‘As Americanized as anyone else’: Investigators work to uncover gunman’s motive
‘As Americanized as anyone else’: Investigators work to uncover gunman’s motive
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Hailey Bureau still recalls the quote her high school classmate Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez selected for his yearbook photo: “My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?”
Abdulazeez was apparently borrowing a wisecrack from a well-known American Muslim blogger, and Bureau said it was considered a joke at the time.
“Now it’s very morbid,” she said, a day after the 24-year-old Kuwait-born Abdulazeez opened fire on two U.S. military sites in Chattanooga in an attack that left four Marines dead and raised the specter of terrorism on American soil.
A picture emerged Friday of Abdulazeez as a likable, outgoing young man who enjoyed a laugh, made the wrestling team and seemed “as Americanized as anyone else,” yet was clearly aware of what set him apart at his Chattanooga high school.
What’s not clear — to counterterrorism investigators and to neighbors and former classmates — is what set him on the path to violence that ended with him being gunned down by police.
More than 300 people injured as commuter trains collide during rush hour in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A commuter train crashed into another passenger train during rush hour Friday in South Africa’s largest city injuring more than 300 people, an emergency services spokeswoman said.
Nana Radebe, spokeswoman for Johannesburg Emergency Services, said 326 people were rushed to nearby hospitals with minor to serious injuries. No fatalities were reported.
“For now we have removed people with minor to serious injuries, but none critical,” she said, adding that firefighters searched for commuters who may have been trapped inside the train cars.
The trains were on the same track, Radebe told The Associated Press, and it appeared that a traveling train collided with a stationary train.
“What we do know is that one vehicle rear ended the other,” said Russel Meiring, a spokesman for ER24, a private emergency service.
Greece’s Tsipras makes changes to government as bailout pushes ahead
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s proposed bailout cleared further key hurdles Friday after German lawmakers overwhelmingly gave their backing to another financial rescue and the European Union said it would release a short-term loan to ensure Athens avoids a debt default.
The developments, along with the Greek parliament’s approval early Thursday of creditor-demanded austerity measures, contributed to a positive initial assessment from Europe’s bailout fund. In a statement, the European Stability Mechanism said it approved a “decision to grant, in principle, stability support to Greece in the form of a loan program.”
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, meanwhile, reshuffled his cabinet after a rebellion earlier this week in his party’s ranks over the austerity measures, replacing two ministers who voted against him and changing another eight ministers and deputy ministers.
Though the broad outlines of the Greek bailout were agreed Monday by the eurozone’s 19 leaders, the ESM’s decision formally kick-starts the process by which Greece begins negotiating the details.
The discussions, which are expected to last four weeks, will include economic targets and reforms deemed necessary in return for an anticipated 85 billion euros ($93 billion) over three years.
State police say 2 killed, 3 wounded in Maine shooting rampage, ex-con to face murder charges
LEE, Maine (AP) — State police say a former convict shot five people, two of them fatally, during a rampage across several northern Maine towns before being captured.
They say a man was assaulted and guns were stolen before the shootings began early Friday in three different communities. Police also believe the suspect set fire to a barn Thursday night.
Investigators say 35-year-old Anthony Lord was arrested without incident Friday at a family member’s home in Houlton. They say a woman who was with him wasn’t harmed.
Police say Lord faces murder charges. They are searching for a motive for the shootings that left 58-year-old Kevin Tozier and 22-year-old Kyle Hewitt dead. Two other men and a woman were injured.
GOP presidential candidates pledging to overturn Obama’s Iran deal would face big obstacles
WASHINGTON (AP) — Unhappy with President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran? Republicans running for the White House are vowing to rescind the agreement, some on their first day in office.
But it may not be that easy.
If Iran lives up to its obligations, a new president could face big obstacles in turning that campaign promise into U.S. policy. Among them: resistance from longtime American allies, an unraveling of the carefully crafted international sanctions, and damage to U.S. standing with the rest of the world, according to foreign policy experts.
“The president does not have infinite ability to get other countries to go along with them,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “One of the consequences is the United States would be increasingly isolated at a time when Iran is increasingly integrated with the rest of the world.”
Both Obama and Republicans know firsthand the difficulties of dismantling major policies, a task that only gets harder the longer a policy has been in place.