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Gunman opens fire at Oregon mall; Suspect, 2 dead
The mall Santa was waiting for the next child’s Christmas wish when shots rang out, causing the shopping mall to erupt into chaos. About to invite a child to hop onto his lap, Brance Wilson instead dove for the floor and kept his head down as he heard shots being fired upstairs in the mall Tuesday afternoon. “I heard two shots and got out of the chair. I thought a red suit was a pretty good target,” said the 68-year-old Wilson. Families waiting for Santa scattered. More shots followed, and Wilson crept away for better cover. Wilson was among hundreds of horrified people who ducked or ran for cover when a gunman, dressed in camouflage and a mask and possibly wearing body armor, fired dozens of rounds. When it was over, three people were dead, including the gunman who police say killed himself. Another bystander was seriously wounded, but the toll could have been far worse. Witnesses said the suspect fired several times near the mall food court until the rifle jammed and he dropped a magazine onto the floor, then ran into the Macy’s store. Witnesses heard the gunman saying, “I am the shooter,” as he fired rounds from a semi-automatic rifle inside the Clackamas Town Center, a popular suburban mall several miles from downtown Portland. Some were close enough to the shooter to feel the percussion of his gun. Police rapid-response teams came into the mall with guns drawn, telling everyone to leave. Shoppers and mall employees who were hiding stayed in touch with loved ones with cellphones and texting. Police said they had tentatively identified the gunman but would not release his name or give any information on a possible motive. The shooting started around 3:30 p.m. It was not clear how long it lasted, but some shoppers and employees hid in fear for at least two hours as teams of police checked to see whether there might be another shooter. Kayla Sprint, 18, was interviewing for a job at a clothing store when she heard shots. “We heard people running back here screaming, yelling ‘911,’” she told the AP. Sprint barricaded herself in the store’s back room until the coast was clear. Jason DeCosta is a manager of a window-tinting company that has a display on the mall’s ground floor. When he arrived to relieve his coworker, he heard shots ring out upstairs. DeCosta ran up an escalator, past people who had dropped for cover and glass littering the floor. “I figure if he’s shooting a gun, he’s gonna run out of bullets,” DeCosta said, “and I’m gonna take him.” DeCosta said when he got to the food court, “I saw a gentleman face down, obviously shot in the head.” “A lot of blood,” DeCosta said. “You could tell there was nothing you could do for him.” He said he also saw a woman on the floor who had been shot in the chest. Austin Patty, 20, who works at Macy’s, said he saw a man in a white mask carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. There was a series of rapid-fire shots in short succession as Christmas music played. Patty said he dove for the floor and then ran. His Macy‘s co-worker, Pam Moore, told The Associated Press the gunman was short, with dark hair. Kira Rowland told KGW-TV that she was shopping at Macy’s with her infant son when the shots started. “All of a sudden you hear two shots, which sounded like balloons popping,” Rowland told the station. “Everybody got on the ground. I grabbed the baby from the stroller and got on the ground.” Rowland said she heard people screaming and crying. “I put the baby back in the stroller and ran,” Rowland said. Kaelynn Keelin was working two stores down from Macy’s when the gunfire began. She watched windows of another store get shot out. She and her coworkers ran to get customers inside their own store to take shelter. “If we would have run out, we would have run right into it,” she said. Shaun Wik, 20, was Christmas shopping with his girlfriend and opened a fortune cookie at the food court. Inside was written: “Live for today. Remember yesterday. Think of tomorrow.” As he read it, he heard three shots. He heard a man he believes was the gunman shout, “Get down!” but Wik and his girlfriend ran. He heard seven or eight more shots. He didn’t turn around. “If I had looked back, I might not be standing here,” Wik said. “I might have been one of the ones who got hit.” Clackamas Town Center is one of the Portland area’s biggest and busiest malls, with 185 stores and a 20-screen movie theater. Holli Bautista, 28, was shopping at Macy’s for a Christmas dress for her daughter when she heard pops that sounded like firecrackers. “I heard people running and screaming and saying ‘Get out, there’s somebody shooting,'” she told the AP. She said hundreds of shoppers and mall employees started running, and she and dozens of other people were trying to escape through a department store exit. Tiffany Turgetto and her husband were leaving Macy’s through the first floor when they heard gunshots coming from the second floor of the mall. They were able to leave quickly through a Barnes & Noble bookstore before the police locked down the mall. “I had left my phone at home. I was telling people to call 911. Surprisingly, people are around me, no one was calling 911. I think people were in shock,” she said. ___ Associated Press writers Nigel Duara in Portland, Michelle Price in Phoenix and Manuel Valdes in Seattle contributed to this report.
Source: Fox US News
Masked gunman terrorizes Oregon mall, killing two, then himself
A gunman who witnesses say was wearing camouflage and a white plastic mask opened fire in a shopping mall near Portland, Ore., killing two and wounding one other before killing himself, police said.
Authorities said in a press conference late Tuesday they have tentatively identified the gunman but would not release his name or give any information on a possible motive. Officials said a woman was also shot and was in serious condition at a Portland hospital.
“We have a young lady in the hospital fighting for her life right now,” Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said.
Clackamas County sheriff’s Lt. James Rhodes says law enforcement who flooded the Clackamas Town Center in response to the afternoon shooting didn’t fire any shots.
Witnesses described a harrowing scene, as the gunman appeared to be dressed in body armor while firing off an estimated 60 shots from a semi-automatic rifle. One witness told KPTV that the gunman ran past her and her boyfriend and “had the look of death in his eyes.”
Another witness, Kira Rowland, told KGW-TV that she was shopping at Macy’s with her infant when the shots started.
“All of a sudden you hear two shots, which sounded like balloons popping,” Rowland told the station. “Everybody got on the ground. I grabbed the baby from the stroller and got on the ground.”
