World / Nation Briefs March 17, 2012
<p>The Global Rainbow is projected into the night sky from Scrabo Tower, Newtownards, Northern Ireland, Friday. The large scale outdoor laser projection created by New York artist Yvette Mattern is visible across the night sky, the event signals 100 days to go until the opening of the London 2012 Festival which is a tweleve-week festival of arts running parallel to the Olympic Games taking place in London.</p>
Suspect in Afghan killings from Seattle area
LAKE TAPPS, Wash. - After five days cloaked in military secrecy, the U.S. soldier suspected in a massacre of 16 Afghan civilians has been identified as a Washington state father of two who underwent anger management counseling a decade ago after an arrest for assault on a girlfriend.
The soldier accused in the killings is Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 38, his lawyer confirmed Friday. Bales is from Lake Tapps, Wash., a community set amid pine trees surrounding a reservoir about 35 miles south of Seattle.
Bales is married, the father of two young children and a veteran who was in the midst of his fourth tour in a war zone. Neighbors described him Friday as good-natured and warm, and recalled seeing him playing outside the family's modern split-level with his children, ages 3 and 4.
But court records show Bales was arrested at a Tacoma, Wash., hotel in 2002 for investigation of assault on a woman he dated before he married his wife, his lawyer, John Henry Browne, confirmed. Bales pleaded not guilty, underwent 20 hours of anger management counseling and the case was dismissed, according to court records. A separate hit-and-run charge was dismissed in a nearby town's municipal court three years ago, according to records.
Until late Friday, when a senior U.S. official first confirmed Bales' identity, nearly all the very limited information known about Bales had come either from unnamed military officials or Browne.
Rebels ignite clashes outside Syrian capital
BEIRUT - Syrian rebels ignited a new front Friday outside the capital, Damascus, in the first significant fighting there since regime forces swept over the suburbs weeks ago. The clashes highlight the shifting nature of Syria's conflict, with rebels lying in wait to rise up when the regime turns its guns elsewhere.
The return of violence to the Damascus suburbs raises questions about how long troops can control areas before they re-erupt. Though government forces have shown they can crush armed fighters, the regime has appeared unable to conduct major offensives in more than one place at once.
That points to the likelihood that a conflict that is now a year old and is estimated to have killed more than 8,000 could grind on as it slides closer to a civil war.
Diplomatic efforts have so far brought no result, but U.N. envoy Kofi Annan told the Security Council in a briefing Friday that he was determined to continue his mission and would return to Damascus. Talks last week between Annan and Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus saw no progress in attempts to cobble together peace talks between the two sides.
After the confidential briefing via videolink, Annan told reporters in Geneva that he urged the council "to speak with one voice as we try to resolve the crisis in Syria." Russia and China have blocked council action against Assad's regime.
Santorum pushes for upset in Illinois primary
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Playing for another upset, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum urged conservatives Friday to further upend the nominating contest by putting Illinois in his column.
Swamped in the state's ad battle, Santorum told thousands in a Christian high school's gymnasium that they can "shake up this race like no state can shake it up."
The former Pennsylvania senator appealed to social and tea party conservatives to take out their frustration in a place where the Republican Party has had a poor track record and tilts toward the moderate.
"No one is expecting us to do well here in Illinois," he said.
Santorum said voters might not see him on TV as much as rival Mitt Romney but that they can expect to be flooded with calls and other pleas for votes before Tuesday's primary.
Wild weather extremes hit U.S. in March
WASHINGTON - America's weather is stuck on extreme.
Nearly 11 feet of snow has fallen on Anchorage, Alaska, this winter. That's almost a record, and it's forcing the city to haul away at least 250,000 tons of snow. Yet not much snow has dropped on the Lower 48 this year.
The first three months of 2012 have seen twice the normal number of tornadoes. And 36 states set daily high temperature records Thursday. So far this month, the U.S. has set 1,757 daily high temperature records. That's similar to the number during last summer's heat wave, said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Six rare, but not unprecedented, March tornadoes struck Thursday in Michigan, which also set 26 heat records. Temperatures were in the 80s in some parts of the state.
In Dexter, Mich., a twister unleashed winds of 135 mph and lingered on the ground for a full half-hour, plowing a path of destruction that stretched for 10 miles. But not a single person was seriously hurt. Authorities credited storm sirens that provided more than 20 minutes of warning.
Nationwide, there have been 132 tornadoes confirmed in January and February, with preliminary reports of more than 150 already in March.
- The Associated Press