U.S. & WORLD NEWS DIGEST | Outside pressure on Syria grows

Outside pressure on Syria grows

BEIRUT

International pressure mounted on Syria’s president Monday, with key European governments and the United Nations denouncing a deadly crackdown that has failed to dampen a popular uprising against the authoritarian regime.

In the latest violence, security forces killed a student Monday during a protest at Damascus University in the capital, bringing the death toll to well over 170 after more than three week of unrest, activists said. There were conflicting reports about whether the student was shot or beaten to death.

The United States, France, Germany and Britain demanded an immediate end to the bloodshed.

Romney announces exploratory effort

WASHINGTON

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the closest to a front-runner in a wide-open Republican field, took a major step toward a second White House candidacy Monday, formally announcing a campaign exploratory committee.

Romney declared that “with able leadership, America’s best days are still ahead,” vigorously asserting that President Barack Obama had failed to provide it.

The Republican, who has been plotting a comeback since losing the GOP presidential nomination to John McCain three years ago, offered himself as the person best able to lead a country struggling to recover from economic crisis.

Court won’t lift stay on immigration law

PHOENIX

A federal appeals court on Monday refused to lift a stay blocking major parts of Arizona’s immigration law from taking effect and said the federal government is likely to be able to prove the controversial law is unconstitutional.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down an appeal filed by Gov. Jan Brewer. She had asked the appeals court to lift an injunction imposed by a federal judge in Phoenix the day before the law was to take effect July 29, 2010.

The U.S Justice Department sued to block the law, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution because enforcing immigration law is a federal issue.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton issued an injunction preventing four major parts of the law from going into effect pending a trial. Monday’s ruling by the three-judge appeals-court panel upheld that injunction.

Warning prevented injuries in twister

MAPLETON, Iowa

It seemed like a Mapleton Miracle. A tornado with winds exceeding 130 mph barreled through this small Iowa town, flattening whole blocks and destroying 100 homes.

When the storm passed, more than half the town had been leveled. But the most serious injury was a broken leg.

Storm spotters who tracked the approaching twister were being credited Monday with giving residents a crucial 15-minute warning, allowing most people to take shelter and preventing the kind of tornado disaster that killed four teens at a Boy Scout camp near here in 2008.

French ban on veils goes into effect

PARIS

The world’s first ban on Islamic face veils took effect Monday in France, meaning that women may bare their breasts in Cannes but not cover their faces on the Champs-Elysees.

Two veiled women were hauled off from a Paris protest within hours of the new ban. Their unauthorized demonstration, on the cobblestone square facing Notre Dame Cathedral, was rich with both the symbolism of France’s medieval history and its modern spirit of defiance.

Associated Press