Republican moderates hold key to ending government shutdown - Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — For most of the last two decades, Republicans such as Rep. Patrick Meehan, who represents a politically competitive district near Philadelphia, have been the odd men out in a House caucus dominated by conservatives such as those aligned with the tea party.

But with Congress' deadlock resulting in the first government shutdown in more than 17 years, Meehan and like-minded colleagues may be the ones who decide how — and when — the standoff ends.

"This whole Congress has been on Cruz control for the last two or three weeks," said Meehan, referring to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a tea party favorite. "To a certain extent, you have to let some air out of the balloon."

No matter how legislative standoffs start, they almost always end the same way: One side or the other suffers defections that force its leadership to back down. In any such fight, each side tries to find fault lines in the other's support and see whether pressure can break those fissures open.

In the current battle, conservative Republicans have forced votes on issues they hoped would cause Democratic senators from Republican-majority states to break with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada).

Democrats have hoped to divide suburban moderates such as Meehan from hard-line conservatives, who have repeatedly tried to tie money for government agencies to measures aimed at delaying or dismantling President Obama's healthcare law.

On Tuesday, as the shutdown took hold and more Republicans questioned their party's strategy, the gaps on the GOP side were clearly widening. But the party's less conservative members have shown little willingness in the past to fight the right wing. Whether they will now could determine how long the shutdown lasts.

The Republican leadership adopted a new plan to at least buy time — offering three measures that would reopen specific, popular parts of the government, including parks and veterans services.

Democrats quickly circled the wagons against the idea, and the White House threatened a veto.

"This shutdown isn't about spending or deficit or budgets," the president said at the White House. "This shutdown is about rolling back our efforts to provide health insurance to folks who don't have it. This, more than anything else, seems to be what the Republican Party stands for these days."

"People shouldn't have to choose between help for our veterans and cancer research," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). "And we shouldn't have to choose between visiting our national parks or enrolling kids in Head Start."

The GOP's bills, which came up in the House under rules requiring a two-thirds majority to pass, each failed as Democrats voted lopsidedly against them.

A striking degree of Democratic unity has confounded Republican strategies so far. In the Senate, Democrats have remained outwardly unworried about a Republican tack targeting their most politically vulnerable colleagues.

At a House GOP rally after an attempt last month to stop the healthcare law, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) singled out Democratic senators who were up for reelection in 2014 in red states.

"I want to know where Sen. Pryor stands on protecting the middle class from the consequences of this horrific bill," he said, referring to Mark Pryor, the Democratic senator from Arkansas, as Republican lawmakers assembled behind Cantor cheered.

"How about Kay Hagan in North Carolina?" he demanded to more cheers. "What about Mary Landrieu of Louisiana? ... Mark Begich of Alaska?"

Those senators all have stood with their party during the current budget impasse, knowing their earlier votes to pass the healthcare law would be used against them in next year's campaigns regardless of their votes today.

"A group of folks thought that they saw the potential to change some Democrats in the Senate. I was gung-ho to try that. We tried that a couple of times," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.). "I wish it had worked. That unfortunately was not the case. So now we need to take a step back and figure out how we move forward."

By contrast, the split among Republicans appears to be widening.

On Tuesday, Meehan was one of several who publicly urged the party leadership to pass a simple, short-term spending bill — a continuing resolution, or CR, in legislative jargon — without controversial add-ons, as the Senate did.

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White House: Israel's skepticism about Iran is 'entirely justifiable' - Jerusalem Post

Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Obama meet at the Oval Office, September 30, 2013. Photo: Koby Gideon/GPO

Israel's skepticism about Iran and its intentions is "entirely justifiable," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Tuesday, following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech at the UN General Assembly.

"As the President has said, we understand, and it is entirely justifiable, that Israel is skeptical about Iran and Iran's intentions. After all, this is a country whose leadership, until recently, was pledging to annihilate Israel. So their security concerns are understandable. Their skepticism is understandable," Carney said.

