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Purveyor's JournalRussia Calls Urgent UN Council Meeting On Syria
Source: Associated Press
By BY PETER SPIELMANN — Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — A U.N. diplomat says Russia has called for an urgent meeting of the five permanent Security Council members on the crisis in Syria.
The meeting among Russia, the United States, China, Britain and France was expected later Thursday, according to the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
Read more: http://www.adn.com/2013/08/29/3048806/russia-calls-urgent-un-council.html
German Jewish Group Calls For Boycott Of Roger Waters Concert Over Star of David Symbol On Pig
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AUGUST 29, 2013 1:40 PM
BERLIN - A Jewish group in the German city of Duesseldorf is urging a boycott of an upcoming concert by former Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters for using an inflatable pig featuring a Star of David during his show.
The director of the Jewish Community in Duesseldorf, Michael Szentei-Heise, said in a statement Thursday that Waters was an "intellectual arsonist" whose stage act used "anti-Semitic and National Socialist" imagery.
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The English musician has previously rebuffed critics of the show, which has been performed about 200 times in the last three years, by saying it isn't intended to be anti-Semitic.
The inflatable pig also features other religious, political and corporate symbols.
MORE...
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/German+Jewish+group+calls+boycott+Roger+Waters+concert+over/8848300/story.html
Growth Exceeds Estimates as U.S. Weathers Budget Cuts: Economy
Source: Bloomberg
By Shobhana Chandra - Aug 29, 2013
The U.S. economy expanded more than estimated in the second quarter, providing evidence that growth is picking up as the nation overcomes the effects of federal tax increases and budget cuts.
Gross domestic product rose at a 2.5 percent annualized rate, up from an initial estimate of 1.7 percent, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a 2.2 percent gain. Other reports today showed claims for unemployment benefits dropped and consumer confidence weakened.
The improvement in growth shows the world’s largest economy gaining momentum after a drought, Superstorm Sandy and budget battles in Washington stalled growth in the last three months of 2012. Recent data have shown the labor market is gaining strength while home prices rise, bolstering household finances.
“The economy is doing fine,” said Brian Jones, a senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale in New York, who correctly projected the gain in GDP. “It is going to weather the sequestration. Growth will accelerate in the second half.”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-29/economy-in-u-s-expanded-more-than-forecast-in-second-quarter.html
Premium Increases Under Obamacare May Be Overstated
By Drew Armstrong - Aug 29, 2013
Predictions of sharp increases in health-insurance premiums for people getting coverage under the U.S. Affordable Care Act have been overstated and many states will see little to no change, researchers at Rand Corp. found.
Out-of-pocket premiums for most individuals who buy health plans through new insurance exchanges will decline because of federal tax credits, the Arlington, Virginia-based research group said in a report today. The researchers looked at insurance markets in 10 states to project how costs would rise or fall as core parts of the 2010 health law kick in next year.
“Rates for policies in the individual market are likely to vary from state to state, with some experiencing increases and some experiencing decreases in cost,” Christine Eibner, a Rand senior economist and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “But our analysis found no widespread trend toward sharply higher prices in the individual market.”
Starting Oct. 1, people without health insurance will be able to sign up for coverage through insurance marketplaces, called exchanges, in each state. The health law requires that all Americans obtain insurance by next year or pay a fine.
The Rand study was conducted on behalf of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and looked at insurance rates in Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-29/premium-increases-under-obamacare-may-be-overstated.html
Wall Street’s Rental Bet Brings Quandary Housing Poor
By Heather Perlberg and John Gittelsohn - Aug 29, 2013
LaTanya Moore-Newsome, a real estate agent with Century 21 in Atlanta, has been calling Wall Street-backed landlords for months on behalf of her low-income clients with government housing vouchers.
She said some of the area’s biggest homebuyers in the past two years, including Blackstone Group LP (BX), American Homes 4 Rent and Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp., repeatedly told her they had nothing available for tenants who use subsidies under the federal Section 8 assistance plan. Last week, she finally got a positive response from Blackstone’s Invitation Homes unit, which said it would accept applications from her renters.
“It’s a really uphill battle dealing with these investors,” Moore-Newsome said. “You already have to deal with some of the issues with owners not wanting to take Section 8 in nicer areas. Now you have these big companies come into their neighborhoods and they say we’re not renting to you either.”
Private-equity firms, hedge funds and real estate investment trusts have bought more than 100,000 U.S. homes, becoming dominant single-family landlords in markets hardest-hit by the housing crash such as Atlanta. As the companies seek thousands of tenants to fill newly renovated properties, their decision whether to lease to low-income Americans with Section 8 vouchers stands to affect both their profitability and poor residents who have been longtime renters.
Blackstone Inherited
Blackstone -- the largest company in the fledgling industry after spending more than $5 billion to buy 32,000 U.S. homes -- inherited at least 200 Section 8 tenants when it bought a portfolio of Atlanta-area houses in April for about $100 million. That brought the amount of homes occupied by voucher holders to less than 1 percent of its portfolio, the company said at the time.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-29/wall-street-s-rental-bet-brings-quandary-housing-poor.html
Syria Strikes Recede as Cameron Struggles for Lawmaker Assent
By James G. Neuger and John Walcott - Aug 29, 2013
The prospect of an imminent attack on Syria faded as U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, the U.S.’s top ally, struggled to win parliamentary backing for military strikes that critics said echoed the push to war in Iraq.
