Witnesses: Forces kill 30 protesters

Witnesses: Forces kill 30 protesters

BEIRUT

Syrian security forces opened fire Friday on thousands of protesters demanding regime change, killing more than 30 people in a sign that President Bashar Assad is prepared to ride out a wave of rapidly escalating international outrage.

The U.N. said it is sending a team into Syria to investigate, and the European Union is expected to place sanctions on Syrian officials next week — both significant blows to Assad, a British- educated, self-styled reformer who has tried to bring Syria back into the global mainstream over his 11 years in power.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. was pressing the Syrian government to cease “violence against innocent citizens who are simply demonstrating and trying to state their aspirations for a more democratic future.”

President visits battleground state

INDIANAPOLIS

President Barack Obama, the first Democrat to win Indiana in a presidential election in four decades, could find it tough to hold on to it in 2012 even if Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels decides not to enter the presidential race.

And a White House run by Daniels from a state that’s recently become a showcase for conservatives could make a repeat victory by Obama impossible, one political expert said.

The president made a stop in Indiana on Friday to tout his energy policy, his fifth visit since taking office. Daniels met him on the tarmac at the Indianapolis airport, a meeting his Republican supporters hoped would foreshadow a matchup to come.

Obama defeated Sen. John McCain in Indiana by less than 30,000 votes in 2008.

That victory gave Democrats their first presidential victory in the state since 1964 and positioned Indiana as a swing state.

But that reputation may be short-lived, University of Evansville political science professor Robert Dion said.

Japan wants 3 reactors closed

TOKYO

Japan urged a power company Friday to suspend all three reactors at a coastal nuclear plant while a seawall and other structures are built to ensure a major earthquake or tsunami does not cause a second radiation crisis.

The move came as the government is conducting a safety review of all of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 25,000 people dead and missing on the northeast coast.

Leopard mauls child on field trip to zoo

WICHITA, Kan.

A first-grader on a school field trip to a zoo was mauled by a leopard Friday after the boy scaled a railing and approached the animal’s cage, a zoo spokesman said.

The Wichita Eagle reported on its website that the boy received lacerations to his head and neck after the cat stuck a paw through its cage and grabbed the boy by the side of the head.

He was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in fair condition.

Jim Marlett, spokesman for the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, said the boy climbed the 4- to 5-foot railing surrounding the leopard exhibit, crossed an 8-foot gap and stood next to the metal mesh fence of the animal’s cage.

Naomi Robinson, who was at the zoo with her two children when she saw the attack around 1:20 p.m., said it looked like the leopard was trying to pull the boy into the enclosure.

Associated Press