose father was a wealthy auto executive. It's a point the president is sure to return to during this summer's campaigning.

Late Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced legislation that would keep the interest rate for subsidized loans for poorer and middle-class students at their current level for another year at a cost of $5.9 billion. The timing is important because the rate will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1 without intervention by Congress, an expiration date chosen in 2007 when a Democratic Congress voted to chop the rate in half.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has estimated about 15 percent of Americans, or 37 million people, have outstanding student loan debt. The bank puts the total at $870 billion, though other estimates have reached $1 trillion. About two-thirds of student loan debt is held by people under 30.

Members of both parties are assessing ways to cover the costs and then gain the votes in the House and Senate. Both parties have a political incentive to keep the rates as they are.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday, "I don't think anybody believes this interest rate ought to be allowed to rise." He added, "The question is how do you pay for it, how long do you do the extension."

Under the Democratic plan, the measure would be paid for by closing a loophole that lets owners of privately owned companies called S corporations avoid paying the Social Security and Medicare payroll tax on part of their earnings. It would apply to such companies with incomes over $250,000. The higher payroll taxes would also be required for some law firms, doctors practices and other professional services partnerships.

Congressional Republicans, however, were panning the idea of paying for the student loan plan with higher payroll taxes on those companies.

"That's a non-starter," said Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

Romney said this week that he agrees the loan rates shouldn't be raised, coupling that stance with criticism of Obama's economic leadership.

"Given the bleak job prospects that young Americans coming out of college face today, I encourage Congress to temporarily extend the low rate," Romney said in a statement.

Some conservative activists have denounced Romney's decision to match Obama's position on student loan rates.

"Mitt Romney is going to sell out conservatives in his party" to improve his chances in the November election, Michael Brendan Dougherty wrote in a blog carried by sites including Free Republic.

By taking on student debt, Obama spoke to middle-class America and also targeted a growing economic burden that could hamper the national recovery.

While leaning on Republicans in Congress to act, he also sought to energize the young people essential to his campaign - those who voted for him last time and the many more who have turned voting age since then. Obama urged students to go to social media sites like Twitter to pressure their lawmakers to prevent the interest rates on the loans "from shooting up and shaking you down."

He also spoke to college journalists on a conference call from Air Force One, reiterating many of the same points he made in his address at Chapel Hill.

The blurring between Obama's official and campaign events emerged here in Tar Heel country, with Obama encouraging students to give him an "Amen" at times (they did) and the crowd also giving him an unsolicited chant of "Four more years!" On a blue-sky, breezy day, Obama soaked in the youth vibe on campus, where he also appeared in a taping of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."

With Romney seemingly assured of sweeping the five Republican presidential primaries being held Tuesday, the former Massachusetts governor planned a focus on the general election with a speech in New Hampshire titled "A Better America Begins Tonight."

Ahead of the speech, Romney supporters said Obama's policies had hurt younger voters and questioned whether the president could garner the same amount of support as in 2008.

"Young people are sitting here three and a half years later and they're not better off," said Alex Schriver, chairman of the College Republican National Committee.

The president was also speaking Tuesday at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and then at the University of Iowa on Wednesday. All three schools are in states that Obama carried in 2008, and all three states are considered among the several that could swing to Obama or Romney and help decide a close 2012 election.

Obama carried voters between the ages of 18-29 by a margin of about 2-to-1 in 2008, but many recent college graduates have had difficulty finding jobs. That raises concerns for the president about whether they will vote and volunteer for him in such large numbers again.

Without mentioning her by name, Obama cited North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, quoting her from a recent radio interview with G. Gordon Liddy in which she said, "I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt."

Obama said allowing the interest rates to double this summer would hurt more than 7 million students, costing the average student $1,000 and amounting to a "tax hike" for those students and their families.

"Anybody here can afford to pay an extra thousand dollars right now?" Obama asked to jeers from the crowd. "I don't think so."

Former Edwards aide take stand against former boss

Former Edwards aide take stand against former boss

Former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. John Edwards arrives outside federal court in Greensboro, N.C., Monday, April 23, 2012. for his trial on charges of violating federal campaign finance laws. Opening statements were to begin Monday. Edwards, 58, pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to nearly $1 million in secret payments from two wealthy supporters. Much of the money was used to hide the then-married politician's pregnant mistress during his 2008 White House campaign.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- A former aide to John Edwards has taken the witness stand in his criminal trial to testify about the ex-senator's role in allegedly violating campaign finance laws to cover up an extramarital affair.

