Giffords shows signs of brain activity
TUCSON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was in critical condition Sunday in Tucson but has been able to respond to simple commands after being shot in the head, doctors said.
At a news conference at University Medical Center in Tucson, a spokesman said doctors were "cautiously optimistic" about her recovery. She was the only victim still in critical condition.
Those killed were John Roll, 63, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for Arizona; Gabriel Zimmerman, 30, a Giffords aide; Christina Green, 9; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Schneck, 79.
"When you get shot in the head and a bullet goes through your brain, your chances of living are very small," said Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of trauma surgery.
Dr. G. Michael Lemole Jr., the chief of neurosurgery, who operated on Giffords, said the bullet had crossed the whole left side of her brain "from back to front" but not from one side of the brain to the other, nor did it hit more critical areas that would further hinder recovery.
While the simple commands Giffords can follow may be taken for granted, they indicate a high level of brain functioning, Lemole told CNN.
The doctors said Giffords, 40, was in a medically induced coma.
Police say a 22-year-old Tucson man, Jared Lee Loughner, allegedly fired into a crowd at a meet-and-greet event held outside a supermarket.
Loughner was in custody and authorities said they are looking for a second person in connection with the shooting spree that also left 13 people wounded.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said authorities have pictures of a second person of interest in the shootings, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"There is some reason to believe he came to this location with another individual," Dupnik said. "And there's reason to believe the other individual in some way might be involved. We have an individual that we are actively in pursuit of."
The gunman still had bullets when subdued by two people in the crowd and "probably would have shot other people had he not been tackled," the sheriff said.
The local sheriff lamented what he sees as the caustic effect the nasty tone of the rhetoric from some quarters has had on society.
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government, the anger, the hatred, the bigotry … it is getting to be outrageous," Dupnik said. "And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
The Los Angeles Times said Loughner had Internet postings that included rants about his dissatisfaction with the government, and listed Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" among his favorite books.
Members of Congress concerned over safety
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Members of Congress are growing more concerned about the confrontational environment in which they serve, said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Hoyer, speaking on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday made the observation concerning the massacre of six people and the wounding of up to 20 others in Tucson Saturday.
"I don't think there's any doubt but my colleagues are very concerned about the environment in which they are now operating," Hoyer said. "It has been a much angrier, confrontational environment over the last two or three years than we have experienced in the past. And I think there is worry about that. I will tell you also that the staffers -- we should not forget that a staff member was lost here."
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot through the head in the rampage and was in critical condition after brain surgery. A member of her staff was killed in the incident.
Police arrested Jared Lee Loughner, a 22-year-old Tucson college dropout who has posted rambling comments on the Internet, in the shootings. They were looking for a second man they think might be involved in Saturday's shootings.
Earlier Sunday Speaker of the House, John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Saturday's shootings were an attack on democracy.
"I share Speaker Boehner's view and the views that have been expressed by the two United States senators," Hoyer said. "This is not simply an attack on Ms. Giffords. This is an attack on democracy itself, on the ability, as she said in that reading of the First Amendment, to peaceably assembly, to come together to talk to one another."
Gates visits China, wary of arms buildup
BEIJING, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Beijing for talks Sunday, voicing concern about China's military advances.
The Chinese "clearly have potential to put some of our capabilities at risk," Gates told the BBC before landing. "We have to pay attention to them; we have to respond appropriately with our own programs."
Gates is to meet President Hu Jintao and other officials days after photos surfaced of China's first stealth aircraft, invisible to radar. China has not officially commented on the photos of a runway test last week but has not denied them either.
The U.S. Air Force currently has the world's only operating stealth fighter, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
The United States has been watching as China boosts its military capacity, particularly by developing a "carrier-killer" missile, a land-based system that could sink an aircraft carrier from up to 1,800 miles away, the report said. U.S. battle groups, including carriers, are stationed in the South China Sea.
In August, the Pentagon reported that China had been expanding its nuclear and submarine forces along with land-based missiles.
Japan last month officially called China its primary military concern.
50 survive plane crash in northwest Iran
TEHRAN, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Up to 50 people survived a plane crash in northwestern Iran Sunday, but dozens more are feared dead, officials said.
The IranAir Boeing 727, with 105 people aboard, went down soon before it was to land in Orumiyeh, 460 miles northwest of Tehran, a civil aviation spokesman told state TV, Sky News reported.
Mahmoud Mozafar, head of Iran's Red Crescent, said "the plane was smashed into pieces but did not explode."
Snow was slowing the rescue operation.
The semiofficial Fars news agency quoted the head of the State Emergency Center, Gholam Reza Masoumi, saying 50 people survived with light injuries.
"There were 105 people on board; 94 of them were passengers, including two children," Shahrokh Nioushabadi, a spokesman for Iran Air, told the Mehr news agency.
The plane had taken off from Mehrabad Airport in Tehran after a one-hour delay.
