Nation and World briefs for August 11

Police shooting, protests put Ferguson back on edge after anniversary of Michael Brown’s death

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Ferguson was a community on edge again Monday, a day after a protest marking the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death was punctuated with gunshots and police critically wounded a black 18-year-old accused of opening fire on officers.

Police, protesters and people who live and work in the St. Louis suburb were bracing for what nightfall might bring following more violence along West Florissant Avenue, the same thoroughfare that was the site of massive protests and rioting after Brown was fatally shot last year in a confrontation with a white Ferguson officer.

“Of course I’m worried,” said Sandy Sansevere, a retired health care worker who volunteers at the retail store operated by the nonprofit group I Love Ferguson, which was formed after Brown’s death to promote the community. “What scares me are the guns.”

The father of the suspect who was shot called the police version of events “a bunch of lies.” He said two girls who were with his son told him he was unarmed and had been drawn into a dispute involving two groups of young people.

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency, which authorizes county Police Chief Jon Belmar to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.

Clinton calls for campaign finance reform, group backing her gets $1M from untraceable donors

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton told a cheering crowd at her largest rally so far that “the endless flow of secret, unaccountable money” must be stopped. Two weeks later, the main super PAC backing her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination accepted a $1 million contribution that cannot be traced.

The seven-figure donation, made June 29 to the pro-Clinton Priorities USA Action, came from another super political action committee, called Fair Share Action. Its two lone contributors are Fair Share Inc. and Environment America Inc., according to records filed with Federal Election Commission.

Those two groups are nonprofits that are not legally required to reveal information about their donors. Such contributions are sometimes called “dark money” by advocates for stricter campaign finance rules.

“This appears to be an out-and-out laundering operation designed to keep secret from the public the original source of the funds given to the super PAC, which is required to disclose its contributors,” said Fred Wertheimer, director of one such group, the Washington-based Democracy 21.

Wertheimer urged Priorities to return the money and said that Clinton should demand that the super PAC “publicly disclose all of the original sources of money” of any contribution it receives.

Day of heavy violence in Istanbul: attack at US consulate, car bomb at police station

ISTANBUL (AP) — Two female assailants opened fire at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul on Monday and at least six Turkish security forces were killed elsewhere in a day of heavy violence in Turkey, where a government crackdown has targeted Islamic State militants, Kurdish rebels and far-left extremists.

Turkey has seen a sharp spike in clashes between security forces and rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in the a wake of its campaign against PKK targets in Iraq in tandem with airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria. Hundreds of suspected militants have also been rounded up at home.

No one was hurt in the attack on the U.S. Consulate, which came just weeks after Turkey agreed to take a more active role in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State group and to allow the U.S.-led coalition to use its bases in the fight against IS. On Sunday, the U.S. military announced that a detachment of six F-16 fighter jets and some 300 personnel had arrived at Turkey’s southern Incirlik Air Base.

A far-left group that carried out a 2013 suicide bombing on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara claimed it was involved in the attack.

Both assailants fled, and one was later shot and taken into custody. The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army-Front, or DHKP-C identified her as 51-year-old Hatice Asik and said she was a member of the group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Turkey. The other assailant was still at large.

Wisconsin girls accused of stabbing classmate to please horror character to be tried as adults

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge ruled Monday that two 13-year-old girls accused of stabbing a classmate to please the online horror character Slender Man will stay in adult court, where they could face a sentence of decades in prison.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren said he was worried that the girls would stop receiving mental health treatment and be released into the community with no supervision when they exited the juvenile system at age 18. Keeping them in the adult system would protect people longer, the judge said.

“The real issue is what happens in a few years,” Bohren said. “They’ve committed an offense that was … frankly vicious.”

The two girls, both wearing dresses and in shackles, said nothing during the 45-minute proceeding. One of them bounced in her chair until a bailiff whispered to her. She spent the rest of the hearing hunched over and glancing at the ceiling. The girls’ attorneys also said nothing to the judge.

