World/Nation Briefs September 26, 2012
Army Corps let off the hook for Katrina flooding
NEW ORLEANS - A surprise ruling by a federal appeals court that lets the Army Corps of Engineers off the hook for paying compensation for Hurricane Katrina's catastrophic flooding isn't going over well on the streets of New Orleans.
People in southern Louisiana have long taken for granted that the flooding in the wake of the 2005 storm was a manmade disaster - one caused specifically by the corps - and they have wanted the agency to pay up for lost homes and property.
But on Monday, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its earlier opinion and shot down the only argument that had succeeded so far in holding the corps accountable. The ruling also could make it extremely difficult to force the government to pay damages for future mishaps.
In March, the appellate court panel upheld a 2009 ruling by U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval that had found the corps liable for the flooding of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward neighborhood and St. Bernard Parish because the agency failed to properly maintain a shipping channel. That channel, dug in the 1960s, funneled Katrina's storm surge into the city.
Ahmadinejad pushes end to U.S. 'bullying'
NEW YORK - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that a new world order needs to emerge, away from years of what he called American bullying and domination.
Ahmadinejad spoke to The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly - his last as president of Iran. He was to address the Assembly Wednesday morning.
He also discussed solutions for the Syrian civil war, dismissed the question of Iran's nuclear ambition and claimed that despite Western sanctions his country is better off than it was when he took office in 2005.
Obama presses world leaders to reject extremism
UNITED NATIONS -
Confronting global tumult and Muslim anger, President Barack Obama exhorted world leaders Tuesday to stand fast against violence and extremism, arguing that protecting religious rights and free speech must be a universal responsibility and not just an American obligation.
"The impulse towards intolerance and violence may initially be focused on the West, but over time it cannot be contained," Obama warned the U.N. General Assembly in an urgent call to action underscored by the high stakes for all nations.
The gloomy backdrop for Obama's speech - a world riven by deadly protests against an anti-Islamic video, by war in Syria, by rising tension over a nuclear Iran and more - marked the dramatic shifts that have occurred in the year since the General Assembly's last ministerial meeting, when democratic uprisings in the Arab world created a sense of excitement and optimism. Obama had tough words for Iran and condemned anew the violence in Syria as Bashar al-Assad tries to retain power.
Six weeks before the U.S. presidential election, an unmistakable campaign element framed Obama's speech as well: The president's Republican rival, Mitt Romney, has tried to cast him as a weak leader on the world stage, too quick to apologize for American values.
- The Associated Press