Britain released an assessment showing it “highly likely” the Syrian government was behind the mass killing of civilians with chemical weapons on Aug. 21 near Damascus. Still, Cameron bowed to opposition demands to await a judgment by on-site United Nations inspectors. Likewise, the Obama administration is laboring to marshal conclusive evidence backing its assertions that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was directly responsible for the attack, said three intelligence officials familiar with the situation.
Memories of the invasion of Iraq, based on false intelligence of an Iraqi stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, are slowing efforts by the U.S. and the U.K. to rally support for surgical strikes to halt the use of chemical arms in Syria’s two-year-old civil war, which the UN estimates has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
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Hedged Intelligence
Britain’s intelligence assessment was hedged. It found “no plausible alternative scenarios to regime responsibility” for last week’s chemical attack. What remains unclear, the assessment said, is Assad’s “precise motivation for carrying out an attack of this scale at this time.”
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-08-29/syria-strikes-recede-as-cameron-struggles-for-lawmaker-assent.html
Western Powers Face Widespread Skepticism Over Military Strike On Syria
By Anthony Faiola, Published: August 28
LONDON — As Western powers build their case for possible military strikes in Syria, a still-forming coalition on Wednesday confronted a chorus of resistance at home, throwing up possible delays for what initially seemed like a rapid timetable for action.
In Britain, Washington’s staunchest military ally, the ghost of faulty intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq hung over Prime Minister David Cameron’s push to punish the government of President Bashar al-Assad after last week’s alleged chemical attack near Damascus.
--CLIP
Opponents of military strikes, including a substantial minority of Cameron’s own Conservative Party, described multiple issues clouding a military response. There was the difficulty in assessing blame for last week’s attack, they said, as well as what they described as a still-vague mission goal. They also cited the chance that a strike could heighten violence in the region and drag allies into a more protracted operation, and lingering concerns that a blow against Assad’s government could strengthen extremist groups fighting within the Syrian opposition.
“I’ve had 100 e-mails [from constituents] on this matter and not one of them was in favor,” said Adam Holloway, a Conservative member of Parliament. “This idea that we want to draw a line in the sand is ridiculous. There is already a feeling that [former prime minister] Tony Blair allowed George W. Bush to drive drunk into Iraq, and that we can’t trust everything we’re being told. And frankly, I can understand that.”
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/western-powers-face-widespread-skepticism-over-military-strike-on-syria/2013/08/28/1631bc78-1016-11e3-a2b3-5e107edf9897_story.html
Administration To Brief Lawmakers On Secret Syria Intelligence
By Julian Pecquet - 08/28/13 06:39 PM ET
The Obama administration is expected to brief key lawmakers Thursday on the secret intelligence underpinning its firm conviction that Bashar Assad's forces attacked rebels with chemical weapons last week.
The chairmen and ranking members on key Senate and House committees – armed services, foreign affairs and intelligence – are scheduled to participate in a conference call Thursday with senior administration officials, Yahoo News reports. The State Department has said it would share classified information with Congress before making unclassified details available to the public “sometime this week.”
The congressional briefing is likely to focus on intercepted communications between Syrian military leaders on the day of the alleged poison gas attack that rebels say killed more than 1,000 people in the Damascus suburbs last Wednesday. Foreign Policy reported Tuesday that the U.S. intelligence services intercepted a panicked call between the Syrian Ministry of Defense and a chemical weapons unit shortly after the attack, convincing the administration of the Assad regime's culpability – while raising questions about whether a rogue unit might have been to blame.
--CLIP
More than 100 House members wrote to Obama on Wednesday demanding a congressional authorization. And House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote to the president urging him to make the case for military action to Congress and the American people.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/319293-obama-administration-to-brief-key-lawmakers-on-secret-syria-intelligence#ixzz2dJL1bk00
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
Russian Warships Dock at Venezuelan Port for Visit
MEXICO, August 27 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian naval task force, led by the Moskva missile cruiser, arrived Monday on a visit to the Venezuelan port of La Guaira, local media reported.
The Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, is accompanied by Udaloy-class destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov from the Northern Fleet and the Ivan Bubnov tanker.
During the visit, which will last until August 29, the crews of the Russian warships are expected to meet with their Venezuelan colleagues and bestow honors to former President Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer on March 5.
more...
http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130827/182983285/Russian-Warships-Dock-at-Venezuelan-Port-for-Visit.html
Obama: US Has Concluded That Syrian Government Carried Out Chemical Weapons Attack
Source: Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Wednesday declared unequivocally that the United States has "concluded" that the Syrian government carried out a deadly chemical weapons attack on civilians last week.
Obama did not present any direct evidence to back up his assertions. He said he is still evaluating possible military options in retaliation for the attack that killed hundreds near Damascus, but vowed that any American response would send a "strong signal" to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"We have concluded that the Syrian government in fact carried these out," Obama said during an interview with PBS' NewsHour. "And if that's so, then there need to be international consequences."
White House press secretary Jay Carney answers questions about Syria and chemical weapons during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013. The U.S. was expected to make public a more formal determination of chemical weapons use on Tuesday, however Carney stated that the president did not have a decision made about the response to announce at this time. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Earlier Wednesday, administration officials said they would take action against the Syrian government even without the backing of allies or the United Nations because diplomatic paralysis must not prevent a response to the alleged chemical weapons attack outside the Syrian capital. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council failed to reach an agreement Wednesday on a draft resolution from the British seeking authorization for the use of force. Russia, as expected, objected to international intervention.
Read more: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/c5c3acaf51df4da994a86f69d29f89af/US--United-States-Syria
"and if that's so, then..."
But wait, I thought he said the US has concluded it was Assad but then qualifies it with a "and if that's so, then"?
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