More than 60 people were arrested in a melee at the end of a march attended by at least 3,000 people, according to Sarah Gelsomino of the National Lawyers Guild, which represented protesters and attended demonstrations.
Chicago police did not immediately provide figures on the number of arrests or injures. By dusk the streets had calmed down.
The confrontation began after a 2 1/2 mile march from a Chicago park to near the site of the summit, where leaders of the NATO alliance are discussing the war in Afghanistan.
Police ordered the protesters to disperse or risk arrest. Most of the demonstrators did, but several hundred ignored the order and police moved in.
Hundreds of demonstrators, reporters and photographers were hemmed in by lines of blue-helmeted police, pushing them back with plastic shields.
One young man sat at the side of the street, the back of his head streaming blood. His friends said he was hit by riot police.
“This is what police]]>
Some of the veterans, many wearing military uniform shirts over black anti-war t-shirts, choked back tears as they explained their actions. Others folded an American flag while a bugle played “Taps,” which is typically performed at U.S. military funerals.
“The medals are supposed to be for acts of heroism. I don’t feel like a hero. I don’t feel like I deserve them,” said Zach LaPorte, who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006.
LaPorte, a 28-year-old mechanical engineer from Milwaukee, said he enlisted in the Army at 19 because he felt there were few other options. At the time, he could not afford to stay in college.
“I witnessed civilian casualties and civilians being arrested in what I consider an illegal occupation of a sovereign nation,” LaPorte said.
He said he was glad the United States had withdrawn its combat troops from Iraq, but said he did not believe the NATO military alliance was going to leave Afghanistan.
On Sunday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen opened the two-day summit of the 26-member alliance saying there would be
]]>Lana Kuykendall was admitted to Greenville Memorial Hospital on May 11, days after giving birth, with a painful spot on her leg that was ultimately diagnosed as necrotizing fasciitis, a serious infection of the skin and soft tissues.
Her brother, Brian Swaffer, said Kuykendall had undergone at least seven operations, was sedated, and only opened her eyes “a little bit, at times.”
“She still has a long road ahead of her,” Swaffer said. “We’re thankful that the infection is contained to just her legs. Her organs, her vitals are good. She’s got a great team of doctors.” � A hospital spokesperson said Kuykendall remained in critical but stable condition on Sunday. An afternoon prayer vigil was held by area paramedics at the hospital. Kuykendall has worked as a paramedic while her husband, Darren, is a firefighter.
Friends and family are caring for the twins, named Abigail and Ian, Swaffer said.
Kuykendall’s infection was caused by Group A streptococcus, said Dr. Bill Kelly, epidemiologist for the Greenville Hospital System. Group A streptococcus lives on people’s skin or in their nose, state epidemiologist Dr. Jerry Gibson
]]>“It’s not often you get the opportunity to watch a penalty shootout between an English team and a German team and watch the English team win,” Cameron told reporters in Chicago before a NATO summit.
“There are many great privileges in this job but to be able to do that with the German chancellor was a great moment – but we did hug and make up afterwards,” he said.
Cameron was photographed with his arms thrust aloft in triumph while watching Saturday’s final on television with other world leaders during a break in the Group of Eight summit at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, on Saturday.
In the photo Cameron was next to U.S. President Barack Obama, with his mouth open in amazement, and Merkel, who looked disappointed.
Chelsea became the European champion when Didier Drogba made the last kick of the shootout in Germany after the match ended in a 1-1 stalemate after extra time.
It was sweet revenge for Cameron after he and Merkel watched part of Germany’s 4-1 thrashing of England at the 2010 World Cup on television at a Group of 20 summit in Toronto.
Cameron said he had to explain some of the finer points of Saturday’s penalty shootout to Obama “and he was beginning to catch up on
]]>During the march, a group of black-clad demonstrators darted toward police lines along the route, and some threw water bottles at officers who pushed back and yelled at them to move along, but there were no major incidents.
Police estimated the crowd at 2,500 to 3,000 people, although it appeared to be larger, in what was the biggest rally so far in the week leading up to the NATO summit. Among them was Chicago-based civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, who walked in summer-like heat with a few women bearing a sign reading “Afghans for Peace.”