Carney said the United States shares Israel's concerns, and empathized that the US and Israel share the same goal and the same policy - that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

Having said that, Carney, who was unable to watch Netanyahu's speech, did not share his aggressive stance, and stressed the need to continue pursuing diplomacy between Iran and the P5+1 nations.

"We believe, and the President and the Prime Minister discussed this [on Monday], that we ought to pursue this diplomatic opening because the window of opportunity remains open. We've said all along that it won't remain open forever, but this opportunity is here," he said.

Carney credited the harsh sanctions imposed as Tehran as the reason to Iran's willingness to engage in talks with the international community "in a more serious way than we've seen in recent years."

"We believe that the Iranian leadership has, very publicly... changed their approach to resolving this issue with the international community," he said.

He stressed however that the seriousness of Iran's intentions will be tested in the P5+1 negotiations and whether "they meet all their obligations, and demonstrate in a convincing, verifiable, transparent way that they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon."

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Bangladesh MP Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury to hang for war crimes - BBC News

1 October 2013 Last updated at 05:12 ET

An MP for Bangladesh's main opposition party has been sentenced to death by a war crimes court for charges including murder and genocide during the 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.

Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, the first member of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) to be tried by the court, was found guilty of nine out of 23 charges.

The BNP has consistently argued that the trial is politically motivated.

Previous verdicts against Islamist leaders have been followed by protests.

The war crimes tribunal was set up by the Awami League-led government in 2010 and opposition parties have accused it of pursuing a political vendetta against its opponents.

Human rights groups have also said the tribunal falls short of international standards.

Continue reading the main story

• Civil war erupts in Pakistan, pitting the West Pakistan army against East Pakistanis demanding autonomy and later independence
• Fighting forces an estimated 10 million East Pakistani civilians to flee to India
• In December, India invades East Pakistan in support of the East Pakistani people
• Pakistani army surrenders at Dhaka and its army of more than 90,000 become Indian prisoners of war
• East Pakistan becomes the independent country of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971
• The war was devastating in its brutality but there are a range of estimates for the exact number of people killed - government figures estimate as many as three million died. Other studies suggest 300-500,000 perished.

"We will do whatever we need to do to show the world that this is a farce," the Reuters news agency quoted Chowdhury's wife, Farhat Quader Chowdhury, as saying immediately afterwards.

Security was tight in Dhaka where the verdict was heard in a packed courtroom. Chowdhury is expected to appeal against it.

But troops were also deployed to Chittagong, the home district of Chowdhury where he has been re-elected six times - and where there is likely to be anger at the verdict.

Trauma of independence

Analysts say the tribunal's verdicts have exposed profound divisions in Bangladeshi society.

Last month when the Supreme Court gave the death penalty to a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, Abdul Kader Mullah, there were demonstrations both for and against the decision.

The sentences handed down to its leaders over the last few months have unleashed a wave of unrest, pitting supporters of Jamaat against pro-government groups.

But this rupture goes back to the very origins of Bangladesh when some groups, including Islamist groups like Jamaat, opposed the struggle for independence from Pakistan.

The special court was set up in 2010 by the current Bangladeshi government to deal with those accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces who attempted to stop East Pakistan (as Bangladesh was then) from becoming an independent country.

It is trying nine Jamaat leaders and two members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party - they have always denied any role in war crimes committed by pro-Pakistan militias then.

Chowdhury is the first of those BNP members - and the first sitting MP - to be sentenced.

Prosecutors accused him of genocide, abduction, committing atrocities against Hindus and forcefully converting a number of Hindus to Islam.

During the war his father was an influential politician who worked to prevent Bangladesh breaking away. The prosecution also said that his father's residence in Chittagong was turned into a torture cell at that time.

Bangladesh government figures estimate more than three million people were killed during the war. Other researchers put the figure at between 300,000 and 500,000.

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Venezuela expels top US diplomat, 2 other envoys - Times of India

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP): President Nicolas Maduro announced on Monday the expulsion of the top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela and two other embassy employees for allegedly conspiring with the political opposition to sabotage the economy and power grid.

