Russia says alleged spying case was 2nd this year

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian security services operative — his features bathed in shadows — went on state television Wednesday to claim that the U.S. diplomat who was ordered out of the country was the second American expelled this year over spying allegations.

The anonymous operative said the CIA had failed to halt this "disturbing activity" despite Moscow asking it to do so.

The TV report came one day after Russia ordered Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the U.S. Embassy, to leave the country after the Federal Security Service claimed to have caught him red-handed trying to recruit a Russian agent in Moscow. The agency, known by the initials FSB, alleged that Fogle worked for the CIA.

State TV channels showed a man identified as an FSB agent saying that another American was told to leave in January in "another case of recruitment." The anonymous speaker, whose identity as an FSB operative could not be confirmed by The Associated Press, did not give the name of the expelled American.

Various Russian TV networks gave different names for the American, and the FSB refused to clarify the name to The Associated Press. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell declined to comment.

The purported FSB agent said that in the January case his agency had decided not to publicize the expulsion, unlike the Fogle case, which has been top news in the Russian media for two days. He said the FSB asked its U.S. counterparts after the January case to halt this "disturbing activity."

The attention given to the Fogle case contrasts with recent moves by Washington and Moscow to develop closer cooperation on counterterrorism in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15.

The bombing suspects — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his elder brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a manhunt — have roots in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Tamerlan spent six months last year in Dagestan, now the center of an Islamic insurgency; U.S. investigators have been working with the Russians to try to determine whether he had established any contacts with militants in Dagestan.

Russian officials have played the contrast with both annoyance and magnanimity.

"To put it mildly, it is surprising that this extremely crude, clumsy attempt at recruitment took place in a situation where both President Obama and President Putin have clearly stated the importance of more active cooperation and contacts between the speial services of the two countries," Putin's foreign affairs aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying Wednesday by Russian news agencies.

But Ushakov said counterterrorism cooperation would be among the issues addressed by Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev on a visit to Washington next week, in which he is to present a letter with Putin's response to an Obama message conveyed last month. The letter also is to address missile-defense, a long-standing point of tension between Russia and the United States.

Ushakov said it was unclear if the letter borne by Patrushev would take up the Fogle case.

U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul was summoned Wednesday to the Russian Foreign Ministry, which said it handed him a formal protest over the incident. McFaul spent about a half-hour at the ministry and left without speaking to journalists.

Ventrell, speaking in Washington, declined to provide any further information on Fogle, beyond confirming that he was named persona non grata by the Russians. He said McFaul met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Valentin Ryabkov, but wouldn't say what they spoke about.

McFaul has had a difficult time in Moscow since he took up his post in January 2012. He provoked the ire of Russian officials when one of his first acts was to invite a group of opposition activists and rights advocates to the U.S. Embassy.

Fogle, 29, appeared to be the first American diplomat in Moscow publicly accused of spying in about a decade. State TV showed him being detained briefly, displaying items it said he was carrying, including two wigs, technical gear, a large sum of money and a letter offering millions of dollars for cooperation.

Little is known publicly about Fogle's duties and activities in Russia. The State Department confirmed that Fogle worked as an embassy employee but would give no details about his job. The CIA declined comment.

Fogle is from Clayton, Missouri, near St. Louis. His father is an attorney for the Thompson Coburn firm, one of the largest in St. Louis.

Fogle's family declined interview requests made through a spokeswoman for the law firm.

Phil Harris, 27, of St. Louis, said he has known Fogle for about five years. He described him as a "friend of a friend," but said they had hung out together perhaps five times, most recently when they played poker and went shooting together in December.

"My first reaction was shock," Harris said of learning of Fogle's alleged involvement in spying. "He just seemed like a very normal person to me. It never seemed like he was some kind of secret agent guy."

The Russian Foreign Ministry has ordered Fogle to leave Russia immediately but his exact whereabouts were not known Wednesday. Ventrell wouldn't say if Fogle has left, citing only the "potential for reciprocity."

Despite the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States still maintain active espionage operations against each other. Last year, several Russians were convicted in separate cases of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.

___

Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Bradley Klapper in Washington and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.

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Wigs? A map? Strange stuff in alleged US spy kit

MOSCOW (AP) — A couple of wigs, sunglasses and a compass? Really?

