Nation & World Briefly Aug. 2

TV report: Israel agrees to negotiate West Bank borders

JERUSALEM (AP) - In a dramatic policy shift, Israel's prime minister has agreed to negotiate the borders of a Palestinian state based on the cease-fire line that marks off the West Bank, a TV station reported Monday.

Up to now, Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to spell out his plan for negotiating the border. A senior Israeli official would not confirm outright that the prime minister was now willing to adopt the cease-fire line as a starting point, but said Israel was willing to try new formulas to restart peace talks based on a proposal made by President Barack Obama.

In a speech about the Middle East in May, Obama proposed negotiations based on the pre-1967 line with agreed swaps of territory between Israel and a Palestinian state. Netanyahu reacted angrily, insisting that Israel would not withdraw from all of the West Bank, though that was not what Obama proposed.

Now Netanyahu is basically accepting that framework, according to Channel 2 TV, offering to trade Israeli territory on its side of the line for West Bank land where its main settlements are located.

The official, who has been briefed on the talks, spoke on condition of anonymity because the contacts are still in progress. He said he would not deny the TV report, while refusing to confirm the specifics. He emphasized that Israel would not withdraw from all of the West Bank.

Defense facing reductions of up to $850 billion over 10 years

WASHINGTON (AP) - A military fighting three wars is staring down budget cuts of up to $850 billion over a decade, some of the deepest reductions since the end of the Cold War. Yet under the compromise struck by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders to avert the nation's first-ever financial default, the near-term impact on the troops, aircraft, ships and weapons may be far less onerous than Republicans and Democrats fear.

Congress was expected to approve the overall plan to slash more than $2 trillion from federal spending over a decade and permit the nation's $14.3 trillion borrowing cap to rise by up to $2.4 trillion and send it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Under the compromise, all security spending - money for defense, homeland security, veterans, foreign aid and intelligence - would be cut from the current level of $687 billion this year to $683 billion in next year's budget. Defense would be a share of that $4 billion reduction.

"It's doable, it's workable without adversely affecting readiness or the soldiers," said Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees military dollars.

Syrian troops resume assault on defiant city of Hama as Ramadan begins

BEIRUT (AP) - Anti-government protesters in the Syrian city of Hama set up barricades and took up sticks and stones to defend themselves Monday after one of the bloodiest days so far in the regime's campaign to quell an uprising now in its fifth month.

The protesters vowed not to allow a repeat of 1982, when thousands of people were killed in Hama after President Bashar Assad's father ordered a massacre.

As evening fell, residents said Syrian tanks resumed intense shelling of the restive city and troops fired machine guns at worshippers about to head to mosques for special nighttime prayers on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Residents had just broken their daily dawn-to-dusk fast, and the shelling appeared aimed at preventing the mosque gatherings, fearing they would trigger large anti-government protests.

It was the second day of shelling of Hama and other cities. In attacks earlier in the day, four people were killed in Hama and three more were killed in other parts of the country, residents and rights groups said.

"It's a crime! Where is the world? Why doesn't anyone see?" cried one distraught resident through the phone, the sound of gunfire heard clearly in the background. The residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said they were certain there were casualties, but there was no immediate word on numbers.

Missing NH girl's body found in river near homel

STEWARTSTOWN, N.H. (AP) - The body of an 11-year-old New Hampshire girl who disappeared almost a week ago was discovered Monday in a river less than half a mile from her home, authorities said. The death was being considered suspicious.

Celina Cass was reported missing July 26. Divers found her body late Monday morning near a hydroelectric dam that spans the Connecticut River between Stewartstown and Canaan, Vt., and removed it from the river Monday evening, said New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young.

"We have brought Celina home, obviously not the way we wanted to bring her home," said Young, her voice breaking with emotion.

Authorities had said that Celina, who lived with her older sister, mother and stepfather a mile from the Canadian border, was last seen at a computer around 9 p.m. on July 25 and was gone the next morning. Police said there was no sign of a struggle, and there was no indication she ran away or that someone took her.

Young declined to say whether there are any suspects in the girl's death. "We have made no determination on where her body was eventually put in the river," she said.

An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday to determine the cause and manner of death.

According to several media outlets, Cass's stepfather was taken to a hospital Monday morning. MSNBC reported that Wendell Noyes was taken by ambulance after repeatedly laying down in the family's driveway and rolling around, and video showed him dropping to his knees in the driveway and then laying face-down, with his head resting on his hands.

'Credible lead' surfaces in D.B. Cooper case

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI is investigating whether a dead man in the Pacific Northwest is D.B. Cooper, who hijacked a passenger jet in 1971 over Washington state and parachuted with $200,000 in ransom.

Cooper has never been found.

FBI agent Fred Gutt said Monday the bureau is following up a "credible" lead in the unsolved case and is focused on a suspect who died more than 10 years ago.

Gutt said the bureau received a tip from a retired law enforcement source about the dead man possibly being Cooper. FBI agents requested personal effects of the possible suspect, who died of natural causes.

The FBI is trying to find fingerprints or DNA on the dead man's effects to compare with items the hijacker left behind. The FBI said three years ago that it found DNA evidence on the clip-on tie Cooper left on the plane before he jumped.

Gutt said the FBI has already tested one item of the dead man's belongings for fingerprints. It was not conclusive. They are now working with surviving family members to gather other items for further testing.

The suspect is someone who has not been previously investigated, and Gutt said initial vetting supported the belief of the tipster. But he cautioned that the new lead may not pan out and that investigators were still pursuing other possibilities.

"Maybe this is just someone else who just happened to look like him and whose life story just kind of paralleled," Gutt said.

Expert testifies polygamist leader had child with teen

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs made a third attempt Monday to remove the Texas judge overseeing his child sex assault case - this time based on the claim that God himself demands a change.

The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints filed a motion purporting to quote God as saying state District Judge Barbara Walther should "step away from this abuse of power against a religious and pure faith in the Lord."

After a short recess, Walther ruled the trial would continue under new Texas Supreme Court rules that went into effect Monday. They no longer require an immediate hearing to recuse a judge after evidence in a case has been heard. A hearing will eventually be held on Jeffs' motion, but it's unclear when.

The trial continued with forensic analyst Amy Smuts, of the Human Identification Center at the University of North Texas in Fort Worth, testifying that a DNA sample collected from Jeffs had 15 major markers that matched a DNA sample taken from a girl born to a 15-year-old mother.

Smuts said that made her more than 99.99 percent certain that Jeffs was the child's father.

Promoter: Octomom to fight in Mass. celebrity boxing match

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Octomom Nadya Suleman isn't done taking punches. The Springfield, Mass., newspaper The Republican reports that Celebrity Boxing Federation promoter Damon Feldman announced Monday that Suleman will be the featured fighter in a bout in Springfield, 90 miles west of Boston.

Suleman drew criticism and was dubbed the Octomom in 2009 when she gave birth to eight babies. She was an unemployed single mother who already had six children. She says she was addicted to having children. Her octuplets are the world's longest-surviving set.

Feldman says he's looking for a woman who wants to get in the ring and "fight this well-known mom."

The fight will consist of three 1-minute rounds. The women will wear oversized gloves and protective head gear.

Suleman fought in a similar match in New Jersey in June. It was a draw.