PRESIDENT - The Salt Lake Tribune

G-8 seeks unity on Syrian peace talks, tax evasion

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:34:31 MDT

G-8 seeks unity on Syrian peace talks, tax evasion

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK and CASSANDRA VINOGRAD The Associated Press

Updated Jun 18, 2013 10:34PM MDT

Enniskillen, Northern Ireland • President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other G-8 leaders attempted to speak with one voice Tuesday on seeking a negotiated Syrian peace settlement — yet couldn’t publicly agree on whether this means President Bashar Assad must go. Their declaration at the end of the two-day Group of Eight summit sought to narrow the diplomatic chasm between Assad’s key backer, Russia, and Western leaders on starting peace talks in Geneva to end a two-year ci...

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Robinson: This will not end well

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Robinson: This will not end well

By Eugene Robinson The Washington Post

Updated Jun 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

WASHINGTON — In Syria, the Obama administration seems to be stumbling back to the future: An old-fashioned proxy war, complete with the usual shadowy CIA arms-running operation, the traditional plan to prop up ostensible “moderates” whose prospects are doubtful and, of course, the customary shaky grasp of what the fighting is really about. This will not end well. It is tragic that more than 90,000 people have been killed in the bloody Syrian conflict, with more than a million displaced...

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President-elect of Iran talks of easing tensions with U.S.

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:08:49 MDT

President-elect of Iran talks of easing tensions with U.S.

By THOMAS ERDBRINK The New York Times

Updated Jun 17, 2013 10:08PM MDT

Tehran, Iran • President-elect Hasan Rowhani of Iran, speaking Monday for the first time since his election victory, said he wanted to reduce tensions with the United States but ruled out direct talks between the two estranged nations. In his first news conference after winning Friday’s presidential election promising more freedoms and better relations with the outside world, Rowhani called the issue of nonexistent relations between Iran and the United States “an old wound, which must be healed...

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Nuggets hire executive Tim Connelly

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:25:02 MDT

Nuggets hire executive Tim Connelly

The Associated Press

Updated Jun 17, 2013 10:25AM MDT

The Denver Nuggets have hired Tim Connelly as executive vice president of basketball operations. Team President Josh Kroenke confirmed in an email to The Associated Press on Monday that Connelly will take over for Masai Ujiri, who left to become general manager of the Toronto Raptors. Connelly has been the assistant GM with the New Orleans Pelicans since 2010. His first order of business with the Nuggets will be finding a replacement for George Karl after the longtime coach was fired nearly ...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

News roundup: Poll shows most Americans don't trust Obama

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 06:52:02 MDT

News roundup: Poll shows most Americans don't trust Obama

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 17, 2013 06:52AM MDT

Poll: Most Americans don't trust Obama. Felon alleges shakedown by Swallow. Inside the NSA's Utah Data Center. Happy Monday. With the building angst over domestic spying, President Barack Obama's approval rating fell 8 percent in the last month to 45 percent, the lowest in the last eighteen months. And for the first time in his presidency, Obama faces a country where a majority of residents don't believe he is honest and trustworthy. [CNN] Topping the news: The imprisoned businessman Marc Sessio...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP Analysis: New Iran president may help shield rulers

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:14:02 MDT

AP Analysis: New Iran president may help shield rulers

By Brian murphy Associated Press

Updated Jun 16, 2013 12:14PM MDT

Dubai, United Arab Emirates • For a lesson in what Hasan Rowhani’s reformist-backed presidency could mean for Iran, a promise Sunday by the ultra-powerful Revolutionary Guard to cooperate with him is a good guide. Like the rest of Iran’s ruling Islamic establishment, the Guard, which has kept a tight lid on any hints of opposition for years, is for the moment embracing Rowhani, even though he is almost certain to return once-silenced moderates into the political fold and restore the voice of lib...

