In Brief: Nation & World: 3-7-16

Some in GOP start seeing Cruz as best alternative to Trump

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders on Sunday grappled with the prospect that the best hope for stopping Donald Trump’s march to the nomination may be Ted Cruz — the only candidate who causes as much heartburn among party elites as the billionaire businessman, if not sometimes more.

The Texas senator split contests with Trump in Saturday’s voting, bolstering his argument that only he can defeat the real estate mogul. Trump and Cruz are now significantly outpacing Marco Rubio in the delegate count, further shrinking the Florida senator’s already narrow path to the nomination.

If Rubio’s slide continues, he would be the latest establishment candidate to fall victim to an angry, frustrated electorate that cares little about endorsements from party leaders or newspaper editorial boards. Rubio has rolled out both at warp speed in recent weeks, but his appeal with Republican voters is not keeping pace.

Rubio did pick up a victory Sunday in Puerto Rico’s primary, his second win of the 2016 cycle. Democrats, meanwhile, held caucuses Sunday in Maine. Sanders won that contest, beating rival Hillary Clinton for his eighth win of the 19 contests already held in the nomination process.

Also, Democrats were debating debate Sunday night in Flint, Michigan, highlighting differences on economic policy.

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Former first lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94 in California

LOS ANGELES — Nancy Reagan, the helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president — and finally during his 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease — has died. She was 94.

The former first lady died Sunday at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure, assistant Allison Borio told The Associated Press.

Her best-known project as first lady was the “Just Say No” campaign to help kids and teens stay off drugs.

When she swept into the White House in 1981, the former Hollywood actress partial to designer gowns and pricey china was widely dismissed as a pre-feminist throwback, concerned only with fashion, decorating and entertaining. By the time she moved out eight years later, Mrs. Reagan was fending off accusations that she was a behind-the-scenes “dragon lady” wielding unchecked power over the Reagan administration — and doing it based on astrology to boot.

All along she maintained that her only mission was to back her “Ronnie” and strengthen his presidency.

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As first lady, Nancy Reagan’s mission was backing ‘Ronnie’

LOS ANGELES — First lady Nancy Reagan swept into the White House in 1981, a swirl of designer gowns and pricey china, and was quickly dismissed as a pre-feminist throwback concerned only with fashion, decorating and entertaining. She needed a less frivolous image. And she got it.

By the time she packed up eight years later, the former movie actress was fending off accusations that she’d become a “dragon lady,” wielding secret, unchecked power within Ronald Reagan’s administration — and doing it based on astrology to boot.

All along she maintained that her only mission was to back her “Ronnie” and strengthen his presidency.

“I’m a woman who loves her husband,” she said, “and I make no apologies for looking out for his personal and political welfare.”

Mrs. Reagan died Sunday at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. She was 94.

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Debate: Clinton, Sanders urge Michigan governor to resign

FLINT, Mich. — Hillary Clinton joined Bernie Sanders in calling for Michigan’s Republican governor to resign over his handling of the Flint water crisis as the Democrats opened their seventh presidential debate Sunday in a city that was in tough shape even before residents learned their drinking water was tainted.

The Democratic candidates faced off in devastated Flint just two days before Michigan’s presidential primary, eager to highlight their differences on economic policy, Clinton claiming only she had a “credible strategy” for raising wages and Sanders hammering at her past support for trade deals that he says had “disastrous” consequences for American workers.

An emotional Sanders opened the debate by relating that he felt “literally shattered” by the water crisis in Flint and renewed his call for Gov. Rick Snyder to resign.

Clinton, who had not previously made that call, added emphatically: “Amen to that,” and then said that Snyder should “resign or be recalled.”

Both candidates promised tougher federal oversight of water systems if elected. And, asked if anyone should go to jail, both called for holding people accountable at every level of government.

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Viewer’s Guide: Clinton, Sanders meet in Flint for debate

WASHINGTON — The Democrats’ seventh presidential debate plays out Sunday night in a city that has come to represent all that’s wrong with government. For 18 months, corrosive water from the Flint River leached lead into the drinking supply of Flint, Michigan, an impoverished, majority-black city whose local government was under state control.

