Obama team sharpens focus

Obama team sharpens focus

MILWAUKEE

President Barack Obama’s administration launched a multipronged assault on Mitt Romney’s values and foreign policy credentials Sunday, while a fresh set of prominent Republicans rallied behind the GOP front-runner as the odds-on nominee, further signs the general election is overtaking the primary season.

A defiant Rick Santorum outlined plans to leave Wisconsin the day before the state’s contest Tuesday, an indication that the conservative favorite may be in retreat, his chances to stop Romney rapidly dwindling.

Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden went after Romney Sunday, underscoring the belief inside Obama’s Chicago re-election headquarters that Romney will — sooner than later — secure the right to face Obama this fall. Romney largely agreed, telling a Madison, Wis., crowd Sunday night that the nominee “will probably be me.”

Man may enter US to bury son

ALLENTOWN, Pa.

An immigration lawyer says a Mexican man will be allowed to enter the United States to bury his 10-year-old son, a U.S. citizen who died in a house fire in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Fidelmar “Fidel” Merlos-Lopez initially was barred entry into the country. But his Philadelphia-based lawyer, Elizabeth Surin, says her client was issued a humanitarian parole to attend the funeral.

She said early Sunday that Lopez was on a plane bound for Pennsylvania.

Lopez’s son, Damien Lopez, died Tuesday in a Shenandoah row house fire along with his cousin, aunt and 7-month-old half-brother. The funeral is set for Monday.

Lopez was an illegal immigrant who left the U.S. voluntarily in 2008. He’s in the process of getting his green card so he can rejoin his wife in Shenandoah.

Iranians celebrate ancient festival

ESFARAYEN, Iran

Iranians flocked to parks and orchards to mark Sizdeh Bedar, an ancient festival that predates Islam and goes back thousands of years to the time when Zoroastrianism was the predominant religion of Persia.

Iran’s hard-line ruling clerics have discouraged many pre-Islamic rituals, but they’ve been unable to put Iranians off the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, and its ending celebration of Sizdeh Bedar.

The festival falls on the thirteenth day of Nowruz — Sizdeh is 13 and Bedar means “passing” in Persian.

It is believed to be bad luck to stay indoors for the holiday, so families and friends traditionally head outdoors for an elaborate picnic lunch

Associated Press