News Headlines
Republicans fail to overturn Obama mandate for birth control coverage; tight vote in Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an election year battle mixing birth control, religion and politics, Democrats narrowly blocked an effort by Senate Republicans to overturn President Barack Obama’s order that most employers or their insurers cover the cost of contraceptives.
The 51-48 vote on Thursday killed a measure that would have allowed employers and insurers to opt out of portions of the president’s health care law they found morally objectionable. That would have included the law’s requirement to cover the costs of birth control.
Sen. Olympia Snowe, who this week dropped her re-election bid and cited frustration with the polarized Congress, cast the lone Republican vote to block the measure. Two Democrats up for re-election and one who is retiring voted against Obama’s requirement.
Majority Democrats said the legislation would have allowed employers and insurers to avoid virtually any medical treatment with the mere mention of a moral or religious objection.
“We have never had a conscience clause for insurance companies,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Insurers, she said, don’t need an invitation to deny coverage for medical treatment. “A lot of them don’t have any consciences. They’ll take it.”
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Syrian rebels withdraw from besieged enclave in central city of Homs; Red Cross to get access
BEIRUT (AP) — After a punishing, monthlong military siege, Syrian rebels made what they called a “tactical retreat” Thursday from a key district in Homs, saying they were running low on weapons and the humanitarian conditions were unbearable.
Within hours of the rebels’ withdrawal, President Bashar Assad’s regime granted permission for the International Committee of the Red Cross to enter the neighborhood of Baba Amr, which had become a symbol of the resistance.
Human rights workers have been appealing for access for weeks to deliver food, water and medicine, and to help evacuate the wounded from an area that has been sealed off and attacked by the government since early February.
The Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent received a “green light” from the Syrian authorities to enter Baba Amr on Friday “to bring in much-needed assistance including food and medical aid, and to carry out evacuation operations,” ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan told The Associated Press in Geneva.
Also Thursday, Syria’s main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, formed a military bureau to help organize the armed resistance and funnel weapons to rebels — a sign of how deeply militarized the conflict has become over the past year.
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2 more US troops killed by Afghan partners as anti-Americanism rages following Quran burning
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two U.S. troops were gunned down by two Afghan soldiers and an accomplice Thursday, the latest of six American service members killed by their Afghan partners since the burning of Muslim holy books at a U.S. base last week sent anti-Americanism soaring in a nation that has long distrusted foreigners.
The killings come at a time when international troops have stepped up training and mentoring of Afghan soldiers, police and government workers so the Afghans can take the lead and the foreign forces go home. Success of the partnership, the focus of the U.S.-led coalition’s exit strategy, is threatened by a rising number of Afghan police and soldiers — or militants disguised in their uniforms — who are turning their guns on their foreign allies.
The latest victims were killed on a joint U.S.-Afghan base in Zhari district of southern Kandahar province by two Afghan soldiers and Afghan civilian literacy instructor who fired from a sentry tower, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. NATO forces shot and killed two of the assailants, apparently the soldiers, said Pentagon press secretary George Little.
On Feb. 25, two U.S. military advisers were found dead with shots to the back of the head inside the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul. Two U.S. troops were killed Feb. 23 by an Afghan soldier during an anti-Western protest over the Quran burning.
The U.S. apologized for the burning, saying the Islamic texts were mistakenly sent to a garbage burn pit Feb. 20 at Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul. But the incident raised what had been simmering animosity toward outsiders to a full boil. Deadly protests raged around the nation for six days — the most visible example of a deep-seated resentment bred by what Afghans view is a general lack of respect for their culture and religion.
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Election officials, voters worry about postal closures, saying the move could delay ballots
Elections officials in several states are concerned that the closing of mail-processing centers and post offices could disrupt vote-by-mail balloting this year, a potential problem that has led some members of Congress to call for a delay until after the November elections.
The U.S. Postal Service recently announced that it is moving ahead with plans to close at least 223 processing centers and thousands of post offices, adding to the 153 centers and 965 post offices that have closed since 2008. The moves are part of a wide-ranging cost-cutting strategy for an agency that estimates it will lose up to $18 billion a year by 2015.
Voting officials are raising a variety of concerns, depending on the circumstances in their states. Meanwhile, postal customers have security concerns about leaving ballots in their mail boxes to be picked up by postal carriers.
In California and Arizona, officials say the closing of processing centers could delay the delivery of mail-in ballots beyond the deadline to have them counted.
The state registrar in Ohio wrote the postmaster general with concerns about ensuring the security of ballots sent to processing centers that will be across state lines.
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7 Americans, other foreign pro-democracy workers fly out of Egypt, easing US-Egypt crisis
CAIRO (AP) — Seven Americans on trial over charges their pro-democracy groups fomented unrest flew out of Egypt Thursday after the U.S. posted nearly $5 million in bail for them and nine others who managed to leave before a travel ban was imposed.
