Amazing Informations: 2012-02-26

Thursday, March 1, 2012

U.S. sees 'more of the same' from new N.Korea leader

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New North Korean leader Kim Jung-un looks unlikely to depart from the nuclear brinkmanship, threats to his region and repression of his father and grandfather, the top U.S. military commander for the Asia-Pacific region said on Tuesday.

"He's a Kim, and he's surrounded by an uncle and Kim Jong-il's sister and others that I think are guiding his actions," said Admiral Robert Willard, head of U.S. Pacific Command.

"So in that sense, we would expect ... more of the same. The strategy has been successful through two generations," he told a U.S. Senate Armed services Committee hearing in Washington.

"It wouldn't surprise us to see an effort to make the strategy work for a third," added Willard.

The Hawaii-based admiral described the hereditary Kim strategy as one that "embraces nuclearization, missile development, WMD proliferation, provocations and totalitarian control over North Korean society."

Kim Jong-un, 29, is the son of the former leader Kim Jong-il, who died suddenly in December having built a state with nuclear weapons capacity and presided over a famine that killed millions of North Koreans in the 1990s.

In the communist world's first hereditary succession, Kim Jong-il took over the impoverished country of 23 million people when his father, state founder Kim Il-sung, died in 1994.

"We're observing closely for signs of instability or evidence that the leadership transition is faltering," said Willard.

"We believe Kim Jong-un to be tightly surrounded by (Kim Jong-il) associates, and for the time being the succession appears to be on course," he added.

Willard's testimony comes after North Korea threatened on Saturday to wage a "sacred war" in response to joint military exercises planned by South Korea and the United States.

The sabre-rattling by North Korea followed talks with the United States last week on its nuclear program and food aid, the first under Kim Jong-un. Willard said cooperation with North Korea to recover the remains of U.S. soldiers missing since the 1950-53 Korean War was set to resume soon.

Kim Jong-un, as "a young man and relatively untested," could be open to "those around him may have some differences of opinion regarding the direction that North Korea heads" and the influence of China, said Willard.

(Reporting By Paul Eckert)

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Leader of 'Texas 7' prison-break gang put to death

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The leader of the fugitive gang known as the "Texas 7" was executed Wednesday for killing a suburban Dallas police officer during a robbery 11 years ago after organizing and pulling off Texas' biggest prison break.

George Rivas, 41, from El Paso, received lethal injection for gunning down Aubrey Hawkins, a 29-year-old Irving police officer who interrupted the gang's holdup of a sporting goods store on Christmas Eve in 2000. The seven inmates had fled a South Texas prison about two weeks earlier.

The gang was caught in Colorado about a month after the officer's death. One committed suicide rather than be arrested. Rivas and five others with lengthy sentences who bolted with him were returned to Texas where they separately were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die.

Rivas became the second of the group executed.

"I do apologize for everything that happened. Not because I'm here, but for closure in your hearts," Rivas said Wednesday evening in a statement intended for Hawkins' family. "I really do believe you deserve that."

The slain officer's relatives were absent, but four officers who worked with him and the district attorney who prosecuted the case attended on his family's behalf. They stood in the death chamber watching through a window just a few feet from Rivas.

The inmate thanked his friends who were watching through another window and said he loved them. A Canadian woman whom Rivas recently married by proxy, also looked on.

"I am grateful for everything in my life," Rivas said. "To my wife, I will be waiting for you."

Ten minutes later, at 6:22 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

More than two dozen police officers in uniforms stood quietly in a line outside the Huntsville prison during the execution, then walked in unison to stand behind the state criminal justice spokesman as he announced Rivas' death.

Texas' parole board voted 7-0 this week to reject a clemency petition for Rivas. No 11th-hour appeals were made to try to head off the execution, the second this year in the nation's most active death penalty state.

Rivas and accomplices he handpicked for the escape broke out of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Connally Unit, about an hour south of San Antonio, on Dec. 13, 2000. They overpowered workers, stole their clothes, broke into the prison armory for weapons and drove off in a prison truck.