Rowland said she heard people screaming and crying.
“I put the baby back in the stroller and ran like hell,” Rowland said. “It was awful. It was shots after shots after shots like a massacre.
“It was just awful.”
Holli Bautista, 28, said she was shopping in the Macy’s for a Christmas dress for her daughter when she heard a two or three pops that sounded like firecrackers.
“I heard people running and screaming and saying `Get out, there’s somebody shooting’,” she told The Associated Press. “It was a scene of chaos.”
She said hundreds of shoppers and mall employees started running, and she and dozens of other people were trying to escape through an exit in the department store.
Bautista said the Macy’s opens into the food court area, where it was reported the shootings took place. Bautista said it sounded like the shots were coming from that direction.
Once Bautista made it out of the mall, police officers were directed her and the other shoppers across the street to another shopping center.
As she looked across the street, Bautista said she could see hundreds of police officers, firefighters and emergency workers pouring in.
“They’re coming in from multiple different agencies. There’s tons of ambulances lined up,” she said.
Macy’s employees Pam Moore and Austin Patty told the AP the shooter was short, with dark hair, dressed in camouflage. He had body armor and a rifle and was wearing a white mask, they said.
“I heard about 20 shots and everyone hit the ground,” Moore said. “That’s when we all just ran.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Fox US News
Gunman opens fire in Portland mall, 3 dead
A gunman wearing camouflage and a mask opened fire Thursday in a busy Portland mall, leaving the gunman and two others dead and forcing the mall’s Santa Claus and hundreds of Christmas shoppers and employees to flee or hide among displays. Austin Patty, 20, who works at Macy’s, said he saw a man in a white mask carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. He heard the gunman say, “I am the shooter,” as if announcing himself. A series of rapid-fire shots in short succession followed as Christmas music played. Patty said he ducked to the ground and then ran. His Macy‘s co-worker, Pam Moore, told The Associated Press the gunman was short, with dark hair. Witnesses said the gunman started firing in the mall’s food court, just outside Macy’s. Brance Wilson, the mall Santa, said he heard gunshots and dove for the floor. By the time he looked up, seconds later, everyone around him had cleared out. Merchandise was scattered in some stores as he made his way to the door. “Santa will be back,” Wilson said. “It’s not going to keep Santa away from the mall.” Police identified the gunman but would not release his name or give any information on a possible motive. Officials said a woman was also shot and was in serious condition at a Portland hospital. The mall is one of Portland’s biggest and busiest, with 185 stores and a 20-screen movie theater. Sheriff’s deputies said it would remain closed during the investigation, but it wasn’t clear how long that would take. Shaun Wik, 20, from Fairview, said he was Christmas shopping with his girlfriend and opened a fortune cookie at the food court. Inside was written “Live for today. Remember yesterday. Think of tomorrow.” As he read it, he heard three shots. He heard a man he believes was the gunman shout, “Get down!” but Wik and his girlfriend ran. He heard seven or eight more shots. He didn’t turn around. “If I had looked back, I might not be standing here,” Wik said. “I might have been one of the ones who got hit.” Kira Rowland told KGW-TV that she was shopping at Macy’s with her infant son when the shots started. “All of a sudden you hear two shots, which sounded like balloons popping,” Rowland told the station. “Everybody got on the ground. I grabbed the baby from the stroller and got on the ground.” Rowland said she heard people screaming and crying. “I put the baby back in the stroller and ran,” Rowland said. Holli Bautista, 28, said she was shopping at Macy’s for a Christmas dress for her daughter when she heard pops that sounded like firecrackers. “I heard people running and screaming and saying ‘Get out, there’s somebody shooting,'” she told the AP. She said hundreds of shoppers and mall employees started running, and she and dozens of other people were trying to escape through a department store exit. Tiffany Turgetto and her husband were leaving Macy’s through the first floor when they heard gunshots coming from the second floor of the mall. They were able to quickly leave through a Barnes & Noble bookstore before the police arrived and locked down the mall. “I had left my phone at home. I was telling people to call 911. Surprisingly, people are around me, no one was calling 911. I think people were in shock.” ___ Associated Press writers Nigel Duara in Portland, Michelle Price in Phoenix and Manuel Valdes in Seattle contributed to this report.
Source: Fox US News
Egyptian army takes over security ahead of vote
The Egyptian military on Monday assumed joint responsibility with the police for security and protecting state institutions until the results of a Dec. 15 constitutional referendum are announced.
The army took up the task in line with a decree issued Sunday by President Mohammed Morsi. The Islamist leader on Monday also suspended a series of tax hikes announced the previous day on alcohol, cigarettes and other items.
The presidential edict orders the military and police to jointly maintain security in the run-up to Saturday’s vote on the disputed charter, which was hurriedly approved last month by a panel dominated by the president’s Islamist allies despite a boycott of the committee’s liberal, secular and Christian members.
The decree also grants the military the right to arrest civilians, but presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said it was nowhere near a declaration of martial law.
“It is merely a measure to extend legal cover for the armed forces while they are used to maintain security,” Ali told The Associated Press.
There were no signs of a beefed up military presence outside the presidential palace, the site of fierce street clashes last week, or elsewhere in the capital on Monday.
Still, Morsi’s decision to lean on the military to safeguard the vote is widely seen as evidence of just how jittery the government is about the referendum on the draft constitution, which has been at the heart of days of dueling protests by the opposition and Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood backers. The two sides clashed in Cairo last week, leaving at least six people dead and hundreds wounded in the worst violence of the crisis.
Both the opposition and Morsi’s supporters have called for mass rallies on Tuesday.
The opposition has rejected the referendum, but has yet to call for a boycott or instead a “no” vote at the polls.
“A decision on whether we call for a boycott of the referendum or campaign for a `no’ vote remains under discussion,” Hossam Moanis, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front grouping opposition parties and groups told the AP on Monday. “For now, we reject the referendum as part of our rejection of the draft constitution.”
