Hostages freed in Tunisia, gunmen killed
Tunisian security forces have freed all the hostages held at a Tunis museum after a militant attack in which at least...
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
UN envoy appeals for Syrian refugee education in Lebanon
United Nations, United States: Gordon Brown, UN special envoy for education, launched an international appeal Wednesday to close a funding gap and pay for the education of 500,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon.
The former British prime minister said the money would help fund an agreement reached with the Lebanese government allowing Syrians to be taught at the country's schools.
But the initiative still lacks $163 million in funding, Brown said.
He also announced a conference in Washington in April with the Norwegian minister of foreign affairs to discuss education for Syrian refugees and raise the needed money.
Nearly four million Syrian refugees are registered with the United Nations and many of the about a million school-aged children have had difficulty accessing consistent education since the country's civil war began in 2011.
Numerous refugee programs in the region have suffered from underfunding or aid that has been slow to arrive.
Brown also drew attention to a UN program in Nigeria to improve safety in schools targeted by Boko Haram and hailed a similar initiative for Pakistan schools targeted by terrorists. The protection may soon be rolled out in South Sudan, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He also called for increased humanitarian funding for education in emergency situations and for countries to sign a safe school declaration to shield them from military use or attack.
"There have been more than 10,000 attacks on schools during the past five years," Brown said.
"Terror attacks on schools around the world have risen to higher levels than at any point in 40 years."
Bad Blood Gets Worse Between Barack, Bibi And Israel
President Obama with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in 2013. The two have never had a warm and fuzzy relationship. Charles Dharapak/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Charles Dharapak/AP
President Obama with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in 2013. The two have never had a warm and fuzzy relationship.
Charles Dharapak/AP
The U.S.-Israeli relationship was one of the issues in the Israeli elections — in particular Netanyahu's poisonous personal relationship with President Barack Obama.
Now, with Netanyahu's return to power, that relationship doesn't look like it will be improving anytime soon.
Publicly, the White House says the U.S.-Israeli relationship is too strong to be affected by one election. But it's clear that many administration officials would have preferred a different result.
On Tuesday, the day of the election, Netanyahu warned that his leftist opponents were driving Arab voters to the polls "in droves" to defeat him. (Arab Israelis are 20 percent of the population in Israel.)
A day later, the White House came pretty close to accusing Netanyahu of using racist rhetoric to win.
On board Air Force One Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters, unprompted, that the White House would be communicating directly to the Israelis its "deep concern about the divisive rhetoric used to marginalize Arab Israeli citizens."
Emboldening Republicans
On a policy front, Netanyahu's reelection is likely to cause the president more headaches.
It will increase Republicans' willingness to challenge the president on foreign policy — as they did by inviting Netanyahu to give that controversial speech to Congress two weeks ago and then again with that letter 47 Republicans wrote to Iranian leaders blasting president Obama's efforts to get a nuclear deal.
Netanyahu's victory, Republicans feel, validates their decision to do so.
Another complication to an Iranian nuclear deal
As for getting an Iran deal done, the Israeli election results puts another hurdle in President Obama's path. If the government of Israel had changed, it would be a lot easier for Obama to reach an agreement with Iran and sell it to Congress.
Republicans in Congress had already been pushing the boundaries, and a bill giving Congress the ability to accept or reject a nuclear deal with Iran could come up for a vote as early as next month.
The White House insists Netanyahu's reelection will have no effect on the negotiations, but it may make it harder for the president to convince Congress to give those negotiations more time.
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough has been warning lawmakers not to interfere before all the details of a deal are worked out — that could take three more months.
The White House's top targets are Democrats. The president needs to hold down defections among his own party in the Senate, so that the bill does not receive a veto-proof majority.
A two-state solution is dead in the Obama years
Then there is the Israeli-Palestinian peace process which has been on life support for some time.
But Netanyahu's reelection might have flat-lined it altogether. In the days leading up to the elections, Netanyahu vowed there would be no Palestinian state as long as he was prime minister.
Backing a two-state solution has been the policy of the United States since 2002.
Netanyahu's remarks guarantee there will be no Israeli-Palestinian peace deal during Obama's term.
The Obama administration says it will now have to re-evaluate the U.S. approach to the peace process.
President Obama might also have to re-evaluate how he will handle a newly strengthened Israeli prime minister — one that stands in the way of progress on a two-state solution and a legacy-cementing nuclear deal with Iran.
Future-Hezbollah tensions defused as dialogue resumes
BEIRUT: The Future Movement and Hezbollah agreed during their eighth dialogue session Wednesday to bury the weekend’s tensions and restore the momentum which characterized their earlier meetings.
“Attendees stressed the need to maintain serious and continuous dialogue, as it is a main pillar in the preservation of the stability of the country, and protects Lebanon from what is happening in the region,” read a terse joint statement released following the four-hour talks.
