World/Nation February 23, 2015
Somalia extremists urge attacks on US shopping malls
JOHANNESBURG - A video purported to be by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebel group al-Shabab urged Muslims to attack shopping malls in the U.S., Canada, Britain and other Western countries.
U.S. authorities said there was "no credible" evidence suggesting a U.S. mall attack was in the works.
The threat by the al-Qaida affiliate came in the final minutes of a more than hourlong video released Saturday in which the extremists also warned Kenya of more attacks like the September 2013 assault on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in which 67 people were killed.
The masked narrator concluded by calling on Muslims to attack shopping malls, specifically naming the Mall of America in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, as well as the West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Westfield mall in Stratford, England. The authenticity of the video could not be immediately verified by The Associated Press.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security provided local law enforcement agencies and private sector partners with "relevant information regarding the recent al-Shabab propaganda video," DHS press secretary Marsha Catron said in a statement.
"However, we are not aware of any specific, credible plot against the Mall of America or any other domestic commercial shopping center," Catron said.
The Bloomington Police Department said additional security measures had been put in place at the Mall of America, one of the largest malls in the nation.
Tsarnaev's lawyer has saved notorious clients from death
BOSTON - With her arm around the young man's back, she gives him a gentle pat and leans in to whisper something to him. Judy Clarke could be his mother, with this simple, comforting gesture, but she is not.
She is a defense lawyer and he is accused of bombing the Boston Marathon.
Clarke has defended those accused of horrific and infamous crimes, including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Atlantic Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph and Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner, who killed six people and injured 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in 2011. She saved all of them from the death penalty and hopes to do the same for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man accused in the 2013 marathon bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
In what has become a familiar refrain in Clarke's career, she faces tough odds. Tsarnaev, 21, faces a total of 30 charges in the bombings and the killing days later of an MIT police officer; 17 of the charges carry the possibility of the death penalty.
Clarke said she found it natural to devote her career to defending the accused.
"You're dealing with liberty," she told the newspaper. "It's the ultimate in legal issues to me, whether or not someone is free."
Nearing $100: Disney hikes ticket prices at US theme parks
LOS ANGELES - Visiting Mickey and Minnie just got more expensive.
The Walt Disney Co. raised ticket prices to attend Disneyland, Walt Disney World and the rest of its U.S. theme parks, effective Sunday.
A one-day ticket for either Disneyland or California Adventure in Anaheim, Calif., is now $99 for anyone 10 or older, the company said. That's up from $96.
Single-day tickets for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., are now $105, up from $99.
Disney has continued to see strong attendance growth at its theme parks and resorts.
For the quarter ended Dec. 27, revenue for the segment rose 9 percent to $3.9 billion, as attendance at the company's California and Florida parks climbed 7 percent, with Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort each setting all-time quarterly attendance records.
AP poll: Most back Obama plan to raise investment taxes
WASHINGTON - The rich aren't taxed enough and the middle class is taxed too much. As for your taxes, you probably think they're too high as well.
Those are the results of an Associated Press-GfK poll that found that most people in the United States support President Barack Obama's proposal to raise investment taxes on high-income families.
The findings echo the populist messages of two liberal senators - Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont - being courted by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to run for president in 2016. The results also add weight to Obama's new push to raise taxes on the rich and use some of the revenue to lower taxes on the middle class.
- The Associated Press