Saturday, 1 November 2014
Poland won't arrest wanted filmmaker
- Roman Polanski fled the United States after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old
- U.S. authorities wanted him arrested while in Poland, an official there says
- Prosecutors found no reason to detain him, lawyer for Polanski says
- The Oscar-winning director says he hopes that means the end of the U.S. extradition quest
(CNN) -- Famed film director Roman Polanski, wanted in the United States for having sex with a minor in the 1970s, was questioned this week by Polish authorities but allowed to leave after the interview.
A spokesman for the Polish Prosecutor General's office said Thursday that authorities there didn't believe it was necessary to hold him in custody while the United States seeks to extradite him.
Mateusz Martyniuk told CNN that Poland received a request from U.S. officials to arrest Polanski, and the Oscar winning filmmaker came Wednesday to the office in Krakow.
"(The matter) was not sent to the court that could impose a temporary arrest because the prosecution did not find basis for that," Jan Olszewski, one of Polanski's attorneys, told CNN affiliate TVN24, according to the network's translation.
Polanski's Victim on Farrow Accusations Polanski, who was in Krakow on Thursday, said he wants to film a movie in Poland, his parents' homeland, next spring. The director has both French and Polish citizenship.
He told TVN24 he hoped the extradition question had been settled "once and for all."
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 in California to having unlawful sex with Samantha Geimer, who was 13. The director of "The Pianist" was 43 at the time. He fled to Europe before he was sentenced.
Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in 2009 on a U.S. fugitive warrant.
The Swiss rejected the American extradition request in 2010 because the United States did not supply all the legal records Switzerland requested and because Polanski had a reasonable right to think he would not be arrested if he visited the country, Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said at the time.
Geimer publicly forgave Polanski in 1997 and has called for the case to be dismissed.
Besides the Oscar win for "The Pianist," Polanski also received Academy Award nominations for "Tess" and "Chinatown."
D.C. cop attacked with ax
- A D.C. police officer was attacked in his car with an ax Friday, police say
- The officer was injured in the shoulder after a scuffle and the attacker got away
- When a similar attack happened in New York, NYPD changed protocol
Washington (CNN) -- An officer with Washington's Metropolitan Police Department came under an unprovoked attack Friday from a man wielding an ax, police said, the second such attack in two weeks that is prompting warnings and new protocols to officers on the job.
The attack, and another last week in which a man attacked four New York City officers with a hatchet in Queens, prompted an immediate increase in security for officers in both D.C. and New York. The New York Police Department said in a memo: "Police Officers on patrol should maintain a heightened level of awareness."
The attack in Washington occurred around 3 a.m. as the officer was sitting in his marked squad car in Washington's Brookland neighborhood, near the campus of Catholic University of America, police said.
D.C. cop atacked with ax The officer, who hasn't been identified, wasn't injured by the ax, but he chased the suspect and suffered a shoulder injury in a scuffle before the attacker ran away, police said. No motive is known and the suspect remains at large. Police said he was an African-American man about 6 feet tall and of stocky build.
A photo provided to CNN by a law enforcement official shows the ax implanted in the window of the police car, just inches away from where the officer's head was inside the car.
Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued a warning to officers to increase their vigilance for their safety, amid concern about recent attacks on authorities in New York and Canada, a law enforcement official told CNN.
In reaction to the Washington attack, the NYPD issued new patrol protocols to its officers to increase security, including "Effective immediately, all foot posts are to be assigned in pairs of two. There are to be no solo foot posts assigned citywide."
The memo said officers will be required to remain together and take meal breaks in pairs.
Mary Kay Mallonee and Evan Perez contributed to this report.
Holy site reopened -- to folks over 50
Israeli border police block a road in Jerusalem as Muslims pray Friday, October 31. A day after taking the rare step of closing the Temple Mount holy site, Israel partially reopened access for Muslim prayers Friday. But midday access was granted only to men over 50 and women. Israeli police said this was meant to prevent demonstrations by young Muslim men following the recent shootings of a controversial rabbi and a Palestinian suspect in the rabbi's shooting. 
Israelis walk at the Jewish quarter in the Old City overlooking the Temple Mount on October 31. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest site in Islam. 
Israeli police detain activist Noam Federman after he tried to enter the Temple Mount on Thursday, October 30. The closing of the holy site -- the first in more than a decade -- infuriated Palestinians, with a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calling it a "declaration of war." 
A van burns in Jerusalem during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on October 30. 
Israeli police scuffle with activists trying to enter the Temple Mount on October 30. 
Israeli police patrol Jerusalem during clashes on October 30. 
Palestinians throw stones in the streets of Jerusalem on October 30. 
Israeli police surround the Jerusalem home of Mu'taz Ihjazi on October 30. Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said Ihjazi, a Palestinian suspect in the shooting of Rabbi Yehuda Glick, was shot and killed after he opened fire on police. Glick, an advocate of Jewish access to Muslim holy sites, was shot after he gave a presentation in Jerusalem on Wednesday, October 29. 
Israeli demonstrators wave flags outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, where Glick was shot in Jerusalem on October 29. - At midday Friday, the site was open only to men ages 50 and older and to women
- Israel closed the Temple Mount, which includes al-Aqsa Mosque, on Thursday after two shootings
- Rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot and hospitalized in serious condition
- Police say they shot and killed a suspect in the shooting after he fired at them
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israel partially reopened access to the Temple Mount for Muslim prayers Friday, a day after taking a rare step of closing it amid Israeli-Palestinian tensions following the shooting of a controversial rabbi and subsequent killing of a suspect.
Midday access to the site, which includes the al-Aqsa Mosque, was granted only to men ages 50 and above, as well as to women -- restrictions that Israeli police said were meant to prevent demonstrations by young Muslim men.
About 4,000 people attended midday prayers at the mosque, police said, down from thousands more that are normally seen around noon on the Muslim holy day of Friday. Police presence also was beefed up, with about 3,000 officers in and around the Old City and East Jerusalem.
Thursday's closure of the Temple Mount -- the first in more than a decade -- infuriated Palestinians, with a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calling it a "declaration of war."
The scene Friday at the mosque was largely peaceful, with people praying quietly, police said.
Israeli statesmen David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Rabin lead a group of soldiers past the Dome of the Rock in June 1967, during a victory tour following the Six-Day War. The dome in Jerusalem is part of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest site in Islam. The Temple Mount, which Muslims know as Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), also includes the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Western Wall. 
Israeli soldiers are seen in front of the Dome of the Rock in October 1990. 
Ariel Sharon, then a candidate for Israeli prime minister, is flanked by security guards as he leaves the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in September 2000. The Second Intifada, a five-year Palestinian uprising, was sparked by Sharon's visit, Palestinians say. Sharon insisted that his visit was not intended to provoke Palestinians, but many saw it as an attempt to underline Israel's claim to Jerusalem's holy sites. 
Jewish women pray behind a barrier at the Western Wall in February 2004, following a collapse of the wall into the prayer area. 
Pope Benedict XVI stands in front of the Dome of the Rock in May 2009. 
The al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock overlook a neighborhood in East Jerusalem in March 2010. 
A Palestinian worshipper who was prevented from reaching the al-Aqsa Mosque prays outside Jerusalem's Old City while Israeli forces stand guard in March 2010. Police had temporarily limited access. 
Israeli police detain activist Noam Federman after he tried to enter the Temple Mount on Thursday, October 30, in Jerusalem. Israel says it temporarily closed access to the Temple Mount "to prevent disturbances" after the drive-by shooting of controversial activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick. Israel partially reopened access to the Temple Mount for Muslim prayers Friday. Photos: Temple Mount holy site 
Palestinians furious over Al-Aqsa closing 
Israel closes Al Aqsa after shooting 
Holy site closed for first time in years The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest site in Islam. Jews call it the Temple Mount, and Muslims know it as Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).
Closure came after Wednesday shootings
Israeli police said they closed the Temple Mount on Thursday "to prevent disturbances" after the drive-by shooting of controversial activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick on Wednesday night.
Israeli police shot and killed a suspect in Glick's shooting Wednesday night. An Israeli counterterror unit surrounded the house of the unnamed suspect in the shooting, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said on Twitter.
He said the man opened fire on police, who shot and killed him.
Glick is an advocate of Jewish access to Jerusalem's fiercely contested holy sites. After he gave a presentation in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, a man on a motorcycle shot him.
Rosenfeld described the attack on Glick as an "attempted assassination." The rabbi was undergoing an abdominal operation for intestinal issues Friday afternoon and was in serious but stable condition, said Dr. Ofer Merkin, head of the trauma unit at Shaare Zedek hospital.