“The [two parties] also agreed to continue discussing items on the agenda with the same momentum which characterized the first [dialogue session].”
Held at the Ain al-Tineh residence of Speaker Nabih Berri, the talks are aimed at helping elect a new president and improving Sunni-Shiite relations.
After initial progress in reducing sectarian tension through the removal of political banners, tension soared again in recent days, with officials from both groups trading accusations in media.
As in past sessions, the Future bloc was represented by Nader Hariri, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s chief of staff, as well as Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and MP Samir Jisr.
Attending the talks on behalf of Hezbollah were Hussein Khalil, a political aide to party leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan and MP Hassan Fadlallah. Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a political aide to Amal leader Nabih Berri, was also present.
Wednesday also saw developments in an ongoing controversy over the extension of military appointments. An Army source told The Daily Star that Defense Minister Samir Moqbel would likely sign in the coming hours a decree extending the term of Brig. Edmond Fadel, director-general of Army Intelligence, for six months. Fadel had been scheduled to retire Friday.
Moqbel’s decision is controversial, as Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has opposed extending the terms of top security officials, many which are due to expire soon.
The term of Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous, head of the Internal Security Forces, expires in June, while Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi is due to retire in September.
Aoun has said the extensions violate the law and demoralize officers, and has dismissed accusations by rivals that his stance is aimed at paving the way for his son-in-law, Brig. Shamel Rukoz, to succeed Kahwagi as head of the army.
Moqbel has argued that he is acting in line with his prerogatives as a defense minister.
MP Salim Salhab, from Aoun’s bloc, told the Central News Agency that he was lobbying against Moqbel’s declaration that he is allowed to postpone the retirements of security officials. Salhab contends that any such action must be made by governmental decree.
“We will then try to convince ministers to oppose such a decree,” he added. “This is our priority, particularly [given the impending] retirement date of the director-general of Army Intelligence.”
Salhab said that Aoun’s Tuesday visit to MP Walid Jumblatt, was part of this effort.
“Coordination with Hezbollah on this issue is ongoing, but we have not received their answer yet, and we do not know how they will respond if the issue is raised,” Salhab said, adding that the FPM had also contacted officials from other parties.
Moqbel discussed the issue of security appointments with Speaker Nabih Berri Wednesday.
“I come to Speaker Nabih Berri to listen to him, [like I do] every time there are critical issues which require decisions, whether for [security] appointments or other issues,” Moqbel said.
“As a defense minister, I behave 100 percent in accordance with the law – everything is clear – [but] there are some whose opinions run counter to mine,” Moqbel added, in reference to Aoun.
Sources familiar with the issue told The Daily Star that Moqbel proposed to Berri that the agenda of an upcoming session includes a draft law he prepared that would raise the retirement age of officers.
Rather than jeopardizing the unity of the Cabinet by having it take on such a bill, 10 MPs could present it directly to Parliament for endorsement.
Passage of such a law would constitute a compromise, as it would raise the retirement age of all officers, including those hoping to succeed the current heads of security services.
MPs who attended Berri’s weekly meeting with lawmakers said the speaker announced that Parliament’s Secretariat would convene on March 24 to set the agenda for a future legislative session.
Berri also called on Parliament’s Joint Committees to continue work on the public sector wage scale bill, which he hopes can be finalized and added to the agenda, and said that he was waiting for the Cabinet to refer the draft budget to Parliament following its presentation by Finance Minister Khalil.
The speaker also stated that Lebanon would stand to gain from a nuclear deal between Iran and the United States.
“An American-Iranian nuclear agreement, if reached, would have important repercussions in the region,” Berri told officials at his Beirut residence Wednesday. “One of the [outcomes] would be the reopening of [diplomatic] channels between Tehran and Riyadh, which would have positive results on Lebanon.”
Tripoli residents pessimistic on northern city’s future
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Development in Lebanon’s second city of Tripoli has stalled, and the city has failed to find stability amid political recriminations, rising poverty and contentious infrastructure projects.
The northern capital suffers from a chronic lack of development and is in dire need of political and economic solutions.
Its high levels of poverty and social marginalization were recently highlighted in a damning report released by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
The Urban Deprivation Index, put together by ESCWA, revealed that 57 percent of Tripoli’s families are struggling to attain an acceptable standard of living; of these, 26 percent are considered “extremely deprived.”
Its findings stem from a survey conducted in October 2011 of 1,271 families from seven major Tripoli neighborhoods: Basateen Tarablous, al-Tal-Zahreyah, the Old City, Bab al-Tabbaneh, Swayka, Qibbeh and Jabal Mohsen.
Politicians have traded blame for the conditions revealed by the January report, but have yet to propose viable solutions for the dangerous social indicators it revealed.
The report’s publication came as Tripoli’s politicians and residents were engaged in debate on a controversial underground parking lot planned for the city’s Al-Tal Square.
The municipality decided earlier this month to proceed with the project, despite opposition from residents and civil society groups like The Follow Up Committee for Tripoli.
The municipal council approved the project, after the plan had been initially rejected earlier in February.
Some March 14 civil society members who had expressed early opposition to the project have been silent in recent weeks, fueling speculation that they have conceded to Tripoli ministers, the municipality and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, all of whom support it.
While some residents support the plan, others have said that the money should be used for more pressing development projects.
Political bickering in such matters is typical, but the city’s lack of development is also symptomatic of its chronic instability.
Khaldoun Sharif, a politician close to former Prime Minister Najib Mikati, denied accusations made against Tripoli’s political class, countering that it was the Parliament that had shown indifference to the degrading conditions in the city.
“The issue isn’t related to the role [of city] authorities as much as it is an issue of sharing political spoils in the government and the Parliament,” Sharif explained. “When [projects in] Tripoli are raised, there are factions that use this as a chance to demand projects in their own areas, [to gain electoral support].”
Sharif said this happened when Mikati approved a massive plan for new construction in the city. “This triggered other ministers to ask for similar plans for their areas.”
Sharif, who has contested a parliamentary seat multiple times, argued that rather than reports on its failings, Tripoli needs concrete suggestions for progress.
“Eighty percent of the Lebanese economy is centered in Beirut,” Sharif explained. “There’s no one thinking about Tripoli’s future, [but] the city is at a crossroads, and the situation is deteriorating.”
The former head of Tripoli’s Merchants Association, Maamoun Adra, blamed the worsening conditions on Tripoli’s residents.
“The local mentality,” he called it.
Adra contended that this mentality was characterized by selfishness and individualism, with little attention to the needs of others. The accusation is at least somewhat echoed in the ESCWA report, which revealed significant levels of political corruption in the city.
“Tripoli has around 10,000 shops that vary in their specialty, but they’re all suffering from economic difficulties,” he said. “Most of them are issuing bounced checks due to a lack of liquidity, [and] there’s no deputy or minister who asks about their problems and concerns; ... [citizens] keep silent on the injustices being inflicted on them, they’re being submissive.”
Adra elaborated on the city’s troubled history, citing a series of events, large and small, which have hampered its development.
“The crisis in Tripoli wasn’t born today; the economic situation has been deteriorating since 1994, when economists in Beirut decided to end the exclusivity of international fairs in the city,” he said. Tripoli’s Rashid Karami International Fair remains an important event for local and national industry.
“The intention was to end Tripoli’s leading role, [which is seen as operating at] the expense of Beirut’s centralization.”
Adra also cited a series of military conflagrations from 1958 through the Civil War, which forced businesses and residents out and shoppers and tourists to stay away, sending the city into a spiral of economic decline. He added that the pattern continues today with the recurrent clashes between the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods.
Tripoli has also fallen behind other Lebanese cities in terms of education, explained Hiba Nashabe, president of the city’s Azm Educational Campus, and former manager of the Al-Maqased Charity Foundation Schools in Beirut.
“Tripoli lacks schools that rely on international quality standards ... We don’t encourage [students] to think and build an independent personality. We’re teaching this generation, but that doesn’t mean we’re raising and educating them [properly]. Teaching is one thing and education is another.”
“In Sidon there are schools that follow these standards, and graduate students based on the international baccalaureate program – this is nonexistent in Tripoli. Even public schools in Beirut, Sidon, and Zahle look completely different than those in Tripoli with regard to standards and administration,” Nashabe added.
“We can’t say that we are working to graduate leaders without putting modern teaching techniques in place for our students.”
Nashabe believes that Tripoli’s problems aren’t related to its poverty so as much to the lack of a clear vision for the future. She seconded Adra’s contention that its residents are not particularly community-minded.
“Tripoli lacks group work,” Nashabe said. “Achievements often take on an individualistic rather than an institutional form.”
Resigned Tripoli municipal council member Fawaz Hamidi said he was angry at how things are going in the city.
“The problem in Tripoli ... is its failing administrative and political system, with their unjustified levels of centralization,” said Hamidi, who conceded that the city’s issues are deep-rooted and complex.
“In my opinion, if the running of Tripoli’s political, religious and municipal affairs continues unchanged, it would be better for us to cancel the parking lot and all the other projects, announce that the city is ruined, and find another place to seek refuge.”
Lahoud had motive to kill Hariri: STL defense
BEIRUT: Former President Emile Lahoud and his “clique in the Lebanese-Syrian security apparatus” may have had motive to kill former Prime Minister Hariri, according to a defense lawyer at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Referencing excerpts from a report by an unidentified U.N. analyst, defense lawyer Guénaël Mettraux suggested that while Hariri’s ties with the Syrian regime were on the mend at the time of his assassination, he was on particularly bad terms with then-President Emile Lahoud.
