Prime Minister’s Defection in the Dark Jolts Syrians

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The defection of Syria’s prime minister, Riyad Farid Hijab, began like so many others: with coded conversations and furtive planning. He began discussing the idea of fleeing, an aide said, as soon as President Bashar al-Assad strong-armed him into taking the job in June. In recent days, he worked to get his extended family out. Then, early Monday, the prime minister slipped out of Damascus under cover of darkness with his wife and four children, scrambling through the desert as a fugitive.

Employees of Syrian state-run television looked at the damage after a bomb reportedly hit the third floor of the television building in Damascus on Monday.

At sunrise, he crossed into Ramtha, Jordan, shocking the Syrian government — which immediately claimed he had been fired — and spurring jubilation within a weary opposition.

“This is a proof that the political basis of the regime is collapsing,” said Samir Nachar, a leader of the Syrian National Council, the main exile opposition group. “This is the momentum we needed to tell the political and military elite that it is time for them to jump off the sinking ship.”

Mr. Hijab’s journey began when he climbed into a simple car with a driver who did not know his identity, according to an account provided by a Free Syrian Army commander, an activist at the Syria-Jordan border, and Mr. Hijab’s spokesman. He traveled down roads lined with rebel lookouts until he reached a contested stretch of border. Finally, he made his dramatic departure from Syria.

The Assad government — nearly a year and a half into the conflict — remains surprisingly strong where it counts. Its powerful military pounded rebels again on Monday in Aleppo, Damascus and other cities, and many analysts question whether the defection of another Sunni leader, no matter his place in the hierarchy, is enough to swing the conflict to a conclusion. The war, after all, has already taken on a blunt rhythm of violence, sectarianism and revenge that does not necessarily respond to the finer pitches of politics and defection.

And yet the scale of the Hijab defection — involving 10 prominent Sunni families who escaped in small groups over the past week — suggests that Mr. Assad is losing the loyalty of Sunni political and security officials crucial to his minority government’s ability to hold power.

His feared internal security apparatus also seems to be cracking. Mr. Hijab, the highest-level official to leave, was closely watched by the Assad government, which nonetheless failed to keep him from communicating with the opposition for months and arranging for dozens of relatives to leave Damascus, where government agents are concentrated.

“This is someone who was very, very close, and they couldn’t keep him,” said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Center for the Middle East. He added that while the impact was not cataclysmic, “it’s a sign of advanced decrepitude.”

“It’s a beginning of an endgame sort of thing,” he added.

Mr. Hijab’s departure came less than a month after four members of Mr. Assad’s inner circle were killed in a bomb attack in Damascus that raised serious questions about the cohesiveness of the embattled government. On Monday, rebels struck again close to the leadership’s core, bombing the third floor of the government television and radio headquarters, which have been used to reassure the population that Mr. Assad remains in control.

No one died this time, but the explosion — shown on Syrian television, where officials insisted it was insignificant — again highlighted the rebels’ ability to breach government institutions.

Defections highlight another vulnerability: betrayal within the ranks of supposed loyalists. Over the past few months, there has been a steady flow of high- and midlevel figures announcing that they have turned on the regime. In recent days, in addition to Mr. Hijab, Syria’s most famous astronaut, an air force officer named Ahmed Faris, fled to Turkey, pledging his loyalty to the opposition.

In Washington, the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, said the defections were “a sign that Assad’s grip on power is loosening.”

“That the titular head of the Syrian government has rejected the ongoing slaughter being carried out at Assad’s direction only reinforces that the Assad regime is crumbling from within and that the Syrian people believe that Assad’s days are numbered,” he said.

Rebel leaders and defectors said that the process for leaving varied. In some cases, military officers have taken their allotted leave and have never returned to their units. Other defectors say they have falsified paperwork or used disguises to get through government checkpoints. In June, a Syrian Air Force pilot simply landed his fighter jet at an airport in Jordan.

Most of the defectors have been members of the Sunni majority, breaking away from a government dominated by Mr. Assad’s Alawite minority. Mr. Hijab, who has served in government for most of his life after receiving a Ph.D. in agriculture, is typical. The well-educated head of a Sunni family drawn into government by Mr. Assad’s father in an effort to add legitimacy to his government, he benefited from the government’s patronage before finally rejecting it.

Two of his brothers followed a similar path, with the opposition reporting that they held high positions at the Ministries of Oil and the Environment before they fled the country. And by leaving, said Sami Nader, a Lebanese political analyst, they are stripping Mr. Assad of his “Sunni veneer.” With the defection of such a senior-level Sunni family, Mr. Nader said, it will be harder for Mr. Assad to claim that his is a national government representing all Syrians.

But few analysts, or even opposition leaders, seemed to believe that this latest high-profile defection would be anywhere near enough to end the conflict. The exuberance surrounding the early reports of Mr. Hijab’s defection partly reflected claims that at least two other cabinet-level officials would be joining him.

Mohammad Otari, Mr. Hijab’s spokesman, said that was never true, and that the plan had always been limited to Mr. Hijab and his family. “There were no ministers involved,” he said. “There was no one left behind.”

Rumors about some kind of high-level defection began to spread late last week. An activist in the border region of Dara’a said that government troops had subjected the area to intensified shelling while the army seemed to be on the hunt for someone important.

“We heard they were looking for high-level officials,” he said. “They went in to every home along the border.”

Mr. Otari said the full details of the escape would be provided later, after the Hijab family reached a location outside Jordan. But he said the most difficult challenge involved leaving Damascus and Mr. Hijab’s home in the upscale neighborhood of Mezze. Scores of government agents were watching. Mr. Hijab, Mr. Otari said, had taken the job of prime minister only after Mr. Assad issued a threat: “You take this position or you die.”

Previously, Mr. Hijab had been the governor in the coastal province of Latakia. An activist who said he had dealt frequently with Mr. Hijab said he appeared to have been selected as prime minister because of his close relationship with Mr. Assad’s brother, Maher al-Assad. But during the initial protests last year, the activist said, Mr. Hijab seemed to have some sympathy for the opposition; he had agreed to keep the military and the police away from the first protests.

Later, after arrests were made at subsequent demonstrations, Mr. Hijab helped in the release of 15 people. “He’s a good man,” said the activist, Rami, who declined to provide his full name because he feared reprisals.

Malek al-Kurdi, the deputy commander of the Free Syrian Army, also said the defection was encouraging because “he has a clean record” and “is accepted by the Syrians.”

Some analysts said he could have escaped only through bribery, paying off all the guards responsible for monitoring him. But Mr. Otari would say only that Mr. Hijab took enormous risks to declare his loyalty to the opposition. “It was the most dangerous and difficult defection that took place since the beginning of the revolution,” he said. “This defection breaks the back of the regime.”

Durant, US Men Roll Over Argentina 126-97

One 3-pointer after another, Kevin Durant shot down Argentina — and perhaps the notion that defense wins championships.

This U.S. men's Olympic basketball team is living proof that the best defense is a good offense. The road to gold in London is built on scores, not stops.

Durant scored 17 of his 28 points during the Americans' 42-point third quarter, turning a one-point game into a blowout that sent the U.S. soaring into the quarterfinals with a 126-97 victory on Monday night.

Two nights after surviving their first real test in a 99-94 victory over Lithuania, the Americans seemed headed for another tight finish. Argentina shot 56 percent in the first half and the U.S. led just 60-59.

Minutes later, the game — the last before single-elimination play starts — was effectively over.

"I think we did a great job of responding from last game," Durant said. "It was a tough game and so was the first half tonight. Guys played together. That second half is how we want to play."

The NBA scoring champion matched the Argentines' point total in the period, going 5-of-6 from 3-point range, the last one from well beyond 25 feet. The Americans didn't stop shooting and scoring until Carmelo Anthony made a 3-pointer in the final second of the quarter while taking what he and the U.S. bench right behind him felt was a cheap shot from Argentina's Facundo Campazzo, setting off an exchange of words and technical fouls.

It was too late by then for the Argentines. They needed to get closer to the U.S. shooters much sooner, and that was hard to do from some of the spots where Durant was pulling up.