Ofir Gendelman, the Israeli Prime Minister's spokesman for Arab media, tweeted that Thursday's Temple Mount closure was "temporary & meant to prevent riots & escalation as well as to to restore calm and status quo to the Holy Places."
The closure didn't sit well with Palestinians. Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told CNN that the decision to close off the site was a "brazen challenge" and "grave behavior" that would lead to "further tensions and instability."
Earlier, Rudeineh told the WAFA news agency, the official Palestinian news service, that Israel's act was a "declaration of war on the Palestinian people, Palestinian religious sites and a declaration of war on both the Arab and Islamic states."
Contested site
The site, with its golden dome overlooking Jerusalem, is said to have hosted sacred events in both the Jewish and Muslim religions.
Rabbinic sages say that God gathered dust from the spot to create Adam, the first man, before setting him loose in the Garden of Eden.
Jewish tradition holds that the Temple Mount also contains Mount Moriah, where Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch, is said to have nearly sacrificed his son -- under God's orders -- before an angel intervened.
Later, Israeli King Solomon constructed the first Jewish temple on the mount, including the Holy of Holies, a room that kept the Ark of the Covenant, which was said to contain the tablets on which God wrote the Ten Commandments.
Muslims believe that the Prophet Mohammed was carried on a flying steed from Mecca to the Jerusalem site during his miraculous Night Journey, said Muqtedar Khan, an expert on Islam and politics at the University of Delaware.
"It's all about al-Aqsa," said Khan. "That's why all Muslims are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause."
According to Islamic tradition, the Night Journey took Mohammed to the same Jerusalem rock on which Abraham nearly sacrificed his son, where the Muslim founder led Abraham, Moses and Jesus in prayers as the last of God's prophets.
That rock is now said to sit in the Dome of the Rock, whose golden roof gleams above the Old City skyline.
Since its construction in the seventh century, the Haram al-Sharif, now controlled by an Islamic trust, has been an almost constant source of tension between Muslims and Jews.
In the 1980s, Jewish radicals plotted to blow up the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa, believing that it would lead to a spiritual revolution and usher in the Messiah.
In 2000, the Second Intifada -- a 5-year-long Palestinian uprising -- was sparked, Palestinians say, after Ariel Sharon, then a candidate for Israeli prime minister, visited the compound surrounding al-Aqsa.
Sharon insisted that his visit was not intended to provoke Palestinians, but many saw it as an attempt to underline Israel's claim to Jerusalem's holy sites.
CNN's Michael Schwartz reported from Jerusalem. CNN's Jason Hanna and Holly Yan reported and wrote in Atlanta. CNN's Daniel Burke and Kareem Khadder contributed to this report.
U.S. advisers to ISIS hot zone?
- Joint Chiefs spokesman says plan "is not a change in mission nor is it a combat role"
- U.S. currently has advisers assisting Iraqis in Irbil and
- Joint Chiefs chairman: Sunni tribes fighting ISIS need Iraqi military support
- ISIS has killed some 400 members of one Sunni tribe in Anbar in recent days
Washington (CNN) -- Pentagon officials are readying a plan that would deploy U.S. military advisers to the volatile Iraqi province of Anbar to advise and assist Iraqi security forces in a region currently dominated by ISIS militants.
"To be clear, this is not a change in mission nor is it a combat role, as they will be operating in the same advisory role as the other locations," Col. Edward Thomas, spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN.
U.S. advisers currently operate in areas around Baghdad and Irbil in the north of the country. The new proposal would put U.S. troops in the middle of some of the most violent situations in Iraq.
Thomas said the plan is still "under development."
U.S. advisers may join fight against ISIS 
ISIS slaughters 45 Iraqi tribesmen 
ISIS allegedly using poison gas 
Fire and smoke rise from the Syrian city of Kobani following airstrikes against the ISIS militant group on Thursday, October 30. ISIS militants and Syrian Kurdish fighters have been battling for control of the city near the Turkish border, and the United States and several Arab nations have been bombing ISIS targets to take out the group's ability to command, train and resupply its fighters. 
Iraqi special forces search a house in Jurf al-Sakhar, Iraq, on October 30 after retaking the area from ISIS. ISIS has been advancing in Iraq and Syria as it seeks to create an Islamic caliphate in the region. 
