World/Nation Briefs April 8, 2011

Strong aftershock hits northeast Japan

SENDAI, Japan - A big aftershock rocked quake-weary Japan late Thursday, rattling nerves as it knocked out power to the northern part of the country and prompted tsunami warnings that were later canceled.

The quake was initially measured at magnitude-7.4, though the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., later downgraded it to 7.1. Either way, it was the strongest aftershock since several were recorded on March 11 - the day of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that killed as many as 25,000 people and touched off a nuclear crisis last month.

There were no immediate reports of serious injuries or major damage, and the operator of the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant said there was no sign the aftershock had caused new problems there. Workers retreated to a quake-resistant shelter in the complex, with no injuries.

The aftershock around 11:30 p.m. was strong enough to knock items off store shelves and move a large automated teller machine at a FamilyMart convenience store in the major northern industrial center of Sendai. The city is far enough inland that it avoided major tsunami damage, but people there were without gas and electricity for weeks.

Gunman kills 11 in Rio de Janeiro school

RIO DE JANEIRO - A gunman roamed the halls of an elementary school in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and killed 11 children, lining them up against a wall and shooting them in the head at point-blank range as he shouted, "I'm going to kill you all!"

It was the worst school shooting in Brazil - and would have been deadlier if the gunman had not been shot in the legs by a police officer, who said the man then fell down some stairs and shot himself in the head.

Images taken with a cell phone and posted on YouTube showed students fleeing wildly, screaming for help, many with their white and blue school shirts soaked in blood.

At least 18 people, mostly students, were injured, many by gunfire, and taken to local hospitals, said Rio state Health Secretary Sergio Cortes. At least four were in grave condition. The dead included 10 girls and one boy, plus the gunman, Cortes said.

Annual Social Security mailing is retired

WASHINGTON - Those yearly statements that Social Security mails out - here's what you'd get if you retired at 62, at 66, at 70 - will soon stop arriving in workers' mailboxes. It's an effort to save money and steer more people to the agency's website.

The government is working to provide the statements online by the end of the year, if it can resolve security issues, Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue said. If that fails, the agency will resume the paper statements, which cost $70 million a year to mail, he said.

"We'll provide it, we expect, one way or another, before the end of the calendar year," Astrue said. "We're just right now trying to figure out the most cost-effective and convenient way to provide that to the American public."

The statements, mailed to 150 million people each year, project future benefit payments, helping workers plan for retirement.

The decision to suspend the mailings was unrelated to the talk of a possible partial government shutdown. It was, however, related to the agency's operating budget, which has essentially been frozen at 2010 levels - minus about $350 million in economic stimulus money the agency had been using to handle claims.

Libyan rebel, NATO tension rises

AJDABIYA, Libya - An apparent NATO airstrike slammed into a rebel combat convoy Thursday, killing at least five fighters and sharply boosting anger among anti-government forces after the second bungled mission in a week blamed on the military alliance.

The attack - outside the strategic oil port of Brega - brought fresh questions about coordination between NATO and the patchwork of rebel militias in a conflict described by a senior U.S. commander as a stalemate that could eventually require the Pentagon to reassert more power, and possibly even send in ground forces.

Tensions between the rebels and NATO were flaring even before the latest accident, with the fighters criticizing the alliance for doing too little to help them. A rebel commander described the attack as a likely NATO accident, but said it would be a "bigger mistake" if it was waged by Moammar Gadhafi's pilots and exposed holes in NATO's efforts to ground Libyan warplanes.

Gates: Little to fear from gays in military

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday reassured U.S. warfighters in Iraq that allowing gays to serve openly in the military will have little impact on the armed forces, an argument largely echoed by the top leaders of the Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy.

Visiting troops at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Gates was asked when repeal of the 17-year-old policy commonly known as "don't ask, don't tell" would occur and what its effect would be.

"My guess is you won't see much change at all because the whole thrust of the training is you're supposed to go on treating everybody like you're supposed to be treating everybody now, with dignity, respect and discipline," Gates told the troops. "And the same kind of military discipline that applies to - and regulations that apply to heterosexual relationships - will apply in terms of homosexual relationships."

Trump mulls run ... and he's a birther

WASHINGTON - Real estate tycoon Donald Trump said Thursday he isn't convinced that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, but says he hopes the president can prove that he was.

Officials in Hawaii have certified Obama's citizenship, but "birthers" have demanded additional proof. And Trump, who is weighing whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination, says not all the questions have been answered.

"I'd like to have him show his birth certificate," Trump told NBC News in an interview. "And to be honest with you, I hope he can."

- The Associated Press