• 'Red Flags': Army takes note as vet rapper Soldier Hard's lyrics tackle suicide

    NBC News

    Jeff Barillaro, aka Soldier Hard, is an Iraq War veteran who has put his hip-hop talents to work. Barillaro sings gritty songs he hopes will raise awareness of PTSD and suicide.

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    A hip-hop song beseeching battle buddies to be on watch for suicidal signals among their peers is being used — informally for now — within the Army as a prevention tool to help the branch stem an ongoing suicide crisis.

    “Red Flags,” penned and recorded by former Army tank gunner Jeff Barillaro, was created as an urgent call for current troops as well as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans not to ignore or miss the sometimes-subtle yet often-obvious behavioral changes known to precede many suicides, Barillaro said.

    “We’ve seen the red flags but we were blind to them,” said Barillaro, an Iraq War veteran who performs under the stage name Soldier Hard. Many of his songs and videos draw on his own raw experiences with a diagnosis of severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

    Through the end of March, the Army reported 81 apparent suicides this year among active-duty, Army Reserve and National Guard troops — one death every 26.7 hours. (Some cases remain under investigation). The fatal pace has increased slightly. During 2012, the Army reported 324 suicides within those groups — one death every 27 hours, according to the Pentagon. The latest estimate from the Department of Veterans Affairs showed that 22 veterans commit suicide daily.

    The Army — the branch most significantly impacted by suicides — has implemented an array of anti-suicide initiatives, but an Army Reserve adviser in Connecticut sees such a potent message in Barillaro’s lyrics, he believes the song can save lives.


    “I want to share his music with anyone willing ,to listen. I think anyone can relate to 'Red Flags,' " said Army 1st Sgt. Steve Kreider, who is based at an Army Reserve Center in Middletown, Conn. “It strikes a chord that this is something we really need to keep an eye open for. There are warning signs we have to recognize not only in other people but in ourselves — I'm being reclusive or I'm drinking too much — these are all signs that something is going on in your life that could be detrimental down the road." 

    'Maybe we can stop it'
    Kreider has shared “Red Flags” with some of his soldiers in Connecticut — and "for everyone of them, it's had a positive impact," he said. Meanwhile, another Army veteran recently played the song for soldiers at Fort Knox, Ky., Kreider said. 

    Moreover, Kreider has now shared the video "with a lot of different higher-ranking people. I'm sure that they're looking at it closely to see if this is something that would fit the mold of what the military can utilize as a tool," he said. 

    "And if not, word of mouth is a powerful took itself," he added. "It's close to going viral." 

    Since the song’s video was released April 17 on YouTube, it has received nearly 17,000 views. The lyrics are rooted in two actual suicides that stuck hard with Barillaro as he researched the topic by clicking through a blur of military obituaries.

    The first verse details a well-decorated Iraq War veteran who, once he shed his uniform and medals, lost his pride yet gained anger while grappling with PSTD, a traumatic brain injury, alcoholism and isolation before clutching a gun and scrawling a farewell note: “I’m better off dead.” In verse two, an active-duty soldier is devastated by survivor guilt after the combat loss of a close friend. He ultimately hanged himself in his bedroom. (Two soldiers pictured in the video are living service members who allowed their images to be used.)

    Iraq War veteran and hip-hop artist Jeff "Soldier Hard" Barillaro discovered that sharing his experience with PTSD in music helped him and other veterans deal with the effects of the condition. Barillaro talks to MSNBC's Alex Witt.

    “He was a hard charger but now he’s just ate up,” Soldier Hard sings of the second man.

    “‘Ate up’ – that’s a military term for being all messed up, for not being a good soldier anymore. This guy used to be good but after he came back, he just shut down,” Barillaro said. “That’s a red flag. But we didn’t see that.

    “Real topics. People can relate to these. I decided to turn their stories into a song,” he added. “A lot of these guys, they’re showing signs before they actually do it. I decided I had to do something. Maybe we can stop it.”

