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Monday, July 29, 2013

Weiner's campaign manager in NY mayoral race quits

NEW YORK (AP) ? Anthony Weiner's campaign manager has quit after the New York City mayoral candidate admitted to additional raunchy online correspondence with women.

Weiner spokeswoman Barbara Morgan confirmed a report Saturday that campaign manager Danny Kedem has resigned. She had no further comment.

The New York Times reported that Kedem told Weiner he did not want to oversee the campaign after Weiner acknowledged that he continued to send lewd photos to women after resigning from Congress in 2011.

Weiner was forced to discuss his online behavior after a gossip website printed excerpts of conversations Weiner had with Indiana college student Sydney Leathers last summer.

Weiner apologized and promised that the "behavior is behind me."

He later admitted that he traded racy messages with at least three women since leaving office.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/weiners-campaign-manager-ny-mayoral-race-quits-141232107.html

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In a market where 44% of college graduates are unemployed or underemployed, some...

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UK troops briefly return to Helmand

LONDON ? Britain confirmed Sunday it briefly sent troops back to a bloody district of Helmand Province to assist Afghan forces, raising further questions about Afghan readiness to maintain security after NATO forces withdraw.

The Ministry of Defense said 80 British military advisers traveled back to Sangin district this month to assist 2,000 Afghan soldiers with an eight-day operation to clear Taliban insurgents.

More than 100 British troops died in Sangin during several years of operations there, and U.K. forces handed off control of the district in 2010.

Because the mission involved sending troops outside of their usual area of operations, it required special permission from Defense Secretary Philip Hammond.

The defense ministry downplayed the U.K. involvement, saying its troops ?do on occasion? operate outside their usual area in central Helmand.

?Such out of area operations have been a long standing element of the U.K. mission in Afghanistan and are not an indication of a deteriorating security situation in any particular area,? it said in a statement. ?The concept is neither new nor novel.?

It said the advisers from 4th Battalion the rifles lent tactical support to soldiers from the Afghan National Army?s 3/215 Brigade, acting ?purely in an advisory role? for a specific operation to restore security in the area.

The operation was ?in line with? British forces? current role of providing training, advice and assistance to Afghan forces, the defense ministry added.

Still, it was the first time since the international military coalition handed over lead responsibility to Afghan forces last month that foreign troops offered so much reinforcement.

The Ministry of Defense confirmed that a number of insurgents were killed in the operation, but was not able to offer exact figures.

The Sunday Times newspaper ? which first reported the operation ? put the number at 12, and said two Afghan soldiers had died.

The newspaper said it had learned of the operation earlier this month but agreed at the Ministry of Defense?s request not to publish any details until troops were safely back at Camp Bastion, their base in southern Afghanistan?s Helmand Province.

Insurgents have been increasing attacks in Helmand Province, emboldened by the withdrawal of foreign forces from the area.

By the end of the year, NATO forces in Afghanistan will be halved. At the end of 2014, all combat troops will have left and will be replaced, if approved by the Afghan government, by a much smaller force that will only train and advise the Afghans.

Source: http://www.armytimes.com/article/20130728/NEWS08/307280010

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Vice President Biden addresses troops at Pearl Harbor

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Sunday, July 28, 2013

A wrong turn in China

China's new president, Xi Jinping, appears to have concentrated his power with remarkable swiftness in recent months. "Xi has outmaneuvered his rivals, his colleagues, and even his mentors," reports the European Council on Foreign Relations. But to what end?

The early hopes that Mr. Xi would be a political reformer are vanishing. Instead, he seems determined to impose more Communist Party control on both state and society while still pursuing economic modernization. It's a familiar recipe and profoundly misguided.

On July 16, police detained one of China's most prominent human rights activists, Xu Zhiyong, who has been at the forefront of a movement to defend citizens' rights based on the constitution and rule of law. Mr. Xu, a legal scholar, is among those who believe that the best way to battle the system is to demand that it follow its own rules - and not the whims of the party. He has also been outspoken against corruption and the widespread practice of Communist officials enriching themselves with bribes and accumulating hidden wealth. The New York Times reported that he was detained in reprisal for this campaign.

The strange thing is that Mr. Xu's positions are not far from those articulated by his new president. In December, Mr. Xi gave a speech on China's constitution. He declared, "We must firmly establish, throughout society, the authority of the constitution

and the law and allow the overwhelming masses to fully believe in the law." These words heartened some reformers who thought they might signal that Mr. Xi would put less emphasis on the party and more on the rule of law.

