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| Obama: Most of G20 agrees Assad used chemical arms, but split over military ... - Jerusalem Post Posted: 06 Sep 2013 08:35 AM PDT President Barack Obama said on Friday that most leaders of the G20 countries agree that Syrian President Bashar Assad is responsible for using poison gas against civilians as the US leader tried to rally support at home and abroad for a military strike. Obama said he planned to speak to the American public about Syria on Tuesday as Congress considers his request for limited military action in Syria. Speaking to reporters at an international diplomatic summit, Obama said the leaders of the world's largest economies agreed that chemical weapons were used in Syria and that the international ban chemical weapons needs to be maintained. However, he said there was disagreement about whether force could be used in Syria without going through the United Nations. The United States has been unable to win UN Security Council approval for military action against Syria because of the opposition of veto-wielding Russia. "The majority of the room is comfortable with our conclusion that Assad, the Assad government, was responsible for their use," he said at a news conference, adding that this is disputed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. A number of countries believed that any military force needed to be decided at U.N. Security Council, a view he said he does not share. "Given Security Council paralysis on this issue, if we are serious about upholding a ban on chemical weapons use then an international response is required, and that will not come through Security Council action," he said. Obama has been trying to rally support internationally and domestically for a limited military response to the chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians Aug. 21. Obama defied pressure to abandon plans for air strikes against Syria at the summit on Friday which left world leaders divided on the conflict but united behind a call to spur economic growth. Leaders of the G20, who account for 90 percent of the world economy and two thirds of its population, agreed that the economy was not out of crisis yet but was on the mend. But Obama and Putin remained far apart on Syria after a 20-minute one-on-one talk on the sidelines of the summit on Friday, following a tense group discussion on the civil war over dinner late on Thursday. "There has been a long discussion with a clear split in the group," a G20 source said after the dinner in a Tsarist-era palace in Russia's former imperial capital, St. Petersburg. Putin said he and Obama stood their ground and neither blinked but at least there was dialogue. "We hear one another, and understand the arguments but we don't agree. I don't agree with his arguments, he doesn't agree with mine. But we hear them, try to analyze them," he said. China's Xi Jinping also tried, unsuccessfully, to dissuade Obama from military action. "A political solution is the only right way out for the Syrian crisis, and a military strike cannot solve the problem from the root," Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying. "We expect certain countries to have a second thought before action." Washington says troops loyal to Assad carried out a poison gas attack which killed over 1,400 people in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on Aug. 21. Putin said the attack was carried out by the rebels in order to provoke outside military intervention against Assad. Unable to win United Nations Security Council backing for military action because of the opposition by veto-wielding Russia, Obama is seeking the backing of the US Congress. He stuck to that position in St. Petersburg, despite a warning by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about the need to find a political settlement to end the war. "Every day that we lose is a day when scores of innocent civilians die," Ban said. Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, told reporters the president had "once again underscored the very high confidence that we have" of Assad's role in the attack. Obama also told the G20 leaders that it was important to uphold international norms against chemical weapons and depicted the Security Council as paralyzed. Participants at the dinner said the tension between Putin and Obama was palpable but that they seemed at pains to avoid an escalation. Obama said credit was due to Putin for facilitating the long discussion of the Syrian crisis on Thursday night. Obama defended his position at the talks with Xi, whose country has veto powers on the Security Council. Without referring to Syria, Obama said before meeting Xi: "Although there will continue to be some significant disagreements and sources of tension, I am confident that they can be managed." He appeared isolated in St. Petersburg, despite France's support for military action, and the presence of allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia. But his actions suggested that winning the approval of Congress is his most important short-term goal. Obama said most G20 leaders agreed that Assad launched the August 21 chemical weapons attack, but were divided over whether to use force in Syria without UN Security Council support. Washington's ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, made clear on Thursday that the United States had given up trying to work with the Council on the issue, and accused Russia of holding it hostage. The dispute over Syria has deepened strains in US-Russian ties, already difficult because of differences over human rights and Moscow's hosting of Edward Snowden, a spy agency contractor who revealed details of US surveillance programs. Putin said Obama had not requested Snowden's extradition on Friday, adding that it would be impossible anyway. Obama planned to meet rights activists, including gay rights campaigners, to show support for civil society in Russia, where critics say Putin has clamped down on dissent in his third term. But some invitees have declined to attend, citing what they said were repeated changes in the timing of the meeting. One added her voice to warnings against a military strike on Syria. |
