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8A Daily News – Thursday, May 17, 2012 WASHINGTON (AP) — More than two dozen world leaders will join Pres- ident Barack Obama in an extraordinary weekend of back-to-back summits to tackle Europe's mounting economic woes and solidify plans for winding down the decade-long war in Afghanistan. The Group of Eight eco- nomic summit and the national security-focused NATO meeting will be infused with politics from every angle. For Obama, the summits are a unique elec- tion-year opportunity to show leadership on the world stage without having to leave the U.S. But with some new faces around the conference tables, Obama and the other leaders will be confronted by the stark reminder of the political turmoil from Asia to Europe that cost several of their old counterparts their jobs. him to tailor the meetings around his election-year messages of expanding the economy, creating jobs and ending the war World leaders set for busy US weekend of summitry The summit locations rotate annually for each organization. Since late 2011, public frustration with Europe's debt crisis has led to the ouster of leaders in Italy, Spain, Greece and most recently, France. Two other members of the G-8, Britain and Japan, have had leader- ship shake-ups since Obama took office. Obama is fighting for his own job in a campaign expected to hinge on the economy. He has had the good fortune of being able to hold both summits this year in the U.S., allowing Leaders from the world's eight leading industrialized nations arrive in the Wash- ington area on Friday for meetings at Camp David, the wooded presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. Imme- diately following the G-8 summit, Obama and most of the other leaders will fly to Chicago Saturday evening to join other heads of state from NATO. Obama originally planned both meetings for Chicago, his hometown. But the White House abruptly scrapped those plans in March, announcing with little explanation that the G-8 would shift to Camp David. It was an unexpected move from Obama, who rarely spends time at Camp David and has never hosted a world leader there, unlike many of his predecessors. The White House said that location would lend itself to more intimate talks. It also will keep them far from the protests that usually flare on the summit fringes. But U.S. and other diplo- mats said a major reason for the switch was to appear welcoming to Vladimir Putin, who recently reclaimed the presidency in Russia. Putin planned to skip NATO because of his staunch opposition to the alliance's planned missile defense shield, and separat- ing the two meetings was seen as a way to give Putin cover to slip away less awk- wardly. Yet in a move widely perceived as a snub, Putin told Obama last week that he was skipping the G-8 as well in order to stay in Rus- sia and focus on forming his government. Russia's for- mer president and current prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, will attend the G-8 sessions, which also include the U.S., Japan, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. White House officials insisted Putin's presence was not a factor in their decision to move the G-8 summit. The G-8 talks are expect- ed to be dominated by the eurozone crisis, though Obama administration offi- cials are keeping expecta- tions for tangible agree- ments low. While the health of the U.S. economy is closely linked to Europe's stability, Obama has made clear that he has no appetite for ponying up American money to help bail out the continent. largely play the role of facil- itator, urging European leaders to balance calls for austerity, largely driven by Instead, Obama will Germany, with a growth agenda. ''This is really for Europe to sort out,'' said Heather Conley, a Europe expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ''We are sitting on the bleachers a bit. And we are going to have to watch how this plays out with the frustration in recognizing that it will have a profound impact for the global econo- my and for the U.S. econo- my.'' Obama will have a new ally in his calls for a growth agenda in Europe, new French President Francois Hollande. But administra- tion officials say Obama plans to caution Hollande, France's first socialist presi- dent in 17 years, that Europe cannot abandon budget-cutting entirely. Obama will host Hol- lande at the White House for a meeting Friday before the G-8 summit begins. Hollande will be in the spotlight as the weekend of summitry moves to Chica- go, where NATO will firm up plans for how the alliance will finish its shift from a combat role in Afghanistan to an advisory role next year. The alliance will also reaffirm its com- mitment to fully ending the combat mission in Afghanistan by 2015. Hollande campaigned on pledge to speed up the with- drawal of France's 3,400 troops from Afghanistan and pull them out by the end of the year. But he recently acknowledged that a fast- track pullout might force the French to leave behind some military gear, and some U.S. officials believe he is likely to try to find some wiggle room, perhaps by leaving some forces in Afghanistan in an advisory role. for drawing down in Afghanistan is an important part of Obama's campaign message about the increas- ingly unpopular war. But Obama is not expected to announce the next steps in the U.S. withdrawal plan from Afghanistan during the summit. The NATO-backed plan Afghan President Hamid Karzai will be in Chicago, and NATO also has extended an invitation to Pakistan, which has a vital role in ensuring sta- bility in the region after the U.S. and other foreign forces draw down. The invitation to President Asif Ali Zardari was a signal of rapprochement between the U.S. and Pak- istan and a sign that Islamabad is ready to reopen its western border to U.S. and NATO mili- tary supplies heading to Afghanistan. GI killed in Cambodia clash awarded Medal of Honor By MARK S. SMITH Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Leslie Sabo's Vietnam War ended in the flash of his own grenade, hurled at an enemy bunker in Cambodia to save sur- rounded comrades. Forty years later — and a dozen years after the long-lost paperwork turned up in military archives — he was honored by President Obama on Wednesday with the nation's highest award for gallantry. Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Sabo's widow, Rose Mary, and said doing so helps right the wrongs done to a gener- ation that served freedom's cause but came home to a brooding and resentful nation. ''Instead of being celebrated, our Vietnam veterans were often shunned,'' Obama said in a hushed East Room. ''They were called many things when there was only one thing that they deserved to be called and that was American patriots.'' Elwood City, Pa., was serving with U.S. forces near the village of Se San in eastern Cambodia in Spec. Leslie H. Sabo Jr. of May of 1970 when his unit was ambushed and nearly overrun by North Vietnamese forces. Comrades testified that the rifleman charged up from the rear, grabbed an enemy grenade and tossed it away, using his body to shield a fellow soldier. And shrugging off his own injuries, Sabo advanced on an enemy bunker that had poured fire onto the U.S. troops — and then, pulled the pin on his own grenade. ''It's said he held that grenade and didn't throw it until the last possible moment, knowing it would take his own life but know- ing he could silence that bunker,'' Obama recounted. ''And he did. He saved his comrades, who meant more to him than life.'' JUST MOVE IT Part of a national campaign to promote physical activity for American Indians and Alaskan Natives FRIDAY, MAY 18TH 11:30 AM Health Services Agency 1445 Vista Way, Red Bluff Registration and Start Tehama County non-competive walks and runs. Open to families, individuals of all ages and people of all cultures. Join us for a series of For more information contact Avery Vilche at 200-2224 or Renee Timmons at 567-5528 ROLLING HILLS CLINIC DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY