Searchers find wreckage, bodies from AirAsia jet

Searchers find wreckage, bodies from AirAsia jet

Commander of 1st Indonesian Air Force Operational Command Rear Marshall Dwi Putranto, right, shows airplane parts and a suitcase found floating on the water near the site where AirAsia Flight 8501 disappeared, during a press conference at the airbase in Pangkalan Bun, Central Borneo, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. Bodies and debris seen floating in Indonesian waters Tuesday, painfully ended the mystery of AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed into the Java Sea and was lost to searchers for more than two days. The writings on the suitcase reads "Recovered by KRI Bung Tomo." KRI Bung Tomo is the name of an Indonesian Navy ship. The numbers on the suitcase are the coordinates.

 

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) -- The first proof of the fate of AirAsia Flight 8501 emerged Tuesday from the shallow, aqua-colored waters of the Java Sea, confirming that the plane crashed with 162 people aboard in an area not far from where it dropped off radar screens.

Two days after the jet vanished, searchers found as many as six bodies and debris that included a life jacket, an emergency exit door and a suitcase about 10 miles from the plane's last known coordinates.

The airliner's disappearance halfway through a two-hour flight between Surabaya, Indonesia, and Singapore triggered an international hunt for the aircraft involving dozens of planes, ships and helicopters. It is still unclear what brought the plane down.

Images of the debris and a bloated body shown on Indonesian television sent a spasm of anguish through the room at the Surabaya airport where relatives awaited news.

The first sign of the jet turned up about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from its last known coordinates. Parts of the interior, including the oxygen tank, were brought to the nearest town, Pangkalan Bun. Another find included a bright blue plastic suitcase, completely unscratched.

"I know the plane has crashed, but I cannot believe my brother and his family are dead," said Ifan Joko, who lost seven relatives, three of them children, as they traveled to Singapore to ring in the new year. "We still pray they are alive."

First Adm. Sigit Setiayanta, commander of the Naval Aviation Center at Surabaya Air Force base, told reporters six corpses were spotted about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Central Kalimantan province.

Rescue workers descended on ropes from a hovering helicopter to retrieve bodies. Efforts were hindered by 2-meter (6-foot) waves and strong winds, National Search and Rescue Director SB Supriyadi said.

The first body was later picked up by a navy ship. Officials said as many as six others followed, but they disagreed about the exact number.

Supriyadi was on the aircraft and saw what appeared to be more wreckage under the water, which was clear and a relatively shallow 20 to 30 meters (65 to 100 feet).

When TV broadcast an image of a half-naked man floating in the water, a shirt partially covering his head, many of the family members screamed and wailed uncontrollably. One middle-aged man collapsed and had to be carried out on a stretcher.

Their horror was captured by cameras on the other side of windows into the waiting room. Officials blacked out the glass later Tuesday evening.

Around 125 family members were planning to travel Wednesday to Pangkalan Bun to start identifying their loved ones. Body bags and coffins have been prepared at hospitals there. Dozens of elite military divers will join the massive search. They were desperate to search the water ahead of approaching rough weather.

Malaysia-based AirAsia's loss comes on top of the still-unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March with 239 people aboard, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine, which killed all 298 passengers and crew.

Nearly all the passengers and crew were Indonesians, who are frequent visitors to Singapore, particularly on holidays.

Haidar Fauzie, 60, said his youngest child and only daughter, Khairunnisa Haidar, was a flight attendant who had worked with AirAsia for two years.

On learning about the crash, he struggled to console his grieving wife. They last saw their child six weeks ago, when she returned home on holiday.

"From the start, we already knew the risks associated with being a stewardess," Fauzie said. "She is beautiful and smart. It has always been her dream to fly. We couldn't have stopped her."

AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes, the airline's founder and public face and a constant presence in Indonesia since the tragedy started unfolding, said he planned to travel to the recovery site on Wednesday.

"I have apologized profusely for what they are going through," he said of his contact with relatives. "I am the leader of this company, and I have to take responsibility. That is why I'm here. I'm not running away from my obligations."

The jet's last communication indicated the pilots were worried about bad weather. They sought permission to climb above threatening clouds but were denied because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the jet disappeared from the radar without issuing a distress signal.

The plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, have yet to be recovered. Scott Hamilton, managing director of aviation consultancy Leeham Co., said in a post on his website that autopsies may provide some of the earliest clues about what happened.

"If death was due to blunt-force trauma, this could suggest passengers were alive upon impact with the water," he wrote. "If death came from other circumstances, this could suggest an explosive decompression and in-flight break up occurred."

Several countries rushed to Indonesia to help with search and recovery efforts.

The United States said it was sending the USS Sampson destroyer, joining at least 30 ships, 15 aircraft and seven helicopters in the search for the jet.

A Chinese frigate was on the way. Singapore said it was sending two underwater beacon detectors to try to pick up pings from the plane's all-important cockpit voice and flight-data recorders. Malaysia, Australia and Thailand are also involved in the search.

 

AirAsia plane carrying 162 lost in stormy weather

AirAsia plane carrying 162 lost in stormy weather 

A relative of AirAsia flight QZ8501 passengers weeps as she waits for the latest news on the missing jetliner at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014. A massive sea search was underway for the AirAsia plane that disappeared Sunday while flying from Indonesia to Singapore through airspace possibly thick with dense storm clouds, strong winds and lightning, officials said.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- An astonishingly tragic year for air travel in Southeast Asia turned worse Sunday when an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people disappeared over stormy Indonesian waters, with no word on its fate despite several hours of searching by air and sea.

AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. Searchers had to fight against heavy rain.

The Malaysia-based carrier's loss comes on top of the still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine.

At the Surabaya airport, passengers' relatives pored over the plane's manifest, crying and embracing. Nias Adityas, a housewife from Surabaya, was overcome with grief when she found the name of her husband, Nanang Priowidodo, on the list.