Smoke rises during fighting in Kobani on Monday, October 27. 
ISIS militants stand near the site of an airstrike near the Turkey-Syria border on Thursday, October 23. 
An explosion rocks Kobani during a reported car-bomb attack by ISIS militants on Monday, October 20. 
People watch Kobani from a hill near the Turkey-Syria border on October 20. 
Kurdish fighters walk to positions as they fight ISIS forces in Kobani on Sunday, October 19. 
A U.S. Air Force plane flies above Kobani on Saturday, October 18. 
Heavy smoke rises in Kobani following an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on Saturday, October 18. 
Cundi Minaz, a female Kurdish fighter, is buried in a cemetery in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc on Tuesday, October 14. Minaz was reportedly killed during clashes with ISIS militants in nearby Kobani. 
Turkish police officers secure a basketball stadium in Suruc on October 14. Some Syrian Kurds have been held there since crossing from Syria into Turkey. Tens of thousands of people have fled Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab, to escape ISIS. 
Kiymet Ergun, a Syrian Kurd, celebrates in Mursitpinar, Turkey, after an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition in Kobani on Monday, October 13. 
Smoke rises from Kobani on Sunday, October 12. 
Syrian Kurds from Kobani stand outside the grounds of a refugee camp in Suruc on Saturday, October 11. 
Alleged ISIS militants stand next to an ISIS flag atop a hill in Kobani on Monday, October 6. 
In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force on Saturday, October 4, a U.S. Navy jet is refueled in Iraqi airspace after conducting an airstrike against ISIS militants. 
A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier who was wounded in a battle with ISIS is wheeled to the Zakho Emergency Hospital in Duhuk, Iraq, on Tuesday, September 30. 
Iraqi Shiite militiamen aim their weapons during clashes with ISIS militants in Jurf al-Sakhar on Sunday, September 28. 
Syrian Kurds wait near a border crossing in Suruc as they wait to return to their homes in Kobani on Sunday, September 28. Tens of thousands of people have fled Kobani, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab, to escape ISIS. 
Syrian Kurds wait behind border fences to cross into Suruc on September 28. 
Tomahawk missiles, intended for ISIS targets in Syria, fly above the Persian Gulf after being fired by the USS Philippine Sea in this image released by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday, September 23. 
Turkish Kurds clash with Turkish security forces during a protest near Suruc on Monday, September 22. According to Time magazine, the protests were over Turkey's temporary decision to close the border with Syria. 
Syrian Kurds fleeing ISIS militants wait behind a fence in Suruc on Sunday, September 21. 
A elderly man is carried after crossing the Syria-Turkey border near Suruc on Saturday, September 20. 
A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter launches mortar shells toward ISIS militants in Zumar, Iraq, on Monday, September 15. 
An ISIS flag flies on the other side of a bridge at the front line of fighting between ISIS and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Rashad, Iraq, on Thursday, September 11. 
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reads on a flight en route to Iraq on Wednesday, September 10. Kerry traveled to the Mideast to discuss ways to bolster the stability of the new Iraqi government and combat ISIS. 
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire at ISIS militant positions from their position on the top of Mount Zardak, east of Mosul, Iraq, on Tuesday, September 9. 
An Iraqi fighter jet flies over Amerli, Iraq, on September 3. Amerli had been under siege by ISIS militants. 
Iraqi volunteer fighters celebrate breaking the Amerli siege on Monday, September 1. ISIS militants had surrounded Amerli, 70 miles north of Baquba, Iraq, since mid-June. 
Kurdish Peshmerga forces stand guard at their position in the Omar Khaled village west of Mosul on Sunday, August 24. 
Kurdish Peshmergas fight to regain control of the town of Celavle, in Iraq's Diyala province, on August 24. 
Peshmerga fighters stand guard at Mosul Dam in northern Iraq on Thursday, August 21. With the help of U.S. military airstrikes, Kurdish and Iraqi forces retook the dam from ISIS militants on August 18. A breach of the dam would have been catastrophic for millions of Iraqis who live downstream from it. 
Displaced Iraqis receive clothes from a charity at a refugee camp near Feeshkhabour, Iraq, on Tuesday, August 19. 
A fighter with Kurdish Peshmerga forces battles ISIS militants near Mosul on Monday, August 18. 
Peshmerga fighters inspect the remains of a car that reportedly belonged to ISIS militants and was targeted by a U.S. airstrike in the village of Baqufa, north of Mosul, on August 18. 
