Obama acts to ease growing student debt
WASHINGTON – Up to 5 million Americans struggling to make their monthly student loan payments could find relief under a program President Barack Obama expanded Monday, part of an election-year push by Democrats to paint Republicans as blocking common-sense steps that could help the middle class.
Dubbing it a “no-brainer,” Obama also threw his support behind legislation to let some of those same borrowers refinance their student loans at lower rates, in a move the administration said could save 25 million borrowers up to $2,000 over the life of their loans.
With a group of student loan borrowers looking on, Obama put his pen to a presidential memorandum that will allow those who borrowed through the federal government before 2007 to pay no more than 10 percent of their income in monthly payments. Existing programs created by Congress and Obama already offer that benefit to recent borrowers; Obama’s memo will make it fully retroactive.
Taliban vows more violence after attack
KARACHI, Pakistan – The Pakistani Taliban threatened more violence Monday after a five-hour assault on the nation’s busiest airport killed 29 people – including all 10 attackers – raising a new challenge for a U.S. ally trying to end years of fighting that has killed thousands of people.
With recently started peace efforts stalled, the cautious government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may be dragged closer to a decision about whether to take on the militants in earnest across a country with a long history of ambiguity when it comes to dealing with militancy.
A further weakening of stability in the nuclear power whose tribal regions are already a hotbed of foment could ripple to neighboring Afghanistan as international combat forces prepare to withdraw from that country.
“Everywhere is a threat,” said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. “Every area is a target, every building is a potential target.”
Justices deny visa priority to children
WASHINGTON – Most children who turn 21 before their families’ visa applications are approved cannot get visas without going through the lengthy process again, a deeply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The 5-4 decision, written by Justice Elena Kagan and backed by an unusual coalition of liberal and conservative justices, was a potential setback for hundreds of thousands of young foreigners seeking U.S. visas.
The court ruled that such “aged-out” children can retain their spot in line only if they have their own U.S. sponsors, rather than “piggy-backing on a parent.” That leaves out relatives such as the nieces, nephews and grandchildren of the sponsors, who typically try to help their own siblings or children.
Associated Press
