Category Archives: Terror

al Qaeda in Maghreb Attacks Ivory Coast, Americans

Posted on by

FNC: The terrorist attack in the Ivory Coast Sunday most likely targeted a US delegation led by the assistant commerce secretary visiting the country, a diplomatic source in the region tells Fox News. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Marcus Jadotte was leading a group of Americans in Grand-Bassam, located 25 miles east of the capital city of Abidjan, including college recruiters from the University of Florida. US embassy officials from Abidjan were also included in the group, according to the source.

Eyewitnesses describe Ivory Coast beach resort atrocity

Western tourists and beachgoers described scenes of panic and carnage on Sunday as Al Qaeda-linked gunmen opened fire killing 16 people at a usually sleepy seaside town in Ivory Coast before special forces intervened.

France24:  Grand-Bassam, a UNESCO World Heritage site that attracts foreigners and the Ivorian elite, briefly became a war zone Sunday as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) gunmen shot beachgoers.

“We were eating, when suddenly we heard gunshots. People where running in all directions and we didn’t know what was going on”, one witness told FRANCE 24.

“The shots started getting closer and we saw people coming our way. I told my wife ‘we can’t stay here’, and 20 seconds after that they killed three people behind us”, he said.

“It was truly, truly, terrifying, it was indeed terrorists,” eyewitness Marie-Claire Yapi, who was separated from her nine-month old baby and her sister in the chaos, told FRANCE 24. “Someone said to me: ‘Run, this is serious – they are killing everyone.’”

Ivorian officials said six terrorists stormed the beach, but AQIM praised its three “heroes” for the attack in an online statement.

‘A blast every 10 to 15 seconds’

“It all started down by the beach, as soon as they saw someone they would open fire. Everyone began running. There were women and children running and looking for a place to hide,” witness Marie Bassole told Reuters.

Koumena Kakou Bertin said that he heard the attackers shouting “Allahu Akbar”, Arabic for “God is great”, as they sprayed the beach with bullets.

Charles-Philippe d’Orleans, a retired French army officer who served in the Ivory Coast, was also on the beach at the moment of the attack.

“We could hear a blast every 10 to 15 seconds. They were shooting at us and the bullets were flying everywhere”, he told French weekly Paris Match.

“I did not hear shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar’, nor did I hear repeated bursts of gunfire that are usual for automatic weapons. I think they had handguns, like 9 mm or Magnums” he added.

Beach packed due to heatwave

After targetting swimmers and sunbathers, the gunmen turned their attention to hotels near the shore, including the Grand Bassam’s Chelsea Hotel and the Hotel Etoile du Sud.

The Etoile du Sud was packed full of beachgoers and expats escaping the current heatwave when the gunmen attacked.

“I saw one of the attackers from far away”, said Abbas El-Roz, a Lebanese salesman, who was swimming in the hotel’s pool when the attackers struck. “He had a Kalashnikov and a grenade belt. He was looking for people”.

Ivorians and Europeans among victims

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara praised special forces for regaining control of the situation in a relatively short amount of time. “This attack was brought under control in 45 minutes thanks to our security forces”, he said on national television.

Two special forces soldiers were killed in the gun battle with the attackers, Ivorian officials said.

Four Europeans were also among the dead, with France’s foreign ministry confirming that one French national died in the attack.

The assault itself resembled the terrorist attack on a Tunisian beach resort in June 2015, and comes on the heels of similar deadly incidents in Mali and Burkina Faso.

“Most of the victims are Africans, Africans from Ivory Coast or from neighbouring countries”, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement on Sunday.

“So it is one again Africa that has been targeted by terrorism”, he added.

However, FRANCE 24’s expert on jihadi movements Wassim Nasr, said the attack should be considered part of al Qaeda’s war against the West, and France in particular.

“They target wherever they see French interests, or French or [other] Western citizens. They are trying to export their war to Western Africa. So I suspect that more attacks will happen in this region”, Nasr added.

Additional details here.

Hellfire Missiles on Passenger Plane? Huh?

