Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqNmGhkZmDabPY6536RwUgt9YN5RLe38Ng77dEZ0Y_s4qxD2QoHpxD15AVhqNjiuwGKVXoWmNockUXoWtX-iYYzjZ3SikXY8oczDEAVT6nC1OPS06tpyuCWgSB7kd5-VRz_2ojdqEWcg/s1600/n-BARACK-OBAMA-BILL-CLINTON-large570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday" border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqNmGhkZmDabPY6536RwUgt9YN5RLe38Ng77dEZ0Y_s4qxD2QoHpxD15AVhqNjiuwGKVXoWmNockUXoWtX-iYYzjZ3SikXY8oczDEAVT6nC1OPS06tpyuCWgSB7kd5-VRz_2ojdqEWcg/s400/n-BARACK-OBAMA-BILL-CLINTON-large570.jpg" title="Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/obama-clinton-to-launch-healthcare.html">Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday</a></h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> President Barack Obama will turn to his unofficial "secretary of explaining stuff," former President Bill Clinton, on Tuesday to help with a final push to extol the benefits of U.S. healthcare reform before new insurance exchanges go live on October 1.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Obama, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, will meet with his most recent Democratic predecessor at the Clinton Global Initiative, a conference where the two men will talk about Obama's healthcare reform law, which Republicans continue to try to repeal.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> A White House official noted that the conversation will take place one week before the new exchanges open, which the White House says will allow millions of Americans who do not have insurance to sign up for plans that fit their budgets.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The event also comes one day after the 20th anniversary of Clinton's call for healthcare reform in a speech to Congress.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Clinton's effort to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system while president, spearheaded by his wife, former first lady Hillary Clinton, failed in Congress, dealing them a major political blow. But it called attention to the plight of millions of Americans who did not have insurance.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> That history will set the stage for Tuesday's event.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "The format of their conversation is designed to foster an enthusiastic and candid discussion between our current president and the last president to make tackling healthcare a priority, who share a deep passion for improving the quality and cost of care for American families and businesses," a White House official said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Hillary Clinton, who is a potential presidential candidate in 2016 and served as secretary of state during Obama's first term, will introduce the two men.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Obama dubbed the former president his "secretary of explaining stuff" during the 2012 campaign. Clinton's aggressive outreach on behalf of Obama is credited with helping him vanquish Republican candidate Mitt Romney and win re-election.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Obama's attendance at the Clinton Global Initiative is also a boost for the Clintons. The couple could seek his backing if Hillary Clinton decides to run for president in three years.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> HIGHLIGHTING BENEFITS</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Republicans say the law will hurt the U.S. economy and give government too great a hand in its citizens' healthcare choices.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would fund the U.S. government only if the law is ransacked.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Democrats - including Clinton and Obama - are trying to refute that criticism.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "Their conversation is expected to highlight how the healthcare law is creating more choice, competition and affordability for American consumers, how partnerships with the private sector are helping make it work, and how and why access to quality, affordable healthcare is a global priority for citizens abroad, as well as here at home," the White House official said of the planned chat between Obama and Bill Clinton.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The White House has enlisted the former president already this month to help pitch the law to Americans, many of whom remain skeptical or confused by it.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> During a speech earlier this month, Bill Clinton made the case that Americans would be better off with the law, dubbed Obamacare, and urged opponents to make the best of it.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The White House said the Clinton-Obama discussion on Tuesday would kick off a six-month public awareness campaign about the law, coinciding with the October-March period during which Americans can sign up for new healthcare options.</div> </div> </div>

Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday President Barack Obama will turn to his unofficial "secretary of exp...

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The upshot of the German election

