World/Nation Briefs August 1, 2011
Insanity ruling not likely in Norway
OSLO, Norway - It's unlikely that the right-wing extremist who admitted killing dozens in Norway last week will be declared legally insane because he appears to have been in control of his actions, the head of the panel that will review his psychiatric evaluation told The Associated Press.
The decision on Anders Behring Breivik's mental state will determine whether he can be held criminally liable and punished with a prison sentence or sent to a psychiatric ward for treatment.
The July 22 attacks were so carefully planned and executed that it would be difficult to argue they were the work of a delusional madman, said Dr. Tarjei Rygnestad, who heads the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine.
In Norway, an insanity defense requires that a defendant be in a state of psychosis while committing the crime with which he or she is charged. That means the defendant has lost contact with reality to the point that he's no longer in control of his own actions.
4 shot after George Clinton show in Ohio; 1 dies
CLEVELAND - A man fired several shots from a handgun during a large fight near an outdoor concert venue featuring funk music artist George Clinton, killing one person and wounding three others, police said Sunday.
The fight erupted before 10 p.m. Saturday at an intersection near Luke Easter Park, the venue for the eighth annual Unity in the Park festival. Police didn't have a description of the shooter, and no arrests had been made.
It was unclear how long after Clinton or the other musicians performed that the shooting erupted or what prompted it. Police said they didn't know if those involved in the fight were among concertgoers leaving the area.
"These were younger people, so we're not sure," police Sgt. Sammy Morris said. "George Clinton is an older (artist). We're not going to speculate."
A 16-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the head died of his injuries early Sunday, Morris said. He didn't know the conditions of the other three who were wounded: a 20-year-old woman shot in the neck, and a 14-year-old boy and a 23-year-old man each hospitalized with leg wounds.
Philanthropist Ruth Perelman dies
PHILADELPHIA - Ruth Perelman, who along with her philanthropist husband was a major donor to institutions in the city of Philadelphia, died Sunday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She was 90.
Raymond Perelman told The Associated Press on Sunday that the couple had been married for 70 years after they met in Greensboro, N.C., where she was going to college and he was running a plant for his father.
"She was well-loved by everybody and was also generous and participated with me in all of our philanthropies and charities," he said from his home in the tony Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.
In May, the University of Pennsylvania announced that the School of Medicine would be named after the Perelmans after their donation of $225 million, which the Ivy League university described as the largest gift in its history.
Activists: Syrian army kills 62 in attacks
BEIRUT - Syrian security forces killed at least 62 people Sunday in an escalation of the crackdown on protests ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, activists and residents said. Most died in raids on the flashpoint city of Hama, where a barrage of shelling and gunfire left bodies scattered in the streets.
Demonstrations calling for President Bashar Assad's ouster are expected to swell during Ramadan, which starts today, in Syria. Security forces appeared to be racing against time as they stormed and raided cities and small villages across the country in an attempt to crush a remarkably resilient uprising that began in mid-March.
Having sealed off the main roads into the opposition stronghold of Hama almost a month ago, army troops in tanks pushed into the city from four sides before daybreak Sunday in a coordinated assault. Residents shouted "God is great!" and threw firebombs, stones and sticks at the tanks.
- The Associated Press