Maduro made the announcement during a live TV appearance and said they had 48 hours to leave the country.

"Out of Venezuela,'' the leftist leader said, then added in English: "Yankees go home.''

He did offer any details on the diplomats' alleged transgressions but said they had met with opposition and labor leaders in the southwestern state of Bolivar, is home to a number of troubled state-owned foundries and Venezuela's main hydroelectric plant.

"I don't care what actions the government of Barack Obama takes,'' Maduro said. "We're not going to permit an imperialist government to come and bring money and see how essential companies can be halted and see how to take away electricity and shut down all of Venezuela.''

The expulsions come as Venezuela's economy looks increasingly troubled during the approach to Dec. 8 municipal elections. Annual inflation is at more than 45 percent and the government is running short of foreign currency.

In naming the three diplomats, Maduro pronounced clearly the name of Kelly Keiderling, the charge d'affaires who is the top US diplomat in the country. The other two diplomats' names were less clearly enunciated.

The US embassy had not yet been officially informed of the expulsions when Maduro announced them, said Gregory Adams, its acting deputy chief of mission.

Venezuela and the United States have been without ambassadors since 2010, when the late President Hugo Chavez refused to accept a newly named US ambassador. In 2008, Chavez expelled then-US Ambassador Patrick Duddy in "solidarity'' with Bolivia, which was booting the U.S. ambassador there, but allowed him to return the following year.

Keiderling arrived at the embassy in July 2011 as deputy chief of mission after previously working in embassies including in Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Botswana, the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Interests section in Cuba.

The oil-rich OPEC member country has been plagued by worsening power outages since 2010. The opposition blames neglect and poor maintenance, while it alleges mismanagement and corruption at troubled state-owned aluminum, iron and bauxite foundries in Bolivar.

Maduro blames sabotage by the "extreme right'' for the blackouts and food shortages, but has provided no evidence. Like Chavez, he has a history of making unsubstantiated accusations against the United States and his political opponents.

Last week, Maduro said he had canceled a planned trip to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly due to an unspecified US plot. Since his April election, Maduro has claimed five attempts to assassinate him have been foiled. In no instance did he provide evidence.

The last time Venezuela expelled US diplomats was on March 5, when it ejected two military attaches for allegedly trying to destabilize the nation. That move came several hours before Maduro announced that Chavez had died of cancer.

Chavez governed Venezuela for 14 years, solidifying control of all branches of government as he won solid backing from the poor with generous social spending and blamed the United States for an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow him in 2002.

In recent years, however, Venezuela's woes have been compounded by corruption, rampant violent crime, worsening power outages and increasing shortages of food and medicines.

At the same time, Maduro's government has been accused by international human rights and press freedom groups of cracking down on free speech and independent media political activity.

An apparent thaw in US-Venezuelan relations appeared in the offing in early June after Foreign Minister Elias Jaua met with Secretary of State John Kerry.

But Maduro scuttled it after Washington's ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, accused Venezuela of a crackdown on civil society during her confirmation hearing the following month.

Maduro narrowly won election in April over opposition challenger Henrique Capriles, who claims the victory was fraudulent.

In a tweet Monday, Capriles called the expulsion of the US diplomats "pure smoke to mask that he can't handle the country.''

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US government shuts down after political deadlock - CBC.ca

Congress plunged the nation into a partial government shutdown Tuesday as a long-running dispute over U.S. President Barack Obama's health care law stalled a temporary funding bill, forcing about 800,000 federal workers off the job and suspending most non-essential federal programs and services.

The shutdown, the first since the winter of 1995-96, closed national parks, museums along the Washington Mall and the U.S. Capitol visitors centre. Agencies like NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency will be all but shuttered. People classified as essential government employees — such as air traffic controllers, Border Patrol agents and most food inspectors — will continue to work.

The health care law itself was unaffected as enrolment opened Tuesday for millions of people shopping for medical insurance.

Unclear how long standoff will last

The military will be paid under legislation freshly signed by Obama, but paychecks for other federal workers will be withheld until the impasse is broken. Federal workers were told to report to their jobs for a half-day but to perform only shutdown tasks like changing email greetings and closing down agencies' internet sites.

The self-funded Postal Service will continue to operate and the government will continue to pay Social Security benefits and Medicare and Medicaid fees to doctors on time.

The Senate twice on Monday rejected House-passed bills that, first, conditioned keeping the government open to delaying key portions of the 2010 "Obamacare" law that take effect Tuesday, and then delayed for a year the law's requirement that millions of people buy medical insurance. The House passed the last version again early Tuesday; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the same fate awaits it when the Senate reconvenes Tuesday morning.

"You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway, or just because there's a law there that you don't like," Obama said Monday, delivering a similar message in private phone calls later to Republican House Speaker John Boehner and other lawmakers.

Boehner said he didn't want a government shutdown, but added the health care law "is having a devastating impact ... Something has to be done."

It wasn't clear how long the standoff would last, but it appeared that Obama and Reid had the upper hand.

"We can't win," said Senator John McCain of Arizona, adding that "sooner or later" the House would have to agree to Democrats' demands for a simple, straightforward funding bill reopening the government.

Last shutdowns happened 17 years ago

The order directing federal agencies to "execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations" was issued by White House Budget Director Sylvia Burwell shortly before midnight Monday.

Around the same time, Obama appeared in a video message assuring members of the military they'll be paid under a law he just signed and telling civilian Defence Department employees that "you and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we're seeing in Congress."

The underlying spending bill would fund the government through Nov. 15 if the Senate gets its way or until Dec. 15 if the House does.

Until now, such bills have been routinely passed with bipartisan support, ever since a pair of shutdowns 17 years ago engineered by then-speaker Newt Gingrich severely damaged Republican election prospects and revived then-president Bill Clinton's political standing.

Boehner had sought to avoid the shutdown and engineer passage of a "clean" temporary spending bill for averting a government shutdown.

This time tea party activists mobilized by freshman Senator Ted Cruz of Texas mounted a campaign to seize the must-do measure in an effort to derail Obamacare. GOP leaders voiced reservations and many Republican lawmakers predicted it wouldn't work. Some even labelled it "stupid."

But the success of Cruz and other tea party-endorsed conservatives who upset establishment GOP candidates in 2010 and 2012 primaries was a lesson learned for many Republican lawmakers going into next year's election.

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Ridding Syria's chemical weapons a 'Herculean' task with war on, Canadian ... - CBC.ca

In the early hours of Aug, 21, Scott Cairns was struggling to fall asleep in his Damascus hotel room when, staring out the window, he saw what appeared to be fresh fighting to the east.

"At that point I didn't know what it was," he said in an interview with CBC News. "It happens on a regular basis …there is incoming and outgoing fire from Damascus, so there are constant thumps and explosions. It was only later, when I heard the reports, that I could put it together."

Cairns, a chemical weapons inspector in Damascus for the UN, later concluded that what he had witnessed from the safety of his hotel room was what is now believed to be the worst chemical weapons attack against civilians in a quarter century.

The timing, Cairns agrees, was odd.

Canadian chemical weapons inspector Scott Cairns, on his way back into Syria today, speaks with CBC News Nahlah Ayed. (Erin Boudreau / CBC)

The attack happened while his UN inspections team was on the ground to look into three prior allegations of chemical weapons use in the course of that country's more than two-year-long civil war.

In every instance, both the Syrian regime and the rebels blamed each other.

Then came that latest, most grotesque example, in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. It, too, invited the same finger-pointing especially because of its timing.

"It's probably not in anyone's interest to launch an attack while inspectors are there," Cairns said. "Our job ultimately became to switch directions and investigate that location."

From there, it was a fast moving chain of international and often dramatic events involving the world's top leaders, that ultimately took Cairns back to Syria this week on another mission: to start the process of dismantling and destroying all of that country's chemical weapons capability.