The Americans (5-0) will play Australia (3-2) in a quarterfinal game Wednesday.

LeBron James added 18 points, including the Americans' first seven of the third quarter before Durant took over. Chris Paul finished with 17.

"We're great shooting team, but in close games sometimes you've got to go down and get some easy ones, and I wanted the ball, whether it was layups or in the post," James said. "Once you get a couple easy ones at the rim, then the 3-pointers open up and you saw what KD was able to do."

Durant's 3-pointer after James' surge gave the U.S. 10 points in 2:10 of the second half, and he made back-to-back 3s midway through the period to make it 85-68. Then he nailed consecutive 3s again later in the quarter, one from beyond the hash line, a distance that most players would never consider pulling up from.

"I really didn't pay attention to where the line was," Durant said. "When I caught that ball I was going to shoot it."

With his 17 points, Durant tied Argentina all by himself in the third quarter. He finished 8 of 10 from 3-point range, where the U.S. team was 20 of 39.

Durant, who holds the U.S. scoring record with 38 points in the 2010 world championship, might have threatened that if not for the lopsided score. He checked out for good about a minute into the fourth quarter.

"It sort of developed, but anybody in their right mind, when he gets shooting the ball like that, there's only one thing to do: Get the ball to him," Paul said of the plan to feed Durant. "Luckily, we have a team that has the presence of mind to get it to him. He is unbelievable. We have to yell at him to shoot the ball and as you see, he usually makes it."

Manu Ginobili scored 16 points for Argentina (3-2), which would have won Group A via tiebreaker if it had blown out the U.S. Instead, it finished third and will face Brazil in the quarterfinals.

"In the second half the U.S. really upped the ante, started playing very hard. They had a lot of defensive attacks and they started to run a lot more," Argentina's Leonardo Gutierrez said through a translator. "They also had an incredibly high percentage of 3-pointers. In the third quarter, they had three or four 3-pointers. They got one after another, all in a row, and we had a strong offense and gained many points. but that is something very difficult for any team to overcome."

A crowd featuring former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ex-heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield was treated to an offensive show in the first half with little more defense than the NBA All-Star game. A basket on one end was answered quickly by a shot on the other in what was shaping up as a thriller between the last two Olympic champions.

But the U.S. simply has too much offense, even if the defense could use some tightening up.

The Americans have two days to work on it before facing the Australians (3-2), who pulled a surprise earlier Monday, handing Group B champion Russia its first loss, 82-80, on Patty Mills' 3-pointer as time expired.

Then again, maybe the defense is fine as it is.

James, who scored nine of his 20 points in the final four minutes Saturday, now has 225 points as a U.S. Olympian, just six away from Charles Barkley for third place on the U.S. career list.

The closer on Saturday, James was a late arrival Monday, returning from the locker room area, leaping over a barrier like an Olympic hurdler to jump back in line in time for the national anthem.

Still missing at the start was the U.S. defense.

The Americans, who insist their defense is their strength, allowed Argentina to make 11 of its first 15 shots, falling behind 30-29 when Gutierrez made a 3-pointer with 1:03 left in the first quarter. Durant's 3-pointer as time expired gave the U.S. a 34-32 lead headed to the second.

The U.S. could lead by no more than six in the second — though nobody was quite sure when that happened. Andre Iguodala's ferocious dunk on the fast break was thrown down with such force that it hit his chest and ricocheted back up through the basket so quickly that it was unclear if it went in at all. The public address announcer and scoreboard operator counted it, but Argentina simply pushed the ball up the other way without inbounding as if the shot had missed. Replays showed it clearly went all the way down, making it 45-39.

The game between the longtime rivals got testy in the second half, and they could see each other again soon. They would meet in the semifinals for the third straight Olympics if both win Wednesday.

"You kind of want to send a message a little bit," Kobe Bryant said. "This was the second game in a row that a team has played us close. We didn't want to give them confidence."

The teams played a physical exhibition game last month in Barcelona, the Argentines trimming a 20-point deficit to four in the final minutes before losing 86-80.