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  • 10-year-old boy's fake gun stunt almost goes terribly awry

    View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

    By Vince Lattanzio, NBCPhiladelphia.com

    Philadelphia Police say they questioned a 10-year-old boy seen in a video pointing what appears to be a semi-automatic handgun at a girl and later a U.S. Marine -- who went and got his own weapon. Police sources tell NBC10 they were later able to determine that the boy's gun wasn't real.

    The young boy, escorted by his parents, turned himself into police this evening but was released, according to the authorities.

    Wearing a backpack, red T-shirt and shorts, a young boy was captured on surveillance video trotting up to a group of girls walking near 16th and Ontario Streets in the Tioga section of Philadelphia around 6:30 p.m. Monday.


    The boy, believed to be between 10 and 12 years old, pulls the toy handgun out of his pants and points it at one of the girls. The young woman can be seen putting her hands in the air as she slowly walks across the street. Moments later, an older boy comes up to the child with a backpack and takes the gun away.

    That boy then walks down Ontario Street, drops to one knee and points the gun in the direction of a group of kids walking towards him. He then jumps up and runs towards the group brandishing the weapon.

    "The other guy is following the boy closely to make sure he gets that gun back, so I would never presume that it's a toy gun." Philadelphia Police Lt. George McClay said.

    Twenty minutes later, police say the same boys approached a 27-year-old man along the 3300 block of North 16th Street. Police say one of the boys then reached into his backpack, pulled out the handgun and said, “Hey buddy.”

    The man, a U.S. Marine, ran into a nearby home and called 911. Lt. McClay said the unidentified Marine also grabbed his weapon. In the meantime, the kids fled south on 16th Street toward Allegheny Avenue.

    Read the original story on NBCPhiladelphia.com

    "By the time he gets back outside, these guys are already gone," Lt. McClay said. "Luckily enough, they are gone, cause this could've turned out to be a real disaster."

    Surveillance video later shows the kids surrounding a SUV as it pulls up to a stop sign. The teens pile on top of the hood as others speak to the occupants of the vehicle. A few minutes later, the car drives off without an incident.

    Philadelphia Police say they are searching for three kids in relation to these incidents. Their identities are unknown. Police believe smaller boy is between 10 and 12-years-old and that the two others are between 14 and 16-years-old.

    Residents who live near where the incident took place were shocked by what happened.

    "You can't just leave your kids on the streets like that, let the streets get a hold of them, you know," Karen Brown told NBC10.

    "Oh my gosh, that gotta be the parent's fault," said Marian Brown. When I was coming up, you ain't have to worry about all of that."

    This incident comes two weeks after two Philadelphia teens were shot outside Overbrook High School. Bernard Scott, 17, was killed after being caught in the crossfire during a fight at a playground across from the school.

    Two suspects were taken into custody in that case, but charges have yet to be filed.

    In response to gun violence at city-owned parks and recreation centers, officials passed a gun ban on those properties in March. Mayor Michael Nutter signed the ban into law a few weeks later.

    Under the ban, violators face a fine of up to $2,000.

    Anyone with information about the handgun assault case is asked to call Philadelphia Police's Northwest Detective Division at 215.686.3353.

  • IRS admits $60,000 'Star Trek' parody video a mistake

    By Stephen Ohlemacher, The Associated Press

    Nobody's going to win an Emmy for a parody of the TV show "Star Trek" filmed by Internal Revenue Service employees at an agency studio in Maryland. 

    Instead, the IRS got a rebuke from Congress for wasting taxpayer dollars. 

    The agency says the video, along with a training video that parodied the TV show "Gilligan's Island," cost about $60,000. The "Star Trek" video accounted for most of the money, the agency said.

    The IRS said Friday it was a mistake for employees to make the six-minute video. It was shown at the opening of a 2010 training and leadership conference but does not appear to have any training value.

    The video features an elaborate set depicting the control room, or bridge, of the spaceship featured in the hit TV show. IRS workers portray the characters, including one who plays Mr. Spock, complete with fake hair and pointed ears.

