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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016
WORLD IN BRIEF
Russia to end the civil war. But it also further complicated the
U.S.-led campaign to wipe out Islamic State militants who found
a haven amid the chaos.
The diplomacy was collapsing this week with the U.S. threat-
ening to end all Syria-related cooperation unless the bombard-
ment of Aleppo stopped. Russia responded that the U.S. was
encouraging extremist attacks on Russian assets.
Russia has demanded that the U.S separate the anti-Assad reb-
els it has supported from al-Qaida-linked militant groups, who
often intermingle. But the U.S. has been unable to do so, and
instead has said it remains focused on defeating the Islamic State
group.
The bickering and diplomatic stalemates have threatened to
compound other U.S.-Russian issues, such as economic sanc-
tions or the annexation of Crimea.
The Associated Press
Israelis, world leaders
gather for Peres funeral
JERUSALEM — Shimon Peres was being laid to rest on Fri-
day in a ceremony attended by thousands of admirers and dozens
of international dignitaries — in a inal tribute to a man who per-
soniied the history of Israel during a remarkable seven-decade
political career and who came to be seen by many as a visionary
and symbol of hopes of Mideast peace.
U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.S. President Bill
Clinton and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas headlined
a long list of world leaders who converged on Israel’s national
cemetery, Mount Herzl, for the event. In a nod to the Palestinian
leader, Abbas sat in the front row at the memorial service.
In a heartfelt eulogy, Obama said that Peres showed that “jus-
tice and hope” are at the heart of Israel’s Zionist ideals.
“Shimon never saw his dream of peace fulilled,” Obama said.
“And yet he did not stop dreaming, and he did not stop working.”
Obama described the unlikely friendship he forged with Peres
given their vastly different backgrounds.
Lawmakers have approved $6 million to replace Snyder Hall
and improve security across campus. The rebuild is estimated at
$4.2 million.
After fatal train crash,
investigators seek answers
Clinton’s ‘nasty’ Trump ads
are mostly his own words
HOBOKEN, N.J. — Federal investigators are sifting through
the wreckage of a train crash in New Jersey to determine what
happened before it barreled through a station and crashed into a
barrier, causing a young mother to be killed by falling debris and
injuring more than 100 others.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board
will be looking to determine how fast the commuter train was
going when it crashed at the busy Hoboken station Thursday
morning.
Their investigation will seek to answer many questions,
including whether a system designed to prevent accidents by
overriding the engineer and automatically slowing or stopping
trains that are going too fast could have helped if it had been
installed on the line.
Investigators planned to pull one of the black-box event
recorders from the locomotive at the back of the train Thursday
evening. The device contains information on the train’s speed and
braking. But it wasn’t safe enough yet for investigators to extract
the second recorder from the engineer’s compartment because of
the collapsed roof and the possibility of asbestos in the old build-
ing, NTSB vice chairwoman T. Bella Dinh-Zarr said.
More than 100,000 people use New Jersey Transit to commute
from New Jersey to New York City each day. The NJ Transit por-
tion of the Hoboken station will remain closed on Friday, slow-
ing the morning commute for those making connections there.
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton is
making “nasty” ads about him. Most of Clinton’s commercials
about Trump, though, merely include clips of him speaking. Her
campaign seems to have concluded that Trump is his own worst
enemy.
The most frequently used Clinton advertisements about
Trump have a common theme: They show regular people, often
in the licker of a television set, spliced with footage of Trump
making some of his most incendiary comments. The Republi-
can presidential nominee’s decades in the spotlight, including as
a reality television show host, have given the Democratic con-
tender an unusual bounty of ad material.
Trump is paying attention. During Monday’s debate, he told
Clinton he’s noticed “the very nasty commercials that you do on
me in so many different ways, which I don’t do on you.”
That prompted Shonda Rhimes, a television producer and
Clinton supporter, to tweet: “Wait. She did not run ads that say
mean things. She ran ads that use audio of his own mean nasty
statements.”
The Associated Press reviewed Clinton’s 32 different general
election ads that have aired on broadcast television and national
cable and found 24 that show or mention Trump. The majority of
those feature raw footage of him rather than others opining on his
words and actions.
Site of Oregon college
shooting set to be demolished
ROSEBURG — A college hall in Oregon where a mass shoot-
ing took place last year is set to be demolished in October.
The Oregonian reports that the demolition of Umpqua Com-
munity College’s Snyder Hall is scheduled to begin the week of
Oct. 17. A new building is expected to be ready for classes by
next fall.
The college closed the building of classrooms and ofices after
Chris Harper Mercer killed nine people and injured nine others at
Snyder Hall before dying in a shootout with police Oct. 1, 2015.
A committee of students, teachers and administrators voted
that Snyder Hall should be demolished and rebuilt with a new
design.
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian
A banner is shown on the side of Snyder Hall at Umpqua
Community College in Roseburg in October 2015.