The 43-year-old tour agent had been taking a family of four on a trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia's Lombok island, and had been happy to get the work.

"He just told me, `Praise God, this new year brings a lot of good fortune,'" Adityas recalled, holding her grandson tight while weeping uncontrollably. "He apologized because he could not join us for the new year celebration."

Nearly all the passengers and crew are Indonesians, who are frequent visitors to Singapore, particularly on holidays.

The Airbus A320 took off Sunday morning from Indonesia's second-largest city and was about halfway to Singapore when it vanished from radar. The jet had been airborne for about 42 minutes.

There was no distress signal from the twin-engine, single-aisle plane, said Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia's acting director general of transportation.

The last communication between the cockpit and air traffic control was at 6:13 a.m. (23:13 GMT Saturday), when one of the pilots "asked to avoid clouds by turning left and going higher to 34,000 feet (10,360 meters)," Murjatmodjo said. The jet was last seen on radar at 6:16 a.m. and was gone a minute later, he told reporters.

Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia launched a search-and-rescue operation near Belitung island in the Java Sea, the area where the airliner lost contact with the ground.

The air search was suspended Sunday evening and was to resume Monday morning, said Achmad Toha of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency. Some ships continued looking for the aircraft overnight, he said.

AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes flew to Surabaya and told a news conference that the focus should be on the search and the families rather than the cause of the incident.

"We have no idea at the moment what went wrong," said Fernandes, a Malaysian businessman who founded the low-cost carrier in 2001. "Let's not speculate at the moment."

Malaysia-based AirAsia has a good safety record and had never lost a plane before.

"This is my worst nightmare," Fernandes tweeted.

But Malaysia itself has already endured a catastrophic year, with 239 people still missing from Flight 370 and all 298 people aboard Flight 17 killed when it was shot down over rebel-held territory in Ukraine.

AirAsia said Flight 8501 was on its submitted flight plan but had requested a change due to weather.

Sunardi, a forecaster at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said dense storm clouds were detected up to 13,400 meters (44,000 feet) in the area at the time.

"There could have been turbulence, lightning and vertical as well as horizontal strong winds within such clouds," said Sunardi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Airline pilots routinely fly around thunderstorms, said John Cox, a former accident investigator. Using on-board radar, flight crews can typically see a storm forming from more than 100 miles away.

In such cases, pilots have plenty of time to find a way around the storm cluster or look for gaps to fly through, he said.

"It's not like you have to make an instantaneous decision," Cox said. Storms can be hundreds of miles long, but "because a jet moves at 8 miles a minute, if you to go 100 miles out of your way, it's not a problem."

It was unclear based on comments from authorities what air traffic controllers saw on their screens when the plane disappeared from radar, he noted.

Authorities have not said whether they lost only the secondary radar target, which is created by the plane's transponder, or whether the primary radar target, which is created by energy reflected from the plane's body, was lost as well, Cox said.

The plane had an Indonesian captain and a French co-pilot, five cabin crew members and 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, the airline said in a statement. Among the passengers were three South Koreans, a Malaysian, a British national and his 2-year-old Singaporean daughter. The rest were Indonesians.

AirAsia said the captain has a total of 6,100 flying hours, but Fernandes later said the number is more than 20,000. The first officer has 2,275 flying hours.

At Surabaya airport, dozens of relatives sat in a room waiting for news, many of them talking on mobile phones and crying. Some looked dazed.

Dimas, who goes by one name, said his wife, 30-year-old Ratri Sri Andriani, had been on the flight to lead a group of 25 Indonesian tourists on a trip to Singapore and Malaysia. He was holding out hope that the plane had made an emergency landing.

"We can just pray and hope that all those aboard are safe," said Dimas, who was surrounded by Ratri's parents and friends at the airport crisis center. "We are worried, of course, but we have to surrender to her fate."

Indonesia's search-and-rescue head, Bambang Soelistyo, said his agency would search Monday with 12 ships and three helicopters, along with five military aircraft and a number of warships.

Malaysia and Singapore each planned to deploy one C-130 plane and three ships. Australia will also help, he added.

The missing aircraft was delivered to AirAsia in October 2008, and the plane had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours during some 13,600 flights, Airbus said in a statement.

The aircraft had last undergone scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, according to AirAsia.

The airline, which has dominated cheap travel in Southeast Asia for years, flies short routes of just a few hours, connecting the region's large cities. Recently, it has tried to expand into long-distance flying through sister airline AirAsia X.

Fernandes, who is the face of AirAsia and an active Twitter user, stirred controversy earlier this year after incorrectly tweeting that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 had landed safely.

William Waldock, an expert on air crash search and rescue with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, cautioned against drawing comparisons to Flight 370.

The circumstances bode well for finding Flight 8501 since the intended flight time was less than two hours, and there is a known position where the plane disappeared, he said.

The A320 family of jets, which includes the A319 and A321, has a good safety record, with just 0.14 fatal accidents per million takeoffs, according to a safety study published by Boeing in August.

Flight 8501 disappeared while at its cruising altitude, which is usually the safest part of a trip. Just 10 percent of fatal crashes from 2004 to 2013 occurred while a plane was in that stage of flight, the safety report said.

 

10th anniversary of tsunami is marked with tears

10th anniversary of tsunami is marked with tears 

Jenny Brand, from Sweden, center, who had friends that were victims of the Asian tsunami, releases a lantern which symbolizes the releasing of spirits, amidst hundreds of others during a commemoration service to mark the 10th anniversary of the day this natural disaster happened, Friday, Dec. 26, 2014 in Ban Nam Khem, Thailand. Dec. 26 marks the 10th anniversary of one of the deadliest natural disasters in world history: a tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast, that left more than 230,000 people dead in 14 countries and caused about $10 billion in damage.

