|
|
Carbon tariffs proposal is causing unease in the global community China and India lash out at a U.S. bill By Reuters, Los Angeles Times China and India on Friday lashed out at the possibility of the United States slapping so-called carbon tariffs on goods imported from countries that pollute, even though analysts said proposed U.S. measures were years away and would be hard to implement. "Green" protectionism is likely to cause unease at next week's G-8 meeting in Italy and at a separate 17-member Major Economies Forum gathering. It is also a growing concern in U.N. talks that aim to seal a broader climate pact at year's end in Copenhagen. China, the world's No. 1 greenhouse gas emitter, said carbon tariffs would violate World Trade Organization rules as well as the spirit of the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol. Carbon tariffs would "seriously hurt the interests of developing countries" and "disrupt the order of international trade," the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. Defying U.S., North Korea Fires Barrage of Missiles By CHOE SANG-HUN, New York Times North Korea fired a barrage of seven ballistic missiles into the sea between the Communist state and Japan on Saturday in a move that flouted a United Nations Security Council resolution and sent a message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day holiday. After a nuclear test by North Korea on May 25, the Security Council adopted a resolution that, among other things, barred the country from testing ballistic missiles. North Korea sharpened its standoff with Washington on Saturday by following through on part of its earlier warnings that it would respond to the resolution and sanctions with more tests of its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. The North’s neighbors reacted swiftly to condemn the latest tests, reflecting rising jitters over the North’s brandishing of its missile and nuclear capabilities in recent months. “The ballistic missile tests” were “provocations that clearly violated” the resolution, Moon Tae-young, a spokesman at the Foreign Ministry of South Korea, said in a statement. He said the missile launches only strengthened the need for vigorous enforcement of the United Nations resolution, which also calls for economic and financial sanctions and a global embargo on arms trade with the North.
At the White House: Obama Urges Groups to Stop Attacks Advocates Should Turn Attention to Promoting Legislation, President Says By Ceci Connolly, Washington Post President Obama, strategizing yesterday with congressional leaders about health-care reform, complained that liberal advocacy groups ought to drop their attacks on Democratic lawmakers and devote their energy to promoting passage of comprehensive legislation. In a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama expressed his concern over advertisements and online campaigns targeting moderate Democrats, whom they criticize for not being fully devoted to "true" health-care reform. "We shouldn't be focusing resources on each other," Obama opined in the call, according to three sources who participated in or listened to the conversation. "We ought to be focused on winning this debate." Specifically, Obama said he is hoping left-leaning organizations that worked on his behalf in the presidential campaign will now rally support for "advancing legislation" that fulfills his goal of expanding coverage, controlling rising costs and modernizing the health system. In the call, leaders of both chambers expressed optimism that they will hold floor votes on legislation to overhaul the $2.2 trillion health system before Congress breaks in early August. Biden Warns Iraq of Return to Ethnic Fights By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, New York Times Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. told Iraqi leaders on Friday that he and President Obama were committed to helping them resolve their political differences, but he warned that the United States would be unlikely to remain engaged in Iraq if the country reverted to sectarian violence, American officials said. Mr. Biden spent the day in closed-door meetings to assess Iraq’s political and security situation as part of his new role as an unofficial envoy for the Obama administration. He emerged from a session with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to issue a carefully worded statement — partly an offer of support, partly a nudge to action. “The president and I appreciate that Iraq has traveled a great distance over the past year, but there is a hard road ahead if Iraq is going to find lasting peace and stability,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s not over yet.” Calling on Iraqis to “use the political process to resolve their remaining differences and advance their national interest,” the vice president said he and Mr. Obama “stand ready, if asked and if helpful, to help in that process.”  