US and Afghan forces clash, leaving 5 dead

US and Afghan forces clash, leaving 5 dead

FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2009 file photo, U.S. Marine squad leader Sgt. Matthew Duquette, left, of Warrenville, Ill., with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines walks with Afghan National Army Lt. Hussein, during in a joint patrol in Nawa district, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. U.S. military officials have noted that Afghan security forces are dying in insider attacks along with foreign troops, but so far, the Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number killed.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A firefight broke out between U.S. forces and their Afghan army allies in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, killing two Americans and three Afghan soldiers and pushing the number of U.S. troops killed in the long-running war 2,000.

The fighting started Saturday when what is believed to have been a mortar fired by insurgents struck a checkpoint set up by U.S. forces in Wardak province, said Shahidullah Shahid, a provincial government spokesman. He said the Americans thought they were under attack from a nearby Afghan army checkpoint and fired on it, prompting the Afghan soldiers to return fire.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said the gunbattle was the result of a "misunderstanding" between international forces and Afghan soldiers manning a checkpoint in the Sayd Abad district.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force, commonly referred to as ISAF, provided a different account.

"After a short conversation took place between (Afghan army) and ISAF personnel firing occurred which resulted in the fatal wounding of an ISAF soldier and the death of his civilian colleague," the coalition said in a statement. It said the three Afghan soldiers died "in an ensuing exchange of fire."

NATO did not say whether it considered this an "insider" attack on foreign forces by Afghan allies.

There has been rising tide of such attacks in which Afghan soldiers or police assault their international allies. The killings pose one of the greatest threats to NATO's mission in the country, endangering a partnership key to training up Afghan security forces and withdrawing international troops.

While it may be days before it becomes clear who fired on whom first, the incident illustrates how tense relations have become between international troops and their Afghan allies.

Officials on both sides went into damage control mode, arguing that Saturday's violence did not mark a new low in Afghan-U.S. relations and urging patience while investigators tried to figure out exactly what had happened.

The deputy commander of NATO's military force in Afghanistan, British Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, called a last-minute news conference in Kabul to address the incident, even though he had few details to give.

He said the initial report of an insider attack should be amended to note that the incident "is now understood possibly to have involved insurgent fire," and tried to stress that relations between international troops and their Afghan allies "are very strong and very effective."

A spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, Gen. Zahir Azimi, also sought to downplay the incident.

"In a misunderstanding shooting broke out between Afghan army and ISAF forces. As a result of the shooting, three army soldiers were killed, three other soldiers were wounded and number of ISAF forces were killed and wounded," Azimi said in a statement.

One U.S. official confirmed that the service member killed was American, while another confirmed that the civilian was also American. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the nationality of the dead had not yet been formally announced.

The number of American military dead reflects an Associated Press count of those members of the armed services killed inside Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion on Oct. 7, 2001.

In the south meanwhile, three Afghan police officers were killed when insurgents attacked a checkpoint in Helmand province Sunday morning, provincial police spokesman Fareed Ahmad said.

As race stands, Obama within reach of second term

As race stands, Obama within reach of second term 

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2012, file photo election clerk Karl Althaus sorts through boxes of absentee ballots at the Polk County Election Office in Des Moines, Iowa. Five weeks to Election Day, President Barack Obama is within reach of the requisite 270 Electoral College votes needed to win a second term according to an Associated Press analysis. Mitt Romney can still prevail in the race to amass the necessary votes, but his path to victory has become much narrower. To overtake Obama, the Republican challenger would need to quickly gain the upper hand in nearly all of the nine states where he and Obama are competing the hardest.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Five weeks to Election Day, President Barack Obama is within reach of the 270 electoral votes needed to win a second term. Republican Mitt Romney's path to victory is narrowing.

To overtake Obama, Romney would need to quickly gain the upper hand in nearly all of the nine states where he and Obama are competing the hardest.

Polls show the president with a steady lead in many of them as Romney looks to shift the dynamics of the race, starting with their first debate Wednesday in Denver.

"We'd rather be us than them," says Jennifer Psaki, an Obama spokeswoman.

But Romney's running mate Paul Ryan says there's time for the GOP ticket to win. "In these kinds of races people focus near the end, and that's what's happening now," he told "Fox News Sunday."

If the election were held today, an Associated Press analysis shows Obama would win at least 271 electoral votes, with likely victories in crucial Ohio and Iowa along with 19 other states and the District of Columbia. Romney would win 23 states for a total of 206.

To oust the Democratic incumbent, Romney would need to take up-for-grabs Florida, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Virginia, which would put him at 267 votes, and upend Obama in either Ohio or Iowa.

The AP analysis isn't meant to be predictive. Rather, it is intended to provide a snapshot of a race that until recently has been stubbornly close in the small number of the most contested states.

It is based on a review of public and private polls, television advertising and numerous interviews with campaign and party officials as well as Republican and Democratic strategists in the competitive states and in Washington.

In the final weeks before the Nov. 6 vote, Obama is enjoying a burst of momentum and has benefited from growing optimism about the economy as well as a series of Romney stumbles. Most notably, a secret video surfaced recently showing the Republican nominee telling a group of donors that 47 percent of Americans consider themselves victims dependent on the government.

To be sure, much could change in the coming weeks, which will feature three presidential and one vice presidential debate. A host of unknowns, both foreign and domestic, could rock the campaign, knocking Obama off course and giving Romney a boost in the homestretch.

Barring that, Romney's challenge is formidable.

Obama started the campaign with a slew of electoral-rich coastal states already in his win column. From the outset, Romney faced fewer paths to cobbling together the state-by-state victories needed to reach the magic number.

It's grown even narrower in recent weeks, as Romney has seen his standing slip in polls in Ohio, with 18 electoral votes, and Iowa, with six. That forced him to abandon plans to try to challenge Obama on traditionally Democratic turf so he could redouble his efforts in Ohio and Iowa, as well as Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Nevada and Virginia.

Romney is hoping that come Election Day, on-the-fence voters tip his way. But there are hurdles there, too.

Early voting is under way in dozens of states, and national and key states surveys show undecided voters feel more favorably toward Obama than Romney.

The Republican is in a tight battle with Obama in Florida, as well as Colorado, North Carolina and Nevada.

But Ohio's shifting landscape illustrates Romney's troubles over the past few weeks.

Republicans and Democrats agree that Obama's solid lead in public and private polling in the state is for real. Over the past month, the president has benefited from an improving economic situation in the state; its 7.2 percent unemployment rate is below the 8.1 percent national average. Obama's team also attributes his Ohio edge to the auto bailout and GM plant expansions in eastern Ohio.

Obama and his campaign have hammered Romney on his tax policies, arguing that the former Massachusetts governor favors the rich while the president as a defender of everyone else.

The president has seen the same good fortune in Iowa. A poll released Saturday by The Des Moines Register illustrates his advantage, showing Obama with 49 percent to 45 percent for Romney. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

"It's a direct result of the time and resources he's been forced to spend here," said Iowa Republican strategist John Stineman.

Indeed, Obama intently focused on the state ahead of an early voting period that began last week. He campaigned in Iowa aggressively this summer and dumped in a ton of TV advertising, much of it depicting Romney as wealthy and out-of-touch with working Americans.

Obama doesn't just have the wind at his back in those states.

