AP NEWS

AP Photo/Isaac Brekken

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The Miss America Organization suspended its CEO on Friday, less than 24 hours after leaked emails surfaced showing him and others disparaging the appearance, intellect and sex lives of former Miss Americas.

Sam Haskell said he will abide by the suspension, even while decrying the Huffington Post story on Thursday that publicized the emails as “unkind and untrue.”

“My mistake is a mistake of words,” Haskell wrote in a statement issued Friday night, shortly after the board suspended him indefinitely while it investigates the situation. “Much of what was reported is dishonest, deceptive, and despicable.

“The story is so unkind and untrue, and hurts me, my family, and the stewardship of this nonprofit,” he wrote. “Those who know my heart know that this is not indicative of my character, nor is it indicative of my business acumen.”

Yashar Ali, who wrote the Huffington Post article, defended its accuracy Friday night, saying he was given the emails by two sources “who felt that Mr. Haskell’s behavior was egregious.” Ali said he now plans to publish all the emails he received in a future story.

The Miss America Organization said its board “will be conducting an in-depth investigation into alleged inappropriate communications and the nature in which they were obtained.”

The statement came hours after 49 former Miss Americas signed a petition demanding the resignation of Haskell and other pageant officials, as did more than 1,600 state and local titleholders, contestants and pageant volunteers.

The Miss America Organization did not indicate whether Haskell would be paid during his suspension.

The emails included one that used a vulgar term for female genitalia to refer to past Miss America winners, one that wished that a particular former Miss America had died, and others that speculated about how many sex partners another former Miss America has had.

Several of the emails targeted Mallory Hagan, who won the 2013 pageant, claiming she had gained weight after winning and speculating about how many men she had sex with.

“My hope is that this story that broke will bring light to the type of behavior that’s been in leadership of the Miss America Organization and really help us put in place some people who care and who embody the mission of Miss America,” Hagan said in a Twitter video . “Having somebody bully you, demean you, degrade you in any way is not OK.”

Haskell said he was attacked for a year by two former Miss Americas who he did not name, “which impaired my judgment when responding to the inappropriate emails sent to me about them. For that, I deeply apologize.

“I have the utmost respect for the women of this program and contestants at every level,” he continued. “It breaks my heart for anyone to think otherwise.”

Miss America 2016 Betty Cantrell, who signed the petition, told The Associated Press she “lived under this misogynistic leadership for a year of my life, and I’m definitely glad to see all of this evidence come into the light.”

She also said pageant officials “told me which former Miss Americas I wasn’t allowed to associate with or pose for photos with.”

On Friday, the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority began reviewing its contract with the Miss America Organization, which has about $4 million left on it, after numerous local and state officials called for the final year of the deal to be killed.

The emails already cost the pageant its television production partner and raised questions about the future of the nationally televised broadcast from Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall the week after Labor Day each year. Dick Clark Productions told the AP on Thursday night that it cut ties with the Miss America Organization over the emails, calling them “appalling.”

The Huffington Post article shows that Haskell and others directed considerable attention to Hagan. He forwarded an email he had been sent regarding Hagan to a writer for the pageant, who has since been terminated.

The writer responded by questioning whether he and Haskell were part of a tiny group of people who had not had sex with Hagan.

According to the Huffington Post, Haskell replied: “It appears we are the only ones!”

—

Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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Miss America suspends CEO in email flap; more are on the way
Miss America suspends CEO in email flap; more are on the way
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund political research into President Donald Trump that ultimately produced a dossier of allegations about his ties to Russia, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday night.

The revelation is likely to fuel complaints by Trump that the dossier, which the president has derided as “phony stuff,” is a politically motivated collection of salacious claims. Yet the FBI has worked to corroborate the document, and in a sign of its ongoing relevance to investigators, special counsel Robert Mueller’s team – which is probing potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign – weeks ago questioned the former British spy, Christopher Steele, who helped compile the claims in the dossier.

The dossier, which circulated in Washington last year and was turned over to the FBI for its review, contends that Russia was engaged in a longstanding effort to aid Trump and had amassed compromising information about him. Trump has repeatedly dismissed the document as false and in recent days has questioned on Twitter whether Democrats or the FBI had helped fund it.

Trump has also attacked the findings of the FBI, NSA and CIA that Russia waged a large-scale influence campaign to interfere in the election. The FBI and the CIA have said with high confidence that the effort was aimed at hurting Clinton’s candidacy and helping Trump. The NSA found the same with “moderate” confidence.

The person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential client matters, said the arrangement was brokered by Marc Elias, a lawyer for the campaign and the DNC, and his law firm of Perkins Coie.

The deal began in the spring of 2016, when the firm was approached by Fusion GPS, the political research firm behind the dossier, and lasted until right before Election Day, according to the person. When Fusion approached Elias, it had already been doing research work on Trump for a client during the GOP primary. The identity of the original client has not been revealed.

It’s unclear what Fusion GPS had dug up by the time law firm hired them in April 2016. According to a copy of the dossier published by BuzzFeed last year, the earliest report from Steele dates to June 2016, two months later. It was not immediately known how much money Fusion was paid or how many others in the Clinton campaign or DNC were aware that the firm had been retained.

Elias did not immediately return an email seeking comment, and representatives of Fusion GPS declined to comment. The Washington Post first reported the arrangement.

Clinton campaign officials did not immediately comment, but in a statement, a DNC spokeswoman said chairman Tom Perez was not part of the decision-making and was unaware that Perkins Coie was working with Fusion GPS.

“But let’s be clear, there is a serious federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, and the American public deserves to know what happened,” the statement said.

Former Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said on Twitter that he regretted not knowing about Steele’s hiring before the election, and that had he known, “I would have volunteered to go to Europe and try to help him.”

“I have no idea what Fusion or Steele were paid but if even a shred of that dossier ends up helping Mueller, it will prove money well spent,” he wrote in another tweet.

According to a letter obtained by the AP Tuesday night, representatives of Fusion GPS reached out to the firm in early March 2016 to express interest in continuing research on Trump it had begun “for one or more other clients during the Republican primary contest.”

At that time, the Clinton campaign was looking toward the general election and was pivoting attention toward Trump, who was emerging as the Republican front-runner. The person said Trump, by virtue of his extensive international business dealings, was seen as a natural target for complicated opposition research abroad.

Perkins Coie then engaged Fusion GPS in April 2016 “to perform a variety of research services during the 2016 election cycle,” according to the letter.

The dossier created a political firestorm in January when it was revealed that then-FBI Director James Comey had alerted Trump to the existence of allegations about him and Russia. Since then, Trump has repeatedly attacked it and Republicans in Congress have worked to discredit it, even issuing a subpoena to force the disclosure of Fusion GPS’s bank records.

The letter, sent Tuesday by the law firm’s general counsel to a lawyer for Fusion GPS, was intended to release the research firm from its obligation to keep confidential the identity of its client.

—

Associated Press writers Chad Day and Ken Thomas contributed to this report.

—

Read the letter: http://apne.ws/UK0Ojir

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AP source: Clinton camp helped fund Trump dossier research
AP source: Clinton camp helped fund Trump dossier research
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Source: AP HEADLINES

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on women’s marches taking place around the world (all times local):

11:20 a.m.

Some early arrivers at the Las Vegas women’s march, which is launching a voter drive and targeting swing states like Nevada, say they’re happy to be part of history.

Organizers hope the rally will recruit candidates to push back against the Trump administration and promote issues important to women, progressives and those feeling marginalized by the president’s policies.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium, which holds 40,000 people, was about a quarter-full by late morning Sunday.

