Obama to visit victims, families

Obama to visit victims, families

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama will fly to Colorado today to visit with victims and families from the Aurora movie-theater shooting, the White House announced, as he and Mitt Romney dialed back their campaigning in the shocked aftermath of the massacre.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer disclosed plans for the visit Saturday night. Aides said Obama’s stop also would include meetings with state and local officials.

Friday’s deadly rampage briefly silenced the acrimonious presidential contest, with both campaigns cutting short schedules and pulling advertising in Colorado out of respect for the dead and injured.

But for Obama, the pause was to be short-lived. After his Colorado visit, he was to fly Reno, Nev., for a Monday speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, followed by a series of campaign fundraisers in California, Oregon and Washington state. Romney also is expected to speak to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Tuesday.

Syrian uprising

BEIRUT

Riding a wave of momentum, Syrian rebels made a run on Aleppo on Saturday in some of the fiercest fighting seen in the country’s largest city, which has been a key bastion of support for President Bashar Assad over the course of the 17-month-old uprising.

The rebels also took over a third border crossing — and the second one along Syria’s frontier with Iraq — another sign the regime’s tight grip on the country is wobbling.

The fighting in Aleppo comes on the heels of intense clashes in the capital, Damascus, as rebel forces target the pillars of regime power in their attempts to usher in what they hope will be the end of Assad’s rule.

Murdoch resigns from several boards

LONDON

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has resigned as a director of a number of News Corp. boards overseeing his Britain newspapers, a spokeswoman confirmed Saturday. He also quit from some of the media company’s subsidiary boards in the United States.

Murdoch stepped down this past week as a director of NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp. Investments in the U.K., said Daisy Dunlop, spokeswoman for News Corp.’s British arm, News International. The companies oversee The Sun, The Times, and The Sunday Times.

It was not immediately clear which of News Corp.’s U.S. boards Murdoch had left. Britain’s Telegraph newspaper, which first reported the news late Saturday, said those details had not yet been disclosed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Air Force instructor gets 20-year terms

SAN ANTONIO

The women assaulted by their Air Force training instructor don’t sleep much these days, and when they do, he sometimes haunts their dreams.

They testified Saturday about being suddenly unable to relate to husbands, boyfriends and even fathers and brothers after they were sexually assaulted. One said her fear during a tour of duty in Afghanistan was heightened by soldiers who reminded her of her instructor, and she warned her younger sister not to enlist in the Air Force. Another said she’s now afraid to be behind closed doors with any man.

Staff Sgt. Luis Walker was sentenced to 20 years in prison Saturday for crimes that included rape and sexual assault. He is among 12 instructors investigated for sexual misconduct toward at least 31 female trainees at one of the nation’s busiest military training centers. Six have been charged with crimes, and the counts against Walker were the most severe.

Associated Press