Gunman who opened fire in Wisconsin Sikh temple was former leader of white supremacist band

OAK CREEK, Wis. (AP) — Before he strode into a Sikh temple with a 9mm handgun and multiple magazines of ammunition, Wade Michael Page played in white supremacist heavy metal bands with names such as Definite Hate and End Apathy.

The bald, heavily tattooed bassist was a 40-year-old Army veteran who trained in psychological warfare before he was demoted and discharged more than a decade ago.

A day after he killed six worshippers at the suburban Milwaukee temple, fragments of Page's life emerged in public records and interviews. But his motive was still largely a mystery. So far, no hate-filled manifesto has emerged, nor any angry blog or ranting Facebook entries to explain the attack.

Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards suggested Monday that investigators might never know for certain why the lone attacker targeted a temple full of strangers.

"We have a lot of information to decipher, to put it all together before we can positively tell you what that motive is — if we can determine that," Edwards said.

___

Survivor describes new mass killing in Syrian city of Aleppo

ANADAN, Syria (AP) — The guards pulled him from his cell before dawn on Monday, bound his hands, blindfolded him and drove him to an empty lot in the Syrian city of Aleppo. They sat him in a row with 10 other captives, he said, then cocked their guns and opened fire.

"They sprayed us," recalled 21-year-old Mahmoud, the lone survivor of the latest mass killing of Syria's civil war. "The first bullet hit my chest, then one hit my foot, then my head. As soon as my head got hit, I thought, 'I'm dead.'"

Reports of such killings have surfaced frequently during the 17 months of deadly violence that activists seeking to topple President Bashar Assad say has killed more than 19,000 people. But details are usually scarce — no more than activist reports or amateur videos of bloodied bodies or mass graves posted on YouTube.

Mahmoud related his grisly ordeal to The Associated Press hours after it happened. Struggling to speak, he lay in a bed in a makeshift rebel-run field hospital set up in a wedding hall in this town 13 miles (20 kilometers) north of Aleppo. Bandages covered his foot, head and chest. Plastic vines and colored lights adorned the walls of the darkened building, and two red velvet chairs once used by brides and grooms sat on a small stage.

Mahmoud gave only his first name to protect his family who still live in the area.

___

AP PHOTOS: Scenes from fighting in Syria

Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has suffered a series of setbacks over the past month that point to a loosening of its grip on the country.

Four of the president's top security aides were killed in a rebel bombing of state security headquarters in Damascus on July 18. There has been a steady stream of high-level defections — from diplomats to generals to the prime minister.

But power remains closely held within Assad's inner circle. And the regime retains the ability to fight rebels in places such as Aleppo, Syria's largest city, which it has pounded with shelling and warplanes.

____

Here is a photo gallery of images from Aleppo.

___

Will Obama have enough money? Romney trumps him in campaign fundraising third month in a row

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Can President Barack Obama raise the money he needs to hold onto the White House?

Money wasn't supposed to be a worry for the president's campaign, which smashed fundraising records in 2008. But Mitt Romney's team has hauled in more than Obama and his allies for a third straight month, raising the once-unthinkable question.

While the race for voter support is tight, according to polls, Romney's robust fundraising and a crush of money from Republican-leaning political action committees have forced the president's campaign to spend heavily through the summer.

Highlighting the challenge for Obama, Romney on Monday reported a July fundraising haul of more than $101 million along with the Republican National Committee, compared to the $75 million that Obama's campaign said it had brought in along with the Democratic National Committee.

During a fundraiser in Stamford, Conn., Obama said Romney's tax proposal would benefit the wealthy at the expense of many middle-class families. "It's like Robin Hood in reverse," he said. "It's Romney Hood." Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams countered that Obama was the only "candidate in this race who's going to raise taxes on the American people."

___

EYES ON LONDON: US tops Canada in women's soccer; a proposal for Britain's pole vaulter

LONDON (AP) — Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:

___

USA TOPS CANADA 4-3

It took a full 90 minutes, then another 30 minutes of overtime, then three more of injury time, but Alex Morgan's header gave the U.S. women a 4-3 win over Canada at the London Olympics.

The U.S. soccer team will now face Japan in the gold medal game — the same team they lost to in the World Cup final.