They left behind an ominous note: "You haven't heard the last of us yet."

While out of prison, they supported themselves by committing robberies.

Hawkins was shot 11 times and run over with a stolen SUV driven by Rivas as the gang held up a sporting goods store closing on the holiday eve. They drove off with loot that included $70,000 in cash, 44 firearms and ammunition for the guns.

They were arrested a month later in Colorado, ending a six-week nationwide manhunt. One of the fugitives, Larry Harper, committed suicide as officers closed in.

In 2008, accomplice Michael Rodriguez, 45, who at the time of the breakout had a life term for arranging the slaying of his wife, ordered his appeals dropped and was executed. The four others remain on death row awaiting the outcome of court appeals.

"Today is not about George Rivas," said Toby Shook, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Rivas and the others for Hawkins' death. "Today is about justice for Aubrey Hawkins and Aubrey's fellow police officers."

Rivas planned the escape while serving 17 life sentences for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery and another life sentence for burglary.

One of his trial lawyers, Wayne Huff, has said Rivas picked accomplices for the breakout "who probably were more dangerous than he was" and failed to consider they might get caught doing robberies.

"When that cop pulled up, no one knew what to do," Huff said, calling the officer's slaying "just a tragic situation."

Rivas and two other members of the fugitive gang were arrested at a convenience store near a trailer park in Woodland Park, Colo. Two others were in a motor home at the trailer park, where Harper shot himself to death. The last two were apprehended at a motel in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The men had told the people who ran the RV park they were Christian missionaries from Texas, but a neighbor recognized them as the case was profiled on the "America's Most Wanted" TV show and called police.

The four "Texas 7" members still awaiting execution are Patrick Murphy Jr. 49; Joseph Garcia, 40; Randy Halprin, 34; and Donald Newbury, 49. Newbury was set for injection in early February but was spared, at least temporarily, by a U.S. Supreme Court order.

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Still winless, upbeat Ron Paul vows to keep picking up delegates

Ron Paul may not have been a major player in tonight's primaries in Michigan and Arizona, but he promised to continue to be noisy in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

The congressman, speaking at a boisterous rally in Springfield, Va., addressed the fact that his campaign continues to be winless at 0-11.

"Everyone keeps asking me about winning states," said Paul. "We are winning delegates, and that's what counts."

Afterwards in an interview with CNN, the Texas congressman was more candid, saying that he wished he could have done a lot better tonight, but that he is proud of the strong support he continues to receive - especially from young people.

Paul was introduced by his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who joked that he's only there for a short time while the Transportation Safety Administration let him out.

As Ron Paul walked on stage, he wished his wife Carol a happy birthday.

Carol Paul, who celebrates her birthday on Feb. 29, stood next to her husband, embracing a bouquet of flowers, and smiled as the audience sang her "Happy Birthday."

The congressman quickly ran through his stump speech of ending foreign wars, protecting civil liberties, and controlling the Federal Reserve.

Paul, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, reminded the audience that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the committee Wednesday.

"Guess who might show up?" Paul said. "But don't count on getting any straight answers."

Paul said afterwards that his campaign will continue to focus on caucus states and selected primaries, including Virginia, where only he and Mitt Romney are on the ballot.

Paul said he will reach out to Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum supporters over the next week in an effort to defeat Mitt Romney in the state.

The congressman said the strategy will work because his message appeals to Democrats, independents, and to the Republican base.

Nuke plant chief: Fukushima still vulnerable

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima power plant remains fragile nearly a year after it suffered multiple meltdowns, its chief said Tuesday, with makeshift equipment — some mended with tape — keeping crucial systems running.

An independent report, meanwhile, revealed that the government downplayed the full danger in the days after the March 11 disaster and secretly considered evacuating Tokyo.

Journalists given a tour of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on Tuesday, including a reporter from The Associated Press, saw crumpled trucks and equipment still lying on the ground. A power pylon that collapsed in the tsunami, cutting electricity to the plant's vital cooling system and setting off the crisis, remained a mangled mess.

