World/Nation
Attorney general Holder bids farewell after 6-year tenure
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder bid farewell to the Justice Department on Friday after six years, outlining what he said were his major accomplishments and telling staffers they helped produce a "golden age" in the department's history.
An emotional Holder, who has served as the nation's top law enforcement official since the start of the Obama administration, addressed hundreds of lawyers and staff members one day after his successor, Loretta Lynch, was confirmed by the Senate following a months-long delay.
The event also included a tribute video prepared for the occasion that featured members of Congress, former President Bill Clinton and Holder's wife, Sharon Malone. In it, Holder described an "emotional attachment" to the department and recounted efforts to protect civil rights, prosecute terror suspects in federal court and change the criminal justice system. Other clips showed President Barack Obama showering Holder with praise on the day Holder announced his departure.
Holder, a former judge and U.S. attorney who took the job in 2009, will exit the department as the third-longest serving attorney general in U.S. history. He has not publicly announced what he'll be doing next.
Police: Gray should have received medical care at the spot
BALTIMORE - In the clearest acknowledgement of failure yet, Baltimore police said Friday that Freddie Gray should have received medical attention at the spot where he was arrested - before he was put inside a police van.
Officers missed "multiple" opportunities to give him medical attention and once inside the van, Gray should've been buckled into a seat belt. The department's acknowledgement came at a news conference after a week of intense scrutiny and near-daily demonstrations over what protesters say is police mistreatment of blacks in Baltimore and throughout the country.
Gray was taken into custody April 12 and at some point - either during his arrest or inside the van - he suffered a mysterious spinal injury. Authorities have not explained how or when it occurred. Six officers have been suspended with pay.
Commissioner Anthony Batts said it was possible Gray was injured before the van ride, but also possible he suffered in a "rough ride" - where officers hit the brakes and take sharp turns to injure suspects in the back of vans.
Gray, who is black, was arrested after he made eye contact with officers and ran away, police said. Officers held him down, handcuffed him and loaded him into a police van. While inside, he became irate and leg cuffs were put on him, police have said.
UN says fighting in Yemen has killed 550 civilians
SANAA, Yemen - With combatants fighting in neighborhoods and Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounding Iran-backed rebels from the sky, Yemen's war is wreaking a particularly bloody toll among civilians: more than 550 have been killed in the past month, including 115 children, the U.N. said Friday.
Amnesty International said in a new report that some of the airstrikes it examined in the capital of Sanaa and four other cities raise "concerns about compliance with international law," saying they appeared to have failed to take precautions to avoid civilian casualties.
The air campaign that began March 26 "has transformed many parts of Yemen into a dangerous place for civilians," the report said. "Millions of people have been forced to live in a state of utter terror, afraid of being killed in their homes." It said about 150,000 people have fled their homes the past month.
So far, relatively muted criticism from world leaders has been unable to force an end to the violence in the Arab world's poorest country. More civilian areas were hit Friday by warplanes, including a stadium in the southern town of Zinjibar and a courthouse in the town of Lahj, witnesses said. Casualties were not immediately known.
Saudi Arabia leads a coalition of other Gulf countries, Egypt and Sudan, in the campaign against Iranian-allied Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who have taken over much of Yemen.
Attorneys for Harris: 2009 memo raised concerns
TULSA, Okla. - Several members of an Oklahoma sheriff's department raised serious concerns years ago about the performance and training of a volunteer deputy now charged in the fatal shooting of a restrained suspect, according to a report released Friday by lawyers for the dead man's family.
Lawyers for Eric Harris released a Tulsa County Sheriff's Office memo outlining an investigation into Robert Bates, 73, who says he confused his handgun for his stun gun during an April 2 sting involving gun sales. Bates has pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter in Harris' death.
Bates is a longtime friend to Sheriff Stanley Glanz, serving as his insurance agent for 25 years and his re-election campaign manager in 2012. Bates is white and Harris was black, but the victim's brother has said he doesn't believe the shooting was racially motivated.
The 2009 report says Bates, who had joined the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office less than a year earlier, had argued with a dispatcher, improperly used a personal vehicle on the job and had inadequate training for a role as an advanced reserve deputy.
The report concludes Bates didn't receive special treatment for admittance into the program because no advanced deputy had fully met internal standards. It did, however, find that Bates received special treatment that included department leaders' ignoring complaints about his performance.
- The Associated Press