Red Cross 'can't cope' as Syria crisis worsens, chief says

The Red Cross lamented Thursday that the deepening crisis in Syria has prevented it from helping many of those in need, even as it steps up its efforts.

"We can’t cope with the worsening of the situation," Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said at a briefing in Geneva.

Although the aid group has fed more than a million people in partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, trucked in water, and delivered medicine, crutches and other hospital supplies, Maurer said "blank spots" in aid remained. The United Nations has estimated that more than 2.5 million people need aid; more than 350,000 people have spilled out of the country and registered as refugees.

PHOTOS: Living under siege: Life in Aleppo, Syria

The Red Cross chief met with Syrian President Bashar Assad earlier this fall and told reporters that the flow of aid had improved somewhat since but that the group is still unable to reach all prisons and other detention facilities, the Associated Press reported. It succeeded in reaching battered districts in the city of Homs in late October, but violence has continued to block it from other areas.

Aid workers and volunteers have been among those slain in a conflict that is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people. A Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer was caught in fighting and killed last month in Harasta; two volunteers were injured in two incidents the next day in the same area.

Bashar Assad: To live and die in Syria

BEIRUT -- Syrian President Bashar Assad says he has no intention of leaving Syria, despite demands from Washington and elsewhere that he relinquish power.

“I am Syrian. I’m made in Syria,” Assad said in an interview with the Russia RT television channel. “I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.”

Brief excerpts of the interview appeared Thursday on RT’s  website. The full session will be aired starting Friday, the station said.

PHOTOS: Living under siege: Life in Aleppo, Syria

The Syrian president, speaking in English, repeated his oft-stated position that he has no plans to step down, despite demands for his resignation from armed rebels and their backers in the West and elsewhere.

Moscow, which has been a staunch ally of Assad, has called for negotiations that would include representatives of his government.

Obama reportedly planning Myanmar visit this month

NEW DELHI — President Obama is considering a visit to Myanmar within the next few weeks, according to news reports Thursday, as part of his administration’s bid to bolster democracy and strengthen ties with Asian nations in the region.

Neighboring Cambodia said this week that Obama will attend an Asian summit meeting in its capital of Phnom Penh on Nov. 18. Myanmar has made security arrangements for a Nov. 18-19 presidential visit, an unnamed official in the capital of Naypyidaw told the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Presse news services, adding that the schedule has not been finalized.

While such a visit would carry risks -– most notably by staking presidential prestige on a government still dominated by generals with a brutal past -– it dovetails with the administration’s visible support for Myanmar’s nascent democracy. It also fits with its so-called pivot strategy aimed at checking China’s influence by bolstering military and political ties with democracies on its periphery.

The timing of the visit, if it does come off, would presumably not be appreciated in Beijing as it prepares for a once-in-a-decade leadership change early next year in which Vice President Xi Jinping is expected to replace Hu Jintao as president. Analysts said little news is expected out of the summit of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, attended by regional leaders, with any Myanmar trip more likely to grab headlines.

Russia's Putin congratulates Obama on reelection

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to President Obama on what he termed “an ever so weighty victory gained with such a wide margin.”

“I know not from hearsay how exhaustive and intense the election campaign may be,” the Russian leader said in the telegram published on the Kremlin website Wednesday.

Putin stressed the results achieved in Russian-U.S. relations in recent years and expressed his hopes for continued joint constructive work. Cooperation is crucial for “stable and safe development in the world,” he wrote. Putin wished Obama further success and extended an invitation to visit Russia next year.

In his Twitter post, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote  “Congratulations,” addressing it to Obama.

Earlier in the day Medvedev, on a visit to Vietnam, hailed the results of the U.S. presidential poll, saying that he is “glad that the president of a very big and very influential country won’t be the man who considers Russia enemy No. 1,” the Interfax news agency reported. Medvedev was alluding to remarks by GOP candidate Mitt Romney, who called Russia the “No. 1 geopolitical foe” of the U.S.

“Obama is easy to understand and a predictable partner,” Medvedev said at his news conference in Hanoi. “Whether we like America or not, every Russian family depends on how the [U.S.] dollar is doing.”

U.S. elections dominate talk on Chinese social media site

While China gears up for a once-in-a-decade change in leadership, legions of its Internet users have been glued to the U.S. elections halfway across the world.

Close to 25 million messages about the American polls had been sent on the Chinese social media website Sina Weibo by late Wednesday afternoon, making it by far the top topic, the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong said.