Officials said the worst is over but the plant remains vulnerable.

"I have to admit that it's still rather fragile," said plant chief Takeshi Takahashi, who took the job in December after his predecessor resigned due to health reasons. "Even though the plant has achieved what we call 'cold shutdown conditions,' it still causes problems that must be improved."

The government announced in December that three melted reactors at the plant had basically stabilized and that radiation releases had dropped. It still will take decades to fully decommission the plant, and it must be kept stable until then.

The operators have installed multiple backup power supplies, a cooling system and equipment to process massive amounts of contaminated water that leaked from the damaged reactors.

But the equipment that serves as the lifeline of the cooling system is shockingly feeble-looking. Plastic hoses cracked by freezing temperatures have been mended with tape. A set of three pumps sits on the back of a pickup truck.

Along with the pumps, the plant now has 1,000 tanks to store more than 160,000 tons of contaminated water.

Radiation levels in the Unit 1 reactor have fallen, allowing workers to repair some damage to the reactor building. But the Unit 3 reactor, whose roof was blown off by a hydrogen explosion, resembles an ashtray filled with a heap of cigarette butts.

A dosimeter recorded the highest radiation reading outside Unit 3 during Tuesday's tour — 1.5 millisieverts per hour. That is a major improvement from last year, when up to 10 sieverts per hour were registered near Units 1 and 2.

Exposure to more than 1,000 millisieverts, or 1 sievert, can cause radiation sickness including nausea and an elevated risk of cancer.

Officials say radiation hot spots remain inside the plant and minimizing exposure to them is a challenge. Employees usually work for two to three hours at a time, but in some areas, including highly contaminated Unit 3, they can stay only a few minutes.

Since the March 11 crisis, no one has died from radiation exposure.

Tuesday's tour, organized by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., or TEPCO, came as an independent group released a report saying the government withheld information about the full danger of the disaster from its own people and from the United States.

The report by the private Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation delivers a scathing view of how leaders played down the risks of the reactor meltdowns while holding secret discussions of a worst-case scenario in which massive radiation releases would require the evacuation of a much wider region, including Tokyo. The discussions were reported last month by the AP.

The report, compiled from interviews with more than 300 people, paints a picture of confusion during the days immediately after the accident. It says U.S.-Japan relations were put at risk because of U.S. frustration and skepticism over the scattered information provided by Japan.

The misunderstandings were gradually cleared up after a bilateral committee was set up on March 22 and began regular meetings, according to the report.

It credits then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan for ordering TEPCO not to withdraw its staff from the plant and to keep fighting to bring it under control.

TEPCO's president at the time, Masataka Shimizu, called Kan on March 15 and said he wanted to abandon the plant and have all 600 TEPCO staff flee, the report said. That would have allowed the situation to spiral out of control, resulting in a much larger release of radiation.

A group of about 50 workers was eventually able to bring the plant under control.

TEPCO, which declined to take part in the investigation, has denied it planned to abandon Fukushima Dai-ichi. The report notes the denial, but says Kan and other officials had the clear understanding that TEPCO had asked to leave.

But the report criticizes Kan for attempting to micromanage the disaster and for not releasing critical information on radiation leaks, thereby creating widespread distrust of the government.

Kan said he was grateful the report gave a favorable assessment of his decision to prevent TEPCO workers from abandoning the plant.

"I give my heartfelt respects to the efforts of the commission," he said in a statement. "I want to do my utmost to prevent a recurrence."

Kan has acknowledged in a recent interview with AP that the release of information was sometimes slow and at times wrong. He blamed a lack of reliable data at the time and denied the government hid such information from the public.

The report also concludes that government oversight of nuclear plant safety had been inadequate, ignoring the risk of tsunami and the need for plant design renovations, and instead clinging to a "myth of safety."

"The idea of upgrading a plant was taboo," said Koichi Kitazawa, a scholar who heads the commission that prepared the report. "We were just lucky that Japan was able to avoid the worst-case scenario. But there is no guarantee this kind of luck will prevail next time."

