Smell of death greets UN monitors

Smell of death greets UN monitors

BEIRUT

Smoldering buildings, looted shops, smashed cars and a strong stench of death greeted U.N. observers who entered the nearly deserted Syrian town of Haffa on Thursday, a day after President Bashar Assad’s forces overran it as part of a major offensive to recover rebel-controlled territories.

The monitors had been trying to get into the town for a week after fears were raised that a brutal assault by regime forces was under way. They found the main hospital burned, state buildings and an office of the ruling Baath party in ruins and a corpse lying in the street.

The number of casualties was unclear, said Sausan Ghosheh, spokeswoman for the U.N. observers, and it appeared likely that, as in the past, bodies had been removed or buried before the U.N. mission got in.

Feds: It costs $235K to raise kid to age 17

WASHINGTON

For $235,000, you could indulge in a shiny new Ferrari — or raise a child for 17 years. A government report released Thursday found that a middle-income family with a child born last year will spend about that much in child-related expenses from birth through age 17. That’s a 3.5 percent increase from 2010.

Pentagon to mark gay-pride month

WASHINGTON

Last summer, gays in the military dared not admit their sexual orientation. This summer, the Pentagon will salute them, marking June as gay-pride month just as it has marked other celebrations honoring racial or ethnic groups.

In the latest remarkable sign of change since the military repealed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the Defense Department soon will have its first event to recognize gay and lesbian troops. It comes nine months after repeal of the policy that had banned gay troops from serving openly and forced more than 13,500 service members out of the armed forces.

Details still are being worked out, but officials say Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to honor the contributions of gay service members.

Blindfolded, bound kids in parking lot

LAWRENCE, Kan.

A man and woman from suburban Chicago face felony child-abuse and child- endangerment charges after police said two of their five children were found blindfolded with their arms and legs bound in a Kansas Walmart parking lot.

The jailed couple from Northlake, Ill., appeared in court by video Thursday in Lawrence in eastern Kansas. Bonds for both were set at $50,000. They were appointed public defenders, and preliminary hearings were scheduled for Thursday.

Argentina presses to claim Falklands

UNITED NATIONS

Argentina’s president took her country’s claim to the Falkland Islands to the United Nations on Thursday, challenging Britain in a highly emotional speech to “act more intelligently” and sit down to talk about the future of the tiny archipelago.

President Cristina Fernandez chose to appear at the annual meeting of the little-known U.N. Decolonization Committee on the 30th anniversary of Britain’s ouster of an Argentine invasion force from the Falklands, using the occasion to reiterate Argentina’s opposition to any more wars and to criticize the British prime minister’s decision to mark the day by flying the Falklands flag over his official 10 Downing Street residence.

Though accusing Britain of abusing its power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, lying about the islands’ history and acting as “a bully,” Fernandez also said she came to the U.N. “without any rancor.”

Associated Press