Article:
New mothers in the U.S. are increasingly older and better educated than they were two decades ago, according to a study on the state of American motherhood released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.

 But that doesn't mean women are waiting for the right moment: The study also found that half of mothers surveyed said parenthood "just happened."

 While most women giving birth are doing it within the context of marriage, researchers said a record 41 percent of births were to unmarried women in 2008. That's up from 28 percent in 1990, according to the study, "The New Demography of American Motherhood." The trend crossed major racial and ethnic groups.

 Nearly 14 percent of mothers of newborns were 35 or older two years ago _ and only about 10 percent were in their teens. The age trend was reversed in 1990, when teens had a 13 percent share of births.

 "I think everyone will welcome a decline in births to teens," said D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer on the study. "It's notable that the population of teens is larger than it used to be, so there were more who could have become teen mothers."

 Today, one in seven babies is born to a mother at least 35 years old. In 1990, one in 11 had a mother in that age group.

 Most mothers of newborns (54 percent) had at least some college education in 2008, an increase from 41 percent in 1990. Among mothers 35 or older, 71 percent had at least some college education.

 Improvements in medical care and fertility treatment, along with marriage and childbearing postponed to seek additional education, all factor into the shifts.

 "The rise in women's education levels has changed the profile of the typical mother of a newborn baby," the report said. Cohn added that a lower share of mothers ended their education after high school, "so some of those mothers who would have been high school graduates in 1990 have some college education today."

 The report is based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, along with a telephone survey in April 2009 of about 1,000 parents, likely parents and other adults of both genders.

 Overall, there were 4.3 million births in the U.S. in 2008, compared with 4.2 million in 1990. The number had risen each year from 2003 to 2007, then dipped in an apparent link to the economic downturn, the researchers said.

 When American parents are asked why they decided to have a child, most cite "The joy of having children," the study said. For nearly half of parents, though, an important explanation is: "It wasn't a decision; it just happened."

 Women surveyed were more likely than men to cite "it just happened" as somewhat or very important in their decision to give birth the first time.

 Stephanie Coontz, director of research and public education for the nonprofit Council on Contemporary Families and a writer who teaches history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., said the rise of single motherhood is significant.

 "It's yet another nail in the coffin in the hope that we can solve the challenges facing us today by shoehorning everyone back into marriages," she said. "One of the big problems with that at this point is very often kids do worse if their mother rushes into a marriage that may be unstable."

 Multiple births associated with the trend toward older motherhood were up sharply, including a 70 percent increase in the twin birth rate from 1980 to 2004.

 "Not only are women in their 30s more likely than younger women to conceive multiples on their own, they also are more likely to undergo fertility treatments, which are linked to births of multiples," the researchers said. ||||| More children are born to women older than 35 than to teenagers, a change born of medical science, later marriages and evolving attitudes about motherhood, according to a new study released Thursday.

 The Pew Research Center, citing census and government health statistics, said the trend toward mothers who are older and better educated cuts across all ethnicities in the United States.

 Between 1990 and 2008, the number of births to mothers older than 35 leapt from 368,000 to 603,000. One in seven babies -- or 14 percent of a total of about 4 million births -- were born to older mothers in 2008. Almost one in four were first-time mothers. The vast majority, 71 percent, had at least some college education before giving birth.

 By contrast, births to women younger than 20 declined from 533,000 in 1990 to 441,000 in 2008, or one in 10 babies. The teenage birthrate has declined steadily since 1990, except for a spike in 2006 and 2007.

 The statistics reflect far-reaching changes for women in society, affecting their decisions on when to marry and start families. The average age for marriage has been rising, as has the share of women who have attended college. Women with more education often delay marriage and childbearing while they complete their schooling and establish careers.

 The average age at which women have their first child is 25, a year older than in 1990.

 "It's clear that young adult transitions are being postponed," said Suzanne Bianchi, a sociologist at UCLA. "Children born to highly educated mothers increasingly are born later in life. The mothers are usually married, and they have a much higher chance of raising children in a stable marriage that lasts through a child's childhood."

 The delay in getting married also helps explain two seemingly contradictory trends. The number of unwed mothers has risen sharply in the United States, so that about four out of every 10 births are to unmarried women, which includes most births to women in their early 20s. At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of women who have never had children.

 Experts say some of that may be by choice, and some of it is timing.

 "We're trained to think science can solve all fertility problems," said Wendy Manning, a sociologist at Bowling Green State University, who teaches a class in fertility and family planning. "In fact, there are quite a few limitations."

 The Pew report included a survey on American attitudes toward parenthood that suggests there is less stigma attached to older mothers than once was common. About one in three disapproved of women having babies after age 40, undergoing fertility treatment or remaining childless; the rest said those were good things or made no difference to society.

 Maria Bachman, 42, who runs the Web site MothersOver35.com from her home outside Tucson, said actresses like Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, who are older mothers, have helped create a positive image of women who have children at the onset of middle age.

 "When they're put on the cover of magazines, they're showing it's not too late to be an older mom," said Bachman, who was 37 when she had her first child and 40 when she had her second. "In fact, older moms are considered sexy."

 When asked why they decided to have their first child, 87 percent of the parents in the Pew survey answered, "The joy of having children." But nearly half said, "There wasn't a reason. It just happened." |||||Summary:

– For the first time, the number of babies born to women over 35 exceeds the number being born to teens, reports the Pew Research Center. Of 2008's 4 million births, one in seven were to older mothers, while one in 10 were to teens. The new, slightly older face of the American mom reflects changes in fertility science, a move toward later marriage, and changing attitudes about childbearing, the Washington Post notes. And the new mom isn't just older, she's also better educated—54% of all new moms, and 71% of the over-35 crowd, have had some college education—and more likely to be unmarried. Some 41% are unwed, up from 28% in 1990. Interestingly, women don't appear to be timing their pregnancies too carefully: About half of the women surveyed said motherhood "just happened," notes the AP. (Click here for a list of celebs who didn't plan on getting pregnant, either.)


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DAMASCUS, Syria — Rifa was growing frantic. Her husband had called to say that he and her brother were stuck on their way home from work outside the Syrian capital, normally a 25-minute drive. There was fighting in a northern suburb, he said, and traffic was frozen.

 Tensions rose as the hours passed. It is never good to be out after dark in Damascus now, especially trapped in a traffic jam, unable to flee. Finally, Rifa’s husband called again. They had escaped and returned to their workplace to pass the night, another concession to their changing world.

 War has come to Damascus. Not on the scale of Aleppo or Homs, at least not yet. But the difference from just a few months ago is unmistakable. With sandbagged checkpoints every half-mile and soldiers methodically searching vehicles for weapons, simple movement is becoming impossible.

 “Where is Damascus headed? Are we the next Aleppo?” Rifa asked a few days later. “How soon before our city, our markets, are destroyed?”

 This is the center of Bashar al-Assad’s power, the stronghold he tried for months to shield from a popular uprising that has inexorably been transformed into a bloody civil war. As his troops battled insurgents all around the country, Mr. Assad was determined that here, at least, he would preserve an air of normalcy, of routine, of certainty that life would go on, as it had before.

 Such illusions are no longer possible. The reality of war has crept into daily life, and there is a sense of inevitability. Even supporters of the government talk about what comes next, and rebels speak of tightening the noose around this city, their ultimate goal.

 Damascus was once known for its all-night party scene. Now, few people venture out after dark, and kidnappings are rampant. Gasoline is increasingly scarce, and as winter approaches, people are worried about shortages of food and heating oil. Streets are closed at a moment’s notice, traffic diverted, bridges shut down. Even longtime residents and taxi drivers get lost and have to weave in and out of parking lots to avoid barriers and dead-end streets. Shelling and machine-gun fire are so commonplace, children no longer react.

 As recently as summer, while war raged in various neighborhoods surrounding the city, Damascus existed in a bubble of denial. War, people seemed to feel, was happening elsewhere — and the residents of Mr. Assad’s stronghold were determined to live their lives as if nothing had changed. There were garden parties and fashion shoots, and the Opera House hosted Italian tenors. There were elegant dinners at embassies — before the ambassadors fled, that is.

 But as summer faded, the strangulation of Damascus began. More checkpoints appeared. The shabiha — Arabic for ghosts — progovernment paramilitary forces who are often held responsible for the most violent crimes, were defiantly visible in foreign hotels.

 Now, suicide bombings are more frequent, and the rebels of the Free Syrian Army say they are slowly establishing control of the suburbs that ring the city, with the aim of slowly strangling the government. Some families say they are taking their children out of school and teaching them at home, because the drive to school is too dangerous.

 Discussions among friends are no longer “of the real world,” as one writer put it. Talk turns more naturally to the fate of the homeless in the city’s parks, or the traumatization of the children.

 “People,” one woman said, “talk of death.”

 To a reporter based in Paris who has been granted three visas in recent months to report freely in the country, Damascus seems now like a city under siege, where for most people danger is a wearying companion — so much so that the last names of those interviewed for this article are being withheld for their protection.