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire at ISIS in Khazair, Iraq, on Thursday, August 14. 
Volunteers of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society unload boxes of goods before distributing them August 14 to families who fled from ISIS. 
From the flight deck of the USS George H.W. Bush, which is in the Persian Gulf, two U.S. fighter jets take off for a mission in Iraq on Monday, August 11. U.S. President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes against Islamic militants and food drops for Iraqis who are trapped by the militants. 
Aziza Hamid, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, cries for her father while she and some other Yazidi people are flown to safety Monday, August 11, after a dramatic rescue operation at Iraq's Mount Sinjar. A CNN crew was on the flight, which took diapers, milk, water and food to the site where as many as 70,000 people were trapped by ISIS. But only a few of them were able to fly back on the helicopter with the Iraqi Air Force and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. 
Thousands of Yazidis are escorted to safety by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and a People's Protection Unit in Mosul on Saturday, August 9. 
Iraqi Shiite volunteers who have joined government forces to fight ISIS take part in a training session near Basra, Iraq, on Thursday, August 7. 
Thousands of Yazidi and Christian people flee Mosul on Wednesday, August 6, after the latest wave of ISIS advances. 
A Baiji oil refinery burns after an alleged ISIS attack in northern Selahaddin, Iraq, on Thursday, July 31. 
A Syrian rebel fighter lies on a stretcher at a makeshift hospital in Douma, Syria, on Wednesday, July 9. He was reportedly injured while fighting ISIS militants. 
Iraqis who fled fighting in the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar try to enter a temporary displacement camp in Khazair on Wednesday, July 2. 
Peshmerga fighters check cars at the entrance of a temporary displacement camp in Khazair on Thursday, June 26. 
Kurdish Peshmerga take their positions behind a wall on the front line of the conflict with ISIS militants in Tuz Khormato, Iraq, on Wednesday, June 25. 
Peshmerga fighters clean their weapons at a base in Tuz Khormato on June 25. 
New army recruits gather in Najaf, Iraq, on Wednesday, June 18, following a call for Iraqis to take up arms against Islamic militant fighters. 
An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter lands on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, June 17. 
Newly recruited Iraqi volunteer fighters take part in a training session in Karbala, Iraq, on June 17. 
Members of ISIS prepare to execute soldiers from Iraq's security forces in this image, one of many reportedly posted by the militant group online. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the images. 
Iraqi men chant slogans outside of an army recruiting center to volunteer for military service Thursday, June 12, in Baghdad. 
Kurdish Peshmerga forces, along with Iraqi special forces, deploy their troops and armored vehicles outside of Kirkuk, Iraq, on June 12. 
Children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and ISIS militants in Mosul on Tuesday, June 10. 
Civilians from Mosul escape to a refugee camp near Irbil, Iraq, on June 10. 
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Photos: The ISIS terror threat "From the beginning of the campaign, we have said that we would expand this type of support to the Iraqi government should they act in a manner that was representative of the security interests of all Iraqis," Thomas said.
U.S. officials maintain that Iraqi support for Sunni tribes going on the offensive against ISIS will be a necessary part in the effort to defeat the militants, who are also called ISIL and refer to themselves as the Islamic State.
In a news conference with reporters Thursday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs chairman, signaled the possibility of the new role when he said the Iraqi government had not yet requested U.S. military support in efforts to defend a Sunni tribe that has suffered mass executions at the hands of ISIS militants.
"That's why we need to expand the train-advise-and-assist mission into the Al- Anbar Province," Dempsey said. "But the precondition for that is that the government of Iraq is willing to arm the tribes."
Dempsey said the United States had "positive indications" the Iraqi government was prepared to do that, but had not yet acted.
Thomas said such a mission would hopefully open the door to the establishment of an Iraqi National Guard while also helping to push back ISIS control of the province.
There is no indication from Pentagon officials on when such a mission could begin.
Anbar was the scene of a bloody insurgency during the U.S.-led war in Iraq until an uprising by Sunni tribes in 2006 took hold to push out forces from al Qaeda's franchise in Iraq -- the precursor organization to ISIS.
Some 400 members of the Sunni Abu Nimer tribe in Anbar have been killed in recent days after rising up against ISIS rule in the province.
CNN's Jamie Crawford contributed to this report.