Nation & World Briefly Aug. 12

Witnesses: Coalition helicopter was on fire when it crashed

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan children retrieved souvenir-sized pieces of a helicopter shot down by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan where witnesses on Thursday described seeing the chopper burst into flames and break apart before falling from the sky, killing 30 U.S. troops and eight Afghans.

Coalition forces finished recovering the victims' remains and big sections of the wreckage. Yet small, twisted pieces of the Chinook CH-47 remain scattered on both sides of a slow-flowing river in Wardak province where it crashed before dawn Saturday.

Farhad, a local resident, told Associated Press Television News that the helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from a nearby knoll as it was preparing to land.

"As soon as it was hit, it started burning," he said, standing in a field still littered with small pieces of the chopper, including a part of a scorched rifle stamped "Made in Germany" and a piece of charred paper with typewritten first aid instructions.

"After it started burning, it crashed. It came down in three pieces," he added. "We could see it burning from our homes."

Cameron vows tough measures, says he will look to US for anti-gang ideas

LONDON (AP) - Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday that Britain would look to the United States for solutions to gang violence after nights of riots and looting, and promised authorities would get strong powers to stop street mayhem erupting again.

Cameron told lawmakers he was "are acting decisively to restore order on our streets," as police raided houses to round up suspects from four nights of unrest in London and other English cities.

Steve Kavanagh, the deputy assistant commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, admitted the force initially did not deploy enough officers to control the outbreak of violence, saying "it is clear we did not have enough numbers on duty to deal."

Cameron also acknowledged that police had been overwhelmed by mobile groups of looters in the first nights of the rioting and said authorities were considering new powers, including allowing police to order thugs to remove masks or hoods, evicting troublemakers from subsidized housing and temporarily disabling cell phone instant messaging services.

He said the 16,000 police deployed on London's streets to deter rioters and reassure residents would remain through the weekend.