World Briefly: 2-26-17

Democrats elect Perez national chairman

Democrats elect Perez national chairman

ATLANTA (AP) — Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as their new national chairman Saturday over a liberal Minnesota congressman, capping a divisive campaign that reflected the depths of the party’s electoral failures as well as the energy from resistance to President Donald Trump.

Perez, the first Latino to hold the post, edged Rep. Keith Ellison in the second round of voting by Democratic National Committee members gathered in Atlanta. The new chairman must rebuild a party that in the last decade has lost about 1,000 elected posts from the White House to Congress to the 50 statehouses, a power deficit Democrats have not seen nationally in 90 years.

In a nod to his winning margin of 35 votes out of 435 cast, to say nothing of the lingering friction between old-guard Democrats and outspoken liberal upstarts, Perez tapped Ellison to serve as deputy chair.

“We are all in this together,” Perez said, calling on Democrats to fight “the worst president in the history of the United States.”

Ellison, who had backing from many liberals, including 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, added his own call for unity and noted that both men had promised to rebuild state and local Democratic parties across the country.

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Malaysia says airport safe, autopsy shows nerve agent effect

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s health minister said Sunday autopsy results suggested a nerve agent caused “very serious paralysis” that killed the exiled half brother of North Korea’s leader, as police completed a sweep of the budget terminal where he was poisoned and declared it safe of any toxin.

The investigation has unleashed a serious diplomatic fight between Malaysia and North Korea, a prime suspect in the Feb. 13 killing of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport. Friday’s revelation by Malaysian police that the banned chemical weapon VX nerve agent was used to kill Kim raised the stakes significantly in a case that has broad geopolitical implications.

Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said the state chemistry department’s finding of the VX toxin confirmed the hospital’s autopsy result that suggested a “chemical agent caused very serious paralysis” that led to death “in a very short period of time.” The VX agent can lead to death very quickly in high doses, he said.

The killing of Kim Jong Nam took place amid crowds of travelers at Kuala Lumpur’s airport and appeared to be a well-planned hit. Kim died on the way to a hospital, within hours of the attack.

Tens of thousands of passengers have passed through the airport since the apparent assassination was carried out. No areas were cordoned off, and protective measures were not taken. Subramaniam said there have been no reports so far of anyone else being sickened by the toxin.

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In Trump’s first speech to Congress, will decorum hold?

WASHINGTON (AP) — A presidential speech to Congress is one of those all-American moments that ooze ritual and decorum.

The House sergeant-at-arms will stand at the rear of the House of Representatives on Tuesday night and announce the arrival of Donald Trump before a joint session of Congress by intoning: “Mister Speaker, the President of the United States” just like always.

Trump will stride down the center aisle to lusty cheers and hearty handshakes from his Republican supporters. First lady Melania Trump, accompanied by special guests, will smile from the gallery above.

From there, though, the president who favors disruption over decorum can take the night in any number of directions. So can the Democrats who oppose him.

The White House is promising that Trump’s first address to Congress will be a forward-looking one about the “renewal of the American spirit.”

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Neighbor: Bar attack suspect a ‘drunken mess,’ not political

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man accused of shooting two Indian immigrants and a third man at a bar, in what some believe was a hate crime, was always a drinker but became a “drunken mess” after his father died about 18 months ago, a longtime neighbor said Saturday.

Andy Berthelsen said his neighbor Adam Purinton, who is charged with murder and attempted murder in Wednesday night’s attack, was very close to his father, who died of pancreatic cancer.

He said in the past year, Purinton bounced from one menial job to the next and was sometimes drunk by mid-morning. But in the 15 years he’s lived across the street from Purinton in Olathe, Berthelsen said he’s never heard him make a racist remark or talk politics. He said he doesn’t believe the shooting stemmed from hatred, and that it likely resulted from Purinton’s physical and mental deterioration.

“This is someone who’s gone downhill very quickly,” Berthelsen told The Associated Press by phone Saturday. “He was a drunken mess.”

Purinton, 51, was arrested hours after the attack at a restaurant and bar about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from Olathe in Clinton, Missouri. He is jailed on murder and attempted murder charges, and he didn’t have a lawyer as of Saturday, according to court records. His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday.

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Conditions deteriorate in west Mosul as Iraqi advances slow

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — The Iraqi advance into Mosul’s western half slowed Saturday as combat turned to urban warfare and Iraqi forces met stiff resistance from the Islamic State group. Hundreds of civilians poured out of Mosul on foot following the advances, but the vast majority of 750,000 estimated to still be in the city’s west remain trapped, and describe deteriorating humanitarian and security conditions.

Special forces Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said that his troops are “moving very slowly” and that IS fighters are responding with car bombs, snipers and dozens of armed drones.

The drones have caused relatively few deaths, but have inflicted dozens of light injuries that have disrupted the pace of ground operations.

Similar to the way operations inside eastern Mosul initially unfolded, in west Mosul, IS repeatedly brought Iraqi convoys to a halt Saturday with small teams of one or two men and a handful of car bombs.

Al-Saadi said the Mamun neighborhood was particularly difficult because its streets are not organized in a grid. “The roads are random,” he said, which makes it more difficult for his men to set up roadblocks to stop car bombs, a difficulty that foreshadows obstacles Iraqi forces expect to face in the narrow alleyways of western Mosul’s historic district.

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Deadly insurgent attack in Homs weighs on UN-led Syria talks

GENEVA (AP) — A deadly terrorist attack in central Syria on Saturday threatened to thwart efforts to wrest a political solution at peace talks in Geneva, with the U.N. mediator decrying “spoilers” who try to derail the efforts to end the country’s disastrous six-year war.

The government’s envoy demanded a firm condemnation from all opposition groups of the synchronized attacks by insurgents on security offices in Homs that left dozens dead, while the opposition retorted that it has long denounced terrorism — even suggesting it may have been an inside job.

“Any party that refuses to condemn these attacks today, we will consider that party to be an accomplice of terrorism,” Syria’s U.N. ambassador, Bashar al-Ja’afari, told reporters after meeting U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura in the third day of renewed peace talks — with the sides meeting separately with him so far.

The talks are the first under U.N. mediation in nearly 10 months and build upon a fragile, repeatedly violated cease-fire that was wrested by Russia and Turkey. Moscow has been a powerful military and political backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, and Turkey has been a supporter of key rebel groups. They also come after Syria’s Russia- and Iran-backed troops regained control of the key northern city of Aleppo in December.

Al-Ja’afari stopped short of suspending the government’s participation outright, but said a condemnation of the attacks was a “test” for the fragmented opposition. He said his side would return to meet with the U.N. envoy again on Tuesday, and said its only condition for face-to-face talks with a “unified, patriotic opposition.”

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Border agents ask Muhammad Ali’s son: ‘Are you Muslim?’

Muhammad Ali’s son, who bears the boxing great’s name, was detained by immigration officials at a Florida airport and questioned about his ancestry and religion in what amounted to unconstitutional profiling, a family friend said Saturday.

Returning from a Black History Month event in Jamaica, Muhammad Ali Jr. and his mother, Khalilah Camacho Ali, were pulled aside and separated from each other on Feb. 7 at the immigration checkpoint at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said Chris Mancini, a family friend and attorney.

Camacho Ali was released a short time later after showing a photo of herself with her ex-husband, the former heavyweight boxing champion, Mancini said. But Ali Jr. was not carrying a photo of his world-famous father — a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Ali Jr., 44, who confirmed his Muslim faith, was detained about two hours, despite telling officials that he’s Ali’s son and a native-born U.S. citizen, Mancini said. It was the first time Ali Jr. and his mother have ever been asked if they’re Muslim when re-entering the United States, he said.

“From the way they were treated, from what was said to them, they can come up with no other rational explanation except they fell into a profiling program run by customs, which is designed to obtain information from anyone who says they’re a Muslim,” Mancini said in a phone interview. “It’s quite clear that what triggered his detention was his Arabic name and his religion.”

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Warren Buffett sticks to business, avoids politics in letter

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett always draws a big audience with his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, but this year’s edition didn’t break much new ground.

The letter released Saturday describes the performance of the more than 90 companies that Berkshire owns. But aside from that, Buffett largely used the rest of the letter to reiterate points he has made before about the economy and investment fees.

Buffett will likely address other topics during a three-hour television appearance Monday on CNBC, but he still may leave some people wanting more.

Here are some highlights of what Berkshire’s 86-year-old chairman and CEO did say, and some of the top things investors wish he had addressed:

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Five facts about Sunday’s 89th Annual Academy Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Five facts about Sunday’s 89th Annual Academy Awards:

IT’S AN HONOR TO BE NOMINATED: But after 21 nominations, it would be nice for sound mixer Kevin O’Connell to finally win. The most nominated artist without a win, O’Connell has another chance this year for his work in “Hacksaw Ridge.”

#NOTSOWHITE: This is the first time in Oscars’ 89-year history that black performers were nominated in all acting categories. There were no black acting nominees in 2016 and 2015. A record four black directors are nominated in the documentary feature category. And for the 84th time in Oscar history, no women were nominated for best director.

HOST WITH THE MOST: It’s Jimmy Kimmel’s first time hosting the Academy Awards, though he’s handled the Emmy Awards twice. Bob Hope hosted the most Oscar shows with 19 appearances.

MORE MOVIES: There were more movies potentially in the Oscar mix this year. The film academy reports that 336 feature films were eligible for best picture this year, compared to 305 last year. Eighty-five countries submitted foreign language film entries.

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Transgender boy moves within 1 win of girls Texas title

CYPRESS, Texas (AP) — A 17-year-old transgender boy moved within one match of winning a Texas state girls wrestling title.

Mack Beggs pinned Kailyn Clay to improve to 56-0, putting him in Saturday afternoon’s championship match.

Beggs is a junior from Euless Trinity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His family has said he would rather be wrestling boys. Some girls and their advocates agree.

They say the testosterone Beggs has been taking while transitioning from female to male has made him too strong to wrestle fairly against girls. But state policy calls for students to wrestle against the gender listed on their birth certificates.

So Beggs beat Taylor Latham and Mya Engert handily on Friday before his victory over Clay that sent him to the finals.