World/Nation Briefs June 7, 2011
Idaho school reform foes hand in petitions
BOISE - Organizers of an effort to overturn Idaho's new education laws say they have turned in enough signatures to put three repeal measures on the November 2012 ballot.
The group delivered the petitions to the Idaho Secretary of State on Monday.
Michael Lanza chairs Idahoans for Responsible Education Reform and says more than 72,000 signatures were gathered on each of the three petitions to put the new laws to referendum votes next year. The reforms backed by public schools chief Tom Luna and the governor were signed into law several weeks ago.
Idaho will limit teachers union bargaining rights, introduce merit pay and shift money from salaries to classroom technology as part of the plan.
Some teachers, parents and students have criticized the measures, prompting the referendum effort to repeal them.
Violence escalates in Syria
BEIRUT - Armed men killed 120 Syrian security forces and torched government buildings Monday in a northern region where troops have unleashed deadly assaults on protesters for days, Syria said. The government vowed to respond "decisively," hinting at an even more brutal crackdown by a regime known for ruthlessly crushing dissent.
If confirmed, the attack in the north would be a turning point in what so far has largely been a peaceful uprising threatening the 40-year rule of President Bashar Assad and his family.
Opposition activists were skeptical of the official casualty toll, saying the authorities were setting the stage for a new onslaught. But even they acknowledged there was fighting, although it was not clear who was involved.
Communications were cut to the area around Jisr al-Shughour on Monday and the details of the attack were impossible to verify, but there have been unconfirmed reports by activists and residents in the past of Syrians and even mutinous troops fighting back against security forces.
Organic sprouts did not cause E. coli outbreak
HAMBURG, Germany - First they pointed a finger at Spanish cucumbers. Then they cast suspicion on sprouts from Germany. Now German officials appear dumbfounded as to the source of the deadliest E. coli outbreak in modern history, and one U.S. expert called the investigation a "disaster."
Backtracking for the second time in a week, officials Monday said preliminary tests have found no evidence that vegetable sprouts from an organic farm in northern Germany were to blame.
The surprise U-turn came only a day after the same state agency, Lower Saxony's agriculture ministry, held a news conference to announce that the sprouts appeared to be the culprit in the outbreak that has killed 22 people and sickened more than 2,330 others across Europe, most of them in Germany, over the past month.
Andreas Hensel, head of Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, warned, "We have to be clear on this: Maybe we won't be able anymore to identify the source."
Last week, German officials pointed to tainted cucumbers from Spain as a possible cause, igniting vegetable bans and heated protests from Spanish farmers, who suffered heavy financial losses. Researchers later concluded the Spanish cucumbers were contaminated with a different strain of E. coli.
Arizona forest fire still spreading
SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. - Firefighters worked furiously Monday to save a line of mountain communities in eastern Arizona from a gigantic blaze that has forced thousands of people from their homes and cast a smoky haze over states as far away as Iowa.
Strong winds and lightning storms were expected to make matters worse in an area dotted with cabins and campgrounds that have long provided a cool summer getaway from the oppressive heat of the nearby desert.
Lighter winds a day earlier sent embers flying as far as three miles and triggered a series of spot fires.
The fire had grown to nearly 365 square miles, officials said. Authorities believe an abandoned campfire may have sparked the blaze more than a week ago.
So far, the flames have destroyed five buildings and scorched 233,522 acres of ponderosa pine forest. No serious injuries have been reported.
Half the military trained on gay ban repeal
WASHINGTON - More than a million U.S. troops - roughly half the armed forces - have been trained on the new law allowing gays to serve openly in the military, and so far there has been none of the turmoil or dire consequences predicted by opponents of what had been expected to be a wrenching change in military culture.
There's been no widespread resistance, no mad rush for the door by enlisted members opposed to the policy and no drop in recruiting.
"So far this seems to be a non-event," said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff for the Army.
In the debate over the change, opponents predicted that repealing the 17-year-old ban on openly gay service members would roil the nation's armed forces and undermine fighting ability.
- The Associated Press