Posted on by

It was not all that long ago that a U.S. made hellfire missile ended up in Cuba….how is a convoluted story but after the United States groveled, we got it back from Cuba where it appears to have been meant for Europe.

Now Portland, Oregon?

Hellfire missiles bound for Portland found on passenger plane in Serbia

RegisterGuard:

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia’s authorities are investigating reports that a cargo package bound for Portland containing two missiles with explosive warheads was found on a passenger flight from Lebanon to Serbia.

N1 television said the package with two guided armor-piercing missiles was discovered Saturday by a sniffer dog after an Air Serbia flight from Beirut landed at Belgrade airport.

Serbian media say documents listed the final destination for the AGM-114 Hellfire missiles as Portland, Oregon. The American-made projectiles can be fired from air, sea or ground platforms.

N1 reported Sunday that Air Serbia is helping in the investigation. The Serbian flag carrier says “security and safety are the main priorities for Air Serbia.”

*****

In part from InquisitR: According to Serbia’s N1 Television, the missiles were discovered Saturday by a bomb-sniffing dog after the plane landed at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, and shipping documents indicate that the final destination was Portland, Oregon. The missiles had been packed in wooden crates. Whatever the source, it’s clear that they either didn’t anticipate standard airport security or didn’t realize that it could detect a Hellfire missile. The missiles have been more or less unchanged since they were developed in 1974, employing a High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead, supported by a Metal Augmented Charge (MAC), which uses a standard shaped-charge explosive in detonation. In other words, they use the same explosive materials as any other bomb, including a solid-fuel rocket.

 American Predator drones mount a single Hellfire II missile designed to eliminate high-priority targets.    American Predator drones mount a single Hellfire II missile designed to eliminate high-priority targets. [Photo by John Moore/Getty Images]

The AGM-114 Hellfire missile is an air-to-surface missile designed to be fired from a helicopter; the warhead is armor-piercing and was specifically developed for anti-armor use; later models were developed for precision strikes from Predator drones. And although intended for helicopter use, the missile can be fired from multiple air, sea, and ground platforms; using laser guidance, it can easily deliver its payload wherever desired — including inside an armored building.

Air Serbia is currently assisting in an investigation. The airline indicated that “security and safety are the main priorities for Air Serbia.” A spokesperson for the FBI’s Portland division indicated that the FBI was aware of the Serbian reports but had no information for release. Lockheed Martin, which manufactured the Hellfires, indicated that they were unaware of the situation and referred further inquiries to government officials.

Of course, as Huffington Post notes, it’s not all that unusual to find U.S. Hellfire missiles in that part of the world — the State Department regularly sells them in the Middle East and supplies American allies with them. Most recently, the State Department indicated that a sale of Hellfire II missiles (the variant used by Predator drones) to Lebanon was likely, in June, 2015, and in January, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved a sale of 5,000 Hellfires to the Iraqi government to aid the fight against ISIS, to the tune of some $800 million USD.

In this case, though, the Hellfire missiles were clearly out of place. As former State Department and Pentagon staffer Robert Caruso noted on Sunday, there is no legitimate reason for live military hardware to be on-board a commercial passenger flight, and the missiles were likely stolen. From where, nobody is certain.  Full article here.

“No — there are Syria-related things ongoing in Bulgaria (open source) but even that can’t answer this. Prob stolen.”

Germany: Anti-Immigrant Party Growing

Posted on by

This has been building since 2014 and gained real traction in 2015.

USAToday: Far-right protests were held in more than a dozen other nations in Europe on Saturday including the Czech Republic, France, Poland and the Netherlands. The marches and demonstrations were part of a coordinated attempt by PEGIDA and like-minded groups to hold a so-called European Action Day. Riot police clashed with protesters at several of the rallies including in Calais, France, where police used tear gas to disperse crowds. Ten people were arrested.

The synchronized demonstrations came as the number of Syrian refugees assembled on Turkey’s border jumped to 35,000, according to Reuters.