The president also appears to be in stronger shape than Romney in Virginia, which has 13 electoral votes, and in New Hampshire, with four votes, even though Romney vacations often in the state where he has a lakeside home. Romney and GOP allies are being outspent in that state considerably, a sign of trouble for the Republican challenger.

Underscoring his challenges, Romney also has been forced to spend millions of dollars a week defending himself in North Carolina, a GOP-leaning state that's more conservative than most of the states that will decide the election.

Polls now show a competitive race there. Democrats boast of having registered 250,000 new voters in the state since April 2011. It's an eye-popping total in a state that Obama won by just 14,000 votes four years ago. A flood of new voters, presumably a chunk of them Democrats, could help keep that state within Obama's reach this year.

Also, Romney's effort to challenge Obama in Democratic-leaning Wisconsin, home state of running mate Paul Ryan, appears to have fizzled. Despite millions of dollars spent on TV in the last few weeks by both sides, polls show Obama with a clear lead in Wisconsin.

Romney's goal of forcing Obama to defend Michigan - Romney's native state - and Pennsylvania never materialized.

"The big strategic moment coming out of the conventions in my view was whether or not Romney and his campaign could succeed in expanding the parameters of the battleground," said Tad Devine, a top adviser to 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore and 2004 nominee John Kerry. "They have not been able to do that."

All this has left Romney with an extraordinarily tight path and few options but to bear down in the states where he is competing aggressively. Time, though, is running out.

Afghan forces also suffer from insider attacks

Afghan forces also suffer from insider attacks 

FILE - In this July 9, 2010 file photograph, an Afghan National Army soldier wears an ammunition belt around his neck during a joint patrol with United States Army soldiers from Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion of the 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, outside Kandahar City. U.S. military officials have noted that Afghan security forces are dying in insider attacks along with foreign troops, but so far, the Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number killed.

  

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan Army Sgt. Habibullah Hayar didn't know it, but he had been sleeping with his enemy for weeks.

Twenty days ago, one of his roommates was arrested for allegedly plotting an insider attack against their unit, which is partnered with NATO forces in eastern Paktia province.

Afghan soldiers and policemen - or militants in their uniforms - have gunned down more than 50 foreign troops so far this year, eroding the trust between coalition forces and their Afghan partners. An equal number of Afghan policemen and soldiers also died in these attacks, giving them reason as well to be suspicious of possible infiltrators within their ranks.

"It's not only foreigners. They are targeting Afghan security forces too," said the 21-year-old Hayar, who was in Kabul on leave. "Sometimes, I think what kind of situation is this that a Muslim cannot trust a Muslim - even a brother cannot trust a brother. It's so confused. Nobody knows what's going on."

The attacks are taking a toll on the partnership, prompting the U.S. military to restrict operations with small-sized Afghan units earlier this month.

The close contact - with coalition forces working side by side with Afghan troops as advisers, mentors and trainers - is a key part of the U.S. strategy for putting the Afghans in the lead as the U.S. and other nations prepare to pull out their last combat troops at the end of 2014, just 27 months away.

The U.S. military also has shown increasing anger over the attacks.

"I'm mad as hell about them, to be honest with you," Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday. 

"It reverberates everywhere across the United States. You know, we're willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign, but we're not willing to be murdered for it."

So far this year, 51 foreign troops - at least half of them Americans - have been killed in insider attacks. The Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number of its forces killed in insider attacks. However, U.S. military statistics obtained by The Associated Press show at least 53 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed as of the end of August.

A U.S. military official disclosed the numbers on condition of anonymity because he said it was up to Afghan officials to formally release the figures. An Afghan defense official who was shown the statistics said he had no reason to doubt their accuracy.

Overall, the statistics show that at least 135 Afghan policemen and soldiers have been killed in insider attacks since 2007. That's more than the 118 foreign service members - mostly Americans - killed in such attacks since then, according to NATO.

Typically, foreign troops are the main targets, but Afghan forces also have been killed by comrades angry over their collaboration with Westerners and many more get killed in the crossfire, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said. He said the ministry did not have a breakdown of how many had been targeted or killed in gunbattles during the attacks.

In at least one instance, an Afghan police officer with alleged ties to militants, killed 10 of his fellow officers on Aug. 11 at a checkpoint in southwestern Nimroz province. An Afghan soldier also was killed on April 25 when a fellow soldier opened fire on a U.S. service member and his translator in Kandahar province, the southern birthplace of the Taliban.

Last year, a suicide bomber in an Afghan police uniform blew himself up May 28 in Takhar province, killing two NATO service members and four Afghans, including a senior police commander. And just a week before that, four Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests under police uniforms attacked a government building in Khost province, triggering a gunbattle that left three Afghan policemen and two Afghan soldiers dead. On April 16, an Afghan soldier walked into a meeting of NATO trainers and Afghan troops in Laghman province, blew himself up, killing five U.S. troops, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter.

"It's difficult to know an attacker from a non-attacker when everybody is wearing a uniform, Hayar said.

The attacker was one of seven people rounded up earlier this month from various units within the Afghan National Army Corps 203, Hayar said. The corps covers the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, Wardak, Logar and Khost.

"He was together with me in my room with some of my other colleagues. He had a long beard. We didn't know anything about him. We were living together, sleeping together," said Hayar, who has been in the Afghan army for 2 1/2 years.

He said the suspected infiltrator was identified after a Taliban militant arrested in Logar told his Afghan interrogators that members of the fundamentalist Islamic movement had infiltrated the corps and were planning imminent attacks. That prompted Hayar's superiors to start questioning soldiers in various units.

Hayar said his roommate's uneasy reaction raised suspicion, and investigators found Taliban songs saved to the memory card of his cell phone. He was then detained by Afghan intelligence officials and confessed he was a member of the Taliban and planned to stage attacks.

Hayar says he assumes his former bunkmate was probably going after foreign forces, but it makes him uncomfortable nevertheless.

"It's very hard to trust anybody - even a roommate," he said. "Whenever I'm not on duty, I lock my weapon and keep the key myself. I don't put my weapon under my pillow to sleep because maybe someone will grab it and shoot me with my own weapon."

To counter such attacks, the U.S. military earlier this year stopped training about 1,000 members of the Afghan Local Police, a controversial network of village-defense units. U.S. commanders have assigned some troops to be "guardian angels" who watch over their comrades even as they sleep. U.S. officials also recently ordered American troops to carry loaded weapons at all time, even when they are on their bases.

Then, after a string of insider attacks, Allen this month restricted operations carried out alongside with small-sized Afghan units. Coalition troops have routinely conducted patrols or manned outposts with small groups of Afghan counterparts, but Allen's directive said such operations would no longer be considered routine and required the approval of the regional commander.

For their part, Afghan authorities have detained or removed hundreds of soldiers as part of its effort to re-screen its security forces. The Ministry of Defense also released a 28-page training booklet this month that advises soldiers not to be personally offended when foreign troops do things Afghans view as deeply insulting.

The booklet urges them not to take revenge for foreign troops' social blunders, such as blowing their noses in public, stepping into a mosque with their shoes on, walking in front of a soldier who is praying or asking about their wives.

"Most of the coalition members are interested to share pictures of their families. It is not a big deal for them. If someone asks you about your family, especially the females in your family, don't think they are disrespecting you or trying to insult you," the booklet says.

