Teen among victims in Pa. Target store stabbings

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A 16-year-old girl who was visiting Pittsburgh from Tennessee with her family was one of three people stabbed inside a downtown Target store, and she is in critical condition, authorities said Tuesday.

A knife-wielding man ran into the store at about 5:30 p.m. Monday after a fight nearby and briefly took her hostage, authorities said.

The unidentified girl suffered a punctured lung and was taken into surgery, police said Tuesday, and a homeless man, Leon Raymond Walls, 41, was charged in the attack, court records show. There's no evidence Walls knew the girl.

Police say Walls at first headed toward the restrooms in the back of the store in the East Liberty neighborhood and that at least two men entered the store searching for him. Witnesses said one of the men had a baseball bat. Walls allegedly tried to use the girl as a shield while she stood in the checkout lanes with family members, police spokeswoman Diane Richard said.

Walls then allegedly slashed the two men who had chased him and seriously injured the girl.

Police said one of the men will need surgery to repair an injury to his face, while the other man was treated for a hand injury and released.

A police officer was also taken to hospitals to be treated for pepper spray exposure. A bystander who helped to subdue Walls complained of chest pains and was taken to a hospital and listed in stable condition.

Walls was unable to post $250,000 bond, court records show, and no home address or attorney was listed for him.

Western environmentalists oppose wolf delisting

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Western environmental groups say they're alarmed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering a plan to end federal protections for gray wolves in vast areas where the animals no longer exist.

The groups say ending federal protections would keep wolves from expanding their range back into states that could support them, including Colorado and California.

"As a matter of principle, I just think it's wrong," said Jay Tutchton, a Colorado lawyer with the group WildEarth Guardians.

Tutchton's group has sued over recent action to end federal protections for wolves in Wyoming. Wolves in most of the "Cowboy State" are classified as unprotected predators and scores have been killed since federal protections ended last fall.

"The Endangered Species Act was designed to protect species, including in places where they no longer reside," Tutchton said. "You were supposed to try to recover them, not throw in the towel."

The Fish and Wildlife Service could announce as soon as this spring whether it will propose a blanket delisting of wolves in most of the lower 48 states. Wolves in the Northern Rockies and around the Great Lakes, where reintroduced populations are well-established, are already off the Endangered Species List.

Chris Tollefson, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, DC, said Tuesday that the agency hasn't made any decision yet whether it will propose the blanket delisting. An agency report last year proposed dropping wolves from the endangered list in most areas where they're known not to live.

Even if the Fish and Wildlife Service ends federal protections, Tollefson said states would be free to cultivate their own wolf populations. "It's fair to say that there wouldn't be a prohibition, it would simply be left to the states to determine how to manage wolves in their boundaries," he said.

Tollefson said his agency regards the wolf recovery efforts in the Great Lakes states and Northern Rockies as enormous successes.

"Our view, and that of the biological community is that those populations are thriving and no longer require the protections of the Endangered Species Act," Tollefson said. "Obviously, we'll be discussing other areas as we move forward on that."

The prospect of the national delisting has prompted members of Congress on both sides of the issue to lobby the Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe.

Seventy-two members of Congress, most of them Republicans, signed the most recent letter to Ashe on Friday urging him to go through with the delisting. Another group of scores of congressmen wrote to Ashe earlier this month urging him to reject the delisting idea.

"Unmanaged wolves are devastating to livestock and indigenous wildlife," the members of Congress, led by Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and others, wrote to Ashe last week. "Currently state wildlife officials have their hands tied any time wolves are involved."

Lummis said Tuesday that the letter was intended to celebrate the successful recovery of wolves.

"I know some will wring their hands over a delisting, but for the life of me I don't understand why they don't throw a party instead," Lummis stated. "In most suitable habitat, and in states that strongly objected to their presence initially, the wolf is here to stay. For some that is a bitter pill to swallow, for others it's not enough, but the bottom line is there are wolves where there once were none, and everyone but the most litigious among us seem ready to move on."

Bob Brister, wildlife campaign coordinator for the Utah Environmental Congress in Salt Lake City, has been campaigning to restore wolves to Utah, where he said they were extirpated in the 1930s.

Brister said the effect of delisting wolves in Utah and elsewhere where they currently don't exist would be to preclude their ultimate recovery back into their historic range. He noted that wolves are hunted heavily in the Wyoming, Utah and Montana and that states can't be counted on to provide the protections new populations would need to survive.