| US employers add 169K jobs; rate falls to 7.3 pct. - Boston.com Posted: 06 Sep 2013 09:16 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is producing jobs at a subpar pace — a trend the Federal Reserve will weigh in deciding this month whether to slow its bond buying and, if so, by how much. Employers added 169,000 jobs in August but many fewer in June and July than previously thought, the Labor Department said Friday. Combined, June, July and August amounted to the weakest three-month stretch of job growth in a year. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent, the lowest in nearly five years. But it fell because more Americans stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed. The proportion of Americans working or looking for work reached its lowest point in 35 years. The jobs picture is sure to weigh heavily when the Fed meets Sept. 17-18 to discuss whether to scale back its $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bond purchases. Those purchases have helped keep home-loan and other borrowing rates ultra-low to try to encourage consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more. David Jones, chief economist at DMJ Advisors, said he still thinks the Fed will begin slowing its bond buying later this month. But he suspects the August data and the reduced job totals for June and July will lead the Fed to trim more gradually than it would have otherwise: The Fed could start reducing its monthly purchases by $10 billion rather than $20 billion. Jones said he expects reductions of $10 billion between now and mid-2014. At that point, Chairman Ben Bernanke has said the Fed expects the bond buying could likely end. The revised job growth for June and July shrank the previously estimated gain for those months by a combined 74,000. July's gain is now estimated at 104,000 — the fewest in more than a year and down from the previous estimate of 162,000. June's was revised to 172,000 from 188,000. In the past three months, employers have added an average of just 148,000 jobs. The average monthly gain for 2013 so far is 180,000, almost identical to the 183,000 average for 2012. Stock prices shifted between gains and losses in morning trading as investors weighed the job report's impact on the Fed and tensions over the prospect of U.S. military action against Syria. The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 30 points. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.92 percent, from 2.95 percent before the jobs report was released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Investors may think the report makes it less likely the Fed will significantly slow its bond purchases. One possible concern for the Fed is that most of the hiring in August was in lower-paying industries such as retail, restaurants and bars. This continues a trend that emerged earlier this year. Retailers added 44,000 jobs in August. Hotels, restaurants and bars added 27,000. Temp hiring rose by 13,000. In higher-paying fields, the report was mixed. Manufacturers added 14,000, the first gain after five months of declines. Government, which has been a drag on job growth since the recession ended more than four years ago, gained 17,000. It was the biggest such increase in nearly a year. The increase was all in local education departments. Federal employment was unchanged, and state government lost 3,000 jobs. Auto manufacturers added 19,000 jobs. Americans are buying more cars than at any time since the recession began in December 2007. Some of the jobs also likely reflected workers who were rehired last month after being temporarily laid off in July, when factories switched to new models. But construction jobs were unchanged in August. And the information industry, which includes high-tech workers, broadcasting and film production, cut 18,000 jobs. The biggest losses were in the film industry. The report contained some other positive signs: Average hourly earnings picked up, rising 5 cents to $24.05. Hourly pay has risen 2.2 percent in the past 12 months. That's slightly ahead of the 2 percent inflation rate over the same period. The average hourly work week ticked up to 34.5 from 34.4, a sign that companies needed more labor. That can lead to larger paychecks. The modest jobs figures contrast with other recent data that suggested that the economy could be picking up. For example, reports from the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, showed that manufacturers expanded at the fastest pace in more than two years last month. And service firms grew at the quickest pace in more than eight years, the ISM found. ___ AP Economics Writers Paul Wiseman and Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report. © Copyright 2013 Globe Newspaper Company. |
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