The latest exodus is a result of a renewed offensive by Syria’s President Bashar Assad to retake ground controlled by opposition groups near the city of Aleppo, previously a valued commercial center.

Turkey refuses to open the border. It already hosts over 2.5 million Syrian refugees.

German anti-immigration party makes gains in local elections amid refugee crisis

FNC: A nationalist, anti-migration party powered into three German state legislatures in elections Sunday held amid divisions over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal approach to the refugee crisis. Merkel’s conservatives lost to center-left rivals in two states they had hoped to win.

The elections in the prosperous southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate and relatively poor Saxony-Anhalt in the ex-communist east were the first major political test since Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers last year.

The three-year-old Alternative for Germany, or AfD — which has campaigned against Merkel’s open-borders approach — easily entered all three legislatures.

AfD won 15.1 percent of the vote in Baden-Wuerttemberg and 12.6 percent in Rhineland-Palatinate, official results showed. It finished second in Saxony-Anhalt with some 24 percent, according to projections by ARD and ZDF television with most districts counted.

“We are seeing above all in these elections that voters are turning away in large numbers from the big established parties and voting for our party,” AfD leader Frauke Petry said.

They “expect us finally to be the opposition that there hasn’t been in the German parliament and some state parliaments,” she added.

There were uncomfortable results both for Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union and their partners in the national government, the center-left Social Democrats. The traditional rivals are Germany’s two biggest parties.

“The democratic center in our country has not become stronger, but smaller, and I think we must all take that seriously,” said Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, the Social Democrats’ leader.

Merkel’s party kept its status as strongest party in Saxony-Anhalt. It had hoped to beat left-leaning Green governor Winfried Kretschmann in Baden-Wuerttemberg, a traditional stronghold that the CDU ran for decades until 2011. It also hoped to oust Social Democrat governor Malu Dreyer from the governor’s office in Rhineland-Palatinate.

However, the CDU finished several percentage points behind the popular incumbents’ parties in both states and dropped 12 percentage points to a record-low result in Baden-Wuerttemberg, with 27 percent support. Its performance in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 31.8 percent, was also a record low.

The Social Democrats suffered large losses in both Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saxony-Anhalt, where they were the junior partners in the outgoing governments, finishing behind AfD.

Other parties won’t share power with AfD, but its presence will complicate their coalition-building efforts.

In all three states, the results were set to leave the outgoing coalition governments without a majority — forcing regional leaders into what could be time-consuming negotiations with new, unusual partners. Merkel’s CDU still has a long-shot chance of forming an untried three-way alliance to win the Baden-Wuerttemberg governor’s office.

Germany’s next national election is due in late 2017. While Sunday’s results will likely generate new tensions, Merkel herself should be secure: she has put many state-level setbacks behind her in the past, and there’s no long-term successor or figurehead for any rebellion in sight.

A top official with Merkel’s party called for it to stay on its course in the refugee crisis. CDU general secretary Peter Tauber pointed to recent polls indicating that her popularity is rebounding and added: “this shows that it is good if the CDU sticks to this course, saying that we need time to master this big challenge.”

Merkel insisted last year that “we will manage” the challenge of integrating refugees. While her government has moved to tighten asylum rules, she still insists on a pan-European solution to the refugee crisis, ignoring demands from some conservative allies for a national cap on the number of refugees.

AfD’s strong performance will boost its hopes of entering the national parliament next year. It entered five state legislatures and the European Parliament in its initial guise as a primarily anti-euro party before splitting and then rebounding in the refugee crisis.

The CDU may have been hurt by an attempt by its candidates in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate to put cautious distance between themselves and Merkel’s refugee policies, which may simply have created the impression of disunity. The party slipped in polls there over recent weeks.

The two last month called for Germany to impose daily refugee quotas — something Merkel opposes but which neighboring Austria has since put in place. Separately, Merkel’s conservative allies in Bavaria have attacked her approach for months, demanding an annual refugee cap.

Center-left incumbents Kretschmann and Dreyer often sounded more enthusiastic about Merkel’s refugee policy than their conservative challengers.