'Herculean' task

Inspecting the Ghouta area so soon after an alleged attack was an unexpected challenge (and an international first), for the UN team. But in its scope it pales next to the task of ridding Syria of its vast stockpile of chemical weapons.

It's estimated Syria has some 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents and precursors, including VX, sarin, and mustard gas.

And though it denies responsibility for the Ghouta attack, the Syrian regime has nonetheless agreed to a UN Security Council resolution, passed last week, stipulating that its entire arsenal must be destroyed by the middle of next year.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the small group that employs Cairns and is headquartered at The Hague, Netherlands, will lead the way. 

An advance team, which includes Cairns, enters Syria today to begin inspecting the arsenal that the Bashar al-Assad regime has thus far declared.

Michael Barrett, senior logistics specialist at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, demonstrates the monitors its field inspectors deploy. (Erin Boudreau /CBC)

Cairns will be in charge of the field teams visiting the disclosed sites and which will ultimately start destroying the material. Two other Canadians are involved in this phase, with more possibly joining later.

Ridding Syria of all its chemical weapons is "very difficult," Cairns said on Friday. "To do that in a permissive environment, or a country that's at peace, is extremely ambitious. To do that in a matter of months, or in a year, in a country that's in a full-blown war, borders on the unrealistic.

"The job we have ahead of us is Herculean in some ways, but I'm very much looking forward to making the effort, and working with my colleagues to make it happen."

The OPCW is hoping donor countries will help pay for what is expected to be a costly endeavour.

Canada has yet to earmark money specifically for the destruction of the weapons, but the foreign minister's director of communication points to a $2 million contribution it made earlier this year towards the initial inspections.

Officials say stopping production by Nov. 1 is a priority and might be done simply by taking sledgehammers to machinery, or filling empty shells with concrete.

Watch out for snipers

Cairns, a chemical weapons and munitions expert, is from Burlington, Ont., and grew up in a military family, often moving around the country.

He studied chemistry at the University of Manitoba, before landing a job at the Department of National Defence in Suffield, Alta. Between 2002 and 2007, he provided chemical expertise to military and government agencies, as well as training to armed forces in regards to chemical agents.

In 2008, he moved to The Hague to join the OPCW, and he is now among a handful with experience on the ground in Syria who will help guide this latest mission.

The key during his last visit as team leader, he said, was maintaining impartiality despite the competing interests — as well as all the compelling video of the attack that so shocked the world.

Just as challenging, then as now, will be remaining focused on the task at hand despite the obvious threats to the team's security.

In August, a sniper attacked their convoy within minutes of heading towards Ghouta. The incident occurred on the regime side of a no-man's land between Damascus and the suburbs.

"The first emotion that went through my mind was anger … I didn't like people shooting at my team."

He says he felt it "was more of a message sent to us than an actual assault … to try to get the UN to turn tail and leave."

But they didn't leave. They returned to Damascus to switch vehicles, and later that day they were in Ghouta collecting evidence.

"The physical evidence doesn't lie. It is even more impartial than we are," Cairns says.

The inspectors' report — and the information on the munitions used — was proof for many nations that the Syrian regime was behind the attack.

The report itself does not apportion blame. It only confirmed that sarin was indeed used in Ghouta.

But shortly after it was released, the inspectors were accused of bias by Russia, the Syrian regime's main backer, which apparently believes the rebels were behind the attack.

"I was there. I took some of those samples. I assessed the situation. I have experience in this, the mechanism under which we took the samples transport them and have them analyzed is extremely rigid with this impartial chain…[I'm] a hundred per cent sure," of the results, says Cairns.

"Everybody is entitled to their own opinions."

Canadians, a natural choice

As impartial as they tried to be, the inspectors were faced with real-life and often overwhelming stories of the events of that terrible attack.

"There [were] examples where small children had lost their mother and father, and all their siblings. So you look into their eyes and you see that they don't really know what they're going to do next.