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJua1AZaJHyobUZCeR7wAyA_SIu0zN-4MnmjWXzMW75_2mSHDaD8lX4oFhWwpoPoecHxLNUq69Qn-QJiocGu7pa6Ypfay_rv0okNlZfltRrJja90DxPcfpMPr1Wtj1UpT4bqHBUWX_zo/s1600/The+upshot+of+the+German+election.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The upshot of the German election" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJua1AZaJHyobUZCeR7wAyA_SIu0zN-4MnmjWXzMW75_2mSHDaD8lX4oFhWwpoPoecHxLNUq69Qn-QJiocGu7pa6Ypfay_rv0okNlZfltRrJja90DxPcfpMPr1Wtj1UpT4bqHBUWX_zo/s400/The+upshot+of+the+German+election.jpg" title="The upshot of the German election" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/the-upshot-of-german-election.html">The upshot of the German election</a></h2> <div> <div> People across crisis-weary Europe looked toward Germany on Sunday, as Chancellor Angela Merkel won re-election in a landslide. The victory cements her position as the most important leader in the European Union and the most powerful woman in the world.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Merkel’s popularity secured her conservative Christian Democrats their best result in 23 years (41.5 percent), as voters gave her credit for steering Germany away from the economic troubles affecting much of the rest of the continent.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> “It was a strong vote to take responsibility in Germany, but also in Europe and the world,” the 59-year-old Merkel said at a press conference in Berlin on Monday.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Though she easily romped to a third term, Merkel will not be able to continue her center-right coalition of the past four years after her junior partners, the Free Democrats (FDP), failed to win seats in parliament for the first time ever. Once the kingmakers of post-war German politics, the FDP imploded as voters rejected the party’s unabashed free-market and pro-business ideology in the wake of the global financial crisis. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> That means Merkel’s conservatives will have to tack leftward to attract either the center-left Social Democrats or environmentalist Greens into government.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Those developments, along with the rise of an upstart party skeptical toward Europe (more about that in a moment) were among the biggest surprises in an election campaign Merkel dominated from the start.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Her strong electoral mandate makes Germany’s chancellor central to resolving Europe’s economic crisis and a crucial partner for achieving President Barack Obama’s foreign policy aims.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Yahoo News takes a look at the most important ramifications of the German vote:</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> 1. Angela Merkel is now Europe’s de facto boss. From alleviating the eurozone’s woes to hammering out a transatlantic free-trade deal, nothing important will get done without her. Obama is sure to have her number on the White House speed dial this morning.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> 2. Keenly aware of its troubled history, Germany has only reluctantly become the dominant political power in Europe. Merkel’s increased profile means Berlin is sure to have more global responsibility thrust upon it ― regardless of whether the German government wants it or not. After leaving close allies Britain and France in the lurch during their military intervention in Libya and recently rejecting a U.S. call for a strike in Syria, Germany will have a harder time trying to pretend it’s an oversized Switzerland.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> 3. Europe just became a little more German. The chancellor’s commanding re-election has also given her the political capital to take a more flexible approach toward solving Europe’s debt crisis. But in line with Merkel’s cautious nature, she probably won’t change course much. Assuming her conservatives form a grand coalition with the Social Democrats, Germany might put a bit more emphasis on stimulating growth in Europe. Another Greek bailout may be in the offing, but don’t expect debt mutualization through Eurobonds. And her austerity drive ― so hated in countries from Greece to Spain ― is here to stay.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> 4. The election also raised the specter of growing anti-European sentiment in Germany. A populist upstart party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), only narrowly missed the five percent hurdle to win seats in parliament. The surprising result showed, however, that calls to ditch the euro, Europe’s single currency, can win German votes. Merkel now has four years to get the eurozone’s economic house in order. Otherwise, mainstream German politics could become decidedly more antagonistic toward the euro specifically and Europe in general. The euro-skeptical AfD will almost certainly do well in next year’s European Parliament election, ensuring its role as Germany’s political gadfly.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> 5. Finally, flipping the bird will not help get you elected in Germany. Peer Steinbrück’s ill-fated bid to oust Merkel will ultimately be remembered for its countless gaffes, including the Social Democrat sarcastically posing for a national magazine while making a vulgar gesture with his middle finger.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

The upshot of the German election People across crisis-weary Europe looked toward Germany on Sunday, as Chancellor Angela Merkel won ...

