NEWS IN BRIEF

Tia Goldenberg

JERUSALEM — A Hamas militant slammed a minivan into a crowd waiting for a train Wednesday in Jerusalem, killing one person and wounding 13 in a midday attack that raised fears of worsening violence after months of simmering tensions in the holy city.

Hamas said the attack, the second of its kind in two weeks, was meant to protect the city’s most sensitive and sacred site — the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

It also injected new religious fervor into a wave of unrest fueled by failed peace efforts and stepped-up Jewish settlement construction in the eastern sector.

The violence spilled over to the West Bank later Wednesday when a Palestinian motorist drove into a group of soldiers, wounding three in a suspected attack, the Israeli military said. The forces were searching for the driver, who fled the scene.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the Jerusalem attack on incitement stemming from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and “his Hamas partners,” a reference to a unity government led by Abbas and backed by the Islamic militant group.

“We are in a prolonged battle

Nearly everyone agrees that texting and driving is dangerous Most people do it anyway

In a new survey, 98 percent of motorists who own cellphones and text regularly said they were aware of the dangers, yet three-quarters of them admitted to texting while driving, despite laws against it in some states Two-thirds said they have read text messages while stopped at a red light or stop sign, while more than a quarter said they have sent texts while driving

More than a quarter of the texting drivers believed they “can easily do several things at once, even while driving ”

The telephone survey of 1,004 U S adults was released Wednesday by AT&T Inc as part of an anti-textingand-driving campaign AT&T designed the survey with David Greenfield, founder of The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction and a professor at the University of Connecticut’s School of Medicine

The survey came as AT&T expanded availability of a free app that silences text message alerts and activates automatically when a person is moving 15 miles per hour or faster (Passengers can turn it off ) The DriveMode app is coming to iPhones after being previously available on Android and BlackBerry phones for AT&T users only The iPhone version will be available to customers of competing carriers as well, but some functions will work only on AT&T devices in Jerusalem. I have no doubt we will win. We are deploying all the necessary forces to restore calm and security to all parts of the city but it may certainly be a prolonged struggle,” he said.

Israel has been trying for months to quell the unrest in east Jerusalem that began this summer but has surged over tensions surrounding the holy site. Earlier in the day, Israeli police had dispersed dozens of masked Palestinians who threw rocks and firecrackers near the site in the Old City ahead of a visit by a group of Jewish activists.

Neighboring Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations in a strong protest of the police raid at the site. Jordan also said it would submit a complaint to the U.N. Security Council. Under a longstanding arrangement with Israel, Jordan retains custodial rights over Muslim holy sites in the Old City, which includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the compound.

“We have sent repeated messages to Israel directly and indirectly that Jerusalem is a red line,” said Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, citing “continuous violations and incursions, and stopping people from worshipping freely and allowing extremists from coming in.” He spoke at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris.

U.S. ambassador hits the road in Mustang

COIMBRA, Portugal — The American diplomat turns heads when he rides into rural Portuguese towns on a roaring Harley Davidson or behind the wheel of a vintage Ford Mustang, bringing what he says is an important message: the free trade deal being negotiated between the United States and the European Union is nothing to be afraid of

Robert Sherman, the U S Ambassador to Portugal, is using his showmanship and sense of humor on road trips to spread the word about the potential benefits of a project President Barack Obama wants to leave as his legacy in international commerce The ambassador tells businesses here that doing away with tariffs and red tape will boost their exports to the U S , create jobs and help propel listless European economies like Portugal’s

The hope is it will create wealth for more than 800 million people on both sides of the Atlantic

But many Europeans remain skeptical They worry a deal may erode their cherished laws on environmental protection or labor security Some say it will open the door to genetically modified “Frankenfood,” surrender power to big corporations, strip away workers’ rights and industry subsidies, and endanger public services The EU’s new trade chief said recently she was struck by the “intense concern” felt in Europe about what would be the world’s single largest free trade agreement