World / Nation briefs October 3, 2011

Wall Street protesters in for the long haul

NEW YORK - The protesters who have been camping out in Manhattan's Financial District for more than two weeks eat donated food and keep their laptops running with a portable gas-powered generator. They have a newspaper - the Occupied Wall Street Journal - and a makeshift hospital.

They lack a clear objective, though they speak against corporate greed, social inequality, global climate change and other concerns. But they're growing in numbers, getting more organized and show no sign of quitting.

City officials "thought we were going to leave and we haven't left," 19-year-old protester Kira Moyer-Sims said. "We're going to stay as long as we can."

Saturday's arrests of more than 700 protesters who tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge appeared to do little to dampen enthusiasm Sunday.

The Occupy Wall Street demonstration started out last month with less than a dozen college students spending days and nights in Zuccotti Park, a private plaza off Broadway. It has grown sizably, however, both in New York City and elsewhere as people across the country, from Boston to Los Angeles, display their solidarity in similar protests.

Moyer-Sims, of Portland, Ore., said the group has grown much more organized. "We have a protocol for most things," she said, including getting legal help for people who are arrested.

Police officers have been a regular sight at the plaza, but NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the protest has not led the department to assign additional officers to the area. The department won't change its approach to handling the protest and will continue regular patrols and monitoring, he said.

Biden's brother hospitalized after powder scare

OCEAN RIDGE, Fla. - The brother of Vice President Joe Biden says he was kept overnight at a Florida hospital after opening a suspicious package containing a powdery substance.

The envelope was mailed to Francis Biden's Ocean Ridge home. Biden said that his girlfriend retrieved the package from his mailbox Saturday afternoon, but that he opened it.

Biden says white powder spilled from the envelope onto his skin. He says he immediately called authorities, who evacuated neighbors and closed the street.

Biden and his girlfriend were taken to a hospital. The woman was released Saturday, and Biden was released Sunday morning.

Biden says he's fine. He referred further questions about the powder and the envelope to the FBI.

The FBI has said the powder appears to be harmless.

Germany: 4 arrested before unity festivities

BERLIN - Four men were arrested on suspicion of obtaining guns before events marking the anniversary of German reunification, but officials said Sunday they found no weapons or evidence of plans for an attack.

Three of the men were arrested Saturday in the Bonn area, and the fourth in Offenbach, near Frankfurt.

Cologne police spokesman Carsten Moellers said that the men, aged between 22 and 27, were arrested because "we couldn't rule out that a crime was to be prepared"; and in view of the fact that celebrations marking the 21st anniversary of reunification are being held in Bonn today.

However, police said that they found no firearms or other dangerous objects during searches of the men's apartments and that they ruled out the men, whom they described as belonging to the "Islamist spectrum," posed any danger to the events in Bonn.

The man arrested in Offenbach was released after a few hours. Cologne police said the other three would be freed late Sunday because of a lack of evidence to justify keeping them in custody, but they would remain under observation.

Yemeni jet bombs army post, killing 30 soldiers

SANAA, Yemen - A government warplane bombed an army position in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 soldiers involved in months of intense battles against al-Qaida members, officials said Sunday.

The strike appeared to be a mistake, but the soldiers hit were from a unit that had defected to side with protesters seeking the president's ouster in Yemen's chapter of the Arab Spring, raising questions about whether the bombing might have been intentional.

Yemen's' government and the renegade military units both consider Yemen's al-Qaida branch an enemy. The president's political opponents, however, accuse him of allowing the Islamic militants to seize control of several towns in southern Yemen earlier this year in a bid to spark fears in the West that without him in power, al-Qaida would take over.

The airstrike, which took place on Saturday evening in Abyan province, targeted an abandoned school used as a shelter by soldiers of the army's 119th Brigade who were battling the al-Qaida fighters, military and medical officials said. The brigade is thought to have received significant support from the U.S. military to enable it to fight the militants in the south more effectively.

- The Associated Press