PERELIYA, Sri Lanka (AP) -- A packed train in Sri Lanka that was swept off the tracks by waves as big as elephants. A boat patrolling off Thailand's shore hurled more than a mile inland. Streets in Indonesia turned into roaring rivers that carried people to their deaths.

Vivid and terrifying memories such as these were recalled Friday at ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami that left nearly a quarter-million people dead in one of modern history's worst natural disasters.

The Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami was triggered by a magnitude-9.1 earthquake - the region's most powerful in 40 years - that tore open the seabed off Indonesia's Sumatran coast, displacing billions of tons of water and sending waves roaring across the Indian Ocean at jetliner speeds as far away as East Africa.

Weeping survivors and others took part in beachside memorials and religious services across Asia, while some European countries also marked the anniversary, remembering the thousands of Christmastime tourists who died in the disaster.

Pain and hope alike were harvested from the tragedy.

"There is no need for anyone to remind us - the sorrow will be there until I stop breathing," said Kapila Migelratne, a 50-year-old businessman who lost his 14-year-old son and his brother when the train they were riding was derailed along Sri Lanka's shoreline. More than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka died in the tsunami, including as many as 2,000 in what is regarded as the world's worst train accident.

In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where more than 6,000 people died, Liguvariyal Daveed - a tsunami survivor who lost her son, mother and two grandchildren in the disaster - said the fear from that day remains with her.

"Whenever we see the ocean, we get reminded of how this same ocean took away all these people," she said at a memorial ceremony in the town of Kanyakumari. "You can't even imagine how much we fear the sea now. We didn't even want to stay close to it, so we moved ... away from the sea, in a small house allotted to me by the government."

In Europe, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven delivered a speech at a ceremony at Uppsala Cathedral, just north of Stockholm, to remember the 543 Swedes who died. President Joachim Gauck of Germany, which lost more than 500 people, said: "Locals and tourists found themselves in a situation in which they had a shared destiny, a bond which can still be felt today."

Those at a memorial service in southern Thailand included European tsunami survivors, who were serenaded by a small orchestra and took part in a minute of silence and a candlelight ceremony. About half of Thailand's 8,212 dead were foreign tourists, mostly Europeans escaping the winter cold.

The ceremony was held in the resort area of Khao Lak, next to a police boat that was out at sea when the tsunami struck and was carried 2 kilometers inland by the waves. The boat has become a permanent memorial to the power of the tsunami.

Many at the memorial ceremonies celebrated how people - locals and the international community alike - pulled together in the wake of the tragedy, saving strangers and launching a process to build back better.

Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova was vacationing in Khao Lak with her fiance, Simon Atlee, when the waves struck. He drowned and she barely survived with serious injuries, including a broken pelvis. After recovering, she founded the Happy Hearts Fund to rebuild schools devastated by natural disasters.

"Ten years ago, everyone who is present here today got connected in a very profound way, and through our experience, which we have shared, our lives have been connected ever since," Nemcova told the crowd at Friday's ceremony. "The 2004 tsunami didn't connect just those of us here, but the whole world, as individuals, families and countries have been asking, `How can we help?'"

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha noted that the tragedy "allowed us see the kindness and help that came from around the world that helped us pass through the difficult time."

Indonesia's Aceh province, which was closest to the quake's epicenter, was hit first and hardest. Initially, the quake toppled homes and buildings and sent communities rushing into the streets in panic.

About 20 minutes later, a wall of water up to 10 meters (33 feet) high surged inland for miles with seemingly unstoppable force, carrying along trees, houses, train cars - and thousands of people - in a churning rush.

More than 170,000 people died in Indonesia alone, about three-quarters of the overall death toll.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla led a prayer ceremony in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. He and other officials placed flowers at a mass grave where thousands of unknown tsunami victims were buried.

"Here in this field 10 years ago ... we tearfully saw thousands of corpses lying," Kalla said. "No words can describe our human feelings at that time - confused, shocked, sad, scared - in seeing the suffering of the people in Aceh. But we could not remain in sadness. Aceh had to rise again, and all Indonesians in this archipelago helped, and people all over the world offered their assistance."

In Sri Lanka, survivors and other mourners took a memorial journey to honor those lost in the train accident.

The Queen of the Sea was chugging down Sri Lanka's palm-fringed southwestern coast, headed from Colombo, the capital, to the town of Matara, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) away, when the tsunami struck. Waves described by survivors as being as big as elephants enveloped the train, lifting its cars off the track into a thick marsh in Pereliya village.

The dead included more than 400 villagers who tried to escape the waves by climbing on top of the eight-coach train. Only a few dozen passengers are believed to have survived.

The memorial ride on Friday included the train's original Engine 591 and five restored coaches. They were decorated with Buddhist flags for the occasion, and Buddhist chants were played throughout the journey, which replicated the train's ill-fated route.

At a memorial in Pereliya, Buddhist, Christian and Hindu rituals were performed and tearful relatives lit candles and offered flowers.

Shanthi Gallage, along with her husband and two daughters, was riding home on the train after a Christmas visit to relatives when the waves struck.

She saw her husband alive, trapped under a log, when she set out to find her daughters. But later she was told that her husband had died and been buried in a mass grave. She found one daughter, but never found the other, who was 13.

"I believe that she is alive and someone keeping her will return her to me today," said Gallage, who carries portraits of her husband and missing daughter. "There are people who tell me to forget about it, but I don't talk to them anymore. When I try to give it up, something prompts me not to, and I pray and search for her."

 

More protests sparked after shooting near Ferguson

More protests sparked after shooting near Ferguson

Police guard the entrance to a gas station in front of a memorial to Antonio Martin on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, in Berkeley, Mo. The mayor of the St. Louis suburb of Berkeley urged calm Wednesday after a white police officer killed the black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him, reigniting tensions that have lingered since the death of Michael Brown in neighboring Ferguson.

