World/Nation Briefs November 1, 2011

Palestine earns endorsement; U.S. cuts funding

PARIS - Palestine won its greatest international endorsement yet on Monday, full membership in UNESCO, but the move will cost the agency one-fifth of its funding and some fear will send Mideast peace efforts off a cliff.

In an unusually dramatic session at the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, there were cheers for "yes" votes and grumbles for the "no's" and abstentions. When the results were in, many delegates jumped to their feet and applauded and someone let out a cry of "Long live Palestine!" in French.

"Joy fills my heart. This is really a historic moment," said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki. "It's the return of he who was banished."

But the jubilation was quickly pierced by reality: The United States said it wouldn't make a $60 million payment to fill out its contributions for this year and would suspend all future funding.

UNESCO depends heavily on that money - Washington provides 22 percent of its budget - but has survived without it in the past: The United States pulled out of UNESCO under President Ronald Reagan, rejoining two decades later under President George W. Bush.

NATO ends seven month bombing campaign in Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya - NATO's triumphant, 7-month air campaign against Libya ended Monday, setting the country on the path to a democratic transition less than two weeks after the capture and killing of ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The alliance turned down a Libyan request to extend the protective umbrella for a few more weeks, apparently eager to exit on a high note and wrap up a costly mission at a time of financial austerity.

The relatively quick victory in Libya represented a major boost for a Cold War alliance bogged down in a 10-year war in Afghanistan, a 12-year mission in Kosovo and the seemingly never-ending anti-piracy operation off the Somali coastline.

The operation's critics - including Russia, China and the African Union - have argued that NATO misused the limited U.N. resolution imposing a no-fly zone and authorizing the protection of civilians as a pretext to promote regime change.

But with alliance airstrikes helping open the way on the battlefield following a lengthy stalemate, revolutionary forces eventually captured Tripoli in late August and brought an end to the war with the death of Gadhafi on Oct. 20.

Power could be out for days in Northeast

WAYLAND, Mass. - Hundreds of thousands of people across the Northeast shivered at the prospect of days without heat or lights after a freak October snowstorm over the weekend, and many towns postponed trick-or-treating Monday.

Families huddled under blankets and winter coats at home or waited out the crisis in shelters as utility crews struggled to fix power lines brought down by the storm. Hundreds of schools closed, giving youngsters one of the earliest snow days on record.

"Such a small storm but such a big disaster," said Marina Shen, who spent Sunday night with her husband and dog at a middle school in Wayland, a Boston suburb of 13,000 where half the homes lost power. Just a few inches fell in Wayland, and most of it had melted by Monday, but overnight temperatures fell below freezing.

From Maryland to Maine, high winds and wet, heavy snow brought down trees, branches and wires Saturday and Sunday. Snowfall amounts ranged from less than an inch in some places to 32 inches in the small town of Peru, Mass., in the Berkshire Mountains.

Cain says he was falsely accused of harassment

WASHINGTON - Denying he ever sexually harassed anyone, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain declared Monday he was falsely accused in the 1990s while he was head of the National Restaurant Association and the allegations are surfacing now as part of a "witch hunt."

The former pizza company executive was responding to a Politico report that said the trade group gave financial settlements to at least two female employees who had accused Cain of inappropriate sexual behavior. He said he didn't know whether the association provided any such settlements, and he declined to address specifics of the accusations or the resolution.

"There's nothing else there to dig up," he declared at the National Press Club. "We have no idea the source of this witch hunt, which is really what it is."

Cain said an investigation into accusations of impropriety while he was the head of the restaurant group determined they were baseless.

Dean of St. Paul's steps down amid 'Occupy' protests

LONDON - The Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral has become the second high-profile clergy member to step down over anti-capitalist protests that have spilled across the historic church's grounds.

The resignation Monday of Graeme Knowles leaves the cathedral without a leader and will delay a planned legal action to evict the protest camp.

Knowles said his position had become "untenable" as criticism of the cathedral mounted in the press and in public opinion. Knowles had urged protesters to leave the cathedral area to allow it to reopen its doors.

Officials shut the church to the public on Oct. 21, saying demonstrators' tents were a health and safety hazard. It was the first time the 300-year-old London church had closed since German planes bombed the city during World War II. It reopened Friday.

Knowles' resignation follows that last week of Giles Fraser, a senior St. Paul's Cathedral priest who had welcomed the anti-capitalist demonstrators to set up camp outside the landmark, inspired by New York's Occupy Wall Street movement. He said he resigned because he feared moves to evict the protesters could end in violence.

Searchers find 3 more bodies at grain elevator

ATCHISON, Kan. - The final three bodies were recovered Monday from the burnt wreckage of a Kansas grain elevator where a weekend explosion killed six people and injured two others, a company official said.

The first three bodies were found during the weekend but unstable concrete, hanging steel beams and other damage had forced crews to temporarily suspend the search for the remaining victims at the Bartlett Grain Co. facility in Atchison, about 50 miles northwest of Kansas City.

- The Associated Press