Carter says Russia, China could be threats
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – Defense Secretary Ash Carter is pointing to Russia and China as potential threats to global order.
In a speech Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Carter says the U.S. defense establishment needs to adapt to new challenges, including those posed by China’s growing military power and Russia’s more aggressive approach in Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Carter says Russia appears intent on “flouting” principles such as respect for state sovereignty, with its incursions in eastern Ukraine and Georgia.
And he is expressing concern about China’s intentions, although he says the U.S. welcomes its modernization.
Two officers under arrest in boy’s death
NEW ORLEANS – Two Louisiana law enforcement officers remained jailed Saturday while their colleagues tried to sort out the details that led to the death of a 6-year-old and the severe wounding of his father in a hail of gunfire.
Derrick Stafford, 32, of Mansura, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, of Marksville, each face charges of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder. They were being held in the Avoyelles Parish jail.
The dead child was 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis, who was in a car being driven Tuesday by his father, Chris Few.
Col. Mike Edmonson, superintendent of Louisiana State Police, said at a news conference Friday night that the probe included review of body cameras and 911 recordings. He called the video he reviewed “the most disturbing thing I’ve seen, and I will leave it at that.”
Man who took boy knew he’d be caught
CLEVELAND – The man accused of taking his 5-year-old son from the Alabama home of the boy’s mother in 2002 and creating new identities for both of them knew he’d be caught someday, the man’s attorney said Friday.
Bobby Hernandez, 53, came to Cleveland and built a new life for himself and his son and began calling himself Jonathan Mangina. His son, now 18, was known as Jay or J.J., a neighbor in Cleveland said.
The ruse fell apart when the teen, a senior at a Cleveland high school, began the college application process and discrepancies were discovered with his Social Security number. That’s when a school counselor learned the teen was actually Julian Hernandez and that he was listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The FBI became involved and Hernandez was arrested Monday.
Mother kills son, self at Arizona hospital
MESA, Ariz. – A mother of a patient at a suburban Phoenix children’s hospital took her son’s life before taking her own, police said Saturday.
Mesa police spokesman Steve Berry said nurses at Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa found the woman and her 5-year-old child dead inside the child’s room while conducting a 2 a.m. bed check.
The mother had a fatal gunshot wound, but it was too early in the investigation to release information about how the boy died, Berry said.
Investigators believe the mother killed the child and then herself. Nobody at the hospital recalls hearing any gunshots or suspicious activity, Berry said. According to police, the boy had been hospitalized for the past week. Berry declined to say why the boy was hospitalized, citing privacy rules.
Associated Press