Testing Iran's intent

September 19, 2013 - Daily News Briefing

Yesterday, Iran released 11 political prisoners, including a prominent human rights lawyer and a reformist politician.

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In a surprise, the Federal Reserve has decided against reducing its stimulus for the US economy because its outlook for growth has dimmed in the past three months. The Fed said Wednesday it will continue to buy $85 billion a month in bonds while it awaits conclusive evidence that the economy is strengthening. The Fed’s bond purchases are intended to keep long-term borrowing rates low to boost spending and eco-nomic growth.

The trajectory of the rockets that delivered the nerve agent sarin in last month’s deadly attack is among the key evidence linking elite Syrian troops based in the mountains overlooking Damascus to the strike that killed hundreds of people, diplomats and human rights officials said Wednesday. Evidence in a UN report, they said, provided data that suggested the rockets that hit two suburbs were fired from the northwest, indicating they came from nearby mountains where the Syrian military is known to have major bases.

House Republicans vowed Wednesday to pass legislation that would prevent a partial government shutdown and avoid a historic national default while simultaneously canceling out “Obamacare,” inaugurating a new round of political brinkmanship as critical deadlines approach. President Obama swiftly condemned the effort as attempted political extortion.

Bahrain’s main Shiite groups suspended participation in reconciliation talks with the Sunni-led government Wednesday after the detention of a top opposition figure in the violence-racked Gulf nation. The decision deepens the showdown over Khalil al-Marzooq, a former deputy parliament speaker, who is under investigation for allegedly encouraging antigovernment violence.

Thousands of civil servants marched through the Greek capital and the second largest city, Thessaloniki, on Wednesday, as a two-day nationwide strike against planned job cuts shut down all public services. Schools and courts were closed and hospitals were functioning with reduced staff. Trains were halted for four hours, and journalists joined in with a three-hour work stoppage.

US builders started work in August on the most single-family homes in six months and requested permits to build even more in future months. The figures suggest housing remains a driver of economic growth despite higher mortgage rates. The Commerce Department says builders increased construction of single-family homes 7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628,000.

Desperation mounted Wednesday in the resort of Acapulco, where thousands of exhausted, despondent tourists waited to be ferried out by air. The official death toll from massive flooding in southern and central Mexico rose to 60. Mexico was hit by twin storms over the weekend, and the storm that soaked Acapulco on Sunday – Manuel – re-formed into a tropical storm Wednesday, threatening to bring more flooding to the country’s northern coast.

Compiled from wire service reports

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