Police clear tents at Occupy DC site

Police clear tents at Occupy DC site

washington

Dozens of U.S. Park Police officers in riot gear and on horseback converged before dawn Saturday on one of the nation’s last remaining Occupy sites, with police clearing away tents they said were banned under park rules.

At least seven people were arrested. Officials said it was relatively peaceful but got tense late in the day when an officer was struck in the face with a brick as police pushed protesters out of the last section of the park. The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Protesters had a general assembly Saturday evening and vowed to continue the movement. One of the speakers acknowledged the injured officer and urged everyone to practice nonviolence.

Group sees higher US auto sales, prices

las vegas

Car buyers likely will pay more for new and used cars this year as the economy improves.

That’s according to the National Automobile Dealers Association, which predicts the average price of a new car will rise 6 percent to $30,000. Used prices will jump as much as 8 percent for pickups and SUVs. The average price of a used small car, such as the Honda Civic, will increase 1 percent to $9,475.

More people are expected to splurge on new luxury cars as the economy improves. By contrast, used cars are in tight supply because so few people bought cars during the recession.

Thousands rally against Putin’s rule

moscow

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through downtown Moscow on Saturday to keep up the pressure on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin one month before a presidential election that could extend his rule for six more years.

The protesters have few illusions that they can drive Putin from power now, but for the first time in years Russians are challenging his control and demanding that their voices be heard.

As many as 120,000 people turned out for the third and perhaps largest mass demonstration since Putin’s party won a parliamentary election Dec. 4.

Man freed; murder charges are dropped

yorba linda, calif.

A 24-year-old jailed for more than three months in the deaths of his mother and brother was a free man Saturday after prosecutors said they would instead charge a high-school friend accused in a string of serial killings. But the previously accused man faces a hearing on whether he should be allowed to remain in the U.S. because he is suspected of being in the country illegally.

Eder Herrera, a Mexico citizen, was released from jail Friday night and placed briefly in the custody of immigration officials after forensic analysis showed a spot found in his vehicle that appeared to be blood turned out not to be, and authorities encountered DNA evidence linking Herrera’s former schoolmate Itzcoatl Ocampo to the gory October stabbing deaths.

Prosecutors in Orange County plan to charge Ocampo, a 23-year-old former Marine, with the murders of Herrera’s 34-year-old brother Juan and 53-year-old mother, Raquel Estrada.

Hackers strike site

stockholm

A group linked to the hacker network Anonymous on Saturday said it had attacked the Swedish government’s website, bringing it down for periods of time by overloading it with traffic.

CyberForce used Twitter to claim responsibility, saying “We have succeeded in the attack against the government.”

Associated Press