A delicate balance in Syria

September 11, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

The challenge: Weaken the Islamic State without strengthening the Assad regime.

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Floods that have killed 450 people in India and Pakistan began to recede on Wednesday, giving rescue teams a chance to evacuate thousands of villagers stranded by the heaviest rainfall in 50 years in the heavily militarized and disputed region of Kashmir. On the Indian side of the divided region, floods and landslides have cut off more than 1 million people from basic services, triggering a massive military rescue operation that has so far evacuated 80,000 from villages and city rooftops. Tempers rose on Wednesday with some angry that relief efforts were only reaching them six days after the floods began. Others complained about living conditions in temporary camps.

With a new Iraqi government finally in place and a growing Mideast consensus on defeating insurgent threats, US Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Iraq's Shiite leader on Wednesday to quickly deliver more power to wary Sunnis – or jeopardize any hope of defeating the Islamic State group. Kerry landed in the Iraqi capital just two days after newly sworn Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi seated his top government ministers, a crucial step toward restoring stability in a nation where security has spiraled out of control since the beginning of the year. As Kerry and al-Abadi were meeting, two car bombs exploded simultaneously in the southeastern neighborhood of New Baghdad, killing 13 people.

The British political establishment descended on Scotland Wednesday to plead for a united United Kingdom, after polls suggested that the once-fanciful notion of Scots voting to break from Britain has become a real possibility in next week's referendum. The leaders of the three main London-based parties – all of them unpopular in Scotland – poured warm appeals on wavering voters. But some Scots seemed unmoved, and increasingly confident independence leader Alex Salmond accused his opponents of succumbing to panic. In a rare display of cross-party unity, Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat chief Nick Clegg all pulled out of a weekly House of Commons question session to make a campaign dash to Scotland, as polls suggest the two sides are neck-and-neck ahead of the Sept. 18 referendum.

The president of the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines proposed Wednesday to give Muslims in the south the ability to run their own government under their own flag, part of a peace plan aimed at ending a four-decade rebellion that has killed 150,000 people. The draft law submitted by President Benigno Aquino III to Congress fleshes out a peace deal signed in March by the country's largest Muslim insurgent group, the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The autonomous region in the southern island of Mindanao, to be called Bangsamoro, would get its own 60-member parliament that would wield exclusive power over such areas as agriculture, trade, tourism and education. Under the proposal, Islamic Sharia law would apply to Muslims in the region, but the country's justice system would continue to apply to non-Muslims.

Tourists and truckers had another day of disruptive detours Wednesday around a closed stretch of busy Interstate 15 in southern Nevada that crumbled in chunks during intense flash flooding. Ripples spread from the closure of the main road from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City, as crews began mopping up from Monday's pouring rain and rushing runoff. Water also scoured out part of a main rail freight line and swelled a river so high that a Utah national park was briefly shuttered. The storm, spawned by seasonal monsoon moisture and the remnants of Tropical Storm Norbert, dumped heavy rain throughout the Southwest and set a single-day rainfall record in Phoenix.

A judge has suspended Detroit's bankruptcy trial until Monday to give the city more time to work out details of a settlement with a major creditor. The time-out Wednesday also gives the city an opportunity to reach other settlements.The city reached a deal Tuesday with Syncora, a bond insurer that stood to lose $400 million under Detroit's plan to get out of bankruptcy. Detroit would extend Syncora's lease on a tunnel between the US and Canada and also get a long-term lease on a parking garage. The financier would get 26 percent of what it's owed.

Dollar General is going hostile with its $9.1 billion bid for Family Dollar after its rival repeatedly rejected previous offers. The discount chain has commenced an open offering to investors of Family Stores Dollar Inc. for $80 per share in cash, the same offer that was rejected last week by the company's board. Family Dollar, based in Matthews, North Carolina, has voiced concerns about such a deal passing antitrust review. In response to those fears, Dollar General has said that it is willing to divest up to 1,500 stores if the Federal Trade Commission requires it. The company also is offering to pay a $500 million reverse breakup fee if antitrust hurdles get in the way.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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