In Brief: Nation & World: 9-20-16
Aid convoy attacked as Syria calls cease-fire finished
BEIRUT (AP) — A U.N. humanitarian aid convoy inside Syria was hit by airstrikes Monday, U.N. officials said, as the Syrian military declared that the week-long U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire had failed.
With the truce apparently teetering, the U.S. brushed off Damascus’ assertions and said it’s prepared to extend the agreement, while Russia — after blaming rebels for the violations — suggested it could still be salvaged.
U.N. officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of Aleppo city. Initial estimates indicate that at least 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit, as well as the Red Crescent warehouse in the area.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers. The Syrian Civil Defense, the volunteer first responder group also known as the White Helmets, confirmed that casualty figure.
Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid coordinator in the office of the U.N. envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the convoy was “bombarded.”
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US says Russia must step up if Syria truce is to be salvaged
NEW YORK (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled Monday to try to salvage Syria’s fractured week-old truce after the Syrian military announced it was over amid numerous violations, including an attack on an aid convoy, and apparent Russian unwillingness to press Damascus on the point.
Two senior U.S. officials blamed the convoy attack on an airstrike by either Russia or Syria and said it called into question the viability of the truce going forward. The officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said Russia must take immediate action to demonstrate its seriousness in applying pressure for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government to comply with the ceasefire.
One of the officials said the attack “had dealt a serious blow to our efforts” and “it is up to the Russians to demonstrate seriousness of purpose.”
The latest developments placed added importance on a meeting Tuesday of the International Syria Support Group, or ISSG, which is comprised of countries with a stake in the conflict and endorsed the truce, to be led by Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Despite the setback, the State Department said it was prepared to extend the cease-fire window in the hopes that if it held, the U.S. and Russia could then turn to their planned military cooperation against the Islamic State militants and al-Qaida-linked groups in Syria.
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Suspect is shot and captured in New York-area bombings
LINDEN, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey police officer responding to a call about a hoodied vagrant curled up asleep in a bar doorway roused him and quickly recognized the bearded face of perhaps the most wanted man in America.
Ahmad Khan Rahami — identified in an FBI bulletin just hours earlier as a man wanted in the weekend bombings in New York City and New Jersey — pulled a gun, shot the officer and triggered a running gun battle in the street that ended with Rahami wounded and in custody Monday, authorities said.
A bloodied Rahami was loaded into the back of an ambulance, just 50 hours after the first blast that started it all.
Rahami, 28, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his Muslim family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg as authorities began drawing up charges in a case that spread fear across the New York area and revived anxiety about homegrown terrorism.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said officials have every reason to believe the series of bombings “was an act of terror,” though investigators said Rahami’s exact motive isn’t yet clear.
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After latest attacks, Americans plod forward in ‘new normal’
NEW YORK (AP) — After a round of frightening domestic attacks, Americans plodded on in the comfort of routine Monday, either resilient in the face of terror or numbed by their battle scars.
Fresh off a weekend in which blasts shook a New York neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town, pipe bombs were found in a suburban railroad station and a Minnesota mall became the scene of a string of stabbings, the country started the week wondering whether it was all part of a new normal.
“I think that this is part of life now,” said Craig Filiberto, a 56-year-old accountant enjoying a pack of peanut M&Ms across from Penn Station in New York, where police and military vehicles were parked outside and officers stood guard.
He had an office with a view of the World Trade Center when it was leveled and finds himself more conscious of where exits are wherever he goes. But the latest attacks didn’t make him fearful, because it just seems a part of life here.
“You know that we’re always a target,” he said.
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Victim: Mall attacker emotionless; leaders urge ‘rise above’
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — One of the victims wounded in a stabbing at a central Minnesota mall says the man who carried out the attack showed no emotion and his eyes looked blank.
Ryan Schliep, one of 10 people who suffered wounds that were not life-threatening before the attacker was fatally shot, told WCCO-TV that the man “just walked right at me” before striking quickly and penetrating the skin of his scalp.
“He looked just blank in the eyes like he wasn’t even there,” Schliep said shortly before being released from a St. Cloud hospital.
Authorities are treating Saturday’s stabbings at Crossroads Center Mall as a possible act of terrorism, in part because an Islamic State-run news agency claimed that the attacker was a “soldier of the Islamic State” who had heeded the group’s calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition.
But it wasn’t immediately known whether the extremist group had planned the attack or knew about it beforehand. St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said Monday the attack appeared to be the work of a single individual and there was no sign that the attacker, identified by his father as 20-year-old Dahir Adan, was radicalized or communicated with any terrorist group.
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Clinton says Trump gives ‘aid, comfort’ to ISIS recruiters
ESTERO, Fla. (AP) — Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of giving “aid and comfort” to Islamic terrorists Monday, declaring his anti-Muslim rhetoric helps groups such as ISIS recruit new fighters. Trump showed no sign of changing and insisted the U.S. should “use whatever lawful methods are available” to get information from the Afghan immigrant arrested in this weekend’s bombings.
