Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/43023
Monday, September 26, 2011 – Daily News 1D WORLD BRIEFING Hikers freed from Iran: 'We were held because of our nationality' NEW YORK (AP) — Declaring that they were detained because of their nationality, not their actions, two Americans held for more than two years in an Iranian prison came home Sunday, end- ing a diplomatic and per- sonal ordeal with a sharp rebuke of the country that had imprisoned them after they hiked over the border from Iraq. Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer, both 29, were freed last week under a $1 million bail deal and arrived Wednes- day in Oman, greeted by relatives and fellow hiker Sarah Shourd, who was released last year. Their saga began in July 2009 with what they called a wrong turn into the wrong country. The three were hiking together in Iraq's relatively peace- ful Kurdish region along the Iran-Iraq border when Iranian guards detained them. They always main- tained their innocence, saying they might have accidentally wandered into Iran. The two men were convicted of spying last month. Shourd, whom Bauer proposed marriage to while they were impris- oned, was charged but freed before any trial. The men took turns reading statements at a news conference Sunday in New York, surrounded by relatives and with Shourd at their side. They didn't take questions from reporters. Palestinian leader rises out of Arafat's shadow RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — President Mahmoud Abbas received a hero's welcome Sunday from thousands of cheering, flag-waving Palestinians, having made a bid for Unit- ed Nations recognition that appears destined to fail but has allowed him to finally step out of the shadow of his iconic predecessor Yasser Arafat. The crowd, many of them holding posters of Abbas, repeatedly chanted his name as he spoke. sufficient expertise and equipment to test the DNA, he said. Obama: GOP approach would 'cripple' America SEATTLE (AP) — President Barack Obama charged Sunday that the GOP vision of govern- ment would ''fundamen- tally cripple America,'' as he tried out his newly combative message on the liberal West Coast. Aiming to renew the ardor of Democratic loy- alists who have grown increasingly disenchanted with him, the president mixed frontal attacks on Republicans with words of encouragement intend- ed to buck up the faithful as the 2012 campaign revs up. ''From the moment I Abbas was uncharacteristi- cally animated, shaking his hands, waving to the audi- ence and charming the crowd with references to ''my brothers and sisters.'' Abbas call Friday for the U.N. to recognize Palestin- ian independence has trans- formed him in the eyes of many Palestinians from gray bureaucrat to champi- on of their rights. Though Israel and the United States oppose the move and con- sider it a step back for long- stalled peace talks, it could help Abbas overcome inter- nal struggles and gain the support he will need to get a deal through one day. In a brief address outside his headquarters in Ramal- lah, Abbas told the crowd that a ''Palestinian Spring'' had been born, similar to the mass demonstrations sweeping the region in what has become known as the Arab Spring. ''We have told the world that there is the Arab Spring, but the Palestinian Spring is here,'' he said. ''A popular spring, a populist spring, a spring of peaceful struggle that will reach its goal.'' Saudi monarch grants women right to vote RIYADH, Saudi Ara- bia (AP) — Saudi Ara- bia's King Abdullah, con- sidered a reformer by the standards of his own ultraconservative king- dom, decreed on Sunday that women will for the first time have the right to vote and run in local elec- tions due in 2015. It is a ''Saudi Spring'' of sorts. For the nation's women, it is a giant leap forward, though they remain unable to serve as Cabinet ministers, drive or travel abroad without permission from a male guardian. Saudi women bear the brunt of their nation's deeply conservative val- ues, often finding them- selves the target of the unwanted attention of the kingdom's intrusive reli- gious police, who enforce a rigid interpretation of Islamic Shariah law on the streets and public places like shopping malls and university cam- puses. In itself, Sunday's decision to give the women the right to vote and run in municipal elec- tions may not be enough to satisfy the growing ambition of the king- dom's women who, after years of lavish state spending on education and vocational training, significantly improved their standing but could not secure the same place in society as that of their male compatriots. Pro-Gadhafi gunmen crossed from Algeria to attack city TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Gunmen loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have crossed the Libyan border from Algeria and attacked revolutionary forces in a town near the frontier, killing six people, offi- cials said Sunday. The cross-border attack on Saturday shows loyalist forces have man- aged to escape Libya and regroup and collect arms, bolstering fears the North African nation could face a protracted insurgency. Fighters who took up arms against Gadhafi have seized Tripoli and have gained control of the rest of the country, but they are still battling forces loyal to the ousted regime on several fronts. Libya officials also announced on Sunday the discovery of a mass grave believed to hold the remains of 1,270 inmates killed by Gadhafi's regime in a 1996 prison massacre. The site — a desert field scattered with bone fragments — was found outside the walls of Tripoli's Abu Salim prison, where the victims were killed on June 26, 1996, after protesting conditions at the facility. A demonstration by women demanding justice for the victims of that prison massacre was one of the things that touched off the uprising against Gadhafi in February. A Tripoli military spokesman, Khalid al- Sharif, said authorities found the site after getting information from witness- es and former security guards who had been cap- tured after the capital fell. Officials will ask for international assistance in excavating and identify- ing the remains because the Libyans don't have took office what we've seen is a constant ideolog- ical pushback against any kind of sensible reforms that would make our economy work better and give people more oppor- tunity,'' the president said at an intimate brunch fundraiser at the Medina, Wash., home of former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley. About 65 guests were paying $35,800 per cou- ple to listen to Obama at the first of seven fundrais- ers he was holding from Seattle to Hollywood to San Diego on Sunday and Monday. The three-day West Coast swing, ending Tuesday in Denver, offered him the chance to try to reassure some of his most liberal and deep- pocketed supporters. The trip comes as Obama has shifted from focusing on compromise with Republicans on Capitol Hill to calling out House Speaker John Boehner and others by name. The president has criticized them as obstructionists while demanding their help in passing his $447 billion jobs bill. Support our classrooms, keep kids reading. DONATE YOUR VACATION newspaper dollars to the Newspaper In Education Program HELP OUR CHILDREN For more details call Circulation Department (530) 527-2151 D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 PHONE: (530) 527-2151 FAX: (530) 527-5774 545 Diamond Avenue • P.O. 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