U.S. & WORLD NEWS DIGEST | Obama visits El Salvador

Obama visits El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador

President Barack Obama vowed closer cooperation Tuesday with the Central American nations where U.S. policies on crime, immigration and other issues have outsize influence on populations that depend heavily on their giant neighbor to the north and impact U.S. society in turn.

Speaking in El Salvador, the final stop on his three-country Latin American tour and the only one in Central America, Obama promised attention to increasing trade and economic growth, fighting drug trafficking and creating opportunities so that people can find work in their home countries and “don’t feel like they have to head north to provide for their families.”

Governor signs abortion legislation

PIERRE, S.D.

Women who want an abortion in South Dakota will face the longest waiting period in the nation — three days — and have to undergo counseling at pregnancy help centers that discourage abortions under a measure signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

Within minutes of Daugaard’s announcement that he had signed the measure, abortion-rights groups said they plan to file a lawsuit challenging the measure, which one said could create particular hardships for women who live in rural areas hundreds of miles from the state’s only abortion clinic in Sioux Falls.

Daugaard, who gave no interviews after signing the bill, said in a written statement that he had conferred with state attorneys who will defend the law in court and a sponsor who has pledged to raise private money to finance the state’s court fight.

Afghan forces to take the lead

KABUL, Afghanistan

An emboldened Afghan president said Tuesday that his nation’s security forces will take over from the U.S.-led coalition in seven parts of the country, a first step toward his goal of having Afghan police and soldiers in charge by the end of 2014 so foreign combat troops can go home.

The tenuous step comes despite NATO predictions of bloody fighting this spring and Afghans’ fears that their forces aren’t up to the task.

In a speech peppered with criticism of the international military and civilian effort, Karzai asserted himself as a national leader and said the Afghan forces were on a path toward self-sufficiency.

Sex, exercise can trigger heart attacks

CHICAGO

Sex and exercise can trigger heart attacks in older people who don’t get much of either, a new analysis finds. The risk is low, but it’s a good reminder that slackers should change their exercise habits gradually, especially in middle age.

People who exercise regularly have a much smaller risk of having a heart attack immediately after sexual or physical activity, said lead author Dr. Issa Dahabreh of Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

“It would be really bad if someone thought our paper means people should not exercise,” Dahabreh said. “If anything, it’s the opposite.”

The analysis, appearing in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association, combined results from 14 studies involving more than 6,000 patients.

Associated Press