“The result hopefully will be that the CDU and (their Bavarian allies) will realize that this permanent quarreling doesn’t help them,” Vice Chancellor Gabriel said.

Iran’s ICBM on Launch Pad

Posted on by

Iran preparing to conduct new space launch this weekend

FNC: Iran is preparing to launch a new long-range rocket into outer space as soon as this weekend, U.S. officials told Fox News.

The missile is known as a Simorgh and officials are watching the missile on the launch pad as it is being fueled at an undisclosed location inside Iran.

Officials told Fox they have not seen this specific type of rocket launched in the past.

Any test of a new ballistic missile would be an apparent violation of a UN resolution forbidding Iran from working on its rocket program.

A Simorgh rocket is designed to carry a satellite into space.  Officials are concerned that any space launch uses the same technology needed to launch a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM.

This week, Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles on one day for the first time since 2012, according to defense officials.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231 says Iran is “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

Thursday, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander said that Iran’s ballistic missile program will continue to move forward, despite threats of international sanctions.

The U.S. State Department says the launches this week were not in violation of the nuclear deal, but “inconsistent” with UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which was tied to the nuclear deal when it went into effect.

Secretary of State John Kerry raised concerns about Iran’s recent missile launches in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Thursday, including reports that Iran scribbled “Israel must be wiped off the Earth” according to State Department spokesman John Kirby.

Both short and medium-range ballistic missiles tested recently by Iran are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“Iran should face sanctions for these activities,” Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.

“The latest missiles launches are further evidence of Iran’s aggression and of how its leaders intend to use the money it is receiving under the Obama nuclear deal.” said House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas.

Kirby said earlier this week that reports of Iran’s recent ballistic missile launches would be brought to the attention of the UN Security Council.

The launches would not violate the landmark nuclear deal implemented in January, according to Kirby.

Vice President Joseph Biden, while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Wednesday did not acknowledge the missile launch directly, but he issued a strong warning to the Iranians.

“A nuclear-armed Iran is an absolutely unacceptable threat to Israel, to the region and the United States. And I want to reiterate which I know people still doubt here: if in fact they break the deal, we will act,” he said.

Despite reports of Iran repeatedly violating the UN resolution by launching ballistic missiles, the State Department is confident additional sanctions could be called upon unilaterally if needed.

“We always have those tools available to us,” said Kirby this week.

In January, the Obama administration sanctioned nearly a dozen individuals and companies tied to Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Appearing in front of the Senate Armed Services committee in Washington, the outgoing head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin said Tuesday, “Some of the behavior we’ve seen from Iran of late is certainly not the behavior you’d expect from a nation that wants to be taken seriously.”

Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies says the Obama administration’s policy toward Iran is muddled.

“I don’t think we’ve sent clear signals. We seem to be dealing with the nuclear agreement as if it’s some kind of legacy. It won’t be a legacy if Iran acts out in other ways,” he said.

Israel has been sounding the alarm on this since at least 2010:

Israeli Missile Experts: Simorgh Sets Iran on Path to ICBM

TEL AVIV, Israel — The recent unveiling of a large Iranian satellite launcher with the potential for doubling as an ICBM has injected additional anxiety into rapidly escalating international tension over Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. The new Simorgh is a two-stage liquid-fueled booster with an estimated takeoff weight of 87 tons, nearly four times that of the solid-fueled Sejil and double the weight of the Safir vehicle used to deliver Iran’s first satellite into space. Iran unveiled a full-scale mock-up of the system in Feb. 3 National Space Day ceremonies broadcast live on state-run television. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi presided over the event, which also featured the launch of the Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer) rocket and its live payload — a turtle, a rat and worms — into space. No first launch date was announced for the Simorgh, but U.S. and Israeli experts say that if Iranian claims are true, and the engine is already developed, it could be readied as a headline event for next February’s National Space Day. In February 2009, Iran marked the occasion with the Safir-2’s successful deployment of the Omid research satellite into low Earth orbit.  More here.

