Rebuilding trust in a divided community

August 15, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Force and confrontation won't heal Ferguson, Mo. Only goodwill can do that.

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Iraq's Nouri al-Maliki has given up his post as prime minister to Haider al-Abadi, state television reported Thursday – a move that could end a political deadlock that plunged Baghdad into uncertainty as the country fights a Sunni militant insurgency. The Iraqiya television network said Maliki has "relinquished the post of prime minister." It did not elaborate. Afak television, Maliki's private network, ran a bulletin saying "al-Maliki joins the greatest men of history by giving up posts."

Pope Francis called Thursday for renewed efforts to forge peace on the war-divided Korean Peninsula and for both sides to avoid "fruitless" criticisms and shows of force, opening a five-day visit to South Korea with a message of reconciliation as Seoul's rival, North Korea, fired five projectiles into the sea. In the first speech of his first trip to Asia, Francis told South Korean President Park Geun-hye and government officials that peace required forgiveness, cooperation and mutual respect. He said diplomacy must be encouraged so that listening and dialogue replace "mutual recriminations, fruitless criticisms and displays of force." North Korea's apparent test firing was conducted from Wonsan on its east coast and the initial three short-range projectiles flew 135 miles, according to a South Korean Defense Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said Thursday they likely won't be ready for a planned Nov. 3 trial date. Tsarnaev's lawyers told a federal judge that prosecutors have given them volumes of evidence as part of the pre-trial discovery process that they still need to sort through. They intend to formally request a delay in the trial later by Aug. 29. Federal prosecutors countered that they simply complied with the defense's extremely broad evidence request. Judge George O'Toole did not rule on the evidence issues. But, in another key matter, he did give prosecutors until Aug. 21 to file their response to the defense's latest arguments seeking to move the trial out of Boston.

Britain has deployed special forces in northern Iraq where thousands of civilians are trapped on a mountain by Sunni militant fighters, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday. Citing Britain's trade envoy to Iraq, Emma Nicholson, the paper said that officers from the Special Air Service (SAS), the army's special forces regiment, were working with US troops to gather intelligence and had been in Iraq for about six weeks. Britain has sent military planes and helicopters to the region to help deliver humanitarian aid. Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his summer holiday on Wednesday to say that Britain would be involved in any international plan to rescue refugees from the Yazidi religious minority.

Cisco said Wednesday that it will lay off up to 6,000 workers, or 8 percent of its workforce, as part of a restructuring. The company, which makes routers, switches and software, said the layoffs will affect workers in operations around the world. The announcement was made during a conference call discussing its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. The San Jose, California-based company on Wednesday reported a 1 percent decline in profit, to $2.25 billion, as revenue dipped to $12.36 billion from $12.42 billion. Its adjusted earnings for the three months ended July 26, its fiscal fourth quarter, came to 55 cents per share, which was two cents more than analysts expected, according to Zacks Investment Research.

Thousands of Pakistani opposition supporters on Thursday joined a large convoy headed to the capital, Islamabad, for a key rally to demand the ouster of the prime minister over allegations of vote fraud. The rally is seen as the strongest challenge yet to the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, just a year after he took office in the first democratic transfer of power in a country long plagued by military coups. The protesters set out on Thursday morning from the city of Lahore in cars, trucks and busses, while others walked or drove motorcycles as they embarked on the 187 mile-long journey to Islamabad.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cut its annual profit outlook on Thursday as the world's largest retailer faced another quarter of sluggish sales and traffic declines. The retail giant said it eked out a 0.6 percent increase in second-quarter profit and reported that a key revenue measure was flat in its US discount business, after falling for five straight quarters. The company also reported its seventh straight quarter of traffic declines at its US Wal-Mart stores.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Luis Suarez's four-month ban for biting an opponent at the World Cup, but cleared him Thursday to train with Barcelona. CAS said FIFA's sanctions against Suarez are "generally proportionate to the offence committed." Suarez can next play for Barcelona on Oct. 26, which could be the day the team faces Real Madrid in the Spanish league. He remains banned for Uruguay's next eight competitive matches and will miss next year's Copa America and some World Cup qualifying matches.

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