Among the crowd was Paula Beaty, who wore a women’s suffrage outfit from early 1900s.

The tech worker from Durham, North Carolina says women’s rights have been eroded with President Donald Trump in office.

—

3:40 p.m.

Protesters have gathered near the Eiffel Tower to rally against sexual misconduct and sex discrimination in solidarity with women’s marches marking the anniversary of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Heavy rain fell in Paris during the event on Sunday, which could have been a factor in the small number of participants compared to the marches in the United States on Saturday.

Maggie Kan was one of the more than one hundred people who didn’t let the rain and cold deter them.

Kan told The Associated Press: “It doesn’t matter if the weather is like this. We’re still coming together, and we’re going to still fight against Trump and his agenda.”

Some of the slogans on posters raised at the Paris rally read “Sorry for the inconvenience, we are trying to change the world” and “Look back, march forward.”

—

2:35 p.m.

Thousands of people have rallied in cities across Australia to support women’s rights and show solidarity with those marching elsewhere around the globe.

The largest march was held in Sydney, with thousands gathered in the city’s Hyde Park on Sunday carrying signs with politically charged messages such as “If you’re not angry you’re not paying attention.”

Smaller marches also drew hundreds in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Melbourne march organizer Melissa Goffin said: “I think last year was that watershed moment of President Trump’s election.” She added: “It’s a new era of feminism.”

—

2:20 p.m.

Thousands of people have turned out in central London despite sleet and snow to show solidarity with women around the world in demanding equality, justice and an end to harassment.

Demonstrators chanted across from British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office on Sunday with placards reading “We Are Powerful” and “Time’s Up” to mark the anniversary of U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Marches supporting of female empowerment, several of them massive, also took place on Saturday.

The international events come at a time of reckoning for many men in Hollywood, media and other industries as women speak out about sexual misconduct in the workplace.

In a statement before the London march, activists said they were “coming together to pledge that we are going to make change in big and small ways.”

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The Latest: Nevada marchers happy to be part of history
The Latest: Nevada marchers happy to be part of history
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Hussein Malla

PARIS (AP) — The forces fighting the remnants of the Islamic State group in Syria have tacit instructions on dealing with the foreigners who joined the extremist group by the thousands: Kill them on the battlefield.

As they made their last stand in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, an estimated 300 extremists holed up in and around a sports stadium and a hospital argued among themselves about whether to surrender, according to Kurdish commanders leading the forces that closed in. The final days were brutal – 75 coalition airstrikes in 48 hours and a flurry of desperate IS car bombs that were easily spotted in the sliver of devastated landscape still under militant control.

No government publicly expressed concern about the fate of its citizens who left and joined the Islamic State fighters plotting attacks at home and abroad. In France, which has suffered repeated violence claimed by the Islamic State – including the Nov. 13, 2015, attacks in Paris – Defense Minister Florence Parly was among the few to say it aloud.

“If the jihadis perish in this fight, I would say that’s for the best,” Parly told Europe 1 radio last week.

Those were the orders, according to the U.S.

“Our mission is to make sure that any foreign fighter who is here, who joined ISIS from a foreign country and came into Syria, they will die here in Syria,” said Brett McGurk, the top U.S. envoy for the anti-IS coalition, in an interview with Dubai-based Al-Aan television.

“So if they’re in Raqqa, they’re going to die in Raqqa,” he said.

The coalition has given names and photos to the Kurdish fighters to identify the foreign jihadis, who are seen as a threat back home and a burden on their justice systems, according to a commander with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The commander said his U.S.-backed fighters are checking for wanted men among the dead or the few foreigners among the captured.

An official with the powerful YPG, the backbone of the SDF that also runs the local security and intelligence branches, said foreigners who decided to fight until the end will be “eliminated.” For the few prisoners, the Kurds try to reach out to the home countries, “and we try to hand them in. But many would not want to take their (detainees),” he said. Both men spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue with reporters.

No country will admit to refusing to take back citizens who joined the Islamic State, including women and their children. But few are making much of an effort to recover them.

In Iraq, hundreds of Islamic State fighters have surrendered or have been taken into custody, and their families have been rounded up into detention camps. The men are put on trial and face the death penalty if convicted of terrorism charges – even if they are foreigners. One Russian fighter has already been hanged.

France, which routinely intervenes when citizens abroad face capital punishment, has said nothing about its jihadis in Iraq. More French joined the group, also known by its Arab acronym Daesh, than any other European country.

Foreigners captured by Kurdish forces are in a more precarious position because the SDF doesn’t answer to Syria’s government and has no state of its own. A Syrian woman whose French husband surrendered to Kurdish authorities in June said she had no access to him and didn’t know where he was 50 days after they separated. She denied her husband was an IS fighter.

The camps for displaced civilians from Raqqa contain only foreign women and children. As for the fate of any French citizens there, France’s Foreign Ministry had a short response: “Our priority today is to achieve a complete victory over Daesh.” German diplomats say all of the country’s citizens are entitled to consular assistance.

As the final battle in Raqqa drew to a close, Parly estimated a few hundred French fighters were still in the war zone. For Germany, about 600 men were unaccounted for.

Britain has not said how many of its former citizens are believed still fighting, but at least one holdout posted a furious 72-minute monologue earlier this month from Raqqa as airstrikes and artillery fire boomed behind him. He said Muslims around the world should be outraged at the treatment of Islamic State’s followers.

“This is not me being an extremist. I’m a very moderate, mild person, hamdullah (thanks to God), and I find Islamic State to be very moderate and mild,” said the man, who called himself as Abu Adam al-Britani and was identified by British media as Yasser Iqbal, a Porsche-driving lawyer who defended Islamic State’s brutal practices as ordained by God, including killing non-Muslims and dissenting Muslims. He did not mention the group’s routine public beheadings, enslavement of women or brainwashing of children to become hardened killers.

At its height, between 27,000 and 31,000 may have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State group, according to an analysis by the Soufan Group. Of those, about 6,000 were from Europe, with most from France, Germany and Britain. A majority had immigrant backgrounds and was heavily targeted by the group’s propaganda, which highlighted the injustices they faced at home. One study found that fewer than 10 percent of the Western fighters were converts to Islam.

As many as a third of the Europeans may have returned home. Many are jailed immediately and awaiting trial in backlogged courts, but others are freed and under surveillance.

Raqqa’s foreign holdouts are generally acknowledged to be midlevel IS recruits, and most are believed to have little information about the group’s inner workings. U.S. Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the coalition, said he had no information about any “high-value targets” among approximately 350 fighters who surrendered in Raqqa in the last days, including a few foreigners.

But for their home countries, they pose a risk.

“The general sentiment in northern Europe is we don’t want these people back, but I don’t think anyone has thought about the alternatives,” said Pieter Van Ostaeyen, an expert on the Belgian jihadis.

Among the complications are how to prosecute any returnees and how to track them if and when they leave custody.

“You can see why almost the preferred resolution is that they don’t return,” said Bruce Hoffman, head of Georgetown University’s security studies program and author of “Inside Terrorism.”

“What worries me is I think it’s wishful thinking that they’re all going to be killed off,” he added.

Wishful thinking or not, Parly said it’s the best outcome.

“We cannot do anything to prevent their return besides neutralize the maximum number of jihadis in this combat,” she said.

—

El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Berlin and Gregory Katz in London contributed.

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Foreigners who joined IS faced almost certain death in Raqqa
Foreigners who joined IS faced almost certain death in Raqqa
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disguised Russian agents on Twitter rushed to deflect scandalous news about Donald Trump just before last year’s presidential election while straining to refocus criticism on the mainstream media and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to an Associated Press analysis of since-deleted accounts.

