In Brief: Nation & World: 2-22-16

Fiji scrambles to restore power as ferocious cyclone kills 6

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Fijians were finally able to venture outside Monday after authorities lifted a curfew but much of the country remained without electricity in the wake of a ferocious cyclone that left at least six people dead and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Officials were scrambling to restore services and assess damage in remote parts of the Pacific Island chain.

Winds from Cyclone Winston, which tore through Fiji over the weekend, reached 177 miles (285 kilometers) per hour, making it the strongest storm in the Southern Hemisphere since record-keeping began, according to the Weather Underground website.

The government imposed the curfew on Saturday night and lifted it at 5:30 a.m. Monday. A 30-day declaration of a state of natural disaster remains in effect and empowers police to make arrests without warrants.

In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said many people had been left without power, fresh water or communications.

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Gunman kills 6 at apartment complex, dealership, restaurant

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A gunman who seemed to choose his victims at random opened fire outside an apartment complex, a car dealership and a restaurant in Michigan, killing at least six people during a rampage that lasted nearly seven hours, police said.

Authorities identified the shooter as Jason Dalton, a 45-year-old Uber driver who police said had no criminal record. They could not say what motivated him in the Saturday night shootings to target victims with no apparent connection to him or to each other.

“How do you go and tell the families of these victims that they weren’t targeted for any reason other than they were there to be a target?” Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said Sunday at a news conference.

Dalton, who was arrested in Kalamazoo following a massive manhunt, was expected to be arraigned Monday on murder charges.

Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas described a terrifying series of attacks that began about 6 p.m. Saturday outside the Meadows apartment complex on the eastern edge of Kalamazoo County, where a woman was shot multiple times. She was expected to survive.

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Rubio, Cruz jostle to claim ‘alternative-to-Trump’ vote

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Republicans Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz battled to emerge as the true anti-Trump on Sunday as the billionaire businessman took an ever-so-brief break from his trademark braggadocio to say his drive for the GOP nomination isn’t unstoppable — yet.

Fresh off a commanding victory in South Carolina, Donald Trump declined to say the nomination was his to lose. But he quickly went on to declare, “I’m really on my way.” Soon enough, in a television interview, he was toting up electoral math all the way through Election Day and concluding, “I’m going to win.”

The candidates’ diverging flight plans demonstrated how the campaign spreads out and speeds up now. Nevada’s GOP caucuses are Tuesday, and then a dozen states vote in the March 1 Super Tuesday bonanza.

Trump was in Georgia exulting over his latest victory, Cruz headed for Nevada, and Rubio embarked on a Tennessee-Arkansas-Nevada trifecta.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton savored her weekend win in the Nevada caucuses as Bernie Sanders acknowledged that while his insurgent campaign has made strides, “at the end of the day … you need delegates.” He looked past Tuesday’s Democratic primary in South Carolina to list Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Oklahoma as places where he has a “good shot” to do well.

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IS bombings rock Syria as world powers seek truce

BEIRUT — Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs killed nearly 130 people on Sunday, highlighting the threat posed by the extremists as the country’s warring factions fight for the northern city of Aleppo and world powers chase an elusive cease-fire.

The blasts came as Secretary of State John Kerry said that a “provisional agreement” has been reached on a cessation of hostilities that could begin in the next few days. But he acknowledged that it’s not finalized and all parties might not automatically comply.

A series of blasts ripped through the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of Damascus, killing at least 83 people and wounding more than 170, the official SANA news agency said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on local Syrian activists, said the blasts killed 62. SANA said the bombs went off near schools during the afternoon rush hour.

The neighborhood is home to one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines, which his heavily guarded by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and other Shiite militiamen from Iraq and elsewhere. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the blasts were caused by a car bomb and two suicide bombers.

The bombings in the central city of Homs killed at least 46 people and wounded dozens, according to Syria’s Foreign Ministry. The Observatory said 57 people, including 11 women, were killed by two car bombs set off in a mostly Alawite neighborhood. Syrian President Bashar Assad hails from the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

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London’s Boris Johnson backs Britain leaving 28-nation EU

LONDON— A new battle for Britain erupted Sunday, with London Mayor Boris Johnson saying he would join the campaign to encourage Britain to leave the European Union. The move posed a direct challenge to Prime Minister David Cameron, who has launched a major push to keep his country within the 28-nation bloc.

The popular, raffish Johnson immediately becomes the most prominent Conservative Party politician to break ranks with fellow Conservative Cameron’s vision of the best course for Britain in a June 23 referendum on EU membership.

