NATION/WORLD
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Leaders urge against Trump’s isolationism
Associated Press
OTTAWA, Ontario —
President Barack Obama
and the leaders of Mexico
and Canada pushed back
forcefully on Wednesday
against the isolationist and
anti-immigrant sentiments
that have roiled Britain
and been championed by
GOP presidential candi-
date Donald Trump. The
leaders warned against
easy solutions peddled by
“demagogues” who feed on
economic anxiety.
With tensions growing
over terrorism and fallout
from Britain’s exit from the
European Union, Obama
acknowledged that Ameri-
cans and others have reason
to be concerned about their
own future in a rapidly
globalizing economy. He
said concerns about immi-
grants had been exploited by
politicians in the past, but he
insisted he wasn’t worried
Americans will follow that
path.
“We should take some
of this seriously and answer
it boldly and clearly,”
Obama
said,
without
naming the Republican
presidential candidate. “But
you shouldn’t think that is
representative of how the
American people think.”
Gathering in the Cana-
dian capital, the leaders
defended their calls for freer
trade within the continent
and beyond. They argued
that instead of withdrawing
from the world, advanced
countries should focus on
higher standards, wages and
legal protections that would
ensure the beneits of global-
ization are widely felt.
“The integration of
national economies into a
global economy, that’s here.
That’s done,” Obama said.
Obama’s comments at a
news conference with Cana-
dian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau and Mexican Pres-
ident Enrique Pena Nieto
came as the leaders sought
to show unity amid growing
nationalist movements in
Europe and elsewhere, epit-
omized by Britain’s move to
leave the EU.
Though Britain’s deci-
sion has rattled the global
inancial system, Obama
said he believed the markets
were starting to settle down.
Still, he acknowledged there
would be “genuine longer-
term concerns” about global
economic growth “if, in fact,
Brexit goes through.”
“This doesn’t help,” he
said.
Obama said his message
to British Prime Minister
David Cameron and to
Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, center, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto,
left, and U.S. President Barack Obama take part in the North American Leaders’
Summit at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Canadian Parliament cheers Obama
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canada’s Parliament
broke into chants of “four more years” as President
Barack Obama wrapped up the irst address there by a
U.S. leader since 1995.
Four years for Obama amounts to wishful thinking.
He’s nearing the end of his second term in ofice and
speaks fondly of life after the presidency. His term ends
in mid-January 2017. The U.S. Constitution bars him
from running for a third term.
Canada’s lawmakers also greeted Obama, who is
popular in Canada, with a rousing standing ovation
after he arrived in the House of Commons.
The reception prompted Obama to joke that the
“extraordinary welcome” tempted him to just “shut up
and leave.”
He spoke for nearly an hour.
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, who is largely spear-
heading Europe’s response,
was that “everybody should
catch their breath.” Though
Merkel and other European
leaders have urged Britain
to start its withdrawal
quickly, Obama called for
a thought-out process that
would be transparent.
“I think that will be
a dificult, challenging
process, but it does not need
to be a panicky process,” the
president said.
The
Canadian
and
Mexican leaders largely
echoed Obama’s calls for
staying focused on closer
economic ties. Pena Nieto
said Mexico sees opportunity
for growth and investment by
broadening its relationship
with the rest of the continent.
“We are competitors, yes,
but we have complimentary
economies, and that will give
more development to our
society,” the Mexican leader
said.
And Trudeau said the
three leaders’ strategy for
combatting
protectionist
views was to “highlight
how much trade and posi-
tive agreement among our
nations are good not only for
the economy of the world
and the economy of our
countries, but it’s also good
for our citizens.”
Yet it was Trump and his
insistence that Americans are
better served by reasserting
independence that shadowed
the leaders’ meetings at the
annual North American
Leaders’ Summit. Even as
the three took the podium
in Ottawa, Trump was
threatening to pull the U.S.
out of the North American
Free Trade Agreement,
chanting at a rally, “No more
NAFTA.”
When a reporter asked
the leaders to weigh in on
Trump, Obama intervened,
suggesting his counterparts
should be careful what they
say in case Trump ends up
winning.
“I’m not saying they
shouldn’t answer. I’m just —
I’m helping them out a little
bit,” Obama joked.
He appeared personally
insulted by Trump’s claims
to represent the public’s
best interests, accusing the
presumptive
Republican
“We have to
call this mental-
ity what it is: a
threat to the val-
ues we profess,
the values we
seek to defend.”
— Barack Obama,
In a speech to Canadian
Parliament about Trump
and xenophobia
nominee
of
wrongly
purporting to be a populist.
He said people like Vermont
Sen. Bernie Sanders rightly
deserve label of “populist”
but that Trump is merely
resorting to “nativism,”
‘’xenophobia” and “cyni-
cism.”
“We have to call this
mentality what it is: a
threat to the values that we
profess, the values we seek
to defend,” Obama said later
during a speech to Canadian
Parliament, where a packed
audience of about 1,000
interrupted him repeatedly
with standing ovations. They
chanted “four more years”
as Obama wrapped up his
address.