One of their attorneys, Maura McMahon, told reporters outside the courtroom that she was “of course” disappointed and her client didn’t understand what had happened. She said she planned to discuss an appeal with the girl and the attorney then left. The other defense attorneys and prosecutors departed without speaking to reporters.

Court records: Suspect in death of Vermont social worker ‘calm and laughing’ after shooting

BARRE, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont woman charged with killing a social worker because she was upset about losing custody of her 9-year-old daughter was “calm and laughing” as police arrived on the scene minutes after the shooting, according to court records released Monday.

Jody Herring, 40, pleaded not guilty in Vermont Superior Court on Monday and was ordered held without bail. She was arrested Friday following the death of Lara Sobel who police say was shot twice in the upper extremities — including once when she was already on the ground — as she exited the Barre office building that houses the regional office of the state Department for Children and Families that afternoon.

Police also believe that before shooting the 48-year-old Sobel, Herring shot and killed her own two cousins and an aunt in the neighboring town of Berlin. Charges have not been filed in connection with the deaths of Regina Herring, 43, and Rhonda Herring, 48, the suspect’s cousins; and Julie Falzarano, 73, an aunt.

In an affidavit, police officers said Washington County State’s Attorney Scott Williams who was inside the building that houses DCF, heard the shots and when he got to the scene, he saw Herring standing near Sobel’s body still holding the .270-caliber hunting rifle. Williams was able to get the gun from her and he and bystanders subdued her.

When police arrived, Herring was “very calm and laughing,” the affidavit said. Later on, she was still talking about the shooting “like it was no big deal,” officers said.

In Pakistan, horror grows over allegations of children being sexually abused by blackmail ring

HUSSAIN KHAN WALA, Pakistan (AP) — In this dusty town near Pakistan’s border with India, families kept quiet for years about the blackmail gang that locals believe filmed some 270 children being sexually abused, fearful the videos could appear online or sold in markets for as little as 50 cents.

Those living in Hussain Khan Wala say the gang forced children at gunpoint to be abused or drugged them into submission. It was only after one family spoke up that others rose against the gang, with police later arresting 11 suspects.

But as Pakistan recoils in horror at the scope of the abuse, the case shows the dangers here facing poor children, many of whom work as domestic servants and face abuse at the hands of their employers. It also raises questions about how such a gang could operate for years, with some questioning Pakistan’s police and political elite.

“They destroyed me,” one victim said. “They destroyed my family. They just killed me”

The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual abuse.

GOP statehouses are talking about calling a constitutional convention, but odds are still long

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — With Republicans controlling more than half the state legislatures across the country, some want to use that power to push for a federal spending limit through a mechanism unused since George Washington’s day.

Their plan: Persuade enough states to call a national constitutional convention so that a federal balanced budget amendment can be added to the Constitution.

It would be a historic move. The United States has not held a constitutional convention since Washington himself led the original proceedings in Philadelphia in 1787.

“Everywhere I’d go at town hall meetings, people would say, ‘What are we going to do? There’s no hope. How do we fix our country?’ And the fact is, this gives great hope,” said former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, an outspoken budget hawk and longtime supporter of a federal balanced budget amendment.

There also are risks if the movement succeeds. A convention could expand to take on myriad issues beyond the federal budget, including campaign finance reform and other changes sought by Democrats.

Hillary Clinton proposes $350 billion plan to make college affordable, reduce student debt

WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling for a “new college compact,” Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday unveiled a $350 billion plan aimed at making college more affordable and reducing the crushing burden of student debt.

At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, the state with the highest average student debt in the country, Clinton proposed steps to reduce the cost of four-year public schools, make two-year community colleges tuition-free and cut student loan interest rates, according to campaign aides.

She pitched her plan as a public-private partnership, requiring a contribution from the federal government and states, the colleges and universities and students themselves.

“Americans will have to work hard to put themselves through school to out-learn and out-hustle our competitors, just like we always have,” she told voters gathered at a high school in Exeter, New Hampshire.

The college affordability plan, a main plank of her policy platform, is an effort to address a major financial stress for many American families and satisfy a central demand of the Democratic party’s liberal wing.