San Diego Mayor Vows Change Amid Harassment Claims

Bob Filner is embroiled in turmoil less than a year after being elected San Diego's first Democratic mayor in 20 years, facing old questions about his confrontational style and a new challenge over allegations that he sexually harassed women.

Filner on Thursday rejected calls from prominent former supporters to resign but he apologized for mistreating women and pleaded with voters for patience, saying, "I need help." Without detailing his actions, Filner called his behavior inappropriate and wrong and said he "diminished" the office.

"If my behavior doesn't change, I cannot succeed in leading our city," he said. "You have every right to be disappointed in me. I only ask that you give me an opportunity to prove I am capable of change, so that the vision I have for our city's future can be realized."

Former Councilwoman Donna Frye, who is embraced by Filner's liberal base, choked up hours earlier while calling on Filner to step down, calling it one of the most difficult decisions she has made. She said the allegations were based on victims' firsthand accounts but refused to divulge specifics such as the nature of the abuse or whether it occurred while Filner was mayor.

Frye, who said she wouldn't seek office if Filner resigned, was expected to comment Friday on the mayor's apology.

Detractors portrayed Filner, 70, as a short-tempered bully long before he was elected to lead the nation's eighth-largest city in November. As a 10-term congressman, he berated Veterans Affairs officials who testified before him. In 2007, he had a run-in with a United Airlines baggage handler at Dulles International Airport that led to him pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of trespassing.

As mayor, he has clashed repeatedly with the elected city attorney, Jan Goldsmith. He crashed a Goldsmith news conference in February about tourism marketing revenue, commandeered the podium, and accused the city attorney of "unethical and unprofessional conduct" for scrutinizing the mayor's position on the issue through the news media. Last month, he ordered a Goldsmith deputy to leave a closed-door City Council meeting, saying the attorney spoke without being recognized and refused to sit down when told.

Allen Jones, his deputy chief of staff, recently resigned at a staff meeting over what Filner called disagreements about how he was running the office. When Filner asked if anyone else in the room wanted out, Irene McCormack, his communications director, came forward.

In a rare moment of self-reflection during a regular monthly news conference in June, Filner acknowledged the office turbulence caused him to question his behavior.

"Anybody who's intelligent would have to undergo some self-examination," he said.

Yet he also remained feisty and defiant, dismissing the staff departures as normal occurrences under a demanding boss.

"It's a high-pressure, high tension situation, and some people can adapt, some people can't," he said.

Filner, who is divorced, was unequivocally contrite in his apology Thursday, saying he failed to respect women and intimidated them at times. He said he would personally apologize to current and former employees over the next few days and that he is getting professional help.

"It's a good thing that behavior that would have been tolerated in the past is being called out in this generation for what it is: inappropriate and wrong," he said.

On Monday, Filner's fiance, Bronwyn Ingram, said she was ending the engagement, calling it "the only action I can take given the devolvement of our personal relationship."

Some Democratic leaders in San Diego said after Filner's apology that the mayor should stay in office.

"Like all San Diegans, I am deeply disappointed by Mayor Filner's conduct toward women," said Francine Busby, chairwoman of the San Diego County Democratic Party. "Now that he has taken responsibility for his actions, I will hold him to his promises."

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Northern Colorado wants to secede from Colorado

Colorado's flag (Tumblr)

Will North Colorado become America's 51st state?

That's what some residents in the Centennial State are pushing for. Representatives from eight northern counties convened Monday, CBS Denver reports, to "begin mapping the boundaries for the new state they say will represent the interests of rural Colorado."

The secession movement stems from "a growing urban-rural divide," with state lawmakers in Denver passing sweeping gun control legislation and calling for more renewable energy and less oil and gas production?a big part of northern Colorado's economy.

?Northern and Northeastern Colorado and our voices are being ignored in the legislative process this year, and our very way of life is under attack,? Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway told Coloradoan.com.

?This is not a stunt. This is a very serious deliberative discussion that?s going on,? Conway told CBS Denver. ?There?s a real feeling that a lot of folks who come from the urban areas don?t appreciate the contribution that many Coloradans contribute.?