Some of the items Russian authorities say they seized from a U.S. diplomat who they accuse of spying look like they came from Austin Powers' arsenal rather than James Bond's.

But while the old-fashioned items might seem clownish or reminiscent of Cold War intrigues, they could in some ways be more useful than many modern gadgets, experts say.

Bob Ayers, a former U.S. intelligence officer, said disguises and cash drops have long been staples of the spy world, but cautioned that even an old mobile phone could undo an effort to get off the grid using a compass and map. He added: "You can't assume that every agent always acts in a rational way."

Here is a look at the items that Russia's Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, proudly displayed as trophies after grabbing the American:

WIGS

A blond one and another equally fluffy dark one, the wigs offer a quick and efficient disguise. But there is one small problem: While they might help you get lost in a marijuana-loving crowd in Amsterdam, they would instantly draw attention to you on the streets of Moscow, where most men sport crew cuts. That said, Ayers noted that even a bad wig can make it tough to follow someone via CCTV cameras.

SUNGLASSES

Another tried but true way to quickly change appearance. One of the three pairs, the one in dark plastic, appears to have transparent or only slightly tinted lenses. An attempt at a professorial look?

PILES OF CASH

A generous advance to encourage a would-be agent. The currency is euros, which most Russians these days prefer as an illicit cash reward or a bribe.

RECRUITMENT LETTER

Contains detailed instructions for a would-be agent about secure communications and future meetings. Also promises a $100,000 advance and a $1 million annual reward for "long-term cooperation." The mention of dollars as the currency of payment in the letter curiously differs from the euros in the actual cash.

MAP OF MOSCOW

A conservative means of finding your way in the age of Google maps. But think about it: using a digital map application on your cellphone could make you more vulnerable to anyone shadowing you.

COMPASS

The essential complement to the map.

FLASHLIGHT

A must for those who love to lurk in dark corners. It also could help protect you from falling into a pit on one of those badly paved and poorly lit Moscow streets.

CELLPHONE

An old but reliable Nokia model that boasts good battery life. Equipped with a hands-free cord. Ayers cautioned that the user would need to remove the battery when they wanted to avoid being tracked.

SIM CARDS

There are two, each belonging to a different Russian mobile phone operator. SIM cards are exchangeable identity chips used in cellphones, and they can be obtained anonymously in Russia.

POCKET KNIFE

Helpful if you live a life of adventure. Or even if you don't.

PEPPER GAS CANISTER

May offer some degree of protection in the Russian capital, especially against the stray dogs.

KEYHOLDER

Conveniently has a smaller pocket knife, a small flashlight and what could be a radio scanner attached.

ALKALINE BATTERIES

A couple of ordinary looking batteries — or something disguised as such?

NOTEBOOK

Contains some scribbled handwritten notes.

RFID SHIELD

A protective sleeve that prevents anyone from reading private information from credit cards and other items.

CIGARETTE LIGHTER

Maybe it's just a lighter.

___

Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds contributed to this report from London.

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Defense: Public misinformed in alleged terror case

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The defense attorney for a man arrested in what the FBI has called a thwarted terror plot in western Minnesota said Wednesday that authorities have given the public some misinformation about his client, while a local police chief said authorities continue to keep an eye on the anti-government militia group founded by his family.

Buford Rogers, 24, of Montevideo appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Paul for a scheduled detention hearing Wednesday. But his attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Andrew Mohring, asked that the hearing be postponed so he could investigate the accusations.

Rogers is charged with one count of illegally possessing a firearm. He was arrested Friday after FBI agents from the domestic terrorism squad said they found a cache of explosives and weapons in his parents' mobile home in Montevideo.

The FBI said earlier this week that it stopped a terror attack that was in its planning stages, potentially saving the lives of several Montevideo residents.

"There has been a great deal of information and misinformation that has been released, and it should never have happened, and it should stop," Mohring said in court Wednesday. When asked after the hearing to elaborate on what the misinformation might be, he said rules prevented him from talking about the case.

An FBI spokesman and the Montevideo police chief declined to respond to Mohring's statement.

Rogers' father, Jeff Rogers, has said his son has done nothing wrong, and is being targeted because he is outspoken about his beliefs.