    The production value is high even though the acting is what one might expect from a bunch of tax collectors. In the video, the spaceship is approaching the planet "Notax," where alien identity theft appears to be a problem.

    "The IRS recognizes and takes seriously our obligation to be good stewards of government resources and taxpayer dollars," the agency said in a statement. "There is no mistaking that this video did not reflect the best stewardship of resources."

    The agency said it has tightened controls over the use of its production equipment to "ensure that all IRS videos are handled in a judicious manner that makes wise use of taxpayer funds while ensuring a tone and theme appropriate for the nation's tax system."

    The agency also said, "A video of this type would not be made today."

    The video was released late in the day Friday after investigators from the House Ways and Means Committee requested it.

    "There is nothing more infuriating to a taxpayer than to find out the government is using their hard-earned dollars in a way that is frivolous," said Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., chairman of the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee. "The IRS admitted as much when it disclosed that it no longer produces such videos."

    The film was made at an IRS studio in New Carrollton, Md., a suburb of Washington. The agency said it uses the studio to make training films and informational videos for taxpayers.

    "The use of video training and video outreach through the in-house studio has become increasingly important to the IRS to reach both taxpayers and employees," the agency said. "In the current budget environment, using video for training purposes helps us save millions of dollars and is an important part of successful IRS cost-efficiency efforts."

    IRS YouTube videos have been viewed more than 5 million times, the agency said. A video on the IRS website called "When Will I Get My Refund?" has been seen 950,000 times this filing season.

    The disclosure of the "Star Trek" video comes as agencies throughout the federal government face automatic spending cuts, including employee furloughs at many of them.

    Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller has told employees they could be furloughed five to seven days this summer. The furloughs, however, will be delayed until after tax filing season so refunds should not be affected.

    The agency said the "Star Trek" video "was a well-intentioned, light-hearted introduction to an important conference during a difficult period for the IRS."

    Congressional investigators initially sought both the "Star Trek" video and the "Gilligan's Island" video but after viewing them determined that the "Gilligan's Island" video was a legitimate training video. The IRS did not release the "Gilligan's Island" video.

    "The video series with an island theme provided filing season training for 1,900 employees in our Taxpayer Assistance Centers in 400 locations," the IRS said. "This example of video training alone saved the IRS about $1.5 million each year compared to the costs of training the employees in person."

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Two more Marines charged in scandal over Afghan urination video

    NBC News

    The video is believed to have been shot in July 2011 in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Five other Marines have already pleaded guilty.

    By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

    Two more Marines — including the first officer to be implicated — have been charged in connection with a video that became public last year showing Marines urinating on the dead bodies of insurgents in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps said Friday.

    The video, which showed four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead men, set off protests across Afghanistan after it was published on YouTube early last year. Five other Marines, two of them sergeants, have already pleaded guilty in plea arrangements that brought light sentences.

    The two Marines named in the new charges include the highest-ranked Marine so far implicated in the scandal, Capt. James V. Clement, now stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Va.

    He faces an Article 32 hearing — similar to civilian preliminary hearing — on a raft of serious charges, including dereliction of duty, failing to properly supervise junior Marines, failing to stop the misconduct of junior Marines, failing to report misconduct and making false statements to military investigators.

    Sgt. Robert W. Richards, who is now stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was charged with dereliction of duty, violation of a lawful general order and conduct prejudicial to the good order and discipline of the armed forces. Richards is alleged to have taken improper photographs that showed the mistreatment of human casualties. 

    Lt. Gen. Richard Mills, former commanding general of the Marines' Combat Development Command in southwest Afghanistan, will decide on their fates after their Article 32 proceedings, the Marine Corps said.


    The incident is believed to have occurred in July 2011 in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, a significant center of Taliban activity and the scene of prolonged fighting between the Taliban and U.S.-led international forces.

    The impact of the video rivaled that of the release of photographs showing alleged U.S. torture and human rights abuses against prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, U.S. officials said last month when some of the other Marines pleaded guilty.