Hariri’s rapprochement with the Syrian regime and his anticipated success in the 2005 parliamentary polls posed a risk to Lahoud’s own political fortunes, Mettraux suggested.
Hariri’s political ally Bassem al-Sabeh, however, denied knowledge of any rapprochement between the Syrian regime and Hariri.
While cross-examining Sabeh in court, Mettraux advanced the idea that the Syrian regime and Hariri had turned a new page in their historically fraught relationship.
Mettraux quoted former Minister Mohsen Dalloul, who told U.N. investigators in 2010 that at the time of his death Hariri was “happy” about his improving ties with the Syrian regime. Specifically, Hariri was heartened after a meeting with Walid al-Moallem, who had been appointed as Syria’s foreign minister just weeks before Hariri was assassinated.
Moallem traveled to Beirut and met with Hariri in early February 2005 in what Mettraux suggested was perceived as a “conciliatory gesture in Beirut.”
At the meeting, Hariri claimed Emile Lahoud was spying on him.
“There is someone here named Emile Lahoud who has someone from your side working with him here, and they have nothing to do but ... specialize on Rafik Hariri. They send reports, they may send a report about the thing now, that we’re sitting together,” Hariri complained to Moallem.
Mettraux later questioned Sabeh about issues raised by an unidentified analyst working for the UNIIIC who, in 2007, wrote a report about the political context in Lebanon at the time of Hariri’s assassination.
The author suggested that the thaw in relations between Hariri and Syrian President Bashar Assad facilitated by Moallem may have “been conducted at the expense” of Lahoud and a “clique” of top Lebanese and Syrian security operatives in Lebanon who were poised to to lose influence in the country.
According to the author, “Lahoud’s interests were not always synonymous with Syria’s,” a point which Sabeh challenged.
Noting the “rapprochement” between Hariri and Damascus, the author of the report questioned “whether the network could have conspired against Hariri with or even without the knowledge or consent of the Syrian President Bashar Assad.”
When pressed on that point, however, Sabeh said he had no knowledge of any détente between the former prime minister and Assad.
“Assuming there was one,” Mettraux asked Sabeh, “do you think that this loss of influence could have been a motive behind the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri?”
Sabeh said it was “not proper” to answer a “hypothetical question.”
Throughout the day, Mettraux highlighted statements made by Sabeh and others to U.N. investigators suggesting that Hezbollah and Hariri were on fine terms leading up to the assassination.
Mettraux represents the interests of Assad Hasan Sabra, one of five Hezbollah members who have been charged in absentia with plotting Hariri’s assassination and the ensuing cover-up.
While Mettraux highlighted the positive relationship between Hariri and Hezbollah and the improving rapport between the ex-premier and the Syrian regime, he carefully cast Emile Lahoud in a suspicious light.
Mettraux asked Sabeh if he had heard the rumor that Lahoud “was swimming, and he was told that Rafik Hariri had been killed, and he just continued swimming.”
“That was a rumor, a rumor that I do not wish to comment on,” Sabeh said flatly.
Hospitals must treat rich and poor: Abu Faour
BEIRUT: Private hospitals Wednesday promised to abide by the guidelines set out by Health Minister Wael Abu Faour, who accused health centers across Lebanon of treating them like “customers” and denying the poor the right to relief.
“We have no vendetta against hospitals and their owners,” Abu Faour told a joint news conference with the head of the Association of Private Hospitals Sleiman Haroun. “The situation cannot continue in the wake of the [unresolved] outstanding issues like humiliating patients at hospital doorsteps.”
He strongly lamented the fact that poor people are being oppressed.
“I regret the fact the some hospital receptionists treat patients as customers and are admitted on distinction-based [health benefits],” Abu Faour said.
Haroun, in turn, said the Association of Private Hospitals respects Abu Faour’s decision on the patients’ rights and vowed to abide by the agreement he signed with the Health Ministry. “We had a very frank and fruitful meeting,” he told reporters.
“Problems cannot be solved by pressing a button. They need some time,” he said, urging hospitals to adopt positive measures.
The Health Ministry Monday reduced its cash subsidies to private hospitals in the northern district of Akkar to punish them for failing to treat patients.
A Health Ministry statement said the decision to hold back LL1 billion came in response to the death of 4-month-old boy Abdel-Raouf Mounir al-Houli earlier this month, after he was denied admission to two private hospitals in Akkar.
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Chicago Mayor's Race Puts Democratic Divide In Spotlight
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel failed to capture a majority of the vote last month, forcing him into a runoff. It's highlighting a divide among Democrats playing out nationally. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel failed to capture a majority of the vote last month, forcing him into a runoff. It's highlighting a divide among Democrats playing out nationally.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
One of the nation's savviest politicians is in an unexpected fight.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's former White House chief of staff, is in an unprecedented runoff election next month.