 

BERKELEY, Mo. (AP) -- Demonstrators took to the streets for a second night after a white police officer in Berkeley, Missouri, killed a black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him.

Dozens of protesters held a vigil late Wednesday at the gas station in the St. Louis suburb where Antonio Martin was shot, and they briefly blocked traffic on Interstate 170 during a march before returning to the station. Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall told KMOV-TV that six to eight people were arrested.

Later, about 75 people staged a peaceful protest early Christmas morning outside of a nearby church, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Police in riot gear were present.

The actions were calmer than a night before, when a crowd of about 300 people gathered at the gas station, throwing rocks and bricks in a scene reminiscent of the sometimes-violent protests that followed the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson.

Unlike in the death of Brown, who was unarmed and whose shooting was not captured on video, Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said Wednesday that surveillance footage appeared to show Martin pulling a gun on the unidentified 34-year-old officer who questioned him and another man about a theft at a convenience store.

Hoskins urged calm, saying, "You couldn't even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York," a reference to the chokehold death of Eric Garner, another black man whose death was caused by a white police officer.

Hoskins, who is black, also noted that unlike in Ferguson - where a mostly white police force serves a mostly black community - more than half of the officers in his city of 9,000 are black, including top command staff.

State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat who has been critical of how police handled the Brown case, also said the Martin shooting was far different than Brown's, noting that Martin pointed a weapon at the officer.

"That officer not only has an obligation to protect the community, but he also has a responsibility to protect himself," said the senator, who is black. "Because of the video, it is more than apparent that his life was in jeopardy."

But Taurean Russell, co-founder of Hands Up United, asked if police had any reason to question Martin in the first place. Mistrust of police remains high among blacks, many of whom are weary of harassment, said Russell, who is black.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar did not provide more details Wednesday about the theft Martin was being asked about. He said Martin pulled a loaded 9mm handgun and the officer fired three shots while stumbling backward. One hit Martin, who didn't fire his own gun. He died at the scene.

"I don't know why the guy didn't get a shot off, whether his gun jammed or he couldn't get the safety off," said attorney Brian Millikan, who is representing the officer. He said that the officer was lucky to be alive and certain he had no choice but to use lethal force.

Police throughout the country have been on alert since two New York officers were gunned down in an ambush last weekend by a man who had made threatening posts online about killing police. He later killed himself.

St. Louis County police and the city of Berkeley are investigating the shooting of Martin, which Belmar called a tragedy for both Martin's family and the officer, who has been on the force for six years.

"He will carry the weight of this for the rest of his life, certainly for the rest of his career," Belmar said of the officer. "There are no winners here."

The officer wasn't wearing his body camera, and his cruiser's dashboard camera was not activated because the car's emergency lights were not on, Belmar said.

Police released surveillance video clips from three different angles. The men can be seen leaving the store as a patrol car drives up. The officer gets out and speaks with them.

About 90 seconds later, one appears to raise his arm, though it's difficult to see what he's holding because they were several feet from the camera. Belmar said it was a 9mm handgun with one round in the chamber and five more in the magazine.

Police were searching Wednesday for the other man, who ran away.

Belmar said Martin had a criminal record that included three assault charges, plus charges of armed robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

Phone messages left for his parents were not returned. His mother, Toni Martin-Green, told the Post-Dispatch that Antonio was the oldest of four children.

"He's like any other kid who had dreams or hopes," she said. "We loved being around him. He'd push a smile out of you."

 

His was the third fatal shooting of a young black man by a white police officer in the St. Louis area since Brown was killed by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. Kajieme Powell, 25, was killed Aug. 19 after approaching St. Louis officers with a knife. Vonderrit Myers, 18, was fatally shot on Oct. 8 after allegedly shooting at a St. Louis officer.

Each killing has led to protests, as did a grand jury's decision last month not to charge Wilson in Brown's death.

 

Cuba's relations with Catholic Church hit high point

Cuba's relations with Catholic Church hit high point
 

In this Dec. 1, 2014, a guard walks inside the chapel of the former University of Santo Thomas of Villanueva in Havana, Cuba. Since late 2009, President Raul Castro's government has been quietly returning some church property that was confiscated in the years after the Cuban revolution, including this chapel. The rest of the university property was not returned.

HAVANA (AP) -- Golden rays of tropical sunlight slant through the caved-in roof of Saint Thomas de Villanueva chapel, illuminating tiles graced by the faces of saints. Vandals shattered the stained-glass windows and scrawled their names on the thick walls during decades of frigid relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Cuba's communist government.

But a new chain-link fence surrounds the building, protecting it for a future that once seemed unimaginable.

The church is planning to restore the building to its former glory, along with more a dozen more churches, parish houses and other buildings, as part of a quiet reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Cuban government that has brought relations to a historic high point this Christmas. Authorities have also given permission for the construction of the first two new churches in more than five decades.

After years of bridge-building behind closed doors, the Cuba-Vatican rapprochement burst into the headlines last week when the U.S. government credited Pope Francis with helping facilitate the secret reconciliation talks between the U.S. and Cuba. Francis wrote the leaders of both countries to invite them to resolve their differences.

Church officials and experts said the mediation and the renovation and construction of churches were essential parts of a fundamental shift in the dealings between the church and the communist state, which has been hostile toward religion for decades.

Developments "are heading in the same direction: a new chapter in the general and economic history of Cuba, and also church-state relations," said Enrique Lopez Oliva, a religious historian at the University of Havana.

The church and the Cuban state were in a state of open hostility in the years immediately after the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power, a time when some anti-Castro military used churches to store weapons.

Some priests were sent to labor camps. Churches were confiscated and used by the government as warehouses, bakeries, dining halls or schools.

Openly practicing Catholics were barred from holding public office and membership in the Communist Party. For the faithful, even winning admission to a university could be difficult, since the ubiquitous neighborhood watch committees kept a watchful eye on the populace.