The military last week sent out several tanks and armored vehicles in the vicinity of the presidential palace in Cairo following protests there by tens of thousands of Morsi’s critics. It was the first high-profile deployment by the military since it handed power in June to Morsi, Egypt‘s first freely elected president.
Morsi on Saturday rescinded decrees issued Nov. 22 granting him near absolute powers and placing him above any oversight, including by the courts. He has, however, insisted that the referendum will go ahead on schedule.
Judges have gone on strike to protest Morsi’s perceived “assault” on the judiciary and have said they would not oversee the Dec. 15 vote as is customary for judges in Egypt. Judges of the nation’s administrative courts announced Monday they were conditionally lifting their boycott of the vote, but they said their supervision of the process was conditional on bringing an end to the siege of the Supreme Constitutional Court by Morsi’s supporters.
In exchange for their supervision, they also demanded assurances that authorities would crack down on vote canvassing outside polling stations and offer life insurance policies to the judges.
Morsi’s deputy, Mahmoud Mekki, has said the vote could be staggered over several days if there were not enough judges to oversee the referendum.
The court was widely expected to dissolve the panel that drafted the constitution in a session scheduled for Dec. 2. The siege of the Nile-side building in Cairo’s Maadi district began Dec. 1.
In a surprise move, Morsi on Monday rescinded a series of decrees issued the previous day to raise taxes on a wide range of items and services, including alcohol, cigarettes, mobile phones, services offered by hotels and bank loans.
The state-owned daily Al-Ahram said the Sunday decrees to raise taxes were issued by Morsi. On Monday, the official MENA news agency carried a statement from Morsi’s office saying the president has decided to “suspend” the tax increases.
“The president does accept that citizens shoulder any additional burdens except by choice,” the statement said. Morsi, it added, has ordered a public debate on the increases to gauge popular reaction.
“The people will always have the loudest voice and final decision,” it added.
It was not immediately clear why Morsi changed his mind about the tax hikes in a matter of hours, but the about-face appeared to have more to do with inexperience rather than a bid by the president to appear sympathetic with the majority of Egyptians who struggle daily to make end meet as the economy’s woes deepen. A popular backlash against tax hikes could hurt the chances of the Morsi-backed draft constitution being ratified in the referendum.
Egypt and the IMF last month have reached an initial agreement for a $4.8 billion loan to revive the country’s ailing economy. The deal, agreed after nearly three weeks of negotiations in Cairo, will support the government‘s economic program for 22 months, the IMF said in a statement.
Egyptian authorities said at the time that it intended to raise revenues through tax reform, using the resources generated from new taxes to boost social spending and investment in new infrastructure.
Source: Fox World News
Syrian rebels capture parts of army base in north in more deadly fighting
Syrian rebels captured parts of another large army base in the country’s north, just west of the city of Aleppo, tightening the opposition’s grip on areas close to the Turkish border, activists said Monday.
Elsewhere, the rebels killed 13 soldiers in an ambush near a strategic northern town along a road linking Aleppo with Damascus, activists reported.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels entered the Sheik Suleiman military base on Sunday afternoon, after weeks of fighting around it.
The development was a significant boost for the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad and defeat his military. Last month, they captured another base near Aleppo, the Syrian army’s 46th Regiment base.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads to Observatory, said the rebels who stormed Sheik Suleiman belong to hardline Islamic militant groups.
Abdul-Rahman told The Associated Press that fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, Mujahedeen Shura Council and the Muhajireen group took part in the battle for the Sheik Suleiman base.
U.S. officials have said the Obama administration is preparing to designate the Jabhat al-Nusra group, which has alleged ties to Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization.
The Observatory said the rebels seized key sectors of the base, home of 111th Regiment, including its command center.
About 140 Syrian troops fled to another, nearby base as the rebels advanced, Abdul-Rahman said, adding that rebels captured seven government troops and killed two soldiers in the fighting.
Amateur videos released by activists showed gunmen walking inside the base, carrying a militant black Islamic flag.
The footage also showed rebels driving around in a captured tank and manning heavy anti-aircraft machine guns. The activist videos appear genuine and correspond to AP‘s reporting on the events depicted.
Fighting around Syria has intensified in the past few months. The uprising, which began with peaceful protests against Assad’s regime in March 2011, has escalated into a civil war that has killed more than 40,000 people, according to activists.
“This is what we captured from Assad’s army,” a rebel says in the video, carrying an automatic rifle and a walkie-talkie and pointing to the heavy machine guns.
Abdul-Rahman said the rebels tried to storm Sheik Suleiman base two weeks ago but were pushed back by troops who killed nearly two dozen rebel fighters.
The Observatory also reported heavy fighting Monday on the southern edge of the strategic rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan, captured from government troops in October. It said rebels ambushed an army unit, killing at least 13 soldiers.
The group said Syrian warplanes bombed the town after the death of the solders.
Mohammed Kanaan, an activist based in Maaret al-Numan said rebels stormed army positions south of the town and killed many soldiers.
“The town is witnessing some of the worst clashes in weeks,” said Kanaan via Skype.
The town is on the highway that links the capital, Damascus, with Aleppo, Syria‘s largest city and commercial center that has been the scene of clashes between rebels and troops since July.
Activists also reported violence in other areas, including the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, central region of Homs as well as villages and towns near Damascus International Airport south of the capital.
A resident in Damascus, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal, told The AP that he was hearing cracks of gunfire and explosions inside and outside the capital early Monday.
Source: Fox World News
Bangladesh factory where 112 died in blaze reportedly had lost fire clearance
A Bangladesh fire official says the garment factory where 112 people were killed in a blaze last month had lost its fire safety certification in June. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Also, factory owner Delwar Hossain told the AP he was only authorized to build a three-story facility but had expanded it illegally to eight stories and was adding a ninth at the time of the blaze.