Rogers has not been charged with terror-related counts, and the motive behind the alleged plot and the potential target have not been publicly released. Police say he has militia ties, and he has made anti-government comments on social media.

Montevideo Police Chief Adam Christopher said Rogers and his family started a local anti-government militia group called the Black Snake Militia, which consists of family members and a few friends. Police believe the group is small, with a maximum of about six members.

Christopher said Rogers family members have been public about their anti-government beliefs: They regularly wear camouflage, have flown a flag upside-down at the mobile home as a sign of "distress," and a homemade sign reading B.S.M., for Black Snake Militia, sits near the door.

Examples of comments he posted to his Facebook page in 2011 say: "The war is here tsa agents are doing random cheeks and shooting people for no reson," or "together we can fight back they wont take me down with out a fight i hope that you wont go down easy eather."

Rogers' page features a military vehicle as his profile picture, and other pictures of him with weapons.

"I don't think they are hiding anything," Christopher said of the group. When asked if the Black Snake Militia is focused on any one issue within government, Christopher said the group seems to direct their sentiments toward all facets of government — from the United Nations, to FEMA, to the TSA.

Christopher said authorities have been looking into the group for the last couple of years, and they continue to keep an eye on them. He said until the events leading to the recent discovery of explosives, he's unaware of any prior threats the group has made.

According to a federal affidavit, authorities searched the mobile home in Montevideo and discovered Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and firearms. The affidavit said Buford was there at the time, and one firearm recovered from the residence was a Romanian AKM assault rifle.

In an interview with authorities, Rogers admitted firing the weapon on two separate occasions at a gun range, the affidavit said. Rogers has a 2011 conviction for felony burglary and is not allowed to have a firearm.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Kovats was not opposed to postponing Rogers' detention hearing, and said in court that his office is aware of, and abiding by, rules prohibiting pretrial release of information.

U.S. Magistrate Jeanne Graham postponed the hearing, and said if a motion for a gag order was brought before her, she would consider it.

Rogers will remain in custody until the formal detention hearing. A status conference to see if it needs to be postponed further will be held May 17. He also waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, and Graham found there was probable cause for the case to go forward.

Montevideo, a city of about 5,000 people, is about 130 miles west of Minneapolis.

___

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti

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Pattern seen in alleged chemical arms use in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — The instances in which chemical weapons are alleged to have been used in Syria were purportedly small in scale: nothing along the lines of Saddam Hussein's 1988 attack in Kurdish Iraq that killed thousands.

That raises the question of who would stand to gain as President Bashar Assad's regime and the opposition trade blame for the alleged attacks, and proof remains elusive.

Analysts say the answer could lie in the past — the regime has a pattern of gradually introducing a weapon to the conflict to test the international community's response.

The U.S. said last week that intelligence indicates the Syrian military has likely used sarin, a deadly nerve agent, on at least two occasions in the civil war, echoing similar assessments from Israel, France and Britain. Syria's rebels accuse the regime of firing chemical weapons on at least four occasions, while the government denies the charges and says opposition fighters have used chemical agents in a bid to frame it.

But using chemical weapons to try to force foreign intervention would be a huge gamble for the opposition, and one that could easily backfire. It would undoubtedly taint the rebellion in the eyes of the international community and seriously strain its credibility.

Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva, said it would also be difficult for the rebels to successfully employ chemical agents.

"It's very difficult to weaponize chemical weapons," he said. "It needs a special warhead, for the artillery a special fuse."

In the chaos of Syria's civil war, pinning down definitive proof on the alleged use of weapons of mass destruction is a tricky task with high stakes. President Barack Obama has said any use of chemical arms — or the transfer of stockpiles to terrorists — would cross a "red line" and carry "enormous consequences."

Already, the White House's announcement that the Syrian regime appears to have used chemical arms has ratcheted up the pressure on Obama to move forcefully. He has sought to temper expectations of a quick U.S. response, saying too little is known about the alleged attacks to take action now.

Analysts suggest that a limited introduction of the weapons, with little ostensible military gain, could be an attempt by the Syrian government to test the West's resolve while retaining the veil of plausible deniability. This approach would also allow foreign powers eager to avoid a costly intervention in Syria to remain on the sidelines, while at the same time opening the door for the regime to use the weapons down the road.