Campazzo, starting because Knicks-bound veteran point guard Pablo Prigioni is out with kidney stones, said he apologized to Bryant but not to Anthony, saying Paul didn't apologize for hitting him.

"He told me it's not necessary, and I told him I was really sorry," Campazzo said. "But before Chris Paul punched me. It's part of the game."

USAIN BOLT WINS GOLD IN MEN'S 100M

Lining up for the Olympic 100-meter final, Usain Bolt wrapped up his signature prerace preening by lifting a finger to his lips.

He might not be better than ever. Clearly, he's back to being the best.

Pulling away from the pack with every long stride, Bolt surged after his typical lumbering break from the blocks and overwhelmed a star-studded field to win in 9.63 seconds Sunday night, the second-fastest 100 in history and an Olympic record that let him join Carl Lewis as the only men with consecutive gold medals in the Summer Games' marquee track event.

''Means a lot, because a lot of people were doubting me. A lot of people were saying I wasn't going to win, I didn't look good. There was a lot of talk,'' Bolt said. ''It's an even greater feeling to come out here and defend my title and show the world I'm still No. 1.''

Only sixth-fastest of the eight runners to the halfway mark, Bolt was his brilliant self down the stretch, his latest scintillating performance on his sport's biggest stage. At Beijing four years ago, the 6-foot-5 Bolt seemingly reinvented sprinting and electrified track and field, winning gold medals in world-record times in the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay - something no man had ever done at an Olympics.

And the significance of Sunday's sequel?

''One step closer to becoming a legend,'' Bolt said. ''So I'm happy with myself.''

Ever the entertainer, the Jamaican kept right on running past the finish for a victory lap that included high-fives with front-row fans, a pause to kneel down and kiss the track and even a somersault. Thousands in the capacity crowd of about 80,000 chanted the champion's name: ''Usain! Usain! Usain!''

Bolt's training partner and Jamaican teammate, world champion Yohan Blake, won the silver in 9.75, and 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin of the U.S. took the bronze in 9.79.

''It just feels good to be back,'' said Gatlin, who served a four-year ban after testing positive for excessive testosterone.

''To be honest, I went out there to challenge a mountain. I went out there to challenge the odds. Not just myself and everything I've been through, but the legacy of Usain Bolt,'' Gatlin said. ''I had to go out there and be fearless.''

Everyone in the final broke 10 seconds except former world-record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica, who pulled up with a groin injury.

At the last Olympics, Bolt announced his arrival on the global stage by winning the 100 with a then-record 9.69 seconds, even though he slowed down to celebrate by pounding his chest over the last 20 meters. That mark only lasted until the 2009 world championships, when he lowered the mark to 9.58.

But The World's Fastest Man had been something less than Boltesque since then, in part due to a string of minor injuries to his back and legs.

In 2010, he lost to Tyson Gay, the American who's a past world champion and cried inconsolably after ending up fourth Sunday in a time (9.80) that would have been good enough to win every Olympic 100 gold medal other than the past two.

A false start knocked Bolt out of the 100 at last year's world championships, creating an opening for Blake. Then came recent, much-discussed losses to Blake in the 100 and 200 at the Jamaican Olympic trials.

Bolt, a fast runner who likes to drive fast, too, was involved in a wee-hours car crash in Kingston in June - not the only auto accident he's been in. His publicist played down the seriousness of the latest episode, but the hand-wringing in Jamaica intensified after the poor performances at the trials a few weeks later.

''The trials woke me up. Yohan gave me a wakeup call,'' Bolt said. ''He knocked on my door and said, 'Usain, wake up! This is an Olympic year.'''

Message delivered.

''I had to show the world I'm the greatest,'' he said.

If that hasn't already been accomplished, Bolt sure is close. He will begin defending his title in the 200, which he considers his best event, in Tuesday's heats. He's also part of Jamaica's 4x100 relay team, of course, and wouldn't rule out taking part in the 4x400 this time, as well.

Some saw no reason to wait to see what Bolt does the rest of the way at these Olympics.