But it has not happened. The detention of Mr. Xu suggests that the powerful machinery of Chinese state security remains on the prowl against those who challenge the party's monopoly on power. Recently, authorities issued a directive to universities, banning discussion of press freedom, judicial independence, universal values, citizens' rights, civil society cronyism and the party's historical mistakes. Thus, issues at the core of China's political black hole - a system in which the party-state stands above human dignity, freedom and rule of law - are banned. They will be discussed quietly nonetheless, but the directive is a sign of rigidity from above.

Moreover, in recent weeks Mr. Xi has been promoting still more power and prominence for the party in the nation's affairs. He has called on party members to toe a "mass line" against excess and extravagance, words that harken back to the revolutionary era of Mao. Mr. Xi seems to want to pursue economic modernization without giving an inch to its political equivalent. China's leaders like this formula, but it has always carried risks, which now may deepen. The more people taste economic good times - as hundreds of millions are doing in China today - the more they may feel empowered and entitled to a political voice. It won't happen all at once, but such aspirations can't be easily extinguished by just slamming a fist on the table, arresting more dissidents and invoking the words of Mao.

The Washington Post

Source: http://www.scsun-news.com/ci_23737030?source=rss_viewed

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Morsi investigated for murder as rival rallies take to Egypt's streets

As the atmosphere in Cairo becomes increasingly tense and combustible protesters took to the streets.? NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

At least 70 people died early Saturday when security forces attacked protesters supporting deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehan El-Haddad said according to reports.

Al-Jazeera's Egyptian TV station, meanwhile, reported much higher casualty figures in the early morning violence: 120 dead and some 4,500 injured, Reuters said. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood holds a mask of ousted president Mohammed Morsi during a rally near Rabaa Adawiya square in Cairo on Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of people took part in rival political rallies in various Egyptian cities on Friday, and at least 274 people were injured, officials said.

Both supporters of the army and Morsi backers had announced they would be protesting Friday and warned there could be bloodshed. Army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged Egyptians earlier in the week to hold rallies to give the military a ?mandate? to confront weeks of violence caused by his July 3 overthrow of Morsi, Reuters reported.

"Sisi out! Morsi is president! Down with the army!" a gigantic crowd of Morsi protesters, who were holding a sit-in protests around?Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, chanted, reported the BBC.

Morsi, who was elected by a narrow margin in June 2012 in the country's first democratic vote, has been hidden from the public since he was ejected from power. On Friday, Mena news agency reported he would be detained for 15 days while a judge investigated allegations against him. This is his first formal detention since he was ousted, Al Jazeera reported.

Hussein Malla / AP

Days of massive protests and a military ultimatum forced the country's first democratically elected president from office.

According to Reuters, the probe stems from charges that he conspired with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to escape jail during the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, killing prisoners and officers, kidnapping soldiers, and lighting buildings on fire.

"At the end of the day, we know all of these charges are nothing more than the fantasy of a few army generals and a military dictatorship," Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said. "We are continuing our protests on the streets."

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. was "deeply concerned" by reports that Morsi had been ordered to be detained for more than two weeks.

"We of course are deeply concerned by reports that an Egyptian court has ordered the detention of Mr. Morsi," she said. "I can't speak to the specific charges, but we do believe that it is important that there be a process to work towards his release. Clearly this process should respect the personal security of him and take into account the volatile political situation in Egypt, and that's where our focus is."

A Reuters witness said thousands of pro-Morsi activists clashed with pro-army protesters in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, with some demonstrators hurling stones down on the crowds from nearby rooftops.

The army has warned it will ?turn its guns? on those who use violence in the protests, Reuters reported, while the Brotherhood has said civil war is a possibility.

On Friday morning, several hundred pro-army supporters gathered in Tahrir Square, the central rallying place two years ago for Egyptians. By night, after the evening prayer marking the end of the day?s Ramadan fast, the crowd had grown to tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, in the square, according to the BBC.

A banner across one entrance to Tahrir Square read, "The people, the source of all power, mandate the army and police to purge terrorism," the BBC said.

Pro-army demonstrations were planned throughout Egypt. Morsi backers had also announced a large amount of rallies, with 34 in the Cairo area alone, Reuters said.

Hassan Ammar / AP

Egyptian soldiers stand guard atop an armored personnel vehicle on a bridge that leads to Tahrir Square on Friday.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon called on Egyptians to protest peacefully and asked the interim leadership to ensure security, reported Al Jazeera.

