Syrian helicopter down under fire in Damascus Challenges W ASHINGTON — Mitt Romney heads into his nominating convention with a solid shot at the presidency but substantial challenges en route - including broad perceptions among a downturn-battered public that, if elected, he’d favor wealthy Americans over the middle class. That view complicates Romney’s job winning over the economically distressed white voters among whom his fortunes may depend. It’s also expressed in his persistent weakness in personal popularity overall, as well as his shortfall against Barack Obama in views he understands the economic problems ordinary Americans are having. See PDF with full results, charts and tables here. Registered voters by a substantial 58-32 percent in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll think Romney would do more to favor the wealthy than the middle class - the opposite of views on Obama’s priority. Obama has a slight 7-point edge in better understanding the public’s economic straits, and another wide lead, 61-27 percent, as seeming more friendly and likeable. As he seeks to address those weaknesses, Romney grasps his party’s presidential nomination with pushback on at least two fronts: Better alignment with public preferences for more limited government, and steady dissatisfaction with Obama’s economic performance. Fifty-six percent of registered voters disapprove of Obama’s work on the economy; largely as a result, fewer than half, 47 percent, approve of his job performance overall.—Reuters
Plans JEDDAH—The Labor Ministry, as part of its efforts to regulate the labor market and create more job opportunities for Saudis, is studying the prospects of taking legal action against those who sell work visas to expatriates. “We’ll hand over suspects involved in visa trade to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution and demand their imprisonment,” said Labor Minister Adel Fakeih in comments published on Sunday. “We shall take legal action against those who forge documents to get visas for the purpose of selling them,” the minister said. “If this issue has taken the form of human trafficking, tougher punishment would be given for those involved in such illegal activities that are monitored by the Ministry of Interior,” he explained. Fakeih said the newly established recruitment companies would start their work within the next few weeks. “We have set up a special department to serve them and monitor their activities,” he said. Fakeih said studies are still under way on the proposed plan to streamline recruitment of expatriate workers from six countries. “We have contracted with a consulting house for this purpose and the study will take five months to complete,” he added. The ministry is studying prospects of imposing the Nitaqat system on the public sector with the support of the Civil Affairs Ministry, he said.—Arab News
Diplomatic Q UITO —Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa said he believed his country had overcome a diplomatic spat with Britain over its threat to enter the Ecuadoran Embassy in London in order to arrest Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. “We believe that this unfortunate incident is over,” said Correa. “It was a mistake for the British Foreign Office to say that they would enter our embassy.” “It’s good that the United Kingdom has given up its threat,” he continued. “Now we act as if we never received it. We must seek a mutually acceptable solution of the case of Julian Assange through dialogue.” The president added that he was glad the two countries “were returning to the path of dialogue and were looking for a consensual solution without abandoning our principles.” Correa said the allegations in Sweden against Julian Assange would not be crimes in nearly every other country, in an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times. Correa told the broadsheet that the sex crime allegations against the WikiLeaks founder were “not a crime in Latin America” and had played no part in Quito’s decision to grant Assange asylum. He also blasted the British government for its “contradictions” in wanting to extradite Assange to Sweden, when it did not extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet after his 1998 arrest in London on an international arrest warrant issued by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon who is now heading Assange’s legal team.—Arab News
Executives NEW YORK—When Blackstone Group LP named a new global head of private equity last month, Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman was looking for more than just a business unit chief. Even though the buyout king has no plans to retire, the appointment of Joe Baratta, a 41-year-old dealmaker credited with building up the firm’s European buyouts practice, was the latest step in a wider succession plan, Blackstone insiders said. Baratta joins five other senior Blackstone executives from whose ranks the successor to Schwarzman, 65, will eventually emerge, the sources said. The others are Jonathan Gray, 42, real estate chief; Bennett Goodman, 54, co-founder of the credit business; Tom Hill, 63, who runs the hedge fund team; Laurence Tosi, 44, the chief financial officer; and Joan Solotar, 47, who spearheads investor relations, the sources said. Blackstone declined to comment on succession planning and on behalf of the executives. Blackstone’s arrangements, as revealed by these sources, bring into sharper focus how and whom it will choose to lead the world’s largest alternative asset management house. They also highlight the succession issue confronting other private equity firms launched in the leveraged buyout revolution of the 1980s and 1990s, whose larger-than-life leaders are now close to or past retirement age. Those include Henry Kravis, 68, and George Roberts, 68 at KKR & Co LP; and David Rubenstein, 63, William Conway, 63, and Daniel D’ Aniello, 65, at Carlyle Group LP.—Reuters