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How to get young people to buy Obamacare?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCeNfPCI_FCF0I9Stq_XYMiG-9DNwoIOt8KymTAiVJ4LQtrVZ5tKEpF74PB3Z_2X0c19hHq5D8_tVopFO3jnSr4eadvP-Jd0aiX_thXEn1F-21bixyIQ1FmJP-J02TWTogQuyZkNbGnNU/s1600/How+to+get+young+people+to+buy+Obamacare+Target+their+moms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="How to get young people to buy Obamacare? " border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCeNfPCI_FCF0I9Stq_XYMiG-9DNwoIOt8KymTAiVJ4LQtrVZ5tKEpF74PB3Z_2X0c19hHq5D8_tVopFO3jnSr4eadvP-Jd0aiX_thXEn1F-21bixyIQ1FmJP-J02TWTogQuyZkNbGnNU/s400/How+to+get+young+people+to+buy+Obamacare+Target+their+moms.jpg" title="How to get young people to buy Obamacare? " width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/how-to-get-young-people-to-buy-obamacare.html">How to get young people to buy Obamacare? </a></h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> The Obama administration and a number of nonprofit groups think they have a potent weapon for convincing young “invincibles” to pony up money for health insurance: moms.</div> <br /> <div> <br /></div> <div> Health insurance exchanges set up under President Barack Obama’s health care reform law open for enrollment Oct. 1, and in order for the exchanges to survive, millions of young adults under the age of 35 need to purchase insurance through them.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> “There’s absolutely nobody more trusted than mom,” said Jessica Barbara Brown, a spokeswoman for Enroll America, one of the largest nonprofit groups working to get people educated about and signed up for health insurance when the exchanges open. An estimated 2.5 million young adults must sign up during the six-month enrollment period in order to offset the costs of older, sicker adults who need insurance. Federal subsidies that also are a part of the law will make insurance affordable for the first time for many.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> It might seem counterintuitive that adults, many of whom have left home and started their own families, would be convinced by their aging parents to buy health insurance. But research shows that today’s 20 and 30-somethings — sometimes referred to as “millennials” — are closer to their parents than were adults from earlier generations and still rely on them for important career and other decisions. (This characterization can lead to mockery, as can be seen in the comment section of a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled “Should you bring mom and dad to the office?”)</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> This same conclusion led AARP, the organization that represents people aged 50 and older, to take a two-pronged approach in educating its membership about the health care law. It created a comprehensive website that guides its younger members not yet covered by Medicare through their insurance options and also another website filled with humorous e-cards that members can use to prod their adult children into signing up.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> “We thought, OK, they’re the biggest influencers in their child’s lives, so how do we get our members who have older children to make them consider buying health insurance, some for the very first time,” said Andres Castillo, who is directing the AARP’s outreach efforts.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The AARP created two e-card sites — one in English and the other in Spanish. The English site is called “mom means it” and the Spanish site is called “your mom knows.”</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> “Starting Oct. 1, your big kid(s) will have new health insurance options,” the AARP site says. “Remind them to check out their choices. And they’ll make Mom, Dad, even Grammy oh so proud!”</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> One of the e-cards features an image of an engagement ring and the words “Get health insurance so I can stop pestering you to sign up … and start pressuring you to get married.” Another says, “The Bank of Mom and Dad may be closed. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get help paying for health insurance.”</div> <div> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3PYyzyRoWDOp-FUTLYmd-0ZMWYdP8Lj13LG9e8DAQDocuPVwr5Hz3KkKS2JHlG4ubBGmlyUU6wx5TwIPInTHimUq9Gm7KOYgdtAaxqVYMlnMPXvD5B4DrxH7mLrXtpfT0-dv9Sg8uFI/s1600/How+to+get+young+people+to+buy+Obamaca+Target+their+moms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="How to get young people to buy Obamacare? " border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3PYyzyRoWDOp-FUTLYmd-0ZMWYdP8Lj13LG9e8DAQDocuPVwr5Hz3KkKS2JHlG4ubBGmlyUU6wx5TwIPInTHimUq9Gm7KOYgdtAaxqVYMlnMPXvD5B4DrxH7mLrXtpfT0-dv9Sg8uFI/s320/How+to+get+young+people+to+buy+Obamaca+Target+their+moms.jpg" title="How to get young people to buy Obamacare? " width="320" /></a></div> <div> While Castillo says the group’s main goal is to educate and enroll AARP members who are between 50 and 64 years old — and thus not yet eligible for Medicare — he adds that the group also is very invested in making sure younger people enter the system so exchanges don’t collapse under the weight of older and sicker people.</div> </div> <div> <div> Meanwhile, the White House has helped coordinate efforts with groups such as Funny or Die, an online video site, which is creating Web videos encouraging young people to sign up for the exchanges. Celebrities and pop stars also are planning to encourage adults to sign up via Twitter and other social media sites.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> But Filipic stressed that it’s a misconception that young people aren’t interested in being insured, pointing to a June Kaiser Family Foundation poll that found that 70 percent of adults under the age of 30 said having health insurance is “very important” to them. This polling suggests their job might not be so hard after all.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> But the same poll unearthed a less encouraging data point: Only half of these young people said they were aware that health care reform was the law in the first place.</div> </div> </div>

How to get young people to buy Obamacare?  The Obama administration and a number of nonprofit groups think they have a potent weapo...

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House sends government spending bill to the Senate without Obamacare funding

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDv9UCDns4oNYrz5SGmDP2GFuMInUYAC6pAmoA9IaXwS3Vnlo44OL8-vYI_xpb4pmD85I_NyvPyCfD_-wLIphQH82B5MjoddApN7W0zy6J_siIVkbM9b-zm6L47RQg9iLwXIf0YUcCpY/s1600/House+sends+government+spending+bill+to+the+Senate+without+Obamacare+funding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="House sends government spending bill to the Senate without Obamacare funding" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDv9UCDns4oNYrz5SGmDP2GFuMInUYAC6pAmoA9IaXwS3Vnlo44OL8-vYI_xpb4pmD85I_NyvPyCfD_-wLIphQH82B5MjoddApN7W0zy6J_siIVkbM9b-zm6L47RQg9iLwXIf0YUcCpY/s400/House+sends+government+spending+bill+to+the+Senate+without+Obamacare+funding.jpg" title="House sends government spending bill to the Senate without Obamacare funding" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House sends government spending bill to the Senate without Obamacare funding</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/house-sends-government-spending-bill-to.html">House sends government spending bill to the Senate without Obamacare funding</a></h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> The House on Friday approved a bill to temporarily fund the government that would strip funding for the 2010 federal health care law known as Obamacare, a move that will set up a showdown with the Senate next week that could result in a government shutdown. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The bill, which Democrats in the Senate plan to reject in its current form, would set spending levels at $986.3 billion through Dec. 15. Congress must pass a bill to set federal funding levels, known as a continuing resolution (CR) by Oct. 1, or the government will partially close. House Republicans see the mandatory deadline as a final opportunity to cripple the 3-year-old health care law. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The bill passed largely along party lines. Only two Democrats, Reps. Jim Matheson of Utah and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, voted for the CR.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> While conservatives in the House see the passage of the bill as a victory, the celebration will be short-lived. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid intends to strip out the part of the bill that defunds the health care law when the upper chamber takes up the measure next week. In a statement Thursday, President Barack Obama vowed to veto any CR that does not include funding for the law.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The move by House Republicans comes amid a fierce internal party battle over how to tackle the Affordable Care, a law that was found constitutional by the Supreme Court in 2012. For months, Republican leaders resisted calls from conservative members in the House and Senate to use the CR as a vehicle to defund the law, but they relented this week by announcing that the bill sent to the Senate would not include funding for the law. They preferred, instead, to seek a delay of the law's individual mandate to purchase health insurance by tying it to a vote to raise the federal government's borrowing limit.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

House sends government spending bill to the Senate without Obamacare funding House sends government spending bill to the Senate withou...