The challenger, Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, contends that Emanuel favors the rich and powerful over working-class Chicagoans. But Emanuel is firing back, attacking Garcia for having no plan for dealing with the city's deep financial problems.
Samantha Hernandez, 17, poses for a selfie with Chicago mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia during the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago. Paul Beaty/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Paul Beaty/AP
Samantha Hernandez, 17, poses for a selfie with Chicago mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia during the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago.
Paul Beaty/AP
Emanuel is the first incumbent Chicago mayor to be forced into a primary runoff – and it's a race that's signaling a deeper, growing divide between liberal and more moderate Democrats.
Several national progressive groups, including Democracy for America, MoveOn.org and the American Federation of Teachers, have banded together to take the fight to Emanuel in what they see as a fight between the "Elizabeth Warren Wing" of the Democratic Party and the "Wall Street Wing."
Taking it to the streets
Garcia walked through the Englewood neighborhood on the Chicago's south side with a natural ease that comes from three decades in Chicago politics, shaking hands with residents, talking with them about their jobs, families, and schools. And, of course, asking for their support.
For many residents of this mostly African-American community, the attention is welcome.
"I'm a neighborhood guy," he told residents.
That is the key distinction Garcia is trying to make in his campaign to unseat Emanuel, the first-term mayor: That he is of the neighborhoods and for the neighborhoods, while Emanuel's policies benefit the wealthy downtown.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, ahead of a televised debate Monday. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, ahead of a televised debate Monday.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
"Chicago neighborhoods are hurting," he said. "They haven't seen much recovery since the recession, and that will be the paradigm shift under my administration."
Garcia walked door-to-door on this block during recent campaigning, in particular because it's home of one of the 50 schools Emanuel's administration closed two years ago.
Carrissa Johnson, 38, who works in the Social Security Administration, says her son now has to walk a longer, more dangerous route to school. And she's also upset about the lack of investment in Englewood and neighborhoods like it under Emanuel.
"I don't think that he really cares about the inner community," she said. "I think everything goes more so up north than comes here."
Johnson admitted she "really doesn't know too much about" Garcia, but she added, "I don't think that it can get any worse, because Emanuel is not really doing his job, so I think that a change is very much needed."
Money talks
Progressives have highlighted the millions of dollars Emanuel has spent to underscore the perception that Emanuel favors the well-heeled and well connected.
Campaign-finance reports show Emanuel has raked in about eight times what Garcia has. Emanuel has raised close to $20 million, including a recent $1.4 million haul from just eight wealthy donors, as of Wednesday.
Garcia, meanwhile, has raised $2.6 million, much of it from the Chicago Teachers Union, other unions, and progressive groups such as Democracy for America.
Looking to boost those figures, Garcia has a trip scheduled Thursday to Los Angeles to raise money from Latino business and community leaders.
'A total disconnect'
Helping lead Garcia around this neighborhood that has almost as many vacant lots and boarded-up buildings as there are occupied homes and businesses, was Bishop James Dukes, pastor of nearby Liberation Christian Center. Dukes said he endorsed and worked for Emanuel's campaign four years ago.
"It's a total disconnect," he said of Emanuel now. "At no point, does the administration seek the advice and help of those who are in the community until voting time — until they need us. ... In the meantime, all the decisions are made in a silo."
The message that Emanuel seems disengaged from the city's poorer neighborhoods, that he's arrogant and even abrasive, appears to be getting through to the mayor. He opened a recent campaign ad this way:
"They say your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. I'm living proof of that. I can rub people the wrong way, or talk when I should listen. I own that."
It's the first ad Emanuel started airing after failing to get more than 50 percent in February's election, forcing him into this runoff.
Emanuel told voters he's driven to make a difference. That can require tough, even unpopular choices.
"Look, I'm not going to always get it right," he said. "But when it comes to fighting for Chicago and Chicago's future, no one's going to fight harder."
Trying to rally unions
Emanuel has clashed with many of city's unions, most notably Chicago's teachers, who enlisted Garcia to challenge Emanuel.
The Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, which played a critical role on the ground during President Obama's two presidential campaigns, endorsed Garcia, too.
Many in labor worry about Emanuel's close relationship with Illinois' Republican billionaire Gov. Bruce Rauner, who often criticizes unions.
Emanuel met this week with several African-American labor leaders to try to allay their concerns. When one leader said, "We cannot let Illinois become a right-to-work state," Emanuel quickly agreed, adding, "I think right to work takes the rug from underneath the middle class."
On that and other issues, many of the labor leaders said they came away satisfied.
"We're looking for opportunities for people of color that look like us and a pathway to careers," said Will Irving, who is with Laborers Local 1001, "and I think we've accomplished a stepping stone out of this meeting."
When it comes to Emanuel, Irving added, "There are opinions that people have; there are facts about what the mayor has done. The mayor has done a lot of good things with the schools."