And so it’s in Flint that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will face off in a debate designed to showcase their competing ideas about how to make government work better for ordinary Americans.

With just two days to go before Michigan’s presidential primary, expect the candidates to place considerable focus on the economy and trade in a state that’s been particularly hard hit over the years by shifting economic trends and globalization.

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From calm to chaos: A reporter’s escorted visit to Syria

LATAKIA, Syria — At first glance, the Mediterranean port of Latakia doesn’t look like a city at war. Its streets are jammed with traffic, stylish women chat under palm trees, and idyllic orange groves stretch for miles.

But the signs become apparent on closer inspection: a man in camouflage shopping with a Kalashnikov slung on his shoulder, the occasional military checkpoint, and rows of unfinished cottages and apartment buildings whose construction was interrupted by Syria’s 5-year-old civil war.

For a group of international reporters on a five-day trip to Syria organized by the Russian Foreign and Defense ministries, the contrasts were stark.

From our military-escorted bus, we rode through a relaxed and sun-splashed Latakia, located in the heart of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite homeland.

We passed burned-out tanks, armored personnel carriers and a shattered bus in areas of recent battles.

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EU looks to refugee-laden Turkey to ease its migrant burden

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders will be looking to boost aid to Greece as the Balkan migrant route is effectively sealed, using Monday’s summit as an attempt to restore unity among the 28 member nations after months of increasing bickering and go-it-alone policies, according to a draft statement Sunday.

The leaders will also try to persuade Turkey’s prime minister to slow the flow of migrants traveling to Europe and take back thousands who don’t qualify for asylum.

In a draft summit statement produced Sunday and seen by The Associated Press, the EU leaders will conclude that “irregular flows of migrants along the Western Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now closed.” Because of this, the statement added that “the EU will stand by Greece in this difficult moment and will do its utmost to help manage the situation.”

“This is a collective EU responsibility requiring fast and efficient mobilization,” it said in a clear commitment to end the bickering. It said that aid to Greece should center on urgent humanitarian aid as well as managing its borders and making sure that migrants not in need of international protections are quickly returned to Turkey.

The statement will be assessed by the 28 leaders after they have met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Suicide attack kills at least 47 south of Iraqi capital

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden fuel truck into a security checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 47 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in an online statement circulated by supporters.

It was the third massive bombing in and around Baghdad in a little over a week, and appeared to be part of a campaign by IS to stage attacks deep behind front lines in order to wreak havoc and force the government to overextend its forces.

Crowds gathered at the scene, picking through rubble and twisted car parts in search of survivors. Smoke rose from smoldering cars that had been lined up at the main checkpoint at the northern entrance to the city of Hillah, located about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

“The blast has completely destroyed the checkpoint and its buildings,” Falah al-Khafaji, a senior security official in Hillah, said as he stood at the edge of the blast site. “More than 100 cars have been damaged.”

Potential high court nominee Nguyen inspired by her family

SUDHIN THANAWALA, Associated Press

Potential high court nominee Nguyen inspired by her family

SAN FRANCISCO — Jacqueline Nguyen knows adversity.

She, her siblings and their parents fled Vietnam, and the 10-year-old Nguyen spent her first days in the United States in 1975 in a refugee tent city at Camp Pendleton in California.

Nguyen, 50, says her parents’ perseverance to provide for their six children and start a new life in a foreign country has inspired her to seize opportunities even when they may be difficult or new.

Now a federal appeals court judge, Nguyen may need to summon that inspiration again if President Barack Obama names her as his pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, with a bruising partisan battle looming regardless of the nominee Obama sends to the U.S. Senate. The court is operating with only eight justices since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month.

Senators confirmed her nomination by Obama to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2012 by a vote of 91-3, making her the first Asian-American woman to serve as a federal appellate judge. But her record on the 9th Circuit, where she has sided with the circuit’s more liberal judges in several cases, would draw scrutiny from Republicans, said Arthur Hellman, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh and a scholar on the 9th Circuit.