Ryan rallies support for GOP budget plan
WASHINGTON, April 29 (UPI) -- Budget hawk U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan said in the weekly GOP radio address cutting U.S. government spending and taxes would benefit the entire nation.
The Wisconsin Republican congressman chided President Obama for his strategy of tax hikes coupled with spending cuts and said deficit reduction would be better served by reduced spending.
"The president and his party leaders are now insisting that Washington take trillions of dollars from hardworking Americans in an effort to lock in ever-higher government spending," said Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee. "If we've learned anything over the last three years, it's that this approach won't work."
Ryan pitched the spending plan he and his Republican colleagues had crafted in the House as a means of reducing debt without placing any additional tax burdens on individuals and businesses.
"If enacted, this budget would promote economic growth and opportunity starting today, with bold reforms to the tax code and a credible, principled plan to prevent a debt crisis from ever happening," Ryan declared.
Democrats have accused Republicans of being mainly concerned with sacrificing social programs to provide the wealthy additional tax breaks; however, Ryan said all Americans would benefit in the form of lower energy costs and a shored-up Medicare, The Hill said.
"The president is hunkered down in campaign mode and seems intent on dividing Americans for political gain instead of offering credible solutions to our most pressing fiscal and economic challenges," Ryan said.
U.N. head monitor arrives in Syria
HOMS, Syria, April 29 (UPI) -- The newly appointed head of the U.N. observer mission to Syria arrived Sunday amid increasing bloodshed.
Maj. Gen. Robert Mood of Norway will head the observer mission consisting of about 30 monitors, which will grow to 300 in the coming month, CNN reported.
"This is a matter of utmost urgency for the United Nations and all efforts are in place to make sure that we get the people on the ground as quickly as possible. ... Apart from Damascus, we have permanently based observers in Homs, Hama, Deraa and Idlib, so this process will continue," said Neeraj Singh, the observer team's spokesman.
Despite a cease-fire agreement put in place by the United Nations April 12 as part of a six-point peace plan, security forces continue to target civilians and opposition forces, said the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists.
At least six people died in Syria Sunday, the group said, including a father and son found dead in their Homs home.
The United Nations estimates about 9,000 people have died since March 2011 when the Syrian government began cracking down on demonstrations against President Bashar Assad's regime. Opposition groups put the death toll closer to 11,000. At least 700 people have been killed since the April 12 cease-fire, CNN reported.
Prince Charles' wind-power movie premieres
LONDON, April 29 (UPI) -- Robert Redford told a London audience the new film on wind power produced by Britain's Prince Charles is an important work in the environmental movement.
Redford was on hand Saturday for the premiere of "In Harmony" at the Sundance London film festival and told the crowd the movie was a tribute to the prince's dedication to preserving the environment.
"This important film showcases his diligence, passion and achievement, which include his efforts to amplify the work of social innovators on the front lines of change the world over," said Redford, the founder of the Sundance festival and a devoted environmentalist himself.
The film focuses largely on the establishment of wind farms in Europe as a clean source of electricity. In the film, Charles says support for alternative energy is a gesture to future generations.
"I don't want my grandchildren, or yours, to come along and say, 'Why didn't you do something? You knew what the problem was,'" he said.
The Telegraph said the premiere of "In Harmony" came not long after Charles' father, the duke of Edinburgh, had said publicly government promotion of wind generation is impractical and the concept of wind farms is "absolutely useless."
Witness says 2 gunmen in RFK shooting
LOS ANGELES, April 29 (UPI) -- A witness present during the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy said she heard two shooters, not one as police had recorded from her initial statement.
Nina Rhodes-Hughes was standing a few feet away from Kennedy during the shooting at a Los Angeles hotel and said authorities altered her account of what happened, CNN reported Saturday. The U.S. senator from York was seeking the Democratic nomination for president when he was killed.
"What has to come out is that there was another shooter to my right," Rhodes-Hughes told CNN. "The truth has got to be told. No more coverups."
Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of the shooting and sentenced to life in prison, has requested that he be released, retried or granted a new hearing on new evidence, including Rhodes-Hughes' information. During his 1969 trial, Sirhan never contested the prosecution's case that he was the only shooter.
State prosecutors said even if there were a second gunman, Sirhan is still guilty of murder under California law.