Despite the violations, the facility was still producing clothes for Western companies such as Wal-Mart and Disney when the fire broke out Nov. 24. Government auditors say it is difficult to shut dangerous factories because of their powerful owners.
Source: Fox World News
APNewsBreak: Dhaka factory lost fire clearance
A Bangladesh fire official says the garment factory where 112 people were killed in a blaze last month had lost its fire safety certification in June. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Also, factory owner Delwar Hossain told the AP he was only authorized to build a three-story facility but had expanded it illegally to eight stories and was adding a ninth at the time of the blaze. Despite the violations, the facility was still producing clothes for Western companies such as Wal-Mart and Disney when the fire broke out Nov. 24. Government auditors say it is difficult to shut dangerous factories because of their powerful owners.
Source: Fox World News
McAfee denied asylum; expected in Belize
Software company founder John McAfee was denied political asylum in Guatemala on Thursday and police in Belize said they expected him to be flown back soon for questioning about the killing of a fellow American expatriate.
Guatemalan authorities said McAfee’s request for asylum had been denied. It did not explain why.
McAfee was in a Guatemalan immigration detention center after his arrest for illegally entering the country ended a bizarre weekslong journey as a self-styled fugitive with an active blog and constant contact with the press.
McAfee told an AP reporter inside his private room in the center that he had suffered chest pain in the night but had refused to travel to a hospital because he had been using Chinese herbal medicine since suffering a heart attack in 1993.
“Last night I had a little bit of pain, but I am fine this morning,” he said. “I don’t like western medicine … if the people around me are kind and compassionate, that’s all that matters in life. The people of Guatemala are very kind people, so I have no complaints.”
Belizean police spokesman Raphael Martinez said officials expected McAfee to be flown back to the capital. Police hope to question him about the fatal shooting of killing of Gregory Viant Faull, who was shot to death in early November on the Belize island where both men lived.
There is no warrant for McAfee’s arrest, so it is possible that his self-initiated flight from Belizean authority could end up with him free to roam the Caribbean island where he lived for years, often clashing with neighbors and authorities over allegations he kept aggressive dogs, weapons and drug paraphernalia on his property.
McAfee was updating his blog Thursday after being given a computer by the warden at the migration center in Guatemala City, a three-story building with mesh-covered windows and barbed-wire on the roof.
He said U.S. Embassy officials had said they couldn’t help him with a request to be returned to the United States instead of Belize. McAfee said he had formally requested asylum in Guatemala because he fears for his safety because he has sensitive information about official corruption and refused to donate to local politicians.
Since refusing to turn himself in to authorities in Belize, the 67-year-old had been in hiding, blogging his movements and calling reporters, until reappearing in Guatemala to claim asylum. He has not said how he crossed the border into Guatemala.
McAfee’s lawyer Telesforo Guerra warned Wednesday night that McAfee’s life would be in danger if he is returned to Belize.
“He will be in danger if he is returned to Belize, where he has denounced authorities,” Guerra said. “From the moment he asked for asylum he has to have the protection of the Guatemalan government.”
Police in Belize deny they are persecuting McAfee and say there is no warrant for his arrest. The country’s prime minister has even questioned McAfee’s mental state.
McAfee went on the run last month after officials tried to question him about the killing of Faull, who was shot to death in early November on the Belize island where both men lived.
McAfee acknowledges that his dogs were bothersome and that Faull had complained about them, but denies killing Faull.
Faull’s home was a couple of houses down from McAfee’s compound.
The Faull family has said through a representative that the murder of their loved one on Ambergris Caye has gotten lost in the media frenzy provoked by McAfee’s manipulation of the media through phone calls, emails and blog posts detailing his life on the lam.
McAfee grabbed global attention with regular phone calls with reporters and blog updates. He claimed to be wearing disguises and watching as police raided his house. It was unclear, however, how much of what McAfee — a confessed practical joker — said and wrote was true.
He had earlier said he didn’t plan to leave Belize but ultimately did because he thought the young woman who has accompanied him since he went into hiding was in danger.
McAfee, the creator of the McAfee antivirus program, has led an eccentric life since he sold his stake in the anti-virus software company that is named after him in the early 1990s and moved to Belize about three years ago to lower his taxes.
He told The New York Times in 2009 that he had lost all but $4 million of his $100 million fortune in the U.S. financial crisis. However, a story on the Gizmodo website quoted him as calling that claim “not very accurate at all.” He has dabbled in yoga, ultra-light aircraft and producing herbal medications.
Source: Fox World News
Webcam update: Athina goes back to school
The last time we met Athina, she was preparing to plunge into the harsh job market in Athens, where young people face staggering unemployment rates. Her mother wasn’t getting paid in her job on Lemnos island, meaning she could barely afford to send Athina’s living expenses. Athina’s neighborhood, infested with right-wing thugs, was falling apart amid brutal austerity cutbacks. Then came more bad news: The 22-year-old English major discovered she didn’t have enough credits to graduate from university and had to return to school. ___ This is an update of Class of 2012, the AP‘s yearlong exploration of Europe‘s economic crisis through the eyes of five young graduates. Follow the class on its new Google plus page: http://apne.ws/ClassOf2012 ___ It hasn’t all been gloom. The pastry shop where Athina’s mother works started paying wages again, meaning the family can now start sending Athina 100 euros ($120) per week to live on. And she has a new family member: Ziggy, a female Jack Russell puppy terrier that Athina adopted. “I feel lonely in Athens and the dog is the best company I could ever have.” ___ Next up … Lucy ___ Follow The Class of 2012 on its new Google plus page: http://apne.ws/ClassOf2012 ___ Follow The Class of 2012 on the AP Big Story page: http://bigstory.ap.org/topic/class-2012 ___ Follow The Class of 2012 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/(hash)!/AP/class-of-2012
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West Point cadet quits, cites culture of overt religion
A cadet quitting West Point less than six months before graduation says he could no longer be part of a culture that promotes prayers and religious activities and disrespects nonreligious cadets.
