World/Nation Briefs 5.11.2012
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
WASHINGTON (AP) — He gave no speech, issued no call to action. He spoke of changing alongside the nation’s people, not of leading them into uncharted territory. He made sure to say what so many so passionately believe — that states should decide such issues on their own.
A black president speaking out for a minority denied the right to marry is undoubtedly a powerful political moment. But a significant cultural milestone? A nation full of people at ease among openly gay co-workers, relatives and sitcom characters may already have passed Barack Obama by.
It is a truism, but it’s worth saying nonetheless: Politics lags behind culture, especially Hollywood’s version of it.
The president himself describes his change of position on gay marriage as several steps behind his 10- and 13-year-old daughters and the college students he frequently encounters — even young Republicans — who already see treating gays equally as no big deal.
———
A long, slow contemplation, then a decisive turn, behind Obama’s move to endorse gay marriage
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s evolution on gay marriage unfolded at a Darwinian pace, like that of the giant tortoise. For more than a year — eons in politics — he danced up to the edge of endorsing it, always stopping short, still ‘‘evolving.’’
Until very recently, much of the betting was on Obama taking a pass on the touchy issue until after the election. Why pick that fight now?
On Wednesday, he picked it. Obama gave a heads-up to a spiritual adviser, among others, and staked his position in a TV interview as the first president to declare himself in favor of same-sex marriage rights.
Obama doesn’t have the power to make same-sex marriage legal. But by taking a stand, he closed the loop with gay-rights activists who are important financiers and supporters of his re-election campaign while putting himself on a potentially perilous path with voters in states such as North Carolina. That state backed him in 2008 but voted solidly Tuesday to ban gay marriage in the state constitution. And it hosts the Democratic National Convention in September.
As told by aides, Obama concluded earlier this year that gay couples should have the legal right to marry and planned to say so before the convention. Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House conversations, they said the White House felt compelled to accelerate its plans after Vice President Joe Biden declared his support for gay marriage on a Sunday morning talk show and said he was ‘‘absolutely comfortable’’ with same-sex couples being legally wed.
———
Syrian state TV says more than 40 killed in 2 blasts in the capital
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Two strong explosions ripped through the Syrian capital Thursday, killing more than 40 people and leaving scenes of carnage in the streets in an assault against a center of government power, officials said.
Syria’s state-run TV said 170 people were wounded in what one official said may have been the most powerful of a series of blasts that have hit the capital this year.
The explosions, which ripped the facade off a military intelligence building, happened at about 7:50 a.m. when employees are usually arriving at work. The building is part of a broader military compound for a feared section of the intelligence services known as the Palestine Branch.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said paramedics wearing rubber gloves were collecting human remains from the streets after the explosions. Heavily damaged cars and pickup trucks stood smoldering in the area. The outer wall of the headquarters collapsed and some walls crumbled, although the basic structure inside appeared intact.
The Syrian government blamed ‘‘terrorists’’ and said dozens were killed or wounded, most of them civilians.
———
International adoptions drop globally as experts cite fraud crackdowns and policy shifts
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The number of international adoptions has plummeted to its lowest point in 15 years, a steep decline attributed largely to crackdowns against baby-selling, a sputtering world economy and efforts by countries to place more children with domestic families.
Globally, the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parents dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 last year, according to annual statistics compiled by Peter Selman, an expert on international adoptions at Britain’s Newcastle University.
Some adoption advocates argue the decrease is also linked to a set of strict international guidelines known as the Hague Adoption Convention. Devised to ensure transparency and child protection following a rash of baby-selling and kidnapping scandals, critics say the guidelines have also been used by leading adopting nations, such as the U.S., as a pretext for freezing adoptions altogether from some countries that are out of compliance.
‘‘It should have been a real step forward, but it’s been used in a way that’s made it a force for shutting down countries,’’ Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard Law professor who promotes international adoptions. ‘‘That affects thousands of children every year.’’
She says places where international adoptions are stopped may ultimately see more children stuck in orphanages or on the street where they could fall prey to sex traffickers. ‘‘I question whether it’s ever true where adoption is all about buying and selling and kidnapping,’’ Bartholet says.