But a thaw began in the 1990s as Cuba removed a constitutional clause declaring the country an officially atheist state. Pope John Paul II paid a momentous visit in 1998 and urged a new era of openness between Cuba and the world. After Benedict XVI visited in 2012, Cuba made Good Friday an official holiday.

Christmas decorations are increasingly visible in office buildings and homes each year. However, the church has made little headway in its hope for more access to state-controlled airwaves and permission to run religious schools.

Earlier this year the editors of a church magazine that has been one of the few independent publications in the country resigned, citing internal pressures from some who felt it was becoming too political.

According to a church member with direct knowledge of the matter, the handover of properties was part of negotiations between Castro and Cardinal Jaime Ortega in July 2010, when the church mediated the release of a group of jailed dissidents.

The properties include two churches, a parochial house and other real estate that was being used as stores in Santiago, Cuba's second-largest city; two plots of land and a chapel in the Bayamo-Manzanillo Diocesis; and the College of Jesuit Priests, a huge building that occupies more than a city block in Cienfuegos.

"It's a very positive gesture by authorities, restoring to a certain extent what belongs to the church, and above all it creates an atmosphere of trust," the Rev. Jose Felix Perez, adjunct secretary of the Cuban Catholic Bishops' Conference, told The Associated Press. "It's all happening, it must be said, gradually."

Ortega has publicly welcomed Castro's economic and social reforms, which have enabled hundreds of thousands of Cubans to work for small private businesses and made it much easier for islanders to travel overseas. Those reforms have not extended to political change, and the Communist Party is still the only one allowed.

Despite the gradual opening, experts say the percentage of Cubans who are practicing Catholics remains well below that of most of the rest of Latin America. For many Cubans, Christmas is a day off work to hang out with family and neighbors, with no spiritual component whatsoever.

Joel Dopico, president of the Cuban Council of Churches, said other evangelical and Protestant churches are also receiving properties from the state. He had no precise figures, but said the returns were less than what the Catholic Church has gotten.

"I think very highly of this state policy to return some properties," Dopico said. "It is part of the transformations that that are taking place in the country, where more and more the church will be able to carry out its work and support for the community."

 

Cuba says it has a right to grant asylum to US fugitives

Cuba says it has a right to grant asylum to US fugitives 
 

Cuba’s head of North American affairs, Josefina Vidal, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Dec. 22, 2014. Cuba says it’s open to every one of U.S. President Barack Obama’s moves to improve relations between the two countries and strengthen private enterprise and civil society on the island.

HAVANA (AP) -- Cuba said Monday that it has a right to grant asylum to U.S. fugitives, the clearest sign yet that the communist government has no intention of extraditing America's most-wanted woman despite the warming of bilateral ties.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has urged President Barack Obama to demand the return of fugitive Joanne Chesimard before restoring full relations under a historic detente announced by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro last week.

Chesimard was granted asylum by Fidel Castro after she escaped from the prison where she was serving a sentence for killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 during a gunbattle after being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Asked if returning fugitives was open to negotiation, Cuba's head of North American affairs, Josefina Vidal, told The Associated Press that "every nation has sovereign and legitimate rights to grant political asylum to people it considers to have been persecuted. ... That's a legitimate right."

"We've explained to the U.S. government in the past that there are some people living in Cuba to whom Cuba has legitimately granted political asylum," Vidal said.

"There's no extradition treaty in effect between Cuba and the U.S.," she added.

In a letter to the White House made public Sunday, Christie said Cuba's asylum for Chesimard, who has changed her name to Assata Shakur, was "an affront to every resident of our state, our country, and in particular, the men and women of the New Jersey State Police, who have tirelessly tried to bring this killer back to justice."

The first woman ever placed on the FBI's most-wanted terrorist list was living so openly in Havana that her number was listed in the phone book.

The FBI and the New Jersey State Police have offered a $2 million reward for information leading to Shakur's capture.

Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House's National Security Council, said the Obama administration will "continue to press in our engagement with the Cuban government for the return of U.S. fugitives in Cuba to pursue justice for the victims of their crimes."

Several infamous convicts and suspects in high-profile American cases live openly in Cuba, as are others convicted of less serious crimes. Among these are a woman convicted of killing a police officer four decades ago, a man sought for a 31-year-old armed robbery, airplane hijackers and dozens of people accused of Medicare and insurance fraud.

Cuba occasionally returns people convicted or suspected of committing crimes in the U.S., but it doesn't observe traditional extradition and refuses to send anyone back for a crime Havana considers political in nature, according to the State Department.

The Castro government's frequent position on returning fugitives has been to ask for the U.S. to return people wanted in Cuba.

"We've reminded the U.S. government that in its country they've given shelter to dozens and dozens of Cuban citizens," Vidal said. "Some of them accused of horrible crimes, some accused of terrorism, murder and kidnapping, and in every case the U.S. government has decided to welcome them."

In Cuba's first detailed public response to Obama's historic announcement last week, Vidal said Cuba is open to all of Obama's moves to improve relations and strengthen private enterprise and civil society on the island. That includes U.S. equipment to improve the Cuban Internet and U.S. exports to Cuba's new class of private business owners.

"Our president has said we welcome President Obama's decision to introduce the most significant changes in relations with Cuba in 54 years," Vidal said. "That includes the entire package."

Cuba has historically imposed heavy regulations on the Internet and private business as it has blamed the U.S. embargo for the problems of the island's stagnant economy.

Vidal said the U.S. has been to blame for Cuba's economic problems, which include crumbling infrastructure, low levels of foreign investment and rates of Internet access that are among the lowest in the world. The opening is an opportunity to show what the country can do unshackled, she said.

"Look back. When have you seen a negative response to the American government removing any type of restriction?" Vidal said. "What we say is, `Get rid of the excuse and put us to the test!'"