BlakePageannounced his decision to quit the U.S. Military Academy this week in a much-discussed online post that echoed the sentiments of soldiers and airmen at other military installations. The 24-year-old told The Associated Press that a determination this semester that he could not become an officer because of clinical depression played a role in his public protest against what he calls the unconstitutional prevalence of religion in the military.
“I’ve been trying since I found that out: What can I do? What can I possibly do to initiate the change that I want to see and so many other people want to see?”Pagesaid. “I realized that this is one way I can make that change happen.”
Pagecriticized a culture where cadets stand silently for prayers, where nonreligious cadets were jokingly called “heathens” by instructors at basic training and where one officer told him he’d never be a leader until he filled the hole in his heart. In announcing his resignation this week on The Huffington Post, he denounced “criminals” in the military who violate the oaths they swore to defend the Constitution.
“I don’t want to be a part of West Point knowing that the leadership here is OK with just shrugging off and shirking off respect and good order and discipline and obeying the law and defending the Constitution and doing their job,” he told the AP.
West Point officials on Wednesday disputed those assertions. Spokeswoman Theresa Brinkerhoff said prayer is voluntary at events where invocations and benedictions are conducted and noted the academy has a Secular Student Alliance club, wherePageserved as president.
Maj. Nicholas Utzig, the faculty adviser to the secular club, said he doesn’t doubt some of the momentsPagedescribed, but he doesn’t believe there is systematic discrimination against nonreligious cadets.
“I think it represents his own personal experience and perhaps it might not be as universal as he suggests,” said Utzig, who teaches English literature.
One ofPage’ssecularist classmates went further, calling his characterization of West Point unfair.
“I think it’s true that the majority of West Point cadets are of a very conservative, Christian orientation,” said senior cadet Andrew Houchin. “I don’t think that’s unique to West Point. But more broadly, I’ve never had that even be a problem with those of us who are secular.”
There have been complaints over the years that the wall between church and state is not always observed in the military. The Air Force Academy in Colorado in particular has been scrutinized for years over allegations from non-Christian students that they faced intolerance. A retired four-star general was asked last year to conduct an independent review of the overall religious climate at the academy.
There also has been a growing willingness in recent years by some service members to publicly identify themselves as atheists, agnostics or humanists and to seek the same recognition granted to Christians, Jews and other believers. Earlier this year, there was an event at Fort Bragg that was the first known event in U.S. military history to cater to nonbelievers.
Pagesaid he hears about the plight of other nonreligious cadets in part through his involvement with the West Point affiliate of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The founder and president of that advocacy group saidPage’saction is a milestone in the fight against “fanatical religiosity” in the military.
“This is an extraordinary act of courage that I do compare directly to what Rosa Parks did,” said Mikey Weinstein.
Page, who is from Stockbridge, Ga., and who was accepted into West Point after serving in the Army, said he was notified Tuesday of his honorable discharge. He faces no military commitment and will not have to reimburse the cost of his education.
West Point confirmed that it approved his resignation and thatPagehad been meeting the academic standards and was not undergoing any disciplinary actions.Pagesaid he had been medically disqualified this semester from receiving a commission in the Army as a second lieutenant — like his classmates will receive in May — because of clinical depression and anxiety. He said his condition has gotten worse since his father killed himself last year.
It’s not unusual for cadets to drop out of West Point, an institution known for its rigorous academic and physical demands. But the window for dropping out without the potential for a penalty is in the first two years. Dropouts are rare after that point.
Pageexpects to leave for his grandparents’ home in Wright County, Minn., in the coming days. He plans to remain an activist on the role of religion in the military.
“I’d really love to be able to do this for the rest of my life,” he said.
Source: Fox US News
In typhoon-hit Philippines, warnings were ignored
Surrounded by steep mountains, far-flung New Bataan town has long been a tragedy waiting to happen in a valley of disasters. A government-issued geological hazard map identifies the extremely precarious location of the farming community in the southern Philippines as “highly susceptible to flooding and landslides.” Yet, like in many other places on resource-rich Mindanao Island and elsewhere in this disaster-prone Southeast Asian nation, such warnings went unheeded — until a powerful typhoon struck this week, washing away emergency shelters, a military camp and entire families. The storm killed more than 350 people, with nearly 400 missing. Survivors of Typhoon Bopha like Joseph Requinto, a farmer, counted their blessings. After a night of pounding rain, floodwaters started rising around 4 a.m. Tuesday, trapping Requinto, his wife and two young children in their house near a creek. “After that I saw some people being swept away. We were able to save ourselves by climbing up (the hill),” he told The Associated Press. “Some of my relatives died and their bodies were recovered near the village. We were on higher ground. … The water was as high as a coconut tree. All the bamboo trees, even the big ones, were all mowed down.” He said he carried his two children and sought shelter behind boulders that shielded them from coconut trees rolling down the hill. “We were 70 plus in all,” he said. It was a repeat of a tragedy last December, when 1,200 people died on the opposite end of Mindanao as a powerful storm overflowed rivers. Then and now, raging flash floods, logs and large rocks carried people away to their deaths. In an impoverished nation where the jobless risk life and limb to feed their families, there is little the government can do once such danger zones spring up. “It’s not only an environmental issue, it’s also a poverty issue,” said Environment Secretary Ramon Paje. “The people would say we are better off here, at least we have food to eat or money to buy food, even if it is risky. But somehow we would like to protect their lives and if possible give them other sources of livelihood so that we can take them out of these permanent danger zones.” At least 200 of the victims of Typhoon Bopha died in Compostela Valley alone, including 78 villagers and soldiers who perished in a flash flood that swamped two emergency shelters and a military camp in the village of Andap in the municipality of New Bataan. The town, crisscrossed by rivers, was founded in 1968 by banana, coconut, cocoa and mango farmers who cut down trees to make room for land on hillsides. “There is the Mayo River there, it’s a natural channel way of the water from the upstream,” said Leo Jasareno, director of the Bureau of Mines and Geosciences. “The water has no other path but Andap village.” He said that even before the typhoon, his regional bureau in Mindanao served local authorities an “official notice informing them that it is a flood-prone area and it must be evacuated.” In fact, Jasareno said, about 80 percent of the Compostela Valley is a danger zone due to a combination of factors, including the mountains and rivers, as well as logging that has stripped hills of trees that minimize landslides and absorb rainwater. Logging has been banned since last year’s fatal flooding but continues illegally. Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo Uy, whose province is a rich source of timber and gold dug by small-scale miners, rejected criticism by scientists and government officials in the capital, Manila, that these towns should relocate. “It’s not possible to have no houses there because even the town center was hit. You mean to say the whole town will be abandoned?” Uy told the AP. He doubted the basis for classifying the area as dangerous and said he had urged the central government to review the hazard maps. “Even when we have floods, the water would not spill over so much. People are wondering why there was such a huge volume of water,” he said. “We thought they would be safe there, but the volume of water was so huge,” he said. He said that residents sought shelter in the village hall, the health center and the covered court in an area that is elevated and was never flooded before this week. Most of the casualties occurred there. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who visited New Bataan on Wednesday, saw the town covered in 15 centimeters (6 inches) of mud. He was told by townsfolk that a pond or a small lake atop the mountain collapsed, causing torrents of water to rampage like a waterfall. “There is hardly any structure that is undamaged in New Bataan town,” he said. “Entire families may have been washed away.” Bodies of victims were laid on the ground for viewing by people searching for missing relatives. Some were badly mangled after being dragged by floodwaters over rocks and other debris. A man sprayed insecticide on the remains to keep away swarms of flies. Rescuers on Thursday retrieved more bodies from hardest-hit Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces and six others impacted by Tuesday’s storm. The deaths came despite efforts by President Benigno Aquino III’s government to force residents out of high-risk communities as the typhoon approached. Vice President Jejomar Binay on Thursday directed local executives, police and military officials not to allow those displaced to return to their homes in areas classified as danger zones. However, it wasn’t clear how quickly and where substitute homes would be built. After slamming into Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley with winds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 210 kph (130 mph), Typhoon Bopha roared quickly across the southern Mindanao and central regions. On Thursday, the typhoon was over the South China Sea west of Palawan province, and forecasters said it may dissipate after two days due to a surge of cool and dry air. Some 20 typhoons and storms lash the northern and central Philippines each year, but they rarely hit the vast southern Mindanao region. Sprawling export banana plantations have been in place there for decades because strong winds seldom topple trees. ___ Associated Press writers Jim Gomez, Teresa Cerojano, Oliver Teves and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila contributed to this report.
Source: Fox World News
Paraguayan farmers question probe into killings
Lucia Aguero stood with the other farmers in the standoff. About 300 of them had occupied the rich politician’s land that they insisted wasn’t legally his. On the other side of the clearing were some 200 riot police. She watched as the two negotiators walked up to each other and began talking. And then the shooting started. The negotiators were both hit. The young woman threw herself to the ground, shielding a friend’s 4-year-old boy beneath her as she felt a bullet’s sting in her thigh. In the end, 17 were dead, including the men who were trying to resolve the six-week-old occupation. Politicians opposed to President Fernando Lugo seized on the “Massacre of Curuguaty” on June 15 to vote the sandal-wearing leftist out of office for “mismanaging” the property dispute. Paraguayans’ hopes for land reform died with his presidency. Six months after the shootout, there has been no official accounting of how a peaceful negotiation ended with a barrage of bullets that killed 11 farmers and six police officers. Farmers and their supporters say the official investigation is a one-sided effort to make an example of the farmers so that nobody will dare challenge the interests of powerful landowners ever again. Grieving relatives suspect the dead farmworkers were wounded and then summarily executed by police after the firefight. In separate interviews, they described bullet wounds on three of the corpses that they said showed people were shot at close range in defensive positions. Catalino Aguero, Lucia’s father, lost his 24-year-old son, De los Santos, in the firefight. “They gave me my son’s decomposing body in a black plastic bag. He had bullet wounds in both feet, but a huge hole in his neck,” Aguero said. “Witnesses of the tragedy told me my son begged for help, lying face down, because his wounds were painful, but a police officer came close and shot him.” His daughter Lucia, a 25-year-old mother of two, was arrested along with 11 other people, mostly farmers. She was taken to a hospital emergency room after she was wounded, but doctors were too busy with other victims to remove the bullet from her thigh. “When I couldn’t stand the pain any longer, I used a razor blade in jail to make a cut, and pulled out the .38-caliber bullet with my finger,” she said Aguero joined a hunger strike to protest being jailed without formal charges. She lasted 59 days, and nearly died before a judge said she and three others could return home under police custody until a hearing Dec. 17. The former president, Lugo, has called the shootout a setup. His land redistribution efforts were threatening the economic interests of the country’s most powerful businessmen, and they needed a scandal big enough to bring him down, he said. “This government of coup-plotters has no interest or political will to seriously investigate and clear up the case. And the prosecutor’s performance gives little credibility,” Lugo declared last month. Promises of land reform got Lugo elected, but he made no headway as president, with no available state land to redistribute