    "Events like Abu Ghraib and the torture that happened there at that prison certainly acted as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida," said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for the Defense Department. "Certainly, we are concerned about any backlash that might occur."

    Then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, "That kind of behavior is deplorable, and I condemn it."

    No date was set for Clement's and Richards' hearings.

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  • Teen in crude video about alleged Ohio rape not involved, not questioned as witness, lawyer says

    Ohio officials deny they tried to cover up a crime to protect high school football players. NBC's Brian Mooar reports.

    By M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

    A teenager shown crudely joking in a video about an alleged rape and kidnapping in Steubenville, Ohio, wasn't present during the incidents and isn't under investigation in the case, his attorney said Monday.


    The video was briefly posted in August, and a version resurfaced last week, renewing national attention on the case, in which two members of the Steubenville High School football team face a joint trial beginning Feb. 13 on rape charges.

    Police say they raped a 16-year-old girl and kidnapped her by taking her to several parties while she was too drunk to resist; the football players' attorneys have denied the charges, contending that the girl was conscious and able to consent.

    In the video, the young man repeatedly refers to the accuser as "dead" and compares her to famous dead people. The word "rape" is used several times.

    Dennis McNamara of Columbus, Ohio, the attorney for the young man in the video, described it as "disgusting" and "insensitive," but he said the young man wasn't responsible for having posted it online. The version of the video that was posted last week included a picture of the alleged victim, which McNamara said wasn't in the original and that his client didn't add.  

    Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla has confirmed that the video was shot at a different location from where the incidents occurred, and McNamara said the young man didn't know the alleged victim.  Because he wasn't present and was acting on second- or third-hand information, the young man isn't involved in the investigation and hasn't been called as a witness, McNamara said. 

    "I believe it is not a crime, but it was stupid, McNamara said. "He's a good kid from a good family who did a really dumb thing" while he was drunk and recognizes that there was no excuse for the remarks he made on it.  

    His parents "love their son, but they are disappointed," McNamara said. "He was not raised to act in this matter."


    The young man graduated last year from Steubenville High School and attended Ohio State University last term on an academic scholarship. He isn't enrolled this term but hopes to return to school in the spring, summer or fall, McNamara said.

    Although authorities say the alleged incidents took place at several parties in front of numerous witnesses on the night of Aug. 11 and 12, the two juveniles remain the only people charged in the case. Local residents have taken to social media and crime blogs to allege that police are covering up for the high school and its highly successful football team. 

    Hackers claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous, the loose international hacker collective, briefly took over a high school sports booster website last week and threatened to release personal information about other people they said should have been charged, as well as members of their families, including children.

    But Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office is handling the prosecution, has said investigators already knew about the video, and while he called it "despicable," he said it doesn't constitute new evidence.

    Lawyers slam Anonymous release of video, photo

    Expanding on DeWine's remarks, Abdalla said at a news conference Friday that authorities learned about the video in August and stressed that it hadn't been authenticated, saying the person who made it "wasn't even in the same place where the incident occurred."

    "He made this video based on what people were telling him about (the alleged incident). This was no criminal act," Abdalla said. "I said it the other day: You can't arrest somebody for being stupid. It was disgusting and nauseating. But you can't arrest him for that."

    Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

    City Manager Cathy Davison denied Saturday that police were dragging their heels, saying: "There's a lot accusations out there. Bring me something that we can investigate and prove that this happened."  

    City officials and Steubenville police created a website to answer questions about the case, stressing that Police Chief William McCafferty wasn't connected to the high school. He attended a different school, as does his daughter, it said.

    Abdalla his office had been flooded with calls from county residents who said they felt threatened after the hackers posted their threat to reveal more personal information about others it alleged were involved. He said he knew who was behind the threat and that he would be dealt with. 

    "Say what you want to say about me. Do character assassinations like you do and you're going to continue to do," he said. "But when you start doing a hatchet job on innocent children, putting their names out on the computers and the Internet, on Facebook, I'm coming after you. Simple as that."

