Obama: Child migrants urgent issue
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Monday described a surge in unaccompanied immigrant children caught trying to cross the Mexican border as an “urgent humanitarian situation,” as the White House asked Congress for an extra $1.4 billion in federal money to cope. He said the U.S. will temporarily house the children at two military bases.
Obama appointed the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Craig Fugate, to be in charge of the situation.
In its new estimates, the government said as many as 60,000 children, mostly from Central America, could be caught this year trying to cross the Mexican border illegally, costing the U.S. more than $2.28 billion to house, feed and transport the children to shelters or reunite them with relatives already living in the United States. The new estimate is about $1.4 billion more than the government asked for in Obama’s budget request sent to Congress earlier this year.
In the last eight months alone, 47,000 children have been apprehended at the Southwest Border.
Australia seeks release of artist held in China
BEIJING – Australia said Tuesday it is trying to confirm reports that a Chinese-born Australian artist had been detained in Beijing ahead of the 25th anniversary of the military clampdown on the student protest centered around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, adding it would try to persuade China to release him if he is being held.
Guo Jian, a former protester in China’s 1989 pro-democracy movement, was taken away by Chinese authorities shortly after a profile of him appeared in the Financial Times newspaper in commemoration of the anniversary of the crackdown.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Australian embassy in Beijing was attempting to confirm with Chinese authorities that the 52-year-old former soldier had been detained.
An Associated Press reporter talked to Guo as he was taken away from his home in suburban Beijing on Sunday night. Guo said he would be held by police until June 15.
Some bodies lost on Rainier never recovered
OLYMPIA, Wash. – It may be weeks or months – if ever – before rescuers can get on the ground to search for six climbers who likely plummeted to their deaths high on snow-capped Mount Rainier in Washington state.
Park rangers and rescuers often are able to retrieve bodies within days of an accident, but sometimes it takes much longer, until conditions have improved and snow has melted on parts of the mountain.
Occasionally victims are never found, as in the case of 11 people swept to their deaths in an ice fall in 1981 in Mount Rainier’s deadliest accident. The same is true of a non-alpine accident in which a cargo transport plane crashed into the mountain in 1946 – the bodies of 32 Marines remain entombed.
Spain: King abdicates for popular son
MADRID – King Juan Carlos, who led Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy but faced damaging scandals amid the nation’s financial meltdown, announced Monday he will abdicate in favor of his more popular son so that fresh royal blood can rally the nation.
While the monarchy is largely symbolic, Juan Carlos’ surprise decision may hold implications for the burning issue of Catalonia, which is to hold a secession referendum this fall.
A constitutional revision is required to ensure Crown Prince Felipe’s first-born daughter will succeed him, and there was speculation other changes might be made to dull secessionist fervor in the wealthy northeastern region.
Juan Carlos said 46-year-old Felipe is ready to be king and will “open a new era of hope.” The son already has greater command over the hearts of his people: Felipe’s 70 percent approval in a recent El Mundo newspaper poll dwarfs Juan Carlos’ 41 percent.
Judge: Kasem can go home if doctors OK it
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. – Ailing radio personality Casey Kasem can return to the Washington state home where he’s been staying with his wife if doctors approve, a judge said Monday.
The ruling came a day after Kasem, 82, was taken by ambulance to a medical facility after an argument between his wife and one of his daughters.
Kasem can return to the home near Seattle where he and his wife, Jean, have been staying with friends if there’s medical supervision, and doctors say it is safe to transport him, Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Forbes said Monday.
It was not immediately clear when that decision might be made.
The ruling marked the latest twist in the ongoing dispute between Jean Kasem and her stepdaughter, Kerri Kasem, who has said in legal filings that her father suffers from a form of dementia. They have been contesting who should make decisions about the entertainer’s care.
Associated Press
