Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
bjbjLULU HARI SREENIVASAN: The new American ambassador to Afghanistan was sworn in today
and pledged there would be no rush to the exits. Ryan Crocker takes over as the U.S.
begins withdrawing 10,000 troops by the end of the year. He said the U.S. has no interest
in using Afghanistan to influence neighboring nations. Meanwhile, the NATO toll in Afghanistan
grew by one today. An Italian paratrooper was killed in an insurgent attack in the west.
So far in July, 44 international troops have been killed in Afghanistan. The government
of Syria endorsed a draft law allowing other political parties to form. The move is part
of a series of reforms President Bashar al-Assad and his ruling Baath Party promised in the
face of a popular uprising. But the opposition has dismissed the law as largely symbolic.
It came as Syrian security forces detained more people in Damascus and other cities for
holding anti-government protests. The maid who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn
of sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan hotel room broke her silence today. Nafissatou
Diallo told Newsweek, "I want him to go to jail. I want him to know there are some places
you cannot use your power." She also told her side of the story in a televised interview
with ABC News. Prosecutors have voiced concerns about her credibility, and are weighing whether
to proceed with the case. Strauss-Kahn has denied the allegations against him. For more
on this, we're joined by John Solomon, news director at Newsweek and The Daily Beast,
who spent three hours with Diallo during a recent interview. Thanks for being with us.
JOHN SOLOMON, Newsweek: Oh, glad to be here. HARI SREENIVASAN: So, after those three hours,
what about her side of the story struck you most? JOHN SOLOMON: Well, the general consistency
from what we heard in the public and from what we saw in the indictment. She has told
this story to an awful lot of people, detectives, and hospital workers, and the grand jurors,
and the prosecutors. And everything we heard sounded very much like the body of evidence
that we gathered at Newsweek when we did the story, conforming to hotel key records and
phone records. And there were also moments where you saw her evasiveness, her reluctance
to talk about things, particularly about her past in Africa, when she was in Guinea. And
I think that also struck us. HARI SREENIVASAN: And so what was the reason that she gave for
why she's coming out now? Is the relationship between the prosecution that frayed? JOHN
SOLOMON: Yes, I think it's really two factors. One is that the relationship with the prosecutors
has really gone south in the last month. After her lawyer came forward and disclosed some
of the problems with her prior credibility, things went south there. And I think the second
part is she personally was offended by the media coverage, where she is starting to be
portrayed as a *** and as a gold-digging con artist. And she wanted to correct the
record. She said it really bothered her watching TV, seeing these headlines and being portrayed
as something she felt she wasn't. HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, John Solomon of Newsweek and The
Daily Beast, thanks so much for being with us. JOHN SOLOMON: My pleasure. The United
Auto Workers opened contract talks with Chrysler today, the first in a new round of negotiations
with all the Detroit automakers. Company and union officials wore matching jackets in a
show of solidarity as they kicked off the talks. Workers are pushing for a bigger share
of the profits, but Chrysler is looking to keep costs down. UAW members gave up raises
and benefits to keep the industry afloat four years ago. Chrysler's current contract with
the union expires in mid-September. The National Football League and its players have reached
an agreement that will end a four-month-old lockout. Representatives of the Players Association
met today in Washington and voted unanimously to accept a 10-year deal struck over the weekend
with team owners. That bargain now goes to the Players Association, but is expected to
pass. Training camps could begin as early as Wednesday, and the regular season would
begin Sept.8, as scheduled. Opponents of New York's gay marriage law sued to overturn it
today. Marriage ceremonies started yesterday, the first day same-sex couples could legally
wed under a new state law. Hundreds of gay couples across the state began tying the knot.
Opponents claim the New York Senate stopped lawmakers from speaking against the bill and
that it didn't go through the proper committees before coming to a vote in late June. New
York joins five other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing gay marriage. Those
are some of the day's major stories. urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags State urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
City urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags country-region urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
place HARI SREENIVASAN: The new American ambassador to Afghanistan was sworn in today and pledged
there would be no rush to the exits Normal Microsoft Office Word HARI SREENIVASAN: The
new American ambassador to Afghanistan was sworn in today and pledged there would be
no rush to the exits Title Microsoft Office Word Document MSWordDoc Word.Document.8