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  • US Marine who urinated on Taliban fighters demoted, will lose $500

    The U.S. military is in damage-control mode after a video surfaced of Marines urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

    By Reuters

    WASHINGTON — A U.S. Marine staff sergeant who urinated on dead Taliban insurgents and posed for photographs with the bodies has pleaded guilty to two charges in a military court, the Marine Corps said on Thursday.

    His sentence was a reduction in rank and forfeiture of $500 in pay.

    Staff Sergeant Joseph Chamblin pleaded guilty at a special court martial at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to dereliction of duty for failing to properly supervise junior Marines. He also pleaded guilty to wrongfully urinating on a deceased enemy combatant.

    The incident occurred during a counter-insurgency operation in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in July 2011. It came to light in January this year when a videotape of the incident was posted on YouTube and other websites.

    The video showed four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them joked, "Have a nice day, buddy," while another made a lewd joke.

    'Deplorable': US defense chief condemns urinating Marines video

    The video was one of a series of offensive incidents involving U.S. service members that roused Afghan ire and led to heightened tensions between Washington and Kabul earlier this year.

    Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the actions in the video as "inhuman" and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta telephoned him to denounce the incident as "deplorable" and promise an investigation.

    An investigation has been launched after video emerged that military authorities say appears to show U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

    Chamblin was charged with failing to properly supervise junior Marines, failing to require junior Marines to wear protective equipment, failing to report the misconduct of junior Marines, failing to report the negligent discharge of a grenade launcher, and failing to stop the indiscriminate firing of weapons, the Marine Corps said in a statement.

    Chamblin waived his right to a jury and pleaded guilty to two counts before a military judge, the statement said. The judge levied a penalty that including 30 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, but because of a pretrial agreement Chamblin received a lesser sentence.

    Extreme war stresses to blame in Marine urination video?

    The maximum penalty under the agreement was a reduction in rank to sergeant and a forfeiture of $500 in pay for one month, the statement said.

    The Marine Corps declined to release details about the evidence or the findings of the investigation because, it said, cases were still pending related to the urination video incident.

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  • Sandy causes crane collapse above one of NYC's tallest residential buildings

     

    LIVE VIDEO — Watch Hurricane Sandy roll into New York from our camera at the top of Rockefeller Plaza.

    Updated at 8:45 a.m. ET: This video from Nightly News shows the partial crane collapse at 157 57th Street in Manhattan.

    The New York Times' live blog of Hurricane Sandy has additional information:

    The building, known as One57, is to be New York City’s tallest residential building and perhaps its priciest, with duplexes being offered for $90 million.

    “We heard a big noise, and we didn’t know what it was,” said Victor Font, 40, who was eating lunch at Rue 57, a restaurant that looks out onto the high-rise. They rushed outside and saw the huge crane dangling over the street.  As the police rushed to the scene, he said, his first thought was: “What are they going to do?  How in the world will they bring that down?” 

    More from The New York Times.

  • Ambassador Rice: Benghazi attack began spontaneously

    U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice recaps the causes and effects of recent violence against Americans in the Middle East.

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    The attack that killed four Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, apparently began as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam film before turning violent, Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday.


    Rice, appearing in NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said she was citing preliminary information and that the FBI was investigating the Tuesday night attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three others.

    Libyan officials are holding 30 to 40 suspecting in the deadly attack of a the US embassy in Libya. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

    A wave of protests and violence has swept across the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world over an obscure, amateurish movie called "Innocence of Muslims" that depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a pedophile. Anti-U.S. protests in 20 countries led the Pentagon to dispatch elite Marine antiterrorism teams to Libya and Yemen and to position two Navy warships off Libya's coast.

    Meanwhile, the State Department ordered all nonessential U.S. government workers and their families out of Sudan and Tunisia. In Lebanon, protesters torched an American fast-food restaurant. Even as tensions appeared to ease over the weekend, al-Qaida's most active Mideast branch was calling for further attacks on U.S. embassies.

