Nation & World Briefly 9/16

Police hold man in Yale killing

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Police led away a man in handcuffs Tuesday and plan to extract DNA samples in an attempt to link him to the killing of a Yale graduate student who died the week she was to be married.

Authorities raided the apartment of 24-year-old Raymond Clark III but did not file any charges against him. Police said he will be release after they obtain the evidence they need from him and his apartment.

Clark, dressed in a tight-fitting white shirt, was handcuffed and escorted out of the apartment building in Middletown and into a silver car. Neighbors leaned over the apartment building's iron railings and cheered as police led him away.

New Haven Police Chief James Lewis did not describe Clark as a suspect. He said police were hoping to compare DNA taken from Clark's hair, fingernails and saliva to more than 150 pieces of evidence collected from the crime scene. That evidence also may be compared at a state lab with DNA samples given voluntarily from other people with access to the crime scene.

"We're going to narrow this down," Lewis said. "We're going to do this as quickly as we can."

Investigators began staking out Clark's home on Monday, a day after they discovered 24-year-old Annie Le's body hidden in the basement of a research building at Yale's medical school. She had vanished Sept. 8.

GOP wants ACORN investigated

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Republican lawmaker wants the Justice Department to investigate ACORN, a community organization under fire for several voter-registration fraud cases.

Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska wrote Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday requesting the investigation. He cites reports that ACORN may "have been engaged in illegal activity" by aiding and abetting tax evasion, prostitution, human trafficking, fraud and conspiracy.

The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN. Johanns says the organization has received more than $50 million in taxpayer funds since 1994.

Hidden-camera videos released by conservative activists posing as a prostitute and a pimp have shown ACORN employees giving advice on home buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income.

Thousands of blast Obama, health care

WASHINGTON (AP) - Tens of thousands of protesters fed up with government spending marched to the U.S. Capitol during the weekend, showing their disdain for the president's health care plan with slogans such as "Obamacare makes me sick" and "I'm not your ATM."

The line of protesters clogged several blocks near the Capitol, according to the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. Demonstrators chanted "enough, enough" and "We the People." Others yelled "You lie, you lie!" and "Pelosi has to go," referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, like President Barack Obama.

FreedomWorks Foundation, a conservative organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, organized several groups from across the country for what they billed as a "March on Washington."

Organizers say they built on momentum from the April "tea party" demonstrations held nationwide to protest tax policies, along with growing resentment over the economic stimulus packages and bank bailouts.

Officer: U.S. needs more forces in Afghan

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's top military adviser endorsed an increase in U.S. forces for the worsening war in Afghanistan on Tuesday, setting up a split with leading Democrats in Congress and complicating an already-tough decision for the president himself.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the war is growing more complicated and the enemy gaining in sophistication. Winning will require more resources from outside Afghanistan, including more troops, Mullen told Congress.

"A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces, and without question, more time" and dedication, Mullen said.