World/Nation Briefs October 1, 2013

Netanyahu to Obama: Keep Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON - Despite soothing assurances from Iran's new leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implored President Barack Obama on Monday to keep punishing sanctions in place against Tehran - and even tighten them if the Islamic republic advances its nuclear programs while negotiating with the U.S.

Netanyahu nevertheless signaled he would not block Obama's efforts to seek a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear impasse, even as he expressed skepticism about the Iranian government

"If diplomacy is to work, those pressures must be kept in place," Netanyahu said of the sanctions during an Oval Office meeting with Obama.

The two men met three days after Obama's historic phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which marked the first direct conversation between a U.S. and Iranian leader in more than three decades. While the election of Rouhani, a more moderate-sounding cleric, has been viewed optimistically by the Obama administration, Netanyahu has dismissed the new Iranian leader's outreach as a "smiley campaign" aimed at buying Tehran more time to pursue a bomb.

Obama, who has long called for a negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute, said it was important to test the possible diplomatic opening. But he insisted that U.S. officials were "clear-eyed" as they enter talks with the Iranians.

Immigrants try to return across bridge on border

LAREDO, Texas - Nearly three dozen migrants marched across the U.S.-Mexico border without papers Monday, the latest group of a younger generation brought to the U.S. illegally as children that seeks to confront head-on immigration policies they consider unjust.

Wearing a colorful array of graduation-style caps and gowns, 34 young people who spent long stretches of their childhoods in U.S. cities like Phoenix and Boston chanted "undocumented and unafraid" as they crossed the Rio Grande into Texas. Customs officials separated them from regular pedestrian traffic and the rest of their entourage before beginning lengthy interviews.

The risks borne by their parents' generation involved dangerous journeys through darkness across desert and river. The teenagers and 20-somethings who crossed Monday face what could be weeks in detention and possible deportation as part of what could be a growing form of public protest.

They follow the "Dream Nine," a smaller group that attempted to enter the U.S. at Nogales, Ariz., in July. They requested asylum and were released after about two weeks in detention to await their turn before a judge. Monday's contingent expected something similar.

Storm brings tornado to Pacific Northwest

SEATTLE - A rare tornado damaged industrial buildings south of Seattle as an unseasonable September storm dumped record amounts of rain and temporarily knocked out power for thousands in the Pacific Northwest.

The tornado at 7:20 a.m. Monday hit the industrial area of Frederickson, tearing a hole in the roof of the Northwest Door factory, blowing out car windows at a nearby Boeing factory, and damaging a building where sections of a downtown Seattle tunnel project were being assembled.

There were no injuries at those buildings or at nearby homes, where trees also fell.

A team from the National Weather Service office in Seattle went to the scene and confirmed the tornado from eyewitness accounts, meteorologist Johnny Burg said.

The Weather Service classified the tornado as an EF1, with a maximum wind speed of 110 mph.

The damage, including a jagged 40-by-40-foot hole in the roof at Northwest Door, stopped work at the factory that makes garage doors. About 100 workers evacuated.

Widespread theft in aftermath of Kenya mall siege

NAIROBI, Kenya - Jewelry cases smashed. Mobile phones ripped from displays. Cash registers emptied. Alcohol stocks plundered.

For the second time in two months, poorly paid Kenyan security forces that moved in to control an emergency are being accused of robbing the very property they were supposed to protect. First the troops were accused of looting during a huge fire in August at Nairobi's main airport.

Now shop owners at Westgate Mall are returning to their stores after last week's devastating terrorist attack to find displays ransacked and valuables stolen.

One witness told said he saw a Kenyan soldier take cigarettes out of a dead man's pocket.

Shopkeepers spent Monday carting merchandise and other valuables out of their stores and restaurants to prevent any more thefts. No one can say for sure who is responsible, but Kenya's security forces are strongly suspected.

Soon after the attack began on Sept. 21, Kenyan officials put a cordon around the mall, allowing only security forces and a few government personnel to pass through.

- The Associated Press