"We don't have any reason to reject anything that comes from the United States that's positive, and that are measures taken to loosen the blockade," she added.

Cuba is waiting to see exactly how the Obama administration will implement the changes, she said.

Obama's announcement included a very general list of reforms and left a series of open questions about how far the U.S. could go to create deeper economic ties with Cuba. The Commerce and Treasury departments are expected to begin publishing details of the new measures in coming weeks, changes that will include relaxation of the stringent rules governing American travel to Cuba.

Vidal said Cuba would only know how it would manage its end of the new relationship once the American government plan was clearer.

"We have to see how we are going to implement things," she said.

North Korea experiencing severe Internet outages

North Korea experiencing severe Internet outages 

 

A South Korean army soldier watches a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 22, 2014. North Korea hates the Hollywood film that revolves around the assassination of its beloved leader, but the country has had a long love affair with cinema - of its own particular styling.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- North Korea experienced sweeping and progressively worse Internet outages extending into Monday, with one computer expert saying the country's online access is "totally down." The White House and the State Department declined to say whether the U.S. government was responsible.

President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. government expected to respond to the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., which he described as an expensive act of "cyber vandalism" that he blamed on North Korea. Obama did not say how the U.S. might respond, and it was not immediately clear if the Internet connectivity problems represented the retribution. The U.S. government regards its offensive cyber operations as highly classified.

"We aren't going to discuss, you know, publicly operational details about the possible response options or comment on those kind of reports in anyway except to say that as we implement our responses, some will be seen, some may not be seen," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

North Korea has forcefully denied it was responsible for hacking into Sony. But the country has for months condemned the "The Interview," a Sony satirical comedy about a plot to assassinate the North Korean leader. Sony canceled plans to release the movie after a group of hackers made terroristic threats against theaters that planned to show it.

North Korean diplomat Kim Song, asked Monday about the Internet attack, told The Associated Press: "I have no information."

Ivan Simonovic, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for human rights, told reporters he didn't want to speculate about the nature of the Internet outages but said he hoped it would be "thoroughly investigated."

Doug Madory, the director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research, an Internet performance company, said Monday the problems began over the weekend and grew progressively worse to the point that "North Korea's totally down."

North Korea is one of the least connected countries in the world. Few North Koreans have access to computers, and even those who do are typically able to connect only to a domestic intranet. Though North Korea is equipped for broadband Internet, only a small, approved segment of the population has any access to the World Wide Web. More than a million people, however, are now using mobile phones in North Korea. The network covers most major cities but users cannot call outside the country or receive calls from outside.

With the current outages, Madory said, "They have left the global Internet and they are gone until they come back."

Another Internet technology service, Arbor Networks, which protects companies against hacker attacks, said its monitoring detected denial-of-service attacks aimed at North Korea's infrastructure starting Saturday and persisting Monday. Such attacks transmit so much spurious data traffic to Internet equipment that it becomes overwhelmed, until the attacks stop or the spurious traffic can be filtered and discarded to allow normal connections to resume.

Given North Korea's limited connectivity and lack of Internet sophistication, it would be relatively simple for a band of hacktivists to shut down online access, and it should not be assumed that the U.S. government had any part, said Dan Holden, director of security research at Arbor Networks.

"Anyone of us that was upset because we couldn't watch the movie, you could do that. Their Internet is just not that sophisticated," Holden said.

Madory said one benign explanation for the problem might be that a router suffered a software glitch, though a cyber-attack involving North Korea's Internet service was also a possibility. Routing instabilities are not uncommon, but instead of getting better, as one might expect, "it's getting worse, getting progressively degraded," Madory said.

"This doesn't fit that profile," of an ordinary routing problem, he said. "This shows something getting progressively worse over time."

 

Killings of 2 New York officers trigger backlash

Killings of 2 New York officers trigger backlash 

Rev. Al Sharpton, center, speaks about Saturday's killings of two New York City police officers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014 during a news conference at the National Action Network headquarters, in New York. Behind him are, from left, Esaw Garner, widow of Eric Garner, attorney Michael Hardy, Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, and attorney Jonathan Moore. Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who vowed online to shoot two "pigs" in retaliation for the police chokehold death of Eric Garner, ambushed two New York City officers in a patrol car Saturday and fatally shot them in broad daylight before running to a subway station and killing himself, authorities said.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Civil rights leaders Sunday condemned the ambush killings of two New York police officers and expressed fear that the backlash over the bloodshed could derail the protest movement that has grown out of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

In the raw hours following the killing of the officers, police union officials and politicians accused those who have protested the deaths of Garner and Brown of fanning anti-police fervor. Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolman's Benevolent Association in New York, said there was "blood on the hands" of demonstrators and elected officials who have criticized police tactics.

The Garner and Brown families issued statements repudiating the officers' killings, while civil rights leaders took to the airwaves to try to put some distance between the movement and the crime.

"To link the criminal insanity of a lone gunman to the peaceful protests and aspirations of many people across the country, including the attorney general, the mayor and even the president, is simply not fair," NAACP President Cornell William Brooks said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Brooks said the shootings were "certainly not a step forward" for the movement.

Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down at close range in their patrol car in Brooklyn on Saturday by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who then committed suicide. Before the attack, Brinsley, 28, wrote on an Instagram account: "I'm putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours, let's take 2 of theirs."

He used the hashtags Shootthepolice RIPErivGardner (sic) RIPMikeBrown - references to two blacks who died at the hands of police. Garner died in a New York City officer's chokehold, and Brown was shot by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Grand juries decided not to bring charges against either officer.

In the wake of the ambush, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani lashed out at New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Speaking on Fox News, Giuliani said: 

"We've had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police."

"They have created an atmosphere of severe, strong, anti-police hatred in certain communities, and for that, they should be ashamed of themselves," he said.

