Colleague recalls journalist Anthony Shadid's last moments

LOS ANGELES, March 4 (TheWrap.com) - In his last moments, New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid knew that he faced danger from the horses that would lead him back to safety from Syria, over the border with Turkey.

But he had little choice but to press on.

"He will get through this as he did on the much more strenuous hike in, I thought," wrote Shadid's colleague Tyler Hicks in a front-page story in the New York Times on Sunday.

But Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, died of an allergy attack brought on by the horses on his way out of Syria in February after a weeklong reporting assignment.

Hicks' account -- unusual for a photographer -- described a dangerous week with the Syrian rebels, who he called well organized. He and Shadid had worked in many strife-ridden zones before, but Shadid never got to write up his copious notes from this final trip.

In a moving tribute, Hicks described the dramatic, fatal scene after an initial asthma attack on the way into the country.

"Anthony's health had been good during the week and he prepared himself for the trip down with antihistamines and a supply of inhalers," Hicks wrote. "He had a black and white kaffiyeh covering his face to filter the air, the same one he had worn around his neck throughout the assignment. He told the young men he wouldn't ride a horse and to walk ahead with them at a distance.

"'Should we walk in front of the horses?' I asked Anthony.

"'No, they need to guide us,' he said.

"The pace down was faster and easier than coming up a week earlier, and this time our bags were carried by horses instead of on our backs. But then I could hear that Anthony's breathing became strained, and within a mile he was asking to rest. He will get through this as he did on the much more strenuous hike in, I thought, and with one of my arms around his waist, and the other holding his forearm, we continued to walk.

"Soon after, Anthony stopped and leaned against a large boulder, and unlike the first time, when he had merely labored for breath, now he collapsed onto the ground. I called out his name, but he was already unconscious and his breathing had stopped completely. I performed CPR for half an hour while begging the smugglers to find a doctor. I hoped for a miracle. Turkey was now out of the question, and backtracking would only return us to a remote border village. Finally, a small covered truck drove quietly within sight of us and we carried Anthony, whose death I could still not come to terms with, into the back, where I climbed in with him."

Hicks later carried his friend's body over the border.

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Aussie PM defends job against colleague she ousted

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard won a resounding victory Monday against the party leader she deposed two years ago, Kevin Rudd, in a ballot of Labor Party lawmakers that she had ordered in hopes of putting down strife within her unpopular government.

Following his defeat by 71 votes to 31, Rudd called on his center-left Labor Party to unite behind Gillard. He had warned during his brief leadership campaign that she would lead Labor to certain defeat at elections next year.

"I bear no one any malice and if I've done wrong to anyone with what I've said and what I've done, I apologize," he told reporters.

Rudd said it was time the "wounds were healed" within the party.

Gillard won one of the most crushing victories in a major party leadership ballot of recent years after one of the most vicious public campaigns between rival camps of the same party ever seen in modern Australian politics.

She would have had an additional vote, but one of her supporters had recently given birth and was absent for the ballot.

Gillard called for the leadership ballot within her ruling party last week, soon after Rudd quit as foreign minister, to confirm her authority after simmering leadership tensions that have destabilized the government for months.

Opinion polls show Rudd to be significantly more popular than Gillard among voters, but many lawmakers were dissatisfied with Rudd's performance as prime minister, and there were concerns that Labor's fragile ruling coalition could crumble, forcing early elections, if Rudd were to take over.

A narrow victory could have left Gillard exposed to a second challenge if Labor continued to trail the conservative opposition coalition in opinion polls.

Supporters of both candidates had expected Rudd to gain around a third of the votes. Rudd had vowed that if he lost the ballot, he would remain in politics at least until elections due next year, but he said he would not challenge her leadership again.

Resource Minister Martin Ferguson said while Rudd would not challenge again, another challenger could come forward if Labor's fortunes do not improve.

Gillard was deputy prime minister two years ago when she made a snap challenge to Rudd's leadership. When Rudd discovered how few lawmakers were prepared to support him at the time, he did not contest the ballot and Gillard became prime minister without a vote.

With her leadership confirmed, Gillard must reshuffle her Cabinet to appoint a new foreign minister. Her Cabinet includes ministers who publicly endorsed Rudd.

A respected opinion poll published on Monday showed most respondents thought Rudd would make a better prime minister than would opposition leader Tony Abbott. Rudd's support stood at 53 percent, 34 percent chose Abbott and 13 percent were undecided.

Respondents were more evenly balanced on a choice between Gillard and Abbott, with Abbott leading 38 percent to 36.

The poll also found Labor trailed Abbott's conservative coalition 47 percent to 53.

The poll was based on an Australia-wide random telephone survey at the weekend of 1,152 voters. It has a 3 percentage point margin of error.

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U.S. immigration agent killed after shooting colleague

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and wounded a colleague in the agency's office in a Los Angeles suburb on Thursday before a third agent opened fire, killing the gunman, authorities said.

The wounded agent was taken to a hospital in Long Beach, not far from the ICE offices in a federal building, where doctors said he was listed in stable condition following surgery and expected to survive.

Authorities described the shooting as an incidence of workplace violence that began as a dispute between two federal agents, but gave no details as to its origins.

"One agent fired several rounds at the other agent, wounding him," Steven Martinez, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, told a news conference.

"At that time when that occurred, another agent intervened and fired his weapon," Martinez said. "This resulted in the death of the shooter."

The shooting, which Martinez described as an "isolated incident" that was still under investigation, erupted during rush hour near downtown Los Angeles and prompted police to shut down streets and a major intersection for more than an hour.

Local television images showed an ambulance rushing the injured agent to a nearby hospital accompanied by a police escort as law enforcement agents ringed the building.

"Our hearts go out to all of those affected by this tragedy," ICE Special Agent Claude Arnold said.

"At times like this, words honestly seem inadequate," he said. "We dedicate our lives to protecting the public and ... when something like this happens within our office it's incomprehensible."

(Additional reporting by Mary Slosson; Editing by Peter Bohan)

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U.S. immigration agent killed after shooting colleague

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and wounded a colleague in the agency's office in a Los Angeles suburb on Thursday before a third agent opened fire, killing the gunman, authorities said.

The wounded agent was taken to a hospital in Long Beach, not far from the ICE offices in a federal building, where doctors said he was listed in stable condition following surgery and expected to survive.

Authorities described the shooting as an incidence of workplace violence that began as a dispute between two federal agents, but gave no details as to its origins.

"One agent fired several rounds at the other agent, wounding him," Steven Martinez, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, told a news conference.

"At that time when that occurred, another agent intervened and fired his weapon," Martinez said. "This resulted in the death of the shooter."

The shooting, which Martinez described as an "isolated incident" that was still under investigation, erupted during rush hour near downtown Los Angeles and prompted police to shut down streets and a major intersection for more than an hour.

Local television images showed an ambulance rushing the injured agent to a nearby hospital accompanied by a police escort as law enforcement agents ringed the building.

"Our hearts go out to all of those affected by this tragedy," ICE Special Agent Claude Arnold said.

"At times like this, words honestly seem inadequate," he said. "We dedicate our lives to protecting the public and ... when something like this happens within our office it's incomprehensible."

(Additional reporting by Mary Slosson; Editing by Peter Bohan)

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