"It's especially dire here in Utah, because we depend on wolves migrating from Wyoming and Idaho to restore wolves here in Utah," Brister said. "And when they're being hunted so intensely in Wyoming and Idaho, it greatly decreases the possibility of wolves migrating into Utah."

Erik Molvar executive director of the Bioldiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo., also noted that Wyoming, Idaho and Montana allow substantial wolf hunting. He said delisting wolves across the rest of the Lower 48, "would seem to be a very unwise move, given the tenuous status of wolf populations in this area."

Molvar, whose group also is challenging the recent delisting of wolves in Wyoming, said it's clear there are other areas of the West that could support wolf populations.

"It certainly is true that there are places in Colorado, particularly Rocky Mountain National Park, where elk are so overpopulated that they're becoming a nuisance, that wolves are one of the few options to restore the natural balance," Molvar said.

Tutchton said his group and others are likely to fight the sweeping delisting effort.

ND gears up for legal dispute on new abortion laws

Map identifies states with time-based restrictions on abortions.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said his decision to sign strict new abortion laws, including the nation's toughest restriction on the procedure, was not based on "any religious belief or personal experience" and that he believes legislators have a right to ask such questions about abortionrestrictions.

The Republican governor signed three anti-abortion measures on Tuesday — including one banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, or when a heartbeat can be detected. By doing so, Dalrymple positioned his oil-rich state as a primary battleground in the decades-old fight over abortion rights.

Within minutes of signing the laws, unsolicited donations began pouring into the state's lone abortion clinic to help opponents prove the new laws are unconstitutional. The governor urged lawmakers to set aside cash for an inevitable legal challenge.

"Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade," Dalrymple said in a statement, referring to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion up to until a fetus is considered viable — usually at 22 to 24 weeks.

In an interview later Tuesday, Dalrymple told The Associated Press that the courts opened the door for a challenge by picking a specific moment in the timeline of gestation. He also said he studied thefetal heartbeat bill and "educated myself on the history and legal aspects as best I could. My conclusion is not coming from any religious belief or personal experience."

Dalrymple seemed determined to open a legal debate on the legislation, acknowledging the constitutionality of the measure was an open question. He asked the Legislature to set aside money for a "litigation fund" that would allow the state's attorney general to defend the measure against lawsuits.

He said he didn't know how much the likely court fight would cost. But, he said money wasn't the issue.

"The Legislature has decided to ask these questions on additional restrictions on abortions, and I think they have the legitimate right to ask those questions," he said.

He also signed into law measures that would makes North Dakota the first state to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome and require a doctor who performs abortions to be a physician with hospital-admitting privileges.

Lawmakers endorsed a fourth anti-abortion bill last week that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the disputed premise that fetuses feel pain at that point. The governor stopped short of saying he would sign it, but said: "I've already signed three bills. Draw your own conclusion."

The signed measures, which take effect Aug. 1, are fueled in part by an attempt to close the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo — the state's only abortion clinic.

Tammi Kromenaker, the clinic's director, called the legislation "extreme and unconstitutional" and said Dalrymple "awoke a sleeping giant" by approving it. The clinic, which performs about 3,000 abortions annually, was accepting cash donations and continued to take appointments Tuesday, she said.

"First and foremost, abortion is both legal and available in North Dakota," she said. "But anytime abortion laws are in the news, women are worried about access."

The Center for Reproductive Rights announced Tuesday that it has committed to challenging the fetal heartbeat bill on behalf of the clinic. The New York-based group already represented the clinic for free in a lawsuit over a 2011 law banning the widely accepted use of a medication that induces abortion. A judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of the law, and a trial is slated for April in Fargo.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem told the AP that lawyers from his office would defend any lawsuits that arise but an increase to the agency's budget would likely be necessary. He did not have a dollar amount.

The state has spent about $23,000 in legal costs to date defending the 2011 legislation, according to agency records obtained by the AP.

Julie Rikelman, litigation director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the group has provided three attorneys to argue that case. But in the recent round of legislation, the fetal heartbeat measure is the priority because it would effectively ban abortion in the state, she said.

"The impact is very, very clear," she said. "It would have an immediate and very large impact on the women in North Dakota."

Rikelman said the center also would support the clinic in other litigation, if need be and at no cost.

Kromenaker said other states have spent millions of dollars defending legislation, if the case reaches the nation's highest court. Rikelman said it's impossible to put a dollar amount on the impending legal fight in North Dakota.

"Litigation is so unpredictable," she said. "It could be very quick with a ruling in our favor."

