Attack

KABUL, Afghanistan - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel got a stark taste of the challenges that continue to bedevil Afghanistan, as insurgents carried out two deadly bombings Saturday, one within earshot of the Pentagon chief. The Afghan government, meanwhile, abruptly canceled a ceremony scheduled for Saturday that had been meant to show that Kabul and Washington had finally reached a deal for the handover of a U.S. military prison. Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the last minute balked at the proposed terms of the handover of the Parwan Detention Facility, Afghan and U.S. officials said, dashing hopes that a resolution of a contentious issue that has poisoned the relationship between the two countries was in sight.

Philadelphia, state and federal officials conducted a drill yesterday to test their preparedness for a chemical terrorist attack. Firefighters, police and other rescue personnel took part in the exercise, which involved the evacuation of Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park and included citizens in the role of victims.

On December 12 at approximately 2:30 a.m. I was awaken from a sound sleep of a vicious dog attacking and mauling to death Joey, a stray cat on the 600 block of East Flora Street. The sound of Joey screaming for help was horrible. The owner of this vicious dog did not even have the dog on a leash and did not even try to stop the attack. Joey never bothered anyone and he did not deserve to die like he did. This was a senseless killing.The dog's owner is a heartless human being for allowing this to happen.

It's a dangerous world we live in. Killer earthquakes rumbling through Southern California, test Soviet ICBMs splashing close to Hawaii, radon silently poisoning the rec room. And now - Attack video! Imagine. You are sitting in that comfortable chair in the living room, feet on the ottoman, clutching a cool one, watching television. Suddenly, powerful laser beams shoot out from the TV. Zap! Gotcha. Attack video! The reality is less frightening. The only known victim of an attack video is Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D., Del.)

ANKARA, Turkey - In the second deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic post in five months, a suicide bomber struck the American Embassy in Ankara on Friday, killing a Turkish security guard in what the White House described as a terrorist attack. Washington immediately warned Americans to stay away from all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey and to be wary in large crowds. The attack drew condemnation from Turkey, the United States, Britain, and other nations. Officials from both Turkey and the United States pledged to work together to fight terrorism.

A Frankford teenager yesterday was found guilty of robbery, riot and indecent assault for his part in an attack by more than 15 black youths on a white woman who was beaten, robbed and stripped of all but her bra. After issuing the verdict against David Fletcher, 19, of the 4700 block of Hawthorne Street, Common Pleas Court Judge Gene D. Cohen said, "I am particularly outraged by this case. " Cohen did not find enough evidence to convict Fletcher of a charge of ethnic intimidation, although police had said the April 10 nighttime attack was racially motivated.

A Philadelphia man was sentenced yesterday to 11 1/2 to 23 months in Delaware County Prison for sexually assaulting a 24-year-old Drexel Hill woman at a department store in January. Donald Ranson, 48, of the 700 block of North 46th Street, pleaded guilty in Delaware County Court to assaulting the woman in a fitting room at Macy's in Springfield Mall. Ranson was a store supervisor. The attack occurred before the store opened on a Saturday. Ranson approached the woman, who worked as a housekeeper, in the fitting room and asked her to have sex with him. When she refused, Ranson tried to force himself on her; she broke free and ran. Later, he told her that he would try again and threatened to use a gun if she did not remain quiet.

APOCALYPSE '91: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BLACK Public Enemy. Columbia. Talk of Public Enemy usually centers on their incendiary words. And no wonder. On their fourth and latest album, PE, the self-described "prophets of rage," skewer black radio for not playing enough rap, attack Arizona for refusing to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, eviscerate malt liquor companies for targeting black consumers and put down the church as a pacifying distraction in the black community. And that's just for starters.

The fifth suspect in the Sunday beating and shooting of Hunting Park drug crusader Santiago Pineda claims he didn't attack Pineda, Pineda attacked him. Carlos Duprey, 21, surrendered to Police Sgt. Gerald Duffy outside a City Hall courtroom yesterday and was charged with taking part in the assault on Pineda, who, police say, was trying to shoo a group of drug peddlers from in front of his home at 8th and Pike streets. Duprey was taken into custody after arriving with his wife and infant child.