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Obama takes bolder Syria stand as G-8 talks open

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 23:27:51 MDT

Obama takes bolder Syria stand as G-8 talks open

By JULIE PACE The Associated Press

Updated Jun 15, 2013 11:27PM MDT

Washington • After months of caution, President Barack Obama suddenly is positioned more aggressively on Syria than the global leaders he’s joining at a summit Monday, now that he has authorized weapons and ammunition shipments to struggling rebels. Obama is expected to push Britain and France to take similar action when talks open in Northern Ireland among the Group of Eight leading industrial powers. The U.S., Britain and France also will urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to drop his poli...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Egypt cuts relations with Syrian government

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 14:37:53 MDT

Egypt cuts relations with Syrian government

The Associated Press

Updated Jun 15, 2013 02:37PM MDT

CAIRO • Egypt’s Islamist president announced Saturday that he was cutting off diplomatic relations with Syria and closing Damascus’ embassy in Cairo, decisions made amid growing calls from hard-line Sunni clerics in Egypt and elsewhere to launch a “holy war” against Syria’s embattled regime. Mohammed Morsi told thousands of supporters at a rally in Cairo that his government was also withdrawing the Egyptian charge d’affaires from Damascus. He called on Lebanon’s Hezbollah to leave Syria, where t...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Obama’s passivity

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Obama’s passivity

Updated Jun 15, 2013 01:01AM MDT

With apologies to William Shakespeare: Now is the summer of our discontent. It now feels like the president who many of us voted for in 2008 on wings of progressive hope has faded from the limelight and is wallowing in unfortunate events and policies that are hard to understand: • The governmental intrusion into our lives. Access to Verizon phone calls and Internet surveillance by the National Security Agency are attempts to deal with the threat of terror that pervades all of our current thinkin...

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Krauthammer: Pushing the envelope, NSA-style

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:09:57 MDT

Krauthammer: Pushing the envelope, NSA-style

By Charles Krauthammer The Washington Post

Updated Jun 14, 2013 10:09AM MDT

WASHINGTON -- Thirty-five years ago in United States v. Choate, the courts ruled that the Postal Service may record “mail cover,” i.e., what’s written on the outside of an envelope -- the addresses of sender and receiver. The National Security Agency’s recording of U.S. phone data does basically that with the telephone. It records who is calling whom -- the outside of the envelope, as it were. The content of the conversation, however, is like the letter inside the envelope. It may not be op...

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Obama urges ban on workplace bias against gays

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:08:03 MDT

Obama urges ban on workplace bias against gays

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE The Associated Press

Updated Jun 13, 2013 09:08PM MDT

Washington • President Barack Obama on Thursday marked Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month by calling on Congress to pass legislation banning workplace discrimination against gays, lesbians and others. “I want to sign that bill,” he said. Obama said such bias is wrong and must end. He said that in more than 30 states people can be fired because of who they are or who they love. He said legislation pending in Congress would end workplace discrimination “now and forever” against le...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Redford goes after pollution, and Obama, in new ad

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:22:03 MDT

Redford goes after pollution, and Obama, in new ad

By Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 12, 2013 10:22AM MDT

Robert Redford may be coming soon to a TV screen near you -- in an ad urging government action on climate change. The 30-second ad, for the Natural Resources Defense Council, takes aim at coal-fired power plants — and ends with Redford telling viewers to urge President Barack Obama “to make dirty power plants clean up their carbon pollution.” The ad includes a brief clip from Obama’s second inaugural address, in which he promised to “respond to the threat of climate change.” Redford also takes a...

