World/Nation Briefs 7.6.2012
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
PARIS (AP) — The United States and its international partners called Friday for global sanctions against Bashar Assad’s regime, seeking to step up the pressure after the defection of a top general dealt a blow to the Syrian leader. Washington urged countries around the world to pressure Russia and China into forcing Assad to leave power.
A Western official told The Associated Press that Syrian Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass had abandoned Assad’s regime. Tlass was a member of the elite Republican Guards and a son of a former defense minister. The official wasn’t authorized to divulge the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Tlass’ whereabouts are unclear. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other opposition websites claimed he had fled to Turkey. It is arguably the highest profile departure from the Assad regime in 16 months of brutal government crackdowns and civil war.
In Paris, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined senior officials from about 100 other countries to win wider support for a Syrian transition plan unveiled last week by U.N. mediator Kofi Annan. Joined by America’s allies, she called for ‘‘real and immediate consequences for non-compliance, including sanctions,’’ against the Assad regime.
But with neither Moscow nor Beijing in attendance, much remained dependent on persuading the two reluctant U.N. veto-wielding powers to force Assad into abiding by a cease-fire and the transition strategy. Clinton urged governments around the world to direct their pressure toward Russia and China, as well.
———
US hiring in June likely picked up, but not enough to lower the unemployment rate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring likely picked up slightly in June after sputtering in April and May. But the gains aren’t expected to be enough to lower the unemployment rate.
Analysts forecast that the economy gained only 90,000 jobs last month, according to a survey by FactSet. It would mark a third straight month of weak job growth. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 8.2 percent.
The Labor Department will report on June hiring and unemployment at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday.
Some economists grew more optimistic on Thursday after a pair of reports signaled improvement in the job market last month. The government said fewer people applied for unemployment benefits for the second straight week. And payroll provider ADP said businesses added 176,000 jobs last month, up from its reported gain of 136,000 jobs in May.
Goldman Sachs responded to the better data by raising its forecast to a gain of 125,000 jobs last month, up from its initial prediction of 75,000.
———
Known Unknowns: British is sopping wet but organizers say the London Olympics will survive it
LONDON (AP) — After a sodden spring, is Britain heading for a summer washout?
It’s lurched from the cold, wet drizzle that dampened the queen’s Diamond Jubilee flotilla on the Thames to a sea of mud at the Isle of Wight music festival to frequent delays at Wimbledon, where even the retractable roof couldn’t make the event all strawberries and cream.
And now that the country has recorded its wettest June on record, should Olympic officials be concerned? The games are just 21 days away.
‘‘Oh, goodness! It’s only a bit of British weather,’’ said Charles Powell, a spokesman for the Met office, the national forecaster. ‘‘It’s naturally variable.’’
Britain is an island nation, at the mercy of winds scooping up water from the Atlantic Ocean and breezes bringing in dry air from the European continent. There’s a reason trench coats are classic here. This is a country that can have four seasons in an afternoon, where one should never leave home without both an umbrella and sunglasses.
———
New jobs numbers loom over Obama’s Ohio bus trip, could set battle lines for summer campaign
SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — Campaigning by bus through swing state Ohio, President Barack Obama cast his re-election bid as a bet on the American worker Thursday, even as he braced for a Friday unemployment report that will help set battle lines for the hot summer to come.
The monthly unemployment numbers could alter or harden voters’ views of Obama’s core re-election argument that he pulled the U.S. back from recession while Republican Mitt Romney embraces policies that led to an economic near-collapse. A weak report could undermine Obama’s position, while improvement could help the president — though concerns about jobs are sure to a major issue through Election Day.
Obama tellingly chose to start his summer of on-the-road campaigning in two political battleground states that have a rosier economic outlook than some parts of the nation. Both Ohio and Pennsylvania had unemployment rates of 7.3 percent in May, well below the national average of 8.2 percent.
‘‘This is how summer is supposed to feel,’’ Obama said, wiping sweat from his face he campaigned under scorching sun for four more years in office.
His trip through northern Ohio gave him a post-July 4 splash of Americana: Main streets and U.S. flags, cornfields and fruit stands, community soccer sign-ups and American Legion halls, small children climbing on fathers’ shoulders to see the president’s bus go by. Obama was greeted kindly wherever he went and bounded through his day, high-fiving the kids and hugging grandmothers.
———
Argentina’s dictators guilty of stealing babies from prisoners; but many others remain free
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The conviction of two former dictators for the systematic stealing of babies from political prisoners 30 years ago is a big step in Argentina’s effort to punish that era’s human rights abuses, though certainly not the last.
Following Thursday’s convictions of Rafael Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, at least 17 other major cases are before judges or are nearing trial.
Among them is a ‘‘mega-trial’’ involving the Navy Mechanics School, which became a feared torture center as the 1976-1983 military junta kidnapped and killed 13,000 opponents while trying to annihilate an armed leftist uprising. That case involves 65 defendants, nearly 900 victims, more than 100 witnesses and about 60,000 pages of evidence.
A ‘‘Never Again’’ commission formed shortly after Argentina’s democracy was restored in 1983 documented thousands of crimes against humanity during the military regime, but hardly any of the violators were prosecuted until the late Nestor Kirchner was elected president 20 years later.
Justice Minister Julio Alak said Thursday that Kirchner’s wife and successor, President Cristina Fernandez, deserves credit for making the human rights cases a cornerstone of government.
———
House Agriculture Committee unveils its farm bill, calls for bigger cuts to food stamp program
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Agriculture Committee on Thursday unveiled its approach for a long-term farm and food bill that would reduce spending by $3.5 billion a year, almost half of that coming from cuts in the federal food stamp program.
The legislative draft envisions reducing current food stamp spending projections by $1.6 billion a year, four times the amount of cuts incorporated in the five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill passed by the Senate last month.
Food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, look to be the most contentious issue when the Agriculture Committee begins voting on the bill Wednesday and when the full House begins debating it in the future.
Conservatives in the Republican-led House are certain to demand greater cuts in the food stamps program, which makes up about 80 percent of the nearly $100 billion a year in spending under the farm bill. Senate Democrats are equally certain to resist more cuts in a program that now helps feed 46 million people, 1 out of every 7 Americans.
‘‘Underfunding this critically important program when families temporarily rely on it to put food on the table in a tough economy is irresponsible and inhumane,’’ said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a food stamp advocate in the House. The Agriculture Committee said its bill would strengthen the program’s integrity while better targeting assistance to those in need of it.
———
Campaign against women’s skimpy dress highlights UAE anxiety over rising numbers of foreigners
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — With the number of foreigners dwarfing that of locals in her hometown of Abu Dhabi, Asma al-Muhairi has become increasingly anxious at the prospect of her younger nieces abandoning their full-length black robes in favor of Western attire that seems to be everywhere she goes.
But it wasn’t until the 23-year-old marketing worker came face to face with two scantily-clad female foreigners at one of the many luxury shopping malls in the United Arab Emirates that she decided to take action.
‘‘While going to a mall, I saw two ladies wearing ... I can’t say even shorts. It was underwear,’’ said al-Muhairi, whose black abaya — a long garment worn by conservative Gulf women — is offset by a gold Versace watch and egg-shell blue handbag.
‘‘Really, they were not shorts,’’ she said. ‘‘I was standing and thinking: ‘Why is this continuing? Why is it in the mall? I see families. I see kids around.’’’
Failing to persuade the mall to intervene, al-Muhairi and another Emirati woman, Hanan al-Rayes, took to Twitter to air their concerns in May.
———
US Presbyterians reject divestment measure over Israeli policy in Palestinian territories
By a razor-thin margin, the largest Presbyterian group in the United States rejected a proposal Thursday to divest from three companies that do business with Israel. Pro-Palestinian advocates vowed to try again.
The Presbyterian General Assembly voted 333-331, with two abstentions, to reject the divestment plan. A second vote instead affirmed a policy of investment in support of peace in Israel and the Palestinian territories. That proposal passed by a much wider margin, 369-290 with eight abstentions.