Riot police made a bigger show of force and watched the march closely than earlier in the week. They were also more open in displaying their equipment including body armor.
Demonstrators ranged from those in festive costumes and a few parents pushing strollers with babies to others in all black with bandannas over their faces and carrying signs including “Anarchists alliance, D.C.”
Demonstrators had little chance of being seen by the world leaders and representatives from some 60 countries at the meeting of the military alliance. The summit site, the McCormick Place convention center, is inside
]]>Fires in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado have forced the evacuation of several small towns and torched more than 65 square miles (168 square km) of forest, brush and grass in the U.S. Southwest.
The Arizona blazes were the first major wildfires in the state this year after a record 2011 fire season in which nearly 2,000 fires consumed more than 1,500 square miles (3,900 square km), according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The so-called Gladiator Fire was the greatest concern for firefighters Sunday. After getting a respite from winds on Saturday, they faced a combination of dry vegetation and higher winds on Sunday and the days ahead.
“We’re expecting more extreme fire behavior today. The fuel is dry and conditions are dangerous,” said Michelle Fidler, a spokeswoman for the departments fighting the fire.
More evacuations were possible, she said.
The Gladiator fire, named after an old mine in the area, destroyed four structures and forced about 350 residents of the old mining town of Crown King to leave their homes earlier in the week. It also prompted the
]]>But not in Joplin, Missouri, where President Barack Obama‘s commencement address on Monday will come one year after the deadliest tornado in the United States in six decades killed 161 people.
“I’m pretty sure we will remember the tornado more than Obama’s speech,” said graduating senior Ethan Ritschel.
Joplin is still recovering from the EF-5 tornado – the strongest rating possible – that claimed among its victims one graduating senior returning home from his commencement and six other public school students. It also destroyed 7,500 buildings, including Joplin High School.
Students who graduate Monday said they will do so with a mix of relief, sadness and gratitude. They went to classes their senior year in a shopping mall building that serves as the temporary school for 11th and 12th graders.
“It’s bittersweet,” said senior student Taylor Camden after high school seniors finished a commencement practice Friday. “It’s going to be a sad, emotional day for a lot of people just to be at graduation. We all lost something, and everyone here lost their high school.”
The high school, a two-story 1950s building, has been demolished and lays
]]>Previous protests in the run-up to the summit Sunday and Monday have been lively but peaceful, resulting in fewer than two dozen arrests over the past six days, according to the Chicago Police Department.
“I think we’re going to be able to handle it,” Police Chief Garry McCarthy told reporters, adding the numbers of demonstrators this week were fewer than many had expected.
Authorities said two more men were arrested in Chicago earlier this week, bringing to five the number authorities have detained on terrorism-related or bomb-making charges.
Three of those charged were plotting to attack President Barack Obama‘s campaign headquarters, police stations and other targets, according to court documents. Defense lawyers said the three were entrapped by police informants.
The computer hacking group Anonymous said it had brought down the website for Chicago‘s police department and another city website to protest the summit. Officials said they were working on the situation.
At the lakefront park, the festive crowd gathering on a hot but breezy day, wielded signs reading
]]>Spanning one and a half acres in the shadow of the Space Needle, the show includes an exhibition hall, a garden and a “Glass House” structure by Chihuly, inspired by his two favorite buildings, Paris’ Sainte-Chapelle and London’s Crystal Palace.
“It’s really the most important project I’ve ever done,” Chihuly told Reuters about the exhibition he designed.
Inside “Glass House,” visitors encounter a suspended sculpture 100-feet long, hovering overhead like an alien serpent. Composed of 1340 individual plates of red, orange, amber and yellow, it is one of Chihuly’s largest installations.
“You look through it and you see the Space Needle behind it,” he smiled. “Sunset, sunrise – and it’s all in yellow, oranges and red.”
In the garden just outside “Glass House” stands “Seattle Sun,” a yellow and orange orb of countless curls and baubles spanning 16 ft. in diameter.
An exhibition hall houses eight galleries outlining the various phases of Chihuly’s career, including his landmark work, “Glass Forest,” as well as a “Sealife” room that gives the artist pause to remember how it
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