Tweets by Russia-backed accounts such as “America-1st-” and “BatonRougeVoice” on Oct. 7, 2016, actively pivoted away from news of an audio recording in which Trump made crude comments about groping women, and instead touted damaging emails hacked from Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta.

Since early this year, the extent of Russian intrusion to help Trump and hurt Clinton in the election has been the subject of both congressional scrutiny and a criminal investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. In particular, those investigations are looking into the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

AP’s analysis illuminates the obvious strategy behind the Russian cyber meddling: swiftly react, distort and distract attention from any negative Trump news.

The AP examined 36,210 tweets from Aug. 31, 2015, to Nov. 10, 2016, posted by 382 of the Russian accounts that Twitter shared with congressional investigators last week. Twitter deactivated the accounts, deleting the tweets and making them inaccessible on the internet. But a limited selection of the accounts’ Twitter activity was retrieved by matching account handles against an archive obtained by AP.

“MSM (the mainstream media) is at it again with Billy Bush recording … What about telling Americans how Hillary defended a rapist and later laughed at his victim?” tweeted the America-1st- account, which had 25,045 followers at its peak, according to metadata in the archive. The tweet went out the afternoon of Oct. 7, just hours after The Washington Post broke the story about Trump’s comments to Bush, then host of “Access Hollywood,” about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women, saying, “when you’re a star, they let you do it.”

Within an hour of the Post’s story, WikiLeaks unleashed its own bombshell about hacked email from Podesta’s account, a release the Russian accounts had been foreshadowing for days.

“WikiLeaks’ Assange signals release of documents before U.S. election,” tweeted both “SpecialAffair” and “ScreamyMonkey” within a second of each other on Oct. 4. “SpecialAffair,” an account describing itself as a “Political junkie in action,” had 11,255 followers at the time. “ScreamyMonkey,” self-described as a “First frontier.News aggregator,” had 13,224. Both accounts were created within three days of each other in late December 2014.

Twitter handed over the handles of 2,752 accounts it identified as coming from Russia’s Internet Research Agency to congressional investigators ahead of the social media giant’s Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 appearances on Capitol Hill. It said 9 percent of the tweets were election-related but didn’t make the tweets themselves public.

That makes the archive the AP obtained the most comprehensive historical picture so far of Russian activity on Twitter in the crucial run-up to the Nov. 8, 2016, vote. Twitter policy requires developers who archive its material to delete tweets from suspended accounts as soon as reasonably possible, unless doing so would violate the law or Twitter grants an exception. It’s possible the existence of the deleted tweets in the archive obtained by the AP runs afoul of those rules

The Russian accounts didn’t just spring into action at the last minute. They were similarly active at earlier points in the campaign.

When Trump reversed himself on a lie about Barack Obama’s birthplace on Sept. 17, declaring abruptly that Obama “was born in the United States, period,” several Russian accounts chimed in to echo Trump’s subsequent false claim that it was Clinton who had started the birther controversy.

Others continued to push birther narratives. The Russian account TEN-GOP, which many mistook for the official account of the Tennessee Republican Party, linked to a video that claimed that Obama “admits he was born in Kenya.” But the Russian accounts weren’t in lockstep. The handle “hyddrox” retweeted a post by the anti-Trump billionaire Mark Cuban that the “MSM (mainstream media) is being suckered into chasing birther stories.”

On Sept. 15, Clinton returned to the campaign trail following a bout with pneumonia that caused her to stumble at a 9/11 memorial service. The Russian account “Pamela-Moore13” noted that her intro music was “I Feel Good” by James Brown – then observed that “James Brown died of pneumonia,” a line that was repeated at least 11 times by Russian accounts, including by “Jenn-Abrams,” which had 59,868 followers at the time.

According to several obituaries, Brown died of congestive heart failure related to pneumonia.

Racial discord also figured prominently in the tweets, just as it did with many of the ads Russian trolls had purchased on Facebook in the months leading up to and following the election. One Russian account, “Blacks4DTrump,” tweeted a Trump quote on Sept. 16 in which he declared “it is the Democratic party that is the party of slavery, the party of Jim Crow & the party of opposition.”

TEN-GOP, meanwhile, asked followers to “SPREAD the msg of black pastor explaining why African-Americans should vote Donald Trump!”

—

AP Data Journalist Larry Fenn in New York contributed to this report.

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AP Exclusive: Russia Twitter trolls deflected Trump bad news
AP Exclusive: Russia Twitter trolls deflected Trump bad news
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Phil Nijhuis

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Latest on the judgment on former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic (all times local):

5:50 p.m.

Kosovo has welcomed the conviction of Serbian military chief Ratko Mladic on charges of genocide and other crimes by a United Nations court.

Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry said the verdict marked an act of “international justice and satisfaction for the Bosnia war victims.”

The ministry also recalled that its own ethnic Albanian population, like Bosnians, suffered at the hands of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and his generals, who “applied in Kosovo, too, all the forms of crimes described in the charges against Mladic.”

Kosovo was previously a province of Serbia that declared independence in 2008.

—

4:45 p.m.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the genocide conviction of Ratko Mladic shows that “those who perpetrate atrocities cannot outrun justice.”

Johnson says Wednesday’s conviction of the Bosnian Serb military leader “will not bring back the thousands who lost their lives but it does demonstrate that the architects of their suffering will be held to account.”

Johnson said the atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s “marked one of Europe’s darkest periods. We must join together to ensure it never happens again.”

Mladic was sentenced to life imprisonment by a U.N. war crimes tribunal for crimes committed during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

—

3:35 p.m.

The top Bosnian Serb leader says the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia proved its anti-Serb bias by convicting Ratko Mladic of war crimes and genocide committed during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

Milorad Dodik alleged Wednesday that the U.N tribunal was established with the “single purpose” of demonizing the Serbs. He said Serbs, in turn, should “forever erase every mention” of the court from their textbooks.

Dodik said that “this opinion is shared by all the Serbs” and described Mladic as “a hero and a patriot.”

He added that the U.N tribunal will be studied in the future as a place where “law and ethics were defeated, and achievement of justice prevented.”

—

3 p.m.

The European Union says it counts on the Balkan nations to honor the victims of war crimes committed in the Bosnian war by promoting reconciliation among neighbors.

It made the statement after former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic was found guilty of 10 counts of genocide and given a life sentence.

The EU said it could not comment specifically on the judgment against Mladic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but that it fully respects the court’s decisions.

It said that Wednesday’s judgment “touches upon some of the darkest, most tragic events” in the recent history of the Western Balkans and Europe.

—

2:45 p.m.

The head of the NATO military alliance is welcoming the life sentence handed down to former Bosnian Serb strongman Ratko Mladic and says it shows that justice works.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the verdict “shows that the rule of law is working and those responsible for war crimes are held to account.”

Stoltenberg said in a statement that he hopes the ruling will help move the entire Western Balkans region “further down the path of peace and reconciliation.”

He also underlined the region’s importance to the trans-Atlantic alliance and said that NATO’s doors remain open to Western Balkans countries willing and able to join.

—

2:15 p.m.

The guilty verdict of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic has caused mixed reactions in Serbia, which is seeking European Union membership, but where nationalism remains strong years after the 1990s conflict.

The hearing at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal was aired live on state TV Wednesday in the Balkan country, where many consider Mladic a hero.

Nationalists blasted Mladic being found guilty of genocide and other crimes and sentenced to life in prison. But Serbian liberals hailed the verdict, urging the nation to face its role in the conflict that left 100,000 people dead and millions homeless.