___

Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report from Tokyo. Follow Yamaguchi at http://twitter.com/mariyamaguchi and Kageyama at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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1 killed, 13 injured by possible tornado in Mo.

BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — At least one person has been killed in southwest Missouri as possible tornadoes whipped the Midwest, causing numerous injuries and significant damage.

Lt. Dana Eagan of the Dallas County Sheriff's Office says one person was killed and 13 others injured when a possible tornado hit a mobile home park south of Buffalo. She did not have any details on the person who died.

National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Griffin says that in Branson, Mo., there were at least a dozen injuries including people trapped in their homes. He says the apparent tornado moved through downtown Branson, heavily damaging the city's famous theaters.

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Virginia repeals one-a-month limit on handgun purchases

PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (Reuters) - Virginia repealed a one-per-month limit on handgun purchases on Tuesday, less than five years after a mentally-deranged student used handguns to massacre 32 people at Virginia Tech University in the worst single act of gun violence in U.S. history.

Governor Bob McDonnell, who is high on the list of possible 2012 Republican vice presidential candidates, signed the controversial legislation into law.

The limit had been on the books since 1993, when it was enacted in an effort to curb gun-smuggling operations. Virginia had a reputation as a state where gunrunners could arrange to purchase a volume of guns to sell on the streets of cities such as Washington, D.C. and New York.

Earlier this month, the state Senate voted 21-19 and the House of Delegates voted 66-32 to repeal the limit.

Supporters of the repeal said lifting the limit would bring Virginia into line with the majority of states. California, Maryland and New Jersey are the only others with such handgun purchasing limits, Republican Senator Charles Carrico Sr said.

Opponents worry about an increase in gun violence.

McDonnell signed the Virginia repeal law one day after a high school student opened fire at an Ohio school, killing three students and wounding two others. The shooting focused attention on gun violence in the United States.

The gun limit repeal is the latest of a raft of conservative measures the Virginia legislature has passed this year. They include requiring an ultrasound before a woman can have an abortion, a voter ID law opposed by Democrats and minority voters, and a proposal to allow citizens to use deadly force against any home invader.

(Editing by Greg McCune)

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Virginia Senate passes revised ultrasound abortion law

PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (Reuters) - The Virginia state Senate on Tuesday approved a law forcing a woman to have an ultrasound before an abortion but left out a provision harshly criticized by women's rights groups that might have required a more intrusive vaginal probe.

The vaginal probe proposal sparked an outcry last week and embarrassed Virginia's Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, who is high on the list of possible 2012 Republican vice presidential candidates.

In a rare political stumble for the popular governor, McDonnell, a staunch abortion opponent, withdrew his support for the vaginal probe clause minutes before it was to be debated by the Virginia House of Delegates.

The vaginal probe issue had arisen because some doctors said a heartbeat could not be detected in the first trimester of pregnancy using an abdominal ultrasound.

The state Senate approved the weaker ultrasound law by a 21 to 19 vote on Tuesday with an exemption for women whose pregnancy resulting from rape or incest is reported to police. The House, which had already approved the ultrasound law, will now consider the Senate amendments and then could send the proposed law to McDonnell for his signature.

The bill approved by the Senate would offer, rather than require, a woman undergo an additional invasive procedure such as a vaginal probe if the mandatory abdominal ultrasound fails to determine the age of the fetus.

Some female Democratic senators said the ultrasound bill was demeaning to women and that women would seek back alley abortions rather than endure the procedure.

"Women will die," said Senator L. Louise Lucas.

The Virginia measure also requires that the woman seeking an abortion be offered the chance to see the fetal image, and that a copy of the image would be in the woman's medical record at the abortion facility for seven years.

Six other states have passed laws requiring abortion providers to perform ultrasounds, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health issues.

While most of those states allow women to decline to view the image, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina require women to hear the provider's verbal description of the ultrasound.

The laws in Oklahoma and North Carolina have been challenged in court but an appeals court cleared the way for Texas to begin enforcing its law in January.