Canadian chemical weapons inspector Scott Cairns, in Damascus in August when the attack on Ghouta was carried out. (Associated Press)

"And it's a struggle, as I'm sure anybody that goes into those areas has, to maintain your professional limits because you want to do everything for everybody. But you just cannot.

"You focus on what you have to do … If we didn't do our one single task correctly in the very limited time we had, we would have failed those people anyway."

With his expertise, Cairns would surely have been part of that first mission. But he ended up at centre stage back then when it was agreed that none of the five permanent members of the Security Council would send inspectors for that initial round.

Canadians are a natural choice in such circumstances, says Cairns.

"We've had a reputation in the world for a long time as being the people to go to for peacekeepers, and we tend not to have any sort of overt agendas when we do these things.

"So I think the comfort level for a number of people was very high that Canadians were involved."

As he sees it, "I think we are truly helping people. These are horrible weapons. There's no reason to use them in this day and age."

"The fact that people were thanking us there was some kernel of yes, we were doing something good, we were helping these people.

"It's a balm to my conscience sometimes in the evening, and I know it's helping my team."

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Harper's nomination continues Supreme Court's shift to the right - The Globe and Mail

Canada's newest Supreme Court judge, plucked from the semi-retired list, adds conservative tendencies to a growing conservative tilt on the country's highest court.

Marc Nadon, 64, was most recently a supernumerary, or partly retired, judge on the Federal Court of Appeal – an unusual source of judges for the Supreme Court. He is Prime Minister Stephen Harper's sixth appointment to the nine-member court, and replaces the retired Justice Morris Fish of Quebec, a Liberal appointee who has been a strong voice for the rights of accused people.

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The choice of Justice Nadon came in the face of pressure from Quebec to name a female judge, as the court's complement of women had dipped to three from four. But Justice Louis LeBel is stepping down next year, at mandatory retirement age, giving Mr. Harper another opportunity to restore the previous gender balance.

Justice Nadon expressed something of his judicial philosophy in a notable judgment in 2009 involving accused (now convicted) terrorist Omar Khadr, imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since he was a teenager. In dissent, Justice Nadon gave a strong, even passionate rejection of Canada's responsibility to try to repatriate him. The Supreme Court affirmed that point of view, but its ruling criticized the Canadian government's treatment of Mr. Khadr. Justice Nadon, on the other hand, found Canada mostly blameless.

The Federal Court's bread-and-butter is national security, intellectual property and tax law, not constitutional matters, so his views on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are not known. Justice Nadon served on the court's trial and appeal levels for the past 20 years.

Mr. Harper made no reference to Justice Nadon's supernumerary status in a statement in which he said the judge has produced "an extraordinary body of legal work," and is considered a leader in the area of maritime law.

But some law professors criticized the appointment, viewing the judge as a step backward from Justice Fish.

"I think an expert in admiralty law is an odd choice, because it's not a very strong match with the court's core jurisdiction in public law, the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] and criminal law," said Jamie Cameron, a law professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School. "It's really not obvious to me how this person strengthens the court and replaces Justice Fish, who was an eminent and very well-respected jurist with all sorts of expertise in public law and criminal law."

She suggested the Prime Minister's approach to Supreme Court appointments is creating a "workmanlike" bench that will "do little to inspire and promote the development of law. It will favour the status quo."

Roderick Macdonald, a McGill University law professor, said the appointment may signal that the government feels a need for expertise in international commercial law, international dispute resolution and the relationship of international norms with domestic norms.

There was some surprise in Quebec, perhaps because the Federal Court of Appeal is not watched nearly as closely as the province's appeal court. "I'm a bit surprised because the name wasn't one of those we expected," said Hugo Cyr, a law professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal. "But I think he's a judge who tends to be very deferential to decisions made by the executive, so it makes sense coming from that government."