 Kidnapping of wealthy Syrians is on the rise, sowing fear in the city’s finest precincts. In Mezze, a politically and ethnically mixed neighborhood once known as the Beverly Hills of Damascus, people talk of the daughter of a local businessman who was kidnapped three weeks ago and ransomed for about $395,000. She was returned to her family, according to local residents, sexually abused, tortured and traumatized.

 Residents say the kidnappers are from either the Free Syrian Army or renegade offshoots of radical groups or are, in the government’s catchall phrase, “foreign terrorists.”

 One man, an Armenian Christian — “a minority within a minority,” he joked — said he was wary of laying blame on any one group. ||||| Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com ||||| The ongoing battles between rebel and government forces are taking their toll on cities in the country.

 The ongoing battles between rebel and government forces are taking their toll on cities in the country.

 The ongoing battles between rebel and government forces are taking their toll on cities in the country.

 Rumblings of discontent within Syria’s Alawite minority are presenting a new challenge to President Bashar al-Assad’s efforts to retain power in the face of an expanding armed rebellion, calling into question the loyalties even of his own sect in the conflict ravaging the country.

 Assad has increasingly come to rely on the 2.5 million-strong Alawite community for support as Syria’s Sunni majority has flocked to join the rebellion, sharpening the sectarian dimensions of an uprising that began as a largely spontaneous quest for greater freedoms inspired by the revolts sweeping the Arab world.

 Alawites, in turn, have rallied behind Assad’s leadership, spurred by fears for their future in a Syria they would no longer run and in which Sunni Islamists may play a major role should the rebels win.

 But now, from the Alawite heartland of Syria’s northern coastal region, come whispers of intrigue and strains within the Assad clan itself. A shootout between members of the extended Assad family in the president’s ancestral home town of Qardaha late last month and the detention of a prominent Alawite activist by the regime offer hints of unease within the one segment of the population whose unwavering support for Assad has hitherto not been in question.

 There is no indication that Alawites are on the verge of switching sides to join the fragmented and leaderless opposition, which has made little effort to welcome them. Indeed, many Alawites who initially welcomed demands for political reform fell silent long ago or lined up behind the Assad regime once the revolutionaries took up arms and Sunni extremists began to play a more prominent role, according to Alawite activists and residents of the Latakia region, where the minority community is concentrated.

 As members of an obscure and little-understood offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Alawites endured centuries of persecution under Sunni rule before Assad’s father, Hafez, seized power in 1970 and propelled them into the ranks of the elite. Many fear being relegated again to second-class status or, worse, being killed by Sunnis exacting revenge for the months of bloodshed inflicted by the Alawite-dominated security forces, Alawites say.

 The signs of tension within the community suggest at a minimum, however, that the pressures of the 19-month-old revolt are taking a toll on the cohesion of the Alawites.

 “The Alawites are critical for Assad’s survival. He wouldn’t survive a day without their complete support, so the fact that we are seeing tensions is significant,” said Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. “Most Alawites are upset with the regime, and they feel Assad is dragging their sect into a conflict they can’t eventually win.”

 Shootout in Qardaha

 Exactly what happened in Qardaha over the last weekend of September is unclear, and accounts differ over whether the dispute was rooted in political or personal rivalries. But all agree that there was an exchange of fire between two members of the Assad family in a cafe in the mountainous town where Hafez al-

 Assad was born and where his body is buried in a vast marble tomb.

 One of the men, local strongman Mohammed al-Assad, pulled his gun after being insulted by another Assad relative, Sakher Osman, the accounts say. Both men were injured in the ensuing shootout, along with as many as six others.

 Syria scholar Joshua Landis, who maintains close contact with the community through his Alawite wife, says the gun battle occurred only because Osman insulted Mohammed al-Assad, known locally as the “Sheik of the Mountain” for his role as the Assad family’s premier enforcer in the town. An e-mail from a relative in the area described how Bashar al-Assad intervened in the dispute, calmed tempers and restored order, said Landis, a professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma.

 Mohammed al-Saleh, an Alawite activist in Syria, said the fight was over the lucrative smuggling trade in cigarettes, weapons and other contraband that has thrived among the coastal Alawite clans under the Assad family rule. Attempts to read more into the incident are “nonsense,” he said.

 But suspicions that the quarrel reflected deeper political differences within the community were fueled by the fact that the shootout took place in a cafe owned by the prominent al-Khayer family, a longtime rival of the Assads; that one of those injured was a Khayer; and that the fight came days after the arrest of a prominent member of the family and a veteran dissident, Abdul Aziz al-Khayer.

 Khayer was detained in Damascus upon his return from a trip to Russia and then China as a representative of the opposition National Coordination Board, the Damascus-based grouping that is tolerated by the regime for its relatively moderate stance.

 The arrest came amid widespread speculation in the capital that Khayer was being groomed by Moscow for a potential role in a future government, according to a Damascus analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he fears for his safety. Activists who believe the gunfight signaled the emergence of a political split within the ruling Alawite clans say Osman was meeting with representatives of the Khayer family to mull a response to the arrest when Mohammed al-Assad strode into the cafe to break them up.

 The specter of a full-blooded Alawite feud seems remote, if only because the challenges to their survival are so immense that most Alawite clans understand they have to stick together, Landis said. A split within the ruling family would “be totally new, a paradigm shift” in the narrative of Syria’s revolt, he said.

 “I don’t believe it’s happening,” he said. “But it’s clear there’s a dynamic in Qardaha that is not in favor of Assad. There’s just so many tensions.”

 Exploiting fears

 Indeed, assumptions of Alawite loyalty to the regime mask a far more complex reality in which traditional clan rivalries are becoming tangled in deep frustrations among the many members of the community who have misgivings about the direction in which Assad is leading them, according to Alawite residents of the coastal region and exiled activists.

 A steady stream of coffins arrives daily in Alawite loyalist villages, containing the bodies of Alawite men killed in the fight against the rebels. Women wearing black are a common sight on streets festooned with Assad’s portraits. The government has not released casualty figures for its security forces, but if the widely touted number of at least 10,000 Alawite deaths is true, it would mean that Alawite loyalists are dying at a greater rate than Sunnis.

 A story, perhaps apocryphal but told often enough to lend it an air of authenticity, goes that a mother, upon being presented with the body of her third and last son to die fighting the rebels, asked the officer: “Are you going to kill every one of us just so that one man may survive?”

 Complaints that Alawite fears are being exploited by the regime to protect Assad and his family are growing steadily louder as the death toll mounts, according to an Alawite doctor from Latakia, who spoke on the condition of anonymity while on a trip to Beirut because he fears for his safety.

 “Assad is not representing the Alawites; he is using them,” he said. “If Alawites are prepared to die for Assad, it is because they fear for themselves, not because they love him.”

 Most impoverished Alawite communities benefited little from the ascent of the Assads, and they have historically formed an important component of the opposition to Assad’s rule, said an Alawite activist in Latakia who spent a decade in jail in the 1990s and did not want to be identified.

 But they were heavily recruited into the security services, and they have since been propelled onto the front lines as the accelerating defections of Sunni soldiers call into question the reliability of Sunni units, military experts say. The army is also increasingly relying on groups of armed irregulars known as the shabiha, drawn mostly from the Alawite community, and has been organizing them into local militias.

 Sunnis also serve in the shabiha in predominantly Sunni parts of the country such as Aleppo, Daraa and Deir al-Zour, confounding simple interpretations of the conflict as sectarian, Alawite and Sunni activists note.

 Many of the large-scale massacres of civilians known to have taken place, such as those in the villages of Houla and Qubair this summer, were blamed on Alawite shabiha, however. And though there have not been any recorded retaliatory massacres of Alawite civilians by the rebels, “the danger of widespread sectarian reprisals . . . is frighteningly real,” the International Crisis Group said in a recent report.

 Those fears, above all, are likely to continue to bind Alawites to Assad in what they have come to see as a fight for their survival, said Khashan, the professor.

 “He has left them with no option but to stay with him,” Khashan said. “He has succeeded in linking the fate of the Alawites to the fate of the regime.” ||||| In this Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012 photo, citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, the dead body of Syrian... (Associated Press)

 In this Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012 photo, citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, the dead body of Syrian... (Associated Press)

 Syrian activists say a string of government airstrikes on rebel areas in the country's north has killed at least 20 people, leveled buildings and forced residents to dig through mounds of rubble in search of survivors.

 The activists say the strikes happened late Wednesday and early Thursday and hit a total of four towns in Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

 They say residents are searching through the rubble in some of the towns, while in others the dead were buried before being identified.

 Videos of the strikes posted online show leveled buildings and survivors pulling bodies from the debris.

 Activist claims and videos could not be independently verified.

 President Bashar Assad's forces have increasingly relied on air power as the rebels have improved their fighting capabilities on the ground.

 THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

 BEIRUT (AP) _ Syria's state news agency says rebels have blown up two oil and gas pipelines in the northeast near the Iraqi border.

 The agency, SANA, says the attack hit one oil and one gas pipeline Thursday near the city of Deir al-Zour. The pipelines ran between Deir al-Zour and the city of Palmyra in central Syria.

 Anti-regime activists posted a video online purporting to show the blast site, with thick smoke billowing into the sky. The video could not be independently verified.

 SANA quoted an oil ministry official saying the lines were immediately shut off, the fires were extinguished and repairs would begin soon.

 Rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad have repeatedly bombed such pipelines.

 Activists say more than 33,000 people have been killed in 19 months of violence. ||||| FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 27, 2012 file photo, a boy stands in front of a shop destroyed from Syrian Army shelling in the center of Idlib, in northern Syria. Wealthy Syrians say the violence from the... (Associated Press)

 Syria's wealthy, long cultivated by President Bashar Assad as a support for his regime, are seeing their businesses pummeled by the bloody civil war. Factories have been burned down or damaged in fighting. International sanctions restrict their finances. Some warn that their companies are in danger of going under, worsening the country's buckling economy.

 Assad may not have lost the backing of Syria's business elite, but some are losing faith. Many of those who can have fled abroad, hoping to ride out the turmoil, which is now in its 19th month and is only getting worse as rebels and regime forces tear apart the country in their fight for power.

 Several businessmen interviewed by The Associated Press say resentment is growing against Assad over the crisis _ but they also aren't throwing their lot in with the rebellion. They are hunkering down, trying to salvage their companies.

 One young businessman said his family factory in the suburbs of Damascus was damaged Wednesday, with windows blown out and part of the ceiling was destroyed when warplanes hit rebels in a neighboring building. Its several hundred employees had to hide in the basement until fighting eased enough that they could be bused out to safety.

 "I feel that they are both just as bad as each other," he said of the rebels and the government. "I could have died today because they (the rebels) were across the street from us and they (the planes) could have bombed us."

 Syria's economy has been heavily hurt by the conflict, which activists say has left more than 30,000 dead. Inflation has risen to at least 36 percent. The currency has dropped around 50 percent, now trading at 75 pounds to the dollar on the black market, according to the factory owner. The government estimates economic losses at $34 billion _ almost half the gross domestic product _ though the opposition puts the losses at nearly three times that amount. Fuel shortages have become widespread as the regime burns through hard currency to import diesel and oil at the same time that it finances the war effort.

 Though the economic blow has been hard, "we are not at the stage that the rug has been pulled from under the regime," said Anthony Skinner, head of Middle East and North African division at Maplecroft political risk consultancy.

 Assad has so far been able to keep his head above water with financial support from top ally Iran, he noted.

 "The question is whether this is sustainable in the longer term and I don't think it is," Skinner said. "What Assad is counting on at present is a bare-bones economy that is able to fuel his armed forces."

 The businessmen interviewed by AP spoke on condition they remain anonymous and that some identifying details of their industries not be specified for fear of repercussions for talking about the situation in Syria.

 They all come from the country's Sunni Muslim elite, which Assad ensured prospered as he carried out free market reforms over the past decade. The reforms transformed the long isolated nation, bringing in foreign businesses and chains and greater consumer goods, though it also sharply increased the gap between rich and poor. While the rebellion has largely been fueled by the Sunni majority, the elite have stuck by Assad for most of the conflict.

 The businessmen say they are caught in the middle _ both of the fighting and of Western sanctions they say hurt them more than the regime itself. The civil war has made it difficult to distribute goods since roads are cut off, warehouses have been shut down and 24-hour operations have been slashed to eight hours in places where it is too risky for employees to travel at night. Numerous factories have had to close or reduce production. A pharmaceutical company in Aleppo was also recently burned down in the city's fighting, said a businessman with close ties to the owners.

 The owner of a plastics factory said his wife and children fled to London three months ago when the worst fighting yet hit the capital Damascus. Initially, he stayed behind but eventually followed them to London.

 He knows others who have left and now have little access to their local accounts and are unable to operate their businesses. That has fueled resentment of Assad, he said. Still, there is also a fear of what may happen to Syria if his regime collapses.

 "We feel this is a war by proxy," he said, referring to the influence of Shiite Iran, Russia and China backing Assad and Sunni Gulf states, France and the United States behind the opposition.

 If businesses fail, he warned, the new unemployed could further fuel the conflict. Already, 12 of his employees quit to work as "security" for the government.

 "I know what that means. They are Shabiha," he said, referring to the pro-Assad gunmen used in fighting against rebels and accused of killings of civilians. He said he paid the employees $200 a month, but the government pays Shabiha at least $300. "If I stop paying salaries to 400 people they will make a choice," he said.

 A physician who is among 14 owners of a hospital in Syria said only seven of his partners remain in the country. He is now in London while his wife and child are in California. He says most of his friends have also gone abroad.

 "Nobody is happy. I am seeking opportunities around the world. I'm homeless now with no hospital, no income," he said.

 The civil war means patients do not have the money to pay for needed surgeries and those traveling from outside Damascus are unable to reach the capital because roads are unsafe. Locally-made drugs are difficult to find due to shortages or distribution problems. Importing high-end machines and spare parts is difficult because even if selling the technology is not necessarily banned by sanctions, banks are reluctant to finance the purchases. He also cannot wire his money in Syria to the U.S., he said.

 He makes clear his unhappiness with Assad. "By the first speech of his excellency I knew he was an idiot," he said, referring to an Assad speech to parliament after protests broke out last year in which he took a tough line against the dissent. "If this is his way of thinking, I knew things would get worse."

 The United States and its European partners have stepped up sanctions already in place before the uprising began in March 2011.

 Among the most damaging is the European Union's halt on importing Syrian crude oil, which has cost the country billions of dollars. The EU has also banned its member-states from exporting to Syria weapons, dual-use equipment, luxury goods such as vehicles and jewelry. It froze the assets of the Syrian central bank within the EU, as well as those of more than 50 other Syrian entities and more than 150 people.

 It also bars EU banks from establishing new joint ventures or correspondent banking relationships with Syrian banks, and while "legitimate trade" can continue, it is under "strict conditions."

 The U.S. has also frozen assets of the Syrian government and a list of people and entities linked to the regime. It has banned Syrian oil imports and bars U.S. citizens from investing in Syria and exporting any services or supplies to Syria. Arab nations, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia also have separate sets of restrictions for doing business with Syria.

 The sanctions also have an indirect effect. European and other banks are reluctant to deal with Syrian businesses for fear of running afoul of sanctions. Transfers from Syrian banks _ particularly in dollars _ are difficult and sometimes impossible.

 "Most of the banks we deal with say we do not want to do business in Syria," said the plastics factory owner. He said his company's cash flow is under strain. A customer in Italy, for example, could not send him a payment because the European bank banned the transfer.

 The businessman whose factory was damaged Wednesday said a European bank also refused to back his purchase of spare parts from China. So he had to pull cash from his accounts in Lebanon and Turkey. Many have had to rely on relatives with foreign passports to open overseas accounts.

 "People are either changing dollars into euros or putting it in bags smuggled across the border," he added. "It's just pushing people's buttons. No sanctions have ever hurt any government." |||||

– This could change things: Some Syrian rebels now have antiaircraft missiles, rebels and regional officials say. Video footage appears to show the rebels using such weapons, which have been smuggled into the country, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rebels say they downed a military helicopter yesterday, one of at least four aircraft reportedly shot down this week—if true, that's a quicker pace since the summer, although it's not clear how the copters and jets were brought down. Despite the fact that this could be good news for the rebels, it's bad news for the US, which worries such weapons could end up with anti-Western militias. More from Syria: The rebels today blew up one oil pipeline and one gas pipeline near Deir al-Zour, the AP reports, citing state media. Meanwhile, at least 20 people were killed in government airstrikes on rebel areas last night and this morning, activists say. Though Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has tried to shield Damascus, war has now reached the capital, the New York Times reports. The fighting isn't as intense as in other cities like Aleppo or Homs, but it's drastically increased since a few months ago: Checkpoints abound, kidnappings are common, bombings are increasing, and it's not safe to go out after dark. "How soon before our city, our markets, are destroyed?" wonders one resident. Similarly, Syria's wealthy—many of whom back the president—are now seeing their businesses hurt by the war, and some are losing faith in Assad, the AP reports. Many have seen factories burned or otherwise affected by fighting, and others have had their money restricted by sanctions. Yet more trouble for Assad: Even his own sect, the Alawite minority, is growing discontent, the Washington Post reports. Alawites had been strong backers of Assad, as the Sunni majority backed the rebellion, because they feared losing power to Sunni Islamists. But, though there is no indication that Alawites plan to join the rebellion, there are reports of rifts even within Assad's own extended family.


– When law professor Anita Hill faced the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 to testify about the sexual harassment she said she endured from then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, she also faced down attacks on her character and credibility—and many (including Hill herself) still blame Joe Biden, the senator who led the panel, for allowing that to happen. Now he tells Teen Vogue he's sorry for his role. "I believed Anita Hill. I voted against Clarence Thomas," he says. "And my one regret is that I wasn't able to tone down the attacks on her by some of my Republican friends. I mean, they really went after her." He says he felt his hands were tied as he tried to simply play "judge" in the proceedings, but he wonders if he could've done more, including subpoenaing witnesses who may have backed Hill up. "I wish I had been able to do more for Anita Hill," he says. "I owe her an apology." Also making the rounds, per the New York Times: a video of Biden on The View Wednesday morning, in which he consoled Meghan McCain as they talked about the aggressive brain cancer both her dad, Sen. John McCain, and Biden's son, the late Beau Biden, were struck by. After an emotional McCain confessed to Biden she couldn't get through his book on Beau's life and his battle with glioblastoma, Biden took her hand and said to her: "One of the things that gave Beau courage, my word, was John." He then discussed recent breakthroughs in dealing with the cancer and told her that "if anybody can make it," it was the senator. "You gotta maintain hope." Among the online reaction to the segment, which can be viewed here, was a tweet from John McCain: "Thank you @JoeBiden & the entire Biden family for serving as an example & source of strength for my own family."