Trump’s Chicago Rally that Wasn’t

Posted on by

Enter the George Soros money and influence as well as other groups as noted in this DO NOT MISS LINK. It is confirmed that Bill Ayers was there and the commie call to action received 10,000 RSVP’s.

MoveOn’s statement on the cancellation of the Trump rally in Chicago.

****** There was a time when a financial relationship existing between Trump and Soros, but Soros later successfully concocted a plan of economic and social engineering warfare on America. March 11, 2016 in Chicago was a display of MoveOn’s efforts to interject in the political process and free speech to great affect.
Media preview
Associated Press reported the whole day this way:

Sanders released three television commercials Friday in Illinois. One included Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who lost Chicago’s mayoral race last year, but forced a runoff contest in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election bid. Emanual, a former White House aide, endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Sanders blasted Emanuel for his controversial push to close dozens of Chicago schools in 2013 over poor performance. Sanders said, “I want to thank Rahm Emanuel for not endorsing me.”

___

10 p.m.

Ted Cruz is responding to Donald Trump’s cancellation of his Chicago rally, saying the billionaire has created “an environment that encourages this sort of nasty discourse.”

Cruz spoke to reporters at a suburban Chicago Republican dinner about 30 miles away from where his GOP presidential rival was forced to cancel a rally due to safety concerns.

The Texas senator is calling it a “sad day.”

He says, “Political discourse should occur in this country without the threat of violence, without anger and rage and hatred directed at each other.”

Cruz says blame for the events in downtown Chicago rests with the protesters but “in any campaign responsibility starts at the top.”

Cruz says, “When the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence, to punch people in the face, the predictable consequence of that is that is escalates. Today is unlikely to be the last such incidence.”

___

9:25 p.m.

A spokesman for the Chicago Police Department says the agency never recommended that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cancel his campaign rally in the city.

CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tells The Associated Press that the department never told the Trump campaign there was a security threat at the University of Illinois at Chicago venue. He said the department had sufficient manpower on the scene to handle any situation.

Guglielmi says the university’s police department also did not recommend that Trump call off the event. He says the decision was made “independently” by the campaign.

Trump cancelled the rally in Chicago due to what organizers said were safety concerns after protesters packed into the arena where it was to take place.

Trump afterward told MSNBC in a telephone interview that he canceled the event because he didn’t “want to see people hurt or worse.” He said he thinks he “did the right thing.”

Guglielmi says Trump never arrived at the Chicago venue.

___

8:25 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he didn’t “want to see people hurt or worse” at his campaign rally in Chicago, so he decided to postpone the event.

Trump tells MSNBC in a telephone interview that, “I think we did the right thing.”

The Friday night rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago was called off due to security concerns. Supporters and protesters alike had packed into a campus arena, and for the first time during the billionaire businessman’s White House run they appeared to be of equal number.

Trump attributed the protests not to objections to his policies, but to general malaise in the United States — particularly among people upset they haven’t been able to find jobs.

“It’s anger in the country,” he said. “I don’t think it’s directed at me. Just what’s been going on for years.”

But many of the protesters at the event said they were there to stop Trump from speaking. Among them was Jermaine Hodge, a 37-year-old lifelong Chicago resident who owns a trucking company.

He says: “Our country is not going to make it being divided by the views of Donald Trump. Our country is divided enough. Donald Trump, he’s preaching hate. He’s preaching division.”

___

8:15 p.m.

Protesters at the rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump rushed the arena floor in jubilant celebration after the announcement that he was calling off the event due to security concerns.

Many jumped up and down, with arms up in the air, shouting “F— Trump!” ”Bernie! Bernie!” and “We stopped Trump!”

Kamran Siddiqui is a 20-year-old student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where the event was to take place.

He says: “Trump represents everything America is not and everything Chicago is not. We came in here and we wanted to shut this down. Because this is a great city and we don’t want to let that person in here.”

Siddiqui says he’s a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. He says it “feels amazing” to have stopped Trump from speaking at his own rally.

