Senate passes bill to cover cost of providing fertility treatments to wounded vets, spouses
Senate passes bill to cover cost of providing fertility treatments to wounded vets, spouses
WASHINGTON — Wounded veterans and their spouses who want to have children could get the government to pay for treatments such as in vitro fertilization under legislation beginning to move through Congress in the waning days of the session.
By voice vote, the Senate passed a bill Thursday to update the Veterans Affairs Department’s medical coverage for one of the signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: trauma to a soldier’s reproductive organs.
Nearly 2,000 service members suffered such wounds between 2003 and 2011. But when wounded veterans went to the VA for medical help in starting a family, they were told the VA doesn’t provide that kind of care.
A similar bill is pending in the House. Supporters said the Senate’s action increases its chances of becoming law before Congress adjourns.
The chief sponsor, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she has heard from veterans whose marriages have dissolved because of the stress of infertility, in combination with the stresses of readjusting to civilian life after severe injury.
Moscow acknowledges rebels might win in Syria, positioning itself for Assad’s fall
BEIRUT — Syria’s most powerful ally and protector, Russia, began positioning itself Thursday for the fall of President Bashar Assad, saying for the first time that rebels might overthrow him and preparing to evacuate thousands of Russian citizens from the country.
The head of NATO echoed the Russian assessment, saying the Syrian government is near collapse following a nearly two-year conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and threatened to ignite the Middle East. Assad appears to be running out of options, with insurgents at the gates of the capital and the country fracturing under the weight of a devastating civil war.
“An opposition victory can’t be excluded, unfortunately, but it’s necessary to look at the facts: There is a trend for the government to progressively lose control over an increasing part of the territory,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Moscow’s Middle East envoy, said during hearings at a Kremlin advisory body.
Still, Bogdanov gave no immediate signal that Russia would change its pro-Syria stance at the U.N. Security Council, where Moscow has shielded Damascus from world sanctions.
The U.S. commended Russia “for finally waking up to the reality and acknowledging that the regime’s days are numbered,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Egypt’s referendum on new constitution turns into fateful choice
on nation’s future
CAIRO — Two days before a constitutional referendum it considered boycotting, Egypt’s secular opposition finally launched its “no” campaign Thursday with newspaper and TV ads detailing the argument against the charter drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi.
The Morsi camp has a simpler message: A “Yes” to the constitution is a yes to Islam.
The deadly violence and harsh divisions of recent weeks — combined with the inability of most Egyptians to even comprehend the densely written 63-page document — have turned the vote into a stark choice on whether the largest Arab nation takes a serious step toward theocratic rule.
“This constitution is supposed to protect the rights of the minorities, but it is written by the majority for the majority,” said Haitham Sherdi, a young opposition supporter from Cairo.
“If it passes, it will be used to crush the minority until they vanish,” he added, referring to Egypt’s Christian community.
By wire sources