UK poll points to mistrust of clergy, lack of moral leadership

LONDON (Reuters) - Only around a half of Britons trust the clergy to tell the truth and a similar proportion think the Church of England does a bad job of providing moral leadership, a poll showed on Sunday.

The survey by pollster YouGov commissioned by Britain's Sunday Times newspaper further showed that 69 percent of respondents thought the Church of England, mother church of the world's 80-million-strong Anglican communion, was out of touch.

Forty percent of those polled said they did not trust priests, vicars and other clergy to tell the truth, and overall doctors, teachers and judges were rated as more trustworthy.

Fifty-four percent believe the Church of England has struggled to give moral leadership, the poll found.

The survey highlights the challenges facing the church in Britain amid falling believer numbers and controversies over whether to ordain women bishops and government plans to legalize gay marriageby 2015.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey suggested on Saturday that gay marriage plans made Christians feel "persecuted". Last month, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Hinting at turmoil within the Anglican church, current Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby urged a softer response to divisive issues such as same-sex weddings than that taken by Carey, and called for differences to be dealt with "gracefully".

"That is the challenge for the church and that is the challenge if the church is actually going to speak to our society which is increasingly divided in many different ways, here and overseas, over huge issues," Welby said in an interview with Premier Christian Radio broadcast on Easter Sunday.

The Anglican church is also at odds with the government on welfare spending cuts imposed in efforts to rein in a big budget deficit. Welby has argued that "children and families will pay the price" for welfare reforms due to take effect on Monday.

While Welby may be reflecting wider views in society on the perils of benefit spending reductions, the Anglican church has increasingly found itself opposing prevailing cultural trends, particularly on the issues of gay marriage and women bishops.

In November, the Church of England voted against ordaining women bishops, but the Sunday Times poll showed 80 percent of respondents backed the move. It also showed almost half of Britons think the church is wrong to oppose same-sex weddings.

Only 39 percent back the church in opposing gay marriage.

YouGov surveyed 1,918 adults between March 27-28.

(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Sanity at issue at dad's trial for killing 3 girls

HUDSON, Wis. (AP) — Police found a horrifying scene at theSchaffhausen family home in the western Wisconsin city of River Falls last July: three girls dead in their beds, their throats slashed. In the basement, gasoline was sloshed in a possible attempt to burn down their mother's house.

This week, the girls' father goes on trial to determine whether he was insane at the time. Aaron Schaffhausen last week conceded guilt on three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one of attempted arson, but maintained that he's not responsible for his actions due to mental illness.

Prosecutors argue Schaffhausen was perfectly aware of what he was doing, and killed 11-year-old Amara, 8-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Cecilia because he was still bitter about their divorce and furious because he thought she had begun seeing another man. Their evidence, according to a criminal complaint, includes a chilling statement to his ex-wife right after the killings: "You can come home now because I killed the kids."

Jury selection begins Monday in St. Croix County Circuit Court. Trial evidence is expected to include testimony from the girls' mother, Jessica Schaffhausen, and a recording of the 40-minute 911 call she made to police in River Falls, a community of about 15,000 people about 30 miles east of the Twin Cities.

For Schaffhausen, the stakes are likely the difference between spending the rest of his life in prison, if he's judged sane, or being committed to a psychiatric institution from which he might someday be released.

"Our office, as well as the attorney general's office, has put a lot of time into this case, a lot of resources, and I believe we're both prepared," District Attorney Eric Johnson said.

Schaffhausen's public defender, John Kucinski, spent months refusing to concede his client killed the girls. He fought hard in pretrial proceedings to exclude as much damaging evidence as possible, often unsuccessfully, ahead of last week's plea change.

Even though the focus has shifted to Schaffhausen's mental state, the lead prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Gary Freyberg, said he'll present much of the same evidence he had planned to use to prove guilt because he said it shows Schaffhausen understood what he was doing.

Aaron and Jessica Schaffhausen divorced in January 2011. Court papers indicate their marriage had been rocky for several years, and her mother told police the last straw was when Jessica discovered he was lying about having gone back to school. Her mother told police he either flunked out or dropped out, and kept it secret for several months, until it was too late to get a refund. Jessica and the girls stayed in the house in River Falls. Aaron took a construction job in Minot, N.D.