He adds: “Everybody came together. That’s what people can do. Now people got to go out and vote because we have the opportunity to stop Trump.”

___

8:08 p.m.

Protesters whose presence at a Donald Trump campaign rally forced the Republican White House front-runner to call off the event are celebrating their success at keeping him from taking the stage.

As Trump supporters walk through the anti-Trump crowd outside the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion, many of the protesters are chanting: “We stopped Trump! We stopped Trump!”

Others are shouting: “Racists, go home! Racists, go home!”

There were no apparent physical confrontations between the two sides as police officers on foot and horseback worked to keep them apart.

___

7:56 p.m.

Donald Trump’s campaign for president has issued a statement about the decision to cancel a rally in Chicago.

It says: “Mr. Trump just arrived in Chicago and after meeting with law enforcement has determined that for the safety of all of the tens of thousands of people that have gathered in and around the arena, tonight’s rally will be postponed to another date. Thank you very much for your attendance and please go in peace.”

___

7:36 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has cancelled a rally in Chicago, calling off the event due to safety concerns after protesters packed into the arena where it was to take place.

The announcement that Trump would postpone the rally for another day led the crowd inside the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion to break out into raucous cheers.

Meanwhile, supporters of the candidate broke out into chants of “We want Trump! We want Trump!”

There was no sign of Trump inside the arena on the college campus, where dozens of UIC faculty and staff had petitioned university administrators to cancel the rally. They cited concerns it would create a “hostile and physically dangerous environment” for students.

___

6:55 p.m.

Donald Trump supporters and protesters alike have packed into an arena on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago for an evening rally with the Republican candidate for president.

Many of those who were waiting in line to get into the Friday night event identified themselves as protesters. UIC student G.J. Pryor said he wanted to disrupt Trump’s speech, adding he would only do so if he felt safe.

Some Trump supporters walking toward the arena chanted, “USA! USA!” and “Illegal is illegal.” One demonstrator shouted back, “Racist!”

There’s a heavy police presence outside the rally, with barricades and mounted police keeping most protesters and Trump supporters apart.

Trump supporter Veronica Kowalkowsky says she has no ill will toward the protesters. But the 18-year-old says she has felt their ill will, adding: “I feel a lot of hate. I haven’t said anything bad to anyone.”

___

6:30 p.m.

President Barack Obama is laying into Republicans and their front-runner for the presidential nomination, saying they’ve allowed the race to devolve into “fantasy and schoolyard taunts and selling stuff like it’s the Home Shopping Network.”

At a Democratic fundraiser in Austin, Texas, Obama taunted Donald Trump as “the guy who was sure that I was born in Kenya!”

Obama hasn’t endorsed a Democratic successor and isn’t expected to campaign broadly until the summer. Still, he seemed ready. The president was unscripted and loose in front of the boisterous crowd of young Democratic contributors.

He revived a critique of the GOP he offered earlier in the week, only this time with more bite.

Obama dismissed the idea that he is to blame for the current political climate: “The notion is, Obama drove us crazy. What they really mean is their reaction to me was crazy and now it has gotten out of hand.”

___

4:30 p.m.

Hillary Clinton apologized Friday after gay-rights and AIDS activists assailed her for saying Nancy Reagan helped start a “national conversation” about AIDS in the 1980s. At the time, protesters were struggling to get more federal help in fighting the disease.

Clinton, one of two contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, made her initial comments in an interview with MSNBC during its coverage of Nancy Reagan’s funeral. After the outcry, she apologized on her Twitter account, saying she “misspoke” about the Reagans’ record on AIDS.

Many activists remain bitter at Ronald Reagan and his administration for what they view as a devastatingly slow response to AIDS. Though initial reports of the disease surfaced in 1981, President Reagan did not make his first public speech about it until 1987.

___

2:42 p.m.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he “doesn’t quite get” why some people preferred the more mellow performance he delivered in Thursday’s debate.

The billionaire businessman left his usual barbs and personal insults behind at the debate in Miami. He says he told himself ahead of time he wasn’t going to talk about “Lying Ted,” his nickname for rival Ted Cruz.