Sébastien Lebel-Grenier, dean of the University of Sherbrooke's law school, offered a different view. While Justice Nadon has a reputation for being a conservative-leaning judge, he said, "what stands out most is a true allegiance to intellectual integrity. He's got a very open mind. He's someone who enjoys debates and discussions with students here at the faculty," to which he returns regularly. (Justice Nadon graduated from the Sherbrooke law school in 1973.)

In a 2003 case, in which a group of status Indians sought tax-exempt status off-reserve, Justice Nadon rejected a lower-court ruling that would have granted that status, based on evidence handed down through the oral tradition; he said the evidence just wasn't there.

He showed a similarly restrained approach when he rejected the claim of an adoptive mother for full maternity benefits.

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Pakistan explosion: Peshawar market blast toll rises to 42 - BBC News

30 September 2013 Last updated at 02:41 ET

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The attack came just one week after a deadly blast at a church in the city, as Rajesh Mirchandani reports

The death toll from Sunday's bomb blast that ripped through a historic market in the Pakistani city of Peshawar has risen to 42, hospital officials say.

Dozens were also wounded when a bomb exploded in the Kissa Khwani bazaar, setting shops and vehicles alight.

It was the third deadly blast to hit the city in a week.

Last weekend suicide blasts killed at least 81 at a church in Peshawar and on Friday, 19 people died when a bus carrying civil servants was attacked.

Peshawar, the main city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been hit by numerous bomb and gun attacks blamed on Taliban insurgents but it has rarely come under such sustained attack in recent years .

It is unclear how the three attacks are linked. A Sunni militant group with Taliban links claimed the church attack, but no group has said they carried out this latest blast.

Police said they suspected Sunday's explosion was caused by a car bomb.

A huge blast in the heart of the market set off fires that engulfed shops and vehicles.

One shop owner, Nazar Ali, told Associated Press: "It was a huge blast that was followed by fire in vehicles. Thick black smoke covered the air and splinters spread all over. I saw people lying dead and bleeding."

Among the dead were at least 14 members of the same family who were at the market making preparations for a wedding, reports said.

Rising violence has hindered new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's overtures to end the insurgency through peace talks with the Taliban.

On 21 September, Pakistan released from the jail the co-founder of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

But the Pakistan Taliban have consistently rejected the country's constitution and demand the imposition of Sharia law.

Mr Sharif strongly condemned the Peshawar bombing. In a message from New York, where he was at the UN, he said: "Those involved in the killing of innocent people are devoid of humanity and all religions."

Last Sunday's attack on the historic All Saints church - thought to be the deadliest attack against Christians in Pakistan - sparked angry protests nationwide.

Two Islamist militant groups with Taliban links said they had ordered the attack to hit back at US drone strikes.

Friday's bus bomb targeted government employees returning home in the Gulbela area, some 15km (9 miles) north-east of the city.

In addition to those killed, at least 34 people were injured.

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The Battle in Congress on Spending and Debt - New York Times

WASHINGTON — If Republicans in Congress and the Obama White House fail to resolve their differences in time, the federal government will begin a partial shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, with all but essential services curtailed or closed entirely.

A few weeks later, another deadline will arrive when the government bumps up against its legally authorized borrowing limit. If Congress does not vote to increase the debt limit, it could set off severe financial problems for the government as it scrambles for the cash it needs to meet its commitments.

Q. So, what exactly is going on?

A. There are two distinct issues. First, the government could be forced to scale back operations beginning on Tuesday if Congress and the administration do not agree on extending federal spending authority; about 800,000 employees would be involuntarily furloughed, while others would possibly have to work without pay.

Then, a few weeks later, Congress and President Obama need to agree on terms for raising the federal debt ceiling so the Treasury Department can continue borrowing to meet all the government's obligations, including interest payments on debt already issued.

Q. How have we reached this point?

A. Divided government always complicates governance, but growing political polarization and the erosion of any moderate center in Congress have made it even harder.