''There's no doubt he's the greatest sprinter of all time now,'' said seventh-place finisher Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago, who was 0.35 seconds back on Sunday.

Thompson was the silver medalist in Beijing, despite trailing Bolt by a hard-to-believe 0.20.

The margin Sunday was 0.12, and Bolt pushed all the way, making up for his usual slow beginning.

After he'd closed out his mugging for the cameras, even pantomiming spinning a record like a DJ, Bolt crouched into the blocks. Right before the starting gun, a plastic bottle was tossed from the stands and it landed on the track behind Blake's lane. But neither Bolt nor Blake noticed.

''When they say, 'On your marks,' that's when the focus starts,'' Bolt said.

He took a while, as usual, to get up to top speed, but once he found his extra gear, no one else stood a chance, even though the men surrounding Bolt were an accomplished bunch. Once he found himself even with the leaders with about 50 meters left, Bolt did what he does best.

Cheeks puffing, arms pumping right along with each of those lengthy strides - Bolt is taller and leaner than the typical 100-meter champs of the past - he reeled in everyone else, even leaning at the finish for good measure.

''I stopped worrying about the start,'' Bolt said. ''The end is what's important.''

Oh, and how he enjoyed what came next.

Bolt, who turns 26 this month, delivered the sort of scene he made so commonplace in Beijing: a look-at-me! series of photo ops, including dance moves fit for a nightclub and what he calls his ''To the World'' pose, when he leans back and points to the sky.

He hugged Blake, the guy Bolt nicknamed ''The Beast'' because of his intensity in practices.

Later, Blake tweeted: ''Big up (at)UsainBolt! You deserved that one. Big up Jamaica!''

Gatlin didn't begrudge Bolt's enthusiasm.

''He's the Michael Phelps of our sport,'' Gatlin said, referring to the U.S. swimmer who has won a record 22 Olympic medals, 18 gold. ''What can you say? He's a showman. Is it arrogance? Confidence? It's a good show.''

Bolt is not the most serious fellow, and he isn't too proud to admit he never has put much emphasis on fitness. In 2008, he explained that his success was fueled by chicken nuggets from a fast-food restaurant in the Olympic village. This time around, he noted that he noshed Sunday on a sandwich wrap from the same chain.

''It was chicken with vegetables, so it was healthy,'' Bolt said with perfect deadpan delivery. ''Don't judge me.''

The only judgments now are going to be about where Bolt stands in the pantheon of sprinters and Olympians.

Even LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and other members of the U.S. men's basketball team wanted to get a glimpse of Bolt, arriving right as the 100 semifinals were getting started Sunday.

James even pulled out a phone to record video of Bolt in action.

''The whole world is going to watch this tonight,'' James said. ''This is the biggest event of them all, right here.''

There were other events on Sunday's schedule, and Sanya Richards-Ross won the only U.S. gold at the track so far. She erased the bad memory of her bronze-medal finish in Beijing by accelerating down the stretch to win the 400 meters in 49.55 seconds.

Other winners were Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, Krisztian Pars of Hungary in the men's hammer throw, Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan in the women's triple jump, and Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia in the women's marathon. Oscar Pistorius, the amputee ''Blade Runner'' from South Africa, finished last in his 400-meter semifinal but will get another chance in next week's 4x400-meter relay.

Bolt's victory in the 100 four years ago began a stretch of dominance by Jamaica, an island nation of 3 million people - about 1 percent as many as the U.S. - that now owns seven of the last eight Olympic men's and women's sprinting golds, including relays.

About 1 1/2 hours before Bolt's latest victory, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce stepped to the top of the medal stand in the stadium and received the gold she collected for Jamaica in the women's 100 on Saturday night. Like Bolt, she's a repeat champion.

Bolt gets the distinction as the only man to cross the finish line first in back-to-back dash finals. Lewis' victory in Seoul in 1988, following his first 100 title at Los Angeles in 1984, was awarded only after apparent champion Ben Johnson of Canada was stripped for failing a drug test. Johnson hailed from the same Trelawny parish in Jamaica that is home to Bolt.

They already were set to party in that Caribbean country to mark 50 years since it became independent from Britain.