"That is not the case. By asking such questions, they are trying to show that they want to learn more about you. You can very easily explain to them that nobody in Afghanistan would ask, especially about wives or females in the family."

Syrian fighting torches historic medieval market

Syrian fighting torches historic medieval market 

In this image taken from video obtained from Shaam News Network (SNN), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a fire rages at a medieval souk in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian rebels and residents of Aleppo struggled Saturday to contain a huge fire that destroyed parts of the city's medieval souks, or markets, following raging battles between government troops and opposition fighters there, activists said. Some described the overnight blaze as the worst blow yet to a historic district that helped make the heart of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and commercial hub, a UNESCO world heritage site.

BEIRUT (AP) -- A fire sparked by battles between Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops and rebel fighters tore through Aleppo's centuries-old covered market Saturday, burning wooden doors and scorching stone stalls and vaulted passageways. The souk is one of a half-dozen renowned cultural sites in the country that have become collateral damage in the civil war.

The damage to one of the best-preserved old souks in the Middle East was the worst yet to a UNESCO World Heritage site in Syria. Across the country, looters have broken into a historic castle, stolen artifacts from museums and damaged ruins in the ancient city of Palmyra, antiquities officials and Syrian experts say.

The Aleppo market, a major tourist attraction with its narrow stone alleys and stores selling perfume, fabrics and spices, had been the site of occasional gun battles and shelling for weeks. But amateur video posted Saturday showed wall-to-wall flames engulfing wooden doors as burning debris fell away from the storefronts. Activists said hundreds of shops were affected.

"It's a big loss and a tragedy that the old city has now been affected," Kishore Rao, director of UNESCO's World Heritage Center, told The Associated Press by telephone from Paris.

Most of the other sites recognized as heritage sites by UNESCO, the global cultural agency, are also believed to have suffered damage during the 18-month battle to oust Assad, Rao said. The ancient center of Aleppo - Syria's largest city - has been hit the hardest, he said.

"It is a very difficult and tragic situation there," said Ahmad al-Halabi, a local activist speaking by phone from the area. He said rebels and civilians were trying to control the blaze, but only had a few fire extinguishers.

The fire in the souk erupted late Friday and was still burning Saturday, following fierce fighting between regime troops and rebels trying to drive pro-Assad fighters out of the city of 3 million.

On Thursday, rebels launched what they said would be a "decisive battle" for the city, followed by days of heavy fighting, including shelling and street combat. Amateur video has shown rebels taking cover behind walls and makeshift barriers, attacking regime forces with grenades and assault rifles. Activists reported heavy shelling by pro-Assad troops.

Once considered a bastion of support for Assad, Aleppo has become the focus of the insurgency for the last two months, with rebels taking about half the city. Aleppo would be a major strategic prize: A rebel victory would give Syria's opposition a major stronghold near the Turrkish border, while a regime victory would give Assad some breathing space.

It's not clear what set off the fire in the old market, made of hundreds of stone stalls that line covered alleys with vaulted ceilings. Amateur footage posted online by activists showed flames engulfing the shops and rebels aiming a water hose at the fire. The shops' wooden doors, along with the clothes, fabrics and inside some of the businesses, helped fuel the blaze, activists said.

The market stalls lie beneath the city's towering 13th century citadel, where activists say regime troops and snipers have taken up positions.

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 30,000 people, according to activists. It has also wreaked widespread destruction, particularly in recent weeks as regime forces stepped up air strikes and shelling attacks, and rebels fired mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades. Entire neighborhoods in Syria's three largest cities - Aleppo, the capital Damascus and Homs - have been devastated.

A majority of Syria's 23 million people live in a thin western sliver of the country; in this territory, rebels have established positions in rural areas, while Assad's forces are trying to hold on to the cities.

Aleppo's old center was added in 1986 to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites. Of the medieval souks in the Middle East, Aleppo's was among the best-preserved, offering visitors a range of architectural styles covering hundreds of years, said Rodrigo Martin, a Brussels expert on Syrian historical sites.

"It was a unique example of medieval commercial architecture," said Martin, a spokesman for a group of experts who monitor damage to Syrian historical sites and cooperate with the U.N. cultural agency.

Some of the other prized cultural attractions have also suffered damage.

Earlier this year, looters broke into Crac des Chevaliers, one of the world's best-preserved Crusader castles, a Syrian antiquities official said at the time. Shelling also damaged the site, said Martin, citing amateur video.

The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra were damaged by fighting, Martin said, according to reports he received from Syria. He said he had seen video that showed sculptures being taken away from Palmyra in a small truck.

The other World Heritage sites on UNESCO's list are the old center of Damascus, one of the most ancient cities in the Middle East; the ancient city of Bosra, once the capital of the Roman province of Arabia; and a group of some 40 villages of north-western Syria that date from the first to seventh centuries.

Rao, the World Heritage chief, said the U.N. agency has asked Syria's neighbors to be on the alert for attempts to smuggle looted objects out of the country. No incidents had been reported so far.

Lesser sites have also been affected in Syria. Regime shelling of neighborhoods where the opposition is holed up has smashed historic mosques, churches and souks in the central Homs province and elsewhere in the country. Looters have stolen artifacts from museums.

Martin said the Syrian regime bears the bulk of the responsibility for the destruction because it signed international agreements to protect cultural sites.

For at least two millennia, cultural sites have been threatened or destroyed by wars throughout the Mideast, Martin said.

"History continues, whatever we do," Martin said. "Mankind can just be really destructive."

The United States of ALEC: Bill Moyers on the Secretive Corporate-Legislative Body Writing Our Laws

The United States of ALEC: Bill Moyers on the Secretive Corporate-Legislative Body Writing Our Laws

Democracy Now! premieres "The United States of ALEC," a special report by legendary journalist Bill Moyers on how the secretive American Legislative Exchange Council has helped corporate America propose and even draft legislation for states across the country. ALEC brings together major U.S. corporations and right-wing legislators to craft and vote on "model" bills behind closed doors. It has come under increasing scrutiny for its role in promoting "stand your ground" gun laws, voter suppression bills, union-busting policies and other controversial legislation. Although billing itself as a "nonpartisan public-private partnership," ALEC is actually a national network of state politicians and powerful corporations principally concerned with increasing corporate profits without public scrutiny. Moyers’ special will air this weekend on Moyers & Company, but first airs on Democracy Now! today. "The United States of ALEC" is a collaboration between Okapi Productions, LLC and the Schumann Media Center. [includes rush transcript]

FILED UNDER  ALEC, Election 2012, "United States of ALEC"

GUEST:

"United States of ALEC", a special report by Bill Moyers airing this weekend onMoyers & Company. The film is a collaboration between Okapi Productions, LCCand the Schumann Media Center.

NEWS RELEASE: Federal Lawsuit filed against Tom Corbett and House Majority Leader Rep. Michael Turzai as Defendants in Voter ID scheme | Pennsylvania Civil Rights Law Network

NEWS RELEASE: Federal Lawsuit filed against Tom Corbett and House Majority Leader Rep. Michael Turzai as Defendants in Voter ID scheme | Pennsylvania Civil Rights Law Network

NEWS RELEASE: Federal Lawsuit filed against Tom Corbett and House Majority Leader Rep. Michael Turzai as Defendants in Voter ID scheme

Dateline: Harrisburg Pennsylvania, September 27, 2012

A group of registered voters comprised of registered Democrats, Republicans and Independents filed suit today in federal district court naming Tom Corbett and House Majority Leader Rep. Michael Turzai as defendants.

