Washington
Dems say they passed, fixed health-care law
WASHINGTON – Hit with a multimillion-dollar barrage of televised attacks, Democrats in tough re-election races want credit for trying to fix the problematic parts of the health-care law at the same time they claim bragging rights for its popular provisions and allege Republicans will reverse the crackdown on insurance company abuses.
It’s a tricky, high-stakes political straddle by lawmakers who voted to create the law, which Republicans intend to place at the center of their campaign to win control of the Senate and hold their House majority.
In one of the year’s most closely watched races, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., recently aired a commercial showing her in public settings last fall sternly telling President Barack Obama to keep his promise to let people keep their current health plans if they want to – and then taking credit after he took steps to make that happen.
“I’m fixing it, and that’s what my bill does, and I’ve urged the president to fix it,” Landrieu says in the ad. It ends with a screen reading: “The result: People now allowed to keep health care plans.”
Africa
African republic Muslims hit by mob violence
DAKAR, Senegal – The mob violence wracking Central African Republic imperils the future of the country’s Muslims, with tens of thousands fleeing the daily violence and untold numbers killed. Bangui, the capital, is engulfed in an orgy of bloodshed and looting despite the presence of French and African peacekeepers.
“We are in a moment where immediate action is needed to stop the killings,” said Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, calling for a full-fledged U.N. peacekeeping mission. “Otherwise the future of the Muslim community of this country will be gone.”
Muslims make up about 15 percent of Central African Republic’s 4.6 million people. More than 800,000 people have fled their homes – about half of those from the capital, said to the United Nations.
“There are some who don’t want Muslims in this country,” Prime Minister Andre Nzapayeke said on local radio Saturday. “But when the Muslims have left the country, what happens next? The Protestants will throw out the Catholics, and then the Baptists against the Evangelists, and finally the animists? It is time we regain control and stop ourselves from plunging into an abyss.”
Russia
Olympians: No gay rights, please, we’re competing
SOCHI, Russia – Olympic competition first, gay rights maybe later.
Plenty of athletes made clear before traveling to Sochi how unhappy they were about gay rights being curtailed in Russia, particularly with its law banning gay “propaganda.”
But now in Sochi, there has not been a squeak of public protest from the 2,870 Olympians – either at venues or at Friday’s opening ceremony.
Outside the Olympic bubble, the plight of Russia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community continues to dog the games.
Gay-rights activists who waved rainbow flags on Friday on Moscow’s Red Square and protested in St. Petersburg were quickly arrested. Three sponsors of the U.S. Olympic Committee, led by telecommunications giant AT&T, have spoken explicitly against the Russian law. Google Inc. hinted its opposition by putting winter athletes and rainbow colors on its search-page logo.
Associated Press
