Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/58644
Friday, March 16, 2012 – Daily News 7A WORLD BRIEFING Soldier in Afghanistan shooting was reluctant to go on 4th deployment SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. soldier accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians last weekend had twice been injured during tours in Iraq and was reluctant to leave on his fourth deployment, a Seattle lawyer said Thurs- day. ''He wasn't thrilled about going on another deployment,'' said the lawyer, John Henry Browne. ''He was told he wasn't going back, and then he was told he was going.'' Browne, a well-known Seattle defense attorney who recently represented a youthful thief known as the ''Barefoot Bandit,'' said he has been asked to represent the soldier, a 38- year-old staff sergeant from Joint Base Lewis- McChord, near Tacoma. The soldier is from the Seattle area and asked to be represented by Browne when he was taken into custody, the lawyer said. Browne said he has met with the staff sergeant's family, and unless the sol- dier is returned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in the next few days, he will travel to meet the soldier wherever he is in custody. Browne declined to release the soldier's name, which the Army has with- held. Taliban nixes US talks KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The American campaign in Afghanistan suffered a double blow Thursday: The Taliban broke off talks with the U.S., and President Hamid Karzai said NATO should pull out of rural areas and speed up the transfer of security responsibilities to Afghan forces nationwide in the wake of the killing of 16 civilians. The moves represent new setbacks to Ameri- ca's strategy for ending the 10-year-old war at a time when support for the conflict is plummeting. Part of the U.S. exit strat- egy is to transfer authority gradually to Afghan forces. Another tack is to pull the Taliban into polit- ical discussions with the Afghan government, though it's unclear that there has been any progress since January. Although Karzai has previously said that he wanted international troops to transition out of rural areas, the apparent call for an immediate exit is new. Karzai also said he now wants Afghan forces take the lead for country- wide security in 2013, in what appeared to be a move to push the U.S. toward an earlier draw- down. A statement released by Karzai's office said that during his meeting with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the president ''requested that the inter- national forces come out of Afghan villages and stay in their bases.'' Karzai also said that the ''Afghan security forces have the ability to provide security in the vil- GRAND OPENING 60 minute with massage $25~$55 per hour Elite Skin Care & Spa Facials~ Waxing~and more Eyebrows $5 Gift Certificates Available Owners, Mike & Trisa Waelty 741 Main St., Suite #14 526-8713 criminal regime, but we did- n't expect it to reach this amount of killing,'' Amer Mattar, a 26-year-old activist, told The Associated Press from Jordan, where he fled to safety after being arrested twice in Syria. Despite widening inter- national condemnation and biting sanctions, Assad's regime has remained intact and intelligence analysts say the rebels have yet to pose a serious challenge to his powerful military. USDA responds to 'pink slime' ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — School districts soon will be able to opt out of a common ammonia-treated ground beef filler critics have dubbed ''pink slime.'' Amid a growing social media storm over so-called ''lean finely textured beef,'' the Agriculture Department announced Thursday that, starting next fall, schools involved in the national school lunch program will have the option of avoiding the product. lages of our country,'' the statement said. Signs of financial stress emerge for Romney SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (AP) — The long and increasingly messy Republican presidential contest is starting to hit Mitt Romney where it hurts most: his wallet. New signs of financial stress are emerging in Rom- ney's campaign, which has built a wide lead in dele- gates thanks in part to the might of his bank account and multistate operation. As rival Rick Santorum's sur- prising strength keeps extending the nomination battle, Romney has scaled back expenses, trimmed field staff in some cases and begun to count more on free media coverage to reach voters. And he's still relying on an allied super political action committee to supple- ment his spending on expensive TV ads. This week, the former Massachusetts governor was forced to spend two days privately courting donors in the New York area, even as his Republican rivals were wooing voters ahead of pivotal elections in places like Illinois, where he hasn't been in four months, and as President Barack Obama was stockpiling cash for the fall general election fight. On Wednesday, Romney had five finance events in New York, all packed, rais- ing about $3 million, with more set for Thursday. So the news is hardly all bad. Wednesday ''was the best day we've had so far,'' said New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, who accompanied Romney to multiple events, including a donor breakfast in New York City. But it's less encouraging for the campaign that the money is badly needed to re-fill coffers that had sunk close to their lowest levels since Romney launched his presidential effort last year. 2 eggs, hash browns or home fries & toast or bisquit & gravy $649 Served 6:30am-2pm 7 days a week No substitutions ORDERS TO GO 7875 HWY 99E LOS MOLINOS, CA 384-1265 Iranian banks cut off from most global commerce BRUSSELS (AP) — Dozens of Iranian banks were blocked from doing business with much of the world as the West tightens the financial screws on a country it wants to prevent from developing nuclear weapons. The Belgium-based company that facilitates most international bank transfers on Thursday took the unprecedented step of blocking 30 Iranian banks from using its service. The move is likely to hurt Iran's all-important oil industry and make it difficult for cit- izens to receive money from relatives living abroad. The move by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunica- tion, or SWIFT, is part of a broader effort by Western nations to isolate Iran finan- cially and force it to demon- strate that it is not trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says that its nuclear program is for peaceful pur- poses only, but officials in many other countries believe otherwise. SWIFT said it was forced by recent European Union sanctions to discon- tinue service to the Iranian banks beginning Saturday. SWIFT is a secure private network used by nearly every bank around the world to send payment mes- sages that lead to the trans- fer of money across interna- tional borders. The chief executive of SWIFT, Lazaro Campos, described the move as ''extraordinary and unprecedented.'' Anniversary of Syrian uprising, no end in sight BEIRUT (AP) — Thou- sands of Syrians rallied Thursday in Damascus in a display of loyalty to Presi- Large Ham Steak Breakfast Discount equal to the amount of sales tax will be given on all purchases. No discounts on past purchases layaways or special orders placed before this sale. Furniture DEPOT 235 S MAIN ST., RED BLUFF • 527-1657 Monday-Friday 9:00-6:00 HOURS: Saturday 9:00-5:00 • Sunday 11:00-5:00 www.thefurnituredepot.net dent Bashar Assad, waving flags under a slate gray sky to protest the anniversary of a rebellion that the govern- ment says is driven by ter- rorists, gangsters and extremists. Outside the Syrian capi- tal, however, tanks and snipers besieged opposition areas, including the south- ern city of Daraa where the uprising began a year ago, touched off by the arrest of a group of youths who scrawled anti-regime graffi- ti on a wall. One year into the Syrian revolt, the fight to oust Assad is cascading toward civil war with more than 8,000 killed and no end in sight to the bloodshed. Worst-case scenarios are playing out in a country where many remain shack- led by corruption, a suffo- cating security apparatus and a family dictatorship that rules over 22 million people. ''We know that this is a Under the change, schools will be able to choose between 95 percent lean beef patties made with the product or less lean bulk ground beef without it. The change won't kick in imme- diately because of existing contracts, according to a USDA official with knowl- edge of the decision. Though the term ''pink slime'' has been used pejo- ratively for at least several years, it wasn't until last week that social media sud- denly exploded with worry and an online petition seek- ing its ouster from schools. The petition quickly gar- nered hundreds of thou- sands of supporters. The low-cost ingredient is made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts. Served with