The slippery slope of violence

February 20, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Nonviolence is a quiet but powerful force.

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President Obama says “there will be consequences” for violence in Ukraine if people step over the line. He says that includes making sure that the military doesn’t step into a situation that civilians should resolve.

Ideas floated by Washington so far for an Israeli-Palestinian peace framework don’t provide a basis for serious talks, a Palestinian official said Wednesday, signaling continued deadlock as an April deadline approaches. US Secretary of State John Kerry has not yet presented his final vision, but he has raised ideas in meetings with the two sides.

President Obama sought to reassure leaders of Mexico and Canada Wednesday of his commitment to new trade agreements between Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas, even as he faces political resistance in the US from members of his own Democratic party. Obama arrived earlier in the day in the industrial center of Toluca, Mexico, for a one-day North American Leaders Summit.

Cossack militia attacked Russia’s Pussy Riot punk group with horsewhips on Wednesday as the artists – who have feuded with Vladimir Putin’s government for years – tried to perform under a sign in Sochi advertising the Olympics. The group has resurfaced as a thorn for Russian authorities this week for the first time in nearly two years.

One of two US warships dispatched to the Black Sea before the Sochi Winter Olympics remains in a Turkish port after running aground last week, the Navy said Wednesday. The frigate USS Taylor is being inspected for damage after it ran aground Feb. 12 while preparing to moor at Samsun, Turkey, about 230 miles from Sochi.

Russia’s men’s hockey team crashed out of the Olympics in the quarterfinals Wednesday with a 3-1 loss, extending the historic hockey nation’s gold-medal drought past 22 years and putting an enormous damper on the final days of the Sochi Games for Russian fans. Meanwhile, Ted Ligety became the first American man in Olympic history with two Alpine skiing gold medals. His first came eight years ago in the combined event; Wednesday’s came in the giant slalom.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair offered to work as an unofficial adviser to Rupert Murdoch as revelations of illegal phone hacking engulfed the mogul’s media empire, according to an e-mail made public Wednesday at the trial of several former Murdoch lieutenants. Prosecutor Andrew Edis read aloud an e-mail sent by Rebekah Brooks, then chief executive of Murdoch’s British newspapers, to Murdoch’s son and deputy, James, in 2011.

US home construction fell in January for a second month but the weakness in both months reflected severe winter weather in many parts of the country. The expectation is that housing will deliver another year of solid gains, helped by an improving economy. Builders started work at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 880,000, down 16 percent from December, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Compiled from wire service reports

“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.

Compiled from wire service reports

“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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