World/Nation Briefs September 28, 2014
Authorities: Police officer shot in Ferguson
FERGUSON, Mo. - Authorities said a police officer was shot Saturday night in Ferguson, Mo., the scene of racial unrest in the wake of the August shooting death of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer.
Tim Zoll of the Ferguson Police Department said the officer was shot in the arm.
St. Louis County Police spokesman Brian Schellman told The Associated Press that an officer was shot but said he had no further information.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear. The city has been the scene of unrest since the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old, by a white police officer.
The Saturday shooting comes after Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson issued a videotaped apology earlier in the week and attempted to march with protesters, an effort that led to a clash with activists and several arrests on Thursday.
Messages left with Jackson and spokesmen Saturday night were not immediately returned.
A county grand jury is weighing whether to indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in Brown's shooting.
The Justice Department, which is investigating whether Brown's civil rights were violated, is conducting a broader probe into Ferguson police.
Chelsea Clinton celebrates daughter's birth
WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said they are "blessed, grateful, and so happy" to become grandparents.
Their daughter, Chelsea, gave birth Friday night to her first child, Charlotte.
Chelsea Clinton announced the news on Twitter and Facebook early Saturday, saying she and husband Marc Mezvinsky are "full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky."
The former president and first lady said in the statement on Saturday, "Chelsea is well and glowing. Marc is bursting with pride. Charlotte's life is off to a good start."
The baby was born at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where the Mezvinskys live.
US struggling with opposition in Syria
BEIRUT - The U.S. is struggling to counter anger among the Syrian opposition, where many believe that the air campaign against extremists in the country is only helping President Bashar Assad and that Washington is coordinating with Damascus, despite American insistence it backs the rebel cause.
Since the U.S.-led campaign of air raids and missile strikes in Syria began last Tuesday, American officials - many of them Arabic-speaking - have been making appearances on Arab TV stations, explaining U.S. goals. They have repeatedly denied any cooperation with the Syrian government and say Washington still seeks Assad's removal.
But the messaging seems to be making little headway. The anger among the opposition over the air campaign points to a central difficulty in the U.S. strategy: The main aim of the international coalition it has assembled is to defeat the Islamic State group - which has taken over much of Syria and neighboring Iraq - but in Syria it is Assad's government that is best placed to benefit from blows to the extremists.
Most Syrian rebel factions sharply oppose the Islamic State extremist group and have lost hundreds of fighters trying to prevent it from taking over territory. The Free Syrian Army, an umbrella group of relatively moderate rebel factions, has welcomed the air campaign.
But resentment is high among the opposition that, after ignoring their pleas for greater help against Assad for years, Washington finally took action only to counter radicals it sees as a danger to U.S. interests.
Iran-6 power talks continue in name
UNITED NATIONS - First there were three nations negotiating with Tehran over its nuclear program. Then six. And now, mostly one - the United States.
Washington insists that the Iran-six power negotiations are alive and well. But with a deadline to a deal only eight weeks away, the U.S. is increasingly reshaping the talks it joined five years ago into a series of bilateral meetings with Iran as the two nations with the greatest stakes race to seal a deal - and strengthen ties broken more than three decades ago.
The shift began in 2009 when the U.S. thawed its 30-year freeze on talking to Tehran - in place since the Iranian revolution and siege of the American Embassy - and joined other nations at the nuclear negotiating table.
- The Associated Press