The votes came after days of discussion and more than two hours of floor debate at the meeting of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Pittsburgh. The policymaking body will meet again on Friday, but there is little chance the divestment plan could be revived.
Divestment advocates said the targeted companies — Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Motorola — profit from the occupation by providing bulldozers, surveillance technology and other products to the Israeli military.
Major Jewish groups from across the political spectrum had lobbied furiously against the measure, including the liberal-leaning pro-Israel groups Americans for Peace Now and J Street. The American Jewish Committee, a public policy group, said the proposal demonized Israel and threatened Christian-Jewish relations.
———
Pena Nieto takes another step toward restoring PRI to power with Mexico’s official vote count
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico took a big step toward resolving its contested presidential election with the official confirmation of the victory by Enrique Pena Nieto, the candidate seeking to return the former autocratic ruling party to power after a 12-year hiatus.
The count by the country’s electoral authority will almost certainly become the target of legal challenges by leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who alleges Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, engaged in vote-buying that illegally tilted millions of votes.
The accusations began surfacing in June, but sharpened early this week as thousands of people rushed to grocery stores on the outskirts of Mexico City to redeem pre-paid gift cards worth about 100 pesos ($7.50). Many said they got the cards from supporters of PRI prior to Sunday’s elections.
———
Investigators trying to determine what caused NY yacht to capsize; 3 killed, 24 overboard
OYSTER BAY, N.Y. (AP) — Investigators are trying to learn more about the crucial seconds before a yacht capsized off Long Island, killing three children and leaving 24 others scrambling for their lives.
The July Fourth accident has left more questions than answers in the search for a definitive cause. Investigators are counting on gaining knowledge from survivors and the boat itself once it is brought up from 60 feet below the surface of Long Island Sound.
Efforts to raise the boat might begin as early as Friday.
Authorities said several possibilities might have combined to doom the vessel known as Candi 1 as it was being positioned so passengers could watch fireworks.
Nassau County Detective Lt. John Azzata said the cause remained under investigation but possibilities include the weather, overcrowding and a wake from another vessel. He said the area was busy with boaters watching the fireworks.
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PARIS (AP) — The United States and its international partners called Friday for global sanctions against Bashar Assad’s regime, seeking to step up the pressure after the defection of a top general dealt a blow to the Syrian leader. Washington urged countries around the world to pressure Russia and China into forcing Assad to leave power.
A Western official told The Associated Press that Syrian Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass had abandoned Assad’s regime. Tlass was a member of the elite Republican Guards and a son of a former defense minister. The official wasn’t authorized to divulge the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Tlass’ whereabouts are unclear. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other opposition websites claimed he had fled to Turkey. It is arguably the highest profile departure from the Assad regime in 16 months of brutal government crackdowns and civil war.
In Paris, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined senior officials from about 100 other countries to win wider support for a Syrian transition plan unveiled last week by U.N. mediator Kofi Annan. Joined by America’s allies, she called for ‘‘real and immediate consequences for non-compliance, including sanctions,’’ against the Assad regime.
But with neither Moscow nor Beijing in attendance, much remained dependent on persuading the two reluctant U.N. veto-wielding powers to force Assad into abiding by a cease-fire and the transition strategy. Clinton urged governments around the world to direct their pressure toward Russia and China, as well.
———
US hiring in June likely picked up, but not enough to lower the unemployment rate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring likely picked up slightly in June after sputtering in April and May. But the gains aren’t expected to be enough to lower the unemployment rate.
Analysts forecast that the economy gained only 90,000 jobs last month, according to a survey by FactSet. It would mark a third straight month of weak job growth. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 8.2 percent.
The Labor Department will report on June hiring and unemployment at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday.
Some economists grew more optimistic on Thursday after a pair of reports signaled improvement in the job market last month. The government said fewer people applied for unemployment benefits for the second straight week. And payroll provider ADP said businesses added 176,000 jobs last month, up from its reported gain of 136,000 jobs in May.
Goldman Sachs responded to the better data by raising its forecast to a gain of 125,000 jobs last month, up from its initial prediction of 75,000.
———
Known Unknowns: British is sopping wet but organizers say the London Olympics will survive it
LONDON (AP) — After a sodden spring, is Britain heading for a summer washout?
It’s lurched from the cold, wet drizzle that dampened the queen’s Diamond Jubilee flotilla on the Thames to a sea of mud at the Isle of Wight music festival to frequent delays at Wimbledon, where even the retractable roof couldn’t make the event all strawberries and cream.
And now that the country has recorded its wettest June on record, should Olympic officials be concerned? The games are just 21 days away.
‘‘Oh, goodness! It’s only a bit of British weather,’’ said Charles Powell, a spokesman for the Met office, the national forecaster. ‘‘It’s naturally variable.’’
Britain is an island nation, at the mercy of winds scooping up water from the Atlantic Ocean and breezes bringing in dry air from the European continent. There’s a reason trench coats are classic here. This is a country that can have four seasons in an afternoon, where one should never leave home without both an umbrella and sunglasses.
———
New jobs numbers loom over Obama’s Ohio bus trip, could set battle lines for summer campaign
SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — Campaigning by bus through swing state Ohio, President Barack Obama cast his re-election bid as a bet on the American worker Thursday, even as he braced for a Friday unemployment report that will help set battle lines for the hot summer to come.
The monthly unemployment numbers could alter or harden voters’ views of Obama’s core re-election argument that he pulled the U.S. back from recession while Republican Mitt Romney embraces policies that led to an economic near-collapse. A weak report could undermine Obama’s position, while improvement could help the president — though concerns about jobs are sure to a major issue through Election Day.
Obama tellingly chose to start his summer of on-the-road campaigning in two political battleground states that have a rosier economic outlook than some parts of the nation. Both Ohio and Pennsylvania had unemployment rates of 7.3 percent in May, well below the national average of 8.2 percent.
‘‘This is how summer is supposed to feel,’’ Obama said, wiping sweat from his face he campaigned under scorching sun for four more years in office.
His trip through northern Ohio gave him a post-July 4 splash of Americana: Main streets and U.S. flags, cornfields and fruit stands, community soccer sign-ups and American Legion halls, small children climbing on fathers’ shoulders to see the president’s bus go by. Obama was greeted kindly wherever he went and bounded through his day, high-fiving the kids and hugging grandmothers.
———
Argentina’s dictators guilty of stealing babies from prisoners; but many others remain free
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The conviction of two former dictators for the systematic stealing of babies from political prisoners 30 years ago is a big step in Argentina’s effort to punish that era’s human rights abuses, though certainly not the last.
Following Thursday’s convictions of Rafael Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, at least 17 other major cases are before judges or are nearing trial.
Among them is a ‘‘mega-trial’’ involving the Navy Mechanics School, which became a feared torture center as the 1976-1983 military junta kidnapped and killed 13,000 opponents while trying to annihilate an armed leftist uprising. That case involves 65 defendants, nearly 900 victims, more than 100 witnesses and about 60,000 pages of evidence.
A ‘‘Never Again’’ commission formed shortly after Argentina’s democracy was restored in 1983 documented thousands of crimes against humanity during the military regime, but hardly any of the violators were prosecuted until the late Nestor Kirchner was elected president 20 years later.
Justice Minister Julio Alak said Thursday that Kirchner’s wife and successor, President Cristina Fernandez, deserves credit for making the human rights cases a cornerstone of government.
———
House Agriculture Committee unveils its farm bill, calls for bigger cuts to food stamp program
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Agriculture Committee on Thursday unveiled its approach for a long-term farm and food bill that would reduce spending by $3.5 billion a year, almost half of that coming from cuts in the federal food stamp program.
The legislative draft envisions reducing current food stamp spending projections by $1.6 billion a year, four times the amount of cuts incorporated in the five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill passed by the Senate last month.
Food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, look to be the most contentious issue when the Agriculture Committee begins voting on the bill Wednesday and when the full House begins debating it in the future.
Conservatives in the Republican-led House are certain to demand greater cuts in the food stamps program, which makes up about 80 percent of the nearly $100 billion a year in spending under the farm bill. Senate Democrats are equally certain to resist more cuts in a program that now helps feed 46 million people, 1 out of every 7 Americans.
‘‘Underfunding this critically important program when families temporarily rely on it to put food on the table in a tough economy is irresponsible and inhumane,’’ said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a food stamp advocate in the House. The Agriculture Committee said its bill would strengthen the program’s integrity while better targeting assistance to those in need of it.
———
Campaign against women’s skimpy dress highlights UAE anxiety over rising numbers of foreigners
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — With the number of foreigners dwarfing that of locals in her hometown of Abu Dhabi, Asma al-Muhairi has become increasingly anxious at the prospect of her younger nieces abandoning their full-length black robes in favor of Western attire that seems to be everywhere she goes.
But it wasn’t until the 23-year-old marketing worker came face to face with two scantily-clad female foreigners at one of the many luxury shopping malls in the United Arab Emirates that she decided to take action.
‘‘While going to a mall, I saw two ladies wearing ... I can’t say even shorts. It was underwear,’’ said al-Muhairi, whose black abaya — a long garment worn by conservative Gulf women — is offset by a gold Versace watch and egg-shell blue handbag.
‘‘Really, they were not shorts,’’ she said. ‘‘I was standing and thinking: ‘Why is this continuing? Why is it in the mall? I see families. I see kids around.’’’
Failing to persuade the mall to intervene, al-Muhairi and another Emirati woman, Hanan al-Rayes, took to Twitter to air their concerns in May.
———
US Presbyterians reject divestment measure over Israeli policy in Palestinian territories
By a razor-thin margin, the largest Presbyterian group in the United States rejected a proposal Thursday to divest from three companies that do business with Israel. Pro-Palestinian advocates vowed to try again.
The Presbyterian General Assembly voted 333-331, with two abstentions, to reject the divestment plan. A second vote instead affirmed a policy of investment in support of peace in Israel and the Palestinian territories. That proposal passed by a much wider margin, 369-290 with eight abstentions.
The votes came after days of discussion and more than two hours of floor debate at the meeting of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Pittsburgh. The policymaking body will meet again on Friday, but there is little chance the divestment plan could be revived.
Divestment advocates said the targeted companies — Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Motorola — profit from the occupation by providing bulldozers, surveillance technology and other products to the Israeli military.
Major Jewish groups from across the political spectrum had lobbied furiously against the measure, including the liberal-leaning pro-Israel groups Americans for Peace Now and J Street. The American Jewish Committee, a public policy group, said the proposal demonized Israel and threatened Christian-Jewish relations.
———
Pena Nieto takes another step toward restoring PRI to power with Mexico’s official vote count
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico took a big step toward resolving its contested presidential election with the official confirmation of the victory by Enrique Pena Nieto, the candidate seeking to return the former autocratic ruling party to power after a 12-year hiatus.
The count by the country’s electoral authority will almost certainly become the target of legal challenges by leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who alleges Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, engaged in vote-buying that illegally tilted millions of votes.
The accusations began surfacing in June, but sharpened early this week as thousands of people rushed to grocery stores on the outskirts of Mexico City to redeem pre-paid gift cards worth about 100 pesos ($7.50). Many said they got the cards from supporters of PRI prior to Sunday’s elections.
———
Investigators trying to determine what caused NY yacht to capsize; 3 killed, 24 overboard
OYSTER BAY, N.Y. (AP) — Investigators are trying to learn more about the crucial seconds before a yacht capsized off Long Island, killing three children and leaving 24 others scrambling for their lives.
The July Fourth accident has left more questions than answers in the search for a definitive cause. Investigators are counting on gaining knowledge from survivors and the boat itself once it is brought up from 60 feet below the surface of Long Island Sound.
Efforts to raise the boat might begin as early as Friday.
Authorities said several possibilities might have combined to doom the vessel known as Candi 1 as it was being positioned so passengers could watch fireworks.
Nassau County Detective Lt. John Azzata said the cause remained under investigation but possibilities include the weather, overcrowding and a wake from another vessel. He said the area was busy with boaters watching the fireworks.
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