LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal prosecutors have filed murder charges against the suspected gunman in the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport.

U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said Saturday that the murder charge applied to the death of TSA officer Gerardo Hernandez, who died in Friday's shooting at LAX's Terminal 3.

Authorities arrested 23-year-old Paul Ciancia in the attack, which also wounded five others, including two other TSA officers.

Ciancia was also charged with commission of violence at an international airport. He could face the death penalty.

Paul Ciancia could face the death penalty if he's convicted of killing a TSA agent, prosecutors say.
What his note reveals

Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nabil Fahmy addresses the 68th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 28, 2013. REUTERS/Adam Hunger

By Samia Nakhoul and Michael Georgy

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said on Saturday that Egypt would look beyond the United States to meet its security needs and warned Washington that it could no longer ignore popular demands in a changed Arab world.

Speaking ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Fahmy said the United States must take a long-term view of its relations with Egypt and understand that in the wake of the Arab Spring, "it would have to deal now with the Arab peoples, not only with Arab governments".

Emphasizing the "turbulent" state of Washington's ties with its longtime Arab ally after U.S. military aid curbs in response to the army's overthrow in July of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Fahmy said Egypt would have to develop "multiple choices, multiple options" to chart its way forward - including military relationships.

Fahmy, in a rare interview, also sent this message to the United States: "If you're going to have interests in the Middle East, you need to have either good relations with the country that is the focus of the Middle East, or at the very least well-managed relations".

"This is going to be a frank, honest dialogue between friends," he told Reuters about his meeting with Kerry on Sunday.

"We will work in that constructive fashion to develop the relationship but there is no question in our mind that we will fulfil our national security needs as they are required from whatever source we need".

The minister, a broadly pro-American figure in the interim military-backed government, made his first significant foreign trip to Russia in September rather than the United States, which has suspended key parts of its aid to the Egyptian army, pending progress on democracy.

The military receives an annual $1.3 billion in arms and cash from the United States since Egypt signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979.

'COLD WAR MENTALITY'

The message Cairo will convey to Kerry is that "the U.S.-Egypt relationship is very important, but that the relationship is much deeper than aid or no aid, and it has to be looked at as a strategic relationship rather than a tactical one".

Fahmy, a former ambassador to Washington and long a top strategist in Egypt's Foreign Ministry, stressed that this was not a pivot back to Moscow, Cairo's Soviet-era ally before then-President Anwar Sadat pulled Egypt into the Western camp and made peace with Israel.

"That's Cold War mentality. I'm not trying to bring in Russia vis-a-vis America. I'm trying to bring in 10, 20, 30 new partners for Egypt", he said.

"The Egyptian government is committed to diversifying its relationship, not at the expense of our friends but over and above ... . This is not a position against an American policy, it's a position that is consistent with Egypt's interests."

He said Egypt, the No. 2 recipient of U.S. military aid and where a quarter of the Middle East population lives, was disturbed by the disruption of American aid, particularly the withholding of military deliveries, which requires "sustainability, continuity and a long-term consistency."

Last month's decision by Washington to freeze some military aid and $260 million in cash aid, following a crackdown on the Brotherhood, has angered the Egyptian authorities and their Arab allies.

The military said it responded to huge mass protests against Mursi's rule when it toppled him. But it then carried out one of the most brutal crackdowns on Egypt's oldest and most powerful Islamist group.

In August it crushed pro-Mursi camps, killing hundreds of people and arresting the leadership along with thousands of their supporters.

'WE WILL STUMBLE'

Kerry arrives a day before Mursi and 14 other top Brotherhood leaders go on trial on charges of inciting violence.

Fahmy said Egypt, where long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in popular protests in 2011, is passing through a challenging transition but the only way forward was democracy.

Success or failure of the Egyptian model, he added, will shape the Middle East, especially the countries that went through similar popular uprisings to topple dictators.

"We are trying to determine our political identity and it is a difficult process ... . There will be push back and forth and as we do this we will stumble ... . It is going to take time."

Fahmy said it would take Egypt up to five years to have a mature democracy.

For that to happen, Egypt must restore security and prosperity to the country of 85 million, whose economy and tourism industry have been severely hit by turmoil.

He said his government's mandate was to prepare for new parliamentary and presidential elections, vote on a new constitution in a referendum, start a reconciliation process and establish the democratic institutions for modern Egypt.

Responding to critics who say that Egypt was again in the clutches of the military, he said: "The more we take steps to implement the roadmap, the more you will see a civilian face to this process."

Democracy in Egypt is irreversible, said Fahmy.

"Why in the world would people come out twice in 2-1/2 years and change their president? This is not about whether we have it or not, it's about how long it takes us and what the cost is.

"The strongest voice in Egypt today is the Egyptian people ... . I caution against again ignoring the Egyptian people."

(Writing by Samia Nakhoul and Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Egyptian official's stern message to U.S.

Egypt's top diplomat says his country will look beyond American aid, and find "whatever source we need."
What he will tell Secretary Kerry

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The unemployed motorcycle mechanic suspected in the deadly shooting at the Los Angeles airport set out to kill multiple employees of the Transportation Security Administration and hoped the attack would "instill fear in their traitorous minds," authorities said Saturday.

Paul Ciancia was so determined to take lives that, after shooting a TSA officer and going up an escalator, he turned back to see the officer move and returned to finish him off, according to surveillance video reviewed by investigators.

In a news conference announcing charges against Ciancia, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. spelled out a chilling chain of events at LAX that began when Ciancia strode into Terminal 3, pulled a Smith & Wesson .223-caliber assault rifle from his duffel bag and fired repeatedly at point-blank range at a TSA officer. The officer was checking IDs and boarding passes at the base of an escalator leading to the main screening area.

After killing that officer, Ciancia fired on at least two other uniformed TSA employees and an airline passenger, who were all wounded. Airport police eventually shot him as panicked passengers cowered in stores and restaurants.

Ciancia, 23, remained hospitalized Saturday after being hit four times and wounded in the mouth and leg. The FBI said he was unresponsive and they had not been able to interview him.

View gallery."

ALTERNATE HORIZONTAL CROP - This June, 2013 photo released by the Hernandez family Saturday, Nov. 2, …

The duffel bag contained a handwritten letter signed by Ciancia stating that he had "made the conscious decision to try to kill" multiple TSA employees and that he wanted to stir fear in them, FBI agent in charge David L. Bowdich said.

Federal prosecutors filed charges of first-degree murder of a federal officer and committing violence at an international airport. The charges could qualify him for the death penalty.

The FBI was still looking into Ciancia's past, but investigators said they had not found evidence of previous crimes or any run-ins with the TSA. They said he had never applied for a job with the agency.

Authorities believe someone dropped Ciancia off at the airport. Agents were reviewing surveillance tapes to piece together the sequence of events.

"We are really going to draw a picture of who this person was, his background, his history. That will help us explain why he chose to do what he did," Bowdich said. "At this point, I don't have the answer on that."

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John S. Pistole, left, Administrator of Transportation Security Administration and Ana Hernandez, ce …

The note found in the duffel bag suggested Ciancia was willing to kill almost any TSA officer.

"Black, white, yellow, brown, I don't discriminate," the note read, according to a paraphrase by a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The screed also mentioned "fiat currency" and "NWO," possible references to the New World Order, a conspiracy theory that foresees a totalitarian one-world government.

When searched, the suspect had five 30-round magazines, and his bag contained hundreds more rounds in boxes, the law-enforcement official said.

Terminal 3, the area where the shooting happened, reopened Saturday. Passengers who had abandoned luggage to escape Friday's gunfire were allowed to return to collect their bags.

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Transportation Security Administration employees classify the luggage to return to passengers at Los …

The TSA planned to review its security policies in the wake of the attack. Administrator John Pistole did not say if that would mean arming officers.

As airport operations returned to normal, a few more details trickled out about Ciancia, who by all accounts was reserved and solitary.

Former classmates barely remember him and even a recent roommate could say little about the young man who moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles less than two years ago. A former classmate at Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., said Ciancia was incredibly quiet.

"He kept to himself and ate lunch alone a lot," David Hamilton told the Los Angeles Times. "I really don't remember any one person who was close to him .... In four years, I never heard a word out of his mouth."

On Friday, Ciancia's father called police in New Jersey, worried about his son in L.A. The young man had sent texts to his family that suggested he might be in trouble, at one point even saying goodbye.

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From left to right, FBI Special Agent in Charge David L. Bowdich, United States Attorney Andre Birot …

The call came too late. Ten minutes earlier, police said, he had walked into the airport.

In the worrisome messages, the younger Ciancia did not mention suicide or hurting others, but his father had heard from a friend that his son may have had a gun, said Allen Cummings, police chief in Pennsville, a small blue-collar town near the Delaware River where Ciancia grew up.

The police chief called Los Angeles police, who sent a patrol car to Ciancia's apartment. There, two roommates said that they had seen him a day earlier and he had appeared to be fine.

But by that time, gunfire was already breaking out at the airport.

"There's nothing we could do to stop him," Cummings said.

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United States Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. speaks in press conference to provide an update on the inve …

The police chief said he learned from Ciancia's father that the young man had attended a technical school in Florida, then moved to Los Angeles in 2012 hoping to get a job as a motorcycle mechanic. He was having trouble finding work.

