Nation & World briefly for Feb. 21

Libya launches harshest crackdown yet in wave of rebellions sweeping Arab world

CAIRO (AP) - Security forces loyal to Libya's Moammar Gadhafi unleashed heavy gunfire Sunday on thousands marching in a rebellious eastern city, cutting down mourners trying to bury victims in a bloody cycle of violence that has killed more than 200 people in the fiercest crackdown on the uprisings in the Arab world.

Protests were even reported to have spread to downtown Tripoli and a coastal city only about 45 miles (about 70 kilometers) to the west of the capital. In Benghazi, site of the funeral clashes, pro-Gadhafi forces were chased from a presidential compound by other troops sympathetic to the anti-government demonstrators, a witness said.

Western countries expressed concern at the rising violence against demonstrators in oil-rich Libya, which is sandwiched between friendly neighbors Egypt and Tunisia - where long-serving leaders were successfully toppled in recent weeks. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he told Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, that the country must embark on "dialogue and implement reforms," the Foreign Office said.

In the first-known defection from Gadhafi's regime, Libya's representative to the Arab League said he resigned his post to protest his government's decision to fire on defiant demonstrators in the second-largest city of Benghazi. Also, a major tribe in Libya was reported to have turned against Gadhafi.

"We are not afraid. We won't turn back," said a teacher who identified herself only as Omneya. She said she was marching at the end of the funeral procession on a highway beside the Mediterranean and heard gunfire from two kilometers (just over a mile) away. "If we don't continue, this vile man would crush us with his tanks and bulldozers. If we don't, we won't ever be free."

___

Wisconsin Senate leader says chamber will take floor action even with Democrats gone

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin Republicans on Sunday upped the pressure on Democrats who fled to Illinois to return home and vote on an anti-union bill, with the governor calling them obstructionists and a GOP lawmaker threatening to convene without them.

Gov. Scott Walker said the 14 minority Democrats who left Madison on Thursday were failing to do their jobs by "hiding out" in another state. And Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said his chamber would meet Tuesday to act on non-spending bills and confirm some of the governor's appointees even if the Democrats don't show up - a scenario that should outrage their constituents.

Senate Democrats acknowledged that the 19 Republicans could pass any item that doesn't spend state money in their absence. The budget-repair bill they have been blocking requires a quorum of 20 senators to pass, while other measures require only a simple majority of the chamber's 33 members.

Nonetheless, Democrats said they were standing firm in their opposition to the budget-repair bill, which would take away the right of most public employees to collectively bargain for their benefits and working conditions. Hundreds of protesters filled the Capitol for a sixth straight day, noisily calling on Walker to drop the plan they consider an assault on workers' rights.

___

If spending impasse leads to government shutdown, lawmakers wonder who would draw blame

WASHINGTON (AP) - Few memories haunt Republicans more deeply than the 1995-96 partial shutdown of the federal government, which helped President Bill Clinton reverse his falling fortunes and recast House Republicans as stubborn partisans, not savvy insurgents.

Now, as Congress careens toward a budget impasse, government insiders wonder if another shutdown is imminent - and whether Republicans again would suffer the most blame.

Leaders of both parties say they are determined to avoid a shutdown. But they have not yielded on the amount of spending cuts they will demand or accept. Meanwhile, shutdown talk is rippling through Washington and beyond.

"It's good for political rhetoric to talk about a government shutdown. But I don't know anybody that wants that to happen," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said on "Fox News Sunday."

Behind the scenes, Senate officials are spending Congress' President's Day recess week poring over the spending proposal passed by the House early Saturday, according to one Democratic leader.

___

Afghan officials, NATO investigate claims that 64 civilians were killed in fighting in north

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Tribal elders in a remote part of northeastern Afghanistan claimed Sunday that NATO forces killed 64 civilians in air and ground strikes over the past four days. The international coalition denied the claim, saying video showed troops targeting and killing dozens of insurgents.

Coalition and Afghan officials plan to go to the Ghazi Abad district of Kunbar province, a hotbed of the insurgency, on Monday to investigate. Civilian casualties have been a constant source of friction between coalition troops and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Tribal elders told the provincial governor that air strikes hit a village in the area and that "women and children had been killed inside their houses," said Nawrdin Safi, a member of the Kunar provincial council.

Kunar province police chief Gen. Khalilullah Ziayi said local residents claimed 15 men, 20 women and 29 children or young adults were killed during operations in the area, about 190 kilometers (117 miles) east of Kabul.

