8 slain by gunman in Virginia
State police copter lands with ruptured fuel tank
APPOMATTOX, Va. — A lone shooter killed eight people in central Virginia, with seven bodies found at one home, police said Tuesday.
State police said they believed that officers had surrounded the suspect in woods near the home. The eighth shooting victim was found on the side of a road and died on the way to the hospital, police said. All the victims were adults and both men and women were killed, state police Sgt. Thomas Molnar said.
Police refused to speculate on a motive and would not say what type of weapon was used.
State police could not say what sparked the violence.
The bloodshed paralyzed the rural area in southwestern Virginia as police swarmed forests trying to flush out the suspect who, at one point in the manhunt, fired at a state police helicopter, forcing it to land with a ruptured fuel tank. No police were injured.
Canine units and a National Guard helicopter with thermal imaging equipment were being used to search the wooded area late Tuesday.
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The violence began shortly after noon when an injured man was found on a rural stretch of road. A deputy who went to investigate fled after he heard gunshots, said police spokeswoman Corrine Geller.
“When the deputy arrived on the scene, that’s when he heard several shots,” Molnar said.
Residents near the shooting scene were told to remain inside, and a small Christian school was locked down until state police could escort about 60 children from the building.
Resident Bethel Hawkins said police warned families to remain inside with their doors locked.
“We’re just being cautious, keeping our doors locked, not going outside,” said Hawkins, who lives about two miles up the road from where the shootings occurred. “Our church service is supposed to be tonight, but we talked with our pastor and told him we’re not coming out.
“We’re not going out in the dark not knowing what’s out there,” she said. “But we trust in the Lord to take care of us.”
New England’s biggest tree gets the ax
YARMOUTH, Maine — A worker removes sawdust Tuesday from the stump of Herbie, which was New England’s largest and oldest elm tree. Herbie stretched 110 feet into the sky before it was cut down Tuesday after a long battle with Dutch elm disease. The tree was believed to be 212 years old, but a precise age will be determined after the rings on the stump are examined under magnification.
NATION
Report: Prison converts have traveled to Yemen
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials believe that as many as three dozen Americans who converted to Islam while in prison in the United States have traveled to Yemen over the past year, possibly to be trained by al-Qaida, according to a Senate report.
The arrivals have alarmed U.S. counterterrorism officials, who believe that al-Qaida in Yemen has expanded its recruitment efforts “to attract nontraditional followers” for more ambitious operations.
The report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee underscores the growing anxiety in the U.S. about the al-Qaida offshoot, which is accused of orchestrating the attempted Christmas suicide bombing of a U.S. jetliner bound for Detroit.
“The Christmas Day plot was a nearly catastrophic illustration of a significant new threat,” the report concluded. It warns of “growing evidence of attempts by al-Qaida to recruit American residents and citizens in Yemen, Somalia and within the United States.”
Storm batters California
LOS ANGELES — The second in a series of storms roared into Southern California on Tuesday, bringing heavy rains and winds that smashed windows, submerged cars and flipped an SUV along a stretch of coastline.
The thunderstorm surged ashore with fierce winds in southern Los Angeles County beach towns and areas of Orange and San Diego counties.
Low-lying beach communities found some streets underwater and other roadways turned into muddy swamps in the aftermath of the fast-moving storm.
WORLD
Iran rejects U.N. proposalon exporting uranium
VIENNA — Iran has told the head of the U.N. nuclear agency that it does not accept an international proposal committing it to quickly export most of the material it would need to make a nuclear warhead, diplomats said Tuesday.
For months, Iranian officials have used the media to criticize the plan backed by most of the world’s major powers and to offer alternatives to one of its main conditions — that the Islamic Republic ship out most of its stock of enriched uranium and then wait for up to a year for its return in the form of fuel rods for its Tehran reactor.
Iran’s response to the International Atomic Energy Agency effectively rejects the demand that it agree to a tight timetable in shipping out most of its enriched uranium supply, the diplomats said.
Rally for slain activists
MOSCOW — More than 500 activists rallied Tuesday in Moscow in memory of a human rights lawyer and a journalist slain a year ago, and more than 20 of them were detained by police.
The killing of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova on Jan. 19, 2009, caused an international outcry. They were gunned down by a masked man on a busy central street after they had attended a daytime news conference.
Though the rally was sanctioned by authorities, activists were banned from marching along a downtown boulevard. The demonstrators moved to ignore the ban, chanting “Fascists kill! Authorities cover them up!” and riot police detained some of them.
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Election ban worries U.S.
BAGHDAD — The banning of hundreds of mostly Sunni candidates from participating in Iraq’s upcoming elections is testing the limits of U.S. influence in Iraq even as American troops prepare to draw down later in the year.
U.S. diplomacy has shifted into high gear in recent days in an attempt to pressure Iraqi government officials into finding a way out of a crisis that many fear could seriously destabilize the country before and after March 7 elections.
The 515 banned candidates — a number that keeps growing — belong mostly to Sunni and secularist parties that oppose the dominance of Shiite religious parties in the current government.
The candidates have been barred because of their alleged ties to the Baath Party, which ruled Iraq under the late President Saddam Hussein. A clause in Iraq’s Constitution forbids former Baathists from holding public office.
THE NEWSMAKER
Change N.J.? New governor says he can
Republican Chris Christie was sworn in Tuesday as New Jersey’s 55th governor, vowing to deliver far-reaching change he said voters elected him to bring about. “You voted loudly and clearly for change, and you have entrusted us with what may be our last, best hope for a stronger New Jersey,” he said. “You voted for change and today change has arrived.” The state is plagued by a nearly $10 billion deficit and unemployment near 10 percent.