The suit alleges that Corbett and Turzai conspired with Republican operatives across the country to violate the rights of registered voters who seek to elect Barack Obama. The suit further alleges that Turzai publicly admitted that the goal and purpose of the two named defendants was to deny the rights of the poor, the elderly, and blacks using state power to skewer the election in Romney’s favor.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit charged that their federal constitutional rights to work together and cooperate in an effort to elect Obama is being violated by Corbett and Turzai who are using the power of the state to unlawfully interfere with their First Amendment rights.

VoterIDcomplaint

The lawsuit also raises concerns about creating a national registry of citizens that can be abused by national and state governments akin to allowing the government to spy on people and determine their political beliefs and affiliations.

For follow-up information contact Don Bailey at 717-221-9500 or http://www.donbaileylaw.com.
http://pennsylvaniacivilrightslawnetwork.com/2012/09/28/news-release-federal-lawsuit-filed-against-tom-corbett-and-house-majority-leader-rep-michael-turzai-as-defendants-in-voter-id-scheme/

Man apparently shoots self on TV after Ariz. chase

Man apparently shoots self on TV after Ariz. chase 

PHOENIX (AP) -- A man apparently shot himself in the head Friday on live national television at the end of a high-speed chase that began in Phoenix.

Fox News was covering the chase that began at midday using a live helicopter shot from Phoenix affiliate KSAZ-TV when the man driving what appeared to be a crossover sedan stopped, ran into the desert and appeared to place a handgun to his head and fire.

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith told viewers minutes later that the video was supposed to be on a 10-second delay so it could be cut off from airing if something went awry.

"We really messed up, and we're all very sorry," Smith said.

It wasn't immediately clear if the man survived.

More frequently than its rivals, Fox News Channel picks up car chases from its local affiliates and airs them live. It's gripping television, a live mystery with no clear resolution, and often provides a short-term ratings boost as viewers tune in to see how it ends. Critics say the chases themselves rarely rise to the level of national news. The Phoenix station was not airing the chase live when it ended.

The network usually has a five-second delay so producers can quickly get the footage off the air if something graphic happens. Fox had no immediate explanation for why it wasn't used this time. A spokeswoman said Friday afternoon Fox did not have an immediate comment.

The chase may have started with a carjacking near central Phoenix, but other than that, police spokesman Sgt. Tommy Thompson was unable to immediately provide details.

The man headed west on Interstate 10, driving very fast for more than a half hour. Fox returned repeatedly to shots showing the copper-colored four-door sedan passing big-rig trucks that typically travel at about 70 mph as if they were standing still.

Police cars did not appear to be immediately behind the car during most of the chase.

The driver finally got off the highway about 100 miles west of Phoenix near the small community of Salome and turned onto a dirt road. He drove for a while, briefly pulled onto a paved road and then turned onto another dirt road and stopped.

Shepard Smith was narrating the video and clearly had his doubts about what was being shown from the moment the man stopped the car. "This scares me," he said.

"You wait for the end of these things and you worry about how they may end up," he said. "This makes me a little nervous, I got to tell you. A little nervous."

The video showed the man running erratically in a field before putting the gun to his head and firing. He fell to the ground.

Fox's picture quickly cut to Smith, who was shouting "get off, get off, get off, get off."

After the commercial break, Smith apologized repeatedly.

"That should not have been on TV. I personally apologize to you," Smith said. "That was wrong and it won't happen again on my watch and I'm sorry."

Burnt money, campus ban: Tidbits on Colo. shooter

Burnt money, campus ban: Tidbits on Colo. shooter 

FILE - This file photo provided on Sept. 20, 2012 by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office shows James Holmes. Holmes, the suspect in a deadly movie theater attack in Colorado, threatened a professor before the shooting, leading the university to ban him from campus, prosecutors said in court documents released Friday, Sept. 28, 2012.

DENVER (AP) -- The suspect in the Aurora movie shooting case mailed "burnt currency," along with a notebook, to his psychiatrist before the attack. He threatened a professor and was banned from a university campus before withdrawing from its neuroscience graduate program. His defense team has added a psychiatrist.

Those were the few tidbits of information in hundreds of pages of heavily-redacted court documents released Friday, which serve as the best chance the public has to understand what happened before James Holmes allegedly opened fire at a midnight screening of the new Batman movie more than two months ago.

The documents shed little light on Holmes' possible motives or whether the university ignored warning signs about him. That's partly because Arapahoe County District Judge William B. Sylvester continued to keep under seal the key documents in the case - the affidavit that lays out prosecutors' case against Holmes, and the search warrants that allowed them to gather evidence against him.

Holmes, 24, faces 152 charges in the July 20 shooting that killed 12 people and injured 58 others.

Some of the documents are entirely blacked out. In others, Sylvester's rulings on legal disputes, references to years-old case law and even copies of newspaper articles are redacted, along with information about the investigation.

The documents do shed a little more light on one of the main disputes in the case - Holmes' threats against a professor, possibly the university psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton, who has testified that she contacted campus police after her last meeting with Holmes June 11. Fenton, who testified Aug. 30, said she went to police to gather more information and communicate her "concern."

She did not refer to her concern as a threat.

Prosecutors contended that Holmes was barred from campus after making the threats. The University of Colorado has said that Holmes was denied access to nonpublic buildings on campus because he withdrew as a neuroscience graduate student, not for safety reasons.

A university spokeswoman did not return a call for comment on Friday. The university has previously refused to comment on how it handled Holmes, citing a gag order that Sylvester imposed. Before the gag order, university officials said their police force had no contact with Holmes and that the chief of the department knew nothing about him.

The defense team sought sanctions against prosecutors for contending Holmes had been barred from campus, arguing that the false statements could contaminate the jury pool. But Sylvester shot that down, ruling the statements were within legal bounds.

Defense attorneys did not return a call for comment Friday.

The most legally significant disclosure Friday was the inclusion of the psychiatrist on Holmes' defense team. Holmes' attorneys have said he is mentally ill.

"This is unusual in a normal case, but not surprising in this case," said criminal trial lawyer Dan Recht, former president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar. "Presumably he's (the psychiatrist) the one who is going to opine on whether Holmes is insane or not.

"It's a foregone conclusion that the defense will plead not guilty by reason of insanity."

Other documents likely contain new information, but are blacked out. For example, in one pleading, attorneys describe how law enforcement handled the package that Holmes sent Fenton, which was discovered four days after the attack and also after Holmes allegedly booby-trapped his own apartment.

Authorities were so worried the package was also rigged that they X-rayed it and had a technician in a protective suit open it. What investigators saw when they realized the package was not dangerous, however, is redacted. All that is legible in the documents is a reference to the package containing a notebook with a post-it note and "burnt currency."

The records also show that authorities obtained text messages that Holmes sent a classmate. The documents do not say what those texts discussed.

In court, prosecutors suggested Holmes was angry at the failure of a once promising academic career and stockpiled weapons, ammunition, tear gas grenades, and body armor as his research deteriorated and professors urged him to get into another profession. Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Pearson said Holmes failed a key oral exam in June, was banned from campus and began to voluntarily withdraw from the school.

