Three developments that bear watching

January 24, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Let’s look this morning at three developments that offer some hope.

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South Sudan’s government and rebels signed a cease-fire deal Thursday that leaders hope will put a pause to five weeks of warfare that has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians. The peace deal represents the first real progress since political friction turned violent Dec. 15, fueling countrywide battles with ethnic overtones. But questions were immediately raised about whether all fighters in South Sudan would abide by the agreement, and how long others would follow it.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced a plan Thursday to ask the Obama administration to set aside thousands of work visas to entice talented immigrants to live and work in bankrupt Detroit. The Republican governor said he is seeking 50,000 work visas solely for the city over five years. The type of visas involved are not currently allocated by region or state, but rather go to legal immigrants who have advanced degrees or show exceptional ability in certain fields.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has called a special parliament session for next week to discuss tensions in the country that have spiraled after at least two protesters were killed in violent clashes with police. There was no indication that Yanukovych’s call represented an inclination to compromise with opposition protesters who are demanding his resignation.

Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza urged fighters to put down their arms as she took the oath of office Thursday, even as looters pillaged Muslim neighborhoods and sectarian tensions escalated in the anarchic Central African Republic. Samba-Panza, the nation’s first female leader, was sworn in at a ceremony days after being chosen by a national transitional council.

Toyota remained the top-selling automaker for a second year in a row, beating US rival General Motors by some 270,000 vehicles in 2013, and set an ambitious target to sell more than 10 million vehicles this year. That would mark a milestone as no automaker has ever topped annual worldwide sales of 10 million. Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it sold a record 9.98 million vehicles worldwide last year.

Egypt’s military-backed interim president said Thursday that the country’s uprisings have put an end to the police state and to abuses, part of a campaign to rebrand the security forces amid a heavy-handed crackdown on Islamists and other critics of the government. Adly Mansour’s comments marking Police Day celebrations came despite continued reports of abuses by security forces.

More than 30 years after hooded gunmen pulled a $6 million airport heist dramatized in the hit movie “Goodfellas,” an elderly reputed mobster was arrested at his New York City home on Thursday and charged in the robbery and a 1969 murder. Vincent Asaro was named along with his son, Jerome, and three other defendants in a wide-ranging indictment alleging murder and other crimes from the late 1960s through last year.

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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