Serbia’s pro-government Pink television, a widely viewed commercial broadcaster, described the Mladic verdict as “shameful” and anti-Serb.

Among those in the opposing camp was the Youth Initiative for Human Rights group, which said: “war criminals must not be treated as heroes.”

—

2 p.m.

A former prisoner of Serb-run camps in northwestern Bosnia who became a symbol of the 1992-95 war horrors says justice has finally been satisfied with the sentencing of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic.

Fikret Alic was featured in photos published in Time magazine in 1992, when thousands of Muslims were rounded up in the notorious camps by the Bosnian Serb troops.

Alic’s skeletal figure behind a barbed wire shocked the world and raised international awareness of the war.

Alic says “justice has won, and the war criminal has been convicted.” He added the verdict “means that the example will help prevent war crimes in the future.”

Alic was in The Hague, Netherlands, as U.N. judges declared Mladic guilty of genocide and other crimes and sentenced him to life in prison.

—

1:45 p.m.

A lawyer says that Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic will appeal his genocide convictions at the U.N. war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia.

Dragan Ivetic said that “it is certain that we will file an appeal and that the appeal will be successful.”

Ivetic also said Mladic has been denied his “basic human rights” by not being allowed to see doctors of his choosing.

Mladic’s son Darko Mladic accused the judges of obstructing his father’s legal team in presenting evidence exculpating his father.

Darko Mladic said: “This judgment is wrong. It did not achieve anything….and will be an obstacle to future normal life in the region.”

—

1:30 p.m.

Serbian President Alksandar Vucic says he is not surprised by the verdict against former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic at the U.N. war crimes court for former Yugoslavia.

Vucic, a former ultranationalist who supported Mladic’s war campaigns and who now says he’s a pro-EU reformer, said Wednesday that “all of us knew what will be the outcome.”

He alleges that the court has been biased against the Serbs and Serb war victims, but adds that “we should not justify the crimes committed” by the Serbs.

Vucic says “we are ready to accept our responsibility (for war crimes) while the others are not.”

He says “farewell to all those who want to return us to the past; we want to go to the future.”

Vucic said he did not watch the court hearing.

—

1:10 p.m.

The chief prosecutor of the U.N.’s Yugoslav war crimes tribunal says that the conviction of former Bosnian Serb military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic is not a verdict against all Serb people.

Serge Brammertz said, “Mladic’s guilt is his and his alone.”

Serb nationalists often portray the tribunal as anti-Serb because most of the people it has convicted were Serbs.

Brammertz spoke to reporters after judges on Wednesday convicted Mladic of 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and sentenced the former general to life imprisonment.

Mladic was acquitted on one count of genocide linked to ethnic purges in Bosnian towns and villages. Brammertz said he would study the judgment before deciding whether to appeal on the one count Mladic was found not guilty.

—

1:05 p.m.

Bosnian Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic has welcomed the verdict against former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic, who was found guilty by a U.N war crimes tribunal of crimes against humanity and genocide during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

Zvizdic said in a statement that the verdict “confirmed that war criminals cannot escape justice regardless of how long they hide.”

Zvizdic said Mladic’s life sentence “will not bring back to life thousands of killed innocent civilians nor will it bring comfort to their families, but it is of immense importance for the future of (the Balkans) as a deterrent to all those who dream of future wars and continue to stoke ethnic tensions.”

—

12:55 p.m.

Paddy Ashdown, a former U.N. High Representative for Bosnia, says the genocide conviction of Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic is a victory for justice.

Ashdown, a former leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrat party, says “those who value the rule of law in war will welcome” the verdict against “the murderer of Srebrenica.”

He says that “those who bled in the Bosnian wars have retribution and that those in Bosnia who “understand there is no peace without justice can now look more confidently to the future.”

Mladic was earlier convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to life in prison by the United Nations’ Yugoslav war crimes tribunal for atrocities during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

—

12:50 p.m.

In Lazarevo, a small Serbian village where former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic was arrested in 2011, residents have dismissed the guilty verdict against him as biased.

Villagers say they do not recognize the United Nations’ Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, which they say has sought to solely blame Serbs for the crimes of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

A villager Igor Topolic says he is “horrified and saddened.” Topolic adds “all this is a farce for me, he (Mladic) is a Serbian national hero.”

Another villager MIlinko Zeljak says “he (Mladic) should be here with us, not dying out there on his own.”

Residents have dubbed their village as Mladicevo (Mladic’s village) to show their admiration for Mladic and defiance toward The Hague court.

The court found Mladic guility of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison for atrocities perpetrated during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

—

12:25 p.m.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein has hailed the conviction of former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic as a “momentous victory for justice.”

In a statement, he said Mladic is “the epitome of evil, and the prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of what international justice is all about.”

He added: “Mladic presided over some of the darkest crimes to occur in Europe since World War II, bringing terror, death and destruction to thousands of victims, and sorrow, tragedy and trauma to countless more.”

“Today’s verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. They will be held accountable,” Zeid said.

—

12:10 p.m.

A U.N. court has convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison for atrocities perpetrated during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

The court in The Hague convicted Mladic of 10 of 11 counts in a dramatic climax to a groundbreaking effort to seek justice for the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

Presiding Judge Alphons Orie read out the judgment Wednesday after ordering Mladic out of the courtroom over an angry outburst.

Mladic was found guilty of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of the war – the deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica.

—

11:55 a.m.

The U.N. judge reading out the verdict for Gen. Ratko Mladic says the Bosnian Serb military chief was responsible for crimes including persecution, extermination, murder in Bosnian towns.

The judge also said that Mladic intended to commit genocide in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica where some 8,000 men and boys were massacred.

The court has not yet ruled on whether Mladic is guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Judge Alphons Orie is now reporting on the court’s determination of who was responsible for a litany of horrors during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

The judge also said Mladic intended to carry out a deadly campaign of sniping and shelling in Sarajevo.

Mladic was sent out of the courtroom after an angry outburst. He is facing verdicts on 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding atrocities by Serb forces during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. He insists he is innocent.

—

11:50 a.m.

A U.N. judge has ordered Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic removed from court after an angry outburst at the hearing determining whether he is guilty of genocide and war crimes.

The defense lawyer for Mladic requested a delay in Wednesday’s proceedings because Mladic had three high blood pressure readings during a break.

Presiding Judge Alphons Orie refused the request, and Mladic got out of his chair and shouted criticism “Lies! Shame on you” as he was led out to a nearby room where he could following the proceedings on a screen.

The court is reading its verdict for Mladic on 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding atrocities by Serb forces during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

He insists he is innocent.

—

11:15 a.m.

Supporters of Ratko Mladic have put up posters in Bosnia praising the former Bosnian Serb military chief.

Posters in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac carried a photo of Mladic in military attire with the words “you are our hero” written above.

Some former soldiers who fought under Mladic came together to watch the pronouncement of the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on whether he is guilty of genocide and other crimes during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

At the same time, survivors of the 1995 massacre in the eastern town of Srebrenica gathered at the memorial center to also watch the live TV broadcast from the courtroom of The Hague-based U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

Mladic insists he is innocent.

—

10:55 a.m.

The U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has confirmed that genocide occurred in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, but has yet to rule on whether Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic was responsible.

Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said the court found that “genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and the inhuman act of forcible transfer were committed in or around Srebrenica” in 1995.

Previous judgments have that the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica was genocide.

The court said Wednesday however it is “not convinced” of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments.

The court will rule later on whether Mladic is guilty of genocide and other crimes during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

He insists he is innocent.

—

10:20 a.m.