———
APNewsBreak: Medicare paid $5.6B to 2,600 pharmacies with patterns of questionable billing
WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare paid $5.6 billion to 2,600 pharmacies with questionable billings, including a Kansas drugstore that submitted more than 1,000 prescriptions each for two patients in just one year, government investigators have found.
The new report by the inspector general of the Health and Human Services department finds the corner drugstore is vulnerable to fraud, partly because Medicare does not require the private insurers that deliver prescription benefits to seniors to report suspicious billing patterns.
‘‘While some pharmacies may be billing extremely high amounts for legitimate reasons, all warrant further scrutiny,’’ said the report being issued Thursday.
The analysis broke new ground by scrutinizing every claim submitted by the nation’s 59,000 retail pharmacies during 2009 — more than 1 billion prescriptions. Using statistical analysis, investigators were able to reveal contrasts between normal business practices and potential criminal behavior.
‘‘The findings call for a strong response to improve (program) oversight,’’ the report said.
———
Bodies found at mountainside wreck of ill-fated Russian jet in Indonesia; all 45 feared dead
CIDAHU, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers discovered bodies Thursday near the shattered wreckage of a new Russian-made passenger plane that smashed into the steep side of an Indonesian volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers. All 45 people on board were feared dead.
Due to the remoteness of the crash site, the bodies will be placed in nets and lifted by ropes to a hovering chopper, national search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said. They will be evacuated to the capital, Jakarta, for identification by family members.
‘‘So far we haven’t found any survivors, but we are still searching,’’ he said, as more soldiers, police and volunteers hiked through the mist-shrouded slopes toward the wreck.
‘‘I cannot say anything about the condition of the bodies,’’ said Prakoso, but he added: ‘‘A high speed jet plane hit the cliff, exploded and tore apart.’’
The Sukhoi Superjet-100 — Russia’s first new model of passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago — was in Indonesia as part of a six-nation tour of Asia aimed at drumming up new customers.
———
2 upstate NY historic sites recall Benedict Arnold’s wartime heroics before he turned traitor
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Benedict Arnold is a hero again, at least temporarily at two upstate New York historic sites where his pre-treason exploits are being remembered.
Arnold’s heroic actions in the Revolutionary War’s Battles of Saratoga are detailed in a new exhibit opening Thursday at Saratoga National Historical Park, and his capture of British-held Fort Ticonderoga at the side of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys is being re-staged later this month in a rare nighttime re-enactment.
The Connecticut-born Arnold led American soldiers through Fort Ticonderoga’s front gate in a pre-dawn raid on May 10, 1775, and he helped defeat the British at the Battles of Saratoga two years later. But most Americans know Arnold as the man who betrayed his nation by trying to turn over the American fortifications at West Point to the British, then joining the redcoats when the plot was uncovered.
Soon after the war broke out at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the ambitious Arnold began displaying the prickly personality traits that made him a polarizing figure years before he switched sides.
‘‘He was hated long before he became a traitor,’’ said Eric Schnitzer, a park ranger at Saratoga National Historic Park in Stillwater, 20 miles north of Albany. ‘‘Some of the guys fighting with him thought he was a total and complete jerk. Other guys thought he was wonderful.’’
———
Oil boom resurrects North Dakota ghost town; more communities could be brought back to life
DORE, N.D. (AP) — For more than three decades, Kerry and Darrell Finsaas were all that kept this blink-and-you-miss-it North Dakota community from becoming completely deserted.
As Dore’s only residents, they lived in a ghost town on the desolate northern Plains. But now the couple has neighbors — and lots of them. The all-but-forgotten former farming village has been reborn as a hub of oil activity. And it may not be the last abandoned settlement to be resurrected from the dust.
‘‘We knew it was inevitable,’’ Kerry Finsaas said of the oil boom that has enveloped the region. ‘‘We’re making the best of it, but it doesn’t mean we like it.’’
Like many farm-dependent communities throughout the nation, Dore fell victim to changing agricultural practices and a harsh rural economy. By the early 1960s, the town on the state’s far western edge, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, was largely vacant. Most residents had either moved away or died.