Officials from Weld, Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties were involved in the discussions, Conway said, adding that two counties in Nebraska are interested in joining the new state.

?We need to figure out way to re-enfranchise the people who feel politically disenfranchised now and ignored,? he said.

Conway and his coalition are hoping to put the question of secession to voters in November through a ballot referendum.

Of course, seceding isn't that easy. West Virginia was the last to state to do it, breaking free from Virginia during the Civil War in 1863?or 14 years before Colorado was admitted to the Union. To form a new state, approval would be needed from voters, the Colorado General Assembly and U.S. Congress.

The movement does appear to have at least one supporter in Washington.

?The people of rural Colorado are mad, and they have every right to be,? U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Yuma, Colo., told Denver's 9 News last month. ?The governor and his Democrat colleagues in the statehouse have assaulted our way of life, and I don?t blame people one bit for feeling attacked and unrepresented by the leaders in our state.?

Feeling disenfranchised, one could argue, is part of being American. Residents from more than 30 states, including Colorado and Texas, filed petitions to secede in the wake of President Barack Obama's reelection in November. But citizens in Austin, Texas, filed a counter petition to allow the city to "peacefully" secede from Texas and remain a part of the United States.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/northern-colorado-wants-secede-colorado-174432609.html

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George Zimmerman Trial Live Stream: Will He Testify in His Own Defense?

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Cambodian opposition leader vows to end exile

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) ? Cambodia's charismatic self-exiled opposition leader has vowed to return to Cambodia ahead of this month's general election to help challenge the 28-year rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The government said Monday that Sam Rainsy is welcome home but could face arrest if he returns.

Rainsy made the announcement Sunday in a letter to the international community from France where he is living to avoid a 12-year prison sentence on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

The opposition leader is barred from running for office due to the conviction. He says his return will test whether the elections are "free and fair" ? as the government claims.

The U.S. State Department has said the exclusion of Rainsy calls into question the legitimacy of Cambodia's democratic process. There are also doubts over the neutrality of the election commission and the composition of voter rolls.

U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists are pushing to cut the more than $70 million in annual American aid to Cambodia if the State Department judges the elections as not "credible and competitive."

In the run-up to elections, opposition lawmakers were expelled from parliament for merging parties to contest the vote. The opposition was already handicapped by Rainsy's absence.

Hun Sen is one of Asia's longest-serving and most ruthless leaders. He has run Cambodia since 1985 with little tolerance for opposition, propelled by his well-financed political machine. Rainsy is seen as the sole Cambodian politician with the charisma and resources to present any real challenge.

"I have decided to return because my presence as leader of the opposition and the fate that awaits me will be a test of the reality of the 'free and fair' elections," Rainsy wrote in his letter.

"(I am) fully aware of the personal risks that I will run, to return before the voting day, " he said.

Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, declined to reveal the date of Rainsy's return but said he would be greeted at the airport by thousands of party members.

"I can confirm that Sam Rainsy will definitely arrive in Cambodia ahead of election day," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a government spokesman said Rainsy would have to face the law.

"We have never barred him from returning to Cambodia, but once he arrives he must face the law, because he is a convicted person," said the spokesman Tith Sothea.

Rainsy was sentenced in 2010 to two years in jail for uprooting border markers with Vietnam. He was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for spreading false information about the border dispute. Critics called both cases examples of the government's use of the courts to intimidate opponents.

Hun Sen, who is 60, said recently that he intends to wield power until he is 74 ? revising an earlier vow to stay in power until he's 90.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cambodian-opposition-leader-vows-end-exile-071142568.html

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U.S. swaps regulator calls vote on cross-border rule

By Douwe Miedema

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. derivatives regulator will meet next week to vote on how its rules apply to foreign companies that want to do business with U.S. firms, a sign it may be nearing a compromise on a thorny issue that has invoked the wrath of foreign regulators.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced a formal meeting for July 12 to decide how new rules it has written to regulate the $630 trillion swaps markets apply to companies abroad.

The issue has split the CFTC for many months as it started writing new rules to rein in the lucrative swaps market, dominated by banks such as Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan.