McDonnell's spokesman Jeff Caldwell said in an email to Reuters after the Senate vote that the governor, "looks forward to approving a common-sense ultrasound measure."

(Editing by Greg McCune)

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After losses, Santorum reaches out to women

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Although when he walked on the stage the race here had yet to be called for Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum gave an address that seemed to focus on some of the mistakes he has made over the past week.

"A month ago they didn't know who we are, but they do now," Santorum said, flanked by his wife, eldest daughter Elizabeth, and son John. "We came to the backyard of one of my opponents, in a race where people said, 'You know, just ignore it, you're going to have no chance here.' And the people of Michigan looked into the hearts of the candidates, and all I have to say is, 'I love you back.'"

The crowd was enthusiastic, with one man shouting, "I love you," but there was a sad tone in the air that began even before they took the stage, as the theme song to the "The Natural" played.

Santorum mentioned his 93-year-old mother, something he hasn't in previous speeches, and he told the audience in what seemed to be a pitch to female voters who might feel put off by some of his previous comments about women in the workplace, that his mother made more money than his father.

"She was someone who did get a job in the 1930s and was a nurse, and worked full time. She continued to work through my childhood years," Santorum said to the crowd that was heavy on families with young children. "She balanced time working different schedules. A professional who made more money than her husband."

Santorum's mother was a nurse and his father was a psychologist for the Veteran's Administration.

The former Pennsylvania senator also touted his wife's work experience, saying she was a "professional" as well, and thanked his daughter, Elizabeth, who has been on the campaign trail with him since the early days in Iowa.

"[Karen] worked as a nurse, but after we got married, she decided to walk away, yet didn't quit working. She was a mother, and also wrote two books," Santorum said, in what also seemed to be an appeal to female voters.

He spent most of his speech repeating the themes he does on the stump, including his mention of the Declaration of Independence, but this evening there was a twist on that, too.

"The men and women who signed that declaration wrote the final phrase, 'We pledge to each other our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor," Santorum said.

There were no women who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Longtime Santorum strategist John Brabender said it wasn't a direct appeal, but more about mentioning and thanking other people in the candidate's life besides his grandfather, who Santorum consistently talks about the trail. Brabender did acknowledge they have to "struggle with misperceptions" and said that is "something we will always be doing."

Brabender said they have won at least five districts here and tried to spin the loss that Santorum may come out of Romney's home state as the victor of the popular vote.

He said the campaign is "much better organized" than it has ever have before, but he called it the "MacGyver campaign," a reference to the TV series in which the main character is a special agent who is constantly able to create complex devices out of everyday objects.

"Every pundit, every opponent acknowledges the Santorum campaign does more with less," Brabender said. "And we are doing pretty darn well so far."

After the speech, Brabender told reporters they wouldn't call on Newt Gingrich to drop out of the race, but did urge "conservatives and tea party supporters" to "unify" to "stop a moderate like Mitt Romney."

During his speech, Santorum hardly mentioned his rival, Romney, who won his home state and received a phone call from Santorum conceding before he even took the stage. The call was made when Santorum was away from his advisers and just sitting with his family before he took the stage.

"I just congratulated him, he had a very good night," Santorum told reporters about the phone call.

Despite the loss - a win in Romney's home state would have been devastating - he said he "feels great."

"This was going to be Romney's night," Santorum told reporters while greeting supporters on the ropeline. "The question was going to be how big? And it wasn't very big. It is a two-person race right now. We are doing excellently."

Ohio shooting suspect described as 'fine person'

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) — The teenager suspected in an Ohio school shooting struggled with a broken family and did poorly in school, then appeared to turn himself around once he was taken in by grandparents and began to attend an alternative school, longtime neighbors and friends said Wednesday

To a person, they expressed disbelief at how the quiet but friendly boy could now be a suspect in a shooting that left three people dead and appears to have involved a gun that disappeared from his grandfather's barn.