Documents filed in the case from now on will be public, unless prosecutors or defense attorneys ask they not be released.

APNewsBreak: Man behind anti-Islam film arrested

APNewsBreak: Man behind anti-Islam film arrested 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The California man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video that has inflamed parts of the Middle East was arrested Thursday for violating terms of his probation, authorities said.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, has been on probation for a 2010 federal check fraud conviction that brought a 21-month prison sentence. Under terms of his probation, he was not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

Nakoula was taken into custody Thursday, said U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thomas Mrozek.

A U.S. District Court hearing was scheduled for Nakoula on Thursday afternoon. It was closed to media and the public.

Protests have erupted around the Middle East over a 14-minute trailer for the film "Innocence of Muslims" that depicts Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer, religious fraud and child molester. Though the trailer was posted to YouTube in July, the violence didn't break out until Sept. 11 and has spread since.

Nakoula, a Christian originally from Egypt, went into hiding after he was identified as the man behind the trailer.

The full story about Nakoula and the film still isn't known.

The movie was made last year by a man who called himself Sam Bacile. After the violence erupted, a man who identified himself as Bacile called media outlets including The Associated Press, took credit for the film and said it was meant to portray the truth about Muhammad and Islam, which he called a cancer.

The next day, the AP determined there was no Bacile and linked the identity to Nakoula, a former gas station owner with a drug conviction and a history of using aliases. Federal authorities later confirmed there was no Bacile and that Nakoula was behind the movie.

Before going into hiding, Nakoula acknowledged to the AP he was involved with the film, but said he only worked on logistics and management.

A film permit listed Media for Christ, a Los Angeles-area charity run by other Egyptian Christians, as the production company. Most of the film was made at the charity's headquarters. Steve Klein, an insurance agent in Hemet and outspoken Muslim critic, has said he was a consultant and promoter for the film.

The trailer still can be found on YouTube. The Obama administration asked Google, YouTube's parent, to take down the video but the company has refused, saying it did not violate its content standards.

Meantime, a number of actors and workers on the film have come forward to say they were duped. They say they were hired for a film titled "Desert Warrior" and there was no mention of Islam or Muhammad in the script. Those references were dubbed in after filming was completed.

Actress Cindy Lee Garcia has sued to get the trailer taken down, saying she was duped.

Israel's Netanyahu draws his "red line" for Iran

Israel's Netanyahu draws his "red line" for Iran 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel shows an illustration as he describes his concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions during his address to the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- In his most detailed plea to date for global action against Iran's nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Iran before it can build a nuclear bomb.

Netanyahu flashed a diagram of a cartoon-like bomb before the U.N. General Assembly showing the progress Iran has made, saying it has already completed the first stage of uranium enrichment.

Then he pulled out a red marker and drew a line across what he said was a threshold Iran was approaching and which Israel could not tolerate - the completion of the second stage and 90 percent of the way to the uranium enrichment needed to make an atomic bomb.

"By next spring, at most by next summer at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage," he said. "From there, it's only a few months, possibly a few weeks before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb."

Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran to be an existential threat, citing Iranian denials of the Holocaust, its calls for Israel's destruction, its development of missiles capable of striking the Jewish state and its support for hostile Arab militant groups.

On Thursday he presented his case to the world just why a nuclear armed Iran would be a danger to many other countries as well. Casting the battle as one between modernity and the "medieval forces of radical Islam," Netanyahu said deterrence would not work against Iran as it had with the Soviet Union.

"Deterrence worked with the Soviets, because every time the Soviets faced a choice between their ideology and their survival, they chose survival," he said. But "militant jihadists behave very differently from secular Marxists. There were no Soviet suicide bombers. Yet Iran produces hordes of them."

Netanyahu has repeatedly argued that time is running out to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power and that the threat of force must be seriously considered. Israeli leaders have issued a series of warnings in recent weeks suggesting that if Iran's uranium enrichment program continues it may soon stage a unilateral military strike. This week Iranian leaders suggested they may strike Israeli preemptively if they felt threatened, stoking fears of a regional war.

President Barack Obama has vowed to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power but has rejected Netanyahu's demands for setting an ultimatum past which the U.S. would attack. His administration has urgently sought to hold off Israeli military action, which would likely result in the U.S. being pulled into a conflict and cause region-wide mayhem on the eve of American elections. Netanyahu's 2013 Israeli deadline could be interpreted as a type of concession, but Israeli officials insisted action was still needed immediately and that in his speech Netanyahu was referring to the absolute point of no return.

Netanyahu appeared to be trying to soothe his differences with the White House when he thanked Obama's stance, adding that his own words were meant only to help achieve the common goal.

And he thanked the U.S. and other governments that have imposed sanctions which, he said, have hurt Iran's economy and curbed its oil exports but have not changed Tehran's intentions to develop the capacity to build nuclear weapons.

"I believe that faced with a clear red line, Iran will back down. This will give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to convince Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons program altogether," the Israeli prime minister said. "Red lines don't lead to war, red lines prevent war."

Netanyahu did not detail what should be done if his "red line" was crossed, but the insinuation was clear. In perhaps his final plea before Israel felt the need to take matters into its own hands, Netanyahu pounded away at the dangers posed by Iran.

"To understand what the world would be like with a nuclear-armed Iran, just imagine the world with a nuclear-armed al-Qaida," he said. "Nothing could imperil the world more than a nuclear-armed Iran."

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Israel, the U.S. and other Western allies suspect otherwise. Four rounds of U.N. sanctions have already been placed on Iran.

A U.N. report last month only reinforced Israeli fears, finding that Iran has moved more of its uranium enrichment activities into fortified bunkers deep underground where they are impervious to air attack. Enrichment is a key activity in building a bomb, though it has other uses as well, such as producing medical isotopes.

While Israel is convinced that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, American officials believe Iran has not yet made a final decision to take the plunge and that there is still time for diplomacy.

Iran's talks with world powers over the issue have stalled, however, and Netanyahu argued Thursday that "Iran uses diplomatic negotiations as a means to buy time to advance its nuclear program."

Israel's timeline for military action is shorter than that of the United States, which has far more powerful bunker-busting bombs at its disposal, and there is great suspicion in Israel over whether in the moment of truth Obama will follow through on his pledge.

"Each day, that point is getting closer. That's why I speak today with such a sense of urgency. And that's why everyone should have a sense of urgency," Netanyahu said. "The relevant question is not when Iran will get the bomb. The relevant question is at what stage can we no longer stop Iran from getting the bomb."

Netanyahu has a history of fiery speeches about Iran before the U.N. General Assembly.

In 2009, he waved the blueprints for the Nazi death camp Auschwitz and invoked the memory of his own family members murdered by the Nazis while making his case against Iran's Holocaust denial and threats to destroy Israel. And last year, he warned about "the specter of nuclear terrorism" if Iran were not stopped.

While the bulk of Netanyahu's speech dealt with Iran, he also rebuked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who spoke shortly before him to the U.N. General Assembly and accused Israel of ethnic cleansing for building settlements in east Jerusalem.

"We won't solve our conflict with libelous speeches at the U.N.," Netanyahu said. "We have to sit together, negotiate together and reach a mutual compromise."

Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Mideast War and later annexed it in a move that hasn't been recognized internationally. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state along with the Gaza Strip and the rest of the West Bank.