A skirmish broke out outside the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after a young man carrying a Serbian flag approached a group of Bosniaks awaiting the verdict in a trial of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic.

A Bosniak woman tried to take the Serbian flag from the man.

The scuffle ended when a security officer intervened.

The man, who said he came to support Mladic, shouted: “Do not touch my flag.”

The Bosnian woman told him to stop provoking victims, adding that it “is sad that the villains still glorify genocide and aggression.”

The incident reflects the divisions between the Serbs and Bosniaks over Mladic’s trial on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

—

10:15 a.m.

United Nations judges have opened a hearing to deliver their judgment in the genocide trial of former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic.

Mladic looked relaxed in the courtroom of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, greeting lawyers and giving a thumbs-up to photographers in court.

Presiding Judge Alphons Orie, wearing a red and black robe, opened the hearing by greeting lawyers and then giving a background of when Mladic was indicted, when he was captured, details of the trial and detailing the charges against Mladic.

Mladic is set to hear verdicts on 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding atrocities by Serb forces during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. He insists he is innocent.

—

10.05 a.m.

Lawyers for former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic say that he will appear in a United Nations war crimes tribunal for the judgment in his long-running genocide trial despite health concerns.

In a filing to judges Wednesday shortly before the hearing was due to start at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Mladic’s lawyer say that he “insists on appearing” despite his ailing health. Mladic has been insistent on his innocence.

Mladic is set to hear verdicts on 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding atrocities by Serb forces during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

—

9:50 a.m.

The son of former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic says his family is ready for anything as the U.N. Yugoslav war crimes tribunal prepares to rule on whether his father committed genocide and other crimes during the Bosnian war.

Darko Mladic accused the court of “not being objective, and that makes us concerned.”

Speaking outside the courthouse in The Hague, Darko Mladic said the prosecution “didn’t manage to connect Ratko Mladic with any point of the indictment” and that the family is ready for whatever judgment.

Ratko Mladic’s lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, said the general faces a “risk of deterioration of his health, including death, that could be caused by these proceedings.”

Mladic stands accused of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of the 1992-95 war.

—

8:20 a.m.

The United Nations’ Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is set to pass judgment on former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during Bosnia’s devastating 1992-95 war.

Mladic, who faces 11 counts, stands accused of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of the war – the deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, which was Europe’s worst mass killing since World War II.

The three judge panel will rule Wednesday on whether the 75-year-old former general is guilty or innocent and, if they convict Mladic, they will immediately pass sentence.

Prosecutors have sought a life sentence.

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The Latest: Kosovo welcomes verdict for Serb military leader
The Latest: Kosovo welcomes verdict for Serb military leader
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

The Federal Communications Commission repealed the Obama-era “net neutrality” rules Thursday, giving internet service providers like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T a free hand to slow or block websites and apps as they see fit or charge more for faster speeds.

In a straight party-line vote of 3-2, the Republican-controlled FCC junked the longtime principle that said all web traffic must be treated equally. The move represents a radical departure from more than a decade of federal oversight.

The big telecommunications companies had lobbied hard to overturn the rules, contending they are heavy-handed and discourage investment in broadband networks.

“What is the FCC doing today?” asked FCC chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican. “Quite simply, we are restoring the light-touch framework that has governed the internet for most of its existence.”

The push to eliminate net neutrality has stirred fears among consumer advocates, Democrats, many web companies and ordinary Americans afraid that the cable and phone giants will be able to control what people see and do online. But the broadband industry has promised that the internet experience for the public isn’t going to change.

The FCC vote is unlikely to be the last word. Net neutrality supporters threatened legal challenges, with New York’s attorney general vowing to lead a multistate lawsuit. Some Democrats want to overturn the FCC action in Congress.

“The fact that Chairman Pai went through with this, a policy that is so unpopular, is somewhat shocking,” said Mark Stanley, a spokesman for the civil liberties organization Demand Progress. “Unfortunately, not surprising.”

On Thursday, about 60 demonstrators gathered in the bitter chill in Washington to protest the FCC’s expected decision. Just before the vote, the hearing room was briefly evacuated and searched for unspecified security reasons.

The FCC subscribed to the principle of net neutrality for over a decade and enshrined it in rules adopted in 2015.

Under the new rules approved Thursday, the Comcasts and AT&Ts of the world could slow down or block access to services they don’t like or happen to be in competition with. They could also charge higher fees of rivals and make them pay up for higher transmission speeds. They just have to post their policies online or tell the FCC.

Such things have happened before. In 2007, for example, The Associated Press found that Comcast was blocking or throttling some file-sharing. And AT&T blocked Skype and other internet calling services on the iPhone until 2009.

Thursday’s rule change also eliminates certain federal consumer protections, bars state laws that contradict the FCC’s approach, and largely transfers oversight of internet service to another agency altogether, the Federal Trade Commission.

Angelo Zino, an analyst at CFRA Research, said he expects AT&T and Verizon to be the biggest beneficiaries because the two internet giants can now give priority to the movies, TV shows and other videos or music they provide to viewers. That could hurt rivals such as Sling TV, Amazon, YouTube or start-ups yet to be born.

However, AT&T senior executive vice president Bob Quinn said in a blog post that the internet “will continue to work tomorrow just as it always has.” He said the company won’t block websites and won’t throttle or degrade online traffic based on content.

Internet companies such as Google, Twitter and Facebook have strongly backed net neutrality.

On Thursday, Netflix, said in a tweet it is “disappointed in the decision to gut #NetNeutrality protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity & civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the Trump administration “supports the FCC’s effort to roll back burdensome regulations. But as we have always done and will continue to do, we certainly support a free and fair Internet.”

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat appointed by President Barack Obama, lambasted the “preordained outcome” of the vote that she said hurts small and large businesses and ordinary people. She said the end of net neutrality hands over the keys to the internet to a “handful of multibillion-dollar corporations.”

With their vote, she added, the FCC’s Republican commissioners are abandoning the pledge they took to make a rapid, efficient communications service available to all people in the U.S., without discrimination.

But Michael O’Rielly, a GOP commissioner appointed by Obama, called the FCC’s approach a “well-reasoned and soundly justified order.”

The internet, he said, “has functioned without net neutrality rules for far longer than it has with them.” The decision “will not break the internet.”

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, has been investigating what appears to be large numbers of fake public comments submitted to the FCC during the net neutrality comment period. He said 2 million comments were submitted under stolen identities, including those of children and dead people.

—

Associated Press Writer Chris Rugaber in Washington contributed to this story.

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FCC votes along party lines to end 'net neutrality'
FCC votes along party lines to end 'net neutrality'
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Richard Drew

NEW YORK (AP) — Disney is buying a large part of the Murdoch family’s 21st Century Fox for about $52.4 billion in stock, including film and television studios and cable and international TV businesses, as it tries to meet competition from technology companies in the entertainment business.

The deal gives Disney film businesses including Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox 2000, which together are the homes of Avatar, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool. On the television side, Disney will get Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions and Fox21, with shows including “The Simpsons” and “Modern Family.”

21st Century Fox shareholders will receive 0.2745 Disney shares for each share they own. The transaction also includes approximately $13.7 billion in debt.

Robert Iger will continue as chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Co. through the end of 2021. Disney said Thursday that it anticipates the acquisition providing at least $2 billion in cost savings. Both companies’ boards have approved the deal. It still needs approval from Disney and 21st Century Fox shareholders.

Before the buyout, 21st Century Fox will separate the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network into a newly listed company that will be spun off to its shareholders. It will also include the company’s studio lot in Los Angeles and equity investment in Roku.