One of the final blows came in the mid-1970s, when Dore lost its ZIP code. Since then, most surviving buildings have been leveled by bulldozers, weather and time. About all that remains is an empty grain elevator standing tall over the prairie — a lonely memorial to earlier times.
———
Heat move on: James scores 29, and Miami ousts short-handed Knicks with 106-94 win
MIAMI (AP) — LeBron James was still on the court, enjoying the moment after ousting the New York Knicks, when the first questions came about what’s next for the Miami Heat.
For one day, Indiana can wait.
Having Thursday off from practice is Miami’s first playoff prize, and although a five-game win over the Knicks might have seemed easy, the reigning Eastern Conference champions insisted afterward that it was more grinding than it appeared.
James had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade both scored 19 points and the Heat beat the short-handed Knicks 106-94 in Game 5 of an East first-round series Wednesday night. Miami will host the Pacers in Game 1 of the East semifinals on Sunday afternoon.
‘‘Even though it was a five-game series,’’ Wade said, ‘‘it was a very tough series.’’
———
It’s Joshua Ledet’s world on ’American Idol,’ but judge Lopez refused to predict a winner
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Backstage at ‘‘American Idol,’’ Hollie Cavanagh was bubbly and confident, practicing vocal riffs and giggling with fellow teenage contestant Jessica Sanchez.
By the show’s end Wednesday, Cavanagh was the sole finalist to be found wanting by the judges — and possibly by the viewers who decide which singer will exit Thursday.
‘‘Sorry, baby,’’ judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez both told Cavanagh, 18, of McKinney, Texas, after she delivered a version of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’’ that they found emotionally wanting and unsuited to her big voice.
She won praise for her performance of Journey’s ‘‘Faithfully,’’ but her three competitors all drew undiluted acclaim from Tyler, Lopez and Randy Jackson.
‘‘Neither man nor woman has sang that good with that much compassion, ever,’’ Tyler told gospel singer Joshua Ledet, 20, of Westlake, La., after his performance of James Brown’s ‘‘It’s a Man’s World.’’ Ledet’s take on Josh Groban’s ‘‘You Raise Me Up’’ also had the judges cheering. U$
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WASHINGTON (AP) — He gave no speech, issued no call to action. He spoke of changing alongside the nation’s people, not of leading them into uncharted territory. He made sure to say what so many so passionately believe — that states should decide such issues on their own.
A black president speaking out for a minority denied the right to marry is undoubtedly a powerful political moment. But a significant cultural milestone? A nation full of people at ease among openly gay co-workers, relatives and sitcom characters may already have passed Barack Obama by.
It is a truism, but it’s worth saying nonetheless: Politics lags behind culture, especially Hollywood’s version of it.
The president himself describes his change of position on gay marriage as several steps behind his 10- and 13-year-old daughters and the college students he frequently encounters — even young Republicans — who already see treating gays equally as no big deal.
———
A long, slow contemplation, then a decisive turn, behind Obama’s move to endorse gay marriage
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s evolution on gay marriage unfolded at a Darwinian pace, like that of the giant tortoise. For more than a year — eons in politics — he danced up to the edge of endorsing it, always stopping short, still ‘‘evolving.’’
Until very recently, much of the betting was on Obama taking a pass on the touchy issue until after the election. Why pick that fight now?
On Wednesday, he picked it. Obama gave a heads-up to a spiritual adviser, among others, and staked his position in a TV interview as the first president to declare himself in favor of same-sex marriage rights.
Obama doesn’t have the power to make same-sex marriage legal. But by taking a stand, he closed the loop with gay-rights activists who are important financiers and supporters of his re-election campaign while putting himself on a potentially perilous path with voters in states such as North Carolina. That state backed him in 2008 but voted solidly Tuesday to ban gay marriage in the state constitution. And it hosts the Democratic National Convention in September.
As told by aides, Obama concluded earlier this year that gay couples should have the legal right to marry and planned to say so before the convention. Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House conversations, they said the White House felt compelled to accelerate its plans after Vice President Joe Biden declared his support for gay marriage on a Sunday morning talk show and said he was ‘‘absolutely comfortable’’ with same-sex couples being legally wed.
