Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/82612
4B Daily News– Wednesday, September 12, 2012 Israeli leader confronts White House JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is sounding increas- ingly agitated over what it views as American dither- ing with economic sanc- tions too weak to force Iran to end its suspected drive toward nuclear weapons. But they came in fewer numbers, ceremonies were less elaborate and some cities canceled their remembrances altogether. A year after the milestone 10th anniversary, some said the memorials may have reached an emotion- al turning point. WORLD BRIEFING lady Michelle Obama's name. In an echo of his usual campaign speech, Obama noted that the war in Iraq is over and troops are on track to leave Afghanistan in 2014. In a clear message aimed at the White House, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday criticized what he said was the world's failure to spell out what would provoke a U.S.-led military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. The comments came in response to U.S. refusals in recent days to set "red lines" for Tehran. With his strong words, Netanyahu is taking a bold gamble. He clearly hopes to rattle the U.S. into doing more, for fear that Israel might other- wise soon attack Iran on its own. But he risks antagonizing President Barack Obama during a re-election campaign and straining relations with Israel's closest and most important ally. Relations between the two leaders have often been tense in the past. Israeli officials say American politics do not factor into their thinking, but that the sense of urgency is so grave that the world cannot hold its breath until after the November election. "The world tells Israel, 'Wait. There's still time,'" Netanyahu said Tuesday. "And I say: 'Wait for what? Wait until when?' Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel." Tearful reading of names, sense of moving on 11 years after Sept. 11 NEW YORK (AP) — There were still the tear- ful messages to loved ones, clutches of photos and flowers, and moments of silence. But 11 years after Sept. 11, Americans appeared to enter a new, scaled-back chapter of collective mourning for the worst terror attack in U.S history. Crowds gathered, as always, at the World Trade Center site in New York, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania memorial Tuesday to mourn the nearly 3,000 victims of the 2001 terror attacks, reciting their names and remembering with music, tolling bells and prayer. "It's human nature, so people move on," said Wanda Ortiz, of New York City, whose hus- band, Emilio Ortiz, was killed in the trade center's north tower, leaving behind her and their 5- month-old twin daugh- ters. "My concern now is ... how I keep the memory of my husband alive." It was also a year when politicians largely took a back seat to grieving fam- ilies; no elected officials spoke at all at New York's 31⁄2 -hour ceremony. President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney pulled negative campaign ads and avoided rallies, with the president laying a wreath at the Pentagon ceremony and visiting wounded soldiers at a Maryland hospital. And beyond the victims of the 2001 attacks, atten- tion was paid to the wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Middletown, N.J., a bedroom community that lost 37 residents in the attacks, town officials laid a wreath at the entrance to the park in a small, silent ceremony. Last year, 3,700 people attended a remembrance with speeches, music and names read. For 9/11: Presidential campaigns suspend partisan digs WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney declared a fleeting truce for partisan digs Tuesday as the nation remembered the 9/11 ter- rorist attacks, but cam- paign politics crackled through even their somber observances. their negative ads and scheduled no rallies. But both candidates stayed in the public eye as the nation marked the 11th anniversary of the jetliner crashes that left nearly 3,000 dead. The campaigns pulled Obama observed a White House moment of silence, attended a memo- rial service at the Penta- gon, visited Arlington National Cemetery and then met privately with wounded soldiers and their families at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. But for- mer President Bill Clinton carried on with a cam- paign stop for Obama in Florida, and the Democ- rat's camp issued registra- tion appeals under first "Al-Qaida's leadership has been devastated, and Osama bin Laden will never threaten us again," Obama said at the Penta- gon. "Our country is safer and our people are resilient." National presidential tickets are devoid of Southerners ATLANTA (AP) — For decades, Southerners put a firm imprint on national politics from both sides of the aisle, holding the White House for 25 of the past 50 years and producing a legion of Capitol Hill giants during the 20th century. But that kind of obvious power has waned as Democrats and Republicans in the region navigate the conse- quences of tidal shifts in demographics, migration and party identity. secutive presidential elec- tion without a Southerner on either major party tick- et. That has happened in back-to-back elections only once, 1968 and 1972, since Franklin Roo- sevelt, a New Yorker, won four consecutive elections with overwhelming sup- port across what was then Democrats' solid South. (The 2008 candidates were Democrats Barack Obama of Illinois and Joe Biden of Delaware, and Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Sarah Palin of Alaska. This year, it's Obama and Biden, and Republicans Mitt Romney of Massa- chusetts and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.) This is the second con- Besides the