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Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIJ6DHXnSJSROobxcwdOefKdVtdvUBe8VaPhbYt8x0SgP-yxPfbTy7J2ZvjTKmpyb9XZifTnJFBU_Gb86jgqCt2zrt5Ac0a3CrPrlmXyMdRGmCmf43FeLrJ88Qbh8jbO_Ghi5kn_SqKwQ/s1600/2013-09-23T054128Z_1_CDEE98M0FT500_RTROPTP_2_SYRIA-CRISIS-ASSAD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution" border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIJ6DHXnSJSROobxcwdOefKdVtdvUBe8VaPhbYt8x0SgP-yxPfbTy7J2ZvjTKmpyb9XZifTnJFBU_Gb86jgqCt2zrt5Ac0a3CrPrlmXyMdRGmCmf43FeLrJ88Qbh8jbO_Ghi5kn_SqKwQ/s400/2013-09-23T054128Z_1_CDEE98M0FT500_RTROPTP_2_SYRIA-CRISIS-ASSAD.JPG" title="Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/syrias-assad-slams-western-powers-on-un.html">Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution</a></h2> <div> Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denounced the United States, France and Britain for submitting a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council to place Syrian chemical weapons under international control, saying they were fighting an "imaginary enemy".</div> <div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Assad, who was interviewed by China's state television CCTV in Damascus, the Syrian capital, said he was not concerned about the draft resolution and that China and Russia would "ensure any excuse for military action against Syria will not stand."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> An article posted on the CCTV website on Monday quoted Assad as saying, "I am not concerned. Since its independence, Syria has been committed to all the treaties it has signed. We will honor everything that we have agreed to do.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "And more importantly, I want to say, by submitting the draft to the U.N. Security Council, or by urging the U.S. and Russia to agree on a deal, the U.S., France, and Britain are just trying to make themselves winners in a war against a Syria which is their imaginary enemy."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Russia and the United States brokered the deal to put Assad's chemical arms stockpiles under international control to avert possible U.S. military strikes that Washington said would punish Assad for a poison gas attack last month.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Washington has blamed Assad's forces for the attack, which it said killed more than 1,400 people. Assad blamed rebels battling to overthrow him, saying it made no sense for his forces to use chemical weapons when they were gaining the upper hand and while U.N. chemical inspectors were staying in central Damascus.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Under the U.S.-Russian deal, Assad must account for his chemical weapons stockpiles within a week and see them destroyed by the middle of next year.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Envoys from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - met last Thursday for a third straight day to discuss a draft resolution Western powers hope will make the deal legally binding.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Russia, a key ally of Assad, is unhappy with the draft's references to possible punitive measures against Syria under Article 7 of the U.N. charter, which talks about U.N. authorization for sanctions and military force.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> In the interview, Assad said gunmen could hinder the access of chemical weapons inspectors to sites where the weapons were stored and made.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> He added, "We know that these terrorists are obeying the orders of other countries and these countries do drive these terrorists to commit acts that could get the Syrian government blamed for hindering this agreement."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Asked whether Syria had lots of chemical weapons, Assad said: "Syria has been manufacturing chemical weapons for decades so it's normal for there to be large quantities in the country.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "We are a nation at war, we've got territories that have been occupied for more than 40 years, but in any case, the Syrian army is trained to fight using conventional weapons."</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Separately, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that China was willing to send experts to help in the Syrian chemical weapons destruction process, and reiterated that a political solution was the only way to solve the crisis in Syria.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Saturday Syria had handed over information about its chemical weapons arsenal, meeting the first deadline of the disarmament operation.</div> </div> </div>

Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denounced the United States, France a...

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Egypt recall envoys in wake of violence

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8V-RD5SOA8rXzK6yAs-mpW-64n6LNsIqB4T5Rk2nArvcTTUnR34-8_O-1_1aUI_SByNWwN9CDJWM3AgGXbs99sogJhHyCDKdLKsMScUtmZIyHxus9EGCuAoONShemBBYyqW8JiPcI7_15/s1600/Egypt+recall+envoys+in+wake+of+violence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Egypt News, protest world news, latest news, top news" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8V-RD5SOA8rXzK6yAs-mpW-64n6LNsIqB4T5Rk2nArvcTTUnR34-8_O-1_1aUI_SByNWwN9CDJWM3AgGXbs99sogJhHyCDKdLKsMScUtmZIyHxus9EGCuAoONShemBBYyqW8JiPcI7_15/s400/Egypt+recall+envoys+in+wake+of+violence.jpg" title="Egypt News, protest world news, latest news, top news" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/egypt-recall-envoys-in-wake-of-violence.html">Egypt recall envoys in wake of violence</a></h2> <br /> Turkey's president called the violence in Egypt a "shame for Islam and the Arab world" Friday after the two countries recalled their ambassador<br /> s. Meanwhile, hundreds of Turks marched to denounce the crackdown on supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.<br /> <br /> More than 600 people died when riot police backed by armored vehicles, snipers and bulldozers on Wednesday smashed two sit-ins in Cairo where Morsi's supporters had been camped out for six weeks to demand his reinstatement.<br /> <br /> On Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Egyptian leaders should stand trial for the military's move against the sit-ins. Hours later, the two countries announced they were recalling their ambassadors for consultations.<br /> <br /> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/egypt-recall-envoys-in-wake-of-violence.html">Egypt recall envoys in wake of violence</a></h3> <div> Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party had strongly backed Morsi — a leading figure in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood — as an example for the Arab world of a democratically elected pro-Islamic leader. It has criticized his July 3 ouster by Egypt's military, while also criticizing the West for what it has deemed an anemic response to an apparent coup.</div> <br /> Turkish President Abdullah Gul voiced more criticism Friday.<br /> <br /> "I deeply feel the pain for every single Egyptian that was killed," Gul said, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. "All that happened in Egypt is a shame for Islam and the Arab world."<br /> <br /> Egypt's Foreign Ministry had summoned Turkey's ambassador to Cairo, Huseyin Avni Botsali, as a result of Turkish criticisms. But Gul rejected accusations that Turkey was interfering in Egypt's internal affairs.<br /> <br /> "Turkey's warnings should be seen not as meddling in internal affairs, but as the sadness felt by a friend, the shock it experienced and as efforts to draw attention and to help," Gul said.</div>

Egypt recall envoys in wake of violence Turkey's president called the violence in Egypt a "shame for Islam and the Arab world...

