MEXICO CITY

Federales ambush vehicle of U.S. Embassy, wound 2

Mexican authorities are trying to sort out why a U.S. Embassy vehicle was ambushed by federal police on a rural back road in mountains south of the capital, leaving two U.S. government workers wounded.

Officials from both nations said federal officers were chasing criminals Friday morning when a hail of bullets was fired at the embassy sport utility vehicle carrying the two employees and a Mexican Navy captain.

Federal police earlier said men in four vehicles had fired at the embassy SUV, and a Mexican Attorney General’s Office spokesman confirmed Saturday that all were federal police units.

CAIRO, Egypt

Defense minister defends military presence in Sinai

In the first direct contact with his Israeli counterpart since taking office, Egypt’s new defense minister defended his country’s increased military presence in the Sinai Peninsula, saying it is needed to fight terrorism and assuring him it is only temporary, Egyptian officials said Saturday.

The officials – one from Egyptian intelligence and another from the military – said Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi called Ehud Barak on Thursday in their first conversation since el-Sissi became defense minister earlier this month. The phone call followed grumbling from Israeli officials about not being consulted before Egypt’s leaders deployed tanks to the Sinai Peninsula, the strip of Egyptian land that borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli defense ministry refused comment.

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Sandusky’s Victim 1 suing Penn State over sex abuse

The young man whose 2009 allegations of sexual abuse led to the Penn State scandal and criminal convictions of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is asking a court to find the university also at fault.

A lawsuit, filed Friday by the person known as Victim 1 at Sandusky’s trial, said university officials made deliberate decisions not to report Sandusky to authorities.

It described their actions as “a function of (Penn State’s) purposeful, deliberate and shameful subordination of the safety of children to its economic self-interests, and to its interest in maintaining and perpetuating its reputation.”

The complaint was filed electronically in Philadelphia state court, Slade McLaughlin, a lawyer for Victim 1, told The Associated Press. The suit names no other defendants than the State College university.

Sandusky was convicted in June of 45 criminal counts for sexual abuse of 10 boys, both on and off campus. At 68, he awaits sentencing that will likely send him to prison for the rest of his life.

PHILADELPHIA

Project asks public to write six-word campaign speech

State your case in six words.

That’s the challenge from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia as part of a new civic engagement program. To put it less succinctly: If you had six words to express your thoughts on America’s priorities should be, what would you say?

People can submit their six-word campaign speeches, in writing or on video, to the Constitution Center’s website. More than 20,000 entries have been submitted.

Entries include “Govern for people, not the party,” “When will we the people learn,” “True liberty is born from hope” and “Hate and fear are not policy.”

The challenge is part of the center’s project called Address America. It continues through Oct. 29.

 

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