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 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Since film magnate Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment and assault in October, scores of women have come forward as part of the #MeToo movement to say that they, too, have been victims of sexual misconduct. As more and more people come forward with allegations against powerful people and some of those powerful people lose their jobs, some have called the moment in history a tipping point ; others have called it a reckoning . And while many are being taken to task for their alleged misconduct and there is potential for a cultural shift in the way we view sexual harassment and assault, this isn't the first time women have publicly spoken out against alleged harassers. In 1991, law professor Anita Hill sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Senator Joe Biden , and detailed the alleged harassment she experienced from her boss, Clarence Thomas, who was just about to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. Throughout Hill's testimony, she weathered attacks on her character and her trustworthiness from those on the Senate panel, and many have blamed Biden for allowing those attacks and failing to do more. Nearly three decades after her testimony, and after Thomas was seated on the court, Biden wants Anita Hill to know that he's sorry.

 In an interview with Teen Vogue 's editor in chief, Elaine Welteroth, Biden said there are a few things he would do differently if he could go back and redo those Anita Hill hearings.

 "I believed Anita Hill. I voted against Clarence Thomas. And I insisted the next election — I campaigned for two women Senators on the condition that if they won they would come on the Judiciary Committee, so there would never be again all men making a judgment on this," Biden said. "And my one regret is that I wasn’t able to tone down the attacks on her by some of my Republican friends. I mean, they really went after her. As much as I tried to intervene, I did not have the power to gavel them out of order. I tried to be like a judge and only allow a question that would be relevant to ask."

 But ultimately, Biden said he wasn't able to do enough.

 "I wasn’t able to convince three women we’d subpoenaed to cooperate with testimony. At the last minute, they changed their mind and said they wouldn’t do it. I had them sign an affidavit saying, ‘I want you to come, and you’re saying, “No, I will not come.“‘ In retrospect, some, including Anita, think I should have subpoenaed them no matter what," he said. "The reason I didn’t: I was worried they would come and not corroborate what she said and make — I mean, Clarence Thomas won by only two votes. And we still thought we had a chance at beating him."

 "I wish I had been able to do more for Anita Hill," he said. "I owe her an apology."

 Many, including Hill, have criticized Biden for allowing some of the remarks those on the Committee made, including insinuations that Thomas allegedly talking about women's breast sizes was "not too bad," according to The Washington Post. Some even said Biden's tone with Hill bordered on disbelief of her accusations. According to Politico , the hearing was "seen as Biden's subjecting an African-American woman to public humiliation and abuse." In fact, Biden has offered public apologies to Hill before , but she has said it wasn't enough.

 "I still don’t think it takes ownership of his role in what happened," Hill said in a recent interview with The Washington Post . "And he also doesn’t understand that it wasn’t just that I felt it was not fair. It was that women were looking to the Senate Judiciary Committee and his leadership to really open the way to have these kinds of hearings. They should have been using best practices to show leadership on this issue on behalf of women’s equality. And they did just the opposite."

 "You cannot just bring people forward into a process where you know they’re not going to be treated fairly," she continued. "That’s not being heard."

 In the Post interview, Hill said truly being heard is what women are grappling with today during the #MeToo movement. Biden told Teen Vogue something similar.

 "We’re now at a point here where we have a chance to change the culture," he said. Biden was clear that harassment is a part of our culture, deeply ingrained and even normalized to a point where we sometimes don't even notice it. Through his work on college campuses and involving men in the effort to prevent sexual violence through his It's on Us campaign, Biden said he hopes he's able to make some headway toward the sea change that's clearly coming.

 "I’ve gotten asked by press a lot of the last 23 years, how will I know when I’ve succeeded. We will have succeeded when not a single woman who is abused ever, ever, ever asks herself, What did I do?" he said. "We’ve got to change it. We’ve got to change the culture."

 Related: The Surprising Way Experts Are Successfully Combating Sexual Assaults on College Campuses |||||


Here is a news article: NB: This story is developing. To follow Tuesday’s updates click here.

 MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – Six people were shot dead in the city of Belgorod in southwest Russia on Monday afternoon, police said.

 Police said the assailant opened “random fire” at about 2 p.m. (10:00 GMT), before fleeing in the vehicle in which he had arrived at the scene.

 The state-run Rossiya 24 TV channel said the assailant was armed with a rifle and had begun shooting on the street before moving into a nearby store.

 The car was later found by police, who identified the suspect as a man of around 30 years of age with a criminal record. Special forces officers have been deployed to the address the suspect is believed to be holed up at, a law enforcement source told RIA Novosti.

 Police and the city administration said a 14-year-old girl was among the dead, five of whom died at the scene of the attack. The sixth victim died shortly after in hospital.

 ©Youtube, Sergey Ryabenko Six Dead in Belgorod Shooting Spree Zoom InAdd to blog Add video to blog You may place this material on your blog by copying the code. <object width="480" height="360" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://static-c.rian.ru/i/swf/riavideocv2.swf"><param name="movie" value="http://static-c.rian.ru/i/swf/riavideocv2.swf" /><param name="scale" value="noorder" /><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="devicefont" value="true" /><param name="flashvars" value="file=http%3A%2F%2Fnfw.aurora-video.ru%2Fflv%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fid%3D220133%2526fmt=xml%2526adv=0%2526img=http%3A%2F%2Fen.rian.ru%2Fimages%2F18078/06/180780669.jpg%26amp%3B©right=%C2%A0Youtube%2C%20Sergey%20Ryabenko&info_url=http://en.rian.ru/services/media/180780666-info.html&videofilesize=3.22Mb&videolen=28 s.&blog_url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.rian.ru%23blogcode&video_url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.rian.ru%2Fvideo%2F&skin_locale=eng"/></object> Six Dead in Belgorod Shooting Spree Zoom Out

 Media reports suggested a second suspect was involved in the attack, but this has not been confirmed by police.

 The attack comes some six months after a Moscow lawyer shot dead six people in the Russian capital in what was believed to have been his violent response to the end of a romance.

 Updates death toll, changes headline, additional information throughout. ||||| Police are searching for a suspect in the Monday shooting in the Russian city of Belgorod. A gunman opened fire near an arms shop, leaving six people dead and one injured. A 14-year-old girl is among those killed.

 Police have asked Belgorod residents not to leave their homes because of the special operation. The photo of the suspect – Sergey Pomazun, 32 – and his description have been posted on the internet. Law enforcers also warn that the man at large may be armed with a gas pistol and a semi-automatic rifle.

 Local authorities say that some 1200 police personnel are engaged in the search for the fugitive.

 Authorities have also sent a description of the suspect to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Kharkiv, Luhansk and Sumy regions. Border and customs controls have also been placed on high alert.

 Russia’s Interior Ministry has set a big reward for information about the suspect.

 Belgorod authorities earlier stated that the suspect had been detained by police. However, they then said that the report was published on the local administration’s website by mistake.

 “Information on the detention of the suspect has not been confirmed, the Interior Ministry told us two minutes ago,” the city administration’s press service told Interfax.

 The man is still at large. Currently, law enforcers are checking vehicles and housing estates in Belgorod and its outskirts, the regional Interior Ministry Department said.

 His residence was earlier cordoned off by police. While searching the suspect’s apartment, investigators discovered an open safe used for storing weapons, but found it empty. No weapon was located in the gunman’s abandoned car either.

 About 2pm local time (10:00 GMT) the gunman drove up to a shop in a dark BMW X5. Getting out of the car, he opened fire in the street and then inside the shop. He then managed to flee the scene in his vehicle.

 As a result of the shooting rampage, four men aged between 28 and 45, and two schoolgirls were killed, police said. One of the girls, a 16-year-old, was taken to a local hospital, but died later in the ICU. She would turn 17 in just over two weeks - on May 9.

 The Belgorod shooter allegedly used a Kalashnikov-based semi-automatic 7.62 caliber Saiga carbine, popular with hunters, reports Lifenews tabloid.

 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is being kept informed on the development of the situation, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

 The city administration has declared April 23 and 24 days of mourning in Belgorod. The authorities will also cover all the funeral expenses and provide financial aid to the families of the victims.

 Russia’s Emergencies Ministry sent a team of psychologists to the city to help the grieving relatives to cope with the tragedy.

 All churches in Belgorod region will hold memorial services for those killed in the shooting.

 Meanwhile, the residents of the city – known to be very calm and quiet – remain shocked by Monday’s tragedy. Police presence was beefed up in Belgorod with sounds of sirens breaking the silence in now almost empty streets.

