AP News in Brief

AP News in Brief

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8.8-magnitude Chile earthquake damages buildings, setting off tsunami. President says 16 dead

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, collapsing buildings, killing at least 16 people and downing phone lines. President Michele Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile and said the death toll was rising.

Tsunami warnings were issued over a wide area, including Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Antarctica and Australia.

"We have had a huge earthquake, with some aftershocks," Bachelet said, appealing from an emergency response center for Chileans to remain calm. "Despite this, the system is functioning. People should remain calm. We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately."

Bachelet said early reports were that 16 people had been killed, and "without a doubt, with an earthquake of this magnitude, there will be more deaths."

She urged people to avoid traveling in the dark, since traffic lights are down, to avoid causing more fatalities.

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Jails installing eye-scanning equipment to stop inmates from bluffing their way to freedom

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A Baltimore inmate who bluffed his way out of prison probably wouldn't have tricked guards if they had eye-scanners such as those being installed at dozens of jails nationwide.

The federal government is paying for the scanners as part of an effort to build a nearly foolproof identification system to put a stop to such escapes.

"After this occurrence, we will be studying whatever we can do to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again," including iris scanners, said Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Maryland Division of Corrections, which oversees the facility that mistakenly released Raymond Taylor.

Taylor was serving three life sentences for shooting his ex-girlfriend and her two teenage daughters. He impersonated his cellmate Thursday and was released. He was arrested the following day in West Virginia.

The eye-scanning program looks to put an end to such deception. The U.S. Justice Department has given a $500,000 grant to the National Sheriff'sAssociation, which is doling out the money through $10,000 grants to about 45 agencies across the country that will create a national database that better identifies, registers and tracks inmates, said Fred Wilson, who is leading the association's effort.

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US, Afghan forces clear last area of former Taliban stronghold of Marjah

MARJAH, Afghanistan (AP) - Marines and Afghan troops who fought through the center of Marjah linked up Saturday with American soldiers on the northern edge of the former Taliban stronghold, clearing the town's last major pocket of resistance.

The joint force encountered almost no hostile fire, indicating that the militants have either fled or blended in with the local population - perhaps to stage attacks later if the Afghan government fails to hold the town. Some Taliban operatives are believed to remain west of Marjah.

Establishing a credible local government is a key component of NATO's strategy for the 2-week-old offensive on the Taliban's longtime logistical hub and heroin-smuggling center. Earlier in the week, the government installed a new town administrator, and several hundred Afghan police have begun to patrol the newly cleared areas.

After a grueling four-day march, Marines and Afghan troops succeeded Saturday in linking up with an Army Stryker battalion on Marjah's northern outskirts.

"Basically, you can say that Marjah has been cleared," said Capt. Joshua Winfrey, commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines Regiment.

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Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants kill 11 in attack on southern Philippine village

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants raided a village in the southern Philippines early Saturday, killing 11 people in the country's worst militant attack on civilians in nine years.

Gunmen fromthe extremist Abu Sayyaf group backed by renegade Muslim separatist rebels fired grenade launchers and automatic rifles on houses while residents were asleep, killing one government-armed militiaman and 10 civilians in the village of Tubigan on Basilan Island, said deputy regional police commander Sonny David.

"The villagers were sleeping when the Abu Sayyaf came with their guns blazing. They spared no one, not even the children," David said.

The attack came in the wake of the recent killing of an Abu Sayyaf commander and the arrest of two key members. Government forces had been told to be on alert for reprisal attacks.

"It's a normal thing for them to retaliate," David said. "We're not lowering our guards, particularly at soft targets like markets, schools, churches, piers and public utility terminals."

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Surprise and confusion after Puerto Rico voids birth certificates to combat identity theft

WASHINGTON (AP) - Native Puerto Ricans living outside the island territory are reacting with surprise and confusion after learning their birth certificates will become no good this summer.

A law enacted by Puerto Rico in December mainly to combat identity theft invalidates as of July 1 all previously issued Puerto Rican birth certificates. That means more than a third of the 4.1 million people of Puerto Rican descent living in the 50 states must arrange to get new certificates.

The change catches many unaware.

Julissa Flores, 33, of Orlando, Fla., said she knew nothing about Puerto Rico's law.

"I was planning a trip and now I don't know," she said. "Do I need to go get a passport? If my birth certificate is invalid, am I stuck here?"

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Charging ahead on health bill, Democrats see glimmer of hope - but odds still seem long

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats pushed hard to revive President Barack Obama's stalled health care overhaul on Friday - and pointed to glimmers of hope - but the long odds facing them seemed little changed after Obama's extraordinary summit with both parties' leaders.

