THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012
PAGE 3
NEWS OF THE WORLD
CENTRAL AMERICA
Associated Press
Mexico may elect first female president
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's ruling party on Sunday chose a former congresswoman to run for president, the first time a major party has nominated a woman to compete for the nation's top office.
The National Action Party's vote for Josefina Vazquez Mota over two other candidates sets the race for Mexico July 1 presidential election. The two other major parties had already selected their candidates.
Vazquez Mota, 51, faces an uphill climb against former Mexico state Gov. Enrique Pena Nieto, the
Vazquez Mota
front-runner in the current polls who could return Mexico's long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to power after a 12-year hiatus.
The leftist Democratic Revolution Party chose Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is making his second run after a razor-thin loss in 2006 to President Felipe Calderon. Mexico limits its presidents to a single six-year term.
EUROPE
Vazquez Mota is considered Pena Nieto's strongest potential challenger, a personable, charismatic candidate who like Pena Nieto is good on the stump. Though Mexican voters in general seem weary of the ruling party after presidents Vicente Fox and Calderon, the novelty of a woman candidate could boost party appeal.
Romania's government collapses
BUCHAREST — Romania's government collapsed Monday following weeks of protests against austerity measures, the latest debt-striken government in Europe to fall in the face of raising public anger
over biting
cuts.
Emil Boc,
who had been
prime minister
since 2008,
said he was
resigning
"to defuse
political and
Boc
social tension" and to make way for a new government. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets in January to protest salary cuts, higher taxes and the widespread perception that the government was not
interested in the public's hardships in this nation of 22 million.
President Traian Basescu quickly appointed Justice Minister Catalin Predoui, the only Cabinet member unaffiliated with a political party, as interim prime minister to serve until a new government is approved.
Basescu also nominated Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, the head of Romania's foreign intelligence service, as the country's new prime minister and asked him to form a Cabinet. Parliament must approve Ungureanu and his ministers in 60 days, or it and the legislature will be dissolved and new elections held.
But the opposition said it opposes Ungureanu and that it will continue the boycott of Parliament it began last week.
MIDDLE EAST
Illegally-built factory building collapses, kills at least four
ISLAMABAD — Rescue workers struggled to reach dozens of people trapped in the rubble of a factory that collapsed in an eastern Pakistani city Monday, killing at least four, officials said.
The factory, which manufactured medicine, had been set up illegally in a residential area of Lahore and caved in after several gas cylinders inside exploded, said the city's deputy commissioner, Ahad Cheema. Authorities had previously closed the factory three times, but each time it reopened.
The factory was owned by a local politician, who used his influence to keep it open despite complaints from neighbors, said local resident Munawar Ali.
Powerful Pakistani often use their influence to circumvent the law and extract illegal profits.
Records indicate there were 62 people, including women and children, inside the factory when it collapsed, said police official Sarfraz Falki.
"We believe some 50 to 60 people are still trapped in the rubble," said
Falki.
The four dead people who have been pulled out so far included a woman and a 12-year-old boy, said Rizwan Naseer, head of the state-run rescue service in Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital.
Rescue workers were having a difficult time digging out others under the rubble because the narrow streets around the factory made it tough to get heavy machinery to the site, said Naseer.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rescuers work to clear away rubble after the collapse of a medicine factory in Pakistan. At least four people died in the incident, which occurred after several gas cylinders exploded inside the building.
NORTH AMERICA U.S. diplomats leave Syria Embassy closes
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has closed the U.S. Embassy in Damascus and pulled all American diplomats out of Syria.
Officials say Ambassador Robert Ford and other diplomats left Syria on Monday. It's the most dramatic U.S. move so far after 11 months of a violent crackdown on dissent by President Bashar Assad's regime.
The State Department warned last month it would close the embassy unless Assad's government stepped up its protection. It cited concerns about the safety of personnel and recent car bombs.
The U.N. says Assad's crackdown has killed more than 5,400 people since March. The revolt began with mostly peaceful protests, but armed rebels are now increasingly fighting the regime.
The Obama administration has long demanded that Assad step down.
Brownback's meetings may violate law
GOVERNMENT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Sam Brownback raised issues such as tax cuts and water policy in private meetings with legislators at his official residence, several lawmakers said Monday, although their accounts differed about the details.
Some Republican legislators who attended one or more of the gatherings with the GOP governor described them as purely social events. But several of the dozen lawmakers interviewed Monday by The Associated Press said Brownback made remarks about substantive issues; one said the governor mentioned specific bills on water policy, while another recalled a back-and-forth with legislators on tax issues.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback answers questions from reporters as Sherriene Jones-Sontag, his communications director, watches, Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Brownback says he'll cooperate fully with a prosecutor's investigation into whether meetings he had with legislators at his official residence violated the state's open meetings law.
Brownback had seven meetings in January for Republicans on 13 legislative committees, and Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor, a Democrat, is investigating whether the gatherings violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act. Taylor has said the legality of the meetings depends upon whether legislators discussed substantive legislative issues and how much interaction there was among them.
Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag said Monday that the administration remains confident that the gatherings didn't violate the law. Brownback has gatherings scheduled Monday and Tuesday at Cedar Crest, his official residence, but the groups are bipartisan and don't appear to be tied to membership of specific
committees.
