In Brief: Nation & World: 3-14-16
Rubio’s political reckoning arrives in Florida primary
MIAMI — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was among the Republican Party’s biggest stars when he burst onto the national stage in the tea party wave of 2010. Now, he is facing a home-state showing on Tuesday that could devastate his 2016 presidential campaign and damage his political brand for years to come.
The Cuban-American’s desire to become the nation’s first Hispanic president, and his past support for a forgiving immigration policy, have failed to excite conservative primary voters who instead have flocked to Donald Trump’s nativist politics.
“Marco’s always had good timing. This time, the timing just wasn’t there,” said Albert Lorenzo, who managed Rubio’s first state house campaign nearly two decades ago and stays in close contact with him.
Yet Lorenzo, like those closest to Rubio, suggest that should his bid end in disappointment, the senator’s career in public service is far from over. The 44-year-old Republican could run for Florida governor in two years, president in four years or even his own Senate seat later this year.
“He’s a talent you don’t find,” Lorenzo said.
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After crash, competitors press toward Iditarod finish line
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Mushers pressed their dog sled teams closer to the finish line in Alaska’s famous Iditarod on Sunday after a snowmobiler intentionally rammed into two top competitors at speeds up to 100 mph, killing one dog and injuring others, authorities said.
The crash Saturday was not the first encounter between teams and snowmobiles, but they are rare, experts said. It’s just one of the perils of the 1,000-mile race, which covers long stretches of unforgiving terrain, including two mountain ranges, the mighty Yukon River and the wind-scoured Bering Sea coast.
Besides conditions that can bring blinding snow and ripping winds, mushers also have to contend with fatigue, brutal cold and the occasional encounter with wildlife, such as moose.
A 26-year-old man arrested in the crash appeared in court via video Sunday. Arnold Demoski of the checkpoint village of Nulato is accused of intentionally driving a snowmobile into the team of Aliy Zirkle, who finished second in the race three times from 2012 to 2014, and then the team of four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King. One of King’s dogs, Nash, was killed and at least two others were injured.
Demoski has said he was returning home from a night of drinking when he struck the teams. He was going about 100 mph when he crashed into King’s team and about 40 mph when he struck Zirkle’s team, court documents say.
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GOP hopeful Donald Trump stands by his campaign rhetoric
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Showing no signs of trying to ease the nation’s tense political atmosphere, Republican front-runner Donald Trump is standing by his antagonistic campaign rhetoric, rejecting any responsibility for violence at his rallies and defending his supporters who have been charged with assaulting protesters.
“We’re not provoking. We want peace. … We don’t want trouble,” he told a large crowd Sunday in Bloomington, Illinois. Protests sparingly interrupted his remarks, less than 48 hours after he canceled a planned event in Chicago amid widespread altercations among his supporters, detractors and authorities. A near-riot erupted when news of the cancellation was made public.
Yet Trump on Sunday again assured his supporters that their anger and even their occasional punches are righteous, because they are “disenfranchised” economically and provoked by “disrupters” that he says are sent by Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders’ campaign.
Sanders dismissed Trump’s assertion that the Vermont senator’s backers are responsible for the widespread protests.
“To suggest that our campaign is telling people to disrupt his campaign is a lie,” Sanders said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Some Trump protesters, including in Chicago, have been seen carrying Sanders campaign signs.
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Man arrested at Trump rally told police act was preplanned
CLEVELAND — A man arrested Saturday after he tried to get on the stage at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Ohio reportedly told police he planned to grab the microphone and yell that Trump is a racist but didn’t intend to hurt anyone.
The Dayton Daily News reported that it obtained a report from Dayton police that included comments 22-year-old Thomas DiMassimo of Fairborn made to officers after his arrest. The newspaper said DiMassimo told officers he gave his car keys to his girlfriend before he rushed the stage because he anticipated being arrested.
The newspaper said DiMassimo vaulted over waist-high metal railings, muscled past security guards and nearly got on the stage at the end of Trump’s rally before Secret Service agents tackled and handcuffed him. Video shows Trump, the front-runner in the Republican presidential campaign, turning around after hearing the commotion followed by agents surrounding him protectively. Trump was campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s Ohio primary
DiMassimo was released on bail Saturday after being charged with inducing panic and disorderly conduct. DiMassimo, an acting major in the theater program at Wright State University, couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday. It’s unclear if he has an attorney.
The Daily News also reported DiMassimo was involved in an anti-racism protest at Wright State in April. Video from the protest shows him dragging an American flag behind and then standing on it.
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Maryland police: Officer shot, 2 suspects in custody
CHEVERLY, Md. — Two suspects were in custody after a police officer and another person were shot and wounded near a police station in a Maryland suburb of the nation’s capital, authorities said Sunday.
Prince George’s County Police had originally advised residents near the police station in Landover to stay inside, and others to avoid the area, because of an “active shooter” situation. They lifted the “shelter in place” advice in a message on Twitter soon after the second suspect was apprehended.
The shooting occurred at about 4:30 p.m. at community center next to the Landover station in the suburb of Prince George’s County, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Washington, D.C.
Alan Doubleday, assistant chief of the Prince George’s County Fire and Emergency Services Department, said a person who was shot was taken by ambulance to Prince George’s Hospital Center. That person, who was not a police officer, appeared to be in stable condition, Doubleday said.