Obama's spending blitz worries Powell'We can't pay for it all,' he says By Jon Ward, Washington Times Colin Powell, one of President Obama's most prominent Republican supporters, expressed concern publicly for the first time Friday that the president's ambitious blitz of costly initiatives may be enlarging the size of government and the federal debt too much. "I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them," Mr. Powell said in an interview with CNN's John King. It was released by the network Friday. Mr. Powell, a retired U.S. Army general who rose to political prominence after a long and accomplished military career, said that health care reform and many of Mr. Obama's other initiatives are "important" to Americans. But, he said, "one of the cautions that has to be given to the president - and I've talked to some of his people about this - is that you can't have so many things on the table that you can't absorb it all." Campaign and election news:  Palin’s Move Shocks G.O.P. and Leaves Future UnclearBy ADAM NAGOURNEY and JIM RUTENBERG, New York Times Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska abruptly announced on Friday that she was quitting at the end of the month, shocking Republicans across the country and leaving both parties uncertain about whether she was leaving national politics or laying the groundwork for a presidential run. Ms. Palin, 45, the Republican vice-presidential nominee last year, was supposed to serve through the end of 2010; she said she would cede control of the state to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell on July 26. Speaking outside her home in Wasilla, Ms. Palin offered conflicting signals about her intentions and her motivation. In her tone and some of her words in an often-rambling announcement, she sounded like someone who was making a permanent exit from politics after what her friends have called a rough and dispiriting year. But her remarks, delivered in a voice that often seemed rushed and jittery, sounded at times like those of a candidate with continued national aspirations, as when she suggested she could “fight for all our children’s future from outside the governor’s office.” Ms. Palin said that she had decided not to seek re-election when her term expires at the end of next year and that, given that, she did not think it was fair to her constituents to continue in office. Palin resignation splits GOP Boxer Braces for Challenge from Carly FiorinaBy JONATHAN MARTIN, Politico.com Sarah Palin’s jaw-dropping announcement that she is quitting her job as Alaska governor before finishing even her first term has divided Republican ranks and the wider political community in a very familiar fashion. Many establishment GOP operatives and political commentators of various stripes were withering, both about the decision and the way she announced it—in a jittery, hyperkinetic news conference that rambled between self-congratulation and bitter accusations at the foes she says are eager to destroy her. The performance, by these lights, adds credence to the claims of some associates that Palin—burned by the intense scrutiny on her and the crossfire that swirls around her—is so fed up that she's ready to get out of elective politics. Even if it's only the small stage of Alaska politics she hopes to escape, skeptics say Friday’s events also diminished and perhaps even demolished what was left of her viability as a 2012 presidential candiate. Sarah Palin's exit as Alaska governor stuns, puzzles observers By Mark Z. Barabak and Robin Abcarian, Los Angeles Times Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's abrupt announcement that she was quitting her job unleashed widespread speculation: Some said she was ready to launch a 2012 bid for president. Others suggested she had destroyed her chances with her startling decision. Palin, speaking from the backyard of her lakefront home in Wasilla, Alaska, said Friday that she had ruled out seeking a second term and, for the good of the state, would step down at the end of the month and hand the job to her lieutenant governor. In disjointed and cryptic remarks, she intimated that she would stay active in national politics. "We know we can effect positive change outside government at this point in time on another scale and actually make a difference for our priorities," she said, flanked by her husband, Todd, and members of their family -- whom she described as exuberant supporters of her resignation. Many took that to mean a full-fledged run for the Republican nomination, without the encumbrance of her office and the difficulty of navigating a national campaign while running a state thousands of miles from the action. But the fact that Palin, 45, will vacate her elected post without finishing the four-year term -- which would have bolstered a political resume already thin enough that it hampered her 2008 bid for vice president -- led some analysts to suggest that she had badly damaged herself, perhaps irretrievably. By Paul Bedard, US News & World Report Barbara Boxer, the scrappy junior senator from California, is up for re-election to a fourth term in 2010, and she's taking pains to scare off a circling foe by raising lots of money. The potential challenger: former Hewlett-Packard boss and 2008 John McCain adviser Carly Fiorina, who's recovering from a bout with cancer. Boxer's not waiting. She's sent donors at least seven fundraising warnings about the likely Fiorina challenge. |
The Meaning of Ricci Decision leaves Sotomayor relatively unscathed; but not affirmative action By Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post The Supreme Court's ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano -- that white firefighters suffered illegal discrimination when a promotional test on which they did well was thrown out because not enough blacks did well -- will have no effect on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court. While overturned on Ricci, she is protected by the four dissenting justices who upheld the side of the case she had taken as an appeals court judge. Sotomayor was additionally helped by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's insistence on reading her dissent from the bench, as if to emphasize the legitimacy of her position -- and, by implication, Sotomayor's. Ricci left Sotomayor relatively unscathed. But not affirmative action. Ricci raised the bar considerably on overt discrimination against one racial group simply to undo the unintentionally racially skewed results of otherwise fair and objective employment procedures (in this case, examinations). |
Sacramento Update
|| Washington
D.C. Update ||
Columnists & Editorials