 The suspect has a criminal record and has earlier been convicted four times, “mainly for thefts,” a source at regional Interior Ministry Told Interfax. It is alleged that he attempted to rob the arms shop.

 Conflicting reports suggest there were two suspects in the shooting, with witnesses having seen them according to some media reports. The two may have reportedly been father and son.

 According to law enforcers though, the suspect’s father, Aleksandr Pomazun, is actively cooperating with investigators.

 “Initially, [the father] was put on a wanted list, as the BMW that Sergey Pomazun drove in to the shop was registered on Aleksandr’s name,” the regional Interior Ministry told Interfax. “But soon Aleksandr’s whereabouts were identified and he gave detailed evidence during questioning.”

 Some media also stated that earlier the shooting suspect had undergone treatment at a psychiatric clinic. It was reported he had been sentenced to compulsory treatment by a court. However, the regional Investigative Committee did not confirm that information.

 On the eve of the bloodshed, Pomazun managed to escape road police after he violated driving regulations by driving on the opposite side of the lane and ignoring a red traffic light at a junction, reported Life News tabloid.

 Belgorod is a city with a population of over 420,000 people. It is located in the south of Russia’s European part, just 40km from the border with Ukraine.

 An amateur video from the scene shows a killed person lying on the ground.

 Locals say the shooting sparked panic among residents.

 Elena Petrenko - a witness to the drama, who works in a close-by supermarket - says they heard the shooting, which they at first confused for fireworks before looking out of the window.

 “There’s a school near [the shooting scene]. Children were running asunder and screaming,” she told RIA Novosti, adding that the area is generally very crowded with people as there are shops and a central market there.

 “A woman with a baby carriage and a child in her arms tried to run into a shop, but the salesmen closed the door right in front of her,” the witness added.

 “Employees of [a nearby] Sberbank office want to close the bank because of the incident. Connection is down. They are panicking,” @anastasiaskull posted on twitter.

 Police have “cordoned off the area,” says user @Angelina1Lina11. “Damn! I’m only 2-3 minutes far from home. It freaks me out.”

 “Everyone who lives in Belgorod, be careful,” warns @Lizaveta_31. “I was called up and told not to leave house. We’ve got shooting here.”

 “The reports are conflicting! So don’t believe anything, just keep safe! Don’t risk your lives!” adds another local resident, @TranceR1.

 Dozens of Belgorod residents came to the scene of the tragedy events bringing flowers and candles to commemorate the six victims. (Watch the video below posted on YouTube by Mir Belogorya)

 Legally acquired hunting weapons are used only in a tiny fraction of crimes registered in Russia, according to the police. Mass public shootings are also relatively rare, however, there have been several such cases in the last three years.

 According to Russia’s gun laws, Russian citizens can only buy smoothbore shotguns, gas pistols, or traumatic rubber-bullet revolvers. After five years of safe use of any of the above weapons one is allowed to purchase a rifle or carbine. However, merely having a gun license does not allow a citizen to carry a rifle – it is also obligatory to become a member of a hunting-and-fishing club.

 In November 2012, a Moscow lawyer shot six of his coworkers to death in an office over a broken relationship with a female colleague. Before the rampage, he also posted an online ‘hate manifesto’ on his Facebook page. The killer obtained a firearms certificate illegally, and it allowed him to carry two sporting guns to the scene of the crime – one of which turned out to be a rifle with 200 rounds of ammunition.

 Another case that sparked public outrage and enjoyed unprecedented media attention in Russia was a shooting spree and hostage drama in a Moscow supermarket staged by a district police department chief.

 The ‘killer cop’ gunned down two people and endangered lives of 22 others, injuring seven in the massacre. He also used an illegally-kept pistol to shoot at the approaching police and told them “it would be more fun if I had a machine gun” after he was detained.

 It remained unclear, whether the policeman got drunk while celebrating his birthday, or if he had some mental disorder, which the court eventually ruled out before sentencing the man to life in prison. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Six people have been killed and one injured in a shooting at a weapons store in southwest Russia. A 14-year-old and a 16-year-old were among those killed after a gunman arrived at the store in Belgorod by car, RT News reports. He reportedly attacked people outside with a semi-automatic weapon before entering the shop. He then fled in his car, RIA Novosti reports. The car has been found and officials reportedly know where the man is. Special forces are on their way, says an insider. The suspect is 31-year-old Sergey Pomazun, who reportedly has four previous convictions, mostly theft-related. Some reports pointed to a second suspect; the two may have been father and son. The suspect may have been trying to rob the shop.


– It's hard to fathom, but a Chicago woman has managed to get herself arrested 396 times in the last 35 years, reports NBC Chicago. This week, 52-year-old Shermain Miles got released from jail to a residential home for ex-cons, and she told the Sun-Times she is determined to avoid yet another return trip by staying away from old haunts and bad influences. "I’m really not that bad a person," she says. "It was the alcohol I was drinking that turned me into a monster." Her offenses range from minor ones such as disorderly conduct to scarier ones such as an assault on a local alderman two years ago. “Hopefully, she’s seen the light and is tired of being incarcerated," says the chair of the state's Parole Review Board.

Expand this summary.

A Chicago woman who has been arrested hundreds of times says that after her latest release from jail she is determined to turn her life around.

 Fifty-two-year-old Shermain Miles has been arrested 396 times in the past 35 years. Her offenses ranged from disorderly conduct and theft to attacking a City Council member.

 In June, a judge sentenced her to time served after she agreed to get mental health and substance abuse treatment.

 She was released Monday from the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.

 On her train journey home, Miles said that she's not a bad person but that alcohol had turned her "into a monster."

 She was headed Monday to a residential home for ex-inmates and says she's permanently given up drugs and alcohol.

 Copyright Associated Press ||||| Shermain Miles — arrested 396 times — out of prison, hopes for new start By Stefano Esposito Staff Reporter

 Article Extras

 Updated:

 Shermain Miles read her Bible on the train, ignoring the wind’s destruction outside as she returned to Chicago on Monday and prepared to pick up the pieces of her own shattered life.

 For those who had been dreading her return to a city where she has amassed 396 arrests since 1978, Miles said: “If they can find it in their hearts to forgive me . . .”

 The metal doors to Logan Correctional Center in Downstate Lincoln opened for Miles on Monday, after she served almost one year for her latest tangle with the law: assaulting Ald. James Cappleman (46th) two summers ago in Uptown.

 A white plastic cross dangled from Miles’ neck as an Illinois Department of Corrections officer escorted her to the Chicago-bound Amtrak train at the platform in tiny Lincoln.

 “I got a lawyer to sue y’all,” Miles said as a Chicago Sun-Times photographer approached.

 But after settling into her seat and enjoying a Snickers bar from the food car, Miles softened, saying she has permanently given up booze, drugs and her old buddies — a cocktail that often drove her to violence or left her lying in a stupor along a busy stretch of Bryn Mawr in Edgewater.

 “I’m just not going to go back around there,” said Miles, 52. “I can love [my friends] from a distance. Anybody that’s drugging, I can’t be around.”

 Nothing has worked to help Miles shed her demons — neither jail, nor prison nor countless psychological exams. Until now, said Miles, who was headed to Humboldt Park, to a second-chance residential home for ex-inmates.

 “I’m really not that bad a person,” Miles explained. “It was the alcohol I was drinking that turned me into a monster.”

 By all accounts, Miles was well-behaved during her most recent stay in prison.

 “She was a good prisoner,” said Tom Shaer, a Department of Corrections spokesman. “She did what she was asked. She broke no rules.”

 Adam Monreal, chair of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, has met with Miles perhaps half a dozen times — trying to find a way to break the cycle.

 Monreal says he’s optimistic that Miles will make it this time.

 “Life is a continuing battle,” he said. “Hopefully, she’s seen the light and is tired of being incarcerated. . . . She’s indicated she’s willing to change her behavior.”

 Cappleman, Miles’ victim in August 2012, said he hopes she gets the help she needs.

 “You cannot hang around the same places, with the same people, doing the same thing — that will trigger a relapse,” Cappleman said.

 Edgewater florist Rick Flinn predicts that will be soon.

 “Oh dear,” he said. “That will be nice for winter. She’ll be up there lying on the sidewalk in the snow.”

 Email: sesposito@suntimes.com

 Twitter: @slesposito |||||


Article:
Story highlights Ukraine is mobilizing troops around the country, official says

 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemns Russia's "invasion and occupation''

 Putin says Russia reserves the right to defend its interests and people

 Obama made clear violating Ukraine's sovereignty would impact Russia's standing

 Leaders of a shaky new government in Ukraine were mobilizing troops Sunday amid signs of Russian military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

 The Ukrainian National Security Council ordered the mobilization as Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to dismiss warnings from world leaders to avoid military intervention in Crimea, a senior Ukrainian official, Andriy Parubiy, said. The news came as evidence mounted that pro-Russian forces were already in Crimea, an autonomous region of eastern Ukraine with strong loyalty to neighboring Russia.

 A sense of escalating crisis swirled Saturday night, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemning what he called "the Russian Federation's invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory" despite a statement by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that no decision had been made on whether Moscow would dispatch forces.

 Russia has not confirmed it deployed thousands of troops to the region following reports that armed, Russian-speaking forces wearing military uniforms -- without insignia -- patrolled key infrastructure sites.

 It was the latest in fast-moving developments that saw Russia's Parliament sign off on Putin's request to send military forces into Ukraine, raising the stakes in the escalating game of brinksmanship.

 Putin cited in his request a threat posed to the lives of Russian citizens and military personnel based in southern Crimea. Ukrainian officials have vehemently denied Putin's claim. CNN crews in and around Crimea's regional capital of Simferopol, meanwhile, have not seen evidence of a Ukrainian military presence.

 Putin's move prompted world diplomats to call for a de-escalation of tensions that have put the two neighbors on a possible path to war and roiled relations between Russia and the United States.

 In what appeared to be an illustration of the growing schism between the two world powers, U.S. President Barack Obama and Putin spoke for 90 minutes -- with each expressing their concern over the mounting crisis, according to separate statements released by their respective governments.

 According to the Kremlin, Putin told Obama that Russia reserves the right to defend its interests in the Crimea region and the Russian-speaking people who live there.

 "President Obama made clear that Russia's continued violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would negatively impact Russia's standing in the international community," according to a statement released by the White House.

 Lean to the West, or to Russia?

 Ukraine, a nation of 45 million people sandwiched between Europe and Russia's southwestern border, has been plunged into chaos since the ouster a week ago of President Viktor Yanukovych following bloody street protests that left dozens dead and hundreds wounded.

 Ukraine has faced a deepening schism, with those in the west generally supporting the interim government and its European Union tilt, while many in the east preferring a Ukraine where Russia casts a long shadow.

 Nowhere is that feeling more intense than in Crimea, the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership. Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting tension in the autonomous region that might escalate into a bid for separation by its Russian majority.

 Ukraine acting President Oleksandr Turchynov took to the airwaves late Saturday to warn that any Russian military intervention would lead to war. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said his country was ready to mobilize its forces to protect strategic locations, including nuclear power plants.

 'The troops are already there'

 The crisis raised alarm bells with the worlds diplomats, with Ukrainian ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev calling on member nations of the U.N. Security Council to take a stand against what he called Russia's "clear act of aggression.''

 "... The troops are already there, and their number is increasing every hour," Sergeyev said during an emergency meeting of the Security Council.

 Russia now has 15,000 troops in Ukraine's Crimea region, Yegor Pyvovarov, the spokesman for the Ukraine mission at the United Nations, told CNN ahead of Saturday's session of the Security Council. He did not say how Ukraine arrived at that number, or whether that included troops already stationed at a Russian base in the region.

 Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, rejected Ukraine's calls to stop Russian intervention. "We can't agree with this at all," he said.

 He blamed members of the European Union for causing the bloody street demonstrations in Ukraine.

 "It's a difficult situation in the past few hours," Churkin said, claiming that there were Ukrainian forces from Kiev en route to to overthrow the local pro-Russian governments in eastern Ukraine and Crimea and establish new ones that would enforce the power of the new Ukrainian government.

 Churkin has said reports of Russian troops taking charge of positions on the ground were rumors and noted that rumors "are always not true."

 Crimea's pro-Russian leader asked for help

 The Russian Parliament vote Saturday came on the day that the newly installed pro-Russian leader of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, asked Putin for help in maintaining peace on the Black Sea peninsula -- where Russia's fleet is based at Sevastopol.

 Security forces "are unable to efficiently control the situation in the republic," he said in comments broadcast on Russian state channel Russia 24. Aksyonov was installed as the region's premier after armed men took over the Crimean Parliament building on Thursday.

 Aksyonov said that a referendum on greater Crimean autonomy, originally set for May 25, would be moved to March 30.

 Yatsenyuk called the Russian presence in Crimea a provocation.

 "Ukraine will not be provoked, we will not use force. We demand that the government of the Russian Federation immediately withdraw its troops and return to their home bases," he said during a televised Cabinet meeting.

 Meanwhile, Ukraine Defense Minister Igor Tenyukh said his nation's military was at its highest state of military readiness. He credited negotiations during the day between the Ukrainian and Russian naval chiefs with easing tensions and said more negotiations were planned for Sunday.

 Airspace in the region reopened Saturday, a day after Ukraine accused Russian Black Sea forces of trying to seize two airports in Crimea but said Ukrainian security forces had prevented them from taking control.

 Groups of armed men, dressed in uniforms without identifying insignia, patrolled the airports in Simferopol and the nearby port city of Sevastopol. The men remained at the airports Saturday, but Yevgey Plaksin, director of the airport in Simferopol, said airport services were working.

 Obama: Warning to Russia

 Meanwhile, Obama's message to Russia also reached Congress, where the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee called for an immediate response to Russia's move.

 "Every moment that the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in Ukraine," Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said in a statement.

 He called on Obama to "make clear what costs Russia will face for its aggression and to impose those consequences without further delay."

 Senior White House officials say they are looking at a wide range of possible economic and diplomatic measures to present to Obama that would show Putin there is a cost to his actions in Ukraine.

 The White House has already announced the United States will suspend participation in preparatory meetings for the G-8 Summit that will bring world leaders together in June in Sochi, Russia.

 "Going forward, Russia's continued violation of international law will lead to greater political and economic isolation," according to a statement released by the administration.

 Pressure was mounting on Russia as leaders from the EU and the UK joined an international outcry, with EU High Representative Catherine Ashton deploring Russia's "unwarranted escalation of tensions."

 During a telephone call with Putin, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he told the Russian leader that it was crucial to "restore calm and proceed to an immediate de-escalation of the situation."

 "Cool heads must prevail and dialogue must be the only tool in ending this crisis," he said. ||||| MOSCOW/KIEV Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded and won his parliament's approval on Saturday to invade Ukraine, where the new government warned of war, put its troops on high alert and appealed to NATO for help.

 Putin's open assertion of the right to send troops to a country of 46 million people on the ramparts of central Europe creates the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

 Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, leading a government that took power after Moscow's ally Viktor Yanukovich fled a week ago, said Russian military action "would be the beginning of war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia".

 Acting President Oleksander Turchinov ordered troops to be placed on high combat alert. Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said he had met European and U.S. officials and sent a request to NATO to "examine all possibilities to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine".

 Putin's move was a direct rebuff to Western leaders who had repeatedly urged Russia not to intervene, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who just a day before had held a televised address to warn Moscow of "costs" if it acted.

 Troops with no insignia on their uniforms but clearly Russian - some in vehicles with Russian number plates - have already seized Crimea, an isolated peninsula in the Black Sea where Moscow has a large military presence in the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet. Kiev's new authorities have been powerless to stop them.

 The Russian forces solidified their control of Crimea and unrest spread to other parts of Ukraine on Saturday. Pro-Russian demonstrators clashed, sometimes violently, with supporters of Ukraine's new authorities and raised the Russian flag over government buildings in several cities.

 "This is probably the most dangerous situation in Europe since the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968," said a Western official on condition of anonymity. "Realistically, we have to assume the Crimea is in Russian hands. The challenge now is to deter Russia from taking over the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine."

 Putin asked parliament to approve force "in connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, the threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots" and to protect the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.

 The upper house swiftly delivered a unanimous "yes" vote, shown live on television.

 Western capitals scrambled for a response, but it was limited to words. A U.S. official said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu. The official said there had been no change in U.S. military posture.

 EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton urged Moscow not to send troops. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said this would be "clearly against international law". Czech President Milos Zeman likened the crisis to the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.

 "Urgent need for de-escalation in Crimea," tweeted NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "NATO allies continue to coordinate closely."

 Putin said his request for authorization to use force in Ukraine would last "until the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country". His justification - the need to protect Russian citizens - was the same as he used to launch a 2008 invasion of Georgia, where Russian forces seized two breakaway regions and recognized them as independent.

 FLAGS TORN DOWN

 So far there has been no sign of Russian military action in Ukraine outside Crimea, the only part of the country with a Russian ethnic majority, which has often voiced separatist aims.

 A potentially bigger risk would be conflict spreading to the rest of Ukraine, where the sides could not be easily kept apart.

 As tension built on Saturday, demonstrations occasionally turned violent in eastern cities, where most people, though ethnically Ukrainian, are Russian speakers and many support Moscow and Yanukovich.

 Demonstrators flew Russian flags on government buildings in the cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk.

 In Kharkiv, scores of people were wounded in clashes when thousands of pro-Russian activists stormed the regional government headquarters, and fought pitched battles with a smaller number of supporters of Ukraine's new authorities.

 Pro-Russian demonstrators wielded axe handles and chains against those defending the building with plastic shields.

 In Donetsk, Yanukovich's home region, lawmakers declared they were seeking a referendum on the region's status.

 "We do not recognize the authorities in Kiev, they are not legitimate," protest leader Pavel Guberev thundered from a podium in Donetsk.

 Thousands of followers, holding a giant Russian flag and chanting "Russia, Russia" marched to the government headquarters and replaced the Ukrainian flag with Russia's.

 Coal miner Gennady Pavlov said he backed Putin's declaration of the right to intervene. "It is time to put an end to this lawlessness. Russians are our brothers. I support the forces."

 "WAR HAS ARRIVED"

 On Kiev's central Independence Square, where protesters camped out for months against Yanukovich, a World War Two film about Crimea was being shown on a giant screen, when Yuri Lutsenko, a former interior minister, interrupted it to announce Putin's decree. "War has arrived," Lutsenko said.

 Hundreds of Ukrainians descended on the square chanting "Glory to the heroes. Death to the occupiers."

 Although there was little doubt that the troops without insignia that have already seized Crimea are Russian, the Kremlin has not yet openly confirmed it. It described Saturday's authorization as a threat for future action rather than confirmation that its soldiers are already involved.

 A Kremlin spokesman said Putin had not yet decided to use force, and still hoped to avoid further escalation.

 In Crimea itself, the arrival of troops was cheered by the Russian majority. In the coastal town of Balaclava, where Russian-speaking troops in armored vehicles with black Russian number plates had encircled a small garrison of Ukrainian border guards, families posed for pictures with the soldiers. A wedding party honked its car horns.

 "I want to live with Russia. I want to join Russia," said Alla Batura, a petite 71-year-old pensioner who has lived in Sevastopol for 50 years. "They are good lads...They are protecting us, so we feel safe."

 But not everyone was reassured. Inna, 21, a clerk in a nearby shop who came out to stare at the APCs, said: "I am in shock. I don't understand what the hell this is... People say they came here to protect us. Who knows? ... All of our (Ukrainian) military are probably out at sea by now."

 The rapid pace of events has rattled the new leaders of Ukraine, who took power in a nation on the verge of bankruptcy when Yanukovich fled Kiev last week after his police killed scores of anti-Russian protesters in Kiev. Ukraine's crisis began in November when Yanukovich, at Moscow's behest, abandoned a free trade pact with the EU for closer ties with Russia.

 For many in Ukraine, the prospect of a military conflict chilled the blood.

 "When a Slav fights another Slav, the result is devastating," said Natalia Kuharchuk, a Kiev accountant.

 "God save us."

 (Additional reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel in Balaclava, Ukraine, Timothy Heritage, Stephen Grey and Peter Graff in Kiev, Lina Kushch in Donetsk and Peter Apps in London; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alistair Lyon) ||||| Unidentified gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms block the entrance of the Crimean Parliament building in Simferopol, Ukraine, Saturday, March 1, 2014. The discord between Russia and Ukraine sharpened... (Associated Press)

 KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked parliament for permission to use the country's military in Ukraine, the Kremlin said Saturday.

 Putin said the move is needed to protect ethnic Russians and the personnel of a Russian military base in Ukraine's strategic region of Crimea.

 "I'm submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

 He sent the request to the Russian legislature's upper house, which has to approve the motion, according to the constitution.

 In Crimea, the pro-Russian regional prime minister had earlier claimed control of the military and police there and asked Putin for help in keeping peace, sharpening the discord between the two Slavic neighbor countries.

 It was the latest escalation following the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president last week by a protest movement aimed at turning Ukraine toward the European Union and away from Russia.

 Armed men described as Russian troops took control of key airports and a communications center in Crimea on Friday. Ukraine has accused Russia of a "military invasion and occupation" — a claim that brought an alarming new dimension to the crisis, and raised fears that Moscow is moving to intervene on the strategic peninsula where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.

 Ukraine's population is divided in loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea is mainly Russian-speaking.

 Crimean's prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, declared that the armed forces, the police, the national security service and border guards in the region will answer only to his orders.

 Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk opened a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Kiev, by calling on Russia not to provoke discord in Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea.

 "We call on the government and authorities of Russia to recall their forces, and to return them to their stations," Yatsenyuk was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "Russian partners, stop provoking civil and military resistance in Ukraine."

 ___

 Vladimir Isachenkov reported from Moscow. |||||Summary:

– Tensions in the Ukraine just keep escalating. Although President Obama warned Russia not to send troops, Vladimir Putin today got official permission to do just that. The Russian president asked parliament to let him send forces to the "territory of Ukraine" to protect ethnic Russians in the region of Crimea and possibly elsewhere, reports AP. And in a not-so-surprising development, lawmakers agreed unanimously, reports CNN. Earlier, the pro-Russian prime minister of Crimea had made a formal request of his own for Putin's help. The Ukraine government in Kiev, meanwhile, says Russia already has sent 6,000 troops to Crimea, even if it hasn't acknowledged as much, reports the BBC. The upshot is that "the Black Sea peninsula appeared to slip beyond Kiev's control," says Reuters. And it quotes one political analyst who says "the scenario of Crimea's withdrawal (from Ukraine) has been accelerated." Soldiers presumed to be either part of the Russian military or at least backed by the military control the airports, government buildings, and the main communications center in Crimea. Airspace around the main airport in Simferopol has been shut down.


Two bills that would increase restrictions on North Dakota’s abortion laws are headed to the governor’s desk after passage by the Senate on Friday.

 If signed, the bills would create some of the toughest abortion laws in the nation.

 House Bill 1305 would make it a Class A misdemeanor for a physician to willingly perform an abortion based specifically on gender or on genetic abnormalities.

 House Bill 1456 requires a physician to determine whether there’s a detectable heartbeat prior to performing an abortion. A physician who willingly performs an abortion after the detection of a heartbeat could be subject to a Class C felony.

 HB1456, if signed by Gov. Jack Dalrymple, would enact the earliest abortion restriction in the nation. Heartbeats have been detected as early as approximately six weeks after conception.

 “The time has come to choose life,” said Sen. Spencer Berry, R-Fargo, who spoke briefly in favor of HB1456. No further debate followed before the Senate passed the bill 26-17.

 Opponents of the bill in past hearings have pointed to federal law that protects abortions up to where an unborn child can survive outside the womb, approximately 24 weeks.

 The potential six-week mark is even stricter than a bill passed by the Arkansas Legislature that enacts a near-ban after 12 weeks. A federal court earlier this month overturned an Idaho law banning abortions after 20 weeks.

 Nearly all of Friday’s debate was centered on HB1305, which passed by a 28-15 vote minutes earlier.

 The debate included emotional appeals and personal stories from senators, as well as a brief delay during floor votes on two divided portions of the bill when a Democratic member of the Senate left the chamber.

 Sen. Connie Triplett, D-Grand Forks, was later excused, but her departure drew a rebuke from the majority leader and a warning for senators not to do that in the future.

 Sen. Margaret Sitte, R-Bismarck, introduced HB1305, calling on her Senate colleagues to vote against what she called sex discrimination.

 “This gender-cide has led to ... a well-documented gender gap,” Sitte said.

 Sen. Carolyn Nelson, D-Fargo, disputed Sitte’s claim of gender-based abortions in North Dakota. She said the issue of such abortions stems from the Chinese law restricting couples living in urban areas to one child.

 “We don’t live in China. We live in North Dakota. This is not a problem in North Dakota,” Nelson said.

 According to records from the state’s only abortion facility, there have been no instances of an abortion being performed for gender reasons, she said.

 Minority Leader Mac Schneider, D-Grand Forks, then asked to have HB1305 split into two parts for separate votes before voting on the final bill. The motion was approved.

 The bill was divided, with one section removing the wording about genetic abnormalities.

 Berry said allowing sex-selective abortions and those based on genetic abnormalities is a path down the “slippery slope of eugenics.”

 “We get in a dangerous area for future precedent,” Berry said.

 Triplett called the comparison to China “silly” and called the Legislature’s attempt to govern women’s bodies “an abomination.”

 She said the Chinese law was passed to address a fear of rapidly rising population and a consequence was that couples would have sons overwhelmingly. When the law was enacted in the late 1970s, only men could own property, she said.

 Sitte said abortion providers can claim that no abortions are being conducted based on gender “because they don’t have to give a reason.”

 She said North Dakota was a leader in passing its anti-discrimination laws and HB1305 boils down to a question of discrimination.

 “Is it right to discriminate against a human being?” Sitte said.

 Before the first vote was taken, Triplett left the chamber. After brief discussion on Senate rules relating to absences and voting, Triplett was excused so the vote could proceed. The first part of the bill then passed by a 37-6 vote.

 Sen. Terry Wanzek, R-Jamestown, spoke about the second section, which stripped the reference to genetic abnormalities from the bill. He noted that his sister was born with a genetic abnormality and said nothing about her makes her life less valuable.

 “These are special people here for a special purpose,” Wanzek said.

 The second part of the bill also passed, and the full HB1305 then passed by a 28-15 vote.

 Before the Senate adjourned, Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, told members that Senate rules require those who are on the floor and in attendance to vote. He said absences can be excused only by first checking with the leader of the senator’s party and that the absent senator must have a legitimate excuse.

 Wardner told his colleagues that if any of them are thinking of leaving as Triplett did, they should “get it out of your mind.” If that happens, he said, the Senate will wait for them to return. ||||| Little more than a week after Arkansas adopted the country’s most stringent abortion limits , banning the procedure at 12 weeks of pregnancy , the North Dakota Legislature on Friday passed a more restrictive bill that would ban most abortions as early as 6 weeks into pregnancy.

 The Legislature, which is dominated by Republicans, also passed a second measure that would ban abortions sought because of a genetic abnormality or to select the sex of the child.

 Both bills must be signed by Gov. Jack Dalrymple, a Republican, to become law. As of Friday afternoon, the governor had not said whether he would do so.

 No other state has barred abortions because of evidence that a fetus has a genetic defect like Down syndrome, which rises in incidence with maternal age, leading many pregnant women to seek tests for the disorder. Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Arizona have all banned abortions for the purpose of gender selection.

 National abortion rights groups, including the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, condemned the measures that passed the North Dakota Senate on Friday, after previous approval by the House. These groups warned that if adopted, both measures would be declared unconstitutional by federal courts.

 Under Supreme Court rulings, women have a right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, generally around 24 weeks into pregnancy.

 “We urge the governor to veto all of these bills to ensure that this personal and private decision can be made by a woman and her family, not politicians sitting in the Capitol,” said Jennifer Dalven, the director of the A.C.L.U.’s Reproductive Freedom Project.

 One of the newly passed North Dakota bills outlaws abortions when a fetal heartbeat is “detectable” using “standard medical practice.” Heartbeats are often detectable at about 6 weeks, using an intrusive transvaginal ultrasound, or at about 10 to 12 weeks when using abdominal ultrasounds.

 The bill does not specify a time threshold or whether doctors with a patient in the initial weeks of pregnancy must use the transvaginal probe. A proposed law in Virginia last year that would have required use of the transvaginal ultrasound caused a national outcry, and the bill was ultimately shelved. Arkansas declared a 12-week limit specifically to avoid that controversy.

 But some experts said that doctors in North Dakota, which has only one clinic performing abortions, in Fargo, could face prosecution if they did not use the vaginal ultrasound when necessary to detect a heartbeat. Doctors who knowingly perform abortions in violation of the measure, if it is adopted, could be charged with a felony that carries a five-year prison sentence; the patients would not face criminal charges.

 The law makes exceptions for abortion to save the life of the mother or for other severe medical emergencies, but not in cases of rape or incest.

 In 2011, according to state data, 1,247 abortions were performed in North Dakota. If the ban becomes law, more than 75 percent of the procedures could be outlawed, according to Elizabeth Nash, a state issues manager with the Guttmacher Institute in Washington, a research group that supports abortion rights.

 The early abortion ban was sponsored by Representative Bette Grande, a Republican from Fargo.

 “A heartbeat is accepted by everyone as a sign of life,” she said in a blog posting on Tuesday as she argued that it was time for the Supreme Court to revisit the definition of viability. ||||| North Dakota on Friday moved closer to adopting what would be the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, with lawmakers sending the Republican governor measures that could set the state up for a costly legal battle over the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized the procedure.

 North Dakota state Sen. Minority Leader Mac Schneider, D-Grand Forks, left, and Sen. Majority Leader Rich Wardner, second from left, converse with Senate President, Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley, right, on the... (Associated Press)

 North Dakota state Sen. Bonnie Triplett, D-Grand Forks, speaks out against HB1305 before leaving the chamber without casting a vote on the bill at the state Capitol, Friday, March 15, 2013 in Bismarck,... (Associated Press)

 North Dakota state Sen. Carolyn Nelson, D-Fargo, speaks out against HB1305 during the chamber floor debate at the state Capitol, Friday, March 15, 2013 in Bismarck, N.D. The North Dakota Senate overwhelmingly... (Associated Press)

 Rep. Bette Grande, R-Fargo, talks to reporters at the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D., Friday, March 15, 2013. The North Dakota Senate approved two anti-abortion bills Friday, one banning abortions as... (Associated Press)

 North Dakota state Sen. Margaret Sitte, R-Bismarck, speaks in favor of HB1305 during the chamber floor debate at the state Capitol, Friday, March 15, 2013 in Bismarck, N.D. The North Dakota Senate overwhelmingly... (Associated Press)

 In this Jan. 31, 2013 file photo, Rep. Bette Grande testifies before the House Human Services Committee in Bismarck, N.D. The North Dakota Senate approved two anti-abortion bills Friday, March 15, 2013,... (Associated Press)

 The North Dakota Senate overwhelmingly approved two anti-abortion bills Friday, one banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy and another prohibiting women from having the procedure because a fetus has a genetic defect, such as Down syndrome. North Dakota would be the first state in the U.S. to adopt such laws.

 Supporters said their goal is to challenge the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks, though anti-abortion activists elsewhere have expressed concern about the strategy.

 "It's a good day for babies," said Rep. Bette Grande, a Republican from Fargo who introduced both bills. The state's only abortion clinic is in Fargo, and abortion-rights advocates say the measures are meant to shut it down.

 Gov. Jack Dalrymple hasn't said anything to indicate he would veto the measures, and the bills have enough support in each chamber for the Legislature to override him.

 Debate Friday was brief, with the Senate taking about an hour to pass both measures. No one spoke against the so-called fetal heartbeat bill, which the Senate took up immediately after passing the genetic abnormalities bill. The votes were largely on party lines, with Republicans supporting the measures and Democrats opposing them.

 Opponents, who have promised legal challenges to both measures if they become law, urged Dalrymple to veto the bills. North Dakota is one of several states with Republican-controlled Legislatures and GOP governors that is looking at abortion restrictions. But the state is better positioned than most for a long court fight: It has budget surplus nearing $2 billion thanks to new-found oil wealth.

 The American Civil Liberties Union called the measures "extreme," saying they would make North Dakota "the first state in the nation to ban most abortions."

 "In America, no woman, no matter where she lives, should be denied the ability to make this deeply personal decision," ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement.

 Arkansas passed a 12-week ban earlier this month that prohibits most abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound. That ban is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the Arkansas Legislature adjourns.

 A fetal heartbeat can generally be detected earlier in a pregnancy using a vaginal ultrasound, but Arkansas lawmakers balked at requiring women seeking abortions to have the more invasive imaging technique.

 North Dakota's measure doesn't specify how a fetal heartbeat would be detected. Doctors performing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected could face a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Women having an abortion would not face charges.

 While some abortion opponents welcomed Arkansas' new law as a bold challenge to Roe v. Wade, others favor more incremental strategies, fearing such bans could lead to emphatic rejections in court.

 A similar fetal heartbeat bill was debated by Ohio lawmakers last year before being blocked by the Senate president. The measure, which could be revived this year, fractured Ohio's anti-abortion movement in a debate over its tactical effectiveness.

 Grande told lawmakers that fears about a legal challenge shouldn't prevent them from approving the North Dakota measure.

 "Whether this is challenged in court is entirely up to the abortion industry," Grande told lawmakers this week. "Given the lucrative nature of abortion, it is likely that any statute that reduces the number of customers will be challenged by the industry."

 During the Senate debate, one senator who had spoken out against the genetic abnormalities bill left the chamber in protest. The move forced the Senate to briefly halt debate, because the chambers rules require senators to be formally excused. The Senate was able to move forward with proceedings on the bill by passing a motion to excuse the senator.

 "It was absolutely a silent protest," Sen. Connie Triplett told The Associated Press after the vote. "North Dakota will have a harder time recruiting and retaining doctors because doctors will not want to be arrested for advising women on abortion issues."

 Sen. Margaret Sitte, a Republican from Bismarck, said the genetic abnormality bill is meant to ban the destruction of life based on "an arbitrary society standard of being good enough." Some test results pointing to abnormalities are incorrect, she said, and doctors can perform surgeries even before a baby is born to correct some genetic conditions.

 Sitte's voice cracked as she described developmentally challenged children she knows. "Their hugs are tighter, their laughter louder and their empathy more sincere" than so-called "normal people," she said.

 The genetic abnormalities bill also bans abortion based on gender selection. Pennsylvania, Arizona and Oklahoma already have such laws, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion restrictions across the U.S.

 The Senate approved the genetic abnormalities bill 27-15; the House vote was 64-27. The Senate approved the fetal heartbeat bill 26-17; the House vote was 63-28.

 ___

 Follow James MacPherson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/macphersonja. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Abortion opponents in North Dakota have one-upped their peers in Arkansas. Less than two weeks after the latter state banned abortions after 12 weeks, North Dakota lawmakers approved a ban after six weeks, reports the Bismarck Tribune. They also voted to outlaw abortions when a genetic defect is discovered—Down syndrome, for example—or when parents don't like the sex of their fetus. Gov. Jack Dalrymple hasn't said whether he will sign the measures, but proponents have enough votes to override even if he vetoes them, reports AP. Which means it's a safe bet that the state will soon have the strictest abortion laws in the nation. Lawmakers picked six weeks because that's when a heartbeat can be detected by transvaginal ultrasound, the intrusive procedure that set off controversy in Virginia last year, reports the New York Times. Arkansas picked 12 weeks because a heartbeat can be detected with an abdominal ultrasound at that point. Assuming the North Dakota bills become law, expect legal challenges to follow. No other state, for example, has a law that outlaws abortions over a genetic defect. Of the 1,247 abortions performed in the state in 2011, 75% would be illegal under the new legislation, according to a research group that backs abortion rights. That could well mean that the state's only abortion clinic, in Fargo, would have to close its doors.