He said the officer, described by police on Twitter as “critically wounded,” was taken to the same hospital by police.
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Big turnout for protests urging ouster of Brazil’s president
SAO PAULO — Brazilians ratcheted up the heat for embattled President Dilma Rousseff on Sunday, turning out by the tens of thousands for demonstrations across the country calling for her ouster.
The biggest protest took place in Brazil’s economic capital, Sao Paulo, a bastion of simmering dissatisfaction with Rousseff and her governing Workers’ Party. The respected Datafolha polling agency estimated about 500,000 people took part in the Sao Paulo demonstration, while police estimates put turnout at nearly three times that number.
Organizers said about 1 million people joined the anti-Rousseff demonstration in Rio de Janeiro.
In a statement, Rousseff said, “The peaceful character of this Sunday’s demonstrations shows the maturity of a country that knows how to co-exist with different opinions and knows how to secure respect to its laws and institutions.”
The street rallies came two days after she rejected the idea of resigning.
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Prison plays hide-and-seek with ex-polygamist sect leader
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Earlier this year, a wife of former polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs tried to visit him at a Texas state prison with a tiny microphone implanted in her hollowed-out watch. Another time recently, a woman planning to visit the convicted sex offender was denied entry after a metal detector found something buried in her hair and she refused to show it to a corrections officer.
Such is the hide-and-seek game authorities play with the self-styled prophet of the breakaway Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who is serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting his 12- and 15-year-old child brides at a church compound in West Texas.
Prison officials said it was the second time recently that Jeffs’ wives were caught trying microphone-in-the-watch that ploy. Those and other details emerged in Phoenix earlier this month at a trial involving Arizona and Utah church followers that offered a rare glimpse into how Jeffs still tries to exert control from behind bars.
Among other breaches of prison rules, Jeffs’ phone privileges were temporarily suspended in 2012 when it was determined the caller at the other end was broadcasting the conversation on a speakerphone. And a Texas prisons official testified at the Phoenix trial that some mail sent by Jeffs was blocked when it appeared to be written in code.
From his arrival in 2011 at an East Texas prison, the 60-year-old Jeffs presented special challenges.
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From ‘welcome’ to ‘enough’ — Europe’s migrant view shifts
PARIS — Last fall, soccer fans celebrated refugee children at a legendary Munich stadium; today, European voters are boosting anti-immigrant political parties and governments are closing their gates to new arrivals. The refrain of Europe’s migrant crisis has changed from “welcome” to “enough already.”
Has Europe suddenly turned heartless? Or is it just waking up to the reality that it has failed to collectively manage this drama?
“It is not sustainable anymore that no one’s playing a common game,” said Yves Pascouau, a migration expert at the European Policy Center. “We need to fix this and really need to move ahead.”
But not all Europeans see this as a problem they must share. Worried about their own weak economies, concerned that their national values are eroding, many say war in the Middle East and poverty in Africa are someone else’s responsibility.
Compassion had the upper hand just six months ago, as the number of Syrian refugees soared and the photo of a dead 3-year-old on a Turkish beach galvanized volunteers. Border guards greeted weary travelers with a hearty “Welcome to Germany,” and Chancellor Angela Merkel inspired other nations to do the same. Players on the Munich field promoted integration, holding hands with a refugee child on one side and a German child on the other.
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Ivory Coast: Extremists kill 14 civilians, 2 special forces
GRAND-BASSAM, Ivory Coast — Armed men attacked an Ivory Coast beach resort Sunday, killing at least 16 people and sending tourists fleeing through the historic town of Grand-Bassam in an attack claimed by al-Qaida’s North Africa branch.
Bloody bodies were sprawled on the beach and witnesses described horrific scenes as a lazy weekend afternoon was shattered by the West Africa’s latest extremist strike.
Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara told reporters at the scene that 14 civilians, two special forces and six assailants were killed when the gunmen stormed the beach. The president arrived in Grand-Bassam a few hours after the attack, visiting the hotels and saluting security forces for their quick response.
“I present my condolences to the families of the people who were murdered, and of course I am very proud of our security forces who reacted so fast,” Ouattara said outside the Etoile du Sud, one of the targeted hotels. “The toll could’ve been much heavier.”
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group which monitors jihadist websites. The Islamic extremist group made the declaration in a post to its Telegram channels, calling three of the attackers “heroes” for the assault.
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Car bomb in Turkey’s capital kills at least 34, wounds 125
ANKARA, Turkey — A suicide car bomb went off near bus stops in the heart of Turkey’s capital on Sunday, killing at least 34 people and wounding around 125 others, officials said. Two of the dead are believed to be the assailants.
A senior government official told The Associated Press that police suspect that Kurdish militants carried out the attack, which occurred on Ankara’s main boulevard, close to ministries.
At least one of the bombers was a woman, he said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity on the grounds that the investigation was ongoing.
The bombing was the third in the city in five months and came as Turkey is grappling with a host of issues, including renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels, threats from the Islamic State group and a Syrian refugee crisis.
Earlier Sunday, Turkish authorities said they were imposing curfews on two mainly Kurdish towns where Turkey’s security forces were set to launch large-scale operations against Kurdish militants. Russia on Sunday also accused Turkey of sending its military across the Syrian border to prevent Kurdish groups there from consolidating their positions.