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Florida lawmakers agree to hearings on 'Stand Your Ground' law

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVHCvL-19Bms8wURXpXzYAY6R-08teFzfOKVcRekijY8O0n81U2lpcXL49cXAKG7RgOATXafeRAKCgb_glzPg-uxbHXhaIOhxZB_PJactuo0-B2PNT4JoBkopFIepdKRhKl4uK7CCW3dI/s1600/lawmakesr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Florida lawmakers agree to hearings on 'Stand Your Ground' law" border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVHCvL-19Bms8wURXpXzYAY6R-08teFzfOKVcRekijY8O0n81U2lpcXL49cXAKG7RgOATXafeRAKCgb_glzPg-uxbHXhaIOhxZB_PJactuo0-B2PNT4JoBkopFIepdKRhKl4uK7CCW3dI/s400/lawmakesr.jpg" title="Florida lawmakers agree to hearings on 'Stand Your Ground' law" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Florida lawmakers agree to hearings on 'Stand Your Ground' law</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/florida-lawmakers-agree-to-hearings-on.html">Florida lawmakers agree to hearings on 'Stand Your Ground' law</a></h2>  Florida lawmakers will hold hearings this fall on the state's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law, which has become a lightning rod for criticism following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.<br /> <br /> The announcement on Friday by Will Weatherford, the speaker of Florida's House of Representatives, marked the biggest concession yet by the state's Republican leaders to protesters' demands for a top-to-bottom review of the law, which allows people in fear of serious injury to use deadly force to defend themselves rather than retreat.<br /> <br /> Since Zimmerman's acquittal on July 13, Martin's grieving parents, backed by African-American civic leaders, celebrities, students and political figures, including President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, have all said the Stand Your Ground law needs to be re-examined.<br /> <br /> Weatherford, in an opinion column published in the Tampa Tribune, said he had asked Representative Matt Gaetz, a fellow Republican who chairs the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, to lead the hearings. Weatherford did not set a date for the hearings or say how long they would last.<br /> <br /> "Across Florida, representatives are receiving calls, letters, visits and emails from constituents with diverse opinions on 'Stand Your Ground,'" Weatherford said. "Passions are high, but every person has the right to express their views on this matter of great importance."<br /> <br /> "It's a critical step," said Phillip Agnew, who heads a group of young demonstrators calling themselves the Dream Defenders who have staged a nearly month-long sit-in outside Governor Rick Scott's office in a bid to change the law. "We're excited about having an open debate," he told Reuters.<br /> <br /> Advocates of the law, the first of its kind in<br /> the country and now copied in more than 20 other states, say violent crime has fallen since it was enacted.<br /> <br /> But critics see the self-defense law as emblematic of racial bias and unequal justice in America, since some studies have shown that defense claims made under the law are far more likely to be successful when the victim is black.<br /> <br /> Two of the six jurors in the Zimmerman case have said the Stand Your Ground law left them with no option but to acquit him.<br /> <br /> "Our evaluation of its (the law's) effectiveness should be guided by objective information, not by political expediency," Weatherford wrote.<br /> <br /> The poll found that a strong majority of white voters and men support the laws, while black voters generally oppose them and women are almost evenly divided.</div>

Florida lawmakers agree to hearings on 'Stand Your Ground' law Florida lawmakers agree to hearings on 'Stand Your Ground...