___

Kevin Durant scores 28, makes 8 3-pointers as US men beat Argentina 126-97 in Olympic play

LONDON (AP) — One 3-pointer after another, Kevin Durant shot down Argentina — and perhaps the notion that defense wins championships.

This U.S. men's Olympic basketball team is living proof that the best defense is a good offense. The road to gold in London is built on scores, not stops.

Durant scored 17 of his 28 points during the Americans' 42-point third quarter, turning a one-point game into a blowout that sent the U.S. soaring into the quarterfinals with a 126-97 victory on Monday night.

Two nights after surviving their first real test in a 99-94 victory over Lithuania, the Americans seemed headed for another tight finish. Argentina shot 56 percent in the first half and the U.S. led just 60-59.

Minutes later, the game — the last before single-elimination play starts — was effectively over.

___

Some coastal evacuations as Tropical Storm Ernesto heads for brush past Honduras' coast

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Tropical Storm Ernesto moved closer to the Central American coast Monday night as authorities in Nicaragua moved some people from low-lying areas and Honduras considered evacuations.

With Ernesto predicted to stay at sea while passing along Honduras' northern coast, Honduran authorities were monitoring the storm and there were no immediate plans to evacuate people, said Roberto Diaz, operations chief of the country's Contingencies Commission.

"We don't think is necessary to evacuate people at this point," Diaz said. "We don't want to create collective panic ... and we think that ordering an evacuation would create hysteria that would affect the population more than the storm itself."

Authorities sent enough food packages to the sparsely populated area to feed 600 families for two weeks, Diaz said.

Contingencies Commission director Lisandro Rosales said the panel was urging men in the region expected to be most affected to stay alert throughout the night in case of flooding.

___

Are you happy? US Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke wants to know

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ben Bernanke wants to know if you are happy.

The Federal Reserve chairman said Monday that gauging happiness can be as important for measuring economic progress as determining whether inflation is low or unemployment high. Economics isn't just about money and material benefits, Bernanke said. It is also about understanding and promoting "the enhancement of well-being."

Bernanke and Fed policymakers rely on reports on hiring, consumer spending and other economic data when making high-stakes decisions about the $15 trillion U.S. economy. The Fed's dual mandate is to maintain low inflation and full employment.

"We should seek better and more-direct measurements of economic well-being," Bernanke said Monday in a video-taped speech shown to a conference of economists and statisticians in Cambridge, Mass. After all, promoting well-being is "the ultimate objective of our policy decisions."

Bernanke acknowledged that many people aren't too happy right now. Unemployment rose in July to 8.3 percent, and economic growth has slowed sharply from the start of the year. He called the recovery "frustratingly slow" when he testified to Congress on July 17.

___

NASA welcomes striking new views from the red planet after Mars rover nails the landing

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — NASA's Curiosity rover on Monday transmitted a low-resolution video showing the last 2 1/2 minutes of its white-knuckle dive through the Mars atmosphere, giving Earthlings a sneak peek of a spacecraft landing on another world.

As thumbnails of the video flashed on a big screen on Monday, scientists and engineers at the NASA Jet Propulsion let out "oohs" and "aahs." The recording began with the protective heat shield falling away and ended with dust being kicked up as the rover was lowered by cables inside an ancient crater.

It was a sneak preview since it'll take some time before full-resolution frames are beamed back depending on other priorities.

The full video "will just be exquisite," said Michael Malin, the chief scientist of the instrument.

NASA celebrated the precision landing of a rover on Mars and marveled over the mission's flurry of photographs — grainy, black-and-white images of Martian gravel, a mountain at sunset and, most exciting of all, the spacecraft's white-knuckle plunge through the red planet's atmosphere.

___

Sharon Osbourne slams NBC over afflicted son's treatment; NBC chief denies discrimination

LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC defended itself Monday against Sharon Osbourne's claim the network discriminated against her afflicted son in casting a new reality show.

The "America's Got Talent" judge told The New York Post that she's quitting the show because NBC fired her son, Jack Osbourne, by email two days before he was to co-star on the reality show "Stars Earn Stripes."

Jack Osbourne, 26, was diagnosed recently with multiple sclerosis.

In a statement Monday, NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said the network "does not discriminate on any basis."

All potential contestants for "Stars Earn Stripes," which puts celebrities through arduous military-style exercises, had to undergo medical vetting, Greenblatt said. He cited medical privacy in declining to discuss Jack Osbourne specifically.