New York's Bratton to advise Britain on quelling unrest

William Bratton, credited with curbing street crime as police chief in New York, Los Angeles, and Boston, agreed on Friday to take a job helping British Prime Minister David Cameron quell unrest that swept London and other cities this week.

"I'm being hired by the British government to consult with them on the issue of gangs, gang violence and gang intervention from the American experience and to offer some advice and counsel on their experience," Bratton told Reuters.

Bratton, chairman of the Manhattan-based private security firm Kroll, called the post a "short-term assignment" to help Britain develop strategies on dealing with widespread rioting and gang culture.

"I'm not joining the British government," he said. "I'm not moving there. I'll be there several times, certainly."

The final terms and conditions of the arrangement were still being discussed, he said.

Cameron called Bratton directly on Friday, seeking advice after looting, arson and violence swept London and other cities this week, triggered after a man was shot dead by police last Saturday in north London.

"The government is very interested in trying to quickly come up with strategies and plans to deal with the issues and concerns identified during these riots," Bratton said.

In Los Angeles, where Bratton was police chief from 2002 to 2009, he helped quell gang violence and improve strained relations with the community.

The law enforcement strategies applied in Los Angeles were "transferable and modifiable" in Britain, he said.

"In America, particularly in Los Angeles, we've been dealing with gangs for, in some instances, almost 80 years," he said. "Particularly in Los Angeles, we've had a lot of success dealing with gangs and the violence."

After hearing on Thursday that Cameron had singled out his law enforcement accomplishments, Bratton said in a statement he would be honored to counsel British authorities on calming street violence.

Bratton has teamed up with British police at other times over the past 20 years. In 2009, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

A native of Boston, Bratton headed that city's police department in the early 1990s and initiated a neighborhood policing effort to reduce violence among young people.

As New York police commissioner under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Bratton implemented a "zero tolerance" crackdown on street crime that ushered in a period of record crime reduction.

Bratton said he had been interested in the vacant post of Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London but that "unfortunately" that job was only open to British citizens.

Judge tells Dougherty gang more charges could be coming

A judge on Friday advised three Florida siblings accused in a sensational multi-state crime spree that they could face attempted murder charges in a second Colorado county for firing on police during a high-speed chase, court documents show.

Huerfano District Court Judge Claude Appel ruled that there was enough evidence to hold Ryan and Lee Grace Dougherty and Dylan Dougherty Stanley on suspicion of attempted murder and first-degree assault "pending the filing of criminal charges."

The two brothers and their sister were advised of the possible charges Friday via a video hook-up from the jail in neighboring Pueblo County where they are being held on $1.25 million bond each.

Friday's action mirrors the attempted murder and first-degree assault on a peace officer charges prosecutors in Pueblo, Colorado, said on Thursday they are contemplating against the Doughertys there.

The siblings were wanted for allegedly shooting at a Florida police officer and robbing a Georgia bank when they fled the Southeast, and became the target of a nationwide manhunt that captured the attention of much of the country.

The trio was arrested on Wednesday in southern Colorado after a high-speed chase and shootout with police from multiple law enforcement agencies.

An arrest warrant affidavit filed in the latest case said a pursuing police officer heard "the distinct sound of gun fire" and saw one of the suspects firing out the right side of a speeding Subaru Impreza.

Investigators said they believe Ryan Dougherty was driving the car while Dylan Dougherty Stanley fired at pursuing officers with an AK-47.

The three fugitives were captured when their vehicle crashed while trying to avoid stop strips deployed on the highway, police said.

Dylan Dougherty Stanley was arrested inside the wrecked car and Lee Grace and Ryan Dougherty were apprehended following a foot chase, police said.

Lee Grace Dougherty was shot and wounded by a police officer after she leveled a weapon at him. The former topless dancer admitted that she "pointed a gun at the cop," according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Appel also issued a gag order prohibiting any attorneys, police or others involved in the investigation from making "extrajudicial" statements about the case.

U.S. citizen kidnapped in Pakistan

An American citizen was kidnapped from his residence in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Saturday, police said.

The man, who the U.S. embassy declined to identify, works for the consulting firm J.E. Austin Associates Inc., and was working on a development project in the country's lawless tribal areas, where Pakistani troops have been battling Islamist insurgents for years.

A U.S. embassy spokesman said they were trying to confirm the reports.

"Some six to eight people broke into his house at around 3:30 a.m., when security guards on duty were making preparation for fasting," police official Tajamal Hussain told Reuters, referring to the Ramadan fast observed by Muslims.

"Two of the assailants came from the front gate while about six others used the backdoor. They tortured the guards and then took the American with them."

A security official familiar with the incident said the gunmen forced the man's driver to knock on his bedroom door. When the man opened it, they took him.

Hussain said the man, in his 60s, had been living in Pakistan five to six years. He mostly lived in Islamabad but had been traveling to Lahore.

The security official said there has been no claim of responsibility.

