Battle may brew over disaster funding
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. House Republican leaders say new funding for relief for Hurricane Irene or other disasters must be offset by cuts elsewhere.
Unless additional disaster aid is appropriated, federal officials said communities still rebuilding from natural disasters earlier this year must wait while funds are diverted to help victims of Hurricane Irene, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
Although Congress doesn't return to Washington until next week, opening funding salvos were fired Monday when House Republican leaders called for offsetting cuts to any new spending for disaster relief and reconstruction.
Democrats said the GOP's call was an unfair and unprecedented approach to emergency management.
"We will find the money if there is a need for additional money but those monies are not unlimited," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told Fox News. "We'll find other places to save so that we can fund the role the federal government needs to play."
Rep. David Price of North Carolina, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, said now wasn't the time for "another round of budget politics."
"Livelihoods and local economies depend on swift relief and assistance in the event of a natural disaster," Price said, "and the millions of Americans affected by Irene and other recent events can't afford to wait around while Republicans pick another budget fight with [President Obama] by holding disaster relief hostage to further spending cuts."
The problem is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is running out of money, the Times said. FEMA has less than $800 million left in a special disaster fund and already was spending $400 million a month before Hurricane Irene struck.
Algeria would return Gadhafi if he's found
TRIPOLI, Libya, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Algerian officials said they would turn over Moammar Gadhafi to Libyan rebels if the fugitive leader is found in Algeria.
Sources quoted in the Algerian newspaper Echorouk indicated the government made the decision based on arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Gadhafi, his son Saif and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, The Guardian reported.
Moammar Gadhafi has been in hiding.
A former bodyguard for one of Gadhafi's sons said the Libyan leader, ousted from his Tripoli compound by rebels, was moving south via Banki Walid toward Sabha, the route reportedly used by his family members when they fled to Algeria.
The National Transitional Council has called Algeria's decision to accept Gadhafi's wife, daughter Aisha and sons Hannibal and Mohammed "an act of aggression," saying they would seek to extradite the Gadhafi family members.
A team of humanitarian experts the European Union sent to Tripoli is trying to help restore the water supply to the capital cut by Gadhafi forces, The Guardian reported. If efforts to restore the supply fail, the European Union is working on a plan to ship bottled and tanked water to Tripoli, officials said.
"The disruption of the drinking water supply to Tripoli is a major issue affecting the capital's population," an EU spokeswoman said in an e-mail. "Government forces closed the pumping stations … when fleeing from the capital."
NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil announced Tuesday Gadhafi loyalists in the leader's hometown of Sirte have until Saturday to surrender. A buildup of rebel forces has been reported around Sirte, one of a few remaining Gadhafi strongholds, but an all-out attack hasn't started because the NTC is trying to negotiate the town's surrender..
Omar letter predicts Taliban victory
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A lengthy message reportedly written by the leader of the Afghan Taliban predicts "imminent victory" over NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The statement e-mailed to journalists and posted on a Web site used by the Taliban said more foreign troops are dying because Taliban fighters have learned NATO tactics and are able to shoot down more aircraft, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"All of these give us good news of an imminent victory and a bright future," the message said.
It was signed by Mullah Mohammad Omar, the reclusive one-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban, and released Monday on the eve of one of Islam's most important holidays that marks the end of Ramadan.
Daniel Markey, a Washington-based fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, said the aim of the message was to characterize the Taliban struggle as a defense against invaders.
"Omar certainly seems to be continuing an earlier effort to soften the [Taliban] image among Afghans," said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts network.
Muslims say U.S. singles them out
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- More than half of American Muslims say U.S. government anti-terrorism policies single out Muslims in the country for increased surveillance and monitoring.
A decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a Pew Research Center survey found 52 percent of Muslims report increased scrutiny. The proportion has not changed significantly since 2007, the survey found.
The survey showed that 28 percent of American Muslims reported they had been looked at with suspicion in the past year, 22 percent had been called offensive names, 21 percent had been singled out by airport security, 13 percent had been singled out by other law enforcement and 6 percent said they had been attacked or threatened.
More than half, 55 percent, said life in the United States has become more difficult for Muslims since the terrorist attacks, compared with 53 percent in 2007, the survey said.
Those saying they're are "bothered" by their belief Muslims are being singled out for increased government surveillance totaled 38 percent, compared with 39 percent in 2007.
The survey reports 56 percent of Muslims coming to the United States today seek to adopt American customs and ways of life, compared with 20 percent who said they want to remain distinct from the larger U.S. Society.
For the American population as a whole, by contrast, just 33 percent believe most Muslim immigrants want to adopt American ways while 51 percent think they want to remain distinct from the larger culture, an April Pew Research survey found.
The new survey was based on telephone interviews of about 1,075 people and had a sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Latest WikiLeaks postings name names
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Nearly 134,000 U.S. cables posted on the Web recently by WikiLeaks list names of people who spoke in confidence to U.S. diplomats, government officials said.
State Department officials and human rights activists raised concerns that diplomats in authoritarian countries could face reprisals, including arrest, violence or being dismissed from their jobs, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Since late 2010, WikiLeaks provided the Times and other news organizations access to more than 250,000 State Department cables. The Times and other publications removed names of people determined to be vulnerable to retaliation.
WikiLeaks also published some cables on its Web site that were edited to protect diplomatic sources until Monday, when the latest batch of cables were posted on the anti-secrecy organization's site.
The published names included those of a U.N. official in West Africa and a foreign human rights activist in Cambodia who had spoken to U.S. diplomatic officials with the understanding their names would not be publicly identified, the Times reported.
WikiLeaks said in a statement Monday disclosing the cables was "in accordance with WikiLeaks' commitment to maximizing impact and making information available to all."