That Rupert Murdoch and his sons were willing to sell off much of the business that has been built up over decades came as a shock to the entertainment industry.

The entertainment business is going through big changes. TV doesn’t have a monopoly on home entertainment anymore. There’s Netflix, which is spending up to $8 billion on programming next year. Amazon is building its own library, having splashed out on global TV rights to “Lord of the Rings.” Facebook, Google and Apple are also investing in video.

As consumers spend more time online, TV’s share of U.S. ad spending is shrinking. Advertisers are following consumer attention to the internet, where Google and Facebook win the vast majority of advertisers’ dollars.

“We’ve been talking about cord cutting for the better part of a decade. But now it’s real,” USC Annenberg communications professor Chris Smith said. The media companies have to compete with the internet giants for consumers’ attention – and the younger generations pay more attention to YouTube, Facebook and other “platforms” than traditional TV, Smith said.

To combat this trend, Disney is launching new ESPN- and Disney-branded streaming services over the next couple of years. It could beef them up with some of the assets it’s acquiring from Fox, making them exclusive to its services and sharpening its ability to compete with Netflix for consumer dollars. During a conference call with investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger said many Fox properties will fit with the new service, including possibly National Geographic and additional Marvel productions.

“The core underlying driver for this deal in our opinion is the impending battle royale for content and streaming services vs. the Netflix machine,” GBH analyst Daniel Ives wrote.

Not everyone thinks this is a good bet by Disney, though. Rich Greenfield, a longtime Disney critic, thinks the deal is a bad idea that ties Disney to older TV-distribution systems – cable and satellite TV – rather than helping it look toward the future.

He also notes that regulators may not like the idea of combining two major movie studios. The Justice Department surprised many in the industry and on Wall Street when it sued to block another media megamerger, AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, in November.

—

MURDOCH FAMILY TAKES A BOW

Rupert Murdoch built 21st Century Fox and News Corp. out of an inheritance from his father in Australia. He bought a string of papers there, in the U.K. and the U.S., building an influential platform for his views. He expanded into TV and movies, launching the Fox network and Fox News and changing the face of American news and entertainment.

“Rupert has spent many, many years assembling the components of his empire,” said NYU business professor Samuel Craig, who specializes in the entertainment industry.

Rupert Murdoch has ostensibly already handed the reins over to a new generation at Fox. His son James is CEO, while his other son, Lachlan, like Rupert, has the title of executive chairman.

The Murdoch empire has already been divided. After a phone-hacking newspaper scandal in the U.K., News Corp. was split off into a separate company for the publishing and newspaper businesses, which include the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Sun and The Times in the U.K., and book publisher HarperCollins. Now Fox is also being split up as the company sets itself up to deal with the growing power of the tech industry.

“The Murdochs realize they don’t have the same kind of leverage Disney has, the same kind of brand power,” Smith said.

It would be harder to launch a Fox-branded streaming service that attracts lots of the new generation of consumers, for example. Smith said that makes it a great time to sell off the entertainment business.

Fox is also selling to Disney its substantial overseas operations. It is offloading its 39 percent stake in European satellite-TV and broadcaster Sky after running into regulatory roadblocks in the U.K. trying to take over the rest of the company, in part because of how Fox handled the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News. Disney is also acquiring Star India, a major media company with dozens of sports and entertainment channels.

Fox will be left with the live events, news and sports, that are key parts of the traditional TV bundle. There is speculation that the Murdochs would want to recombine what’s the slimmed-down Fox with News Corp.

—

MIGHTIER MOUSE

The Disney-branded service, expected in 2019, will have classic and upcoming movies from the studio, shows from Disney Channel, and the “Star Wars” and Marvel movies.

Disney will also win majority control of Hulu, both its live-TV service and the older service with a big library of TV shows.

Disney could continue to add movies and TV shows from Fox’s library to its services, making them more attractive compared with Netflix’s offerings. The combined libraries of the Disney and Fox movie and TV studios could have more titles than Netflix, Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar said. Buying Fox’s FX networks will add edgy TV shows that complement Disney’s long list of kid-friendly series and films, he said.

Greenfield, however, notes that a lot of programming wouldn’t be immediately available to Disney. Fox movies are exclusive to HBO through 2022, for example.

Disney also plans an ESPN Plus service for next year. It isn’t a duplicate of the ESPN TV network, but it will stream tennis matches along with major-league baseball, hockey and soccer games, as well as college sports. It might be able to add more sports through Fox’s 22 local sports networks – cable channels that show popular sports in the viewer’s region.

Disney also owns Marvel, but not all the Marvel characters. It’s made movies starring Thor, Doctor Strange and Captain America and the Avengers crew. But the X-Men are at Fox. Bringing them home under one roof could mean movies with more of the characters together.

—

AP Business Writer Michelle Chapman in West Orange, New Jersey, and AP Technology Writer Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

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Disney buying large part of 21st Century Fox in .4B deal
Disney buying large part of 21st Century Fox in .4B deal
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Source: AP HEADLINES

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The campaign for tighter gun laws that inspired unprecedented student walkouts across the country still faces an uphill climb in a majority of states, an Associated Press review of gun legislation found.

The AP survey of bill activity in state legislatures before and after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting provides a reality check on the ambitions of the “Enough is Enough” movement. It suggests that votes like the one in Florida, where Republican lawmakers defied the National Rifle Association to pass new gun regulations, are unlikely to be repeated in many other states, at least not this year.

The student-led activism might yet lead to future reforms, but for now, the gun debate among most lawmakers still falls along predictable and largely partisan lines, with few exceptions, according to the analysis.

Because Congress shows no sign of acting, state legislatures dominate the national debate over guns. And major changes won’t be easy to achieve in statehouses that are mostly controlled by the gun-friendly GOP.

Republicans have sponsored more than 80 percent of bills that would expand gun rights, while Democrats have introduced more than 90 percent of bills to limit them. The total number of gun-rights and gun-control bills identified by AP statehouse reporters is roughly equal – about 300 in each category.

Many of the Democratic gun-control bills have been introduced in legislatures dominated by Republicans, meaning they have little or no chance of passing.

“I think (the) public attitude has changed, but I don’t see a big change here in the Legislature,” said Iowa Rep. Art Staed, a Democrat who sought unsuccessfully after the Parkland attack to force the Iowa House to consider allowing courts to temporarily seize guns from dangerous individuals. “It’s been very frustrating.”

Iowa’s GOP-controlled Legislature, which last year approved a historic expansion of gun rights, has not held hearings on Democratic proposals to ban assault-style weapons, prohibit high-capacity magazines or expand background checks. Instead, lawmakers have considered more pro-gun initiatives, including a bill to allow residents to carry handguns without obtaining permits and a resolution to enshrine the right to bear arms in the Iowa Constitution.

Iowa Gun Owners, a “no-compromise gun lobby,” has mobilized its members to pressure Republican lawmakers to hold firm.

“We’re not going to back off any advocacy of expanding gun rights,” Executive Director Aaron Dorr said.

After the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, public support for gun control reached the highest point since 1993, with two-thirds of Americans supporting stricter laws, according to a Gallup Poll released Wednesday.

Several corporations have also cut ties with the NRA, and some retailers have announced they will no longer sell rifles to anyone under 21. But the response in states has been more predictable.

Some Democratic-controlled states with restrictive gun and ammunition laws are moving to tighten them further. Aside from Florida, Republican-led states have mostly rejected new gun-control measures and instead are weighing whether to arm teachers and allow more guns in public places.

Several states are considering raising the age to buy rifles to 21 or debating “red flag” laws that would allow courts to order the temporary seizure of guns from people showing signs of mental distress or violence. But even those are running into resistance from pro-gun lawmakers.