On Aug. 5, 1962, the Union Jack was lowered for the final time at Kingston's National Stadium. Talk about perfect bookends: On Monday - which is Aug. 6, 2012, the 50th anniversary of the island's independence - the Jamaican flag will be raised in London's Olympic Stadium for Bolt's medal ceremony.

''It's an honor. I said after the trials I wanted to give Jamaica a great birthday present,'' Bolt said, ''and this is a good start.''

As these Olympics continue, though, remember this: Bolt specializes in fantastic finishes.

Syria vows 'decisive' Aleppo battle

Syrian forces threatened to mount a "decisive battle" for Aleppo even as rebels clawed towards the city's ancient centre under intense bombardment and strafing from warplanes.

In the capital Damascus, militiamen appeared to step up guerrilla-like forays in central districts that were once firmly in the regime's hands.

The twin fronts reflected the rising stakes for both sides and a possible significant evolution in rebel strategies. Opposition forces appear to be shifting towards more hit-and-run strikes in Damascus and elsewhere to tie up Bashar Assad's forces and blur the lines between rebel and government-held territory.

The biggest prize of the ambush brigades so far was 48 abducted Iranians branded as spies by rebels. They were put on display in a video that carried a warning that all Iranians in Syria would be "captured or killed" because of Tehran's strong backing for Assad. Iran said those captured when their bus was commandeered on Saturday were pilgrims visiting an important Shiite shrine on the outskirts of Damascus.

The abductions threaten to suck Iran deeper into Syria's civil war and the wider political brinkmanship around the region. Iran claims it has no fighting forces aiding Assad, but it has sharply amplified its criticism of countries supporting the rebels such as neighbouring Turkey and Gulf states led by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

In further signs of the growing proxy nature of Syria's conflict, Iran was forced to reach out to Turkey and Qatar with appeals to help return the captives.

The daylight hijacking on the main airport road in Damascus also raises questions about the regime's ability to control key parts of the capital and protect the symbols of Assad's power such as ministries and government offices - already breached once by a bombing last month that killed four members of Assad's inner circle including his brother-in-law and the defence minister.

The pro-government Al Satan newspaper said the Syrian army was bracing itself for a "decisive battle" to clear Aleppo, Syria's largest city, from rebels. It gave no possible timetable and for more than a week, activists have claimed the government is gearing up for an all-out offensive on the northern commercial centre - another critical battleground for Assad's regime to survive.

Government gunners pounded rebel-held areas to keep militiamen from expanding their hold on the city centre, dominated by a medieval castle whose loss would be a deep symbolic blow for Assad. Local activist Mohammad Saeed said government warplanes joined in the attack by strafing rebel positions. "Fighter jets to us are now as common as birds in the sky," he said.

Mr Saeed and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy shelling and clashes mainly in districts flanking Aleppo's historic centre - Salaheddine to the south west and al-Sukkari and Hananou to the north east.

'It's a tense confidence,' ex-NASA official says of Mars mission

One of the most intriguing parts of the Mars rover Curiosity's landing is the lack of control that the scientists and engineers have in the final moments of the mission. Because it takes 14 minutes for signals to be transmitted from Curiosity to Earth, all they can do is watch, wait and hope for success.

Scott Hubbard, who is the former director ofNASA'sAmes Research Center and has contributed greatly to the Mars rover program, said: "Everybody is on edge. There's a lot of confidence there, but the truth is Mars is still mostly an unknown. It's a tense confidence. The software is loaded, they're committed, and now they just have to wait and see."

Hubbard says that the famous seven minutes of terror -- the length of time it will take the rover to make its descent to the surface -- are what will determine the success or failure of the mission. "It really comes down to seven preprogrammed minutes. I've had that type of experience before, and what I remember feeling is, 'Either it's going to be a good day, or it's going to be the end of my career.' "

If those seven minutes end badly, things might also end poorly for some scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada-Flintridge as well.

Hubbard says he believes that the stakes are especially high because the mission is funded by U.S. taxpayers.

"I spent seven months as the only NASA member on the Columbia investigation team. And from that experience, I learned that when you use tax dollars, there's a whole different level of expectation. Most people who climb Everest die, and it's 10 inches in the back of the newspaper for one day. But when Challenger happened, it was a major news event for months and months. When these things don't work, careers are bound to take a hit."

Over time, he says, NASA scientists have learned to approach their missions with a political eye.

"With Viking, there were really strong expectations that we would just mix dirt with water and find life right away," he said. When that didn't happen, he said, the results overshadowed some of the great scientific and engineering successes of the missions, and there were no more Mars missions until 1993. "Since then we've started really managing expectations, approaching our missions incrementally. I think that is part of the key to our success now."

With that, Hubbard headed to JPL to join his colleagues and await word from space.

Shooting at Sikh temple in Wis., at least 7 dead

OAK CREEK, Wis. - A gunman allegedly killed six people and wounded three others before being shot dead by a police officer at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee Sunday morning.

The gunman allegedly shot one police officer who was helping a victim ten times. The officer survived the shooting. The suspected gunman was later confronted and killed by another officer outside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, near Milwaukee. Officials have indicated this is likely the work of a lone gunman.

Law enforcement sources tell CBS News the alleged gunman was a heavy-set, 40-year-old Caucasian male who lived in the area. A search is being conducted of his house.

Officials say he was armed with a 9-millimeter, semi-automatic pistol. The ATF has recovered the weapon and is running a trace. A second gun found at the scene belonged to one of the police officers who confronted the gunman outside the temple.

The suspect, described as heavily tattooed, wore a white t-shirt and black military BDU pants. He also had ammunition pouches.

While the local police have labeled this attack "domestic terrorism," federal sources urge caution with that because the investigation is in its very early stages.

The working theory is that he acted alone. Local police are saying they'll have more information Monday morning at a 10 a.m. news conference.

Paul Piaskoski of CBS affiliate WDJT-TV in Milwaukee reports the children inside the temple taking part in a birthday party in the basement of the facility were among the first to hear the gunfire. They allegedly first thought it was fireworks. When they realized it was gunfire, they were the ones who ran and warned the adults.

The police officer who was shot multiple times while helping a victim was transported to a nearby hospital, where he is in surgery. Greenfield Police Chief Brad Wentlandt said the officer, a 20-year veteran, is expected to survive.

The gunman then confronted a second officer, who returned fire, striking and killing the suspect.

Wentlandt said emergency medical personnel identified seven people dead - four inside the temple and three outside, including the suspect.

"Because of the heroic efforts of the officers," said Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards, "they stopped this from being worse than it could have been."

Edwards referred to the shooting as "a domestic terror-type incident," and said that the FBI will be taking over the criminal investigation, assisted by local police and other agencies.

The first 911 call to police about the shooting was received at 10:35 a.m., Wendlant said. Three hours later, police were searching the temple to determine whether the gunman had an accomplice. Eyewitnesses had offered conflicting accounts; several said they believe there was more than one gunman.

A spokeswoman for Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, the main trauma center in the area, said doctors there are treating three victims of the shooting. Spokeswoman Carolyn Bellin said the three are all men. One is in the operating room, another is in a surgical intensive care unit, and the third is being evaluated in the emergency room.

Belliin said the hospital is prepared to receive more patients from the shooting, but does not know if more will be on the way.

Among the wounded was the temple's president, Satwant Kaleka, who was shot in the back, according to his sister-in-law, Deepinder Dhaliwal, who spoke on camera to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

In a telephone interview Sandeep Khattra told CBS News that her grandfather was shot dead, while her mother was among the temple members who hid in the temple's kitchen.

There are more than a dozen ambulances parked outside the temple, and police have corralled media and a handful of bystanders to clear out from the area near the temple.

Sukhwindar Nagr, of Racine, said he called his brother-in-law's phone and a priest at the temple answered and told him that his brother-in-law had been shot, along with three priests. The priest also said women and children were hiding in closets in the temple, Nagr said.

The White House said President Obama was aware of the shooting and was being kept up to date by the FBI.