In a tweet, former New York Gov. George Pataki called the killings the "predictable outcome of divisive, anti-cop rhetoric of Attorney General Eric Holder and Bill De Blasio."

The accusations stoked fears that any gains made in the protest movement would be lost.

"We've been denouncing violence in our community," no matter who the target is, New York community activist Tony Herbert said. He said he worries that the shooting will be used to discredit the larger cause.

"It sullies the opportunity for us to make inroads to build the relationships we need to build to get the trust back," he said. "This hurts."

Similarly, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has called for peaceful protests, condemned "eye-for-an-eye" violence and called it absurd to blame protesters or politicians for the officers' deaths.

"We are now under intense threat from those who are misguided - from those who are trying to blame everyone from civil rights leaders to the mayor rather than deal with an ugly spirit that all of us need to fight," he said.

Sharpton added: "There are those of us committed to nonviolence and making the system work. And there are those committed to anarchy and recklessness who could care less about the families of police or the families who have raised questions about police accountability."

Irene Sundiata Myers, a black woman who was selling roses and inspirational words Sunday on Harlem's Malcolm X Boulevard, said that because of Saturday's ambush, some officers might think twice about pulling the trigger on black men.

"It will change the attitude of police across the country in terms of how they go about killing black men, if they begin to think that there's a possibility that there will be a retribution," she said.

 

Tsarnaev appears in court for 1st time since 2013

Tsarnaev appears in court for 1st time since 2013 

In this courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is depicted sitting in federal court in Boston Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, for a final hearing before his trial begins in January. Tsarnaev is charged with the April 2013 attack that killed three people and injured more than 260. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

BOSTON (AP) -- Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev returned to court Thursday for the first time since he was arraigned in July 2013, and he received a shout of encouragement from the mother-in-law of a man who was shot and killed while being questioned by law enforcement after the bombings.

Security was tight at the federal courthouse in Boston for Tsarnaev's final pretrial conference. Tensions ran high, and one bombing victim had a testy exchange with protesters outside.

During the brief court hearing, U.S. District Court George O'Toole Jr. made no rulings, saying he would rule in writing on pending motions, including the defense's latest push to move the trial out of Boston.

David Bruck, one of Tsarnaev's lawyers, told the judge that the defense plans to file a motion to delay the trial, which is now scheduled to begin on Jan. 5 with jury selection. Bruck did not say how long of a delay the defense will seek.

At one point, the mother-in-law of Ibragim Todashev called out to Tsarnaev in Russian in the courtroom. Elena Teyer said she told him: "We pray for you. Be strong, my son. We know you are innocent."

Later, in English, she yelled to the law enforcement officers escorting her out of the room: "Stop killing innocent people. Stop killing innocent boys."

Tsarnaev never flinched or acknowledged the shouts.

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 2013 marathon. Tsarnaev, who has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges, faces the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted.

Tsarnaev, 21, wore a black sweater and gray trousers and had a scruffy beard and a curly hairstyle similar to the one seen in earlier photos. He smiled to his attorneys and one patted him on the arm.

The courtroom was packed with FBI agents, police who worked on the case and more than a dozen survivors and family members.

Outside the courthouse, a man who lost his right leg in the bombings had a testy exchange with a small group of protesters holding signs supporting Tsarnaev and questioning whether authorities have proof that he is responsible for the bombings.

Marc Fucarile held up his prosthetic leg and moved it back and forth toward the demonstrators, saying: "That's proof right there."

One of the demonstrators said to Fucarile: "You should care that they get the right guy."

Fucarile replied: "Get a life, lady. Go to work."

At his last court appearance 17 months ago, Tsarnaev still bore signs of the bloody standoff with police that led to his capture and the death of his older brother, Tamerlan. His left arm was in a cast, his face was swollen and he appeared to have a jaw injury. In court Thursday, he had no visible injuries.

Tsarnaev's trial is expected to last several months, and seating a jury alone could take several weeks to a month.

Judge O'Toole questioned Tsarnaev about whether he had waived his right to appear at previous hearings. Tsarnaev answered in a clear voice: "Yes, sir."

Asked by the judge if he believes his lawyers had acted in his best interests, he said: "Very much."

Earlier this month, Tsarnaev's lawyers argued anew that "emotionally charged" media coverage and the widespread impact of the attacks have made it impossible for him to get a fair trial in Massachusetts.

O'Toole had rejected Tsarnaev's first request in September to move the trial, ruling that defense lawyers had failed to show that extensive pretrial media coverage of the bombings had prejudiced the jury pool to the point that an impartial jury could not be chosen in Boston.

Tsarnaev's lawyers previously said the trial should be moved to Washington, D.C.

O'Toole also rejected a defense request that prosecutors turn over evidence about his older brother's possible participation in a 2011 triple killing in suburban Waltham.

In May 2013, the FBI and Massachusetts State Police were questioning Todashev about that killing when an FBI agent shot and killed the 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter inside his Orlando, Florida, home.

Officials initially said Todashev had lunged at a state trooper with a knife but later said it was a pole. Todashev's family has disputed that account.

Prosecutors have said Todashev told authorities Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple slaying in which the victims' bodies were found with their throats slit and their bodies sprinkled with marijuana.

US, Cuba patch torn relations in historic accord

US, Cuba patch torn relations in historic accord

Alan Gross, waves as he and his wife Judy leave following his statement at his lawyer's office in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014. Gross was released from Cuba after 5 years in a Cuban prison.

  

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a half-century of Cold War acrimony, the United States and Cuba moved on Wednesday to restore diplomatic relations - a historic shift that could revitalize the flow of money and people across the narrow waters that separate the two nations.

President Barack Obama's dramatic announcement in Washington - seconded by Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana - was accompanied by a quiet exchange of imprisoned spies and the celebratory release of American Alan Gross, a government contract worker who had been held in Cuba for five years.