———
Syrian state TV says more than 40 killed in 2 blasts in the capital
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Two strong explosions ripped through the Syrian capital Thursday, killing more than 40 people and leaving scenes of carnage in the streets in an assault against a center of government power, officials said.
Syria’s state-run TV said 170 people were wounded in what one official said may have been the most powerful of a series of blasts that have hit the capital this year.
The explosions, which ripped the facade off a military intelligence building, happened at about 7:50 a.m. when employees are usually arriving at work. The building is part of a broader military compound for a feared section of the intelligence services known as the Palestine Branch.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said paramedics wearing rubber gloves were collecting human remains from the streets after the explosions. Heavily damaged cars and pickup trucks stood smoldering in the area. The outer wall of the headquarters collapsed and some walls crumbled, although the basic structure inside appeared intact.
The Syrian government blamed ‘‘terrorists’’ and said dozens were killed or wounded, most of them civilians.
———
International adoptions drop globally as experts cite fraud crackdowns and policy shifts
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The number of international adoptions has plummeted to its lowest point in 15 years, a steep decline attributed largely to crackdowns against baby-selling, a sputtering world economy and efforts by countries to place more children with domestic families.
Globally, the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parents dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 last year, according to annual statistics compiled by Peter Selman, an expert on international adoptions at Britain’s Newcastle University.
Some adoption advocates argue the decrease is also linked to a set of strict international guidelines known as the Hague Adoption Convention. Devised to ensure transparency and child protection following a rash of baby-selling and kidnapping scandals, critics say the guidelines have also been used by leading adopting nations, such as the U.S., as a pretext for freezing adoptions altogether from some countries that are out of compliance.
‘‘It should have been a real step forward, but it’s been used in a way that’s made it a force for shutting down countries,’’ Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard Law professor who promotes international adoptions. ‘‘That affects thousands of children every year.’’
She says places where international adoptions are stopped may ultimately see more children stuck in orphanages or on the street where they could fall prey to sex traffickers. ‘‘I question whether it’s ever true where adoption is all about buying and selling and kidnapping,’’ Bartholet says.
———
APNewsBreak: Medicare paid $5.6B to 2,600 pharmacies with patterns of questionable billing
WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare paid $5.6 billion to 2,600 pharmacies with questionable billings, including a Kansas drugstore that submitted more than 1,000 prescriptions each for two patients in just one year, government investigators have found.
The new report by the inspector general of the Health and Human Services department finds the corner drugstore is vulnerable to fraud, partly because Medicare does not require the private insurers that deliver prescription benefits to seniors to report suspicious billing patterns.
‘‘While some pharmacies may be billing extremely high amounts for legitimate reasons, all warrant further scrutiny,’’ said the report being issued Thursday.
The analysis broke new ground by scrutinizing every claim submitted by the nation’s 59,000 retail pharmacies during 2009 — more than 1 billion prescriptions. Using statistical analysis, investigators were able to reveal contrasts between normal business practices and potential criminal behavior.
‘‘The findings call for a strong response to improve (program) oversight,’’ the report said.
———
Bodies found at mountainside wreck of ill-fated Russian jet in Indonesia; all 45 feared dead
CIDAHU, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers discovered bodies Thursday near the shattered wreckage of a new Russian-made passenger plane that smashed into the steep side of an Indonesian volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers. All 45 people on board were feared dead.
Due to the remoteness of the crash site, the bodies will be placed in nets and lifted by ropes to a hovering chopper, national search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said. They will be evacuated to the capital, Jakarta, for identification by family members.
‘‘So far we haven’t found any survivors, but we are still searching,’’ he said, as more soldiers, police and volunteers hiked through the mist-shrouded slopes toward the wreck.
‘‘I cannot say anything about the condition of the bodies,’’ said Prakoso, but he added: ‘‘A high speed jet plane hit the cliff, exploded and tore apart.’’
The Sukhoi Superjet-100 — Russia’s first new model of passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago — was in Indonesia as part of a six-nation tour of Asia aimed at drumming up new customers.
———
2 upstate NY historic sites recall Benedict Arnold’s wartime heroics before he turned traitor
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Benedict Arnold is a hero again, at least temporarily at two upstate New York historic sites where his pre-treason exploits are being remembered.