"If it's testing the water, and we're going to turn a blind eye, it could be used widely, repeatedly," Alani said. "If you are silent once, you will be silent twice."

The slow introduction of a weapon to gauge the West's response fits a pattern of behavior the Assad regime has demonstrated since the uprising began in March 2011, according to Joseph Holliday, a Syria analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.

When largely peaceful protesters initially took to the streets, the regime responded with small arms fire and a wave of arrests. As the government ramped up its violent crackdown, the opposition began to take up arms in late 2011, prompting yet another escalation in force by the regime.

In early 2012, government troops began using heavy weapons, first in a relatively restrained manner on military targets.

"Once they could confirm that there wasn't going to be a major reaction from the West, they were able to expand the use of artillery," Holliday said.

By the summer of 2012, government troops were pounding rebellious neighborhoods with tank fire, field cannons and mortars, but the rebellion was stronger than ever, prompting Assad to turn to his air force, and the regime's MiG fighter jets and helicopter gunships began to strike military targets in rural areas.

After the government was satisfied that the international community wasn't going to impose a no-fly zone like NATO did in Libya, Assad unleashed the full might of his air power, and warplanes have been indiscriminately bombing rebel-held areas since.

"It all fits the pattern of being able to do this incrementally," Holliday said.

"It's been important for the regime to introduce these capabilities as gradually as possible so that they don't trip the international community's red lines," he added. "I think this is basically a modus operandi that the Assad regime has established and tested with the United States, and confirmed that it works, and he's using it again with chemical weapons."

Syria has never confirmed it even has chemical weapons. But it is believed to possess substantial stockpiles of mustard gas and a range of nerve agents, including sarin, a highly toxic substance that can suffocate its victims by paralyzing muscles around their lungs.

Concern rose last summer when then-Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told a news conference that Damascus would only use chemical or biological weapons in case of foreign attack, not against its own people. The ministry then tried to blur the issue, saying it had never acknowledged having such arms.

Weapons of mass destruction are generally viewed as a deterrent against foreign attack, and their use a sign of desperation. But Assad appears far from desperate at the moment, and in fact is operating from a position of relative strength.

While much of northern Syria has fallen to the rebels, the government's hold on Damascus is firm and its forces have been on the offensive in the capital's suburbs and in the countryside near the border with Lebanon. In the northwest, regime troops recently opened up a key supply road to soldiers fighting in the embattled city of Aleppo.

Two of the alleged attacks the Syrian opposition blames on the regime took place in and around Aleppo: one in Khan al-Assal west of the city on March 19, and another in the contested Shiekh Maqsoud neighborhood on April 13. The other alleged instances were in the central city of Homs on Dec. 23 and in the village of Otaybah outside Damascus on March 19.

It is not clear exactly how many people died in those attacks because of the scarcity of credible information. The Syrian government seals off areas it controls to journalists and outside observers, making details of the attacks sketchy. But reports from anti-Assad activists and the government provide a basic outline.

Opposition activists have posted videos and pictures online of alleged victims of the attacks foaming at the mouth or with blister burns — symptoms consistent with chemical weapons attacks, but also other munitions. The Syrian state news agency, after one attack it blamed on rebels, published photos of casualties, including children. None showed signs of physical injuries.

Both sides in the civil war, which has already killed more than 70,000 people, have tried to use the issue to sway international opinion.

Rebels have been clamoring for more robust international action against the Assad regime. At a recent gathering in Turkey of the rebellion's international supporters, the opposition political leadership demanded drone strikes on regime targets and the imposition of a no-fly zone, and it reiterated calls for transfers of heavier weapons to its fighters.

The regime has seized on the opposition's demands for outside support to bolster its argument that rebels may have used chemical weapons to frame the government and precipitate foreign intervention.

In December, after rebels captured a chlorine factory in Aleppo, the government warned the opposition could be planning a chemical attack to frame the regime. To back up its assertions, the state news agency pointed to internet videos that purported to show regime opponents experimenting with poisons on mice and rabbits.

In the video, a masked man mixes gases in a glass box containing two rabbits. About a minute later, the animals start to spasm and then collapse. A narrator then says, "This is what will happen to you, Assad supporters." The origin of the video was not known.

Alani dismissed the possibility of the rebels, including Islamic extremist groups among the most powerful opposition fighting factions, carrying out a chlorine attack.