and no major landowners willing to sell with soy prices reaching historic highs. One leader of the new president’s Authentic Radical Liberal Party, Deputy Elvis Balbuena, told the AP that Lugo has only himself to blame. “He was entirely responsible for the Curuguaty case,” the legislator said. “He has as his presidential legacy the deaths of 17 people. Lugo was commander of the security forces, he was a friend of the leaders of different groups of landless farm workers, and he . oversaw the office that administers the distribution or purchase of land.” The official version of the clash is scheduled to be revealed Dec. 17, when prosecutor Jalil Rachid will present his case against the 12 suspects. Police have made no comment, deferring to the prosecutor. Despite complaints that he has ignored human rights violations by police, Rachid told The Associated Press that he’s only building a case against the farm workers. The suspects are “accused of murder, criminal conspiracy, invading private property and resisting authorities. We also have a list of 54 fugitives,” Rachid said in a brief AP interview. “I’m only bringing forward these accusations.” Most of the suspects were among the wounded, while the fugitives’ names came from a list of people who hoped to claim a plot of land through the occupation. The farmers say the prosecutor should be investigating police, too. Martina Paredes said that her brother’s body had one bullet wound in the leg and another through his head. “For me, they shot him from above,” she said, execution style. When the non-governmental Human Rights Coordinator complained to the prosecutor’s office, it was told that “Paraguayan law doesn’t penalize summary executions, so the prosecutor’s office can’t investigate a complaint about an act that’s unpunishable,” said the group’s lawyer, Jimena Lopez. Paredes said victims’ families want to file an official complaint against the national police, but their lawyer’s priority is to defend the 12 suspects — who face 18 to 25 years in prison if convicted. Ballistics tests would presumably indicate whether the negotiators were felled by automatic weapons that police carried, or by one of the handful of low-caliber hunting rifles recovered from peasants. But Rachid has not revealed what evidence he’s gathered. Advocates for the farmworkers say he’s biased because his father was close friends with the owner of the occupied ranch. Rachid has dismissed those accusations, saying his critics are only trying to influence the country’s presidential election, scheduled in April. The peasants say they’re afraid. Early Saturday morning, one of this community’s few surviving leaders, Vidal Vega, was killed by two masked gunmen on a motorcycle as he fed his chickens. He was expected to be a witness for the defendants. “We think he was assassinated by hit men who were sent, we don’t know by whom, perhaps to frighten us and frustrate our fight to recover the state lands that were illegally taken,” Paredes told the AP. Most of the jailed suspects are farmers. A businessman who gave a ride to a wounded survivor was also detained, as was a Communist Party activist who helped organize the occupation. The underlying dispute that set up the clash was decades in the making. The area’s poor residents have long alleged that the land was effectively stolen from the state by Sen. Blas Riquelme, a leader of the Colorado Party that backed dictator Alfredo Stroessner from 1954 to 1989 and has dominated the nation’s politics ever since. Riquelme, who died of a stroke in September at age 83, took over the property in 1964, benefiting from a Stroessner law that granted free title to any adult male willing to farm fallow land. So many military officers, politicians and businessmen took advantage of the law that by the end of the dictatorship, all of Paraguay‘s rural state-owned land was in private hands. Local farmers challenged Riquelme’s claim, but after eight years of legal fights, the peasants lost patience and invaded a forested corner of the 135-square-mile ranch in May. “Our leader, Ruben Villalba, told us with such conviction that the property would be divided up. And so we followed him,” said Roberto Ortega, 58. He sold his tiny shack and plot of land to a neighbor for $3,000 and marched onto the Riquelme ranch with his wife, carrying all their remaining possessions. Their only son was killed there. Most of the occupiers came from Yby Pyta, or “Red Dirt” in the native Guarani, a settlement of wooden shacks that runs along the asphalt highway that carries soy to Brazil. The town is surrounded by vast, privately owned industrial agriculture: the Riquelme soy operation across the highway, and an even bigger Brazilian-owned sunflower plantation behind them. Beyond that there’s soy, and more soy. For Lidia Romero, the mother of Lucia Aguero, the fight for a plot of farm land drew much too high a price. “With my daughter in jail and my son dead, I am destroyed,” she said. “I barely have the will to keep on living.”
Source: Fox World News
Judge orders arrest in US magician burn case in Dominican Republic
A judge on Tuesday ordered the arrest of a local television show host who set fire to the hair of a U.S. magician, burning his scalp, face and arm.
The judge announced the decision just hours after TV host Franklin Barazarte told The Associated Press in a phone interview from New York that the incident was an accident. He tossed flaming liquid on Wayne Houchin‘s head as a “blessing” during a Nov. 26 taping of the show.
Barazarte, who was serving as guest host on an astrology and variety show called “Closer to the Stars,” couldn’t be immediately reached for comment after the judge issued his decision.
He said during the interview that he was in the U.S. this week for previously scheduled work commitments.
“I’m not hiding. I hope to sit down with Wayne and reach a settlement,” Barazarte said. “It was a demonstration within a magical religious framework that turned out badly.”
In a widely viewed video that a member of the magician’s crew captured on his IPhone and posted online, Barazarte is seen trying to pat Houchin’s head after it is set on fire.
“It was an accident. It was under no circumstance an intentional act,” Barazarte said.
He said that he had performed similar blessings for more than 20 years and that “none of them had ever turned out badly.” He said his hands also were burned during the incident.
Monica Pena, a spokeswoman for the Dominican prosecutors’ office, said a doctor certified that Houchin suffered first-degree burns on his scalp, face and right arm.
Houchin said in an email Monday to the AP that he was seeking legal action.
“The attack was intentional. The host didn’t trip and accidentally spill it on me. He intended to pour flaming liquid on me,” Houchin wrote.
Houchin, a 29-year-old from Chico, California, who recently finished a season as a host of the Discovery Channel show “Breaking Magic,” came to the Dominican Republic with his wife as part of the “Curiosities 2012” tour. He and two other magicians expected to be interviewed and perform magic on the local program.
