French suspect neo-Nazi in deaths

French suspect neo-Nazi in deaths

TOULOUSE, France

Police searched southern France on Tuesday for an expert gunman suspected of fatally shooting seven people in the head at close range in attacks that may have been motivated by neo-Nazi ties or grudges against minorities.

The shooter is suspected of carrying out three deadly attacks: leaving four people dead Monday at a Jewish school in Toulouse, three of them young children; killing two French paratroopers and seriously wounding another last Thursday in nearby Montauban; and fatally shooting another paratrooper in Toulouse on March 11.

GOP plan: Cut much more deeply

WASHINGTON

Mixing deep cuts to safety-net programs for the poor with politically risky cost curbs for Medicare, Republicans controlling the House unveiled an election-year budget blueprint Tuesday that paints clear campaign differences with President Barack Obama. The announcement reignited a full-throated budget battle. Republicans cast themselves as stepping up to a federal-deficit crisis long ignored by both parties, while Democrats and their allies responded with promises to protect the elderly and the poor from drastic cuts.

Syrian forces take city from rebels

BEIRUT

Syrian soldiers backed by tanks seized the eastern city of Deir el-Zour from rebels Tuesday, the latest opposition stronghold to fall to an offensive by the better- equipped Syrian military. Activist Osama Mansour said government troops and armored cars entered the city about 60 miles from the Iraqi border from four sides, sparking short gunbattles with fighters from the Free Syrian Army.

3 dating sites to screen for predators

LOS ANGELES

Three online dating giants agreed to screen for sex offenders and take other safety steps after a woman was assaulted on a date, the California attorney general’s office announced Tuesday.

Match.com, eHarmony and Spark Networks signed a joint statement of business principles intended to provide an example for the industry and help guard against sexual predators, identity theft and financial scams.

46 die in Iraq attacks

BAGHDAD

Insurgents plotting to derail next week’s Arab League meeting in Baghdad unleashed bloody attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, killing 46 people and wounding more than 200. The government vowed not to be scared off from hosting the summit — the first in the country in a generation and a chance to prove it is moving toward normalcy after years of war.

Bombs struck Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala, set cars on fire in Kirkuk and targeted security forces and government officials in Baghdad and surrounding cities.

Demjanjuk family wants US burial

CLEVELAND

If relatives of convicted Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk get what they want, their patriarch will be buried in suburban Cleveland — a prospect not sitting well with Jewish advocates who argue the retired autoworker could, in death, become a magnet for neo-Nazis.

Demjanjuk died Saturday in Germany at age 91, and his family in Seven Hills, Ohio, wants to return his body for burial.

A Demjanjuk funeral in his adopted hometown would turn into a spectacle, said Efraim Zuroff, who leads the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem.

Associated Press