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Ex-Barcelona president says Messi paid his taxes

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:59:37 MDT

Ex-Barcelona president says Messi paid his taxes

The Associated Press

Updated Jun 14, 2013 04:59PM MDT

Barcelona, Spain • Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta defended Lionel Messi against allegations of tax fraud, a case that experts say could carry a prison sentence for the Argentina star. A Spanish state prosecutor filed a fraud complaint Wednesday alleging that Messi and his father Jorge avoided paying $5.3 million in back taxes through illegal overseas tax havens. “I am convinced that neither Leo nor his father have committed any infraction,” Laporta told Cope radio Thursday. “The sit...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Conflicted response

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:01:03 MDT

Conflicted response

Updated Jun 13, 2013 01:01AM MDT

It’s fascinating to watch the conflicted Republican response to news that American phone records are being analyzed for patterns revealing terrorist activity (“Phone records could end up at NSA’s Utah Data Center,” Tribune, June 7). The program began under President George Bush — then, unlike now, without warrant. Where was the sturm und drang when the program first came to light in 2005? A different matter today! On the one hand, what a perfect opportunity to wave arms, yell and scream about P...

Surviving a president

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Surviving a president

Updated Jun 13, 2013 01:01AM MDT

I smiled as I read Byron Bagnell’s “Too easy on Obama” (Forum, June 7), which criticized The Tribune for lack of coverage of scandals in the administration of President Barack Obama. Bagnell concluded by expressing hope that the country can survive until these scandals receive increased attention. During the eight years of the administration of President George W. Bush, I began collecting newspaper clippings of the many scandals that arose, including: intelligence failures, terrorist attacks, pr...

CIA deputy director Michael Morell steps down

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:32:23 MDT

CIA deputy director Michael Morell steps down

By KIMBERLY DOZIER AP Intelligence Writer

Updated Jun 12, 2013 03:32PM MDT

Washington • CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell, who managed the resignation of CIA chief David Petraeus over an extramarital affair and defended the agency’s performance over the attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, retired Wednesday. “While I have given everything I have to the Central Intelligence Agency and its vital mission for a third of a century, it is now time for me to give everything I have to my family,” Morell said in a statement released by the agency. Morell retire...

News roundup: Bush more popular than Obama in new poll

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:43:38 MDT

News roundup: Bush more popular than Obama in new poll

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 12, 2013 06:43AM MDT

Herbert would fire Swallow. Bush's spike in popularity. Lee wants to publicize secret court's legal reasoning. Happy Wednesday. For the first time since 2005, more Americans have a favorable view of former President George W. Bush than an unfavorable one, according to a new Gallup poll. His approval rating has even topped that of President Barack Obama. [Gallup] [WSJ] [CNN] Topping the news: Gov. Gary Herbert says if it were up to him, he would fire AG John Swallow, but he would not call o...

Lowry: Obama grows up

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 01:01:05 MDT

Lowry: Obama grows up

By Rich Lowry The National Review

Updated Jun 12, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Before Barack Obama became president, he reveled in the irresponsibility of his powerlessness. He could denounce Bush administration counterterrorism initiatives from a glorious position of civil-libertarian purity and posit the need to strike a perfect balance “between privacy and security.” Then he got elected president, and the mere posturing had to end. He had to grow up. Invested with responsibility for keeping the country safe and, no doubt, informed of potential threats in hair-raising te...

Activist inner circle

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 23:17:48 MDT

Activist inner circle

Updated Jun 9, 2013 11:17PM MDT

Presidents and not their aides are responsible for setting the course of U.S. foreign policy, and in the case of President Barack Obama, that has been true arguably to a fault. It was Obama who insisted, over the objections of some advisers, that Israel’s settlement construction should be the focus of his first-term Middle East peace initiative. It was he who decided that the surge of troops in Afghanistan should be accompanied by a fixed withdrawal date. And it was he who rejected the advice of...

Obama pressed Chinese leader on cybersecurity

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:29:15 MDT

Obama pressed Chinese leader on cybersecurity

By JULIE PACE The Associated Press

Updated Jun 9, 2013 12:29AM MDT

Rancho Mirage, Calif. • President Barack Obama used an unusually lengthy and informal desert summit to present Chinese President Xi Jingping with detailed evidence of intellectual property theft emanating from his country, as a top U.S. official declared Saturday that cybersecurity is now at the “center of the relationship” between the world’s largest economies. While there were few clear policy breakthroughs on cybersecurity, U.S. officials said Obama and Xi were in broad agreement over the ne...