When Houchin came on stage, Barazarte said he wanted to give him a blessing and asked another magician, BJ Bueno, to give him a bottle of “Agua de Florida,” a highly flammable cologne used in Santeria rituals. Barazarte then asked Houchin’s wife to pour the cologne into his hands and asked Bueno to light the fluid. He then doused the fluid on Houchin’s head.
Houchin is still receiving medical treatment in the Dominican Republic.
Barazarte said he had tried to contact Houchin without success. He added that while he understood the pain caused, he expressed resentment over the position taken by Houchin and others.
“They’re treating me like a criminal,” Barazarte said.
Source: Fox World News
Palestinian war crimes case faces long road
Just days after winning upgraded status at the United Nations, the Palestinians are already threatening to join the world’s first permanent war crimes court and pursue charges against the Israelis. Although the Palestinians say that any decision is still a long ways off, the mere threat has unnerved Israel. But pressing a case may not be so simple and could potentially leave the Palestinians themselves vulnerable to prosecution. Since winning recognition as a nonmember observer state in the United Nations General Assembly last week, the Palestinians believe they now qualify for membership in the International Criminal Court. In opposing the Palestinian bid at the U.N., Israel repeatedly cited Palestinian threats to turn to the ICC to prosecute Israeli officials for a variety of alleged crimes, ranging from actions by the Israeli military to Israel‘s construction of Jewish settlements on occupied land. While Israel does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction and believes its actions do not violate international law, officials are concerned legal action that could embarrass Israel, make it difficult for Israeli officials to travel overseas or portray the country as a pariah state. A war crimes conviction can include fines and maximum penalties of life in prison. With this in mind, a senior Palestinian official, Nabil Shaath, spoke of possible ICC action over Israel‘s tough response to the U.N. bid. Israel immediately cut off $100 million in tax transfers to the Palestinians and announced plans to build thousands of new homes in West Bank settlements. “By continuing these war crimes of settlement activities on our lands and stealing our money, Israel is pushing and forcing us to go to the ICC,” Shaath said late Monday. On the surface, the Palestinians appear to have a strong case against Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim the two areas, as well as the Gaza Strip, for their future state. The U.N. resolution last week recognized a Palestinian state in all three territories, captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but continues to control access in and out of the area. The U.N. resolution appeared to repudiate the Israeli position that the West Bank and east Jerusalem are “disputed” territories and effectively condemned Israeli settlements in the areas, which are now home to some 500,000 Israelis. Settlements are at the heart of the current four-year deadlock in peace efforts, with the Palestinians refusing to negotiate while Israel continues to build more settler homes. The ICC‘s founding charter describes “the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” as a war crime. The Palestinian position on settlements has widespread international support. The international community, even Israel‘s closest ally, the U.S., has broadly condemned the latest planned settlement construction. “Under our very clear understanding of international law, the settlements are illegal and have always been illegal, and that will remain so,” Andrew Standley, the European Union‘s ambassador to Israel, told reporters Tuesday. Even so, turning this international opposition into legal action against Israel will be no small task. The Palestinians would face a number of legal and political obstacles in pressing forward. For starters, it remains unclear whether the Palestinians qualify for membership in the court, because it is open only to states. Last April, the court’s chief prosecutor at the time, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, turned down a request by the Palestinians to join the court. But he subsequently said in an AP interview that they would qualify for membership if they gained nonmember state status at the U.N. So far, the court has said only that it “takes note” of last week’s U.N. decision and will consider its “legal implications.” Moreno-Ocampo is no longer at the court. Goran Sluiter, professor of international law at Amsterdam University, said that with their newfound status, it seems likely the Palestinians could join the ICC. But it is unclear whether the court would agree to investigate their complaints. He said the court would look at key issues, including the gravity of the alleged crimes and whether Israel‘s own judicial system is capable of judging the case, before deciding whether to prosecute. If they were to launch a probe, prosecutors also would look at alleged crimes by Palestinians. “I think there is still a very, very, very, long way to go,” Sluitter said. In the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, “there’s a broad range of conduct that could be a basis for further investigations because they would qualify as war crimes.” Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said he thinks the Palestinians “will seriously hesitate” taking action against Israel. He said Israel, for instance, could try to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for rocket attacks out of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip aimed at Israeli cities. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who lost control of Gaza to Hamas five years ago, claims to represent both territories on the international stage. “Any Hamas person who launches a rocket could then be subject to ICC ruling. They have to expose their own people first,” said Sabel, who is now a law professor at the Hebrew University. A U.N. report into heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas four years ago found evidence of war crimes by both sides. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel would fight any attempt by the Palestinians to use the ICC as a “politicized instrument” against Israel. “We are not worried about Israel‘s case because we have a good solid case and we work strictly according to international law,” he said. The Palestinians would also face heavy political pressure not to go to court. The U.S. Senate, for instance, is currently debating legislation that would cut off millions of dollars in assistance to the Palestinians and close their diplomatic offices in Washington if they file charges against Israel. The legislation is expected to be voted on in the coming days. A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians are in “no hurry” to rush to the ICC, in part because they are pleased with the heavy international condemnations of Israel‘s latest settlement plans but also because of fears of antagonizing the U.S. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing internal high-level deliberations, said the Palestinians are now focused on repairing ties with the U.S., which sided with Israel in opposing last week’s U.N. resolution. Yet he noted that the Palestinians have refused calls to promise not to go to the ICC. In a letter to the U.N. secretary-general on Monday, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations complained that “all Israeli settlement activities are illegal … and thus constitute a war crime.” Yet, reflecting the Palestinian thinking, the letter did not threaten to pursue the matter in the ICC. ___ Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Amy Teibel and Lauren E. Bohn in Jerusalem contributed reporting.
Source: Fox World News