Iran visit T EHRAN —Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would arrive in Tehran on Monday on a four-day visit to attend the NAM Summit on Thursday, prior to which he will hold crucial bilateral talks with Iran’s top leadership, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ignoring US reservations. Singh will also be holding bilateral meetings with leaders from other countries, including Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of the 16th Summit of the 120-nation grouping. Ahead of the meeting between India and Iran, New Delhi has made it very clear that discussion on peace and security will be of the paramount concern which will be raised with Tehran. “Peace and security is, indeed, our primary concern given just how important the entire West Asia region, Gulf region, in particular, is for India’s security and for Indian economy, both in terms of oil imports and our exports”,Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai had said.—AP
DAMAMSUC—Syrian rebels FSA’s Badr battalion in Dam- on the northeast of the capital claimed they shot down an army helicopter during fierce fighting in Damascus on Monday, saying it was to avenge the “massacre” of over 330 people blamed on regime forces in the town of Daraya. State television said the aircraft crashed near a mosque in the eastern district of Qaboon, where activists reported heavy shelling by combat helicopters and fierce fighting between government troops and Free Syrian Army rebels. “It was in revenge for the Daraya massacre,” Omar alQabooni, spokesman for the
Iraq: Gunmen with silencers kill general B AGHDAD—Iraqi officials say gunmen with silenced weapons killed an army Brigadier General just outside Baghdad, while two civilians died in separate attacks elsewhere in the country. Police and medical officials said Monday the gunmen shot dead Brig. Gen. AbdulMuhsen Khazal in the Sunni town of Taji, just north of the capital. In Haditha, a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol, killing one civilian and wounding four soldiers, said Mohammed Fathi, a provincial spokesman in Iraq’s western Anbar province. Another bomb exploded in the northwest city of Mosul, killing one civilian and wounding another, police said. Health officials confirmed the casualties. Unnamed officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporter.—AP
ascus told AFP, adding that rebels had found the body of the pilot after the helicopter crashed to the ground in a ball of flames. A series of explosions rocked the city from about dawn, an AFP correspondent said, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported battles in Qaboon and the neighbouring district of Jubar, where antiregime sentiment is strong. The FSA also said it shot down a Syrian warplane on August 13 in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, but the claims cannot be independently confirmed. The assault
was unleashed a day after opposition activists accused President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of a gruesome new massacre in the Daraya, a twon southwest of the capital. The Observatory said hundreds of bodies had been found in the small Sunni Muslim town after what activists described as brutal five-day onslaught of shelling, summary executions and houseto-house raids by government troops. It said Monday that a total of 334 bodies had now been found in Daraya, of which 241 had been identified.
Government troops launched the offensive last Tuesday in a bid to crush insurgents who have regrouped in the southwestern outskirts of Damascus after the regime claimed to have retaken most of the capital late last month. Assad vowed Sunday that he would not change course in the face of what he charged was a “conspiracy” by Western and regional powers against Syria, which has been convulsed by 17 months of bloodshed. “The Syrian people will not allow this conspiracy to achieve its objectives” and will defeat it “at any price,”
Assad said at a meeting with a top official from Iran, Syria’s chief regional ally. Assad has since March last year been trying through force to smother a popular uprising that has turned into a brutal civil war which has left thousands dead, seen more than 200,000 refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries and 2.5 million in need inside Syria. But despite their far superior fire power, the government forces are struggling to defeat rebels who have built strongholds in many parts of the country, particularly the northern city of Aleppo. Human rights groups have ac-
cused the regime of committing many atrocities during the conflict, and a UN panel said earlier this month it was guilty of crimes against humanity. Grisly videos issued by opposition activists showed dozens of charred and bloodied bodies lined up in broad daylight in a graveyard in Daraya, and others lying wallto-wall in rooms in a mosque. The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground, said many victims had been summarily executed and their bodies burnt by pro-regime shabiha militias that have been transformed into a “killing machine”.—AP
Sharp increase in refugee flows from Syria A NTAKYA —A surge in the number of Syrians seeking sanctuary from their country’s soaring violence prompted the Turkish government to halt the flow of refugees at two key border crossings Sunday amid an escalating humanitarian crisis that is swamping Syria’s neighbors and intensifying pressure for international intervention. The closure left more than 7,000 refugees stranded in olive groves just inside Syria at the two places where most of the Syrians cross, while Turkish officials look for a way to accommodate them at camps that can’t keep pace with the influx. But with more than 80,000 refugees in Turkey, nearly double the number a month ago, officials warned that the country is rapidly Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have spilled across the border into Turkey and Jordan since the 17-month approaching the point at which it will no longer be uprising in their homeland began. able to cope.—Reuters
Iran might let diplomats visit suspected nuclear site
Three Israeli youths arrested in firebombing of Palestinian taxi
D UBAI —Iran indicated on peaceful aims.