As Trump supporters at a packed rally in Florida shouted “Hang him!” the Republican presidential candidate mocked the fact that Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen originally from Afghanistan, would receive quality medical care and legal representation.
“We must deliver a just and very harsh punishment to these people,” he said. “These are enemies, these are combatants and we have to be tough, we have to be strong.”
Both candidates moved swiftly to capitalize on investigations into a weekend of violent attacks — bombings in New York and New Jersey and stabbings at a Minnesota mall — casting themselves as most qualified to combat terrorism at home and abroad.
Clinton touted her national security credentials at a hastily arranged news conference outside her campaign plane, accusing Trump of using the incidents to make “some kind of demagogic point.”
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World leaders at UN approve plan for refugee crisis
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — World leaders on Monday approved a declaration aimed at providing a more coordinated and humane response to the refugee crisis that has strained resources and sparked divisions from Africa to Europe.
The issue of what to do about the world’s 65.3 million displaced people took center stage at the U.N. General Assembly with leaders from the 193 member states taking part in the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.
Advocacy groups worried that the New York Declaration on Migrants and Refugees — an outcome document which contains no concrete commitments and is not legally binding — falls short of what is needed, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, himself a refugee during the Korean War, hailed it as historic.
“Today’s summit represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility,” Ban said.
Around the world, there are currently about 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. The agency defines refugees as people forced to flee due to armed conflict or persecution, while migrants choose to move in search of a better life.
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Tulsa police say man had no gun; video show he had hands up
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An unarmed black man killed by a white Oklahoma officer who was responding to a stalled vehicle can be seen in police video walking away from officers and toward his SUV with his hands up before he approaches the driver’s side door, where he drops to the ground after being shocked with a stun gun then fatally shot.
In Tulsa police helicopter footage that was among several clips released Monday showing the shooting of 40-year-old Terence Crutcher and its aftermath, a man in the helicopter that arrives above the scene as Crutcher walks to the vehicle can been heard saying “time for a Taser.” He then says: “That looks like a bad dude, too. Probably on something.”
Police Chief Chuck Jordan announced before the video and audio recordings’ release that Crutcher had no weapon on him or in his SUV when he was shot Friday. It’s not clear from the footage what led Betty Shelby, the officer who fired the fatal shot, to draw her gun or what orders officers might have given Crutcher. Local and federal investigations are underway to determine whether criminal charges are warranted in the shooting or if Crutcher’s civil rights were violated.
Crutcher’s twin sister, Tiffany Crutcher, called for charges Monday.
“The big bad dude was my twin brother. That big bad dude was a father,” she said. “That big bad dude was a son. That big bad dude was enrolled at Tulsa Community College, just wanting to make us proud. That big bad dude loved God. That big bad dude was at church singing with all of his flaws, every week. That big bad dude, that’s who he was.”
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Obama, Iraqi leader vow rapid offensive to retake Mosul
NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi put the Islamic State group on notice Monday that they plan to recapture the city of Mosul within months. If successful, the operation could mark a major turning point in the campaign to defeat the extremist group.
Neither leader glossed over the immense difficulty of the battle ahead as they met in New York on the sidelines of a U.N. summit. Still, Obama said he and Abadi were confident that Iraq’s military and the U.S.-led coalition could make progress in Mosul “fairly rapidly,” adding that he was hoping for progress by year-end.
“This is going to be hard. It’s going to be challenging. It will require resources,” Obama said. But he professed confidence that more territory can be wrested from the militants, in part because he said “the Iraqi forces are getting more confident.”
Abadi, speaking in English, echoed Obama’s timeline for retaking Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the extremist group’s stronghold in the country. He called the group a “huge threat” to Iraq’s stability.
“We hope within the next few months we’re going to kick Daesh out of Mosul,” Abadi said, using an Arabic acronym for the group. He added: “They must be crushed on the ground.”
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Same number, new sport: Tebow works out at Mets camp
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — Tim Tebow arrived at the New York Mets’ minor league clubhouse Monday morning, finding an orange-and-blue jersey with No. 15 on the back swaying in his locker.
He was asked if that worked.
“Heck, yeah,” Tebow replied.
It’s the same color scheme he wore as a national champion and Heisman Trophy winner at Florida, and the same number he wore with the Gators and throughout his less-than-storied years as an NFL quarterback. And now he’s wearing it again as he tries to find a place in baseball, going through his first workout with the Mets’ instructional league squad on Monday.
He showed some power, hitting three balls in batting practice off the chain-link fence in right-center — better than just about everyone else did. He showed some rust, popping up a half-dozen pitches in that same BP session. And he showed a need for work, after one of his throws sailed well over someone’s head and nearly onto an adjacent field during a simple game of catch.