North Dakota's law, since it would ban most abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, goes further than a bill approved earlier this month in Arkansas that establishes a 12-week ban — prohibiting them when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound. That ban is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the Arkansas Legislature adjourns.

A fetal heartbeat can generally be detected earlier in a pregnancy using a vaginal ultrasound, but Arkansas lawmakers balked at requiring women seeking abortions to have the more invasive imaging technique.

North Dakota's legislation doesn't specify how a fetal heartbeat would be detected.

Doctors performing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected could face a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Women having an abortion would not face charges.

The legislation to ban abortions based on genetic defects also would ban abortion based on gender selection. The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws throughout the country, says Pennsylvania, Arizona and Oklahoma also have laws outlawing abortion based on gender selection.

The Republican-led North Dakota Legislature has endorsed a spate of anti-abortion Legislation this year. North Dakota lawmakers moved last week to outlaw abortion in the state by passing a resolution defining life as starting at conception, essentially banning abortion in the state. The measure is likely to come before voters in November 2014.

Dalrymple attended a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for a new diesel refinery in western North Dakota and made no public appearance to explain his signing of the abortion legislation.

Emerging powers China, Brazil move towards non-dollar trade

By Agnieszka Flak and Marina Lopes

DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters) - China and Brazil agreed on Tuesday to swap up to the equivalent of $30 billion in each other's currencies if need be so that their fast-growing commercial ties will not suffer if a new banking crisis causes dollar trade finance to dry up.

The three-year agreement, signed before the start of a BRICS nations summit in Durban, South Africa, marked a step by the two largest economies in the emerging powers group to change global trade flows long dominated by the United States and Europe.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa represent together a fifth of global GDP but have struggled to convert their economic weight into political clout in the international arena.

"Our interest is not to establish new relations with China, but to expand relations to be used in the case of turbulence in financial markets," Brazilian Central Bank Governor Alexandre Tombini told reporters after the signing.

Brazilian Economy Minister Guido Mantega described the deal, called a bilateral currency swap accord, as "a sort of umbrella agreement" but he did not spell out what specific areas or categories of trade would be affected.

Brazil's vast mineral resources and agricultural products have helped fuel China's industrial growth and feed its people while the returns have helped bring a new era of prosperity to the Latin American giant.

Bilateral trade totalled around $75 billion last year. Of Brazil's $41.2 billion exports to China, iron ore accounted for 34 percent, while soy and soy products made up 29 percent and crude oil 12 percent.

Electronics, machinery and manufactured goods figured heavily in Brazil's $34.2 billion of imports from China.

Brazilian officials have said they hope to have the trade and currency deal operating in the second half of 2013.

Mantega said it would act as a buffer against turbulence in international financial markets dominated by the U.S. dollar.

"If there were shocks to the global financial market, with credit running short, we'd have credit from our biggest international partner, so there would be no interruption of trade," he said.

Chinese officials at the signing made no comments but the People's Bank of China said on its website the currency swap agreement was worth 190 billion yuan and would facilitate trade and investment.

"SOME PROGRESS" ON BRICS BANK

At the Durban summit, the group's fifth since 2009, the heads of state of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are expected to endorse plans to create a joint foreign exchange reserves pool and an infrastructure bank.

These objectives reflect frustration among emerging market nations at having to rely on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which they see as still reflecting the interests of the United States and other rich nations.

The reserves pool of central bank money would be available to emerging economies facing balance of payments difficulties or could be tapped to stabilise economies during periods of global financial crises, according to documents outlining the plan that were obtained by Reuters.

Officials say the BRICS are considering injecting an initial $50 billion into the new infrastructure bank. But the specifics of the scale, location and structure of the institution were still being thrashed out.

"It's a huge job with a lot of difficult issues to be agreed on. In principle, there is some progress," Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Anatolyevich Storchak told Reuters.

The bank would support the ever-growing financing needs in emerging and developing nations for roads, modern ports, and reliable power and rail services.

The BRICS leaders were also due to discuss trade and investment relations with Africa, at a time when many on the economically buoyant continent are seeking more balance and a different focus in trade and investment, especially from the giant of the group, China.

South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday welcomed new Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making his first visit as head of state to Africa.

In Tanzania on Monday, Xi told Africans he wanted a relationship of equals that would help the continent develop, responding to concerns that Beijing is only interested in exploiting its abundant raw materials.

Cyprus: cash, security control for banks reopening

Cyprus readies capital controls, hires extra security ahead of banks' reopening to prevent run