The departure of the seven eased a deep diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Egypt that had been building for two months, following a crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights groups by the Egyptian government.
Though the Americans were safely on their way home, Washington indicated that its anger over the affair has not abated.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expressed relief that the Americans were free, but she pointedly noted that no decision has been made about U.S. aid to Egypt.
As the crisis unfolded over the past two months, furious officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, warned the $1.3 billion in military aid and $250 million in economic assistance slated for Egypt this year was in jeopardy. Nuland pointed out Thursday that the court case against the pro-democracy groups is not over.
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Md. governor signs measure legalizing gay marriage; opponents pushing ballot referendum
BELTSVILLE, Md. (AP) — With Maryland legalizing gay marriage, some conservative opponents and religious leaders are counting on members of their congregations, especially in black churches, to upend the legislation at the polls this fall.
Many African American church leaders oppose gay marriage in the liberal-leaning state that’s nearly one-third black, and President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is expected to drive many of their congregants to the polls. Opponents submitted draft language for a ballot referendum to overturn the measure just after it passed the Legislature last week.
Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the bill into law Thursday, and it takes effect in January 2013.
“Religious freedom was the very reason for our state’s founding and at the heart of religious freedom is the freedom of individual conscience,” O’Malley said just before adding his signature to the legislation.
Over the weekend, some pastors at predominantly black churches were already using their sermons to shop the referendum effort to their congregations, asking members to sign up for email alerts, put their name on petitions and overturn the law come November. The Catholic Church, which has 1.2 million parishioners in Maryland, has also openly opposed the bill.
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Ohio cops: Boy, 10, shook when asked about sex with dad, 2 other men, didn’t want to lose home
TROY, Ohio (AP) — A 10-year-old boy shook when asked about being prostituted to two other men by an adoptive father who regularly had sex with him, according to police, who said the boy was fearful of talking because he didn’t want to be taken from his home or separated from his new siblings.
The adoptive father has been charged with raping three boys in his care and compelling prostitution by hiring the 10-year-old out for sex. He and two other men remained in jail Thursday on rape charges.
Federal and local law enforcement officials said they’re widening the investigation into child sexual exploitation allegations against the father, who worked out of his home as an insurance claims adjuster. His name is being withheld by The Associated Press to protect the children’s identities.
Troy police said they impounded the father’s truck and seized four laptops from the home and a video camera and two wooden paddles from the master bedroom.
School officials said the man had recently withdrawn the three adopted children from school, saying he would home school them. A neighbor said he had no idea anything lurid might be going on in the home.
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Bristol Palin to star in Lifetime reality series about family and motherhood later this year
NEW YORK (AP) — Bristol Palin’s home life in Alaska is the subject of a reality series starring the daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Lifetime says it will air 10 episodes of “Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp” later this year. The series will explore the pressures of raising her toddler son, Tripp, as she maintains her close relationship with the larger Palin clan, the network said.
The former first daughter of Alaska, Palin became one of the nation’s most prominent single mothers after the 2008 birth of Tripp. Last summer, a reality series built around her was announced by the Bio Channel, but never aired.
In 2010, Palin was a competitor on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Last June she published a best-selling memoir.
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AT&T reacts to complaints, raises limit before slowing down service on ‘unlimited data’ plans
NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T Inc. responded to complaints that it places unreasonable limits on the “unlimited data” plans it offers smartphone subscribers.
The cellphone company said Thursday that it will slow down service for “unlimited data” subscribers after they reach 3 gigabytes of usage within a billing cycle.
The change relaxes a previous policy under which AT&T had been throttling service when subscribers entered the heaviest 5 percent of data users for that month and that area.
Under the now scuttled program, there was no way for subscribers to find out what the limit was ahead of time. AT&T would send a text message warning to people who approached the limit. The data throttling would then kick in a few days later. Thousands of subscribers complained about the policy online.
“Our unlimited plan customers have told us they want more clarity around how the program works and what they can expect,” AT&T said in a statement Thursday.
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Prosecutors: Ex-Penn State coach abused boys ages 8 to 17; most alleged assaults on campus
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A court filing Thursday by prosecutors in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case said his alleged victims ranged in age from 8 to 17, and that crimes involving eight of the boys occurred on the Penn State University campus.
The attorney general’s office issued a “bill of particulars” that said crimes involving one boy took place in Florida and Texas, while another boy was abused at his own school.
Two of the boys, identified in a grand jury report as Victim 2 and Victim 8, remain unidentified to authorities, according to the court filing.
In most cases, prosecutors said they could not provide specific dates, noting some crimes occurred over many years, and the alleged victims were children at the time.
The document, produced at the request of Sandusky’s lawyer, discloses details of the allegations that might help them prepare a defense. Prosecutors said assaults happened from 1996 to 2009 and occurred at Sandusky’s home, in State College hotels, at Penn State athletic facilities and inside a car.
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