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Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrwTchCRhS8dEzsYBCb2MdB1pM56ud4BfTtFqvHrj6fEWgGDyaHAsge4GXJ-upMbuhZDK9dccc3zoKMr56gLI-X-YRkrjqsoytzo_5xo2rbEsQe30RzuFL_DJlNxLYB0TeSYCRjKKSMA/s1600/updates+news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech" border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrwTchCRhS8dEzsYBCb2MdB1pM56ud4BfTtFqvHrj6fEWgGDyaHAsge4GXJ-upMbuhZDK9dccc3zoKMr56gLI-X-YRkrjqsoytzo_5xo2rbEsQe30RzuFL_DJlNxLYB0TeSYCRjKKSMA/s400/updates+news.jpg" title="Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/hezbollah-leader-slams-israel-in-rare.html">Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech</a></h2> Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding on Friday to deliver his first major speech in years, addressing a rally in his southern Beirut stronghold in support of the Palestinian conflict against Israel.<br /> <br /> "Israel poses a danger on all people of this region...including Lebanon, and removing it is a Lebanese national interest," Nasrallah told hundreds of supporters in his half-hour speech.<br /> <br /> The charismatic Shi'ite cleric has lived mainly in the shadows, fearing assassination, since Hezbollah fought an inconclusive month-long war with Israel in 2006.<br /> <br /> His last major speech came a month after that conflict, when he declared victory in front of thousands of supporters. Since then, he has made occasional and brief public appearances - most recently last September - but no lengthy public address.<br /> <br /> Hezbollah emerged in the 1980s as the most prominent Lebanese faction fighting Israel's occupation of south Lebanon, but in recent months has lent its military support to President Bashar al-Assad's battle against Syrian rebels.<br /> <br /> The militant group helped Assad's forces recapture the Syrian border town from the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels, an intervention which sharply escalated sectarian tension in Lebanon, where most Sunnis support the anti-Assad rebels.<br /> <br /> Nasrallah said Hezbollah's enemies, including the United States, Israel and Britain, were trying to exploit the political tensions to drive a wedge between the Shi'ites and the rest of the region to marginalize their role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<br /> <br /> "We want to say to every enemy and every friend...we the Shi'ites of the world will not abandon Palestine, the Palestinian people or the sacred sites in Palestine," Nasrallah said, to loud cheers of support.<br /> <br /> Security was heightened in the southern Beirut suburb where Nasrallah spoke, with gunmen stationed at intersections leading to the hall where he delivered his address. Buses were parked across the streets to prevent access to all but pedestrians.<br /> <br /> The precautions were not academic. A huge car bomb hit the same Beirut district a month ago, two blocks from where Nasrallah was speaking, wounding 53 people.<br /> <br /> Nasrallah was speaking on the occasion of Jerusalem Day, marked each year on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in accordance with a tradition established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late ruler of Iran and an</div>

Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassa...