In Idaho, lawmakers rejected a plan that would have would prohibited convicted domestic abusers from owning guns, a measure that many states have adopted to enforce a similar federal ban.

In Utah, lawmakers defeated GOP House Speaker Greg Hughes’ version of a red flag law, which would have allowed a family member or roommate to ask a court to temporarily remove firearms from someone who is acting dangerously.

“This, to me, is more of a gun-confiscation effort than it is a public-safety measure,” Utah Republican Rep. Brian Greene said.

Democratic lawmakers who control the Illinois Legislature acted swiftly after the Parkland assault to approve a long-debated bill requiring state licensing for firearms dealers, a measure intended to increase oversight and eliminate straw sales. But Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the measure Tuesday, saying it would hurt small businesses and do little to stop violence.

NRA leader Wayne LaPierre said this week that his group would oppose all “failed gun control” plans, including proposals to raise the gun-buying age, require background checks on private gun sales and transfers or ban semi-automatic rifles and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Gun-control advocates see major progress in Florida’s new law, which raises the rifle-buying age, creates a three-day waiting period to buy long guns and allows law enforcement to seek a court order to prevent access to guns for people who show signs of violence or mental illness. It also allows some teachers to be armed and bans bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic rifles to mimic fully automatic ones.

Both sides are also watching traditionally gun-friendly Vermont, where the Republican governor recently abandoned his stance against new gun control laws after the arrest of an 18-year-old accused of plotting a school shooting. Hunters packed the Capitol this week to protest some curbs being considered by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

The divide over how to respond has left young people like Alexia Medero wondering if change will ever come. The senior at Parkland High School outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, was one of hundreds who walked out of class Wednesday and attended a campus rally dubbed #parklandforparkland. After the event, she said she worries that the activism won’t produce any real change.

“I’m afraid that with this shooting, like the others, people are going to mourn the victims and then a few months later forget about it,” she said. “And nothing will happen.”

—

Associated Press writers Michelle Price in Salt Lake City and Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

—

Follow Ryan Foley at https://twitter.com/rjfoley .

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AP review: Push for gun laws faces resistance in most states
AP review: Push for gun laws faces resistance in most states
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AP Photo/Eric Gay

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Latest on serial bombings in Texas (all times local):

7:30 p.m.

Austin authorities say emergency personnel are responding to another reported explosion, this one at a Goodwill store in the southern part of the city.

Austin-Travis County EMS tweeted Thursday evening that at least one person was injured but that details about the severity of those injuries and the explosion itself were unknown.

It would mark the sixth explosion in the Austin area since March 2. So far, two people have been killed and four others seriously wounded.

—

6:58 p.m.

The FBI says a suspicious package reported at a FedEx distribution center near the Austin airport “contained an explosive device.”

In a statement Tuesday evening, the FBI said no one was injured when law enforcement responded to a report of a suspicious package at the facility around 6:20 a.m.

Hours earlier, a separate package exploded at a FedEx shipping center in Schertz, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) south of Austin.

The FBI said both packages were related to the other four bombings that have rocked Austin since March 2, killing two people and badly wounding four others.

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5:30 p.m.

The chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security committee says federal authorities informed him investigators have obtained surveillance videos in Austin that “could possibly” show a suspect in the package bombing at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio.

Congressman Michael McCaul told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he’s been briefed by the FBI, ATF and Austin police about the situation. But he adds that investigators are still poring through the surveillance recordings.

Austin police earlier said another suspicious package was discovered at a second FedEx center near Austin’s main airport. McCaul says evidence obtained from that package if kept intact could be key in finding the bomber.

McCaul, whose district includes Austin, says he hopes the bomber’s “biggest mistake was going through FedEx.”

—

3:45 p.m.

FedEx says it has turned over “extensive evidence” to authorities after a package exploded at its processing center in the town of Schertz, south of Austin.

In a statement, the company says “the individual responsible” for sending the package that blew up also shipped a second package that has been secured and turned over to law enforcement.

FedEx says it gave authorities evidence “related to these packages and the individual that shipped them collected from our advanced technology security systems.”

A company spokeswoman subsequently refused to say if that second package might have been linked to a suspicious package that authorities seized at another FedEx shipping facility on Tuesday, this one in south Austin, near the city’s airport.

No arrests have been made in the five bombings that have rocked the Austin area since March 2

—

3:25 p.m.

The chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security committee says he thinks the latest package explosion in Texas will lead to more evidence, “hopefully fingerprints and surveillance photos.”

Congressman Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, made the comments Tuesday at a White House roundtable discussion on so-called sanctuary cities. It’s not clear whether McCaul was speaking with knowledge of specific information in the case.

McCaul also thanked President Donald Trump for sending 500 federal agents to Austin “to find this perpetrator and bring him to justice.”

A package exploded early Tuesday at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says the package was sent from Austin and was addressed to a home in Austin.

Four other package bombs have exploded in Austin since March 2.

—

3:10 p.m.

An employee at a FedEx center in Austin says managers ordered workers outside before sunrise after a suspicious package showed up.

Bryan Jaimes told reporters Tuesday he estimates there were about 60 people working at the facility near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport when the building was cleared out.

The 19-year-old package handler says workers left calmly and that he’s glad he made it out safe. He returned to the center hours later hoping to be allowed back in to get his car and phone. The facility remains closed.

Jaimes says he never received new guidance from managers about handling packages as Austin authorities look for what they’ve called a “serial bomber.” He said his job is to load the trucks.

—

1:20 p.m.

The San Antonio Police Department says its police chief was mistaken when he said that investigators found a second package bomb that hadn’t detonated at a FedEx distribution center.

The department says in a news release police Chief William McManus misspoke at a news conference earlier Tuesday and that there was only one package bomb at the Schertz facility – the one that exploded.

It forwarded any inquiries to the FBI and Austin Police Department.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier told The Associated Press that there was a “suspicion” of another package, but he stopped short of confirming there were two.

Officials say the package bomb that exploded early Tuesday apparently went out from a FedEx store in the Austin enclave of Sunset Valley and was addressed to an Austin home. It blew up on a conveyer belt at the FedEx ground center in Schertz, which is outside of San Antonio and about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of Austin.

—

12:45 p.m.

Austin police say they’ve called the bomb squad to investigate a suspicious package at a FedEx shipping center outside of the city’s airport.

Austin police spokeswoman Destiny Winston said Tuesday that the package was reported shortly before sunrise. She says federal investigators were called to the scene as a precaution due to “past events.”

Four package bombs have detonated in Austin this month, killing two people and injuring four others. A fifth that officials say was sent from the Austin area to an address in Austin exploded early Tuesday at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio, where investigators found another parcel bomb that hadn’t exploded.

—

12:30 p.m.

Austin police say they’ve responded to more than 1,200 calls in the last two weeks from people worried that suspicious packages could be bombs.

Police said Tuesday that they’ve responded to 1,257 calls since March 12, when packages exploded at two homes in Austin, killing a 17-year-old and injuring two others. On March 2, a 39-year-old man was killed when a package bomb exploded.

On Sunday, a bomb triggered by a tripwire injured two men in a quiet neighborhood in southwest Austin.

Police say that between 8 a.m. Monday and 8 a.m. Tuesday, they responded to 420 calls about suspicious packages.

Officials say a bomb that exploded early Tuesday at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio went out from an Austin-area FedEx store and was addressed to an Austin home.

—

12:15 p.m.

Investigators have closed off an Austin-area FedEx store from where officials say two package bombs were sent to a distribution center near San Antonio, including one that detonated.

