Nation and World briefs for September 30

German states lower housing standards as 170,000 migrants arrive in 1 month

BERLIN (AP) — Refugees coming to Germany can expect a roof over their head, a bed to sleep in and three meals a day. But with authorities struggling to find housing for tens of thousands of people each month, many new arrivals will find their lodgings a squeeze.

Smaller, in fact, than what’s permitted for a German shepherd dog.

An Associated Press survey has found that several of Germany’s 16 states have waived the usual rules expected of communal housing. As a result, migrants in some parts of Germany are finding themselves living in cramped conditions that rights groups say are unfit for human habitation.

“The situation is becoming dramatic,” said Karl Kopp, an expert on refugee policy with the campaign group Pro Asyl. “If we put people up in undignified conditions then this will have long-term consequences for their health and their ability to integrate in the country.”

On Sunday 14 people — including three police officers — were injured when a mass brawl involving hundreds of refugees broke out at a reception center in Calden, near Kassel. The site is a tent city originally designed for 1,000 people but now housing 1,500.

Planned Parenthood chief rebuts ‘offensive’ secret videos

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief of Planned Parenthood defended the women’s health organization Tuesday before a Republican-run Congress bent on slashing its federal funding, telling lawmakers that accusations against her group fed by stealthily recorded videos are “offensive and categorically untrue.”

In Planned Parenthood’s first appearance before Congress since those videos emerged this summer, Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee argued that the group needs no taxpayer financing. They cited Planned Parenthood tax documents showing it spends millions on political activities, travel and exorbitant salaries.

“That’s money that’s not going to women’s health care,” said committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. “It’s a political organization, and that’s something that needs to be ferreted out.”

Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s president, told the lawmakers that her group has fallen victim to a “smear campaign” based on videos in which its officials coolly describe how they sometimes harvest tissue from aborted fetuses for scientific research.

Conservatives and many Republicans say the videos, made by abortion foes posing as private purchasers of fetal organs, show Planned Parenthood has broken federal laws including a ban on for-profit fetal tissue sales. The organization says it’s acted legally and says the videos were deceitfully edited.

Afghan president vows to retake key city seized by insurgents

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A day after a strategic northern city fell to the Taliban, the insurgents fanned out in full force Tuesday, closing roads, throwing up checkpoints and torching government buildings as fearful residents huddled indoors amid signs a promised Afghan counteroffensive was faltering.

U.S. warplanes carried out two airstrikes on Taliban positions, but government ground troops sent to try to retake Kunduz, one of Afghanistan’s wealthiest cities, were stalled by roadblocks and ambushes, unable to move closer than about a mile (two kilometers) toward their target.

A NATO officer said more airstrikes were unlikely as “all the Taliban are inside the city and so are all the people.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media on the issue.

His words suggested the fight to retake the city would involve painstaking street-by-street fighting as government forces try to avoid civilian casualties in retaking control.

Inside the city, residents were stunned by the audacity of the insurgents, who attacked Kunduz on a number of fronts before dawn on Monday, taking the government, intelligence agency and military by surprise.

Snowden joins Twitter, follows only the NSA

NEW YORK (AP) — Edward Snowden, who has confounded U.S. officials since his abrupt departure from the country two years ago, has just found a new megaphone in Twitter.

The former National Security Agency worker who leaked classified documents about government surveillance started tweeting Tuesday. He had more than 185,000 followers an hour after his first tweet, “Can you hear me now?” Six hours later, he was up to 625,000 followers.

Snowden is following just one account: tweets from the National Security Agency.

Like other high-profile people on the messaging service, Snowden’s account has a blue and white check mark, indicating that it was verified by Twitter.

A spokesman at Twitter Inc. confirmed that it gave Snowden the @Snowden username, which was being used by someone else. The NSA did not respond to a request for comment.

Obama says fight against Islamic State will take time, but ultimately optimistic

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged all possible tools — military, intelligence and economic — to defeat the Islamic State group, but acknowledged the extremist group has taken root in Syria and Iraq, is resilient and continues to expand.

Obama hosted a U.N. gathering of world leaders working to expand the battle against terrorism, a day after he and the leaders of Russia, China and Iran addressed the General Assembly during its 70th anniversary. The fight against terrorism, particularly in Syria, has seized the attention of top officials, but there has been no overall agreement on how to end the conflict there.