But casualties appeared likely after a month in which nearly 200 people, mostly supporters of Morsi, have died, according to Al Jazeera.?

The West has become increasingly alarmed by the course the country of 84 million people has taken. Washington this week said it delayed delivery of four F-16 fighter jets to Cairo and called on the Egyptian army to exercise "maximum restraint and caution" during Friday's rallies," reported Reuters.

The U.S. has not made a determination on whether a military coup took place in Egypt, which avoids a decision on whether U.S. aid should be cut off to Egypt.

"It is not in our national interest to make such a determination," State Department spokeswoman Psaki said on Friday, adding the law didn't require that a formal determination be made.?

If the administration were to determine a coup had occurred when Morsi was ousted, the $1.5 billion of military and economic assistance the U.S. provides Egypt would be required by law to stop.?

NBC's Catherine Chomiak and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:?

This story was originally published on Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:51 PM EDT

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Obamacare contraception: Could religious exemption be headed to Supreme Court?

For-profit, secular corporations may not claim a religious exemption from providing employees with certain methods of contraception as required under President Obama?s health-care mandate, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

In a 2-to-1 decision, the panel of the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that although corporations have free speech rights under the Supreme Court?s Citizens United decision, they do not enjoy the protections of the free exercise of religion.

?We simply cannot understand how a for-profit, secular corporation ? apart from its owners ? can exercise religion,? Judge Robert Cowen wrote for the two-judge majority.

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The case is one of 60 lawsuits across the country challenging the contraceptive portion of the employer health-care mandate on religious grounds.

Last month, the full Tenth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a case involving the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores that for-profit, secular corporations can claim the protections of religious freedom.

That court upheld an injunction blocking the required provision of contraceptive methods that offended the company owners? religious beliefs.

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The sharp disagreement between the appeals court in Philadelphia and the Tenth Circuit in Denver suggests that the dispute may now be on a fast track for review at the US Supreme Court.

Friday?s decision comes in a case filed by the owners of a Pennsylvania furniture company, all members of the same family and all devout Mennonites.

The owners objected to being forced to pay for contraception methods that they consider abortifacients.

The mandate, which took effect in January, forced the owners to choose between violating their religious beliefs or facing the destruction of their business through fines of $95,000 a day.

The company, Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation, employs 950 workers. It provides a health insurance plan for employees in line with mandated health insurance coverage, but the owners objected on religious grounds to inclusion of certain kinds of contraceptives that involve destruction of a fertilized egg.

Specifically, the company owners said they considered contraceptive methods such as the morning after pill, like Plan B and ella, to trigger chemical-induced abortions.

The five owners, all members of the Hahn family, have stated that their religion teaches that life begins at conception. ?It is a sacred gift from God and only God has the right to terminate human life,? the family said in a 2012 statement.

The statement added: ?It is against our moral conviction to be involved in the termination of human life through abortion, suicide, euthanasia, murder, or any other acts that involve taking human life.?

The Obama administration does not recognize an exemption from providing the full range of government-required contraceptives.

In upholding the mandate, the appeals court said that the corporation, Conestoga, was a separate entity from its owners. ?Since Conestoga is distinct from the Hahns, the Mandate does not actually require the Hahns to do anything,? Judge Cowen wrote. ?All responsibility for complying with the Mandate falls on Conestoga.?

He added: ?It is Conestoga that must provide the funds to comply with the Mandate ? not the Hahns.?

The court said it recognized that the Hahns were the sole shareholders of the company, but that ultimately they had ?an obligation to respect the corporate form.?

In a dissent, Judge Kent Jordan said the majority judges were relegating religious liberty to second-class status.

He rejected the holding that for-profit, secular corporations do not enjoy the protections of religious faith under the First Amendment, and that those protections apply to individuals, not companies.

?To recognize that religious convictions are a matter of individual experience cannot and does not refute the collective character of much religious belief and observance,? Judge Jordan wrote.

?Religious opinions and faith are in this respect akin to political opinions and passions, which are held and exercised both individually and collectively,? he said.

Jordan also took issue with the idea that only those organizations that are specifically and exclusively dedicated to religious purposes enjoy constitutional protection in matters of faith.

?As the government and the Majority see it, religious rights are more limited than other kinds of First Amendment rights,? Jordan said. ?All groups can enjoy secular free expression and rights to assemble, but only ?religious organizations? have a right to religious liberty.?

He called the government?s position a ?power grab,? and said he would hold that Conestoga could invoke the right to religious liberty on its own behalf.

The case is Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation v. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (13-1144).

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