Caln police are investigating a report that a student was abducted Monday from the front of Coatesville Intermediate High School, driven to a vacant lot, and molested for an hour before the attacker released her. The 17-year-old district student was attacked about 4 p.m., according to a Coatesville Area district news release yesterday. Caln Police Chief James Franciscus did not return calls yesterday. Caln police notified school officials of the incident yesterday, said Gail Jackson, assistant superintendent.

BAGHDAD - A blistering string of apparently coordinated bombings and a shooting across Iraq killed at least 51 and wounded dozens Sunday, spreading fear throughout the country in a wave of violence that is raising the prospect of a return to widespread sectarian killing a decade after a U.S.-led invasion. Violence has spiked sharply in Iraq in recent months, with the death toll rising to levels not seen since 2008. Nearly 2,000 have been killed since the start of April, including more than 180 this month.

TRIPOLI, Libya - Rooftop snipers and knife-wielding assailants killed six soldiers in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi early Saturday, officials said, in the largest attack on the country's new security forces to date. The brazen overnight assault by hundreds of plain-clothed gunmen on security installations forced soldiers to withdraw from some of their bases. In one case, soldiers fled out the back door of the First Infantry Brigade's headquarters in Benghazi as assailants stormed the main gate, torching the building and two military vehicles.

UNITED NATIONS - Syria's government used the nerve agent sarin on two occasions in the embattled city of Aleppo in March and April, according to a letter from a top U.S. diplomat that the Associated Press obtained Friday. The letter from U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also cited two other incidents of possible chemical weapons use by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The White House announced Thursday that it had firm evidence of chemical weapons use by Assad's regime, and U.S. officials said President Obama has authorized military aid to Syria's rebels.

WASHINGTON - The head of the National Security Agency defended its broad electronic surveillance programs Wednesday, saying that they had helped thwart dozens of terrorist attacks and that their recent public disclosure had done "great harm" to the nation's security. Facing his first public grilling since it was revealed the NSA has collected millions of telephone records and e-mails in secret, Gen. Keith Alexander sought to aggressively rebut congressional and other criticism of the Obama administration's antiterrorism tactics.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A group of assailants shut down Kabul's airport for several hours Monday in a brazen predawn attack that shook the capital hours after Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivered a speech in which he implied that U.S. counterterrorism policies had radicalized Muslims around the world. Afghan police snapped into action moments after residents of the city awoke to thundering blasts about 4:30 a.m. At least seven gunmen, including two wearing suicide vests, had taken refuge in buildings under construction adjacent to the northern tip of the airport compound, which includes an international military base.

LONDON - A fire at an Islamic boarding school near London in which 128 pupils and staff were evacuated was being treated as suspicious by police amid an increase in anti-Muslim incidents since the killing of a British soldier in the nation's capital. Fire crews were called to the Darul Uloom School, in Chislehurst, southeast of London, before midnight Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said. Two boys were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, said school adviser Saiyed Mahmood, who said the fire had been started by "intruders.

ASSOCIATED PRESS KABUL, Afghanistan - At least five heavily armed insurgents were engaged in an hours-long gun battle with security forces on the perimeter of Afghanistan's main airport Monday after they tried to attack NATO's airport headquarters with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles, and at least one large bomb, the army and police said. The airport was closed to civilian air traffic because of the attack, an airport official said. It was unclear whether the attack had damaged facilities inside the airport itself.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan soldier opened fire on U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday after arguing with one of the Americans, killing two service members and a U.S. civilian, U.S. and Afghan officials said. The confrontation marked the deadliest insider attack in the country this year and added to the death toll from an intense fighting season, which U.S. and Afghan officials are watching closely for indicators of the Taliban's resilience as American troops accelerate their withdrawal.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - A man with a semiautomatic rifle killed at least four people and wounded several others Friday as he carried out a deadly rampage across several blocks of a normally idyllic beachfront city. Police shot him dead in the Santa Monica College Library. The violence began when the gunman, dressed in all black and wearing what appeared to be a ballistic jacket, opened fire on a house where two bodies were found, Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said. Two officials said Friday night that the killings began as a domestic violence incident and the victims in the home were the gunman's father and brother.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber targeting U.S. troops outside an Afghan government office killed nine children walking home from school and two of the Americans on Monday, the latest sign that this year's fighting season could be one of the deadliest of the 12-year-old war. An increase in casualties among civilians and security forces reinforces fears that foreign forces will be leaving behind a country in the throes of relentless violence when...