"T.J. was a very fine person," Carl Henderson, a longtime neighbor of the suspect's grandparents, Thomas and Michelle Lane, said Wednesday. "Nice-looking man, very friendly, spoke to you, carried a conversation with you."

The gun, a .22 caliber revolver, was noticed as missing after Monday's shootings and fits the description of the pistol that reportedly was used to kill three students and wound two others at Chardon High School, said Henderson, a retired police officer and former Geauga County sheriff. He said he has spoken to the grandfather, Thomas Lane, about the gun.

The suspect's grandfather believes the gun is the same, "because the gun was there the day before, in the barn," said Henderson, 74, who says he's been friends with the boy's family for nearly 50 years.

A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the gun used in the shooting, a Ruger .22-caliber Mark III target pistol, was bought legally in August 2010 from a gun shop in Mentor, Ohio.

The official, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said Lane told authorities he stole gun from his uncle. It wasn't clear Wednesday whether the gun might have been the same one missing from the grandfather's barn. Henderson said he isn't aware of an uncle's involvement with the gun.

Lane, 17, admitted taking a pistol and a knife to the 1,100-student Chardon High and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table, prosecutor David Joyce said.

A police report said 33 officers from around the area responded to what was first described as a "shooting accidental" and was over in less than a minute. Emergency crews from four fire departments also responded, according to the report obtained by the AP through a public records request.

The grandparents feel terrible about what happened and have no explanation for the teen's alleged role in the shootings, Henderson said.

Lane came from a broken family but seemed to heal over time, said Henderson, who added that the boy began living with his grandparents off and on several years ago.

Lane's father, Thomas Lane, 40, served seven months in prison in 2003 on charges of disrupting public service and felonious assault, according to state prison records. Messages were left Wednesday at numbers listed for Thomas Lane. Neighbors said he visited his son often, sometimes taking him and his sister camping or to the school to catch the bus.

Russ Miller said he has known Lane since the boy was 5 or 6 years old and lives near Lane's grandfather, Jack Nolan. He described Lane as an "easy going" person whose grades had improved since he left Chardon High School about a year and a half ago and began attending Lake Academy, a school associated with the local career center.

"He went from flunking out from what I understand to almost a straight A student with honors and he was going to graduate a year early," Miller said.

Miller, 64, a retired sheet metal worker, said he had talked to him about joining the military, but the boy hadn't made plans.

"He was a typical 17-year-old," said Miller, a Vietnam veteran. "He didn't really know what he wanted to do in his life." He said Lane didn't smoke, drink or do drugs and was "kind of a health nut."

About 55 students attend Lake Academy, a 15-year-old school for students who haven't done well in traditional schools. The school, about 15 miles away from Chardon in Willoughby, has security measures including electronically controlled doors and surveillance cameras but no metal detectors. School officials declined to comment Wednesday.

Another neighbor on Wednesday described T.J. Lane as a normal boy who excelled in school and played outside often with his sister, building snow hills and skateboarding.

Steve Sawczak said he never would have allowed his own grandchildren to play nearby if he thought anything was wrong with the teenager. Sawczak lives next door to Jack Nolan, who has familial custody of the suspect and attended his court hearing Tuesday.

"We're all absolutely stunned," Sawczak said. "He's an average kind of kid."

Sawczak, 58, a pastor who has worked with troubled children, said he never saw hints of what was coming. A next-door neighbor of Lane's grandparents for almost 25 years, he said the couple, who have custody of the teen, gave Lane a healthy place to live. They often took them to school events.

"They are in shock," Sawczak said. "They are absolutely devastated."

At Chardon High, the faculty parking lot was jammed Wednesday as teachers returned to the school for the first time since Monday's shooting, with grief counselors on hand, if needed. Parents and students are encouraged to return to the school Thursday, and classes resume Friday.

Students planned to march together to the school Thursday from the main square about three-quarters of a mile away, along a street where red ribbons were tied to all the trees.

Hundreds of residents turned out for a vigil Tuesday evening at St. Mary Catholic Church to pray and hear Scripture readings, while overhead banners from a rival high school contained signatures from other students showing their support.