NATO said video of the operations show troops targeting and killing between 35 and 40 armed insurgents along steep, rugged cliffs.

___

Pirates: Warship shadowing hijacked yacht with 4 Americans on board; yacht nears Somali coast

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - A warship is shadowing a yacht with four Americans on board that was hijacked by Somali pirates, a pirate said Sunday, as the vessel was reported to be moving closer to the Somali coast.

The yacht Quest was hijacked on Friday off the coast of Oman, but is now in the waters between Yemen and northern Somalia, two pirates and a Somali government official told The Associated Press.

One pirate who gave his name only as Hassan said a warship with a helicopter on its deck is near the Quest.

The pirate's claim could not be independently verified, and U.S. officials on Sunday did not release any information about the yacht. A U.S. Embassy spokesman on Saturday said officials were assessing options and "possible responses."

Hassan told the AP he is speaking directly with the pirates aboard the hijacked yacht. A second pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein and a Somali official in Puntland who asked not to be named both said the Quest is in between Yemen and Somalia and heading closer to Puntland, a haven for pirates on Somalia's northern tip.

___

Texas poised to become 2nd state allowing concealed handguns on university campuses

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms.

More than half the members of the Texas House have signed on as co-authors of a measure directing universities to allow concealed handguns. The Senate passed a similar bill in 2009 and is expected to do so again. Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who sometimes packs a pistol when he jogs, has said he's in favor of the idea.

Texas has become a prime battleground for the issue because of its gun culture and its size, with 38 public universities and more than 500,000 students. It would become the second state, following Utah, to pass such a broad-based law. Colorado gives colleges the option and several have allowed handguns.

Supporters of the legislation argue that gun violence on campuses, such as the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois in 2008, show that the best defense against a gunman is students who can shoot back.

"It's strictly a matter of self-defense," said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. "I don't ever want to see repeated on a Texas college campus what happened at Virginia Tech, where some deranged, suicidal madman goes into a building and is able to pick off totally defenseless kids like sitting ducks."

___

Engine failure forces Delta flight to make emergency landing at Fla. airport after takeoff

MIAMI (AP) - A Delta plane's engine failed in mid-air over Florida, forcing the flight to make an emergency landing Sunday morning, authorities said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said it was a so-called "contained" engine failure, meaning small parts such as fan blades came out the back of the engine. A more dangerous scenario would be if the pieces penetrated the engine's cover and were uncontained.

It was not immediately clear what caused the failure, Bergen said.

Sheriff's deputies recovered pieces of what appeared to be the damaged engine from an area near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said Broward County Aviation Department spokesman Greg Meyer.

The plane returned to the airport shortly after its 7:45 a.m. takeoff and landed safely, Meyer said.

___

Border state congress asks Mexico to ban video game based on Ciudad Juarez shootouts

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) - A shoot-em-up video game set in the border town of Ciudad Juarez has angered local officials who are busy fighting all-too-real violence.

Chihuahua state legislators said Sunday they have asked federal authorities to ban a the game, "Call of Juarez: The Cartel," which is based on drug cartel shootouts in Ciudad Juarez.

About 6,000 people died in drug-related violence in Ciudad Juarez in 2009 and 2010, making the city, located across from El Paso, Texas, one of the deadliest in the world.

The web site of game developer Ubisoft Entertainment SA says the title is due for release this summer. Screen shots from the game show three characters armed with a pistol, an assault rifle and a shotgun ready to open fire on a city street.

The game's promotional slogan urges players, "Take justice into your own hands and experience the lawlessness of the modern Wild West." No one answered a message left at the company's San Francisco office.

___

Neeson's 'Unknown' wins weekend with $21.8M debut; 'Number Four' is No. 2 with $19.5M

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Liam Neeson has proven himself a known quantity again at the box office.

Neeson's thriller, "Unknown," debuted as the No. 1 movie with $21.8 million, following in the footsteps of his 2009 action hit "Taken," according to studio estimates Sunday.

Another action tale, "I Am Number Four," opened at No. 2 with $19.5 million.

A Warner Bros. release, "Unknown" stars Neeson as a botanist who awakens from a coma to find his wife claims she does not know him and that another man has taken his identity.

DreamWorks' "I Am Number Four" stars Alex Pettyfer as a teenage alien refugee on Earth who develops superpowers to battle the evil invaders that destroyed his planet. It was the first DreamWorks movie released under the company's distribution deal with Disney.