Irving also cited Emanuel's efforts in helping develop pathways to careers in the trades, among others, and said the mayor is more inclusive than he gets credit for.
"We have had a seat at the table," Irving said.
Laborers Local 1001 President Nicole Hayes echoed that.
"I think he has done a great job," she said, adding, "Under his leadership, the last four years, we've acquired almost 400 new positions with him. So we're endorsing him."
Earl Jackson of Plumbers Local 130 said his group is throwing its support to Emanuel.
"He's doing a good job," Jackson said.
Rahm comes out fighting
Never the political equivalent of a shrinking violet, at a debate Monday night, Emanuel hammered Garcia for failing to detail how he'd fix city finances.
"Let me be clear here, there's a real difference," he said. "Chuy, you laid out a commission, not a plan."
Garcia didn't back down.
"This mayor has provided corporate welfare to his cronies, millionaires and billionaires in Illinois," he hit back, "and he promised four years ago to put Chicago's fiscal house in order, [but] we're in a financial free-fall."
With less than three weeks to go until the April 7 run-off, Emanuel has a sizable lead in the latest polls.
Progressive groups concede defeating Emanuel is an uphill climb, but they are already satisfied with forcing him into a runoff. And they are confident their message is resonating beyond Chicago.
Domenico Montanaro contributed to this report.
Trade Policy Vote Could Affect Organized Labor's Role In 2016 Election
NPR's Don Gonyea speaks with Steven Greenhouse, a former longtime labor correspondent for The New York Times, about the AFL-CIO's recent freeze on contributions to Democratic candidates in the lead-up to a key vote affecting U.S. trade policy.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
After Netanyahu Win, What's Next For Israel Still Unknown
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's victory in parliamentary elections shows that Israelis are backing the status quo. But the shape of a new government and the international implications of Netanyahu's victory are still being worked out.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Chicago Race Exposes Progressive, Wall Street Wings Of Democratic Party
The strength of Hillary Clinton's standing in the presidential contest is clouding a left-right divide within the national Democratic Party.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Hezbollah, Future start talks despite tension
Hezbollah, Future start talks despite tension
The Future Movement and Hezbollah began a new round of talks Wednesday despite renewed tensions over the latter’s role...
Attorney General Holder Jokes Republicans Have 'A New Fondness For Me'
Attorney General Eric Holder has endured a rocky relationship with lawmakers during his tenure. But he's all they have until his successor is confirmed. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Attorney General Eric Holder has endured a rocky relationship with lawmakers during his tenure. But he's all they have until his successor is confirmed.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Attorney General Eric Holder joked Wednesday that given nearly six months of Senate delays in confirming his successor at the Justice Department, "it's almost as if the Republicans in Congress have discovered a new fondness for me."
"I'm feeling love there that I haven't felt for some time. And where was all this affection the last six years?" the attorney general asked, to laughter, in brief remarks at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
Holder has endured a rocky relationship with lawmakers during his tenure. In 2012, he became first attorney general to be held in contempt by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives over his refusal to turn over documents in the 'Fast and Furious' gun-trafficking scandal.
But even though he announced his intention to resign in September 2014, Senate leaders have slow-walked the confirmation process for his would-be replacement, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.
The White House this week said Lynch, who had twice been confirmed to other top law enforcement posts with no negative votes, had waited 130 days for the full Senate to take action on her nomination to be the country's chief law enforcement officer — longer than the previous five attorney general nominees, combined.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he will work to move ahead with a human trafficking bill before scheduling a floor vote for Lynch. Since the Senate next week may consider budget issues, and then take a two-week break, action on the attorney general nomination may wait until mid-April. If she's approved, Lynch would be the first African-American woman to run the Justice Department. Lynch herself is relatively non-controversial, but she's suffered in part because of conservative displeasure about President Obama's executive action on immigration.
Sen. Richard Durbin, a high ranking Illinois Democrat, took to the Senate floor Wednesday morning under a poster of Loretta Lynch to complain that "no one laid a glove on her" during her eight-hour-long hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Durbin said "there's no good reason" for the lengthy delays and said she's been "asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar."
Through spokesman Brian Fallon, Holder reiterated his commitment to stay in office until the Senate moves on his successor. "In case it's lost on GOP, Holder is staying til Lynch confirmed. The longer Senate delays, the longer he is AG," Fallon tweeted.
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Obama Picks Kentucky To Win NCAA Tournament, Mixes In Politics
President Barack Obama didn't exactly go out on a limb with his college-basketball picks this year.
Like most people, he picked Kentucky to run the table, go 40-0, and win the NCAA Tournament. He also picked three No. 1 seeds and one No. 2 to make it to the Final Four.
University of Kentucky basketball players celebrate their Southeastern Conference tournament championship victory earlier this month. Steve Helber/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Steve Helber/AP
University of Kentucky basketball players celebrate their Southeastern Conference tournament championship victory earlier this month.