The shift in U.S.-Cuba policy was the culmination of 18 months of secret talks between the longtime foes that included a series of meetings in Canada and the personal involvement of Pope Francis at the Vatican. It also marked an extraordinary undertaking by Obama without Congress' authorization as he charts the waning years of his presidency.

"These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked," Obama declared at the White House. "It's time for a new approach."

Obama spoke as Castro was addressing his nation in Havana, where church bells rang and school teachers paused lessons to mark the news. Castro said that while the U.S. and Cuba remain at odds on many matters, "we should learn the art of living together in a civilized manner in spite of our differences."

Obama's plans for remaking U.S. relations with Cuba are sweeping: He aims to expand economic ties, open an embassy in Havana, send high-ranking U.S. officials including Secretary of State John Kerry to visit and review Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. The U.S. also is easing restrictions on travel to Cuba, including for family visits, official government business and educational activities. But tourist travel remains banned.

Obama and Castro spoke by telephone Tuesday for nearly an hour, the first presidential-level call between their nations' leaders since the 1959 Cuban revolution and the approval of a U.S. economic embargo on the communist island that sits just 90 miles off coast of Florida. The two men are also expected to meet at a regional summit in Panama next spring.

Obama did not rule out traveling to Cuba before his presidency ends, telling ABC News: "I don't have any current plans to visit Cuba, but let's see how things evolve."

Despite Obama's declaration, the Cuba embargo was passed by Congress, and only lawmakers can revoke it. That appears unlikely to happen soon given the largely negative response to Obama's actions from Republicans who will take full control of Capitol Hill in January.

"Relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom - and not one second sooner," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "There is no `new course' here, only another in a long line of mindless concessions to a dictatorship that brutalizes its people and schemes with our enemies."

The response from around the world was far more welcoming, particularly in Latin America, where the U.S. policy toward Cuba has been despised.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called Obama's action "a gesture that was courageous and historically necessary."

The Vatican said Pope Francis "welcomed the historic decision taken by the governments of the United States of America and Cuba to establish diplomatic relations, with the aim of overcoming, in the interest of the citizens of both countries, the difficulties which have marked their recent history."

In Cuba, a sense of euphoria spread through Havana as people gathered around televisions to watch the Obama and Castro announcements.

"For the Cuban people, I think this is like a shot of oxygen, a wish come true, because with this, we have overcome our differences," said Carlos Gonzalez, a 32-year-old information technology specialist.

Half a century ago, the U.S. recognized Fidel Castro's new government soon after his rebels took power from dictator Fulgencio Batista. But before long things began to sour as Cuba deepened its relationship with the Soviet Union. In 1961 the U.S. broke diplomatic relations, and then came the failed U.S.-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion meant to topple Castro. A year later a U.S. blockade forced removal of Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba in a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Since then, the number of Americans who see Cuba as a serious threat has declined. A 1983 CNN/Time poll found 29 percent considered Cuba a very serious threat. That dipped to 13 percent in 1994 and 12 percent in 1997.

Under the changes announced Wednesday, licensed American travelers to Cuba will be able to return to the U.S. with $400 in Cuban goods, including tobacco and alcohol products worth less than $100 combined. 

This means the long-standing ban on importing Cuban cigars is over, although there are still limits.

Early in his presidency, Obama allowed unlimited family visits by Cuban-Americans.

The financial impact on Cuba is unclear, though some American businesses welcomed the prospect of expanding into a new market. Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said his organization stands "ready to assist as the Cuban people work to unleash the power of free enterprise to improve their lives."

 

While Obama has long spoken of his desire to open ties with Cuba, the 2009 imprisonment of Gross, an American government subcontractor, became a major obstacle. Gross was detained while working to set up Internet access for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which does work promoting democracy in the communist country.

Cuba considers USAID's programs illegal attempts by the U.S. to undermine its government, and Gross was tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Last spring, Obama secretly authorized two of his senior advisers to hold exploratory conversations with Cuba about securing Gross' release. Over a series of nine clandestine meetings in Canada and the Vatican, the talks expanded to include broader discussions of normalizing relations.

Pope Francis raised the issue with Obama when the U.S. president visited the Vatican in March. And in early summer, the pontiff sent separate letters to Obama and Castro urging them to end their decades-long freeze.

The details of the prisoner releases and policy changes were largely finalized during a meeting at the Vatican last fall.

Wednesday morning, Gross boarded a U.S. government plane and flew out of Cuba, accompanied by his 

wife and three U.S. lawmakers. Waiting for him on board were big bowls of popcorn and a corned beef sandwich on rye.

"This is game changing," Gross declared in brief, emotional remarks later in Washington. He flashed a broad grin with missing teeth - lost during his imprisonment - after taking an admiring glance at the American flags posted behind him and taking note that his release came on the first day of Hanukkah.

The two nations also released spies that they were holding.

The Castro government released a Cuban spy who had spent nearly 20 years in prison after working for the United States and accessing closely held intelligence information at the highest levels of the Cuban government. U.S. officials said the spy was responsible for some of the most important counterintelligence prosecutions that the United States has pursed in recent decades, including convicted Cuban spies Ana 

Belen Montes, Walter Kendall Myers and Gwendolyn Myers and a group known as the Cuban Five.

In exchange for the spy's release, the U.S. freed the three remaining members of the Cuban Five who were jailed in Florida. The men, who are hailed as heroes in Cuba, were part of the "Wasp Network" sent by Cuba's then-President Fidel Castro to spy in South Florida.

Two of the five were previously released after finishing their sentences.

U.S. officials said Cuba was taking some steps as part of the agreement to address its human rights issues, including freeing 53 political prisoners and allowing greater Internet access on the island.

Obama said he continued to have serious concerns about Cuba's human rights record but did not believe the current American policy had been advancing efforts to change the government's behavior.

"I do not believe we can keep doing the same thing for over five decades and expect a different result," he said.