    "There's no question, as we've seen in the past with things like 'The Satanic Verses,' with the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, there have been such things that have sparked outrage and anger and this has been the proximate cause of what we've seen," Rice said.

    “What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, prompted by the video,” Rice said.

    More from "Meet the Press": Israeli PM tries to strike more neutral pose in U.S. election 

    Protesters in Cairo had breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy and tore down the American flag.

    In Benghazi, Rice told “Meet the Press” host David Gregory, “Opportunistic extremist elements came to the consulate as this was unfolding, they came with heavy weapons, which unfortunately are readily available in post-revolutionary Libya, and it escalated into a much more violent episode.”

    Related:

    There was “no actionable intelligence” that the attack in Benghazi was imminent, Rice said. The attack overwhelmed security in place at the consulate, she said.

    Rice’s comments came a day after Libyan President Mohammed Magarief told NBC News that “foreigners” were involved in the planning and execution of the attack.

    He expanded on the assertion Sunday, saying on CBS’ "Face the Nation" that about 50 people, not all Libyans, have been arrested in connection with the Benghazi attack, which he said was planned by al-Qaida-linked foreigners, some from Mali and Algeria.

    Magarief said there was little doubt the assault was planned rather than a spontaneous reaction to the video, as came on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

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    He said the security situation in Libya remained "difficult" for Americans, as well as for Libyans. The United States wants the FBI to investigate the consulate attack, but Magarief said it may be too soon to send in investigators.

    "It may be better for them to stay away for a little while until we do what we have to do ourselves," he said.

    Rice told "Meet the Press" that the U.S. is working with authorities in Libya, which has received $200 million in U.S. aid since 2011, to bring to justice those responsible for the attack.

    This article includes reporting by Reuters.

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  • Obama: US has 'profound respect for people of all faiths'

    On Saturday, President Barack Obama once again promised that those responsible for the deaths of four Americans in Libya will be found. NBC's Mike Viqueira reports.

    By NBC News and wires services

    Updated at 3:20 p.m. ET: President Barack Obama on Saturday rejected any denigration of Islam, but insisted there was no excuse for attacks on U.S. embassies as angry protests over an obscure, anti-Muslim film spread to Australia.

    "I have made it clear that the United States has a profound respect for people of all faiths," Obama said in his weekly radio address.

    "Yet there is never any justification for violence .... There is no excuse for attacks on our embassies and consulates,” he added.

    Anti-American protests have swept the Muslim world in response to the film, which insults the Prophet Muhammad.

    Libya president: 'Foreigners' involved in consulate attack

    The death toll as a result of violence during protests in the Middle East and North Africa Friday rose from seven to nine with Tunisian officials saying four people -- rather than two as stated earlier -- died there. Three were killed by gunfire and the other died after being hit by two police cars, a senior hospital official told Reuters.

    Egyptian riot police charged protesters and cleared out Tahrir Square on Saturday, arresting nearly 200 people. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.

    An attack on the U.S. Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others this week.

    A day after Obama led a somber ceremony marking the return of the bodies of the Americans killed in Libya, Obama acknowledged that a surge of anti-American violence in the Middle East is disturbing.

    Related: Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker questioned by Feds


    The Pentagon had said it was sending Marines to beef up security at the U.S. Embassy in Sudan, following similar reinforcements to Libya and Yemen. But on Saturday, Sudan rejected the U.S. request to send a platoon the embassy in Khartoum.

    "Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum and the state is committed to protecting its guests in the diplomatic corps," Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told SUNA, the state news agency.

    Protesters on Friday entered the embassy grounds.

    The Libyan attack and theU.S.-directed outrage have raised questions about Obama's handling of the so-called Arab Spring, a series of revolutions that have unseated entrenched authoritarian governments.

    Related: At least seven reported killed in protests

    The turbulence in the Middle East has had ripples in a tight U.S. presidential election, with Obama's Republican challenger Mitt Romney saying Obama has weakened U.S. authority around the world.

