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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012 PAGE 5A
Syrian forces mass for assault
B R I E F
Rebel stronghold of Homs set to be site of attack meant to crush dissidents. The Associated Press
AP PHOTO
A morbid thought at carnival
A carnival float depicts Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dropping a nuclear bomb on U.N. headquarters during a carnival parade Monday in Cologne, Germany. The street spectacles, watched by hundreds of thousands, are the highlights in Germany’s carnival season on Rosemonday. ALBANY, N.Y.
Frackwater removal not set
ne of the most contentious issues in the debate over shale gas drilling O in New York’s share of the Marcellus Shale region — how to handle millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater — remains unsettled. As the state ponders final regulations, environmental advocates say the issue is a glaring gap in preparations. “What’s disconcerting is that while the state raises a number of possibilities, there isn’t any real clear sense as to what the path forward is going to be,” said Mark Brownstein, deputy director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s national energy program. “On an issue as important as this, all of us who commented from the environmental community are looking for greater clarity.”
CAIRO
Case of U.S. groups eyed
Sen. John McCain said Monday Egypt’s military rulers have reassured him that authorities are working “diligently” to resolve a criminal case against U.S. pro-democracy groups that has brought relations between the two allies to their lowest point in decades. It was the first public statement to indicate the two sides are trying to find a way to move from the brink of a spat that has threatened U.S. aid to Egypt and shook confidence in the country’s transition to democracy. As part of a crackdown on nonprofit organizations, Egyptian authorities have referred 16 Americans and 27 others to trial on charges that include the illegal use of foreign funds, which is expected to begin on Feb. 26. McCain spent the day in Egypt in talks with various groups and officials. MONTERREY, MEXICO
Drug inmates kill, escape
Imprisoned members of the hyperviolent Zetas drug cartel stabbed and bludgeoned 44 members of the rival Gulf cartel to death and then staged a mass escape, apparently with the help of prison authorities, officials in northern Mexico said Monday. Rodrigo Medina, governor of the northern state of Nuevo Leon, said the prison’s director, three other officials and 18 prison guards have been fired and are under investigation for purportedly helping in the escape. All of the deaths apparently occurred with blunt instruments or improvised knives. Medina confirmed that all 30 escaped inmates were linked to the Zetas cartel, a brutal gang founded by deserters from an elite Mexican military unit. MADRID
Treasure headed to Spain
Spain said Monday it will soon send hulking military transport planes to Florida to retrieve 17 tons of treasure that U.S. undersea explorers found but ultimately lost in American courts, a find experts have speculated could be history’s richest shipwreck treasure. The Civil Guard said agents would leave within hours to take possession of the booty, worth an estimated $504 million, and two Spanish Hercules transport planes will bring it back. But it was not exactly clear when — Monday or today — the planes and the agents would leave Spain. Last week, a federal judge ordered Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration to give Spanish officials access to the silver coins and other artifacts beginning today.
BEIRUT — Syrian tanks and troops massed Monday outside the resistance stronghold of Homs for a possible ground assault that one activist warned could unleash a new round of fierce and bloody urban combat even as the Red Cross tried to broker a cease-fire to allow emergency aid in. A flood of military reinforcements has been a prelude to previous offensives by President Bashar Assad’s regime, which has tried to use its overwhelming firepower to crush an opposition that has been bol-
Israelis feeling vulnerable
stered by defecting soldiers and hardened by11months of street battles. “The human loss is going to be huge if they retake Baba Amr,” said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britainbased activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The central city of Homs — and in particular the opposition district known as Baba Amr — has become a critical ground for both sides. The opposition has lionized it as “Syria’s Misrata” after the Libyan city where rebels fought off a brutal government siege. Assad’s regime wants desperately to erase the embarrassing defiance in Syria’s third-largest city after weeks of shelling, including a barrage of mortars that killed up to 200 people ear-
AP PHOTO
Image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria shows the body of anti-Syrian regime protester wrapped by the Syrian revolution flag.
lier this month. At least nine people were killed in shelling Monday, activists said. Another massive death toll would only bring further inter-
national isolation on Assad from Western and Arab leaders. “The massacre in Syria goes on,” said U.S. Sen. John McCain during a visit to Cairo,
First American in space marks anniversary by having chat with crew of Space Station
Many fearing Iranian counterattack if Israel goes after nuclear facilities.
Santorum focusing on social concerns Former Pa. senator’s emphasis on religion is in stark contract with Romney.