According to the complaint, Aaron Schaffhausen texted his ex-wife July 10, 2012, to ask for an unscheduled visit with the girls. She consented but said he had to be gone before she got home because she didn't want to see him. The girls' babysitter told investigators the children were excited when he arrived. The babysitter left. He called his wife about two hours later to say he'd killed their children.

Police arrived to find the girls lying in their beds, their blankets pulled up to their necks. White t-shirts were tied around their necks.

"All were found with their throats cut widely and deeply," prosecutors said in court filings. They said the "vast majority" of the blood at the scene was found in Cecilia's room, indicating he killed them there, and then tied the shirts around his girls' necks in an attempt to keep their blood off his own clothes as he carried the other children to their bedrooms. Only Cecilia showed signs of strangulation, they wrote.

Winning with an insanity defense is usually an uphill battle, though the legal test in Wisconsin is somewhat easier than in other states. Wisconsin requires at least 10 of the 12 jurors to find the evidence shows a defendant suffered from a "mental disease or defect" so great at the time that he or she "lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his or her conduct or conform his or her conduct to the requirements of law."

Few details have emerged publicly on Schaffhausen's mental state since the girls were killed. He's been evaluated by experts for the prosecution, the defense and the court. Much of that information remains under seal. In a February filing, prosecutors said the defense had not spelled out Schaffhausen's mental defect or how it affected his actions.

Islamic extremists attack Timbuktu in north Mali

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Timbuktu has been hit by a prolonged battle between Islamic extremists and the Malian and French armies, residents and a Malian military spokesman said Sunday.

Fighters linked to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, attacked the city in northern Mali late Saturday night and have continued fighting Sunday, said Capt. Samba Coulibaly, spokesman for theMalian military in Timbuktu.

The attack started Saturday night at about 10 p.m. local time when a jihadist suicide bomber blew himself up at a Malian military checkpoint at the western entrance to Timbuktu, he said.

"The jihadist was on foot and died on the spot, but his explosives lightly injured one of our soldiers," said Coulibaly.

"The jihadists are a few. They sneaked into the military camp and the city of Timbuktu. There is shooting at the moment, but we'll get to the end," said a Malian soldier at an entrance to the city, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

The French military joined the Malian army Sunday to fight the Islamic radicals, said Timbuktu residents.

As of Sunday afternoon, shooting could still be heard in the city, said resident Age Djitteye. He said that one of the jihadists tried to take cover inside his family's compound: "He was young. He was wearing a robe, and had ammunition belts across his chest and a turban. He came inside our compound, and then the French came. He ran and they chased him."

Djitteye said a suicide bomber blew himself up on one of the only paved roads at the heart of Timbuktu, close to the Hotel Colombe, the town's main hotel used by journalists and aid workers.

The fighters had taken over the back of the hotel complex, near the swimming pool, said Agaly Cisse, a hotel employee. The hotel had been hosting a large government delegation, including the governor of the region, he said. The guests were evacuated to the French army base, Cisse said.

He said French planes were circling overhead and French and Malian forces were fighting the jihadists.

Another group of fighters took cover inside the local high school, Djitteye said.

Timbuktu Mayor Ousmane Halle also said the Islamic radicals moved to the high school, near the army camp in the city. "Traffic is prohibited in the city, I stayed home," said Halle. "People are really scared, but it is mostly due to the lack of information about what is happening in the city."

This is the first major attack on the city of Timbuktu since it was liberated by French forces on Jan. 28. Earlier this month a suicide bomber detonated himself at a checkpoint. That attack did not lead to an infiltration by the extremists into the city, as happened Sunday.

In a separate incident, a Malian army vehicle drove over a land mine during a patrol Saturday around 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the northern Malian town of Ansongo, killing two people on board, said the Malian military.

The attacks come as French President Francois Hollande said on French television Saturday that French forces had attained their objectives in Mali, a country which until January had lost its northern half to an al-Qaida cell and their allies. When the extremists began advancing southward in early 2013, Hollande unilaterally authorized a military intervention which quickly pushed the Islamic extremists from the main cities in Mali's north. Outside the heavily fortified cities like Timbuktu, however, the jihadists are still present, leading an insurgency marked by suicide bombings, land mines and attacks on the cities.

For 10 months until this January, Timbuktu as well as much of the rest of northern Mali was ruled by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, as well as two other jihadist groups allied with the terror network.

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APNewsBreak: Gas trade group seeks fracking probe

APNewsBreak: Gas trade group seeks lobbying probe of Artists Against Fracking over fracking

Associated Press -

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A formal complaint filed with New York's lobbying board asks it to investigate whether Artists Against Fracking, a group that includes Yoko Ono and other A-List celebrities, is violating the state's lobbying law, according to the document obtained by The Associated Press.

The Independent Oil & Gas Association, an industry group that supports gas drilling, filed the complaint Tuesday with the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

The complaint is based on an AP story that found that Artists Against Fracking and its members, including Ono, her son Sean Lennon, actors Mark Ruffalo and Robert De Niro and others, aren't registered as lobbyists and therefore didn't disclose their spending in opposition to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to remove gas from underground deposits.

"The public has been unable to learn how much money is being spent on this effort, what it is being spent on, and who is funding the effort," said Brad Gill, executive director of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York. "I understand the power of celebrity that this organization has brought to the public discussion over natural gas development, but I do not understand why this organization is not being required to follow the state's lobbying law."

The group confirmed it filed the complaint but didn't comment further.

Artists Against Fracking, formed by Ono and Lennon, says its activities are protected as free speech. The group was created last year amid the Cuomo administration's review to determine whether to allow hydraulic fracturing to remove gas from vast underground shale formations in southern and central New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo continues his review as public opinion has shifted from initial support based on the promise of jobs and tax revenue from drilling in economically depressed upstate New York to mixed feelings because of concerns over potential environmental and health effects.

Seven months after Artists Against Fracking was formed, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute on March 20 found that New York voters were for the first time opposed to fracking, 46 percent to 39 percent.

"There's no doubt the celebrities had an effect," Quinnipiac pollster Maurice Carroll said. "As far as I can tell, they made all the difference."

A spokesman for Artists Against Fracking said the group and its individual members don't have to register as lobbyists.

"As private citizens, Yoko and Sean are not required to register as lobbyists when they use their own money to express an opinion and there's also no lobbying requirement when you are engaged in a public comment period by a state agency," spokesman David Fenton said.

"If the situation changes then, of course, Artists Against Fracking will consider registering," Fenton said. "Up to now, there has been no violation because they are entitled to do this as private citizens with their own money."

On its website, the group implores readers: "Tell Governor Cuomo: Don't Frack New York." Celebrities supporting the group have led rallies and performed in the song "Don't Frack My Mother," also carried on the Internet.

Ethics commission spokesman John Milgrim didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. By law, the commission doesn't confirm or deny pending investigations.

New York's former lobbying regulator, attorney David Grandeau, said he believed the group and the supporting artists, including musicians Paul McCartney and Lady Gaga and actress Anne Hathaway, should be registered and required to disclose details on their efforts to spur public opposition to gas drilling.

"When you are advocating for the passage or defeat of legislation or proposed legislation and spend more than $5,000, you are required to register," Grandeau said Friday. "Just because you are a celebrity doesn't mean that lobbing laws don't apply to you. Your celebrity status does not protect you in Albany."

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and developer Donald Trump are among the high-profile figures who clashed with the commission when Grandeau was regulator. The biggest penalty for failure to follow the lobbying law resulted in a $250,000 fine against Trump and others over casinos in 2000.

US hands control of troubled area to Afghans

FILE - In this Saturday, March 16, 2013 file photo Afghan men chant "U.S. special operations forces out!" as several hundred demonstrators marched to the Afghan parliament building in Kabul, Afghanistan. A senior U.S. commander said Saturday, March 30, 2013 that American special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan’s Nirkh district to local Afghan commandos -- meeting a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that U.S. forces withdraw from the district after allegations that their Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan special forces took control of part of a troubled province bordering Kabul from U.S. troops on Saturday, ending a weeks-long dispute over abuse allegations that prompted Afghan President Hamid Karzai to order all American forces out of the area.