Kidnap for ransom is relatively common in Pakistan, though foreigners are not often targets. Militants also occasionally take foreigners hostage.

Pakistani Taliban, linked to al Qaeda, have claimed responsibility for kidnapping a Swiss couple in July in the volatile southwestern province of Baluchistan.

They said the couple could be freed in exchange for a Pakistani woman serving a jail term in the United States for shooting FBI agents and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Eight Pakistani employees of a U.S.-based aid organization, American Refugee Committee (ARC), were kidnapped in Baluchistan last month.

Anti-U.S. sentiments runs high in Pakistan, and already prickly ties between Islamabad and Washington hit a low point after the May 2 killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in an attack that Pakistan termed a breach of its sovereignty.

CIA disputes civilian drone death claims

The U.S. government Friday disputed reports its drones in Pakistan have killed hundreds of civilians, including more than 160 children.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London this week said the CIA's counter-terror drone program has killed 385 civilians, 168 of them children, in 291 strikes since 2004. The CIA says the program has killed 2,000 suspected militants but vehemently disputes the BIJ's civilian numbers.

"The numbers cited by this organization are way off the mark," a senior U.S. official told ABC News. "We see the battlefield in real time; the Bureau of Investigative Journalism doesn't. ... This group's allegations about individual strikes are, in every case, divorced from the facts on the ground."

The CIA estimates 50 civilians have been killed, the official said.

"We certainly don't think our numbers are off the mark," Chris Woods, the lead reporter on the BIJ project, told ABC. "The strikes we're reporting and the casualty figures we're reporting are directly sourced from credible media reports and other sources where we've done our best to get the clearest public understanding of what's happening in these strikes. Of course what's missing from the information is the internal information from the CIA itself."

Casey Anthony ordered to serve probation

A Florida judge imposed one year of probation on Casey Anthony for check-fraud, saying it was clear the sentence was to be served after she was freed from jail.

Anthony was acquitted last month of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee and freed from jail. Her attorneys argued the probation ordered after her 2010 check fraud conviction was served while she awaited trial in jail for the death of her daughter but the judge in the case said he intended for the sentence to be served after she was freed, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Orange-Oseola Chief Judge Belvin Perry Friday rejected the defense claims and imposed probation. He ruled, however, out of concern for Anthony's safety, her address need not be disclosed. A poll released this week indicated Anthony is the most hated person in the country.

Perry criticized Anthony's lawyers for not notifying the court of a Department of Corrections error that started her probation while she was still in jail.

"To permit the defendant, whose counsel was well aware that the probation was to begin upon the defendant's release from jail, to avoid serving probation now, would take a lawfully imposed sentence and make it a mockery of justice," Perry wrote. "This would allow a defendant to take advantage of a scrivener's error and be rewarded. This is not the message the courts want to send to the public or defendants."

Anthony is to report to the Department of Corrections by Aug. 26.

Obama congratulates Packers, reluctantly

President Barack Obama welcomed the Super Bowl XLV Champion Green Bay Packers to the White House Friday, saying he's pleased the NFL lockout is over.

"This hurts a little bit. This is a hard thing for a Bears fan to do," Obama said. "But in the interest of good sportsmanship, congratulations to the Green Bay Packers on your fourth Super Bowl championship and record 13th NFL championship. …

"It's good to have football right around the corner. Like every football fan, I was thrilled to have the lockout ended. Nobody likes long, frustrating negotiations with a rigid opposition, taking it to the brink."

Obama accepted a Green Bay jersey from quarterback Aaron Rodgers and shares in the team from Coach Mike McCarthy.

"Even a Bears fan can admit that the relationship between Green Bay and its team is something special," Obama told the crowd gathered at the South Portico of the White House.

"It reflects those old-school, small-town values of community and hard work that have always defined what it meant to be an American. And Super Bowl spotlight or not, that's something that's alive in towns across this country every single day."

University takes possession of coral haul

A Florida university says hundreds of seized coral skeletons illegally poached in the Solomon Islands will be used for research and educational purposes.

Nova Southeastern University says it has been given 22 pallets of the confiscated corals by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A shipping container from the Solomon Islands containing the illegal corals was seized at the Port of Tampa in July 2010, a university release said Friday.

The shipment, with an estsimate value of between $500,000 and $1 million, was seized on grunds it violated both the Endangered Species Act, which protects federally-listed endangered and threatened species, and the Lacey Act, which prohibits the trade of fish and wildlife that has been illegally taken, transported or sold.

"This donation by CBP and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will help us produce valuable scientific knowledge and educational outreach to protect corals, which are vital to the ocean's ecosystems," Richard E. Dodge, dean of the NSU Oceanographic Center, said.

Conservationists said the corals would be put to good use.

"The international trade of coral for consumer use is threatening coral species and marine biodiversity on a global scale," Jackie Marks of SeaWeb's Too Precious to Wear campaign said. "Using the seized coral for educational outreach will help corals remain in the ocean where they can continue to play a critical role in ocean health."