J ERUSALEM —Three Israeli struck off the coast of El Sal- The second quake registered
Monday it might allow diplomats visiting Tehran for this week’s Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit to inspect the Parchin military base, which U.N. nuclear experts say may have been used for nuclearrelated explosives tests. When asked about the possibility, Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh said: “Such a visit is not customary in such meetings ... However at the discretion of authorities, Iran would be ready for such a visit,” the Iranian government-linked news agency Young Journalists Club reported. The tentative offer was made just three days after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) again requested access to Parchin for its inspectors at a meeting in Vienna. Iran is hosting the NAM summit, which ends on Friday, at a time when the West is trying to isolate the Islamic Republic over suspicions it is seeking a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran says its atomic program has only
Any visit to Parchin by NAM representatives would do little to calm Western concerns or those of the IAEA whose talks with the Iranians ended on Friday without agreement. The U.N. body suspects that Iran has conducted explosives tests in a steel chamber at Parchin relevant for the development of nuclear weapons, possibly a decade ago. Citing satellite pictures, Western diplomats say they believe Iran in recent months has been cleansing the site where the experiments are believed to have taken place of any evidence of illicit nuclear activity. The IAEA is voicing growing concern that this would hamper its investigation if it ever gained access to Parchin. Last week diplomatic sources said Iran had covered the building believed to house the explosives chamber with a tent-like structure, fuelling suspicions about a clean-up there. Iran says Parchin, a vast, sprawling complex southeast of Tehran, is a conventional military facility and has dismissed alle-
gations about it as “ridiculous”. Monday’s Iranian media report did not make clear whether the NAM diplomats would be able to visit the location in Parchin which the IAEA wants to see or only other areas of the complex. Akhoundzadeh said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kimoon, who is due to attend the NAM summit later in the week, might be able to visit Iran’s nuclear sites. “At the discretion of officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there is also the possibility of a visit by the U.N. Secretary General to our country’s nuclear centers,” YJC quoted Akhoundzadeh as saying. He said Ban would visit Isfahan, but did not say whether he would go to a uranium processing site near the Iranian city. U.N. officials were not immediately available for comment. In early 2011, Iran invited Viennabased diplomats to tour its nuclear facilities, an offer dismissed by Western states as a ploy by Tehran to appear to show openness while still refusing to give IAEA experts the kind of access they need.—Reuters
Fire still burning at Venezuela’s refinery P ARAGUANA —A fire burned for a third day in two fuel storage tanks at Venezuela’s biggest refinery on Monday, putting in doubt plans to quickly restart the facility after one of the worst accidents to hit the global oil industry for decades. Reuters reporters saw a thick column of dark smoke and flames leaping from the tanks at the 645,000 barrel-per-day facility. Officials say that if they fail to extinguish the blaze with foam, they will let it burn out by itself, which could take two or three days. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told Reuters by telephone from the scene that fire crews had worked through the night and were continuing their efforts on Monday. “The breeze is changing direction all the time so we have to move the firefighting crews to keep trying to extinguish the fire,” Ramirez said. “Last night we had a fire truck trapped by the blaze, fortunately without any victims or damage. We will
continue the same efforts today.” A gas leak caused an explosion and then a fire before dawn on Saturday at the facility, part of the world’s second biggest refinery complex. Nearby homes were obliterated, at least 41 people killed and dozens more wounded. Ramirez said on Saturday and Sunday that Amuay could restart in two days at most but he gave no further details on Monday. State oil company PDVSA says none of Amuay’s production units were affected and that Venezuela has enough stocks to meet its commitments to the domestic market and keep up exports. President Hugo Chavez promised a full investigation into the tragedy during an emotional visit to the scene on Sunday. The incident is likely to support global fuel prices that already are being pushed higher by worries that Tropical Storm Isaac could suspend U.S. oil production and hints of another round of monetary stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Ivan Freites, a union leader at the Paraguana complex, told Reuters it was not possible for the refinery to restart within two days of the blast, and accused officials of playing down the scale of the disaster. “A refinery is not a coffee-maker,” he said. “They don’t understand the restart process. The managers are acting like political operatives ... not thinking of the victim’s families.” Freites’ union has been pushing PDVSA to improve safety standards at its installations, especially since 2010 when 95 workers were rescued from an exploration platform that sank in the Caribbean. “This could have been avoided. They are trying to make it look like leaks are something normal, when there are lethal gas detectors in refineries ... and workers must carry detectors.” Ramirez told Reuters that PDVSA is considering seeking floating storage in the area - using tankers to store oil and refined fuel offshore while the company repairs the main tanks.—Reuters
adolescents from a West Bank settlement were arrested Sunday in connection with a recent firebombing of a Palestinian taxi, Israeli police said, adding fuel to a debate in Israel about ethnic prejudice among youths. The suspects, all age 12 or 13, were to appear before a Jerusalem court Sunday evening, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said. The attack, which injured six Palestinians, took place hours before several Palestinian youths were beaten by a mob in central Jerusalem. Police arrested seven Israeli teenagers, the youngest 13, in connection with that attack, which witnesses described as a near-lynching. Both incidents were denounced as “terrorist attacks” by Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon, who said they “constitute first and foremost an educational and moral failure.” The youths arrested Sunday are all from the small settlement of Bat Ayin, which sits atop a hill not far from the road where the firebombing took place on Aug. 16. Rosenfeld said police are still investigating the suspects’ motives.—
Greenpeace activists intercept Russian ship M OSCOW —More than a dozen Greenpeace activists have intercepted a ship carrying Russian oil workers to a floating oil platform in Russia’s Arctic. Greenpeace said in a statement on Monday that 14 activists chained themselves to the anchor chain of the vessel which was carrying Gazprom’s workers to the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea. Gazprom is pioneering Russia’s oil drilling in the Arctic. The state-owned company installed the platform there last year and is preparing to drill the first well. Environmentalists have warned that drilling in the Russian Arctic could have disastrous consequences because of a lack of technology to deal with a possible spill in this remote region. Six Greenpeace activists on Friday spent several hours hanging off the side of the Prirazlomnaya, attached to the rig’s mooring lines.—AP
Strong earthquake hits off El Salvador coast S AN S ALVADOR —A strong temblor took place at a depth magnitude-7.3 earthquake of 32.9 miles (53 kilometers). vador followed an hour later by a magnitude-5.4 aftershock, authorities said early Monday. There were no immediate reports of damages or injuries. A tsunami warning was put into effect for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico after the quake struck at 10:37 p.m. Sunday. The warning was later rescinded. David Walsh, an oceanographer with the Pacific Tsunami Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, said a minor, 10-centimeter (3.94-inche) tsunami was registered off Acajutla, El Salvador. The quake was located 86 miles (138 kilometers) southsouthwest of San Miguel, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on its web site. The
about an hour later in the same area at a depth of 35.9 miles (57.8 km). Alfonso Lara, a technician with El Salvador’s Civil Protection agency said authorities were alerted to the threat of a tsunami. “We are doing a general monitoring of the entire coast through our technicians and representatives,” he said. On Sunday, dozens of small to moderate earthquakes struck southeastern California, knocking trailer homes off their foundations and shattering windows in a small farming town east of San Diego. The largest quake registered at a magnitude 5.5 and was centered about three miles (five kilometers) northwest of the town of Brawley, according to the USGS.—AP
AP-GfK poll: Raise taxes to save social security WASHINGTON—Most Ameri- for future generations, accordcans say go ahead and raise taxes if it will save social security benefits for future generations. And raise the retirement age, if you have to. Both options are preferable to cutting monthly benefits, even for people who are years away from applying for them. Those are the findings of a new Associated Press-GfK poll on public attitudes toward the nation’s largest federal program. Social security is facing serious long-term financial problems. When given a choice on how to fix them, 53 percent of adults said they would rather raise taxes than cut benefits
ing to the poll. Just 36 percent said they would cut benefits instead. The results were similar when people were asked whether they would rather raise the retirement age or cut monthly payments for future generations — 53 percent said they would raise the retirement age, while 35 percent said they would cut monthly payments. “Right now, it seems like we’re taxed so much, but if that would be the only way to go, I guess I’d have to be for it to preserve it,” said Marge Youngs, a 77-year-old widow from Toledo, Ohio. “It’s extremely important to me. —AP
British police deploy in force after lion sighting LONDON— Outside the idyllic English village of St. Osyth, police are hunting a lion. A small army of officers and tranquilizer-toting zoo experts, along with a pair of heat-seeking helicopters, are spending their Monday combing the woods, ponds, and farmland around the coastal community after a resident spotted what was believed to be a lion lounging in a field of grass. Where such a beast may have come from is anyone’s guess; the local zoo says its animals are accounted for, and police have said a local circus isn’t missing any either. The force
hasn’t yet found any paw prints or droppings, but officers said they’re treating the sighting seriously, and so too are St. Osyth’s 4,000-odd residents. “I wouldn’t expect to see a lion walking up the high street, but it seems to be very quiet in the village,” said Jason Amos, who owns St. Osyth’s timber-framed Red Lion pub. “People are taking it very seriously.” The sighting has prompted a media frenzy in Britain, with the Daily Mail tabloid splashing a picture of a snarling lion across its front page.—AFP