In his speech, Abbas also said he had opened talks on a new bid for international recognition at the U.N.

The Palestinians will apply to the General Assembly for nonmember state status, in stark contrast to last year's failed bid to have the Security Council admit them as a full member state.

If Palestine does become a U.N. observer state, it will not have voting rights in the world body but will have international recognition as a "state." This could enhance the possibility of the Palestinians joining U.N. agencies and becoming parties to treaties including the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court.

Abbas insisted that the new quest for recognition was "not seeking to delegitimize Israel, but rather establish a state that should be established: Palestine."

2 Tenn. children missing, bodies not found in fire

2 Tenn. children missing, bodies not found in fire 

This combination of undated photos provided by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shows Gage Daniel, 7, left, and Chloie Leverette, 9. The two children, initially believed to have perished in a Tennessee farmhouse fire along with their step-grandparents, are now considered missing and in danger, investigators said on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the remains of Leverette and Daniel were not found and the agency issued an endangered child alert for them on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators said neighbors last saw the children Sunday evening, Sept. 23, 2012, hours before a fire destroyed the home in Bedford County about a half-hour from Nashville.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Two children initially believed to have perished in an intense Tennessee farmhouse fire along with their step-grandparents are now considered missing and perhaps in danger, investigators said on Wednesday.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the remains of 9-year-old Chloie Leverette and 7-year-old Gage Daniel were not found and the agency issued an endangered child alert for them on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators said neighbors last saw the children Sunday evening, hours before a fire destroyed the home in Bedford County about 40 miles southeast of Nashville.

TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said the district attorney asked the agency to investigate the fatal fire and the whereabouts of the children. She said there is no evidence yet that the children were not in the house, but investigators are speaking with family members, friends and people at the children's school.

Helm said TBI issued the alert "under an abundance of caution."

"As time moves on, we don't want to miss our opportunity to locate them if they were not in the house," Helm said.

The State Fire Marshal's Office said in a statement that it has concluded "that there are no remains of the two children in the structure. The children's location at this time is unknown." Its investigators will determine a cause.

Bedford County Sheriff Randall Boyce said investigators did find the bodies of 72-year-old Leon "Bubba" McClaran and his 70-year-old wife, Molli McClaran. He said Monday that investigators had found three bodies, but now says one turned out to be that of a dog.

Helm confirmed that the remains of two people and an animal were recovered in the house, but she said the medical examiner would have to positively identify them.

The fire was very intense and quickly collapsed the walls of the house. Firefighters spent several hours battling the flames overnight Sunday and early Monday, but they were hindered because the house sat far back from the road and was not near a hydrant.

Forensic anthropologists and cadaver dogs searched through the rubble for the remaining bodies and the Tennessee Highway Patrol used a helicopter to search the surrounding area.

Family members told The Associated Press that the McClarans were raising their step-grandchildren because they needed a home and described them as generous people who loved their family. Relatives of the McClarans said the girl also used the last name Pope.

The state Department of Children's Services investigated the mother of the two children and Daniel's father between 2006 and 2010, said spokesman Brandon Gee. Gee would not release the names of the parents.

He would not say why the parents were investigated, but said the agency was sharing information with law enforcement involved in their search. He confirmed that the McClarans had custody of the two children, but he said DCS has never taken custody of them nor placed them in a home.

Romney, Obama descend on battleground Ohio

Romney, Obama descend on battleground Ohio

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop at American Spring Wire, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, in Bedford Heights, Ohio.

WESTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he understands the struggles of working families and has the know-how to fix them as he sought to counteract fallout from a secret video that President Barack Obama won't let him live down.

With polls showing the president ahead in key swing states that will decide the race, the White House expressed confidence. "As time progresses, you know, the field is looking like it's narrowing for them," campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama headed for his own rallies in Ohio. "And so in that sense we'd rather be us than them."

Obama was stopping at two college campuses in the hunt for the state's 18 electoral votes, while Romney was here for a second straight day on a bus emblazoned with, "More Jobs, More Take-Home Pay." Losing the state would dramatically narrow Romney's path to the 270 Electoral College votes it takes to win the 

White House - and no Republican has ever lost Ohio and won the presidency.

Romney's pitch for working-class men was far from subtle. He campaigned at a factory that makes commercial spring wire, touring the noisy plant floor in goggles and rolled-up shirt sleeves alongside television's king of macho, Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe. The pair spoke later from a stage set with hard hat-wearing workers, giant coils of steel wire, open metal cross beams and yellow caution signs in the background.

The economy during Obama's presidency has been especially hard on male blue-collar workers. But secretly recorded video of Romney telling donors he doesn't need to worry about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay income taxes and "believe that they are victims" has distracted from his argument that blue-collar men should throw Obama out over his fiscal record.

Obama continued to remind voters of Romney's secretly recorded remarks in television ads and a speech at Bowling Green State University.

"Look, I don't believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation as a bunch of victims who never take responsibility for their own lives," Obama said. "I've got to tell you, as I travel around Ohio and as I look out on this crowd, I don't see a lot of victims. I see hard working Ohioans."

At an earlier stop outside Columbus, Romney touted his business experience as reason he can do better. "I care about the people of America. The difference between me and President Obama is I know what to do and I will do what it takes to get this economy going," Romney said to a standing ovation from supporters.

Romney also released a 60-second television ad with a new, softer approach than the negative ads dominating the airways. It's unclear how much - if at all - the commercial will air on television, but it echoed Romney's compassionate pitch from the campaign trial. The candidate, in an open-collar shirt, speaks into the camera about the struggles of living paycheck to paycheck and trying to pay for necessities like food and gas on falling incomes.

"President Obama and I both care about poor and middle-class families," Romney says. "The difference is my policies will make things better for them."

And Romney's new insistence that he's the better candidate to help middle-class families comes after his campaign's recent announcement that he'll do more to describe what he would do as president. At his morning rally, Romney stood in front of a running national debt clock and focused on Obama's handling of the debt and the interest piling up.

Romney's comments follow a Washington Post poll that shows the federal debt and deficit are the one set of issues on which he has an advantage over Obama with likely voters. In recent weeks, Romney has lost his polling edge on the economy generally, with more people saying they now trust Obama to fix the nation's economic woes.

The gym couldn't hold all the people who came to see Romney at Alum Creek Park, and he stopped by an overflow room to shake hands with those who couldn't get in to see him in person. As he was leaving, one supporter told him: "Please get us out of this mess."

Introducing Romney was golfing great Jack Nicklaus, an Ohio native. Romney's campaign produced signs that read, "The Golden Bear for Romney/Ryan," featuring the campaign logo and a silhouette of Nicklaus swinging a club. "I certainly didn't apologize for my success," Nicklaus told the audience to cheers.

Obama planned to campaign later Wednesday at Kent State University, hoping to generate the kind of enthusiasm among young voters that helped fuel his victory four years ago. Romney focused on major metropolitan areas of the state where large numbers of voters live.

Buoyed by signs of an improving economy, Obama has the edge in polls in Ohio six weeks from Election Day. The president has led Romney in a series of recent surveys in the state, with a Washington Post poll on Tuesday showing Obama with a lead that was outside the poll's margin of error. A CBS/New York Times poll also showed Obama ahead here. Even on handling of the economy, where Romney until recently had an advantage, Obama now leads.