State Sen. Dick Kelsey, a Goddard Republican who attended a Jan. 18 dinner with members of the Senate tax and commerce committees, said lawmakers sat in a circle and heard remarks from Brownback about his plan for overhauling the individual income tax system. Kelsey said the legislators received assurances that they weren't violating the Open Meetings Act.
"The governor gave a
presentation about his tax plan, and various people asked questions and made comments", Kelsey said.
But Sen. Pat Apple, a Louisburg Republican who attended the same gathering, remembered Brownback's remarks as "rather generic" and said that while one attendee commented about potential issues with the governor's plan, there was no back-and-forth. And Tax Committee Chairman Les Donovan, a
Wichita Republican, said he doesn't remember any business being discussed.
The Open Meetings Act generally prohibits a voting majority of a legislative body from discussing government business without giving the public notice or access to the meetings. Taylor has said the act does not apply to Brownback as an individual, and alleged violations are a civil matter, not a criminal one.
LOCAL
Google Fiber coming to Kansas City
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Kan. Google plans to begin construction Monday on its long-awaited super-speed Internet service in Kansas City, Kan.
Kevin Lo, the Google executive heading up the project, announced the start of construction on the company's Google Fiber Blog, according to The Kansas City Star. Google said it would install the fiber infrastructure first and then connect Google Fiber into homes across Kansas City.
"We've measured utility poles; we've studied maps and surveyed neighborhoods; we've come up with a comprehensive set of detailed engineering plans; and we've eaten way too much barbecue. Now, starting today, we're ready to lay fiber," Lo's blog post read.
The 1 gigabit-per-second Internet connection is expected to offer steady downloads about 100
Google had the choice of paying the normal fees for the same access as their potential Internet service competitors, or avoid the fees and take on added construction costs of operating in the electric supply space. Such an installation would have required using more specialized and highly paid linemen for the work, and likely costlier engineering work.
NATIONAL
Construction to erect a network had been snagged over issues about where Google would attach its fiber optic cables on the poles owned by the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities. The BPU is owned by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, which wrote the agreement that secured the Google Fiber project for Kansas City, Kan., beating out more than 1,000 communities vying for the service.
Suspect in Tucson shooting medicated
times faster than most Americans can get in their homes with existing broadband services.
I ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge ruled Monday that the suspect
Loughner
in the Tucson shooting rampage that wounded former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will spend four more months at a federal prison facility where officials are forcibly medicating him.
In making his decision, U.S. District Court Judge Larry
Burns noted that Jared Lee Loughner has made marked improvement at the facility in Springfield, Mo., where he has participated in group therapy with other inmates and at times had coherent speech and steady eye contact with others.
"That in and of itself is a signal of measurable progress," Burns said, adding that when he first saw the suspect in court, "there was no way" he could have done that.
He has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges stemming from the Jan. 8, 2011, attack in Tucson that killed six people and injured 12 others, including Giffords, who resigned from Congress last month to focus on recovering from being shot in the head.
Mental health experts have determined that Loughner, 23, suffers from schizophrenia and are trying to make him fit to stand trial.
Loughner's attorneys have
vigorously fought the government efforts to medicate him with psychotropic drugs, although they did not object to the judge's decision Monday. Attorney Judy Clarke declined to comment after the hearing.
Since his arrest, Loughner has demonstrated bizarre behavior. He was removed from a May 25 court hearing after lowering his head to within inches of the courtroom table before lifting it and unleashing a loud and angry rant.
Loughner has been at the Missouri facility since May 28.
His federal psychologist Dr Christina Pietz said he still does not fully understand the nature and gravity of the charges against him, but she believes he will continue to improve.
Burns ordered officials at the facility to immediately call him if Loughner becomes competent at any time during the next four months. The suspect's psychologist is also required to give the court an update on his status no later than May 24.
Burns said he would review the status report before scheduling the next hearing. Loughner's current stay at the facility is set to expire on June 7.
The judge also agreed to allow the prosecution to see the psychologist's notes after the material has been reviewed by Loughner's attorney to remove any details that would compromise attorney-client privilege. Clarke promised to do that within a week's time.
Burns told attorneys that none of the details in the notes can be used against Loughner in court because "he's talking to her for the purpose of treatment."
POLITICS
Romney gains support from tea party activists
DENVER — Long skeptical of Mitt Romney, tea party activists are either warming up to the GOP presidential
front-runner or reluctantly back him after abandoning hope of finding a nominee they like better.
Romney
Whatever the reason, the former Massachusetts
governor who is coming off of back-to-back victories in Florida and Nevada now is picking up larger shares of the tea party vote than he did when the Republican nomination fight began. And
that fact alone illuminates the struggles of the nearly three-year-old movement to greatly influence its first presidential race.
"We haven't gone away," insisted Amy Kremer, chairwoman of the national Tea Party Express. But, in the same breath, she acknowledged lower expectations and a shift in focus to Senate races over the White House campaign.
Tea party activists across the country entered their first presidential contest this year expecting to hold major sway over the Republican race following a 2010 congressional election year in which their favored candidates successfully knocked off a string of insiders in GOP primaries in Colorado and elsewhere.
Associated Press
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