Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/26777
8A – Daily News – Wednesday, March 9, 2011 WORLD BRIEFING Freshman Dem upbraids Obama on spending WASHINGTON (AP) — A freshman Democratic senator accused President Barack Obama on Tuesday of failing to provide leadership on a worsen- ing national deficit as top Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill spent more time pointing fingers than seeking common ground on a must-do measure to fund the govern- ment for the next six months. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called on Obama to lead ‘‘tough negotiations’’ on wrapping up last year’s unfinished budget work and said that ‘‘right now, that is not happening.’’ ‘‘When it comes to an issue of significant national impor- tance, the president must lead,’’ Manchin said. The freshman senator faces re-election next year in a state where voters are generally hostile to Obama. White House press secretary Jay Carney countered by saying that Obama’s ‘‘leadership and seriousness about the need to live within our means, cut spending where . we can is quite clear.’’ At the Capitol, the top Democratic leader continued his assault on the House-passed spending measure, which con- tains bruising cuts to many domestic programs. A vote looms on the GOP-drafted leg- islation, as well as a Democrat- ic alternative, in the Senate later this week Libya’s rebels hit wall as Gadhafi forces stop march TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — After dramatic successes over the past weeks, Libya’s rebel movement appears to have hit a wall of overwhelming power from loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi. Pro-regime forces halted their drive on Tripoli with a heavy barrage of rockets in the east and threatened Tues- day to recapture the closest rebel-held city to the capital in the west. If Zawiya, on Tripoli’s doorstep, is ultimately retaken, the contours of a stalemate would emerge — with Libya divided between a largely loyal- ist west and a rebel east as the world wrestles with the thorny question of how deeply to inter- vene. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to plan for the ‘‘full spectrum of possible responses’’ on Libya, including imposing a no-fly zone to pre- vent Gadhafi’s warplanes from striking rebels. According to a White House statement, the two leaders spoke Tuesday and agreed that the objective must be an end to violence and the departure of Gadhafi ‘‘as quick- ly as possible.’’ A spokesman for the opposi- tion’s newly created Interim Governing Council in Beng- hazi, meanwhile, said a man who claimed to represent Gad- hafi made contact with the council to discuss terms for the leader of four decades to step down. Mustafa Gheriani told The Associated Press the coun- cil could not be certain whether the man was acting on his own initiative or did in fact represent Gadhafi. ‘‘But our position is clear: No negotiations with the Gad- hafi regime,’’ said Gheriani, who declined to say when con- tact was made or reveal the identity of the purported envoy. Yemeni army storms school, fires at students SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Yemeni government esca- lated its efforts to stop mass protests calling for the presi- dent’s ouster on Tuesday, with soldiers firing rubber bullets and tear gas at students camped at a university in the capital in a raid that left at least 98 people wounded, officials said. The army stormed the Sanaa University campus hours after thousands of inmates rioted at the central prison in the capital, taking a dozen guards hostage and calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. At least one prisoner was killed and 80 people were wounded as the guards fought to control the situation, police said. Yemen has been rocked by weeks of protests against Saleh, inspired by recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that drove out those nations’ leaders. Saleh, a key U.S. ally in the campaign against al-Qaida, has been in power 32 years. In a sign that the protests are gain- ing traction, graffiti calling for Saleh to step down surfaced Tuesday in his birthplace, vil- lage of Sanhan, for the first time since the protests began. Students at Sanaa University have been sleeping on campus since mid-February, shortly after the start of the protests calling for the country’s presi- dent to step down. Medical officials said many of the 98 people wounded were in serious condition. The offi- cials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information. Witnesses reported seeing armored vehi- cles and personnel carriers headed to the area of the uni- versity. Gates sees solid progress on trip to war zone COMBAT OUTPOST SABIT QADAM, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban are reeling. U.S. and Afghan troops are clicking. The war is going really well. That’s what Pentagon chief Robert Gates heard in two days with troops and commanders. Much less clear: the hoped-for advances in the Afghan government’s ability to provide basic services and extend its authority beyond Kabul, just months before the American troop drawdown begins. Gates visited some of the most hotly contested parts of the country, where the effects of President Barack Obama’s 30,000-troop surge have been most keenly felt, as the Obama administration considers where to begin withdrawing and thin- ning out U.S. forces. The defense secretary’s very presence in some far-flung combat bases was meant to show the progress the U.S.-led international military force claims. ‘‘The closer you are to the fight, the better it looks,’’ he told reporters Tuesday at a U.S. com- bat outpost to the west of here, in Kandahar province. The view from near the front lines may be improving nearly 10 years into the war, but it can’t obscure the central question of what comes next. The search for effective Afghan governing — for someone to take over the territory the military has secured — will be a central issue as Congress scruti- nizes Obama’s war strategy and his commitment to begin winding down U.S. combat involvement. The top U.S. commander in Kabul, Army Gen. David Petraeus, is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill next week. The second-ranking U.S. com- mander in Afghanistan, Army Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, said in an interview with reporters Tuesday that one reason for optimism is that the Taliban’s former key strongholds of Helmand and Kan- dahar provinces are no longer fully in their control. Population center shifts toward SWest WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s population center is edging away from the Midwest, pulled by Hispanic growth in the Southwest, according to census figures. The historic shift is chang- ing the nation’s politics and even the traditional notion of the coun- try’s heartland — long the symbol of mainstream American beliefs and culture. The West is now home to the four fastest-growing states — Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Idaho — and has surpassed the Midwest in population, according to 2010 figures. California and Texas added to the southwestern popula- tion tilt, making up more than one- fourth of the nation’s total gains since 2000. When the Census Bureau announces a new mean center of population next month, geogra- phers believe it will be placed in or around Texas County, Mo., south- west of the present location in Phelps County, Mo. That would put it on a path to leave the region by midcentury.