Steve Helber/AP
"I don't think you can play a perfect basketball game anymore than you can do anything perfectly," the president said of Kentucky, "but these guys are coming pretty close."
The president did mix in a little politics.
ESPN's Andy Katz asked what seed he would have been, if politics had a bracket.
"Oh, I was definitely a third or fourth seed, but I was scrappy," Obama said, alluding to his first run for the White House against Hillary Clinton.
Clinton was the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination in 2008. She's running again, and is an even bigger favorite.
"It's nice being just a little bit of the underdog because you have less pressure on you," Obama said. "On the other hand, there's a reason they're the favorite," he said of Kentucky, "because they're a really good team."
President Obama's 2015 NCAA Tournament bracket. Pete Souza/White House hide caption
itoggle caption Pete Souza/White House
Upsets
The president also picked one 12-5 upset, the first round game that pits usually a top mid-major program 12th seed against a big-conference school at a No. 5 slot. It's a game that often sees at least one 5-seed go down.
This year, the president picked Buffalo to upset West Virginia. Buffalo is coached this year by Bobby Hurley, the former standout Duke point guard, making his first return to the NCAA tournament as a head coach. Obama called him "tough and scrappy" — despite his size.
The president also picked 10th-seeded Davidson to upset second-seeded Gonzaga in the Round of 32.
Rules change
Obama also made a little bit of news, advocating that the NCAA change its rules to make the game more high scoring.
"I am an advocate by the way for the NCAA changing the rules – in terms of shortening the shot clock, widening the lane, moving the 3-point line back a little bit," the president, also an NBA fan, said.
"Let's get it down to 30 seconds at minimum," he said of a potential shot clock.
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Can't Protect The Real White House? Get An $8 Million Fake One
A member of the Secret Service's uniformed division stands by a fence in front of the White House. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
A member of the Secret Service's uniformed division stands by a fence in front of the White House.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
It's no secret that the Secret Service has had a few public-relations problems over the last few years.
Not the least of which was a man who scaled the White House fence and made it all the way inside the home of the American president and his family.
There have been a lot of solutions floated — better training, improved schedules for overworked agents, even a higher fence.
The current Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy has another idea — an $8 million replica White House complete with fountains, guard booths, even plants.
"Right now, we train on a parking lot, basically," Clancy, who has officially been director of the agency for about a month, told members of Congress during a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday. "We put up a makeshift fence and walk off the distance between the fence to the White House and the actual fence itself."
He added, "We don't have, on that parking lot, the bushes. We don't have the fountains. We don't get a realistic look at the White House."
A business tycoon in Iraq modeled his home after the White House. Leila Fadel/NPR hide caption
itoggle caption Leila Fadel/NPR
A business tycoon in Iraq modeled his home after the White House.
Leila Fadel/NPR
The military uses models for training for things like urban warfare and special operations, something Clancy cited as a reason for building a fake White House at the agency's current training facility in suburban Maryland.
It wouldn't be the first replica White House built. Aside from what's been done on Hollywood movie sets over the years, NPR's Leila Fadel reported in November on a private home in Iraq under contraction and modeled after the first family's house.
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All the President's Picks: See His 2015 NCAA Tournament Brackets
Get your March Madness dancing shoes on: Barack-etology is back.
For the seventh straight year, President Obama sat down with ESPN's Andy Katz to fill out his brackets for the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments.
In his men's bracket, the President has Arizona, Duke, Kentucky, and Villinova headed to the Final Four.
Get excited Big Blue Nation: Like the majority of Americans, President Obama picked Kentucky to cut down the nets on April 6 and complete an undefeated season as National Champions.
Check back on Thursday, March 18 to find out who the President picked to go all the way in the women's bracket.
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US claim that Iran excluded from terror report over format change 'a flat lie': ex-UN envoy
BEIRUT: A former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has described claims that Hezbollah and Iran were excluded from an annual terror threat report because of a format change as "a flat lie."
“The people who would say this format change are... lying weasels,” John Bolton, the fiery conservative who served as an American envoy to the U.N. under the Bush administration, told Fox News in a television interview Tuesday night.
A U.S. official had Tuesday dismissed speculation that Washington was softening its position towards Hezbollah and Iran after the two were excluded from 2015 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community report.
In a statement released by the U.S. embassy in Lebanon, the official said the two were excluded from the 2015 report despite being named in previous reports because of a "format change."
“The format of this year’s report is exactly the same as last year’s report,” Bolton noted.
He attributed the exclusion of Iran and Hezbollah to the U.S. nuclear talks with Iran, speculating that Tehran’s negotiators urged their American counterparts to “start going easy on us on this terrorism stuff.”
Bolton, known for his hawkish foreign policy positions, said Iran was seeking to relax U.S. sanctions imposed on it over its nuclear program, as well as the punitive measures it has been facing since being added to the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list in 1984.