Iconic Israeli newspaper of the verge of collapse

Iconic Israeli newspaper of the verge of collapse

In This photo taken on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, Israeli journalists and employees of Maariv daily newspaper demonstrate against their dismissals in Tel Aviv, Israel. Throughout much of Israel's history, the Maariv daily was known as the "country's paper," the newspaper with the highest circulation and a cornerstone of Israeli media. Now it is on its last legs, the victim, some say, of the Jewish-American billionaire who is a leading donor to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Throughout much of Israel's history, the Maariv daily was known as the "country's paper," the newspaper with the highest circulation and a cornerstone of Israeli media. Now it is on its last legs - the victim, some say, of a Jewish-American billionaire who is a leading donor to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, also a close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, launched his free "Israel Hayom" or "Israel Today" daily five years ago. The tabloid has steadily gobbled up market share since then. Handed out by ubiquitous distributors clad in red overalls at busy intersections, it has become the most read newspaper in Israel.

The 64-year-old Maariv has suffered in the fallout. The newspaper was sold this month by its cash-strapped owner to a rival publisher. Most of its 2,000 employees are facing likely dismissals.

The iconic newspaper has been hemorrhaging money for years and its downfall is linked to the struggles facing print media around the globe, with the emergence of online news sources and a steep drop in subscribers and ad revenue rendering the traditional newspaper economic model untenable.

But against the backdrop of a perceived anti-media blitz by the hard-line government, Maariv staffers believe their final blow was delivered by Israel Hayom.

Adelson's paper recently passed Yediot Ahronot as the top-read daily in Israel, leaving Maariv in third place, according to a survey by TGI, a leading Israeli polling company.

Besides its flattering coverage of Netanyahu and questionable political agenda, critics charge that its cheap ads and deep pockets are running everyone else out of business.

"We can't compete with a machine that prints money and hands out papers for free," said Avi Ashkenazi, Maariv's veteran crime correspondent. "We are the first ones to enter the slaughterhouse but we likely won't be the last. It's only a matter of time."

Israel Hayom's success has raised questions about whether a wealthy foreigner has bought power and influence on behalf of the prime minister. Adelson also has contributed $30 million to super PACs supporting Republican candidates and has attended major Romney fundraising events.

Israel Hayom denies the accusations and says its economic model is simply more effective.

"(We) won't apologize for our success, the readers prefer us and we thank them," the paper said in a statement.

The loss of Maariv would leave Israel, a country of nearly 8 million people, with three national Hebrew newspapers: Adelson's Israel Hayom, Yediot and Haaretz, a small but influential publication popular with Israel's dovish elite. A number of smaller niche publications, including the English-language Jerusalem Post, also exist.

Other newspapers have announced layoffs and popular TV station Channel 10 is struggling to stay on the air as it awaits a request to the state to defer its crippling debts. The station says the government, which has deferred debts for other struggling companies, is using a technicality to eliminate a pesky source of criticism.

Critics also charge the government of making political appointments to Israel's public broadcasting system, sidelining prominent critics on state radio and passing anti-libel legislation meant to stifle investigative reporters.

Comments by Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, a Netanyahu confidant from his hawkish Likud Party, captured on tape at a recent party function highlight the animosity.

"We are dealing here ... with a media that is not only against the Likud - it is true, it mostly prefers the left and is not entirely objective - but beyond that it is a media that has lost respect for one small, simple word - the truth," he told a group of Likud activists.

Ben Caspit, Maariv's leading political columnist, has written that Maariv's blood is on Netanyahu's hands.

"The man who wanted to go down in history as the man who destroyed the Iranian nuclear threat could go down as the one who destroyed the free media in his country," he wrote.

In his first comments on the issue, Netanyahu told the Israeli economic paper Globes that Maariv's plight was due to the "dramatic technological changes that are affecting the written press" all over the world. He said he has no intention of getting involved.

"On the one hand I'm told `leave the media alone,' and on the other hand I'm told `intervene to save this outlet or another.' There's a contradiction here," he said.

Dalia Dorner, a former Supreme Court Justice who is president of the Israel Press Council, said that in France, for instance, the government intervenes with subsidies and encourages youths to read newspapers. But in the hostile Israeli climate it is unlikely the government will lend a helping hand to the struggling industry.

"I hope something can be done. For there to be good journalism, we need journalists," Dorner said. "For there to be democracy, we need a free and varied media."

Israeli businessman Nochi Dankner, whose IDB holding company is wobbling under a pile of debt, this month sold Maariv to Shlomo Ben-Tzvi, the publisher of a hard-line religious publication, for $21 million.

Ben-Tzvi has indicated he will fire all 2,000 employees and rehire between 300 and 400. It's not clear whether he will incorporate them into his Makor Rishon daily or keep Maariv alive in a limited capacity.

On Sunday, a Tel Aviv district court handed Maariv a temporary lifeline, appointing two trustees who will try to revive the paper and ensure employees' rights. The court cited a "heavy public interest in saving Maariv" and froze the transfer of ownership for a month.

Maariv editor-in-chief Nir Hefetz made a front page plea the following day asking the government and advertisers to help and for everyday Israelis to purchase subscriptions.

"If everyone contributes their part, if everyone joins the effort, together we can save Maariv," he wrote.

Hagai Matar, head of the Maariv journalist's union, said that just as the government has assisted struggling factories, it should do the same to save the newspaper. "Only massive public pressure will convince the government that it is a public interest to save Maariv," he said.

Matar is leading the battle to keep the paper alive and lobbying hard for adequate severance and pension if he and others are sent home.

Last week, he led about 1,000 people through the streets of Tel Aviv, blocking a major junction. Following the court order, the union dropped its threat to strike, which would have stopped publication Tuesday for the first time ever.

Established in 1948 three months before Israel gained independence, Maariv prided itself as a beacon of quality journalism and beholden neither to political parties nor media moguls. It was the nation's No. 1 paper until it was overtaken by Yediot in the 1970s.

The newspaper has evolved from broadsheet to tabloid and its ownership has passed hands among a series of wealthy businessmen, including the late British media mogul Robert Maxwell.

Yuval Karniel, a law and communications expert at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, a college near Tel Aviv said Maariv's near-collapse reflected the evolution of Israeli society.

"Maariv has declined along with its readers. When we look at Maariv, we look at ourselves ... it is an Israeli story," he said.

Death of Libyan rebel raises calls for vengeance

Death of Libyan rebel raises calls for vengeance 

In this undated handout photo released by the family of Omran Shaaban, Shaaban receives treatment from a doctor at a hospital in France. Less than a year after helping drag Moammar Gadhafi from a drainage ditch, a 22-year-old former rebel was captured by the slain leader's supporters who beat, cut and killed him, his family says. The death of Omran Shabaan has brought calls for revenge and highlights the challenges facing Libya _ pockets of support for the deposed regime, the new government's inability to rein in militias and the potential for violence like the killing of the U.S. ambassador. (

MISRATA, Libya (AP) -- One of the young Libyan rebels credited with capturing Moammar Gadhafi in a drainage ditch nearly a year ago died Tuesday of injuries after being kidnapped, beaten and slashed by the late dictator's supporters - the latest victim of persistent violence and instability in the North African country.