national dearth, the South's con- gressional power players are either aging icons — black Democrats John Lewis of Georgia and Jim Clyburn of South Caroli- na — or hail from the region's periphery — Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Ken- tucky and House GOP leader Eric Cantor of Vir- ginia. Civil War border state, while Virginia, for all its antebellum credentials, is increasingly racially, cul- turally and politically diverse. That puts both states outside the Bible Belt, Deep South core that, fairly or unfairly, has long defined the region on the national stage. This is all new for a proud region that pro- duced Presidents George W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, Bill Clinton of Arkansas and But Kentucky was a Jimmy Carter of Georgia. George H.W. Bush claimed Texas as well, despite his roots as an East Coast moderate, and he was a national figure by the time he was elect- ed. Newt Gingrich of Georgia drove the 1994 Republican resurrection in the U.S. House, and Tom DeLay of Texas extended it. Trent Lott of Mississippi led Republi- cans in the Senate. Lott's fellow Mississippian, Haley Barbour, helped fuel a GOP rise as nation- al party chairman. Before them came a raft of speak- ers, floor leaders and notables. wall in Cairo CAIRO (AP) — Main- ly ultraconservative pro- testers climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt's capital Tuesday and brought down the American flag, replacing it with a black Islamist flag to protest a U.S.-pro- duced film attacking the Prophet Muhammad. Hours later, armed men in eastern Libya also stormed the US consulate there and set it on fire as anger spread. It was the first time Egyptian protesters angry over film scale US Embassy ever that the U.S. Embassy in Cairo has been breached and comes as Egypt is struggling to overcome months of unrest following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak's autocratic regime. U.S. officials said no Americans were reported harmed in the assaults in Cairo or the eastern city of Benghazi. The unrest in Cairo ering outside its walls and chanting against the movie and the U.S. "Say it, don't fear: Their ambassador must leave," the crowd chanted. Dozens of protesters then scaled the embassy walls, and several went into the courtyard and took down the flag from a pole. They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried to burn it, but failing that tore it apart. The protesters on the wall then raised on the flag- pole a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet." The flag, similar to the banner used by al-Qaida, is commonly used by ultraconserva- tives around the region. Egypt's president trying to own divisions. Sunni powerhouse Saudi Ara- bia, along with other Gulf Arab nations, has been staunchly opposed to any Iranian expansion and may resist ending Tehran's isolation. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi made the offer when he met last month with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, officials close to the Egyptian presidency said. Morsi's visit to Iran, to attend a summit of the 120-nation Non- aligned Movement, was the first by an Egyptian president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution there, when diplomatic ties between the coun- tries were cut. Morsi offered a pack- age of incentives for Tehran to end its sup- port of Assad, the offi- cials said. their Dry Northwest burns after weekend Wash. (AP) — A haze of thick smoke formed Tuesday over vast swaths of the West as wildfires forced more residents to flee their homes in several states. Fire officials reported storms WEN ATCHEE, persuade Iran began when hundreds of protesters marched to the downtown embassy, gath- Newly activist Egypt is trying to convince Iran to drop its unquestioned support of Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad in order to end that country's bloody civil war in exchange for help in easing Tehran's regional isolation at a time of mounting pressure on it over its disputed nuclear program. The offer is the cen- terpiece of a diplomatic push by Egypt's new Islamist president, who is hoping his "Islamic Quartet" — grouping Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, all support- ers of the Syrian rebel- lion, with Syria's top regional ally Iran — can succeed where other ini- tiatives have failed. The grouping is the to drop Assad CAIRO (AP) — first major effort to involve Iran in resolving the crisis. But it may be seven homes were destroyed and hundreds of people were evacuated near Casper, Wyo., where a wildfire has burned across almost 24 square miles. In western Montana, fire crews said there was no contain- ment in sight for a blaze that has prompted an evacuation order for 400 houses west of Hamilton. With winds dying a tough sell. Tehran's influence in the Middle East is strongly tied to its alliance with Assad and his fall would be a major blow. Moreover, the quartet members themselves have down, fire crews in east- ern Washington were hopeful they could gain ground on dozens of fires sparked by week- end lightning storms, but more evacuation orders were issued Tuesday as a wildfire continued to move in the hills west of Wenatchee, a fruit capi- tal on the banks of the Columbia River. Residents of nearly 120 homes were evacu- ated due to the fire burn- ing about 140 miles east of Seattle. About 160 firefighters from across the state gathered to help fight the blaze. Resident Shannon Grosdidier and her four daughters delivered oat- meal cookies to several stationed at the end of her street Monday night. DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY redbluffdailynews.com Subscribe Now! To get started, go to: www.redbluffdailynews.com/websubscribe