“This was a concession I think by the administration relating to the nuclear negotiations [that] you will not find in the signed deal,” he said.
In the 2014 terror report, the National Intelligence director said that Iran and Hezbollah continue to directly threaten the interests of U.S. allies. The report claimed that Hezbollah had increased its “global terrorist activity.”
In the latest report, the terrorism section focuses exclusively on the rise of militant groups like ISIS and the Nusra Front.
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Hospitals treat patients like 'customers': Abu Faour
BEIRUT: Private hospitals Wednesday promised to abide by the guidelines set out by Health Minister Wael Abu Faour, who accused health centers across Lebanon of treating them like "customers" and denying the poor the right to relief.
“We have no vendetta against hospitals and their owners," Abu Faour told a joint news conference with the head of the Association of Private Hospitals Sleiman Haroun. "The situation cannot continue in the wake of the [unresolved] outstanding issues like humiliating patients at hospital doorsteps.”
He strongly lamented the fact that the poor person is being oppressed.
“I regret the fact the some hospital receptionists treat patients as customers and are admitted on distinction-based [health benefits],” Abu Faour said.
Haroun, in turn, said the Association of Private Hospitals respects Abu Faour’s decision on the patients’ rights and vowed to abide by the agreement he signed with the ministry.
“We had a very frank and fruitful meeting,” Haroun told reporters.
“Problems cannot be solved by pressing a button. They need some time,” he said, urging hospitals to adopt positive measures.
On Monday, the Health Ministry reduced its cash subsidies to private hospitals in the northern district of Akkar to punish them for mistreating patients.
A Health Ministry statement said the decision to hold back LL1 billion ($665,120) came in response to the death of 4-month-old boy Abdel-Raouf Mounir al-Houli earlier this month, after he was denied admission to two private hospitals in Akkar.
The amount will instead be transferred to the Abdullah al-Rassi public hospital in the northern town of Halba.
Abu Faour sounded more lenient Wednesday, hinting he would reconsider the cash grant reduction if he sees improvements.
“I will not take any positive action unless I see positive changes by hospitals,” he said. “Otherwise, the sword will continue to be raised above your heads.”
Would Automatic Voter Registration Increase Turnout?
Advocates are looking to a new Oregon law as a model for increasing voter turnout. Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Advocates are looking to a new Oregon law as a model for increasing voter turnout.
Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Go to renew your driver's license in Oregon, and you will now be signed up to vote automatically.
It's the first state in the country with that sort of law, which is designed to make voting easier, and stands in contrast to the trend seen in the past several years in more conservative states.
"It's really interesting — when we've seen restrictions emerging in Republican-leaning states," said Michael McDonald, a University of Florida associate who tracks turnout as head of the U.S. Elections Project. "In Democratic-controlled states, we're seeing laws intended to expand the electorate."
Colorado, for example, like Oregon is all vote-by-mail; Vermont is considering automatic registration, McDonald said, and a Philadelphia politician on Tuesday proposed the same for Pennsylvania. New York and Maryland, meanwhile, have expanded early voting.
In Oregon, the law could swell voter rolls by hundreds of thousands. If other states follow suit, it could have a dramatic effect on the U.S. voting process.
"During the testimony on the bill, a legislator said to me, 'It's already so easy to register — why would we make it easier?'" Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said during the bill signing Monday. "My answer is that we have the tools to make voter registration more cost-effective, more secure and more convenient for Oregonians, so why wouldn't we?"
Conservatives, however, argue that states need to be concerned about preventing voter fraud. They also make the case that the Oregon law makes it easier for the government to track people. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported, for example:
"The bill passed along party lines earlier this month, with Democrats largely supporting it. Republicans who voted against the law say they're worried about data privacy when the [Department of Motor Vehicles] sends information to elections officials."
McDonald doesn't find that argument compelling.
"You're already in the DMV database," McDonald said. "They're just registering to vote at the same time; you can still opt out."
The "opt out" provision is key to the law. If someone does not want to be signed up, they have 21 days to let the state know. Many other states offer the chance to register to vote when someone renews their license or gets a state identification card, but those citizens have to opt in.
Advocates believe laws like Oregon's are key to increasing turnout, but not all experts agree that necessarily will be the result.
"It's likely we're going to see more people on the voter registration rolls," McDonald said, noting that some states with same-day registration have seen increases of 3 to 5 percent.
But he cautioned that "the effect might not be as dramatic in presidentials" when there is "no need for the reminder" to vote. The real impact might be on state and local elections, when voters previously were receiving little to no information.
What's more, McDonald said, when Canada implemented a similar system in the 1990s, only 1 to 2 percent of people opted out, but voter turnout didn't increase.
"Canada moved to universal voter registration, and turnout dropped," McDonald noted. "Maybe it would have dropped further, but this [laws like Oregon's] is no guarantee."
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