He noted that al-Qaida militants used chlorine on at least two occasions in Iraq in the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, but abandoned the practice because "the impact of the chlorine was far less than conventional explosives."

___

Follow Ryan Lucas on Twitter at www.twitter.com/relucasz

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Plea expected for alleged cannibal in Md. slaying

BEL AIR, Md. (AP) — A Maryland prosecutor says a man accused of cannibalism is expected to plead guilty but not criminally responsible in the slaying of a man staying with his family.

Charging documents state Alex Kinyua, a 22-year-old former Morgan State University student, told authorities that he ate the heart and brain of the Ghanaian man he was charged with killing in 2012. Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly said Wednesday that Kinyua is expected to enter the plea to first-degree murder.

His attorney's office declined comment.

The slaying came days after Kinyua, a U.S. citizen originally from Kenya, was charged in an on-campus beating that blinded another man. He entered the same plea to attempted murder in that attack, meaning he would be confined to a mental health facility, not prison.

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Ex-porn star Jameson arrested for alleged battery

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Police say former adult film star Jenna Jameson has been arrested after a report that she attacked someone at an Orange County home.

Newport Beach police Lt. Evan Sailor says the alleged victim put Jameson under citizen's arrest until police arrived at the home on the upscale Balboa Peninsula on Saturday night.

The 38-year-old Jameson, born Jenna Marie Massoli, was given a court date to face a misdemeanor battery charge and released on her own recognizance.

In May, Jameson was arrested for drunken driving after hitting a light pole in Westminster. She pleaded guilty in August was sentenced to three years' informal probation.

Jameson was among the biggest stars in porn when she left the industry in 2008. An email sent to her company seeking comment was not immediately returned.

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N.Y. politicians arrested in alleged mayoral race bribe scheme

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NY state sen. arrested in alleged mayor race plot

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York state lawmaker was arrested Tuesday along with several other politicians in an alleged plot to bribe his way into the race for mayor of New York City.

Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith tried to pay off some of New York City's Republican party bosses to get himself on the ballot as a GOP candidate, federal prosecutors said.

New York City Councilman Dan Halloran and with four other political figures also were charged in what U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called "an unappetizing smorgasbord of graft and greed involving six officials who together built a corridor of corruption stretching from Queens and the Bronx to Rockland County and all the way up to Albany itself."

Smith "tried to bribe his way to a shot at Gracie Mansion," Bharara said in a statement, referring to the official mayor's residence. "Smith drew up the game plan and Councilman Halloran essentially quarterbacked that drive by finding party chairmen who were wide open to receiving bribes."

In meetings with a cooperating witness and an undercover FBI agent posing as a wealthy real estate developer, Smith agreed to bribe leaders of Republican Party county committees around New York City in an attempt to run for mayor as a Republican, even though he was a registered Democrat, the criminal complaint said.

Also charged are: Bronx County Republican Party Chairman Joseph Savino; Queens County Republican Party Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone; Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin; and Spring Valley Deputy Mayor Joseph Desmaret.

In exchange for payments to Savino and Tabone, Smith agreed to use his power as a senator to help obtain state funds for a road project in Spring Valley. That, in turn, was to benefit a real estate project that Smith believed was being built by the undercover agent's company in suburban Spring Valley, the complaint alleged.

Charges in the case include bribery, extortion, and wire and mail fraud, Bharara said.

Smith denies wrongdoing, his lawyer, Gerald L. Shargel, told The New York Times.

"Malcolm Smith is a dedicated and highly respected public servant and he steadfastly denies these charges," Shargel said.

Representatives for the other politicians did not immediately respond to comment requests.

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Dutch hold 4, search for alleged sarin nerve agent

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch police spent three days digging up a field after receiving a tip that sarin may have been buried there, but they found no trace of the deadly nerve agent, a prosecutor's office spokeswoman said Monday.

Two men and two women have been arrested in the case in the southern city of Maastricht on suspicion of owning and concealing a deadly gas, spokeswoman Cindy Reijnders said in a telephone interview.

She said police started monitoring a man's movements last week after a tip and arrested him Friday as he was about to start digging in a field just outside Maastricht, a city close to the Dutch border with Belgium.

Reijnders said police have no indication that any sarin was about to be used in a terror attack.