Andrew Young was the first witness called by prosecutors Monday as they began making their case that Edwards masterminded a conspiracy to use nearly $1 million in secret payments from two wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008.

Young recounted meeting the woman, Rielle Hunter, as she travelled with Edwards in 2006. Young also introduced Edwards to Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, an heiress who provided much of the money at issue.

Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six counts of violating campaign finance laws.

Romney backs student loan proposal Obama supports

Romney backs student loan proposal Obama supports

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. smiles at left as he joins Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for a news conference prior to a town hall-style meeting in Aston, Pa., Monday, April 23, 2012.

ASTON, Pa. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday embraced a student loan proposal that President Barack Obama is selling on the campaign trail and refused to endorse Sen. Marco Rubio's conservative immigration plan aimed at helping young illegal immigrants.

The two policy positions signaled an effort by Romney to move to the political center as he works to court critical general election swing voters - including young voters and Hispanic voters - after a brutal primary fight.

"I think young voters in this country have to vote for me if they're really thinking of what's in the best interest of the country and what's in their personal best interest," Romney said as he stood next to Rubio, R-Fla., and answered reporters' questions for the first time since effectively securing the GOP presidential nomination.

House Republicans oppose legislation to temporarily extend low-interest rates for student loans. Obama has been pushing Congress for the extension and planned a three-state tour this week to warn students of the potential financial catastrophe they will face if Congress fails to act.

Romney refused to embrace a Rubio proposal that would allow young illegal immigrants to remain in the United States to work or study. He did say there were provisions to "commend" it and that his campaign would "study the issue.

Romney said during the South Carolina primary that all illegal immigrants should return to their home country and get in line to be eligible for U.S. citizenship. Rubio's still-evolving bill would allow young illegal immigrants who graduated from high school and have no criminal record to obtain a nonimmigrant visa. They could stay in the United States, obtain a drivers' license and work or continued their studies but would have no special path to citizenship.

Romney's answers illustrate the careful line he has to walk as he transitions from the primary to the general election, where he'll have to tussle with Obama for support from the Hispanic, female and young voters who propelled Obama to victory in 2008.

Obama, meanwhile, has to hang on to those constituencies. His tour through North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday is intended to rally young supporters.

Romney's language on loans, for example, was distinctly different from the answer he gave when he was last asked about the issue. Prior to the Illinois primary on March 20, he told a young woman concerned about student debt to "get ready for President Obama's claim."

"I know he's going to come up at some point and talk about how he's going to make it vanish. And that's another, `Here, I'll give you something for free.' And I'm not going to do that," Romney said. During that same answer, he said he wanted to keep interest rates low.

Romney also tacked to the right on immigration during the primary. In recent days, he's been highlighting Hispanic concerns at events while leaving out much of the rhetoric he embraced earlier this year. He said Monday that he would outline additional changes to the immigration system in the coming months, particularly with the visa system that governs who is allowed to work in the U.S.

"I anticipate before the November election we'll be laying out whole series of policies that relate to immigration, and obviously our first priority is to secure the border, and yet we also have very substantial visa programs in this country," Romney said. "How we adjust our visa program to make it fit the needs of our country is something I'll be speaking about down the road."

Still, he wouldn't go so far as to embrace Rubio's immigration proposal. Rubio has said his goal is to craft a Republican compromise on the so-called DREAM Act that Romney could support. The DREAM Act, which has languished on Capitol Hill, would provide a path to citizenship for some young illegal immigrants who attend college or serve in the military.

The Cuban-American senator is considered a top potential pick for vice president. He's the latest in a string of possible running mates to campaign with Romney and is the first to get an audition since former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., left the race and Romney staffers formally began organizing the process of searching for a No. 2.

Romney declined Monday to say if Rubio was on his list of vice presidential candidates. He said his campaign is still setting up the infrastructure that's required to scrutinize potential nominees, including hiring legal and accounting staff.

The former Massachusetts governor also refused to say whether Rubio is experienced enough to serve as his No. 2. Romney often criticizes Obama, who was a first-term senator when he was elected president, as a "nice guy" who is "in over his head," implying that the Democratic incumbent didn't have the experience he needed for the job.

Flyers beat Penguins 5-1 to win series in 6 games

Flyers beat Penguins 5-1 to win series in 6 games

The puck sails past Pittsburgh Penguins' Marc-Andre Fleury and into the net from a slapshot by Philadelphia Flyers' Erik Gustaffson during the second period in Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series on Sunday, April 22, 2012, in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Claude Giroux had his coach call him the best player in the world.

