Syria: No talk before crushing rebels

Syria: No talk before crushing rebels

beirut

The Syrian regime said Monday there will be no dialogue with the opposition before the army crushes the rebels, the latest sign that President Bashar Assad is determined to solve the crisis on the battlefield even if many more of his people have to pay with their lives.

The statement comes a day after activists reported that August was the bloodiest month since the uprising began in March 2011.

The opposition has long rejected any talks with the regime until Assad is removed from power.

Oil, gas production ramps up after Isaac

The nation’s oil and gas hub along the Gulf Coast is slowly coming back to life in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac.

Offshore oil platforms are beginning to ramp up production as crews are returning. Refineries are beginning to restart units as power is restored and floodwaters are cleared out.

Though a substantial amount of oil and gas production remains off line, production is coming back as expected. No major damage to oil platforms or refineries has been reported, and no further storm-related spikes in energy prices are expected.

In Chicago, schools brace for a strike

chicago

Elfega Cazares isn’t taking sides in the standoff between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools over contract talks.

Like many of the immigrant parents in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood, she knows her children stand to lose the most if teachers walk off the job Monday.

But students across the city, most of whom return to school today, could find themselves out of the classroom again Sept. 10.

At a time when teachers’ unions are under pressure nationwide, union President Karen Lewis said more than 26,000 teachers and support staff in the nation’s third-largest school district are prepared to strike for the first time in 25 years.

It would be the first big-city strike in the U.S. since Detroit teachers walked off the job for 16 days in 2006. The last Chicago teachers strike was in 1987 and lasted 19 days.

Red Bull heir faces charges in hit/run

bangkok

A grandson of the creator of the Red Bull energy drink has been arrested for driving a Ferrari that struck a police officer and dragged his dead body down a Bangkok street in an early-morning hit-and-run, police said Monday.

Police took Vorayuth Yoovidhya, 27, for questioning after tracing oil streaks for several blocks to his family’s gated estate in a wealthy neighborhood of the Thai capital.

He was facing charges of causing death by reckless driving and escaping an arrest by police but was released on a $15,900 bail.

The victim, Sgt. Maj. Wichean Glanprasert, 47, was killed during a motorcycle patrol before dawn.

Rebels kill 10

istanbul

Kurdish militants have killed 10 police and soldiers in an assault near the Iraqi border, Turkish officials said Monday, amid concern that rebels are seeking to capitalize on regional tensions caused by Syria’s civil war with a more intense campaign of attacks in Turkey.

The attack happened late Sunday in southeastern Sirnak province, a traditional area for militants who have bases in northern Iraq.

An undetermined number of Kurdish guerrillas were also killed.

Associated Press