    However, Obama repeated a vow to bring the attackers of the U.S. Consulate in Libya to justice. "We will not waver in their pursuit," he said.

    The president also said the turmoil should not deter U.S. efforts to support democracy in the region or elsewhere.

    "Let us never forget that for every angry mob, there are millions who yearn for the freedom, and dignity, and hope that our flag represents," he said.

    The protests over the anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims," continued Saturday, spreading to Australia where authorities seemed taken by surprise as more than 400 demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Consulate in Sydney.

    Some of the chanting protesters carried placards reading "Behead all those who insult the Prophet."

    Several streets, usually thronging with weekend shoppers, were blocked off by police as the protest grew. Police, many wearing anti-riot equipment and some on horseback, used dogs and chemical sprays as they tried to control the protest.

    Al Arabiya News' Hisham Melhem joins MSNBC to talk about the complex situation surrounding recent U.S. embassy attacks.

    Reuters Television pictures showed one policeman with a head injury being led away by colleagues. Police later said six officers had been injured and eight protesters arrested. A spokesman for paramedics said there were no serious injuries. 

    A Muslim leader addressed the protesters in a park, calling for calm.

    In Egypt, the interior minister said he would restore calm after a 35-year-old protester was killed and dozens of people were injured in clashes overnight.

    The authorities closed the street leading to the U.S. Embassy where the demonstrators had spent four days throwing rocks and petrol bombs at police.

    A Reuters reporter saw police push several young men into trucks. Two of the men looked bruised and one was stripped down to his underwear.

    Police formed cordons on roads into Tahrir Square near the U.S. mission and plain-clothes officers wielding sticks frisked passers-by. The square, the focus of last year's popular uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak, was strewn with garbage and a torched vehicle was towed away.

    Tim Wimborne / Reuters

    An injured protester is detained by a policeman in Sydney's Hyde Park, Saturday.

    "Our presence here is to clear the square of people who are breaking the law," Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal el-Din said as he inspected the area. "We must preserve the square as a symbol of the revolution. That is the aim of our operation."

    He said measures would be taken to ensure "those breaking the law" do not return.

    The protesters said they wanted to expel the U.S. ambassador to punish Washington over the low-budget film. It portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and religious fake. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the film "disgusting and reprehensible."

    Egypt's state news agency said 27 people were injured on Friday, which suggests more than 250 people have been hurt in the clashes since Tuesday, when protesters climbed the embassy's walls and tore down an American flag.

    President Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist and Egypt's first freely elected leader, has to strike a delicate balance, fulfilling a pledge to protect the embassy of a major aid donor while delivering a robust line against the film to satisfy his Islamist backers.

    In Sinai, militants attacked an international observer base close to the borders of Israel and Gaza, a witness and a security source said. Two Colombian soldiers were wounded, an official from the observer force said.

    Many Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous. The film has provoked outrage across the Middle East and led to the storming of several U.S. missions in the region.

    A look at how the recent protests across the Middle East affect the public's perception of President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

    In Libya, authorities said they had made four arrests in the investigation into the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

    Morsi has condemned the film, rejected violence and promised to protect diplomatic missions. His cabinet said Washington was not to blame for the film but urged the United States to take legal action against those insulting religion.

    The United States has a large embassy in Cairo, partly because of a vast aid program that began after Egypt signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979. Washington gives $1.3 billion in aid a year to Egypt's army plus additional funds for government.

    The U.S. has deployed an FBI investigation team and drones to Libya to search for those responsible for the murder of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

    In Yemen, al Qaida urged Muslims on Saturday to step up protests and kill U.S. diplomats in Muslim countries and called the film denigrating Muhammad another chapter in the "crusader wars" against Islam.

    "Whoever comes across America's ambassadors or emissaries should follow the example of Omar al-Mukhtar's descendants (Libyans), who killed the American ambassador," Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said.

    "Let the step of kicking out the embassies be a step towards liberating Muslim countries from the American hegemony," it said in a statement posted on a website.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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