Giroux needed one shift to prove that claim is more than hometown hype.

He flattened Sidney Crosby only 5 seconds into the game, buried his sixth goal of the series past Marc-Andre Fleury 27 seconds later, and led a Philadelphia Flyers charge into the second round.

Giroux wrapped up a dominant series with a goal and two assists, Ilya Bryzgalov had his first outstanding effort in net and the Flyers beat the 108-point Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Sunday to win their Eastern Conference opening-round series in six games.

"G is a very special player," Bryzgalov said. "There's not very many players like that in the world."

Giroux strapped the Flyers to his 24-year-old back and gave the Flyers an opening shift to remember. In a series where no lead was safe, the Flyers scored the first three goals and made it stand behind stout defense and stellar play out of Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov allowed 20 goals in the first five games. He settled down in Game 6 and gave up only Evgeni Malkin's goal in the second period.

The Flyers had stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series before Pittsburgh won two straight. A day before Game 6, Flyers forward Scott Hartnell called out his defense and Bryzgalov and said it was their turn to win a game.

The Flyers delivered with 40 blocked shots.

"Guys were sacrificing their bodies to block shots and were paying the price taking hits to make plays," Hartnell said. "It was awesome to see."

Bryzgalov was at last the shutdown goalie the Flyers expected when they gave him $51 million to steady one of Philadelphia's weak links. He outplayed Fleury and helped the Flyers advance to the conference semifinals for the third straight season.

Fleury had seemingly pulled it together after some awful efforts in Games 2 and 3. He steadied the Penguins in a Game 5 victory and had the Penguins feeling confident about sending the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 7.

So much for that.

"We needed to play perfect hockey to stay in this series, to win this series, and we didn't get the kind of start we needed today," Crosby said. "We felt like we could get it back to Pittsburgh, and now we have some time to think about why we didn't."

Crosby had no time to think on the first shift.

Moments after Giroux leveled him, the Flyers winger took the loose puck and fired from the circle for a 1-0 lead. He gestured toward the crowd and slammed the glass in celebration, firing up 20,000 fans that hadn't had much to cheer about the last two games.

"I wasn't planning to hit Crosby," Giroux said. "Just sometimes when you have a chance to hit another player, you've got to go out there and do it."

It's clear Giroux had something big in mind.

"When the best player in the world comes up to you and says, `I don't know who you're starting tonight, but I want that first shift,' that tells you everything you need to know about Claude Giroux," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said.

It was Philadelphia's first even-strength goal since Giroux scored one early in the third period of Game 3.

The team that scored first had lost the first five games of the series. For once, the Flyers piled on.

The Flyers made it 2-0 on the second bad goal allowed by Fleury. He had seemingly stopped the puck and had it covered it up, but Hartnell poked it free and jammed it into the net for Philadelphia's 12th power-play goal of the series.

From there, Flyers fans started their derisive chants of "Fleur-rrrrry! Fleur-rrrrry!" He was rattled more by the Flyers in the second period than the crowd noise.

Nothing shook Bryzgalov en route to 30 saves.

"He was our best player on the ice tonight," Giroux said.

Erik Gustafsson was all alone when he fired an uncontested shot from just above the circle for a 3-0 lead.

Gustafsson scored one goal all season. The Flyers put his face on the big screen as he sat on the bench, and the crowd erupted and gave him a standing ovation. Gustafsson cracked a small smile when he looked up at the video board and realized those screaming fans were all for him.

The 3-0 lead looked shaky for a moment when Malkin scored his third of the series to make it 3-1. The Penguins had 19 goals over Games 2-4 and certainly had the firepower to rally one more time.

The Flyers silenced the Penguins 34 seconds later when Danny Briere's shot trickled between Fleury's sprawled legs for his fifth goal of the series and a 4-1 lead. Brayden Schenn added an empty-netter in the final seconds.

The Penguins were the odds-on favorite to win the Stanley Cup and could find the early elimination leads to sweeping changes on the roster.

"Being down 3-0, we were confident, and we remained confident, but we just ran out," Penguins forward Jordan Staal said.

Flyers fans chanted "We don't like you!" in the waning moments, a poke at Crosby's comments that he didn't like anyone on the Flyers.

The testy series concluded with a peaceful handshake line - and the Flyers having several days of rest to find out their next opponent before the next round begins.

Notes: The Flyers set a team record for power-play goals in a series. ... Giroux had six goals and eight assists in the series.