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Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEAJQDjRfJpr_fWyfsKAWiomT7ZxuTssntvt3HtO-5rZG5by1SZCr4ye85R3Haeo642_a8PhGGOpNRowaVSOnLT7d2KPvsGTJ-ELSVq9tQdZwsQDTsWyeSWh2wIbIcOxCV0T-ALqBnhM/s1600/obama+news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office" border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEAJQDjRfJpr_fWyfsKAWiomT7ZxuTssntvt3HtO-5rZG5by1SZCr4ye85R3Haeo642_a8PhGGOpNRowaVSOnLT7d2KPvsGTJ-ELSVq9tQdZwsQDTsWyeSWh2wIbIcOxCV0T-ALqBnhM/s400/obama+news.jpg" title="Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/surveillance-critics-face-obama-in-oval.html">Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office</a></h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> Struggling to salvage a massive surveillance program, President Barack Obama faced congressional critics of the National Security Agency's collection of Americ<br /> ans' telephone records Thursday as snowballing concerns made new limitations on the intelligence effort appear increasingly likely.<br /> <br /> Obama and Vice President Joe Biden joined lawmakers on both sides of the issue for an Oval Office meeting designed to stem the bleeding of public support and show Obama was serious about engaging. Among the participants were the NSA's most vigorous congressional supporters — the top Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate intelligence panels — alongside its most stern critics, including Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado.<br /> <br /> The lawmakers departed the rainy White House grounds without speaking to reporters. But in interviews later, they said there was a consensus that the surveillance efforts are suffering from perception problems that have undercut trust among the American people.<br /> <br /> "There is openness to making changes," said Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.<br /> <br /> Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, top Republican on the Senate's intelligence panel and a strong NSA defender, said Obama and the lawmakers didn't agree to take specific steps but brought up a number of proposals that will be fleshed out over the August congressional recess.<br /> <br /> "A lot of ideas were thrown out," Chambliss told The Associated Press. "Nothing was concluded."<br /> <br /> Wyden, in an interview, said he and Udall had sought to convince Obama of the urgency of addressing rising concerns. He said he proposed strengthening the government's ability to get emergency authorization to collect an individual's phone records, so that pre-emptive collection of everyone's records would no longer be necessary.<br /> <br /> "I felt that the president was open to ideas — and we're going to make sure he has some," Wyden said after returning to Capitol Hill.<br /> <br /> Wyden and two Senate colleagues also unveiled legislation Thursday to overhaul the secret federal court that oversees the programs, which critics decry as largely a rubber stamp. The senators aim to make the court created under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, more adversarial by creating a special advocate who could argue for privacy during closed-door proceedings and appeal decisions. A companion bill would diversify the court's bench by ending the chief justice's sole authority to pick its judges.<br /> <br /> "These bills do not compromise national security, but they put a necessary opposing view in the FISA court and assure ideological diversity of judges," said Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. Another of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the Obama administration was receptive to the ideas, although White House officials declined to comment.<br /> <br /> <span id="goog_1920230792"></span><span id="goog_1920230793"></span><br /> Debate over the line between counterterrorism and invasion of privacy has been heating up since former government contract systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents exposing the NSA's monumental capability to sweep up data about phone and Internet use, including programs that store years of phone records on virtually every American. Snowden's revelations have prompted a national rethinking over government surveillance powers that have grown since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<br /> <br /> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <b><a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/surveillance-critics-face-obama-in-oval.html">Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office</a></b></h3> <br /> <br /> Debate over the line between counterterrorism and invasion of privacy has been heating up since former government contract systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents exposing the NSA's monumental capability to sweep up data about phone and Internet use, including programs that store years of phone records on virtually every American. Snowden's revelations have prompted a national rethinking over government surveillance powers that have grown since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<br /> <br /> The more information about the programs the government has released, the more it has fed even greater concerns about the scope of the surveillance and whether Obama's national security team has been truthful in describing it publicly in the past.<br /> <br /> After the administration on Wednesday declassified more documents about an email mining program, Wyden said they showed the government had "repeatedly made inaccurate statements to Congress" about the effectiveness in countering terrorism. And new details released about the phone records program created new fodder for critics by confirming for the first time that, when investigating one suspected terrorist, the government can also examine records of people who called people who called the targeted individual — netting millions of people's records in a single request.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, the head of the NSA openly clashed with lawmakers including Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., over the agency's statements that telephone and email data collection helped foil 54 terror plots.<br /> <br /> Rising tensions have stoked concern at the White House that surveillance programs Obama considers crucial will soon be undermined or even dismantled — despite the fact that many Democrats and Republicans in Congress have come to the NSA's defense.<br /> <br /> Leahy, the Judiciary Committee chairman, has threatened to seek to end the phone records program if it's not proven effective. And Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., signaled Thursday that unless an agreement is reached on releasing more of the secret court's opinions, he would push Congress to use its "power of the purse" to compel their disclosure by withholding funding for certain programs.</div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office Struggling to salvage a massive surv...

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U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiah3Mmjz-iP-OHN3SyAfCFGAXvRst1ntp9qtN3J9f510BtZWKXomFp0xtZHaK9MBZSl63l8aMNWdsQC6hGxrwrXSqEXQ2VeH-1ZW7lZfsujpl73TjcsQA_wQh_rNHcZXfyvqS2e_d78jU/s1600/US-Marines-Afghanistan--T-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiah3Mmjz-iP-OHN3SyAfCFGAXvRst1ntp9qtN3J9f510BtZWKXomFp0xtZHaK9MBZSl63l8aMNWdsQC6hGxrwrXSqEXQ2VeH-1ZW7lZfsujpl73TjcsQA_wQh_rNHcZXfyvqS2e_d78jU/s400/US-Marines-Afghanistan--T-001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <h1 class="headline" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha</h1> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha</h3> <div> U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will meet the Taliban next week in talks in Doha aimed at achieving peace in Afghanistan, where the United States has battled Taliban insurgents for 12 years, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, but warned that the process will likely be lengthy.</div> <div> U.S. officials said the Taliban will issue a statement Tuesday opposing the use of Afghan soil for attacks on other countries and that they support an Afghan peace process.</div> <div> The United States will insist the Taliban break ties with Al Qaeda, end violence, and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities, the officials told reporters in a conference call.</div> <div> "This is but the first step in what will be a long road," one U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.</div> </div> </div>

U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha U.S. to hold Afghan peace ...

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