Chairman Gary Gensler, a Democrat who is widely expected to leave when his term expires at the end of the year, has insisted foreign companies comply with the CFTC's rules if they want to do business with U.S. companies.

The rules are an effort to make the opaque derivatives market safer after the financial crisis, and prevent risk that affects U.S. companies from building up abroad. But banks have complained it would subject them to cumbersome and redundant regulation.

And European Union financial services czar Michel Barnier has said America should rely on similar rules that are being drawn up in other jurisdictions, after a 2009 global agreement to rewrite the rules for banking.

U.S. banks complained last year that foreign clients started defecting as it was unclear whether they needed to comply with the CFTC's rules. Banks fear they will lose more customers if the regulator can reach no compromise.

The last day the agency can resolve the issue is July 12, because a broad exemptive relief it granted foreign companies expires on that day.

One commissioner, Bart Chilton, said he welcomed what he said was "an appropriate compromise." Chilton is also a Democrat, and his vote for any proposal was not in doubt.

Mark Wetjen, the third Democrat and a key vote for any majority Gensler aims to clinch, has sounded less sure and asked for a delay in a speech last week.

"I am confident we can get to agreement on the guidance, but not sure we can accomplish that before July 12," Wetjen said on a conference call with journalists this week.

In its invitation for the meeting, the CFTC said that it would discuss both its final guidance on how its rules apply abroad, as well as a new order that would set deadlines in a phased approach for compliance.

(Reporting by Douwe Miedema; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-swaps-regulator-calls-vote-cross-border-rule-033558315.html

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ElBaradei's appointment as Egypt's interim prime minister put on hold

After days of violent demonstrations following the overthrow of Egypt's President Morsi, for a time today, one of his chief critics, Mohamed ElBaradei, was named the interim prime minister, in a move that would have given the generals who ousted Morsi new credibility with the West. But then the offer was withdrawn. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

By Ian Johnston and Charlene Gubash, NBC News

Egypt's interim president has backed away from an announcement Saturday that pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei would be appointed as the country's interim prime minister, news agencies reported.

Ahmed el-Musilamani, a?spokesman for President Adly Mansour said consultations were continuing, denying that ElBaradei's appointment was ever certain following the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, according to The Associated Press.

Mansour, chairman of the supreme constitutional court, who was sworn in as interim president Thursday.

Egypt?s National Salvation Front announced earlier in the day that former United Nations nuclear agency chief ElBaradei was scheduled to take his oath of office at 8 p.m. local time on Saturday.

According to a source familiar with the Obama administration's thinking, the administration would be willing to work with El Baradei if he is named Egypt's interim prime minister. The administration would also encourage ElBaradei to put an end to the violence, the source told NBC News.?

Secretary of State John Kerry also stressed in a statement that the United States wants to see Egypt's civilian transition succeed, and that the United States will do all it can to help encourage that effort.

---

Meanwhile, supporters of the deposed Morsi again gathered in large numbers Saturday, a day after clashes with security forces and anti-Morsi protesters left 36 dead and more than 1,000 injured.

A Muslim Brotherhood statement said that the movement?s leader Mohamed Badie ? who appeared at a rally on Friday after his arrest was ordered earlier in the week ? was calling for people to ?remain in the public squares of every governorate and every city until power is restored to him [Morsi] as the rightful ruler of Egypt.?

Hitha Prabhakar joins MSNBC's Alex Witt to break down the 3 Big Money Headlines. She mentions that oil analysts are watching the situation in Egypt and they are saying how it will negatively impact gas prices. She discussed the jobs numbers that came out on Friday and explains what hedge fund manager Ron Baron meant when he talked about the Dow reaching 60,000.

?God is great. He can crush every traitor and every treacherous tyrant. The people of Egypt will protect the Revolution, and will continue to demand their rights," Badie said, according to the statement.

On Friday, thousands of Morsi's Islamist supporters marched across a central Cairo bridge in the direction of Tahrir Square, which was also occupied by thousands of protesters whose demonstrations prompted the army to depose Morsi.

The Morsi supporters ended up dispersing after a clash involving a hail of stones, fireworks and sometimes gunfire. There were also clashes in other parts of the country, including Alexandria and the Sinai Peninsula, a hotbed for Islamist militants.

Mohammed Sultan, deputy head of the national ambulance service, told the AP that at least 36 people were killed in Friday's clashes, the highest death toll in one day since the latest outbreak of protests began last Sunday. Another 1,076 were injured.

Amid calls from leaders for both sides to remain peaceful, there are fears the conflict could become increasingly violent.

A new Islamist militant group calling itself Ansar al-Shariah in Egypt announced its formation amid the chaos.

For hours, there was no security in sight as the fighting ensued. Guns, stones and even fireworks were used as weapons but Morsi's supporters were driven back by the anti-Morsi demonstrators, and the military. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

The group said it would gather arms and start training its members, in a statement posted on an online forum for militants in the country's Sinai region on Friday and recorded by the SITE Monitoring organization, Reuters reported.

The group blamed the events on secularists, Egyptian Coptic Christians, state security forces and army commanders, who they said would turn the country into ?a crusader, secular freak.?

It denounced democracy and said it would instead champion Islamic law, or sharia, acquire weapons and train to allow Muslims to "deter the attackers, preserve the religion and empower the sharia of the Lord," SITE reported.

Egypt?s military has been at pains to stress its takeover of power was not a military coup, but an expression of the will of the people as shown by the anti-Morsi protests.

This is key as it would threaten more than $1 billion in annual military aid given by the U.S.

Hassan Ammar / AP

Days of massive protests and a military ultimatum forced the country's first democratically elected president from office.

U.S. law prohibits financial assistance to any country whose elected head of state is deposed in a military coup.

Speaking in Prescott, Arizona, Friday Senator John McCain said the aid should be suspended.

?I say that with great reluctance, but the United States of America I think must learn the lessons of history and that is: We cannot stand by without acting in cases where freely elected governments are unseated by the military arm of those nations,? he said.

McCain also called on the Egyptian military to set a timetable for elections and a new constitution.

?Then we should evaluate whether to continue the aid or not,? he said. ?I am aware that by suspending aid to the Egyptian military, which is the only stable institution in Egypt, we are risking further problems in the Sinai, and in other areas of cooperation with the Egyptian military.?

NBC News' Becky Bratu and Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

This story was originally published on Sat Jul 6, 2013 4:17 AM EDT

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China, US to discuss cybersecurity at forum

BEIJING (AP) ? China is ready to discuss strengthening cybersecurity with U.S. officials at a high-level forum next week and wants Washington to help settle territorial disputes in East Asia, officials said Friday.

Next week's two-day Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington will also include talks on finance and climate change and the inaugural gathering of a U.S.-Chinese cybersecurity group, the officials said at a government briefing.

Beijing is under U.S. pressure to crack down on cyberspying after security consultants tracked a wave of hacking attacks to China.

"We are ready to work with the United States and engage in dialogue and communication and, on the basis of mutual respect and mutual trust, enhance understanding and consensus and work with the international community to build a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace," said Zheng Zeguang, an assistant foreign minister.

The U.S. delegation to the dialogue is to be led by Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew. The chief Chinese envoys will be State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Vice Premier Wang Yang. They are to be joined by finance, military, energy, environmental and other officials.

The annual talks are aimed at heading off trade and other disputes between the world's two largest economies and to promote cooperation on managing the global economy, climate change and other issues.

Security experts say China is a base for a large share of the world's cyberspying, some of which might be carried out by its military. Beijing has rejected that, saying China is a victim of computer hacking.

Asked about disclosures by former NSA employee Edward Snowden about U.S. government spying and whether those would influence the talks, Zheng said, "The information released by the media shows once again that China is among the victims of cyberattacks."

On regional issues, Zheng said Beijing wants Washington to "do more to contribute" to settling tensions over territorial disputes.

Referring to China's conflicting claims with the Philippines, Vietnam and other governments over the South China Sea, Zheng said, "the United States should do more to contribute to a proper settlement of the issue."

As for Beijing's dispute with Japan over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, Zheng said Washington "should send correct instead of wrong signals and do more to contribute to the cooling of the situation."

Source: http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/technology/China-US-to-discuss-cybersecurity-at-forum-214390561.html

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