The messages ranged from celebratory to critical. One message cheered the fact that "'aggressive China' Romney" hadn’t won; another argued that the presidential race made little difference because "the Pentagon will always be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and Imperialist America will always be self-serving." Still others drew sharp comparisons between the U.S. election and the Chinese political system.

"Why do Chinese people pay attention to the United States election? It’s because of media hype, because of market attention, but at the bottom of their hearts, there is also a political longing," lamented one message gathered by the China Media Project.

Palestinians hope President Obama's second term will help bring change

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians expressed hope Wednesday that President Obama’s second term will be more forthcoming than his first one when it comes to resolving their conflict with Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was quick to congratulate Obama on his victory and expressed hope that he will help achieve peace in the Middle East.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hoped Obama's second term would see the implementation of a two-state solution. Palestinians also remain determined to become a nonmember state in the United Nations General Assembly, Erekat said.

Analyst Sam Bahour said he expects Obama will have more leverage and face less pressure from lobbying groups in dealing with issues such as conflicts in the Middle East.

"On the one hand, he is more knowledgeable of the issues, and on the other he has to deal with the changing politics in the region, particularly with the emergence of two new powers in the Middle East — Iran and Turkey — which means the U.S. cannot afford to leave a political vacuum that could be filled by either of these two powers," Bahour said.

Palestinians in general do not expect Obama to change his support of Israel, particularly in light of what Bahour described as "a Congress hijacked by the pro-Israel camp."

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-- Maher Abukhater

Photo: President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington in March. Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press

More takes from foreign media on the U.S. election

 The Times rounded up some early reactions and reflections from abroad on the U.S. presidential campaign. As foreign media continue to mull over the reelection of President Obama, here’s more of the coverage Wednesday from newspapers and other outlets worldwide:

The Cold War is abolished, Kommersant (Russia): The reelection of Barack Obama as president of the USA allows many in Moscow to breathe easier. ... Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who called Russia Geopolitical Foe #1, has gone off in the distance and will no longer get on the Kremlin's nerves with his "caveman proclamations."

Mandate renewed, El Universal (Mexico): What does this mean for Mexico? ... The domestic difficulties and economic crisis will make it difficult to have a bilateral relationship that is very different than the one that exists now.          

Europe fears a greater interventionism from Obama II, Le Figaro (France): The continuing euro crisis and the risk of recession will be the first test. Before and after his reelection, Barack Obama does not want to see the U.S. economy dragged down due to mismanagement in Europe. ... The second term is likely to be more aggressive.

What Obama’s win means, The Times of India:
And the lessons for India? First up, this is how real democracy works. In over 200 years and 44 U.S. presidents, only three have ever been dynasts. ... The U.S. campaign carries an important message for Indian politicians: privilege, entitlement and dynasty are all living on borrowed time.

New U.S. government needs to craft more constructive China policy, New China News Agency (China): It is natural for the U.S. ... to have difficulty completely disarming its suspicions toward China, which is politically, economically and culturally different. However, the U.S. should know nothing in the world remains forever unchanged, and that China will never abort its development objective simply because of Washington's unwarranted anxiety.

Gay marriage wins in U.S. mirror global advances

Supporters of same-sex marriage appear to have scored narrow victories in the four U.S. states where the issue was on the ballot Tuesday, reflecting a change in public views on marriage equality for gay couples that pollsters have been tracking for more than a year.

The victories in Maine and Maryland and a leading but still-too-close-to-call vote in Washington would  bring to nine the number of U.S. states allowing same-sex couples to wed. But gay rights advocates hailed the electoral sweep as a critical turning point after 32 straight defeats in states that had previously put the right of gays to marry up for a public vote.

In addition to the three states asking voters whether they approved of laws recognizing a right of same-sex marriage, voters in Minnesota were asked to decide whether the state constitution should be amended to ban marriage other than between a man and a woman. The proposed ban failed by a vote of 51% opposed to 48% in favor.

"This landmark victory is yet another example of the national momentum toward treating all families fairly," Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said after the Minnesota measure was defeated, the only initiative on U.S. ballots Tuesday that would have outlawed same-sex marriage.

"Our campaign to win marriage nationwide is ascendant, and this year of transformation has put us in place for an even bigger year of victories in 2013," cheered Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, a national grass-roots organization that has made strides in dispelling opponents' claims that gay marriage is harmful to children.

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage that opposes recognizing a right for gays to marry, blamed the outcomes at the ballot box on being outspent by gay rights advocacy groups. He vowed to "remain faithful to our mission and committed to the cause of preserving marriage as God designed it."

Tuesday's election successes for the gay rights movement may provide momentum for campaigns and legal battles under way in other U.S. states as well as Europe, Africa and Asia. California legalized gay marriage following a state Supreme Court ruling in May 2008, but opponents pushed a constitutional amendment banning it five months later, a reversal now being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Much of the Western world already recognizes a right for gays to marry, and the supportive votes in the four states on Tuesday suggest American views are trending toward acceptance. Canada, Scandinavia, Western Europe, South Africa and Argentina are among the countries and regions where same-sex couples can legally wed.

On Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande's Cabinet approved draft legislation that would allow "marriage for all," making good on a campaign pledge to recognize the right of homosexuals to marry and adopt children. The bill faces some strengthened opposition when it comes up for debate in parliament in January, but analysts saw the resistance as more a political battle between urban and rural French constituencies than a retrenchment of public attitudes on gay rights.

Same-sex marriage also scored a victory in Spain on Tuesday when the nation's highest court rejected an appeal of the 2005 gay marriage law. The conservative Popular Party brought the challenge, arguing that the Spanish Constitution defines marriage as between a man and a woman. More than 22,000 same-sex marriages have been celebrated in predominantly Roman Catholic Spain since it became the third country, following the Netherlands and Belgium, to recognize the right of gays to marry.

Even in conservative-governed Britain, gay marriage advocates are gaining ground. Prime Minister David Cameron's government has promised to introduce a bill that would convey marriage rights to same-sex couples. Britain already recognizes "civil partnerships," which bestow the same rights and privileges as heterosexual marriage.

Gay marriage remains unpopular and illegal in much of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, and major powers like Russia, China and Japan have yet to address whether to make it legal. But shifts in the law and public sentiments emanate even from some of the most conservative corners of the globe.

On Monday, the southeast African state of Malawi suspended a law criminalizing same-sex relationships and ordered police to cease arresting and prosecuting alleged offenders, the BBC reported.

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-- Carol J. Williams in Los Angeles. Henry Chu in London, Devorah Lauter in Paris and Lauren Frayer in Madrid contributed to this report.

Map: The state of gay and lesbian rights in the world. Credit: International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Assn.

Quake rattles Guatemala, Mexico; 3 reported dead

MEXICO CITY -- At least three people were reportedly killed in Guatemala after a powerful earthquake shook the Central American country Wednesday morning.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the quake, which registered magnitude 7.4, occurred at 10:35 a.m. CST along the northern part of Guatemala's Pacific coast, about 100 miles west-southwest of Guatemala City.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina declared a "national red alert," suspending public activities and recommending that buildings be evacuated. The Mexican newspaper Milenio reported that three people had been found dead under the rubble in the Guatemalan city of San Pedro Sacatepequez -- along the country's border with Mexico -- where at least 40 houses had been destroyed by the temblor.

Guatemalan media reported downed phone lines, lost power and damaged buildings in various parts of the country.

The quake was also felt in numerous areas of Mexico, including parts of Mexico City, where some buildings were evacuated. However, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard tweeted in the early afternoon that the city was "without harm."

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Photo: Crowds of people gather at a meeting point in Mexico City on Wednesday after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Guatemala near the Mexican border. Credit: Mario Guzman / EPA

Meat cutters of Kabul hack at carcasses and praise Obama

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The late Illinois poet Carl Sandburg once called President Obama’s town, Chicago, the “hog butcher of the world.” Here in Kabul, the former Midwest capital of slaughterhouses has a kindred spirit in Butcher Street, a small road lined with lamb and cow carcasses and blood-splattered walls.

Here the thick-armed butchers, clad in smocks and hands wet from raw meat, offer praise to Obama in between hacking up ribs on huge tree stumps that serve as butcher blocks. They have quartered chickens, sheep and cattle for years on Butcher Street.

They frown at the mention of the Taliban and other fighters who have floated through their lives over the last three decades. They remember how the Taliban would buy meat one day and then haul someone away to detention the next. In the early 1990s, the Tajik and Uzbek mujahedin would have shootouts on the adjoining avenue.

But the mention of the American president brings smiles to their face and turns the older men to softies as they forget the stink of rotting chicken and the giant cow hooves on tables. Somehow, despite Afghanistan’s woes and all the literal blood and guts of the animals they cut apart, Obama makes them hopeful.