Russia ighting in Syria for
a year, still at odds with US
WASHINGTON — A year after Russia waded into the war
in Syria, aiming to lex its national security muscles and prop up
beleaguered Syrian President Bashar Assad, Moscow appears no
closer to one of its military goals: getting the U.S. to coordinate
combat operations in the civil war. And prospects of a diplomatic
resolution seem dim.
The yearlong offensive of airstrikes and ground combat in
Syria, however, has showcased some of Moscow’s newer mil-
itary capabilities and underscored President Vladimir Putin’s
willingness to go to war to protect an ally — particularly one
that hosts a critical Russian base on the Mediterranean Sea.
More broadly, it put Russia at the center of the conlict, provid-
ing an opening for diplomatic cooperation between the U.S. and
Duterte ‘happy to slaughter’
drug suspects; mentions Hitler
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Dute-
rte raised the rhetoric over his bloody anti-crime war to a new
level Friday, comparing it to Hitler and the Holocaust and saying
he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million addicts.
Duterte issued his latest threat against drug dealers and users
early Friday on returning to his hometown in southern Davao city
after visiting Vietnam, where he discussed his anti-drug cam-
paign with Vietnamese leaders and ways for their governments to
ight transnational crimes, including illegal drugs.
Duterte has said his public death threats against drug suspects
are designed to scare them into stop selling drugs and to discour-
age would-be users. But his latest remarks took that crime-bust-
ing approach to a different level.
“Hitler massacred 3 million Jews ... there’s 3 million drug
addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” Duterte said,
referring to a Philippine government estimate of the number of
drug addicts in the country. Historians say 6 million Jews were
killed by the Nazis under Hitler before and during World War II.
During the presidential election campaign earlier this year
and during the three months he had held ofice, the tough-talking
Duterte has threatened to drown drug suspects to fatten the ish
in Manila Bay. He also threatened to execute drug trafickers by
hanging — because he didn’t want to waste electricity on them
— until their heads were severed from their bodies.
Sept. 11 families can now sue
the Saudis, but will it matter?
NEW YORK — Just because Congress has allowed Sept. 11
victims to sue Saudi Arabia over claims it had a role in the terror
attacks doesn’t mean such a case will ever go before a jury.
Already, a federal judge has blasted the legal case at the heart
of the debate as notoriously weak and full of “largely boilerplate”
accusations. And the revised law that passed this week over Pres-
ident Barack Obama’s veto gives the Justice Department sweep-
ing authority to put the case on hold and fails to eliminate sover-
eign immunity from protecting Saudi Arabia’s assets.
“The bill really is the worst of both worlds — everything
Saudi Arabia complained about and very little of what the plain-
tiffs thought they were getting,” said Stephen Vladeck, a Univer-
sity of Texas law professor who has closely tracked the litigation
for nearly a dozen years.
Still, some families are enjoying a victory, including Kathy
Owens, whose husband, Peter, died in the 2001 attacks.
“If our government had investigated and prosecuted the inan-
ciers of 9/11, we wouldn’t have had to do it,” said Owens, among
a group of victims’ relatives who traveled to Washington to stage
a rally and work the halls of Congress.
Hospital Volunteers Needed
no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted
Clatsop County Emergency Management presents
Fall Preparedness Events
Sheltering With Confidence
Learn how to assist during disaster at local evacuation shelters—
registration required.
Gray School, Astoria
Sunday, October 2
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Home Depot Preparedness Safety Fair
Don’t miss this annual event!
Warrenton Home Depot
Saturday, October 15
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
HAM Radio Class
A “how to” class for a useful skill! Registration required.
Clatsop Community College
Saturday, October 22
9a.m. - 4 p.m.
Great Oregon Shakeout
Practice earthquake protocols.
Participate as a group or on your own!
Register at http://shakeout.org/oregon
Thursday, October 20
10:20 a.m.
Clatsop County CERT Training
Disaster training for citizens & volunteers—registration required.
Camp Kiwanilong, Warrenton
November 4, 5, 6 (Fri/Sat/Sun)
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Daily
For Information & Registration:
Clatsop County Emergency Management
bfayyaz@co.clatsop.or.us
503/325-8645
Volunteers Are Vital!
he CMH Auxiliary and volunteers have a long history of giving to
Columbia Memorial Hospital and its patients. Our volunteers are
compassionate, skilled and motivated people who support the CMH
mission of caring for our patients in body, mind and spirit. hey are
indispensable in supporting CMH’s commitment to provide the best
possible care to people in our community.
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Patient companion
Lobby ambassador
Gift Shop retailer
Courier
Pet therapist
Reiki practitioner
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No One Dies Alone (NODA)
guardian
Cookie baker
Seamstress
Call our Volunteer Coordinator at
503-325-4321 for more information
and to apply.
2111 Exchange St., Astoria, Oregon • 503-325-4321
www.columbiamemorial.org • A Planetree-Designated Hospital