Lane, a thin young man described by other students as extremely quiet, appeared briefly in juvenile court Tuesday. He spoke little, and a judge ordered him held for at least 15 days.

Prosecutors have until Thursday to bring charges and are expected to ask that Lane be tried as an adult. He will probably be charged with three counts of aggravated murder and other offenses, Joyce said.

Joyce described suspect Lane as "someone who's not well" and said the teen didn't know the victims but chose them randomly.

Killed were Demetrius Hewlin, 16, Russell King Jr., 17, and Daniel Parmertor, 16.

An 18-year-old girl who was hurt in the shootings was released from the hospital Tuesday and was home with family. The girl's family declined to comment Wednesday. The second injured teen remained in serious condition at a suburban Cleveland hospital.

Both sides in the legal case are under a gag order imposed by the judge at the prosecutor's request. The judge earlier barred media outlets from taking photos of the suspect's face but reversed himself Wednesday and said Lane may be photographed at a pending a hearing next Tuesday.

The AP transmitted photos and video of Lane that were shot before Tuesday's order. The AP and at least one other media outlet, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, challenged the judge's order Wednesday.

Judge Timothy Grendell also released seven pages of juvenile court records on Lane, including an assault case in late 2009 at age 15.

Lane allegedly choked and punched another male. He entered the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty plea to a reduced misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct and was given a suspended sentence of up to 30 days in jail.

The judge wouldn't say if there are other files that might be covered by a law allowing certain records to be withheld.

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Sanner reported from Willoughby, Ohio; AP video journalist Ted Shaffrey and AP photographer Mark Duncan reported from Chardon; and Associated Press writer Pete Yost in Washington and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus contributed to this report.

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Hamas signals a break with Iran, but is that good for Israel?

A popular Washington illusion once held that the right combination of incentives and punishments might "peel off" Syria's President Bashar al-Assad from Iran's "Axis of Resistance," but nobody would have predicted that the weak link in Iran's alliance of radicals would turn out to be the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas. Yet, Tuesday's announcement that the Hamas leadership has officially relocated from Damascus, and its public declarations of support for the Syrian rebels, suggest a dramatic political break with Iran -- and with it the end of any illusion Tehran might have harbored of exerting influence in the new revolutionary Arab mainstream.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is now ensconced in Qatar's capital, Doha, while deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk has set up shop in Cairo. And Hamas leaders used last Friday's midday prayers to publicly salute what Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called "the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform." Iran, Hamas knows, is not amused. But that appears to be a diminishing concern for the movement. Hamas' relationship with Assad, Tehran's key Arab ally, began to sour last year when the Palestinian group resisted pressure to stage pro-regime events in refugee camps in Syria. "Our position on Syria is that we are not with the regime in its security solution, and we respect the will of the people," Marzouk told The Associated Press. He also acknowledged that "The Iranians are not happy with our position on Syria, and when they are not happy, they don't deal with you in the same old way."

(MORE: The Mainstreaming of Hamas Continues as Palestinian Unity Gains Steam)

The "same old way" would be financial: While Israeli p.r. likes to portray Hamas as a satellite of Tehran, a glance at the organization's history, ideology, social base and political DNA offers a reminder that Iran's relatively recent emergence as Hamas' key regional supporter was a marriage of convenience for Hamas amid desperate circumstances some six years ago. Although Iran had supported Hamas' rejection of the Oslo peace process in the early 1990s, the Shi'ite theocracy wasn't exactly an ideological soulmate of the Sunni Islamist Palestinian movement founded in the 1980s by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. But when the Bush Administration -- desperate to reverse the results of the 2006 Palestinian legislative election that had made Hamas the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority -- demanded that its Arab allies support a blockade on any funds that might reach a Hamas government, Iran seized the opportunity and stepped up with cash to fill the void. Today, still, Hamas depends on Iranian largesse to make its payrolls in Gaza, just as the West Bank Palestinian Authority depends on Western donor funds to do the same.