Ahead of the summit,
Canada announced it will
lift visa requirements for
Mexican visitors as of
December 2016, while
Pena Nieto agreed to open
Mexican markets to Cana-
dian beef.
All three leaders pledged
to generate half of their
electricity from renewable
sources by 2025, and Mexico
also committed to joining the
U.S. and Canada in tackling
methane emissions.
Military seeks more time on transgender policy
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Senior military leaders
expressed deep concerns
this week that the launch
of new Pentagon rules
allowing transgender service
members to serve openly in
the U.S. military is moving
too quickly, arguing that a
number of details and ques-
tions must still be resolved,
several senior U.S. oficials
told The Associated Press.
The Pentagon plans to
unveil the new regulations in
the next day or two. Under
the new policy, transgender
individuals will be allowed
to serve in the military, and
can no longer be forced to
leave based on their gender
identity. Oficials familiar
with the plan said it states
that service in the military
should be open to anyone
who can meet the rigorous
service standards, regardless
of their gender identity.
Oficials said the plan
also says that people with
gender dysphoria, a history
of medical treatments asso-
ciated with gender transition
and those who have had
reconstruction surgery may
be disqualiied as military
recruits unless a medical
provider certiies that they
have been clinically stable
in the preferred gender for
18 months, and are free of
signiicant distress or impair-
ment in social, occupational
or other important areas.
They also said transgender
troops receiving hormone
therapy must have been
stable on the medication for
18 months.
The oficials spoke on
condition of anonymity
because they weren’t autho-
rized to talk about sensitive
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File
In this 2015 ile photo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter
testiies on Capitol Hill in Washington.
policy discussions before the
decisions were made public.
The military service
chiefs said during a private
meeting earlier this week
they were concerned that
they were being given as
little as 45 days to develop
an implementation plan, and
another 45 days to put it in
place. They said that timeline
isn’t enough and asked Gen.
Joseph Dunford, chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
to relay their concerns to
Defense Secretary Ash
Carter this week.
In the private meeting,
the military service chiefs
said the Defense Depart-
ment should set up a panel
of experts that could have
up to a year to go over and
fully implement the policy,
to ensure that decisions are
fair and consistent.
According to defense
oficials, the service chiefs
made it clear that they are
not opposed to the policy
change. But they believe
the new draft policy doesn’t
include enough speciics to
guide commanders who will
have to make decisions about
people in their units. They
said the new rules should be
rolled out in phases over the
next several months
The oficials said that the
military leaders, including
Gen. Mark Milley, the Army
chief of staff, and Gen.
Robert Neller, commandant
of the Marine Corps, pointed
to the move several years
ago to allow gays to serve
openly in the military, and
said that the transition went
smoothly because they were
given time to prepare and
train their forces.
Carter made it clear last
July that he intended to
rescind the ban on trans-
gender service members
serving in the military,
calling it outdated. He has
long argued that the military
must be more inclusive
to bring in the best and
brightest. At the time he
ordered a six-month study
aimed at formally ending
one of the last gender-based
barriers to military service,
but oficials say he has been
frustrated with the slow
progress.
Oficials estimate there
are likely several thousand
transgender
individuals
serving in the military, and
the policy provides broad
guidelines for those service
members.
For example, transgender
troops will be able to use
the bathrooms, housing,
uniforms
and
itness
standards of their preferred
gender only after they
have legally transitioned to
that identity, according to
oficials familiar with the
decisions.
The plan says that trans-
gender troops must be it
for duty and able to serve as
their birth gender, and then
be able to meet all standards
and be it for duty in their
preferred gender once the
transition is done.
The new rules, however,
note that transitions are
all unique. So they give
commanders
lexibility,
allowing them to make some
decisions on a case-by-case
basis.
The policy also allows
commanders to approve
certain
accommodations
when possible, such as when
troops are showering. That
could include installing
shower curtains, towel hooks
or allowing transgender
troops to shower at different
times or wear minimal
clothing.
The military policy differs
from civilian gender tran-
sitions, where transgender
individuals often dress, live
socially and work fulltime in
their preferred gender during
the process. Under the new
policy, service members
would only be able to do
that when off-duty and away
from their duty station.
East Oregonian
Page 7A
BRIEFLY
Istanbul airport
attackers seized
on chaos to cause
carnage
ISTANBUL (AP) — It
was an attack that echoed
the carnage earlier this year
at the Brussels airport, down
to the taxi that carried the
men to their target: Inciting
panic and then taking lethal
advantage, three suicide
attackers unleashed a deadly
tide of bullets and bombs at
Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport,
leaving 42 dead.
Authorities blamed
the Islamic State for the
blood bath late Tuesday, a
coordinated assault on one of
the world’s busiest airports
and on a key NATO ally that
plays a crucial role in the
ight against the extremist
group.
There was no immediate
claim of responsibility by the
militant group.
Although the attack took
a heavy toll, the assailants
were initially thwarted by
security at the perimeter,
Turkish oficials said.
“When the terrorists
couldn’t pass the regular
security system, when they
couldn’t pass the scanners,
police and security controls,
they returned and took
their weapons out of their
suitcases and opened ire
at random at the security
check,” Prime Minister
Binali Yildirim said.