Authorities have roped off a large area around the shopping center in the Austin enclave of Sunset Valley where the store is located. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says the parcel bomb that exploded early Tuesday in the distribution center in Schertz was mailed from Austin and addressed to an Austin home.

The police department in Sunset Valley, which is surrounded on all sides by Austin, says it appears that both package bombs that made it to the Schertz facility went out from the Sunset Valley store.

Authorities suspect the parcel bombs are linked to the four bombs that have killed two people and injured four others in Austin this month.

—

11:40 a.m.

President Donald Trump is blaming a “very sick individual or individuals” for a series of bombings in Austin, Texas.

Trump said during an Oval Office meeting Tuesday with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the situation is “terrible.”

He says, “This is obviously a very sick individual or individuals” and that authorities are “working to get to the bottom of it.”

Trump’s comments came hours after an early-morning explosion at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio. Authorities say it was a bomb addressed to an Austin home that had been sent from Texas’ capital city. Investigators found a second bomb at the facility that hadn’t exploded.

Authorities believe the latest parcel bombs are linked to the four bombings this month in Austin that have killed two people and injured four others.

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11:20 a.m.

Texas’ attorney general says the package that exploded at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio was sent from Austin and was addressed to a home in Austin.

Attorney General Ken Paxton also told television station KXAN that a second parcel bomb that didn’t explode was found at the FedEx facility in Schertz. San Antonio police Chief William McManus told a news conference there that the second package was no longer at the facility.

Authorities say one of the parcel bombs detonated at around 1 a.m. Tuesday while it was on a conveyer belt in the facility, which is about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of Austin. One worker suffered minor injuries.

Paxton didn’t provide details on where the packages were addressed to.

Investigators believe the explosives are linked to the four bombings that have killed two people and injured four others in Austin this month.

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10:30 a.m.

Authorities say the package that exploded at a FedEx ground facility near San Antonio was on a conveyer belt when it detonated.

Schertz police Chief Michael Hansen said at a news conference that one worker reported feeling ringing in her ears after the early Tuesday blast, but she was treated and released.

Hansen said that the intended target of the parcel bomb wasn’t the facility or anyone who lives in Schertz, which is about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of Austin. But neither Hansen nor federal agents who spoke at the news conference would say where the package was sent to or from or give any other details about the investigation, saying it was still unfolding.

An FBI spokeswoman, agent Michelle Lee, said earlier Tuesday “it would be silly for us not to admit that we suspect it’s related” to the four Austin bombings that have killed two people and injured four others since March 2.

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8:45 a.m.

Austin police have deployed a hazardous materials squad to a FedEx shipping facility near the city’s airport to investigate reports of a suspicious package.

It isn’t known yet if the suspicious package is linked to a bomb that detonated earlier Tuesday at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio or the four bombs that have gone off in Austin this month.

But the Austin Police Department says an investigation is underway.

The package that exploded earlier Tuesday at the FedEx facility in Schertz, about 60 miles southwest of Austin, slightly injured one worker. Authorities believe it is linked to what they say is a serial bomber responsible for the four Austin bombings since March 2.

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8:35 a.m.

The White House says the federal government is doing “whatever is necessary” to apprehend whomever is responsible for a series of explosions in Austin, Texas.

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells Fox News Channel that President Donald Trump is aware of the situation.

Sanders says federal authorities are working closely with local authorities and have offered their full support and cooperation “to make sure we’re doing whatever is necessary and whatever is possible” to stop the explosions and find whomever is responsible.

A package bomb that authorities believe is linked to the recent string of Austin bombings exploded early Tuesday inside of a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio. A worker suffered minor injuries.

Four other Austin bombings have killed two people and injured four others since March 2.

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8:30 a.m.

A heavy law enforcement presence is surrounding the FedEx distribution center near San Antonio where a parcel bomb exploded, slightly injuring one worker.

The area around the facility in Schertz is heavily industrial and features warehouses and parking lots empty except for parked trailers.

A woman who identified herself as an FedEx employee emerged from the shipping facility wrapped in a blanket as the sun rose on Tuesday and said she’d been evacuated. She declined to give her name.

The FBI says a package exploded at the facility at around 1 a.m. on Tuesday.

Authorities believe it is linked to the four bombs that have detonated in the Texas capital of Austin this month. Those bombs killed two people and injured four others.

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7:45 a.m.

The Austin Police Department says it is aware that a parcel bomb exploded overnight at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio and that it is working closely on the investigation with federal law enforcement agencies.

An FBI spokeswoman, agent Michelle Lee, says it is still early in the investigation into the early Tuesday bombing at the FedEx facility in Schertz, which left one worker with minor injuries. But she says “it would be silly for us not to admit that we suspect it’s related” to the four Austin bombings that have killed two people and injured four others since March 2.

The latest bombing in Austin injured two men on Sunday. Authorities say it was triggered by a tripwire and was a more sophisticated bomb than those used in the first three attacks, which were package bombs left on people’s doorsteps.

The Austin police are again warning people to call 911 if they come across suspicious packages, bags or other items that look out of place.

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7 a.m.

Federal investigators say a package that exploded at a FedEx facility near San Antonio is believed to be linked to the string of bombings that has terrified the Texas capital this month.

Special Agent Michelle Lee of the FBI in San Antonio says she has no confirmed reports of any injuries in the blast. But the police department in Schertz, where the FedEx facility is located, issued a statement saying one person was treated at the scene and released.

Lee says it is still early in the investigation, but “it would be silly for us not to admit that we suspect it’s related” to the four Austin bombings that have killed two people and injured four others since March 2. The latest bombing in Austin injured two men on Sunday.

Lee didn’t have details about the size, weight or description of the package.

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5:30 a.m.

Federal agents tell The Washington Post that a package bomb exploded around 1 a.m. Tuesday inside a FedEx distribution center in Schertz, Texas.

Spokeswomen for the FBI and the ATF say both agencies are at the scene.

The explosion happened at the facility just northeast of San Antonio sometime around 1 a.m., said FBI Special Agent Michelle Lee. ATF spokeswoman Nicole Strong said that early indications are that no one was injured.

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5 a.m.

A website that monitors fire and police activity in San Antonio, Texas, says a package bomb has exploded at a FedEx distribution center in Schertz, Texas, hurting 1 person, a FedEx employee who apparently suffered a non-life-threatening “percussion-type” injury from the blast.

The FBI and ATF are at the scene. Federal agents say this package is likely linked to attacks by what they believe is a serial bomber. The package exploded shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

The Associated Press reported erroneously earlier Tuesday that the San Antonio Fire Department said one person had suffered a non-life-threatening “percussion-type” injury from the blast. That information came from SanantonioFIRE, a local media website that reports on local police, fire and emergency service news, and could not immediately be independently confirmed.

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1 a.m.

Police and federal agents said Sunday night’s blast triggered along a street by a nearly invisible tripwire suggests a “higher level of sophistication” than they have seen before in three early package bombs left on doorsteps, and means the carnage is now random, rather than targeted at someone in particular.

William Grote says the attack, by a suspected serial bomber that has terrorized Austin for weeks, left what appeared to be nails embedded in his grandson’s knees.

Two people are dead and four injured, and authorities don’t appear closer to making any arrests in the four bombings that have rocked the capital city.

Authorities haven’t identified the latest victims, but Grote told The Associated Press that his grandson was one of the two men wounded in southwest Austin’s quiet Travis Country neighborhood. They suffered what police said were significant injuries and remained hospitalized in stable condition.

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The Latest: Austin authorities: Another explosion reported
The Latest: Austin authorities: Another explosion reported
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