But Trump told a rally in St. Louis on Friday that the other Trump is more exciting.

He says: “Last night on the debate — I don’t quite get this — I got these phenomenal reviews, right? Because I was, like, nice. But isn’t the other more like exciting? Don’t we like the other better?”

Trump’s rally was repeatedly interrupted by protesters.

___

2:15 p.m.

Protesters are roiling a Donald Trump rally in St. Louis, repeatedly interrupting the Republican candidate for president as he seeks to speak at a rally ahead of Tuesday’s elections in Missouri and four other states.

Trump says, “these are not the people who made our country great.”

He’s complimenting the police and security officers who are escorting the protesters out of the rally at the city’s Peabody Opera House.

Trump says the media is focusing too much on the protests that interrupt his rallies, and not enough on “the love that’s in these rooms.”

But he adds, “this is more exciting that having a speech.” The billionaire says he’ll still deliver his speech, but it will just take a little bit longer.

___

1:15 p.m.

A large crowd is turning out for a Donald Trump rally in St. Louis, the first public campaign event for the Republican presidential front-runner since one of the billionaire’s supporters was charged with punching a protester at a Wednesday rally.

The line waiting to get into Friday’s lunchtime rally at the city’s Peabody Opera House circled several blocks. Most were turned away — the theater holds just 3,100 people.

Dozens of city police officers stood at various points in the line. Others watched from rooftops of neighboring buildings.

Several protesters marched outside, mostly in an area confined behind a makeshift fence. Some exchanged shouts with Trump supporters.

Trump is seeking support ahead of Missouri’s presidential primary on Tuesday. Rival Ted Cruz is speaking at a rally Saturday in the St. Louis County town of Ballwin. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton also is holding a St. Louis rally on Saturday.

___

1:00 p.m.

Donald Trump boasts that he can win the Hispanic vote in a general election and next week, he faces his first major test in the winner-take-all primary in Florida, a highly contentious swing state with a large and diverse population of Latino voters.

His tough stance on illegal immigration plays well among Florida’s more conservative Latinos. Many Cuban-Americans, especially, view illegal immigration through the same lens as many of their white Republican peers who see immigration as an achievement, not as a right, that shouldn’t be taken for granted by those who come to America illegally.

For that reason, Trump has surged in the polls ahead of this crucial contest, even as two Cuban-Americans — Florida’s own Sen. Marco Rubio, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — look to use their heritage in their favor. For Rubio especially, who has collected only two wins so far — one of them in Puerto Rico — Florida’s all-or-nothing contest could be his campaign’s swan song if he doesn’t win.

___

12:15 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz hedged on a question about whether former-rival-turned-supporter Carly Fiorina would be on his vice presidential short list if he gets the nomination.

Cruz was joined onstage at a forum in Orlando Friday by Fiorina and Fox News television host Sean Hannity. Fiorina endorsed Cruz this week.

Cruz praised Fiorina but didn’t directly answer a question from Hannity about whether Fiorina would be his pick for a running mate.

Meanwhile, Fiorina said front-runner Donald Trump needs to “man up” and not complain about the number of debates in the presidential primary race.

Trump said after Thursday’s debate that there had been too many debates.

___

12:00 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio says he hasn’t thought much beyond what happens in Tuesday’s crucial Florida primary.

He says he’s focused on winning the March 15 winner-take-all primary, dismissing several polls in the last week showing him trailing GOP front-runner Donald Trump his home state.

Rubio is predicting “a close election” but says he’s going to win.

Rubio also says he’s not had any talks or meetings with rivals Ted Cruz or John Kasich to team up to defeat GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

He says he’s “not open” to any such talks about joining forces.

___

11:50 a.m.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz says he was happy the latest GOP debate was more civil than previous ones.

Cruz said Friday during a forum with Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity in Orlando that the past debates had gotten ugly.

Cruz also said he was happy GOP rival Donald Trump’s anatomy wasn’t a topic of discussion during Thursday night’s debate in Miami.