The death of Omran Shaaban, who had been hospitalized in France, raised the prospect of even more violence and score-settling, with the newly elected National Congress authorizing police and the army to use force if necessary to apprehend those who abducted the 22-year-old and three companions in July near the town of Bani Walid.

Libya is battling lingering pockets of support for the old regime, and its government has been unable to rein in armed militias in a country rife with weapons. Earlier this month, a demonstration at the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi turned violent, killing four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

Shaaban was praised as a "dutiful martyr" by the National Congress, although his family says he never received a promised reward of 1 million Libyan dinars ($800,000) for capturing Gadhafi on Oct. 20, 2011, in the former leader's hometown of Sirte. The eccentric dictator was killed later that day by revolutionary fighters.

The Libyan government said it would honor Shaaban with a funeral befitting a hero. His body was greeted at the airport in his hometown of Misrata by more than 10,000 people for a procession to a soccer stadium for funeral prayers.

Photos on social media websites showed a wooden coffin with a glass window that revealed Shaaban's face, with white gauze covering his head.

In the capital of Tripoli, several hundred protesters gathered outside the headquarters of the National Congress to demand that the government avenge Shaaban's death.

Shaaban's family said that he and three friends had been en route home to the western city of Misrata from a vacation in July when they were attacked by gunmen in an area called el-Shimekh near Bani Walid.

Shaaban and his friends, who like many Libyans were armed, fired back, the family said.

Two bullets hit Shaaban, and he was paralyzed from the waist down, his relatives said. The men were captured by militiamen from Bani Walid, a town of about 100,000 people that remains a stronghold of Gadhafi loyalists and is isolated from the rest of Libya.

President Mohammed el-Megarif visited Bani Walid this month and secured the release of Shaaban and two of his companions. A fourth is still being held.

When Shaaban was finally brought home, he was "skin and bones" - still paralyzed, frail and slipping in and out of consciousness, according to his brother, Abdullah Shaaban.

"It was clear he was beaten a lot," Abdullah Shaaban said. "His entire chest was sliced with razors. His face had changed. It wasn't my brother that I knew."

Omran Shaaban later was flown to France for medical treatment.

Shaaban, the second youngest in a family of nine children, was a member of Libya Shield, a loose coalition of the country's largest militias relied on by the Defense Ministry.

Khalifa al-Zawawi, the former head of Misrata's local council, said the government reneged on paying the reward to Shaaban.

Abdullah Shaaban said his brother did not mind, saying he considered capturing Gadhafi to be his national duty.

Libya's president released a statement Tuesday vowing that those responsible for the violence against Omran Shaaban would be punished.

But apprehending and disarming the militants in Bani Walid are among the most daunting tasks facing the government. The town is heavily armed with rocket-propelled grenades, automatic weapons and artillery left over from last year's civil war.

Residents of Bani Walid say that pictures of Gadhafi are displayed during weddings and youths play his speeches on their cars' stereos. Students refrain from singing Libya's new national anthem and teachers refuse to follow the revised curriculum.

Bani Walid fighters were blamed for many of the sniper attacks, shelling, rapes and other violence against the city of Misrata during the civil war, and there were new calls Tuesday from residents of Misrata for vengeance against Bani Walid.

Shaaban's eldest brother, Walid, insists there will be justice for the family, regardless of whether the government is the one to administer it.

"I plan to pursue his rights legally and join if there is a military incursion. We are going to death, God willing," Walid Shaaban said.

Family friend Abu-Shaala echoed that sentiment.

"If the government does not go in, we are going in," he said. "We are all patient. But our patience has limits."

Condolences pour in for 6-day-old panda cub

Condolences pour in for 6-day-old panda cub 

FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2011 file photo shows Mei Xiang, the female giant panda at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington. The panda cub born to Mei Xiang on Sept. 16, 2012, after five consecutive pseudo pregnancies over the years, died Sept. 23, 2012.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As condolences poured in from around the world, National Zoo officials waited Monday for word on why a 6-day-old panda cub died and lamented a heartbreaking setback to their closely watched breeding program.

The cub had liver abnormalities and fluid in its abdomen, but a cause of death will not be known until full necropsy results are available within two weeks.

The cub, believed to be female, died Sunday morning, less than a week after its birth surprised and delighted zoo officials and visitors. Zookeepers had all but given up on the panda mother's chances of conceiving after six years of failed attempts.

"Every loss is hard," National Zoo director Dennis Kelly said. "This one is especially devastating."

This much is known: The cub appeared to be in good condition. It had been drinking its mother's milk. And it wasn't accidentally crushed to death by its mother, which has happened to other panda cubs in captivity. At birth, the cubs are hairless, their eyes are closed and they're about the size of a stick of butter. Their mothers weigh about 1,000 times more.

Native to China, giant pandas have long been the face of the movement to preserve endangered species. A few thousand are believed to remain in the wild, and there are a few hundred in captivity.

Four American zoos have pandas, and several cubs have been born in the U.S., but the bears at the National Zoo are treated like royalty. The zoo was given its first set of pandas in 1972 as a gift from China to commemorate President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the country.

Thousands of people had watched an online video feed of the cub's mother, 14-year-old Mei Xiang, hoping to catch a glimpse of the newborn during its few days of life. Fans from around the country and the world shared their sympathy on social media sites, and many said they shared an emotional connection with the burly, black-and-white bear.

Since the cub's death, Mei Xiang has started eating and interacting with her keepers again. She slept Sunday night while cradling a plastic toy in an apparent show of maternal instinct, Kelly said.

Kelly Parsons of Alexandria, Va., who brought her two young sons to see the pandas Monday, said she felt for Mei Xiang.

"It sounds like the mom is in mourning. Whether you're a parent to an animal or a human being, it's just so sad, the loss of a child," she said.

Suzan Murray, the zoo's chief veterinarian, cautioned that while it may appear the panda is grieving as she cradles the toy, Mei Xiang is a wild animal and her thoughts and emotions are not well understood.

Mei Xiang's only cub, a male named Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and became the zoo's star attraction before he was returned to China in 2010. Since his birth, there had been five unsuccessful attempts to impregnate Mei Xiang, and zoo officials had considered swapping her and her male partner, Tian Tian, for another pair.

Zoo officials said they're focused on Mei Xiang's health but didn't rule out trying to breed her again. At 14, she may have a few more years of fertility remaining. The oldest panda known to have given birth in captivity was 19; pandas can live to their mid-30s.

The mortality rate for panda cubs in the wild is unknown, but in captivity, 26 percent of males and 20 percent of females die in their first year. The zoo's first panda couple, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, had five cubs during the 1980s, but none lived more than a few days.

The new cub's liver, about the size of a kidney bean, was harder than usual and discolored, Murray said. The fluid in the cub's abdomen was unusual and could have been a symptom of the liver problem, she said.

There was no evidence of fluid in the cub's lungs, which would suggest pneumonia.

Because Mei Xiang's other cub survived and she appeared to be taking good care of the newborn, zoo officials had been cautiously optimistic. Kelly said he was not aware of anything that could have been done to improve the cub's chances of survival.

The staff was taking the death especially hard because of the work they'd put in over the past six years to produce another cub, Kelly said. But even those who only watched Mei Xiang online were heartbroken.

"So sad watching her!" one Facebook commenter wrote. "She seems quite distressed and seems like she keeps looking for her baby. Can't figure out why they don't bring him/her back."