For Tehran, supplying the resources that enabled Hamas to confound U.S.-Israeli efforts to destroy it burnished Iranian leadership claims in the Arab world, showing up Arab leaders willing to do Washington's bidding at the Palestinians' expense. But Hamas' options and prospects have been altered by the revolutionary tide that has swept aside some key Arab autocracies and empowered Muslim Brotherhood organizations that remain Hamas' natural political kin. The Palestinian public is solidly behind the Syrian rebellion, in which the Muslim Brotherhood is a key element. And like-minded parties have won elections in Tunisia and Egypt, and look set to be the main beneficiaries of the democratic wave throughout the Arab world.

If the Arab rebellion has made nonsense of Iran's claim to speak on behalf of a silenced Arab public, it has also rubbished the Bush-era scheme of uniting moderate Arab autocrats (including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) in alliance against Iran and its Axis of Resistance. Key moderate autocrats like Hosni Mubarak of Egypt have been swept from the stage, while the Gulf monarchs are waging a regional Cold War against Iran that divides the region on sectarian rather than moderate vs. radical lines. None of the traditional U.S. Arab allies follows Washington's lead these days, and key emerging regional players such as Turkey and Qatar don't share the U.S. and Israel's aversion to Hamas. (Nor do they share Washington's strategy of isolating and pressuring Iran, even if they're in political competition with the Islamic Republic throughout the region.)

(PHOTOS: Hamas Recruitment Day)

Qatar has already stepped over the wreckage of the U.S.-Israeli effort to smash Hamas and brokered a unity agreement between the movement and Abbas' rival Fatah party, although its implementation remains bedeviled by deep rivalries and internal splits in Hamas over its terms. And nobody ought to be too surprised if Qatar steps in to make good on any financial shortfall arising from a withdrawal of Iranian funds.

Hamas clearly believes it is no longer so isolated among the region's governments that it can't get by without Iran's support. The newly empowered Muslim Brotherhood parties, however, are going to be too busy governing some very complex and challenging societies to want war with Israel -- even if they're not going to help Israel throttle or pound Gaza the way Mubarak had done. The price of joining the Brotherhood mainstream for Hamas may be embracing its terms, seeking political rather than military strategies to advance the Palestinian cause. Meshaal has certainly made a number of statements hinting at a shift away from arms towards "popular resistance," although such matters are likely to be a matter of some contention within Hamas' ranks.

Don't expect Israel's leaders to cheer Hamas' departure from Damascus, however. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long used the claim that Hamas is Iran's proxy as Exhibit A in making his case that Israel can't be expected to make territorial compromises with the Palestinians any time soon. A Hamas that moves towards a moderate Islamist mainstream may be less of a military threat to Israel (although it has for some time now been largely observing a cease-fire), but it could pose more of a political challenge (although there's no sign of Hamas or any other Palestinian faction offering any coherent strategic vision at the moment).

(MORE: Why Israel's Netanyahu May Prefer a Waltz with Hamas to a Tango with Abbas)

Still, the Palestinian Islamists will fancy their chances of prospering politically by realigning themselves with the new Arab mainstream. Fatah's strategy of negotiating under U.S. auspices long ago hit a wall. Even as it gestures towards the U.N., it finds itself locked into security arrangements with Israel that effectively reinforce the status quo and its ability to provide a model of good governance intended to contrast with the misery of Gaza is floundering as Western donor aid dries up. Hamas' break with Syria and Iran and its welcome in Cairo, Doha and even Amman will certainly give Abbas cause for concern: Sure, the shift will move Hamas to a more mainstream orientation, but that could boost its challenge to Fatah's traditional monopoly on power.

By adroitly jumping ship in Syria, Hamas may have ensured that even if it suffers short-term financial pain, it could ultimately do better after the Arab rebellions than its Fatah rivals have done. And that's a prospect that won't please Israel -- or the United States.

MORE: As the Peace Process Goes Sideways, Gaza's Economy Remains Stifled

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