Cruz answered questions at an Orlando megachurch filled with almost 1,000 supporters during a forum that will air on Hannity’s show.

___

11:45 a.m.

Marco Rubio’s campaign is urging people in Ohio to vote for his rival, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, to stop rival Donald Trump from clinching the prized contest.

Alex Conant told The Associated Press Friday that the only way to stop Trump from sweeping next week’s basket of winner-take-all contests is to vote for Kasich in Ohio and Rubio in Florida.

Conant said that “If you want to stop Trump in Ohio, Kasich’s the only guy who can beat him there.”

Conant added: “Marco is the only guy who can beat him in Florida.”

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols says that his candidate is going to win in Ohio without Rubio’s help “just as he’s going to lose Florida without our help.”

___

10:30 a.m.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has secured the endorsement of Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner.

In a statement on Friday, Wagner said that Republicans “must unite to win behind a strong, constitutional conservative like Ted Cruz.”

The congresswoman has served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee during President George W. Bush’s first term and was U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg.

Cruz has the backing of some half dozen House members, but only one endorsement from a fellow senator, Mike Lee of Utah.

___

9:50 a.m.

Republicans in the Virgin Islands caucused into the night Thursday, and when they finished counting the votes Friday morning, the winner was … no one.

Party chairman John Canegata says all nine delegates from the U.S. territory will go to the Republican National Convention as uncommitted delegates. That makes them free agents, free to support the candidate of their choice.

Canegata says more than 300 voters cast ballots.

The AP delegate count thus far:

— Donald Trump: 459.

— Ted Cruz: 360.

— Marco Rubio: 152.

— John Kasich: 54.

Needed to win the nomination: 1,237.

___

9:35 a.m.

Donald Trump says he felt the response of his supporters to an episode of violence at one of his rallies this week was “very, very appropriate.”

Speaking at a Palm Beach press conference on Friday, Trump said the “audience swung back” at a white man who was caught on video hitting a black man as he was escorted out of a Trump rally by deputies.

Trump praised the police as “amazing,” saying they were “very restrained” in response to the incident.

He said that the man — identified as John Franklin McGraw — began hitting people, and the audience hit back. “That’s what we need a little bit more of,” he said.

___

9:30 a.m.

Democrats and Republicans have painted a dark vision of America, a place where jobs are vanishing, leaders are corrupt and threats loom from across the globe.

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders describes a nation in “real crisis,” with a “rigged economy.” Americans are “a bunch of suckers” who’ve “lost everything,” Republican front-runner Donald Trump says.

Washington is “killing jobs,” as Iranian leaders conspire to “murder us,” warns Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Gloomy assessments of the country’s future have emerged as a constant refrain of the 2016 presidential contest, as candidates woo a frustrated and anxious electorate. That insecurity, which pollsters say pervades discussions about economic, domestic and foreign policy issues, is setting the stage for an emotionally-charged general election — no matter who wins the primary contests.

___

9:20 a.m.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump says he will defeat the Islamic State group if he is elected president, but he will let the generals “play their own game.”

Speaking at a press conference in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday, Trump said he is going to “find the right generals” to do the job, but he will allow them to then call the shots on how the military should approach the war.

Trump has said he wants to loosen the laws that limit the use of torture if he’s elected to the White House, but then appeared to reverse his stance on the use of torture after he was criticized by top Republican national security experts who called his policy views “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle.”

___

9:10 a.m.

Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says he and Donald Trump have “buried the hatchet” after months of political wrangling, and he is endorsing the GOP front-runner’s White House bid.

At a press conference in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday, Carson, who left the race earlier this month, described “two Donald Trumps” — the persona reflected on stage, and a private, “very cerebral” person who “considers things carefully.”

In his introduction to Carson Friday, Trump described the retired neurosurgeon as a “special, special person — special man,” and a “friend” who is respected by everyone.

Carson warned that it is “extremely dangerous” when political parties attempt to “thwart the will of the people,” and urged politicians to “strengthen the nation,” rather than create divisions.