MiamiHerald.com HOTEL COPIES: A copy of The Miami Herald will be delivered to your room. A credit of US$0.25 will be posted to your account if delivery is declined.
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012
109TH YEAR I ©2012 THE MIAMI HERALD
Komen drops plans to cut Planned Parenthood funding BY DAVID CRARY
Associated Press
to abandon the nuclear program. Yet Israelis are increasingly signaling that they may act unilaterally if there is no breakthrough in the coming months, according to current and former administration and intelligence officials. “The Obama administration is concerned that Israel could attack Iranian nuclear facilities this year, having given Washington little or no warning,” said Cliff Kupchan, a former State Department official who specialized in Iran policy
NEW YORK — For leaders of the United States preeminent breast-cancer charity, it was a firestorm they didn’t see coming — and couldn’t withstand. Susan G. Komen for the Cure, on Friday, abandoned plans to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood. The dramatic retreat followed a three-day furor that resounded across the Internet, in Congress and — perhaps most tellingly — among Komen affiliates who openly rebelled, suggesting the leadership had bowed to anti-abortion pressure. “We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” a Komen statement said. As first reported by The Associated Press on Tuesday, Komen had adopted criteria excluding Planned Parenthood from future grants for breast-cancer screenings because it was under government investigation, citing a probe launched by a Florida congressman at the urging of anti-abortion groups. “We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political,” Komen said Friday. “That is what is right and fair.” As a result, Komen said, “we will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants.” Komen officials were unavailable for further comment on how they came to change their plans. There was no indication that the organization had come under pressure from its corporate partners. But many of Komen’s own affiliates nationwide had objected to cutting off the grants, which totaled $680,000 in 2011. An Aspen, Colo., affiliate announced Thursday that it would defy the new rules and continue grants to its local Planned Parenthood partner, while all seven of Komen’s California affiliates said they “strongly opposed” the planned cutoff. In addition, Komen was inundated with negative comments via e-mails, on Twitter and Facebook. Many of the messages conveyed a determination to halt gifts to Komen — organizer of the popular Race for the Cure events —
• TURN TO ISRAEL, 2A
• TURN TO GRANTS, 2A
PHOTOS BY BEN CURTIS/AP
Penn-State student Ben Hardwick, 21, helped raise more than $80,000 to help improve security at the Faraja Children’s Home in Ngong, near Nairobi, in Kenya. Below, Anthony Omari, who was injured defending the orphanage from thieves.
Attack on Kenya orphanage yields $80k in donations After Hardwick posted a picOmari, his mother — who runs the orphanage — and 21-year-old ture of Omari and his zipper-like NGONG, Kenya — Anthony tech-savvy Penn State student scar two days after the Jan. 23 attack, users of the website RedOmari earned the still-fresh Ben Hardwick. 11-stitch scar that runs from his forehead to his upper lip in one of the noblest ways imaginable: By taking a machete to the face while defending an underresourced Kenyan orphanage from attacking thieves. Young, traumatized orphans witnessed the assault, which split open Omari’s face and soaked his clothes in blood. But thanks to a posting on an increasingly influential U.S.based social networking website, this story has a fairy tale ending that brings smiles of amazement and tears of gratitude to
BY JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press
dit donated more than $80,000 to help upgrade the orphanage’s defenses. More than 3,600 people donated from all 50 U.S. states and 46 countries — Slovenia, Brunei and Estonia included. One donation came in from the USS Mount Whitney. Less than a week after the attack, new locks were bought, two night guards were hired, and more than a dozen construction workers were building a new fortified 8-foot fence around the orphanage, which houses 37 kids in two small houses. Since Christmas, the orphanage has suffered four attacks by thieves likely from a tin-shack • TURN TO ORPHANAGE, 2A
U.S. concerned by Israel stance on possible Iran strike BY JOEL GREENBERG AND JOBY WARRICK
Washington Post Service
JERUSALEM — Israeli leaders delivered one of the bluntest warnings to date of possible airstrikes against Iranian nuclear sites, adding to the anxiety in Western capitals that a surprise attack by Israel could spark a broader military conflict in the Middle East. Defense Minister Ehud Barak, speaking at a security forum attended by some of Israel’s top intelligence and military leaders, declared that time was running
