Chief Jack Harris criticizes immigration law

The police chief of Arizona’s largest city said on Friday the state’s controversial new crackdown on illegal immigrants would likely create more problems than it solved for local law enforcement.U.S.The remarks by Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris came as U.S. Senate Democrats vowed to push ahead with their uphill bid to pass legislation this year overhauling the nation’s immigration laws, saying the furor in Arizona has given them a lift despite a lack of support from Republicans.

Arizona’s week-old law calls for state and local police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the United States illegally. It has outraged Latinos, civil rights activists and organized labor.With polls showing the crackdown has broad public support in Arizona and nationwide, Harris said at a news conference he understood Americans’ frustration over illegal immigration.

But he criticized the new law as unlikely to solve problems caused by any of the estimated 10.8 million people who are in the United States illegally.”I don’t really believe that this law is going to do what the vast majority of Americans and Arizonans want, and that is to fix the immigration problem,” he said. “This law … adds new problems for local law enforcement.”

Harris said asking officers to determine immigration status during an investigation would interfere with their primary job and “instead tells us to become immigration officers and enforce routine immigration laws that I don’t believe we have the authority to enforce.”The chief said his force already had 10 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in its violent crime unit and that the law provided no additional enforcement tools.

“We have the tools that we need to enforce the laws in this state, to reduce property crime and reduce violent crime, to go after criminals that are responsible for human smuggling,” and other border-related crimes,” Harris said.Republican backers say the law is needed to curb crime in the desert state, which is home to some 460,000 illegal immigrants and is a furiously trafficked corridor for drug and migrant smugglers from Mexico.Phoenix, the state capital and a clearing house for unauthorized immigrants and drugs headed to cities across the United States, has recently averaged one drug-related kidnapping nearly every day.

POLICE DIVIDED

Revealing stark divisions among police in the Phoenix valley over immigration, an Arizona sheriff known for cracking down hard on undocumented migrants continued a two-day immigration and crime sweep in the west of the city on Friday afternoon.Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s “crime suppression” drives have led to allegations of racial profiling. Deputies stopped and arrested at least 63 people for minor offenses who could not prove they were in Arizona legally since the operation began on Thursday.In Washington, Democrats have been accused of playing election-year politics by proposing a comprehensive immigration overhaul that critics insist has little chance of success.

The Senate draft proposal, quickly endorsed by President Barack Obama, includes calls for bolstered border security, new sanctions on U.S. employers who hire illegal immigrants and high-tech identification cards that all U.S. workers would be required to carry.Senate Democrats appear to lack support from their Republican colleagues, however, and time is running out for legislative action before the November congressional election.

Republican Orrin Hatch, a member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, said Americans did not trust Washington to solve the illegal immigration problem.”Law-abiding immigrants, ranchers, farmers and families have no confidence that Washington can stop the drug traffickers, gangs and even those low-enough to traffic human beings from illegally coming into the United States,” Hatch said late on Thursday.”Instead of fixing our broken borders, Washington politicos are playing a cynical game of introducing so-called immigration reform that I fear will turn into nothing more than amnesty,” Hatch said.

The uproar unleashed by the Arizona law has galvanized Latinos and is expected to translate into higher turnout at annual May Day rallies in more than 70 cities nationwide on Saturday.Organizers say the crowds on the streets, from Los Angeles to New York, could be the biggest since 2006, when hundreds of thousands of marchers urged former President George W. Bush to overhaul federal immigration laws.(Reuters)

President Barack Obama will seek to build momentum with China in his push for sanctions on Iran as world leaders assemble in Washington on Monday

Obama will hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao before hosting high-level delegations from nearly 50 countries for the opening of the global conference, where the focus will be on how to prevent nuclear terrorism.In the one-on-one meeting with Hu, Obama hopes to cement China’s commitment to help ratchet up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program after Beijing agreed to join serious talks about possible new U.N. sanctions on Tehran.

The two leaders will also try to nurture a thaw in Sino-U.S. relations after tensions spiked in recent months over a range of issues. Financial markets will be seeking further signs of China giving ground over its currency valuation.The Washington summit is the culmination of a hectic week of nuclear diplomacy for Obama and comes a year after he laid out a vision of a world free of atomic weapons.It follows close on the heels of Obama’s unveiling of a revamped U.S. nuclear doctrine limiting the use of atomic arms and the signing of a landmark post-Cold War treaty with Russia pledging to cut their nuclear arsenals by a third.

At home, Obama’s conservative critics say his arms-control strategy is naive and could compromise U.S. national security.Despite that, the two-day summit the biggest U.S.-hosted assembly of world leaders in six decades — will be a test of Obama’s ability to rally global action on his nuclear agenda.Speaking on the eve of the conference, Obama said he expected it to yield “enormous progress” toward the goal of locking down loose nuclear materials worldwide.

“We know that organizations like al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon, a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using,” Obama told reporters, calling it the biggest threat to national security.A draft final communique shows leaders will pledge to work toward safeguarding all “vulnerable nuclear material” within four years and take steps to crack down on nuclear smuggling.