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama would unveil a "way forward" next week on legislation that has been his foremost domestic priority. Obama, who will first discuss the strategy with Democratic congressional leaders, said at Thursday's bipartisan marathon that he's open to several Republican ideas, including medical malpractice changes.

There were signs of intensified activity on Capitol Hill.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and top adviser David Axelrod discussed health care in an early evening meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. And a spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said White House officials have asked the senator to submit details of suggestions he made at Thursday's meeting on rooting out fraud from the medical system.

In addition, a pair of retiring Democrats who opposed the legislation when the House approved it in November appeared willing to reconsider. And some supporters of a House provision strictly banning federal financing for abortion - a complicated sticking point - indicated an openness to different language.

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Utility crews battling elements to restore power to 1M customers in winter-weary Northeast

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Utility crews pushed through deep drifting snow, fallen trees and downed power lines Saturday to restore electricity to more than a million homes and businesses that lost power a day earlier as a slow-moving winter storm pounded the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and hurricane-force winds.

Snowfall amounts varied throughout the Northeast, but nearly every state was left to deal with the fallout of powerful, gusting winds that created near-blizzard conditions in some areas that have faced three strong storms this month.

Power failures were severe and widespread, ranging from more than 330,000 in New Hampshire, to over 200,000 in Connecticut and New York and more than 100,000 in Maine and Massachusetts at the storm's peak.

The highest wind reported was 91 mph off Portsmouth, N.H. - well above hurricane force of 74 mph. Gusts also hit 60 mph or more from the mountains of West Virginia to New York's Long Island and Massachusetts.

Power was slowly being restored, but efforts by utility crews were being hampered by uprooted trees and fallen utility poles.

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New York governor abandons bid for full, 4-year term under pressure from fellow Democrats

NEW YORK (AP) - Calling himself an everyday fighter, Gov. David Paterson quietly put an end to the talk that he would prolong his long-shot bid to stay in office, hoping to stave off a string of critics who said he was a failed leader with fading support.

But the announcement that the governor for 300-plus more days won't seek election may not be enough to quiet growing questions and a criminal investigation into Paterson's handling of an abuse complaint against a top aide.

Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat who will likely run for the office Paterson will leave, is heading a probe into whether the Paterson administration, and the governor himself, improperly intervened in a domestic violence case involving one of Paterson's most trusted aides, David Johnson.

At his announcement Friday, Paterson was characteristically defiant when addressing his role in how the domestic violence case was handled by the administration.

Raising his right hand beside his wife, Michelle, he told a crowded press room: "I give you this personal oath. I have never abused myoffice. Not now, not ever. I believe that when the facts are reviewed, the truth will prevail."

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Wash. teacher killed outside elementary school before classes; deputy shoots suspect

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - The stalking began with bursts of phone calls - 10 or 15 in a day, about once a year, from an old college acquaintance. Then, flowers and unwanted visits, an anti-harassment order, an arrest - and bail.

Jennifer Paulson, a 30-year-old special education teacher at a Tacoma elementary school, knew she was in danger this week when her alleged stalker was released from the Pierce County Jail, three days after she had him arrested. She started staying away from her home in an attempt to avoid him.

It didn't work. When she showed up for work Friday morning, he was already there - and had been waiting for hours, according to reports neighbors gave police. Paulson was shot more than once as she walked into the school. Her body lay near the base of a large evergreen tree with blood seeping from her mouth.

A Pierce County sheriff's deputy tracked down the suspected killer, Jed R. Waits, 30, of Ellensburg, outside a daycare about 10 miles away and killed him in a shootout.

"She was a very kind, merciful, loving person," her father, Ken Paulson, said. "That's probably why she was a special education teacher - because she loved so much."

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SeaWorld readies for 1st performance since killer whale attack, trainer's death

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Throngs of people will crowd the crescent-shaped SeaWorld amphitheater Saturday to watch the first killer whale show since an orca named Tilikum killed a trainer a few days ago.

This performance will be much different from past shows.

Trainers won't be allowed in the water, meaning the spectacular stunts, like whenthe handlers surf on top of the whales or are thrown into the air, won't be done. And a video tribute is planned for Dawn Brancheau, the 40-year-old veteran trainer who was rubbing the 12,000-pound giant when he grabbed her ponytail and pulled her in.

Protesters who think the killer whales should be released into the wild planned to demonstrate outside the park, where red balloons and flowers have been left in memory of Brancheau.

SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment President Jim Atchison said Friday trainers won't swim with the killer whales until officials finish reviewing what happened to Brancheau.

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