“I have repeatedly said that our approach will take time. This is not an easy task,” Obama cautioned, while adding that he was “ultimately optimistic” the brutal organization would be defeated because it has nothing to offer but suffering and death.

“This is a long-term campaign — not only against this particular network, but against its ideology,” he said.

The meeting also heard from the Iraqi leader, who sought more help against IS in his country, and learned from Obama that three more countries — Nigeria, Tunisia and Malaysia — were added to the coalition fighting the group.

In a year of diplomatic breakthroughs, Obama still dogged by Syria failures

NEW YORK (AP) — In a year of diplomatic breakthroughs, President Barack Obama can’t escape the shadow of Syria’s intractable crisis.

Obama arrived for his annual trip to the United Nations this week eager to tout the restoration of U.S. diplomatic ties with Cuba and the completion of a landmark nuclear accord with Iran. He shook hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, the first such encounter by an American president since the 1979 Islamic revolution, and held formal talks with Cuban President Raul Castro.

To the president, the openings with Cuba and Iran are not just validation of his own belief in the pursuit of diplomacy over military force, but also affirmation of a broader international order that marginalizes bad actors while giving them clear pathways to redemption.

The chaos in Syria, however, has defied all that. He returned to Washington Tuesday with the path forward no clearer than when he arrived in New York, even after lengthy talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syria’s most powerful backer.

“Nowhere is our commitment to international order more tested than in Syria,” Obama acknowledged when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.

US slaps sanctions on Islamic State operatives across the Middle East and Asia

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government announced sanctions Tuesday against 25 people and five groups connected to the Islamic State, disclosing intelligence that depicts a sprawling international organization with tentacles across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The moves by the Treasury and State departments are aimed at disrupting the activities of Islamic State financial, logistical and recruiting operatives who may not be suitable targets of American bombs or drone strikes. Many of them reside outside the theaters of war in Iraq and Syria.

The sanctions, the largest such effort against the Islamic State, also serve to demonstrate how far and wide the group’s ideology has spread.

The State Department designated as foreign terrorist organizations Islamic State regional spin-offs in Russia’s Caucasus region, Algeria, Indonesia and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Among the individuals designated as terrorists was Sally Jones, a British native and the widow of an operative killed recently in an American drone strike.

The State Department also designated as terrorists three French nationals and a Russian. Russia, France and other countries cooperated with the U.S. in supplying information that contributed to the sanctions, officials said.

Senate propels stopgap spending bill; more votes needed to prevent government shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Having dodged the immediate threat of a government shutdown, congressional Republican leaders are looking ahead to talks with President Barack Obama on a long-term budget pact.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that he and House Speaker John Boehner spoke with Obama recently and that he expects talks to get underway soon.

McConnell spoke as the Senate wraps up a debate he engineered on a temporary spending bill that would keep the government open while the negotiations stretch through the fall. The measure, expected to clear the House and Senate just hours before a midnight Wednesday deadline, would keep the government running through Dec. 11.

“The president and Speaker Boehner and I spoke about getting started on the discussions last week, and I would expect them to start very soon,” McConnell told reporters.

At issue are efforts to increase the operating budgets for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies still under automatic spending curbs that would effectively freeze their budgets at current levels. Republicans are leading the drive to boost defense while Obama is demanding equal relief for domestic programs.

Volkswagen emissions scandal involves commercial vehicles, SEAT brand; technical fix due in October

BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen’s commercial vehicles and cars from its Spanish unit SEAT are among the 11 million fitted with a diesel engine that can cheat on emissions tests, the company said Tuesday.

Volkswagen AG has admitted using a piece of engine software to cheat on diesel car emissions tests in the U.S., where authorities say there are 482,000 such cars. The company says that up to 11 million vehicles worldwide were fitted with the engine in question.

The company said it would present authorities with its “technical solutions and measures” to fix the problem in October. Not all of the 11 million vehicles, however, would have had the software activated, according to new CEO Matthias Mueller.

Details have emerged gradually of how many were made by which VW division. Guenther Scherelis, a spokesman for the commercial vehicles unit — which makes vans and pickups — on Tuesday confirmed that 1.8 million of its vehicles were affected. He didn’t give further details.

Spanish subsidiary SEAT said it fitted 700,000 vehicles with the EA 189 diesel engines in which Volkswagen has said there are “discrepancies.”