By ARON HELLER Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Despite its confident saber-rattling, Israel’s concern is growing that the country is vulnerable to a devastating counterstrike if it attacks Iran’s nuclear program. An announcement this week that a mobile rocket-defense system will soon be built just outside Tel Aviv, where Israel’s sprawling military headquarters sits smack in the middle of office towers, museums, night spots and hotels, “Whereas caused some jitters. Israeli in the officials cite past, there intelligence that was a bat- reports Tel Aviv tlefield … . would be a main target of Now the any attack. war is Increasingly, the debate mainly in in Israel is the home- turning to whether a front.” strike can do Dan Meridor enough damVice prime age to the Iraminister nian program to be worth the risks. Experts believe that any attack would at best set back, but not cripple, the Iranians. Skepticism about Israel’s ability to defend itself runs deep here. Israelis still remember Iraqi Scuds landing in the center of the country 20 years ago. In 2006, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia seemed able to rain rockets at will during a monthlong conflict with the Jewish state. A scathing government report issued months ago suggested the homefront is still woefully unprepared. In a questionably timed move, the Cabinet minister in charge of civil defense in recent days resigned to become the ambassador to faraway China. Vice Prime Minister Dan Meridor, who also serves as minister of intelligence and atomic energy, indicated Saturday that Israel was facing a new type of peril. “Whereas in the past, there was a battlefield where tanks fought tanks, planes fought planes, there was a certain push not to see the homefront affected. Now the war is mainly in the homefront,” said the normally tight-lipped Meridor. Israel and the West believe Iran is trying to developa nuclear bomb — a charge Tehran denies. Israel believes a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to its very existence, citing Iranian leaders’ calls for its destruction. Israel has welcomed international sanctions imposed on the Islamic regime, but it has pointedly refused to rule out military action.
where he urged Washington and its allies to find way to help arm and equip Syrian rebels. McCain, a senior member of the Senate Armed Service Committee, said he did not support direct U.S. weapons supplies to Syrian opposition forces, but has suggested the Arab League or others could help bolster the fighting power of the anti-Assad groups. The U.S., he said, could assist with equipment such as medical supplies or global positioning devices. “For us to sit back and do nothing while people are being slaughtered ... is an affront to everything America stands for and believes in,” said McCain, suggesting that the Republicans could seek to make Syria a central campaign issue.
The Associated Press
AP PHOTO
Sen. John Glenn answers questions during a roundtable panel discussion titled ‘Learning from the Past to Innovate for the Future,’ Monday in Columbus, Ohio.
Glenn trip was 50 years ago
ed but educational exchange with the space station crew, asking them about the types and number of experiments COLUMBUS, Ohio — NASA suron board — more than a hundred, they prised John Glenn with the kind of anniversary gift only a space agency can said — and explaining to his gravitybound audience of more than 200 peogive, enabling him to speak live with the International Space Station on Mon- ple that, for example, a candle burns differently in space than on Earth. day as he marked 50 years since his When Bolden asked the astronauts historic spaceflight. which experiment they’d like to hand off The former astronaut and senator to Glenn if he could join them, Burbank from Ohio, now 90, became the first American to orbit the Earth on Feb. 20, suggested research on the “regenerative 1962, circling it three times in five hours environmental control systems” on spacecraft. and helping to lead the nation into “That’s a fancy word for our toilet,” space. He celebrated the anniversary at flight engineer Don Pettit added. “So he Ohio State University by kicking off a wants to put Sen. Glenn busy fixing the forum about NASA’s future. Sitting on stage with NASA Adminis- plumbing up here.” Glenn took the humor in stride, retrator Charles Bolden, he chatted with three space station crew members about plying: “That’s exactly what I thought I space research and NASA’s future. Com- was going to get assigned to.” Bolden joked that Glenn sometimes mander Don Burbank appeared by vidbugs him about making a trip to the eo link, flanked by two flight space station. Glenn became the engineers floating in the zerooldest person to fly in space in gravity environment, and said 1998, at age 77. the crew was delighted to Glenn and Annie, his wife of help commemorate Glenn’s almost seven decades, were to momentous trip. cap Monday with a student-led Glenn was among the top question-and-answer session military test pilots presented during an evening gala featurin 1959 as the Mercury ing a speech by former Seven. The only other astronaut Mark Kelly, surviving Mercury the commander of the astronaut is Scott space shuttle EnCarpenter. deavour’s final Glenn had mission. a light-heartBy KANTELE FRANKO Associated Press
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — Philosophical differences between the top two Republican presidential candidates are becoming starker. Rick Santorum is driving harder on religious and social issues while Mitt Romney rarely discusses them in detail. Santorum in recent days has questioned the usefulness of public schools Romney and said President Barack Obama’s theology is not “based on the Bible.” Campaigning in Ohio on Monday, he li- Santorum kened Obama to politicians who spread fear about certain technologies “so they can control your lives.” The remarks contrast sharply with Romney’s steady emphasis on jobs, the economy and his resume as a can-do corporate executive. The differences give Republican voters clear choices to shape their party’s image and identity heading into the fall battle against Obama. Meanwhile, presidential campaigns and outside political groups began filing detailed financial reports Monday, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the identities of wealthy supporters who will help elect the next president and details on how tens of millions of campaign dollars have been spent. The reports provide a snapshot of fundraising for President Barack Obama’s early campaign and for Republican candidates as they battled during important primary elections in January. Groups like Restore Our Future, which supports Romney, and Winning Our Future, which supports Gingrich, have so far spent millions of dollars on television ads supporting their candidates or hammering their opponents. The reports were due to the Federal Election Commission by midnight. The group supporting Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Endorse Liberty, reported roughly $2.4 million in contributions, including $1.7 from the billionaire founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel of San Francisco. Thiel, who runs a hedge fund, is a libertarian who has supported Republican causes and candidates.