Arnold’s heroic actions in the Revolutionary War’s Battles of Saratoga are detailed in a new exhibit opening Thursday at Saratoga National Historical Park, and his capture of British-held Fort Ticonderoga at the side of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys is being re-staged later this month in a rare nighttime re-enactment.
The Connecticut-born Arnold led American soldiers through Fort Ticonderoga’s front gate in a pre-dawn raid on May 10, 1775, and he helped defeat the British at the Battles of Saratoga two years later. But most Americans know Arnold as the man who betrayed his nation by trying to turn over the American fortifications at West Point to the British, then joining the redcoats when the plot was uncovered.
Soon after the war broke out at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the ambitious Arnold began displaying the prickly personality traits that made him a polarizing figure years before he switched sides.
‘‘He was hated long before he became a traitor,’’ said Eric Schnitzer, a park ranger at Saratoga National Historic Park in Stillwater, 20 miles north of Albany. ‘‘Some of the guys fighting with him thought he was a total and complete jerk. Other guys thought he was wonderful.’’
———
Oil boom resurrects North Dakota ghost town; more communities could be brought back to life
DORE, N.D. (AP) — For more than three decades, Kerry and Darrell Finsaas were all that kept this blink-and-you-miss-it North Dakota community from becoming completely deserted.
As Dore’s only residents, they lived in a ghost town on the desolate northern Plains. But now the couple has neighbors — and lots of them. The all-but-forgotten former farming village has been reborn as a hub of oil activity. And it may not be the last abandoned settlement to be resurrected from the dust.
‘‘We knew it was inevitable,’’ Kerry Finsaas said of the oil boom that has enveloped the region. ‘‘We’re making the best of it, but it doesn’t mean we like it.’’
Like many farm-dependent communities throughout the nation, Dore fell victim to changing agricultural practices and a harsh rural economy. By the early 1960s, the town on the state’s far western edge, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, was largely vacant. Most residents had either moved away or died.
One of the final blows came in the mid-1970s, when Dore lost its ZIP code. Since then, most surviving buildings have been leveled by bulldozers, weather and time. About all that remains is an empty grain elevator standing tall over the prairie — a lonely memorial to earlier times.
———
Heat move on: James scores 29, and Miami ousts short-handed Knicks with 106-94 win
MIAMI (AP) — LeBron James was still on the court, enjoying the moment after ousting the New York Knicks, when the first questions came about what’s next for the Miami Heat.
For one day, Indiana can wait.
Having Thursday off from practice is Miami’s first playoff prize, and although a five-game win over the Knicks might have seemed easy, the reigning Eastern Conference champions insisted afterward that it was more grinding than it appeared.
James had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade both scored 19 points and the Heat beat the short-handed Knicks 106-94 in Game 5 of an East first-round series Wednesday night. Miami will host the Pacers in Game 1 of the East semifinals on Sunday afternoon.
‘‘Even though it was a five-game series,’’ Wade said, ‘‘it was a very tough series.’’
———
It’s Joshua Ledet’s world on ’American Idol,’ but judge Lopez refused to predict a winner
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Backstage at ‘‘American Idol,’’ Hollie Cavanagh was bubbly and confident, practicing vocal riffs and giggling with fellow teenage contestant Jessica Sanchez.
By the show’s end Wednesday, Cavanagh was the sole finalist to be found wanting by the judges — and possibly by the viewers who decide which singer will exit Thursday.
‘‘Sorry, baby,’’ judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez both told Cavanagh, 18, of McKinney, Texas, after she delivered a version of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’’ that they found emotionally wanting and unsuited to her big voice.
She won praise for her performance of Journey’s ‘‘Faithfully,’’ but her three competitors all drew undiluted acclaim from Tyler, Lopez and Randy Jackson.
‘‘Neither man nor woman has sang that good with that much compassion, ever,’’ Tyler told gospel singer Joshua Ledet, 20, of Westlake, La., after his performance of James Brown’s ‘‘It’s a Man’s World.’’ Ledet’s take on Josh Groban’s ‘‘You Raise Me Up’’ also had the judges cheering. U$
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