With Democrats controlling the White House and the Senate, the Republicans who control the House, tugged rightward by a vocal core of Tea Party conservatives, have begun using budget deadlines and the need for periodic debt limit increases as leverage to press for concessions. A favorite target, and the one at the center of the current dispute, is the health care overhaul passed by Congress and signed into law by Mr. Obama in 2010 over vigorous Tea Party opposition.

Given this poisoned political relationship, Congress has been unable to pass a budget in the normal way. To keep the government operating in March, it passed a temporary spending measure. But that expires at midnight Monday, and House Republicans say they will not vote for new spending unless the president's health care law is delayed and its funding cut.

Democrats and the White House insist that they will not budge, and the first shutdown in 17 years is looking increasingly likely.

As for the debt limit, it was raised routinely in past years with bipartisan support. But Republicans say drastic measures are needed to keep the federal debt from continuing to rise.

On Thursday, Republicans laid out a list of demands in exchange for raising the debt limit, including a one-year delay of the health care law, the approval of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, a tax overhaul and a rollback of environmental regulations.

Mr. Obama, saying the full faith and credit of the United States government should not be used as a political bargaining chip, has said he will not negotiate over it.

Q. What would be the concrete effects of a shutdown?

A. If past shutdowns are a guide, federal employees deemed essential, including uniformed service members and some diplomats, would continue working. Many civilian employees of the military would be furloughed.

Most federal workers providing medical care, air traffic control, airport security, border protection, prisoner custody and disaster assistance would continue working. Mail would be delivered. The new federal health care program would remain largely untouched, allowing people to sign up for insurance plans under the law starting on Tuesday.

But hundreds of thousands of workers would be sent home. Parks, museums and monuments would be closed. Medical research would be curtailed, and much federal loan processing halted. Social Security and Medicare checks would still go out — they come from a trust fund, not from discretionary payments — but new claims might be delayed.

Members of Congress, incidentally, are deemed essential and would continue to be paid.

Q. How would the American economy be affected?

A. According to Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Analytics, a partial shutdown would trim annual economic growth by 0.2 percentage points in the fourth quarter, even if it ended within four days. An impasse of a month could cut growth by 1.4 percentage points, about half of that from the lost pay of government workers. An interruption longer than two months, he said, "would likely precipitate another recession."

In the event that there is no shutdown, Mr. Zandi has projected fourth-quarter growth at an annualized rate of 2.5 percent, a relatively weak rate of recovery.

Q. How would a debt default be felt?

A. While a shutdown would be damaging, a default could be disastrous, many economists and officials say. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew told Congressional leaders recently that a debt limit impasse in 2011 "caused significant harm to the economy and a downgrade to the credit rating of the United States." A default at this time, he added, "could be catastrophic."

While some conservatives say the potential harm is being exaggerated, many analysts say a default would rattle world markets, raising borrowing costs, slowing the recovery and causing lasting financial instability.

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At least 27 killed, 129 wounded in Baghdad car bombings - Xinhua

BAGHDAD, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 27 people were killed and 129 others wounded in a series of car bomb explosions across the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Monday, sources said.

A total of 12 car bombings ripped through nine districts in Baghdad, an interior ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

An earlier report said that five car bombs went off in Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding 55.

Three people were killed and 10 wounded when a car bomb went off in the Shiite bastion of Sadr City district in eastern Baghdad, the source told Xinhua.

Another car bomb was detonated in the southeastern New Baghdad district, killing two people and wounding 11 others, the source said.

Four more people were killed and 12 wounded in a car bomb in Baghdad northern district of Kadhmiyah.

Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded in the northern suburb of Sabie al-Bour, killing three people and wounding 13, he added.

A fifth car bomb struck the eastern al-Baladiyat district and killed a civilian and wounded nine.

The toll could rise as ambulances and civilian cars evacuated the victims to different hospitals and medical centers in the city, the source said.

The attacks came a day after a wave of insurgent attacks killed 55 people and wounded some 135 others across Iraq.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years, which raises fears that the country is sliding back to the full-flown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq said earlier this month that almost 5,000 civilians were killed and 12,000 others injured in Iraq from January to August.

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