In a statement the Indian Embassy called the incident "tragic," and said they were in touch with the National Security Council in Washington. India's Consulate General in Chicago is also monitoring the developments, and an official is visiting the site to ascertain the situation.

Wis. Gov. Scott Walker issued a statement, saying, "Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, as we all struggle to comprehend the evil that begets this terrible violence."

Sikh rights groups have reported a rise in bias attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Washington-based Sikh Coalition has reported more than 700 incidents in the U.S. since 9/11, which advocates blame on anti-Islamic sentiment. Sikhs don't practice the same religion as Muslims, but their long beards and turbans often cause them to be mistaken for Muslims, advocates say.

Sikhism is a monotheistic faith that was founded in South Asia more than 500 years ago. It has roughly 27 million followers worldwide. Observant Sikhs do not cut their hair; male followers often cover their heads with turbans - which are considered sacred - and refrain from shaving their beards.

There are roughly 500,000 Sikhs in the U.S., according to estimates. The majority worldwide live in India.

Police at this time have not identified another gunman, but Wentlandt said the situation was fluid and a search of the ground is continuing.

According to the temple's website, the temple lies on 13 acres of land. The main brick building, about 17,500 square feet in size, includes a place of worship, a library, an education area, and a playspace for children.

The temple has up to 400 members.

Oak Creek is south of Milwaukee along Lake Michigan.

Shares Continue Losing Streak for Week as Europeans Fail to Act on Debt Crisis

Stocks fell for a fourth consecutive day on Thursday after the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, disappointed investors hoping for immediate action to contain Europe’s debt crisis.

The losses on Wall Street, at less than 1 percent, were not as severe as those in the euro zone markets, where declines ranged from 2.2 percent in Germany to 5.2 percent in Spain.

Although the markets were focused mostly on the European Central Bank, traders were also looking ahead to Friday’s closely watched employment report in the United States, which could bring a volatile end to an eventful week.

Mr. Draghi said the central bank was willing to start buying Italian and Spanish government bonds to hold down borrowing costs, but it would act only after euro zone governments moved first. The announcement surprised traders, who had thought that central bank action was imminent after Mr. Draghi pledged last week to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro.

“People were looking for concrete steps and an outline of exactly what path the E.C.B. would take to do that, and there weren’t any,” said Brian Gendreau, market strategist with the Cetera Financial Group. “Just as the market went up on the ‘whatever it takes’ comments, it is coming down on the lack of specificity.”

Wall Street rallied late last week in part on hopes for new economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve but mostly as expectations grew that the European Central Bank would finally take action to protect the euro. But the Fed took no new steps to support the economy on Wednesday, although it said it was ready to act if needed.

Friday’s employment report could give a stronger indication whether the Fed, which has a freer hand than the European Central Bank, will act soon.

The government reported on Thursday that the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week and that manufacturers suffered an unexpected drop in orders in June, suggesting that the economy is struggling to break out of a soft patch.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.18 points, or 0.71 percent, to 12,878.88. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index dropped 10.14 points, or 0.74 percent, to 1,365. The Nasdaq composite index lost 10.44 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,909.77.

Shares of the Knight Capital Group, one of Wall Street’s top market makers, plunged after a trading glitch that spread turmoil in the stock market on Wednesday wiped out $440 million of the company’s capital. The stock closed down 62.8 percent at $2.58, its lowest level since early October 1998.

Among other issues, General Motors slipped 2.6 percent, to $19.14, after it posted a smaller-than-expected loss in Europe that helped it report a better-than-expected second-quarter profit.

Gap jumped 12.8 percent to $33.17 after the clothing retailer posted its July and second-quarter sales, but the rival Aéropostale plummeted 32.8 percent to $13.08 after cutting its second-quarter forecast.

In the credit markets, the Spanish government’s 10-year bond yield rose above 7 percent again after the European Central Bank failed to take immediate action.

Investors instead turned once more to the perceived safety of the United States government debt. The price of the Treasury’s 10-year note rose 13/32, to 102 15/32, while its yield fell to 1.48 percent from 1.52 percent late Wednesday