Speech: Obama's economic plan vs. Romney's
CLEVELAND, June 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. presidential vote is a choice between President Obama's economic leadership and a return to policies that caused the crisis, Obama's campaign said.
His address at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland Thursday is expected to contrast his efforts to strengthen the middle class -- through education, the auto-industry bailout and infrastructure investment -- with what presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says he would do as president, aides said.
Obama was expected to argue Romney's plans to extend and expand tax cuts for the richest Americans and slash government spending without generating new revenue would repeat policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush, that resulted in huge federal deficits and the Great Recession, the aides and the Obama campaign said.
In a pre-speech rebuttal, House Speaker John Boehner released a video Thursday suggesting Obama could help revive the economy by pushing the Democratic-controlled Senate to vote on House Republican-sponsored legislation, The Washington Post said.
Boehner said the economy- and jobs-related bills passed in recent weeks by the Republican-led House "aren't big, controversial bills that no one has read -- they're practical, common-sense proposals to help small businesses create jobs and build a stronger economy for all Americans."
Boehner aides told the Post the legislation seen on his desk in the video includes bills that would reduce taxes for small businesses, control or repeal some federal regulations and repeal the healthcare reform law. None of them likely will be brought to a vote in the Senate.
Boehner will stump with Romney Sunday.
Poll: Bush still blamed for bad economy
PRINCETON, N.J., June 14 (UPI) -- Americans still blame the country's economic ills more on former President George W. Bush than on President Obama, a Gallup poll released Thursday indicated.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans still blame the Bush White House while 52 percent said Obama was at fault, results indicated.
The relative economic blame ascribed to Bush over Obama in the latest poll is virtually the same as it was in September, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.
Gallup first began assessing blame in July 2009, six months after Obama became president. Then, 80 percent of Americans indicated they gave Bush a great deal or a moderate amount of blame for the bad economy compared with 32 percent who ascribed the same level of blame to Obama.
Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews with 1,004 adults conducted June 7-10. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.
Ruling voids a third of Egypt's Parliament
CAIRO, June 14 (UPI) -- A law used to elect about a third of Egypt's Parliament was declared unconstitutional by the state's High Constitutional Court Thursday.
The ruling on the country's Political Disenfranchisement Law voided the seats reserved for individual candidacies because those races relied on that law, Ahram Online reported.
Egypt's military-led government issued a decree Wednesday that reimposed martial law ahead of the ruling.
The ruling left in place a runoff Saturday between Mohamed Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, and Ahmed Shafiq, former President Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahram Online said. Voting will take place Saturday and Sunday.
Parliament was expected to be suspended until new elections can be conducted for the now-vacant legislative seats.
Among those affected by the ruling is Parliament Speaker Saad el-Katatni, a top member of the Freedom and Justice Party, who was elected under the individual candidacy system the court declared unconstitutional.
Iran talks tough on nuclear negotiations
TEHRAN, June 14 (UPI) -- Iran won't compromise on its right to enrich uranium, the country's top nuclear negotiator said, casting doubt a pact on the program could be reached.
During an update to Iranian lawmakers Wednesday, negotiator Saeed Jalili dismissed the possibility of suspending uranium enrichment, a central demand of the international powers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
He said Iran recently threatened to walk away from talks if they focused solely on the nuclear issue and didn't address Iran's other concerns such as human rights in Bahrain and piracy in the Persian Gulf.
Iranian leaders changed their minds after Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign secretary, called him Monday to reassure him Iran's concerns would be discussed.
Jalili also intimated western countries were trying to prevent Iran from making scientific advancements, the Journal said.
"The Islamic Republic's nuclear program and nuclear energy is based on our legitimate rights and it's a symbol of our resistance and progress," he said.
Opposition to Iran's nuclear program stemmed from "fear that the Islamic Republic could serve as a role model for progress and defiance in other countries," Jalili told lawmakers.
Western countries have said they believe Iran's nuclear program is to develop nuclear weapons capability. Iran has maintained its program is for civilian purposes.
Iran is to resume talks with the five permanent United Nations Security Council members and Germany in a third round of negotiations next week in Moscow.
Suu Kyi begins visit to Europe
GENEVA, Switzerland, June 14 (UPI) -- Activist and Myanmar lawmaker Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, who spent much of the last 24 years under house arrest, began a five-country European visit Thursday.
Suu Kyi's 17-day tour marks a milestone in her progress from political activist under house arrest to parliamentary leader trying to help end decades of repression and isolation.
"I think the international community is working very hard to bring our country into it and it is up to our country to respond in that way as well," she said when she arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday.
Her tour includes a visit to the U.N. International Labor Organization where she is expected to recognize the organization's work to promote workers' rights, targeting particularly use of child soldiers and forced labor, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The ILO voted to restore Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to full membership as a nod to the reforms instituted by President Thein Sein's government, which includes a commitment to end forced labor by 2015.
While in Switzerland, Suu Kyi will meet President Eveline Widmer-Sclumpf in Bern.
In Oslo, Suu Kyi will deliver her acceptance speech Saturday for the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991 but could not collect then out of fear she would not be allowed to return to her country.
The Times said her itinerary includes visits to Ireland, Britain and France, as well as a family celebration of her 67th birthday. Next week, she will address both houses of Parliament in London and meet French President Francois Hollande.
Vancouver body parts from Montreal victim
MONTREAL, June 14 (UPI) -- Canadian police have confirmed a human hand and foot mailed to two Vancouver schools belong to a Chinese student dismembered in Montreal last month.
The Quebec coroner's office said the parts belonged to Lin Jun, 33. His other hand and foot were mailed to two political parties in Ottawa in late May. The same day, a limbless and headless torso was found in a suitcase beside a trash heap in Montreal. The head has not been found, The (Montreal) Gazette reported.
Police have said the Concordia University student was likely killed May 24. A gruesome video posted online and since removed is thought to be a record of Lin's death. A man is seen stabbing someone repeatedly with an ice pick, dismembering the body and cannibalizing it.
The prime suspect is Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, a gay porn actor and model. Police said his apartment was an obvious crime scene and an international alert was issued when it became apparent he had fled to Europe.
Magnotta was spotted in Paris and two days later while he was at an Internet cafe in Berlin reading news reports about himself, the clerk recognized him and he was arrested.
He remains in a Berlin prison in self-chosen solitary confinement while Canadian and German officials work out extradition details.
