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NATION/WORLD Saturday, April 9, 2016 East Oregonian Page 9A Arrests provide new links between Paris, Brussels attacks By RAF CASERT and JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG Associated Press %5866(/6²7KHDUUHVW)ULGD\ RI¿YHPHQVXVSHFWHGRIOLQNVWRWKH Brussels bombings, including the last known fugitive in last year’s Paris attacks, raised new questions about the extent of the Islamic State cell believed to have carried out the intertwined attacks that left 162 people dead in two countries. After weeks of speculation about a mysterious “man in the hat” who escaped the Brussels attacks while three suicide bombers blew themselves up, authorities were checking whether that man was indeed Mohamed Abrini, the last LGHQWL¿HGVXVSHFWDWODUJHIURPWKH 3DULV DWWDFNV XQWLO )ULGD\$QRWKHU man arrested in a series of raids, LGHQWL¿HGDV2VDPD.E\%HOJLDQ authorities, was linked to the Nov. 3DULV DWWDFNV E\ )UHQFK DXWKRU- ities on March 22, hours after the Belgium attacks. $EULQL DQG 2VDPD . DUH QRZ suspected of playing a role in the two biggest attacks carried out by the Islamic State group in Europe over the past year, killing 130 people LQ3DULVDQGLQ%UXVVHOV)UHQFK authorities renewed their call to arrest an armed and dangerous Abrini within hours of the Brussels attacks. “We are investigating if Abrini Abrini’s precise role in the Paris attacks has never been clear, nor his full link to the Brussels attacks. Abrini is a 31-year-old Belgian-Mo- roccan, known as a petty criminal before he was believed to have trav- eled last summer to Syria, where his younger brother died in 2014 in the Islamic State’s notorious francophone brigade. Abrini went multiple times to Birmingham, England, last year, meeting with several men suspected of terrorist activity, a (XURSHDQ VHFXULW\ RI¿FLDO KDV WROG 7KH$VVRFLDWHG 3UHVV 7KH RI¿FLDO spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide details on the investigation. He said the meetings, including one later last summer, took place in several locations, including cafes and apartments. Abrini had not resurfaced since Sebastian Kamran via AP the emergence of surveillance video In this image made from video, police arrest a man in the Anderlecht area of Brussels, Friday. placing him in the convoy with the FDQ EH SRVLWLYHO\ LGHQWL¿HG DV WKH himself up in the Brussels subway of Brussels used by the Brussels attackers headed to Paris. He had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the third person present during the the same morning, killing another bombers. )ULGD\¶V GHWHQWLRQV ZHUH D UDUH ringleader of the Paris attacks who attacks in Brussels National Airport, 16. the so called ‘man in the hat,”’ said 2VDPD.ZDV¿OPHGE\VHFXULW\ success for Belgian authorities, who died in a police standoff on Nov. 18, prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt. cameras in the City 2 shopping mall have been accused for months of and is a childhood friend of brothers The man walked away from the when the bags were bought that mishandling the investigation. Both Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both airport attack, where two suicide were used by the suicide bombers the interior and justice ministers suspects in the Paris attacks. )ULGD\ ZDV WKUHH ZHHNV WR WKH bombers blew themselves up, who attacked the airport. had offered to resign before the day that authorities arrested in killing 16. Belgian prosecutors said Abri- detentions. Authorities detained four other QL¶V¿QJHUSULQWVDQG'1$ZHUHQRW Despite multiple arrests, another Brussels neighborhood PHQ RQ )ULGD\ LQFOXGLQJ 2VDPD only in a Renault Clio used in the Brussels remains under the second- Salah Abdeslam, who had been on . VXVSHFWHG RI KDYLQJ FRQWDFW Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, but also in highest terror alert, meaning an the run for four months. Abdeslam LVDZDLWLQJH[WUDGLWLRQWR)UDQFH with the suicide bomber who blew an apartment in the Schaerbeek area attack is considered likely. Global warming now changing how Earth wobbles By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer WASHINGTON — Global warming is shifting the way the Earth wobbles on LWVSRODUD[LVDQHZ1$6$VWXG\¿QGV Melting ice sheets — especially in Greenland — are changing the distri- bution of weight on Earth. And that has caused both the North Pole and the wobble, which is called polar motion, to change course, according to a study SXEOLVKHG )ULGD\ LQ WKH MRXUQDO 6FLHQFH Advances. Scientists and navigators have been accurately measuring the true pole and polar motion since 1899 and for almost the entire 20th century they migrated a bit toward Canada. But that has changed with this century and now it’s moving toward England, said study lead author Surendra Adhikari at NASA’s Jet Propul- sion Lab. “The recent shift from the 20th-cen- tury direction is very dramatic,” Adhikari said. While scientists say the shift is harmless, it is meaningful. Jonathan Overpeck, professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona who wasn’t part of the study, said “this highlights how real and profoundly large an impact humans are having on the planet.” Since 2003, Greenland has lost on average more than 600 trillion pounds of ice a year and that affects the way the Earth wobbles in a manner similar to a AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File In this 2011 file photo, drops of water fall from a melting iceberg near