"There are no legal activities you can use sarin for," she said. "But at this moment we have no information or clues that it was going to be used for terrorism."

Reijnders said police believe the four suspects may have been trying to sell the nerve agent for their own financial gain, although it remained unclear if they already had a buyer lined up.

Sarin, first created by German scientists just before World War II, is a powerful nerve agent that was used in an attack by the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 that killed 13 people and sickened around 6,000.

One suspect was arrested Friday as he was about to start digging in a field near Maastricht. Police dug up 400 square meters (4,300 sq. feet) in the area to a depth of a meter (yard) without finding anything.

Three of the suspects, whose ages range from 21 to 52 years, are Dutch citizens and one has Dutch-Turkish joint citizenship. Their names were not released.

They are due to appear before an investigating judge Tuesday at a private sitting where prosecutors will ask for their continued detention while investigations continue, Reijnders said.

According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, sarin is a highly toxic and fast-acting organo-phosphorous compound that can be absorbed through the skin or by breathing it in.

Exposure to a high dose of sarin can cause convulsions and loss of consciousness. Death can be caused by suffocation because of muscular paralysis and the effects the sarin has on the respiratory center of the nervous system.

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Alleged chemical attack kills 25 in northern Syria

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's state news agency accused rebels on Tuesday of using chemical weapons in an attack in the northern province of Aleppo which it said killed 15 people.

"Terrorists fired a rocket containing chemical substances in the Khan al-Assal area of rural Aleppo and initial reports indicate that around 15 people were killed, most of them civilians," SANA news agency said.

It was not immediately possible to verify the report and SANA gave no further details. There was no immediate response from Syrian rebel forces.

President Bashar al-Assad, fighting a two-year uprising against his rule, is widely believed to have a chemical arsenal. Syrian officials have neither confirmed nor denied having a chemical weapons capability but have said that if it existed it would be used to defend against foreign aggression, not against Syrians.

Western nations have warned Damascus against any use of chemical weapons and have also expressed concern about stockpiles falling into the hands of militant groups.

(Reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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ADL Deeply Concerned About Alleged Transgender Hate Crime In Silver Spring, Md

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed deep concern over recent reports of an alleged attack against a transgender individual and a friend in Silver Spring on Tuesday, March 5, 2013.

According to news reports, the attack occurred at 2:35 pm after the two individuals were followed by four people while walking down the street in downtown Silver Spring.  The attackers reportedly made comments regarding the sexuality of the victims before physically assaulting them.

"We are appalled to learn of this alleged attack" said Sophie Dornstreich, ADL Associate Regional Director. "No one should be targeted by hate due to his or her gender identity, sexual orientation or any other characteristic."

"Hate crimes deserve priority attention because the impact resonates throughout the entire community and threatens the safety and well-being of every member of that group," Ms. Dornstreich continued. "Perpetrators of hate crimes send a message to their victims, and everyone else who shares the victim's characteristics, that they are not welcome or safe. The Anti-Defamation League wants those in the transgender community to know that we stand with them in the fight against these crimes."

The League commended the Montgomery County Police Department for their investigation into the bias motivation of this alleged crime. "If officials find that this was indeed a bias-motivated attack, we call upon the Montgomery County Police Department to prosecute this crime to the full extent permitted under Maryland's Bias-Motivated Crime Statute" said Ms. Dornstreich.

Hate crime statutes have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia. Many of those laws are based on a model statue crafted by the ADL, which has long been in the forefront of national and state efforts to deter and counteract hate-motivated criminal activity.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

SOURCE Anti-Defamation League

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Israel police probe alleged lawmaker voter fraud

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police are investigating allegations that lawmakers from the centrist Labor Party were involved in vote-buying schemes in their primary elections.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Tuesday investigators were looking into evidence that lawmakers paid for votes to improve their standing in the primary election.

Rosenfeld would not list the lawmakers. Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich named a former party head in an interview on Israeli Army Radio, and Israeli media pointed at two other suspects.

The lawmakers denied the allegations.

Labor won 15 of the 120 seats in Israel's parliament in January 22 elections, finishing as the third largest party.

Rosenfeld said police are also investigating possible vote-buying misconduct by a lawmaker from the nationalist Jewish Home party.

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