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Teachers cheer, boo Obama

WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- Barack Obama got a few boos Saturday when he told the National Education Association convention in Washington he supports merit pay.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee spoke by video link from Butte, Mont., where he spent the Fourth of July. The response to his speech was generally enthusiastic from a union that has already endorsed him, USA Today reported.

"I'm tired of hearing teachers blamed for our problems," Obama said. "I want to lead a new era of mutual responsibility in education."

But the NEA delegates were less enthusiastic when Obama listed problems such as the high U.S. dropout rate, poor scores in math and science, and the millions of students reading below grade level. Some delegates booed when Obama said teachers should get additional pay for teaching in tough schools, mentoring students or acquiring additional skills.

"In some places we've already seen that it's possible to find new ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on teachers," he said, to more boos.

9 inmates reported killed at Syrian prison

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 5 (UPI) -- At least nine inmates were killed at a Syrian prison Saturday when guards fired during a riot by Islamist prisoners, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch officials based in Lebanon reported receiving cell phone calls from prisoners at Saydnaya Prison 20 miles from Damascus, The New York Times reported. The Syrian government had not made any official announcement of trouble at the prison.

Nadim Houry, a Human Rights Watch researcher in Syria and Lebanon, called the prison, which houses 1,500 inmates, "a symbol of repression in Syria."

"It's the place where everyone tried by the state security court ends up serving their sentence, and inmates are often tortured and ill-treated there," he said.

Houry said the trouble began when a group of military police came to the prison early Saturday, planning a security sweep. They reportedly fired at Islamist prisoners protesting bad treatment.

The prisoners then took guards and prison administrators hostage, demanded the police drop their weapons and took them hostage when they did.

Mongolia curfew lifted after riots

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia, July 5 (UPI) -- Mongolian officials say the capital of Ulan Bator was back to normal Saturday after overnight curfews imposed to quell political riots were lifted.

The violence broke out Tuesday when opposition political parties accused the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party of vote-rigging in parliamentary elections held last Sunday, Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency, reported. A four-day state of emergency was called when the protests turned violent.

Many of the demonstrators were supporters of the Democratic Party, which has now agreed to allow its members to be criminally charged in the rioting in exchange for gaining access to ballot recounts in some disputed districts, Xinhua said.

Five people reportedly were killed and more than 300 others injured in the Mongolian riots. President Nambariin Enkhbayar declared the country's first-ever state of emergency in the capital area Wednesday, the news agency said.

U.S. beef focus of South Korean protest

SEOUL, July 5 (UPI) -- Tens of thousands of South Koreans protested in Seoul Saturday against U.S beef imports, police said.

The estimated 50,000 people taking part in the peaceful demonstration in the capital's streets were attempting to draw attention to what they allege is unsafe beef that their government is now allowing to arrive from the United States, CNN reported.

The South Korean government announced in April it had reached a deal with the United States to begin importing U.S. beef for the first time in five years.

The lengthy ban had been put into place due to concerns the beef may be tainted with mad cow disease, CNN said.

South Korean store owners are split over whether to sell the controversial imports, but at least one shop owner said he has been having no problems selling the U.S. meat.

"It's selling like hot cakes,'' shop owner Park Chang-kyu told The Korea Times. "Of course, it was not an easy decision to sell American beef amid public sentiment hostile to U.S. beef. But look, it's amazing.''