Nuuk, Greenland. ¿JXUH VNDWHU OLIWLQJ RQH OHJ ZKLOH VSLQ- ning, said NASA scientist Eirk Ivins, the study’s co-author. Ivins said he likes to think of it as a billion trucks each year dumping ice out of Greenland. On top of that, West Antarctica loses 275 trillion pounds of ice and East Antarctica gains about 165 trillion pounds of ice yearly, helping tilt the wobble further, Ivins said. They all combine to pull polar motion BRIEFLY Prosecutors: Hastert sought to hide sex abuse of 14-year-old CHICAGO (AP) — Dennis Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to a person the former House speaker sexually abused when the victim was 14 years old and Hastert worked as a high- school teacher and wrestling coach outside Chicago, prosecutors said in a court ¿OLQJ)ULGD\ 7KHFRXUW¿OLQJLVWKH ¿UVWWLPHSURVHFXWRUVKDYH FRQ¿UPHG+DVWHUWSDLG hush-money to conceal sex abuse of a 14-year-old — a person who has been LGHQWL¿HGLQFRXUWGRFXPHQWV as Individual A. Prosecutors are seeking up to six months in prison for Hastert. According to the document, Individual A told prosecutors the abuse occurred in a hotel room on the way home from a trip to wrestling camp. Between 10 and 14 boys were on the trip. Hastert, the only adult on the trip, told the 14-year-old that he would stay in his room while the other boys stayed in a different room. Individual A said Hastert touched him inappropriately after suggesting he would massage a groin injury the boy had complained about earlier. The 74-year-old Republican managed to keep any hint of sexual misconduct quiet throughout a political career that carried him from the Illinois Legislature to the halls of Congress and eventually to WKHVSHDNHU¶VRI¿FHZKHUH he was second in the line of succession to the presidency. Hastert pleaded guilty in October to breaking banking laws as he sought to pay $3.7 million to someone referred to as Individual A to ensure the person kept quiet about Hastert’s past misconduct. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 27. toward the east, Adhikari said. Jianli Chen, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas’ Center for 6SDFH5HVHDUFK¿UVWDWWULEXWHGWKHSROH shift to climate change in 2013 and he said this new study takes his work a step further. “There is nothing to worry about,” said Chen, who wasn’t part of the NASA study. “It is just another interesting effect of climate change.” PORTLAND(AP) — The federal government and big energy companies lost an important round )ULGD\ LQ WKHLU HIIRUW WR block a climate change lawsuit by young plain- tiffs who contend the U.S. is failing to protect them from the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. Magistrate Judge 7KRPDV&RI¿QLQ(XJHQH rejected motions by the U.S. government and trade groups representing the energy companies to dismiss the lawsuit by 21 plaintiffs ages 8 to 19. A U.S. District Court MXGJH KDV ¿QDO VD\ RYHU whether the lawsuit will proceed to trial. Oral arguments before &RI¿Q ODVW PRQWK GUHZ hundreds of people who came to show their support for the youths, who contend the release of dangerous carbon dioxide emissions into the atmo- sphere is a violation of their constitutional rights. They are demanding that the U.S. government be forced to create a plan WKDW ZRXOG VLJQL¿FDQWO\ cut the emissions. “The future of our generation is at stake,” one of the plaintiffs, 16-year-old Victoria Barrett, said in a statement UHOHDVHG DIWHU &RI¿Q¶V decision by Our Chil- GUHQ¶V 7UXVW D QRQSUR¿W environmental group LQ (XJHQH WKDW ¿OHG WKH lawsuit. “People label our generation as dreamers, but hope is not the only tool we have,” the teen said. Lawyers for energy companies argued that ruling in the plaintiffs’ favor would cause them considerable harm, and that they are already subject to many environ- mental regulations under laws like the federal Clean Air Act. &RI¿Q ZURWH LQ KLV decision that the debate about climate change and its effects has been before various political bodies for some time now. Win a free $200 Gift Card Share your opinion about the East Oregonian and EastOregonian.com and you’ll automatically be entered into a drawing to receive a $200 VISA gift card Ex-Navy SEAL who says he killed bin Laden charged with DUI HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The former Navy SEAL ZKRVD\VKH¿UHGWKHVKRWV that killed Osama bin Laden ZDVDUUHVWHG)ULGD\RQD drunken driving charge after police found him asleep in a car parked at a convenience store in his Montana hometown. Customers at the store in Butte called police to report a sleeping man behind the wheel of the running car around 2:30 a.m., Butte-Silver Bow County Undersheriff George 6NXOHWLFKVDLG7KHRI¿FHU who responded woke the PDQXSLGHQWL¿HGKLPDV Robert O’Neill and noticed odd behavior. “He was confused. His actions were consistent with somebody who might EHXQGHUWKHLQÀXHQFHRI something,” Skuletich said. O’Neill denied drinking, gave different stories about where he had been and at RQHSRLQWWROGWKHRI¿FHUV he had taken prescription medication to help him sleep, Skuletich said. 2¶1HLOOIDLOHGD¿HOG sobriety test and would not perform others. Climate change lawsuit by 21 youths takes big step forward The East Oregonian is dedicated to bringing you the best in news, entertainment and advertising features from across Northeast Oregon. The way you get your news and information is constantly changing so we strive to stay ahead of these changes. 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