One attacker detonated
his explosives downstairs
at the arrivals terminal,
one went upstairs and blew
himself up in the departure
hall, and the third waited
outside for the leeing crowd
and caused the inal lethal
blast, two Turkish oficials
said, speaking on condition
of anonymity because they
weren’t authorized to speak
about the investigation
publicly. None of the
attackers were Turks, a third
oficial said.
As the chaos unfolded,
terriied travelers were
sent running irst from one
explosion and then another.
Airport surveillance video
showed a panicked crowd
of people, some rolling
suitcases behind them,
stampeding down a corridor,
looking fearfully over their
shoulders.
Other surveillance
footage posted on social
media showed one
explosion, a ball of ire that
sent terriied passengers
racing for cover. Another
showed an attacker, felled
by a gunshot from a security
oficer, blowing himself up
seconds later.
‘Move on’ from
Benghazi?
Republicans say
it’s unlikely
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Hillary Clinton says it’s
“time to move on” after
a congressional report on
the deadly 2012 Benghazi
attacks accused the Obama
administration of lethal
mistakes, but produced no
new evidence pointing to
wrongdoing by the former
secretary of state.
Not likely, especially
in an election year with
Clinton’s presidential rival
— Donald Trump — lashing
out.
An 800-page report by
a special House committee
makes no direct accusations
of wrongdoing by Clinton,
who was secretary of state
during the Sept. 11, 2012,
attacks that killed four
Americans, including U.S.
Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Still, Republicans point
to Benghazi as a major
failure by the administration
and by Clinton during her
tenure leading the State
Department. The issue is
likely to shadow Clinton in
her bid for president.
“Four Americans died,
yet no one has been ired.
No one even missed a
paycheck,” said Rep. Ed
Royce, R-Calif., chairman
of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee. “Americans —
including all our men and
women serving overseas
— deserve better.”
Clinton, now the
presumptive Democratic
nominee for president, said
the report by Republicans
on the House Benghazi
Committee took more than
two years and $7 million
but “found nothing to
contradict” the indings of
earlier investigations.
“I think it’s pretty clear
it’s time to move on,”
Clinton said at a campaign
stop in Denver Tuesday.
Republicans were
not ready to let the issue
go, especially with an
election that will decide
who occupies the White
House and which party
will control the House and
Senate. The Benghazi panel
has scheduled a July 8
meeting to formally adopt
the report — 10 days before
the Republican National
Convention begins.
EU spells out
conditions for
single market
access to Britain
BRUSSELS (AP) —
European Union leaders
drew a stark line along
the British Channel on
Wednesday, telling the U.K.
that it cannot keep valuable
business links with its
former continental partners
in a seamless single EU
market, if it doesn’t also
accept European workers.
The challenge cuts to the
heart of the British vote to
leave the bloc following a
virulent campaign where
migration from poorer EU
countries was a key concern.
It also sets the scene for
the complex departure
negotiations facing departing
Prime Minister David
Cameron’s successor, for
which nominations opened
in London Wednesday.
Meeting for the irst time
without the U.K., the 27
other EU nations set out a
united strategy to face the
next British government
which will seek to salvage
as many of the EU rights
as possible while reneging
on a maximum amount of
obligations.
They emerged from
the summit insisting
that the “four freedoms”
central to European unity
are indivisible: the free
movement of people,
services, goods and inances.
In Cameron’s absence,
the most palpable remaining
link to Britain at the summit
was the English language
used. The remaining
presidents, chancellors
and prime ministers
showed a irm common
resolve, committing to be
“absolutely determined to
remain united,” EU Council
President Donald Tusk said.
The leaders sought to
dispel any notion that the
referendum result will
amount to their Waterloo.
“With a disunited United
Kingdom, we need a united
Europe more than ever,”
Luxembourg Prime Minister
Xavier Bettel said.
Health oficials
prepare for Zika,
but efforts tight
HOUSTON (AP) — The
poorest parts of Houston
remind Dr. Peter Hotez of
some of the neighborhoods
in Latin America hardest hit
by Zika.
Broken window screens.
Limited air conditioning.
Trash piles that seem
to re-appear even after
they’re cleaned up. On a
hot, humid day this month,
Hotez pointed at one pile
that included old tires and
a smashed-in television
with water pooling inside.
It was a textbook habitat
for the mosquitoes that
carry and transmit the Zika
virus, and one example of
the challenge facing public
health oficials.
“I’m showing you Zika
heaven,” said Hotez, the
tropical medicine dean at
Baylor College of Medicine.
Hotez is most concerned
about impoverished urban
areas along the Gulf Coast,
where the numbers of the
mosquito that spreads Zika
are expected to spike. Texas
already has dealt with
dengue fever, transmitted by
the same mosquito.
Zika causes only a mild
and brief illness, at worst,
in most people. But it can
cause fetal death and severe
brain defects in the children
of women infected during
pregnancy.
So far, Texas oficials
have reported 48 people
infected with Zika, all
associated with travel. In one
case, the virus was sexually
transmitted by someone who
had been infected abroad.