NOT ON AGENDA BUT ON SUMMITEERS’ MINDS

Iran and North Korea are not on the guest list or the summit agenda. But their nuclear standoffs with the West are sure to figure heavily in Obama’s talks with Hu and other leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will sit down with the U.S. president on Tuesday after the summit is over.With Obama pushing to get new sanctions in place against Iran within weeks, China — after months of delay — reluctantly agreed to join in crafting a U.N. resolution. But Obama has yet to completely overcome Beijing’s skepticism.

The West wants to deter what it sees as a covert drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, while Tehran says it has only peaceful intentions, focused on generation of electricity.The list of leaders in attendance will range from heads of state of traditional nuclear powers like Russia and France to nuclear-armed foes like India and neighboring Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani assured Obama in talks on Sunday his government has “appropriate safeguard” for its nuclear arsenal. Experts say Pakistan’s stockpile of weapons-grade material poses a high risk because of internal security threats from the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Missing will be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who withdrew fearing Muslim leaders would use the summit as a forum to demand Israel give up its assumed nuclear arsenal.Still, nuclear-defiant Iran will be the summit’s sub-text.In Prague last week, Obama persuaded President Dmitry Medvedev to keep pressure on Iran, but the Russian leader made clear there remain limits to Moscow’s support for sanctions.

For its part, a defiant Iran has dismissed the summit’s chances for success “as long as some nuclear-armed countries … are constantly preoccupied with the idea of depriving other countries of the peaceful use of nuclear technology.”Hu’s decision to attend the summit is seen as part of a two-way effort to get relations back on track after months of bickering over China’s currency, its Internet censorship, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Days after Beijing announced Hu’s participation, Washington said it would delay a decision scheduled for mid-April on whether to declare China a currency manipulator.China, meanwhile, has signaled it may be close to revaluing its yuan currency. In a pivotal congressional election year, the Obama administration has pressured Beijing to scrap its currency peg, saying it hurts U.S. business and jobs.(Reuters)

Israel approved the construction of houses illegally on Palestinian land in East Jerusalem as many as 3336 housing units during March

Ramallah  – Israel approved the construction of houses illegally on Palestinian land in East Jerusalem as many as 3336 housing units during March, according to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Monday. The giant project, including construction of 1600 housing units in the Jewish settlement of Ramat Shlomo and 600 other homes near these settlements, the report said. Meanwhile, the Jerusalem regional government has set a plan and is awaiting approval to build more houses 50,000 units in the coming months, according to the report.

Last month, the United States did not reach agreement with Israel on the Tel Aviv latest plan to build Jewish settlements in the West Bank including Jerusalem. Failure to achieve agreement came after a two-day visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S.. Discussion between Prime Minister Netanyahu and U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell has been completed but did not resolve the dispute between the two countries, U.S. officials said.

U.S. President Barack Obama in his meeting with Netanyahu demanded that the Jewish state in order to rebuild trust resumed peace talks with the Palestinians. Obama-Netanyahu meeting comes amid tension that rarely happens between the U.S. and Israel relate to American demands to freeze all Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank. U.S. believes that Israel’s settlement building activities for the Jewish settlers disrupt the prospect of peace talks with the Palestinians.

Israel, Washington’s anger when the government announced the construction of 1600 houses in East Jerusalem, during U.S. Vice-President, Joe Biden, a visit to Tel Aviv. Later, a cabinet minister of Israel apologized for the attitude of Israel which is considered insulting VP nominee Joe Biden. “This attitude should not need to happen in one visit that the vice president of the United States. For that we should express apology for this blunder.” said Welfare Minister Isaac Herzogliter Isreal. Palestinian government said the plan to build homes near Jerusalem that can shut off any opportunity to revive peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine.( Xinhua-Oana)

The White House is warning Iran's leader to take seriously a year-end deadline over its nuclear program

The White House

WASHINGTON The White House is warning Iran’s leader to take seriously a year-end deadline over its nuclear program, responding sternly to defiant language by the Iranian president.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE’-neh-zhahd) on Tuesday dismissed a looming deadline from the Obama administration and its allies for Tehran to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. President Barack Obama wants Iran to respond to an offer of dialogue and show it will allay fears of weapons development.Otherwise, Washington and its allies are warning of new, tougher sanctions on Iran.White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Ahmadinejad may not recognize the deadline but “it is a very real deadline for the international community.”

The suspect in the fatal shooting of four police officers

Seattle, Washington The suspect in the fatal shooting of four police officers kept authorities at bay early Monday seven hours after a massive manhunt tracked him to a house in an east Seattle neighborhood.Authorities had been looking for Maurice Clemmons in connection with an “ambush” Sunday morning at a coffee shop near Tacoma in Pierce County. Four officers  three males, one female died in the attack.Authorities identified the victims as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Officer Ronald Owens, 37; Officer Tina Griswold, 40; and Officer Greg Richards, 42. All four had been with the department since its inception, and all of them were parents.