The handover highlighted the Karzai government's struggle to assert its authority over security matters on an accelerated timetable ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most of coalition forces by December 2014.

The transfer of control in Nirkh district of Wardak province — a gateway and staging area for militant attacks on the capital — ends a rocky episode in the strained relationship between the U.S. and Karzai. The Afghan president had angrily insisted that U.S. forces leave Nirkh over the alleged torture, kidnapping and summary execution of militant suspects there — charges U.S. officials firmly denied.

"As we pledged, our forces have transitioned Nirkh district toAfghan national security forces and they have now assumed full responsibility for security," U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement. He said the rest of Wardak would transition "over time."

Karzai has had longstanding unease with U.S. special operations forces, which he blames for causing civilian casualties, and the 21,000 members of the Afghan local police who work with them. He has complained bitterly and publicly that the local police are "militias" and believes they are "outside his control," according to his spokesman Aimal Faizi.

U.S. special operations forces will continue to visit the Afghan team in Nirkh, and work throughout the rest of the province, said Maj. Gen. Tony Thomas, the top U.S. special operations commander in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press in an interview on Saturday.

"American special operations forces are integral in the defense of Wardak from now until the foreseeable future," Thomas said in the interview at Camp Integrity, the special operationscompound on the outskirts of Kabul.

The Afghan president had originally demanded the U.S. special operations forces pull out of the entire province, but he scaled down his sweeping demand to just Nirkh district after negotiations with Dunford and other U.S. officials.

U.S. officials feared Karzai was close to banning U.S. special operations teams altogether when he declared earlier this year, while standing next to President Barack Obama in Washington, that all American forces would be out of Afghan villages by spring.

Karzai was eventually convinced to accept a more gradual transition for the country overall, just as he was with Wardak, with U.S. special operations forces leaving the villages sometime this summer.

"The last teams will go in this summer and from that point out, when we culminate (handover) an area, we'll bring the teams out," Thomas said.

"More importantly, we're setting up ... training centers that are run by Afghans," Thomas said. "We're working ourselves out of a job."

Currently, U.S. special operations teams go into an area, get to know the powerbrokers and tribesmen and then help train Afghan men selected by the locals.

To join the Afghan local police, also called the "ALP," recruits drawn from the local villages must be vouched for by village elders and then vetted by the Interior Ministry, including a background check by Afghan intelligence to rule out prior participation with the Taliban. If approved, they get rudimentary training on weapons safety and basic police skills and military tactics from the U.S. special operations forces partnered with them.

The combined U.S. and Afghan forces are stationed at posts throughout Afghanistan intended to extend security and Afghan government influence to more remote, Taliban strongholds that are beyond the geographic range of the conventional Afghan army and regular uniformed police.

Afghan and coalition officials say the back-country policemen have so eroded militant influence that they've become a top target for the Taliban. The bounty for killing a local policeman is $6,000 compared to $4,000 for a regular, uniformed policeman and $2,000 for an Afghan army soldier, one Afghan official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information.

The units are so popular with local security officials that Thomas has more requests to start new units than his 61 American teams can build. The Afghan interior ministry also has asked the U.S. to consider expanding the local police force by another 45,000 troops. Thomas said he now has to do his own analysis for Dunford, to determine if the coalition can afford to fund them and if Afghanistan needs that many.

Karzai has yet to be convinced. Among other things, Karzai has echoed human rights groups that have complained that some of the Afghan forces have preyed on locals, from shaking them down for cash to more serious charges.

U.S. and Afghan officials say the Afghan interior ministry has stepped up its oversight of the local police units and is responding to such complaints. Five local policemen accused of rape were charged last year and sentenced to lengthy jail terms, and Thomas said nine local police chiefs responsible for some of the units have been removed for being "negative influences."

Thomas points out that more than half of the 21,000-strong local police force — some 12,000 policemen — are now overseen by the Afghan interior ministry with no American special operation forces present.

"We provide the money, they own ALP," Thomas said.

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Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

Follow Kimberly Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier