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Syrian town awaits attack as pressure piles on Assad
DAMASCUS (AFP) – A Syrian town braced for a military assault Tuesday as international pressure piled on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime amid reports his envoy to France had quit in solidarity with protesters.
Dissidents warned of a harsh backlash as troops headed for the northwest town of Jisr al-Shughur after the authorities said 120 policemen had been massacred there by “armed gangs.”
Yemen protesters demand interim council
SANAA (AFP) – Yemeni protesters pushed Tuesday for an interim presidential council to prevent the embattled president from returning to power, as dissident gunmen controlled parts of the city of Taez and loyal troops retreated to their bases.
“The people want an interim council” chanted tens of thousands of protesters as they marched on the residence of Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
Kadhafi vows no surrender as NATO jets pound Tripoli
TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi vowed on state television Tuesday that he would never surrender as NATO-led warplanes pounded Tripoli with one of the heaviest bombardments of the air war so far.
NATO-led warplanes carried out some 60 strikes on Tripoli killing 31 people, Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said.
GM CEO warns on playing games with national debt
DETROIT (Reuters) – Politicians should not “play chicken” with the country’s credit rating, but need to focus urgently on finding ways to reduce the rising budget deficit, according to the head of General Motors Co.
The battle between President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party and the opposition Republicans over whether to raise the limit on government borrowing from its current $14.3 trillion level plays a dangerous game with default, Daniel Akerson, chief executive of the largest U.S. automaker said on Tuesday.
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Waves of NATO aircraft hit Tripoli on Tuesday in the most sustained bombardment of the Libyan capital since Western forces began air strikes in March.
By Tuesday afternoon, war planes were striking different parts of the city several times an hour, hour after hour, rattling windows and sending clouds of grey smoke into the sky, a Reuters correspondent in the center of the city said.
But Muammar Gaddafi vowed on Tuesday to fight to the death.
Obama’s rating on economy hits new low: poll
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans’ disapproval of how President Barack Obama is handling the economy and its growing budget deficit has reached new highs amid broad frustration over the slow pace of economic recovery, according to a Washington Post-ABC New poll released on Tuesday.
The ratings boost Obama received after the killing of Osama bin Laden has dissipated with his job approval rating back to 47 percent. Forty-nine percent disapprove of his performance.
Slow going on West’s plan for post-Gaddafi Libya
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The West’s ferocious bombing campaign could spell doom for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, but what happens when he goes, Europe and America do not know.
Europe and the United States have been reluctant to develop a robust post-Gaddafi plan for Libya, wary of nation building after costly and unpopular efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
EU must make tough decisions on Greek rescue: IMF
ATHENS (Reuters) – Europe must take tough decisions before the IMF can release its next block of aid for Greece, the Fund warned on Tuesday, while ratings agencies and German banks cast doubt on whether private investors can be expected to help.
Plans for a second international bailout of Greece are taking shape, with a proposal for a three-year package worth 80 to 100 billion euros set to be ready in the next two weeks, euro zone official sources said.
Obama: No fears of double-dip recession
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama insisted Tuesday that the country is not at risk of slipping into a double-dip recession, but he conceded he does not know whether a sudden slowdown in job growth is a blip or an indication of a longer, more worrisome trend. The president said the nation is on a solid but uneven path to recovery and the key is to “not panic.”
“I am concerned about the fact that the recovery that we’re on is not producing jobs as quickly as I want it to happen,” Obama said at a joint news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Obviously we’re experiencing some headwinds.”
GOP leader ‘cautiously optimistic’ on debt talks
WASHINGTON – A key GOP negotiator in talks on lifting the government’s borrowing cap said Tuesday that it may take more than a decade to accumulate savings to pay off the approximately $2.4 trillion in new debt needed to keep the government afloat for about a year and a half.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., also said that he believes any agreement to raise the so-called debt ceiling – and avoid a market-rattling, first-ever default on U.S. obligations – should be enacted sometime next month, before an Aug. 2 deadline. Kyl is a participant in top-level talks aimed at producing spending cuts to pass in concert with the debt limit increase.
Wildfire becomes 2nd largest in Ariz. history
SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. – Bulldozers scraped away brush and trees on Tuesday to create a barrier between two eastern Arizona mountain towns and a mammoth wildfire. Crews removed brush from around homes and firefighters were sent to protect other buildings from the flames.
All the while, the 7,000 residents of Eagar and Springerville prepared to leave if the second-largest wildfire in state history edges closer.
Pawlenty’s economic plan aims for 5 pct. growth
CHICAGO – Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty pitched an economic plan Tuesday that includes deep cuts in personal and business taxes to spur the struggling U.S. economy but would add to deficits in the short term in the hope that badly needed jobs would follow.
The former Minnesota governor’s plan aims for a bullish 5 percent annual growth that would balance the federal budget while forgoing trillions of dollars in tax revenue. Pawlenty’s pitch assumes the benefits of his plan would kick in and eventually make up for its initial costs.
CDC: Food poisoning from salmonella up in US
ATLANTA – More Americans got food poisoning last year, with salmonella cases driving the increase, the government reported Tuesday. Illness rates for the most common serious type of E. coli fell last year. There was a rise in cases caused by other strains of the bacteria, although that bump may just reflect more testing was done for them, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
An unusually aggressive strain of E. coli is behind the current large outbreak of food poisoning in Europe, mostly in Germany. That strain has never caused an outbreak in the U.S.
USDA encouraging wider use of summer food program
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States Department of Agriculture has made it easier for organizations to access funds to feed children in low-income areas during the summer, officials said on Tuesday.
The Summer Food Service Program typically feeds around three million children, about 17 million less than the number who normally get free or reduced-price lunches during the school year, according to the USDA.
In an effort to increase that number, USDA has been working with non-profit organizations and businesses over the last six months to spread the word about the available program and to identify new partners.
Iowa town races to build wall before Missouri River flood
HAMBURG, Iowa (Reuters) – Massive earth-moving machines raced on Tuesday to build a wall to hold back Missouri River floodwaters that could swamp the town of Hamburg, Iowa, but the boys practicing baseball nearby paid little notice.
The seventh and eighth graders from the Nishnabotna Blue Devils focused instead on kicking empty sports-drink bottles in the dugout and swinging bats — not the sandbags lining the storefronts on the five blocks of Main Street.
Prosecutors wrap up U.S. case tied to Mumbai attacks
CHICAGO (Reuters) – In final arguments to the jury on Tuesday, U.S. prosecutors said evidence was clear that a Pakistan-born Chicago businessman accused of supporting the 2008 attack on Mumbai knew he was aiding a plot that ultimately killed 166 people.
Tahawwur Rana, a 50-year-old Canadian citizen, faces charges of criminal conspiracy in the attack and of supporting the militant group blamed for the attack, Lashkar-e-Taiba. He could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty by the jury in federal court in Chicago.
“Ken” doll protesters arrested at Mattel headquarters
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Greenpeace activists dressed as Ken dolls rappelled down the side of Mattel’s headquarters on Tuesday to unfurl a banner saying Barbie packaging contributes to rainforest destruction.
The massive pink-and-blue sign on the Mattel building in El Segundo, outside Los Angeles, featured a frowning Ken declaring: “Barbie, it’s over. I don’t date girls that are into deforestation.”
Hot weather causes heat warnings, buckled roads
CHICAGO (Reuters) – In Minnesota, a state legendary for its cold winters, the heat and humidity is so high this week that highway pavement was buckling in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s across the country’s mid-section Tuesday caused cities like St. Louis and Detroit to open cooling centers for overheated residents. Cincinnati’s fire department sent out extra personnel on calls, so commanders could rotate out exhausted teams.
Wall Street adds to losing streak after Bernanke speaks
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks extended a losing streak for a fifth day on Tuesday on mounting concerns about the economy after bearish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The market, which started off on a positive note after the S&P 500 hit a two-month low in the previous session, reversed course to turn negative after Bernanke started speaking. He acknowledged a slowdown in the economy, but offered no suggestion the central bank is considering any further monetary stimulus to support growth.
Bill Clinton: universal health coverage saves money
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former President Bill Clinton said the United States could save more than $1 trillion a year by adopting any other advanced nation’s healthcare system.
He also said there are important advances included in President Obama’s healthcare reforms and urged that it be improved upon rather than repealed.
“Our healthcare system has gotten all out of whack,” Clinton said in a speech on Tuesday at the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference, stressing the need to bring inflation in healthcare costs back in line with economic inflation.
Anti-abortion amendments added to proposed Ohio budget bill
COLUMBUS (Reuters) – Two amendments restricting abortions in public hospitals and clinics were added to the Ohio Senate’s proposed budget bidon Tuesday, a day before lawmakers are set to vote on it.
The amendments would restrict public hospitals and clinics that receive state funding from performing abortions and prevent anyone who is on a publicly subsidized health care plan from using their insurance coverage to pay for abortions.
Titanic II sinks in harbour on maiden voyage
LONDON (AFP) – Most people would think twice before buying a boat named Titanic II. And sure enough, when Briton Mark Wilkinson took the 16-foot (4.8-metre) cabin cruiser out for its maiden voyage, it promptly sank.
“If it wasn’t for the harbourmaster I would have gone down with the Titanic,” Wilkinson, who had to be fished out of the sea at West Bay harbour in Dorset, told local media.
Injured Tiger Woods pulls out of U.S. Open
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tiger Woods has ruled himself out of next week’s U.S. Open because of injury, he announced on Tuesday.
The 14-time major winner hurt his left knee and Achilles tendon during the Masters at Augusta in April and said he was withdrawing from the U.S. Open at Congressional in Maryland because he did not want to risk further damage.
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