Romney, Obama look to use questions about Bain Capital for political benefit WOLFEBORO, N.H. (AP) — President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney have one campaign strategy in common: Each is trying to convince voters that his opponent in the closely contested race for the White House is not trustworthy. Romney was wrapping up a weekend at his New Hampshire lake house and planned to raise money on Monday with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — one possible candidate for his running mate. Obama was scheduled to campaign in Cincinnati two days before Romney makes his own visit to must-win Ohio. The two men were set to continue a bitter debate over who is more trustworthy and use Romney’s time leading a private equity firm as a starting point. Romney’s campaign said Sunday that Obama is willing to say anything to win a second term and should say he’s sorry for attacking the Republican’s successful career at Bain Capital. ——— Activists report heavy clashes in parts of the Syrian capital BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say opposition fighters are clashing with Syrian government forces in the capital Damascus for a second day. Activists and residents say the fighting in several neighborhoods is among the heaviest since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime began in March last year. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso say Monday’s clashes concentrated in the districts of Kfar Souseh and Tadamon. A resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals says gunfire and sporadic explosions could be heard Monday morning. Damascus is tightly controlled by Assad’s forces, although there have been sporadic clashes in the capital in recent months. ——— North Korean military leader who mentored Kim Jong Un loses all posts in surprising shakeup SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s top military official — a key mentor to young new leader Kim Jong Un who served under his father — has been removed from all posts because of illness, state media said Monday in a surprise announcement that shakes the core of the authoritarian country’s power structure. Ri Yong Ho had looked healthy in recent appearances, and his departure fed speculation among analysts that Kim purged him in an effort to put his own mark on the nation he inherited seven months ago when his father Kim Jong Il died. At the same time, there was no sign of discord at Ri’s last public appearance at a high-level event, barely a week ago. The decision to dismiss the 69-year-old from top military and political posts was made at a Workers’ Party meeting Sunday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. It was not immediately clear who would take Ri’s place, and the dispatch did not elaborate on his condition or future. Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea analyst at the International Crisis Group, was skeptical of the illness claim, in part because of Ri’s recent apparent health. He also said Ri won his major promotions at a September 2010 party conference but received none in April, which stirred speculation about the general’s future. ‘‘There’s a very high probability that it wasn’t health issues, but that he was purged,’’ sending a strong signal to anyone seeking to challenge Kim Jong Un — even if Ri never directly defied the new leader, Pinkston said. ——— Repealing Obama’s health care law won’t be easy even if GOP wins it all in November. WASHINGTON (AP) — Yes, if Mitt Romney wins the White House and his Republican allies retake the Senate, he could shred most of President Barack Obama’s health care law without having to overpower a Democratic filibuster. But it won’t be as easy as some Republicans portend, and it certainly won’t be quick. Why? Because any realistic effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act — as opposed to last week’s quixotic vote in the GOP-controlled House — is sure to get jumbled together with lots of other issues, including Medicare, taxes, food stamps and defense spending. And that’s because Republicans have to first pass a budget. It’s the only way than can invoke special Senate rules that allow legislation to pass with just a simple majority vote — instead of the 60 votes needed in the 100-member Senate to beat a filibuster. ——— Waterfall-like rain eases in southwest Japan, but 28 dead, thousands of homes damaged TOKYO (AP) — Most of the quarter-million people forced to flee massive flooding in southwest Japan were able to return home by Monday, but weather officials warned the danger had not fully passed from the record rainfall that left at least 28 people dead over the weekend. Thousands of homes and hundreds of roads were damaged, and hundreds of landslides were reported. The military airlifted food by helicopter to stranded districts. The rain ‘‘was like a waterfall,’’ Yoko Yoshika said in Yamaguchi prefecture (state). ‘‘It was horrible.’’ Yoshika, wife of an award-winning Hagi-yaki style potter, said workers scrambled to carry out a bucket relay with plastic pails to get rid of the water flowing into their shop. In Yame, a city of 69,000 in Fukuoka prefecture, 74 people in three separate areas were stranded by the flooding. ——— Microsoft ends online marriage with NBC to pursue building its own online news service SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft is pulling out of the joint venture that owned MSNBC.com, freeing the world’s largest software maker to build its own online news service. The breakup announced late Sunday dissolves the final shreds of a 16-year marriage between Microsoft Corp. and NBC News, which is now owned by Comcast Corp. The relationship began to unwind in 2005 when Microsoft sold its stake in MSNBC’s cable TV channel to NBC. NBC is buying Microsoft’s 50 percent interest in the MSNBC website for an undisclosed amount. MSNBC.com will be rebranded as NBCNews.com, and readers who logged into MSNBC.com late Sunday were automatically redirected to NBCNews.com. The website will move its headquarters from Microsoft’s corporate campus in Redmond, Wash., to NBC News’ longtime home in New York. The online divorce stemmed from the two partners’ desire to gain greater control over their digital destinies as the Internet becomes an increasingly important part of their businesses. ——— Tens of thousands join Nobel laureate in demanding end to nuclear power TOKYO (AP) — Tens of thousands of people rallied at a Tokyo park Monday demanding that Japan abandon nuclear power as the country prepares to restart another reactor shut down after last year’s tsunami-generated meltdown at the Fukushima power plant. Led by Nobel-winning novelist Kenzaburo Oe, pop star Ryuichi Sakamoto and visual artist Yoshitomo Nara, the protesters expressed outrage over a report that blamed the Fukushima disaster on Japan’s culture of ‘‘reflexive obedience’’ and held no individuals responsible. Japan ordered all its nuclear power plants shut down for safety inspections after last year’s March tsunami and earthquake set off multiple meltdowns at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. Some 150,000 people evacuated from a 20-kilometer (12-mile) zone around the plant because of radiation fears, and the area is deemed unsafe to live in more than a year later. The disaster, the world’s second-worst nuclear accident after Chernobyl, has deeply divided Japan, which had been previously bullish on nuclear technology. Monday’s rally at sprawling Yoyogi Park was the latest and among the biggest — drawing possibly as many as 200,000 people, according to organizers — in a series of large protests that is unusual for normally reserved Japanese. ——— Ratko Mladic back in court for genocide trial after health care forced adjournments THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic is back in court for his genocide trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after recovering from a health scare that saw him rushed to the hospital last week. The 70-year-old Mladic rose slowly from his chair in the courtroom Monday as judges entered and then polished a pair of reading glasses as his attorney, Branko Lukic, resumed the cross-examination of a witness that was interrupted last Thursday when Mladic complained of feeling ill. Neither Lukic nor Presiding Judge Alphons Orie has said anything about Mladic’s health. The tribunal released a statement Friday saying tests conducted at a Hague hospital showed Mladic was fit to stand trial. He faces 11 charges alleging he masterminded Serb atrocities throughout the Bosnian war. Mladic denies wrongdoing. ——— Clinton offers US solidarity in trip to Israel; talks focus on Syria, Iran nuclear program JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham and Israel’s president spoke Monday about the need to halt Syria’s violence and Iran’s potential production of nuclear weapons, underscoring American support for an ally in a difficult neighborhood. Clinton met President Shimon Peres for about an hour as part of what is perhaps her final visit to Israel as secretary of state, bringing a message of solidarity to the Jewish state after three-and-a-half years of only stunted progress toward a Palestinian peace deal. After their visit, they each issued a statement to reporters without taking questions. Peres spoke about the importance of maintaining Israel’s three-decade peace with Egypt, and decried the violence in neighboring Syria. He also voiced support for the Obama administration’s pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear activities — which has sometimes been a point of contention between a cautious U.S. keen to give negotiations and sanctions time to work and an Israeli government that has threatened military action. Clinton said she spoke with Peres about ‘‘Egypt and Syria, peace efforts, Iran and other regional and global issues.’’ She said she’d speak in greater detail later Monday, after meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. ——— Heathrow airport set to handle record numbers of passengers on big day for the London Olympics LONDON (AP) — Europe’s largest airport is set to welcome a record number of passengers Monday as athletes begin arriving for the London Olympics. Heathrow says athletes from 50 nations will arrive in what it is describing as Britain’s biggest peacetime transport challenge. Some 236,955 passengers are expected to pass through the airport. The previous record of 233,562 was set in July 2011. Heathrow has enlisted some 1,000 volunteers to meet and greet athletes, officials and media — hoping to put a bright face on the games. There was also an increased police presence, including sniffer dogs, along with the volunteers and the regular Heathrow staff. No unusual problems were reported early Monday, as athletes including members of the American sailing team, a Jamaican swimmer and an Italian kayaker were among the early arrivals.