The referendum has divided Cameron’s Conservative Party — while most in his Cabinet back his wish to stay, several Cabinet members oppose his stance and are campaigning for the country to break free of EU bureaucracy — a so-called “Brexit.”

The decision of Johnson, a two-term mayor who has been touted as a possible future prime minister, deals a blow to Cameron’s hopes of a united front ahead of what is expected to be a hard-fought referendum.

“The last thing I wanted was to go against David Cameron or the government, but after a great deal of heartache I don’t think there is anything else I can do,” Johnson told reporters outside his London home. “I will be advocating vote “leave” … because I want a better deal for the people of this country to save them money and to take back control.”

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Common software would have let FBI unlock shooter’s iPhone

WASHINGTON — The county government that owned the iPhone in a high-profile legal battle between Apple Inc. and the Justice Department paid for but never installed a feature that would have allowed the FBI to easily and immediately unlock the phone as part of the terrorism investigation into the shootings that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.

If the technology, known as mobile device management, had been installed, San Bernardino officials would have been able to remotely unlock the iPhone for the FBI without the theatrics of a court battle that is now pitting digital privacy rights against national security concerns.

The service costs $4 per month per phone.

Instead, the only person who knew the unlocking passcode for the phone is the dead gunman, Syed Farook, who worked as an inspector in the county’s public health department.

The iPhone assigned to Farook also lacked a Touch ID feature, meaning the FBI cannot use the dead gunman’s thumbprint to unlock it now. The FBI found the phone in a car after the shootings.

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Southbound, Clinton aims to build delegate edge over Sanders

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The election calendar may have Democrats voting next in South Carolina, but Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are eyeing bigger prizes in March, a month that will determine whether the Vermont senator can keep pace in the White House race.

Clinton shook off some of the anxieties shadowing her campaign with a solid victory in Saturday’s Nevada caucuses.

The results offered a glimpse of her strength with black voters. They are a crucial group in South Carolina, which holds its primary this coming Saturday, and in other Southern states with contests on March 1, Super Tuesday.

Sanders has yet to prove he can consistently expand his base of support beyond white liberals and young voters. His campaign cited progress with Latinos in Nevada, but his advisers are clear-eyed about the challenges on Super Tuesday. They are mapping out plans to stay close to Clinton in the delegate count until the race turns to friendlier territory later in March.

“Because we can do the long game, once we get past March 1, the calendar changes dramatically,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager. “It’s frontloaded for her, but we have the ability to stay in the long game.”

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Fallen US WWII hero’s Army dog tag found on Pacific island

ALBANY, N.Y.— Dorothy Hollingsworth was just 7 when her brother Tom left the family farm in Indiana to join the Army a few months before the United States entered World War II. She never saw him again.

Now, more than 70 years after Pfc. Thomas E. Davis was killed in one of the war’s final, major battles, a tangible reminder of her beloved sibling has been found on the Pacific island of Saipan — one of his Army dog tags.

“He was a great guy,” said Hollingsworth, 82, who lives outside Dayton, Ohio, noting that some of her earliest memories are of the tall, thin sibling 17 years her senior who always sat next to her at the dinner table. “He was always laughing and singing and whistling.”

Cultural historian Genevieve Cabrera told The Associated Press in an email that she found the discolored metal tag sticking out of the soil of a farm field on Saipan in early 2014. It was embossed with Davis’ name, serial number, hometown and other information.

Cabrera recently gave the tag to members of Kuentai, a Japan-based organization that has found the remains of five 27th Division soldiers on Saipan. The group notified the AP this month about the dog tag’s discovery in the hope that his relatives could be found. The AP tracked down members of the soldier’s family with the help of Anthony Barger, the archivist for the Putnam County Public Library.

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Camera boost, virtual reality in new Samsung, LG gadgets

BARCELONA, Spain — To revive interest in smartphones, Samsung and LG are improving their cameras and embracing the nascent world of virtual reality.

And Samsung is being backed by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who said Sunday the companies are teaming up to push VR in mobile phones and social networking.

“Together this is by far the best mobile VR experience you can offer,” Zuckerberg said at Samsung’s unveiling of their new flagship phones in Barcelona.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge promise better photos under low-light conditions, in part with sensors that capture more light. The main camera on LG’s upcoming G5 smartphone will have two lenses — one for standard shots and another with a wider angle so you can capture more of what’s in front of you without having to step back.

Both companies will also release several camera-related accessories. Samsung, which unveiled a virtual-reality device for consumers last fall, will now make a 360-degree camera for everyday folks to capture and share VR images. The company will also make smartphone cases with a hole to screw in special lenses, such as wide angle and fisheye views.