out for stopping Iran’s nuclear advance, as the country’s uranium facilities disappear into newly constructed mountain bunkers. “Whoever says ‘later’ may find that later is too late,” Barak said. He switched from Hebrew to English for the last phrase: “later is too late.” The language reflected a deepening rift between Israeli and U.S. officials over the urgency of stopping Iran’s nuclear program, which Western intelligence officials and nuclear experts say could soon put nuclear weapons
President needs third term, Argentine deputy says BY MICHAEL WARREN Associated Press
one who governs, and that doesn’t happen very often,” Boudou told Radio de la Red. Fernandez’s opponents have worried openly that she’ll use her restored majority in Congress to eliminate the constitution’s limit to two consecutive four-year terms for Argentine presidents. Dr. Hermes Binner, a distant secondplace finisher in the October election Fernandez won with 54 percent of the vote, called it “ethically unhealthy.” Ricardo Alfonsin, who finished third, said “Society doesn’t look kindly on efforts to stay longer in power, trying to change the law. Later, the leader will be punished.” Fernandez was reelected in October to a term that ends in 2015. Her popularity has only increased
BUENOS AIRES — President Cristina Fernandez would need a third term in office to complete her transformation of Argentina, her vice president has said, feeding her opponents’ fears that the newly reelected leader will try to change the constitution and stay in power beyond 2015. Asked repeatedly during a radio interview Thursday if reports that Fernandez’s inner circle is floating the idea of eliminating term limits are true, Amado Boudou declined to dismiss them. Instead, he said that “without a doubt, without a doubt” the country needs more than four more years with Fernandez as president. “Argentina has found a leader who is much more than just some- • TURN TO ARGENTINA, 2A
OBAMA SAYS RELIGIOUS VALUES UNDERPIN HIS POLICIES, 3A
04PGA01.indd 1
within the reach of Iran’s rulers. Although accepting the gravity of the Iranian threat, U.S. officials fear being blind-sided by an Israeli strike that could have widespread economic and security implications and might only delay, not end, Iran’s nuclear pursuits. In a series of private meetings with Israeli counterparts in recent weeks, Western officials have counseled patience, saying recent economic sanctions and a new European oil embargo are pummeling Iran’s economy and could soon force the country’s leaders
War experience helps U.S. rescue hostages BY JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya — Roy Hallums was enduring his 311th day of captivity, blindfolded, his hands and feet bound, stuffed into a hole under the floor of a farm building outside Baghdad. He heard a commotion upstairs and managed to get the blindfold off. Delta Force troops broke open the hatch. A U.S. soldier jumped down. “He looks at me and points and says, ‘Are you Roy?’ I say ‘yes,’ and he yells back up the stairs: ‘Jackpot!’ ” Hallums recalled in a phone interview with The Associated Press six years after his rescue. Another mission by elite U.S. troops took place just last week, this time in Somalia, resulting in a U.S. and a Danish hostage being rescued and nine kidnappers killed. U.S. special forces units are compiling a string of successful
RIGHTS GROUP SAYS SYRIAN FORCES TARGET CHILDREN, 6A
U.S. MILITARY/AP
Special operations forces conduct a hostage rescue exercise in Baghdad. hostage rescues, thanks to im- thermal imaging and surveillance proved technology and a decade drones, the raids remain high-risk. of wartime experience. But despite technological advances like • TURN TO EXPERIENCE, 5A
U.S. JOBLESS RATE FALLS TO 8.3 PERCENT, A 3-YEAR LOW, BUSINESS FRONT
TERRY REMOVED AS ENGLAND CAPTAIN OVER RACISM CASE, SPORTS FRONT
INDEX THE AMERICAS............4A U.S. NEWS ....................5A OPINION........................7A COMICS & PUZZLES ...6B
2/4/2012 5:00:12 AM
MIAMIHERALD@HOY.COM.EC
'
PURCHASE PASSES:
MUSEUMS
1. CITY MUSEUM,
11.PANECILLO MONUMENT,
MORE WAYS TO SEE QUITO
2. MIGUEL DE SANTIAGO MUSEUM (SAN AGUSTIN),
12. ARTISAN MARKETPLACE,
3. METROPOLITAN CULTURAL CENTER,
4. CASA DEL ALABADO MUSEUM OF PRE-COLOMBIAN ART,
5. CAPILLA DEL HOMBRE (CHAPEL OF MAN),
6. MINDALAE MUSEUM. ñ
FOR KIDS 7. ECUADORIAN NATURAL SCIENCE MUSEUM,
8. YAKU MUSEUM OF WATER,
OTHER ATTRACTIONS 9. LA RONDA STREET, 10. JUNIN STREET,
13. BOTANICAL GARDEN, 14. CABLE CAR - TELEFERIQO OF QUITO & VOLCANO PARK,
–
QUITO TOUR BUS
More To Do In Quito
QUITO ETERNO
SUNDAY BICYCLING ó ó
CASA 1028 GASTRONOMIC TOURS RESERVATIONS: