World/Nation Briefs August 10, 2012

Romney and Obama bemoan attack ads

PUEBLO, Colo. - Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama both deplored the pervasive presence of televised attack ads in the race for the White House on Thursday, though neither acknowledged being helped as well as harmed. Each blamed his foe.

Romney went first, saying of the president's campaign, "They just blast ahead" with ads that have been judged false by independent fact checkers.

"I don't know whatever happened to a campaign of 'hope and change,'" he said, a mocking reference to the spirit of optimism that Obama evoked during his successful run for the White House in 2008.

Obama ignored the slap. He told an audience in Colorado that "over the next three months, you will see more negative ads," and he suggested the blame lies with outside groups backing his rival.

"I mean, these super PACs, these guys are writing $10 million checks and giving them to Mr. Romney's supporters," he said.

Iran holds conference to calm Syria crisis

BEIRUT - As Syrian forces struggled to drive rebels from the country's largest city, the regime's key ally Iran tried Thursday to start an alternative political process to address the crisis.

Iran gathered an array of nations ranging from strong supporters of Damascus to far-flung nations a world away from the Syrian civil war.

The one-day forum is unlikely to result in any international consensus, but it shows Iran's resolve to stand by President Bashar Assad as his forces try to crush the 17-month-old uprising.

On Thursday, Syrian rebels said they were low on ammunition but still managed to put up resistance against a regime ground offensive in the city of Aleppo, a center of fighting for more than two weeks.

Tehran billed Thursday's conference as a way to focus on dialogue - an alternative to Western-led initiatives that call for Assad to give up power.

Egypt troops in Sinai to fightmilitants

CAIRO - Egyptian troops, light tanks, armored vehicles and attack helicopters are pouring into the Sinai desert to root out increasingly aggressive Islamic militants in the most significant easing to date of a key provision in the landmark 1979 peace treaty with Israel: The demilitarization of the peninsula.

For more than 30 years, Egyptian soldiers with heavy weapons were virtually banned from much of Sinai to create a buffer between the longtime enemies. Now, Israel has green-lighted the surge in hopes militants on its doorstep will be defeated.

But talk of formally changing the treaty remains just that, talk.

The reason may lie in the delicate realities of the new Egypt, where the fiercely anti-Israel Muslim Brotherhood has risen to political power - with one of its own as Egypt's first president since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak last year. The Islamist group has said that Egypt will continue to abide by the accord. At the same time, it has repeatedly called for changes in the treaty's limits on troops in Sinai, seen as humiliating.

But its calls may be mainly rhetoric for an Egyptian public among which anti-Israel feeling is high and amending the deal is popular.

Health care law's big tax hikes hit the wealthiest 2%

WASHINGTON - Who gets thumped by higher taxes in President Barack Obama's health care law? The wealthiest 2 percent of Americans will take the biggest hit, starting next year. And the pain will be shared by some who aren't so well off - people swept up in a hodgepodge of smaller tax changes that will help finance health coverage for millions in need.

For the vast majority of people, however, the health care law won't mean sending more money to the IRS.

And roughly 20 million people eventually will benefit from tax credits that start in 2014 to help them pay insurance premiums.

The tax increases - plus a mandate that nearly everyone have health coverage - are helping make the law an election-year scorcher. Obama is campaigning on the benefits for the uninsured, women and young adults. His rival, Mitt Romney, and Republican lawmakers are vowing to repeal "Obamacare," saying some health care reforms are needed but not at this cost.

Lots of the noise is about the financial consequences for people who decline to get coverage and businesses that don't offer their workers an adequate health plan. Some 4 million individuals without insurance are expected to pay about $55 billion over eight years, according to the Congressional Budget Office's estimates. Employers could be dinged an estimated $106 billion for failing to meet the mandate, which starts in 2014.

Heavy rain as Ernesto makes landfall in Mexico

VERACRUZ, Mexico - Tropical Storm Ernesto made landfall Thursday near the oil port city of Coatzacoalcos, killing two people as it moved inland and began weakening after drenching Mexico's flood-prone southern Gulf region.

Ernesto came ashore after spinning across the far southern Gulf of Mexico in waters dotted with oil rigs operated by the state oil company. The government closed its largest Gulf coast port, Veracruz, and the smaller ports of Alvarado and Coatzacoalcos.

- The Associated Press