As Pakistan mourns, prime minister vows to defeat militants
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — In an emotional televised address, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed Monday to hunt down and defeat the militants who have been carrying out attacks like the Easter bombing that targeted Christians and killed 72 people.
“We will not allow them to play with the lives of the people of Pakistan,” Sharif said. “This is our resolve. This is the resolve of the 200 million people of Pakistan.”
As the country began three days of mourning after Sunday’ suicide bombing in the eastern city of Lahore in a park crowded with families, Sharif said the army would forge ahead with a military operation on extremist hideouts and police will go after what he called the “cowards” who carried out the attack.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway Taliban faction that supports the Islamic State group, claimed responsibility and said it specifically targeted Christians.
But most of those killed were Muslims who also had been in the popular park for the holiday. Many women and children were among the victims, and dozens of families held tearful funerals Monday for their slain relatives. At least 300 people were wounded.
Man shot by police after drawing weapon at US Capitol
WASHINGTON (AP) — Capitol Police shot a man on Monday after he pulled a weapon at a U.S. Capitol checkpoint. The suspect was taken to a local hospital and a female bystander sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The U.S. Capitol was on lockdown for about an hour and the White House also was briefly locked down. As Washington teemed with spring tourists in town to view the cherry blossoms, staff members and visitors to the Capitol were rushed into offices and told to shelter in place.
The suspect was known to officers, Capitol Chief of Police Matthew R. Verderosa told reporters. However, he would not confirm reports that it was the same man who disrupted the House chamber last fall by shouting.
That man, Larry Dawson, was issued a “stay away order” by D.C. Superior Court in October, ordering him to keep away from the Capitol grounds, court documents show.
The event unfolded with Congress on recess and lawmakers back in their districts.
Justice Department cracks iPhone; withdraws legal action
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI said Monday it successfully used a mysterious technique without Apple Inc.’s help to hack into the iPhone used by a gunman in a mass shooting in California, effectively ending a pitched court battle between the Obama administration and one of the world’s leading technology companies.
The government asked a federal judge to vacate a disputed order forcing Apple to help the FBI break into the iPhone, saying it was no longer necessary. The court filing in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California provided no details about how the FBI did it or who showed it how. The FBI is reviewing the information on the iPhone, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Apple did not immediately comment on the development.
The brief court notice left important questions unanswered: Who showed the FBI how to break into iPhones? How did the government bypass the security features that Apple has invested millions of dollars to build into its flagship product? Are newer iPhones vulnerable to the same hacking technique? Will the FBI share its information with scores of state and local police agencies that said they also need to break into the iPhones of criminal suspects? Will the FBI reveal to Apple how it broke its security? Did the FBI find anything useful on the iPhone?
Trump, Ryan increasingly at odds over future of the GOP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump wants to win the White House in the fall. Paul Ryan wants to save his vision of the Republican Party for years to come.
Those goals put Trump and Ryan increasingly at odds over both tone and substance as the businessman barrels toward the GOP presidential nomination. While Ryan is appealing for political civility and a party rooted in traditional conservative principles, Trump is bucking campaign decorum and embracing policy positions that are sharply at odds with years of GOP orthodoxy.
Their starkly different visions for the Republican Party are a microcosm of the broader fissures roiling the GOP. And if Trump does become the Republican nominee, he and the House speaker’s ability to work together could be the first test of whether a party in this much turmoil can stay together.
“Trump’s obviously running on issues that are contrary to conservatives and at odds with what a lot of what Paul Ryan believes,” said Peter Wehner, a former adviser to President George W. Bush.
For now, Trump and Ryan are engaged largely in a cold war, with the politicians only occasionally mentioning each other by name. Ryan has picked key moments to draw implicit contrasts with Trump, including condemning the billionaire’s refusal to take responsibility for violence at his rallies. Trump will launch the next volley Tuesday when he campaigns in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, ahead of the state’s April 5 primary.
Greece to set up loudspeakers at border camp
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Greek government said Monday it will set up loudspeakers at the country’s border with Macedonia to try and persuade thousands of refugees and migrants to ignore false rumors that the Balkan route to central Europe will reopen.
More than 15,000 people — nearly a third of the total stranded in Greece — are refusing to move to government-built shelters around the country, and remain at the border with Macedonia and at the port of Piraeus, near Athens.
A spokesman for a government refugee crisis committee said authorities were struggling to counter false rumors on social media that borders could reopen.
“People who are under strain and living in difficult conditions are receiving false reports … when people are desperate, rumors spread like wildfire,” Kyritsis told state television.
“We are sending a team of translators (to the border) and loudspeakers will be set up to make public announcements,” he said.
Macedonia’s parliament, meanwhile, voted Monday to extend the state of emergency in regions bordering Greece and Serbia till the end of the year because of the ongoing migrant crisis.
