News Briefs

Clashes erupt after fatal shooting of Palestinian in East Jerusalem

An Israeli security guard posted to protect Jewish settlers killed a Palestinian on Wednesday in East Jerusalem, setting off street clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police that reached the compound of the al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City.

The violence drew attention to the role of private security guards in volatile areas of East Jerusalem, where Jewish nationalists have moved into homes in Palestinian neighborhoods, stoking tensions.

A police spokesman said the guard told investigators he fired into the air after his vehicle was blocked with garbage dumpsters and stoned from surrounding rooftops. He was identified as Samer Sarhan, 32, a father of five.

Sarhan's funeral triggered clashes across East Jerusalem. Stone-throwing youths battled police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. At the al-Aqsa mosque compound, the holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount, riot police charged in to disperse youths who had pelted them with stones, the police spokesman said.

Police said nine Israelis were injured in the violence, including one who was stabbed. In addition, three vehicles, including a police car, were torched, and two cars were overturned. The guard who opened fire was questioned and later released.

Ruling on mosque site delayed

India's top judges Thursday delayed a lower court ruling on the ownership of land where the 1992 razing of a mosque by Hindus sparked nationwide riots, asking parties to the dispute to attempt reconciliation.

The government's attorney general should help to find some common ground between Hindu and Muslim groups, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court said, ordering another hearing for Sept. 28.

At a hearing scheduled for Friday, the High Court in Uttar Pradesh state had been expected to award the disputed land in the town of Ayodhya, the site of the 16th-century Babri Masjid and where Hindus believe their god Ram was born, to representatives of one of the religious communities.

Muslims claim the site based on the existence of the mosque since 1528, while Hindu groups argued the Babri Masjid was built on the site of an earlier temple.

The Supreme Court gave its ruling after being approached by one of the litigants in the case who argued that the verdict may lead to sectarian violence.

Clashes between Muslims and Hindus ravaged India after a campaign led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party for a temple to be built at the spot ended with the destruction of the mosque.

The BJP now says it still wants to build consensus before constructing a temple to Ram at the site in Ayodhya.

Hindus account for 80.5 percent of the country's 1.2 billion population while Muslims make up 13.4 percent.

Clinton calls GOP plans ‘hysterical tirades'

Former president Bill Clinton called the governing agenda Republicans unveiled Thursday an "ideological document" and warned that it would be implemented at the expense of America's middle class.

With less than two months before congressional midterm elections, House Republicans announced a governing agenda that would cut federal spending, extend expiring tax cuts and repeal the Democrats' health-care law.

The plan, titled "A Pledge to America," is patterned after the "Contract with America," which House Republicans unveiled in 1994, during Clinton's first term. Clinton said the Republican agenda would cut aid to middle-class and lower-income Americans by 25 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars and damage education initiatives. He said the Republican proposals would hurt U.S. economic competitiveness globally.

The Republican plan calls for extending all the tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 and which expire at the end of this year. Obama has proposed keeping the lower tax rates, excepting those only benefitting individuals who earn more than $200,000 or couples earning more than $250,000.

It would repeal the health-care law passed this year and replace it with longstanding Republican priorities such as controlling medical-malpractice costs, expanding health-savings accounts and allowing people to buy insurance policies across state lines. It would provide health coverage to those Americans who are most costly to insure by expanding high-risk pools and reinsurance programs.