Ciancia graduated in December 2011 from Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Orlando, Fla., said Tina Miller, a spokeswoman for Universal Technical Institute, the Scottsdale, Ariz., company that runs the school.

A basic motorcycle mechanic course takes about a year, she said.

On Friday, as swarms of passengers dropped to the ground or ran for their lives, the gunman seemed to ignore anyone except TSA targets.

Leon Saryan of Milwaukee had just passed through security and was looking for a place to put his shoes and belt back on when he heard gunfire. He managed to hide in a store. As he was cowering in the corner, the shooter approached.

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Illustration shows path of gunman at the Los Angeles Airport; 4c x 4 inches; 195.7 mm x 101 mm;

"He looked at me and asked, 'TSA?' I shook my head no, and he continued on down toward the gate," Saryan said.

Authorities identified the dead TSA officer as Gerardo I. Hernandez, 39, the first official in the agency's 12-year history to be killed in the line of duty.

Friends remembered him as a doting father and a good neighbor who went door-to-door warning neighbors to be careful after his home was burglarized.

In brief remarks outside the couple's house, his widow, Ana Hernandez, said Saturday that her husband came to the U.S. from El Salvador at age 15.

"He took pride in his duty for the American public and for the TSA mission," she said.

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This photo shows the first page of the complaint filed by the United States Attorney's office in Los …

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Associated Press writers Alicia Chang in Los Angeles and Geoff Mulvihill in New Jersey contributed to this report.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Some of the world's top climate scientists say wind and solar energy won't be enough to head off extreme global warming, and they're asking environmentalists to support the development of safer nuclear power as one way to cut fossil fuel pollution.

Four scientists who have played a key role in alerting the public to the dangers of climate change sent letters Sunday to leading environmental groups and politicians around the world. The letter, an advance copy of which was given to The Associated Press, urges a crucial discussion on the role of nuclear power in fighting climate change.

Environmentalists agree that global warming is a threat to ecosystems and humans, but many oppose nuclear power and believe that new forms of renewable energy will be able to power the world within the next few decades.

That isn't realistic, the letter said.

"Those energy sources cannot scale up fast enough" to deliver the amount of cheap and reliable power the world needs, and "with the planet warming and carbon dioxide emissions rising faster than ever, we cannot afford to turn away from any technology" that has the potential to reduce greenhouse gases.

The letter signers are James Hansen, a former top NASA scientist; Ken Caldeira, of the Carnegie Institution; Kerry Emanuel, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Tom Wigley, of the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Hansen began publishing research on the threat of global warming more than 30 years ago, and his testimony before Congress in 1988 helped launch a mainstream discussion. Last February he was arrested in front of the White House at a climate protest that included the head of the Sierra Club and other activists. Caldeira was a contributor to reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Emanuel is known for his research on possible links between climate change and hurricanes, and Wigley has also been doing climate research for more than 30 years.

Emanuel said the signers aren't opposed to renewable energy sources but want environmentalists to understand that "realistically, they cannot on their own solve the world's energy problems."

The vast majority of climate scientists say they're now virtually certain that pollution from fossil fuels has increased global temperatures over the last 60 years. They say emissions need to be sharply reduced to prevent more extreme damage in the future.

In 2011 worldwide carbon dioxide emissions jumped 3 percent, because of a large increase by China, the No. 1 carbon polluting country. The U.S. is No. 2 in carbon emissions.

Hansen, who's now at Columbia University, said it's not enough for environmentalists to simply oppose fossil fuels and promote renewable energy.

"They're cheating themselves if they keep believing this fiction that all we need" is renewable energy such as wind and solar, Hansen told the AP.

The joint letter says, "The time has come for those who take the threat of global warming seriously to embrace the development and deployment of safer nuclear power systems" as part of efforts to build a new global energy supply.

Stephen Ansolabehere, a Harvard professor who studies energy issues, said nuclear power is "very divisive" within the environmental movement. But he added that the letter could help educate the public about the difficult choices that climate change presents.

One major environmental advocacy organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council, warned that "nuclear power is no panacea for our climate woes."

Risk of catastrophe is only one drawback of nuclear power, NRDC President Frances Beinecke said in a statement. Waste storage and security of nuclear material are also important issues, she said.

"The better path is to clean up our power plants and invest in efficiency and renewable energy," Beinecke said.

The scientists acknowledge that there are risks to using nuclear power, but say those are far smaller than the risk posed by extreme climate change.

"We understand that today's nuclear plants are far from perfect."

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Full letter online: http://bit.ly/1fc6Dpu

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