Witnesses told police they had seen Clemmons struck in the leg by a bullet while he struggled with an officer during the attack.Early Monday, authorities started identifying Clemmons as a suspect, rather than as someone wanted for questioning.Police were not looking for anyone else, but had arrested several people who had “helped” Clemmons, said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.The night before the shootings, Clemmons had threatened to kill police officers, but witnesses did not report those threats till after the slayings, Troyer told “Good Morning America.”

About 8 p.m. Sunday, police received word that Clemmons had holed up in a home in the Leschi neighborhood.Police blocked off streets and asked residents to stay inside with their doors locked.Not knowing the extent of Clemmons’ wounds, paramedics stood by to assess his condition once the standoff ended.At 4:30 a.m., police were preparing to send a robot door-to-door in the cluster of residences that make up the property where Clemmons is believed to be hiding, said Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel.

Repeated attempts to make contact with Clemmons were unsuccessful, he said.Clemmons is a convicted criminal with a long rap sheet who had a 95-year prison sentence commuted in 2000 by then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.Huckabee, a Republican presidential candidate in 2008, is considering a run for president in 2012.”Should [Clemmons] be found responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state,” Huckabee’s office said in a statement Sunday night.

Clemmons, 37, of Pierce County has an “extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated robbery and theft,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.He also was recently charged in Pierce County in the assault of a police officer and rape of a child, according to the statement.Troyer said Arkansan law enforcement officials had indicated that they were willing to forgo Clemmons’ warrants in that state to avoid extraditing him if needed.Clemmons was sentenced to 95 years in prison in 1989 for a host of charges, including robberies, burglaries, thefts and bringing a gun to school.During a pretrial hearing, he hid a piece of metal in his sock, media reports at the time said. Before the start of another hearing, he grabbed a padlock off his holding cell and threw it at a court bailiff. He missed, and the lock hit his mother, who had come to bring him clothes.

Huckabee cited Clemmons’ young age — 17 at the time of his sentencing — when he announced his decision to commute the sentence, according to newspaper articles.Clemmons was paroled in August 2000, after serving 11 years of his sentence.”It was not something I was pleased with at the time,” said Larry Jegley, who prosecuted Clemmons for aggravated robbery and other charges in Pulaski County, Arkansas. “I would be most distressed if this is the same guy.”Huckabee’s office said Clemmons’ commutation was based on the recommendation of the parole board that determined that he met the conditions for early release.”He was arrested later for parole violation and taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him,” the statement said.CNN could not immediately confirm the account. But the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper reported that a year after his release, Clemmons was arrested for aggravated robbery and theft.

He was taken back to prison for parole violation. But, said the paper, he was not served with the arrest warrants for the robbery and theft charges until he left prison three years later, in 2004.His attorney argued the charges should be dismissed because too much time had passed by then. Prosecutors dropped the charges.Clemmons is thought to have moved to Washington that year, and for a while ran a pressure-washing and landscaping business. The license for the business expired last month, according to the secretary of state’s office, with which businesses have to register.In recent months, Clemmons has displayed increasingly erratic behavior, the Seattle Times reported. In May, he punched a sheriff’s deputy in the face, the paper said.In another incident, he had relatives undress, telling them families need to be “naked for at least five minutes on Sunday,” the newspaper said, citing a sheriff’s department incident report.

Clemmons also believed he was Jesus and could fly, a deputy wrote, based on conversations with family members.After serving several months in jail on a pending charge of second-degree rape of a child, Clemmons was released on bond six days ago, according to the Seattle Times.Sunday’s shooting was the first for the Lakewood police department, which was created five years ago for the town of nearly 60,000. Until then, the Pierce County sheriff’s office provided law enforcement services there.The four officers were awaiting the start of their shift at a coffee shop in Parkland, a unincorporated community just south of Lakewood and about 10 miles from Tacoma.

The officers were in uniform and had marked patrol cars parked outside.The shop on Steele Street is a popular hangout for law enforcement officers and is one of 22 Forza Coffee Co. locations in Washington.”As a retired police officer, this senseless shooting hits extremely close to home to me,” Brad Carpenter, chief executive officer of Forza, said in a statement on the company’s Web site.The attack occurred without warning.”There’s not going to be a big motive other than he was upset about being incarcerated and was going to go gunning after cops in general,” Troyer told reporters.

The shooter walked past the officers to the counter as if to order coffee before he pulled the gun out of his coat and opened fire at 8:15 a.m., the sheriff’s office said.

Two of the officers were “executed” as they sat at a table, said Troyer, the sheriff’s spokesman.Another was shot when he stood up and the fourth was shot after struggling with the gunman all the way out the door, Troyer said.Two baristas and other customers inside the shop were unharmed. “Just the law enforcement officers were targeted,” Troyer said, calling the shooting an ambush.

“What happened in there wasn’t just a shooting,” he told reporters. “After, we believe, some of the officers were shot, one of them managed to fight his way with the suspect — fight his way, wrestle, fight all the way out the the doorway until he was shot and died of a gunshot wound.Witnesses told police they had seen the suspect hit by a gunshot. Investigators checked area hospitals to determine whether the gunman sought medical treatment. A $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest.