Donors meeting in Cairo pledge $2.7 billion to rebuild war-ravaged Gaza
CAIRO — Donors at an international conference Sunday promised $2.7 billion to rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, but all of the key participants said their efforts would be futile without a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
U.S.-mediated talks broke down this summer before the 50-day war between Hamas and Israel began — the third since 2008 — and it remains unclear how peace can come about.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, who co-chaired the one-day meeting with Egypt, said pledges of $5.4 billion have been made, but that only half of that money would be “dedicated” to the reconstruction of the coastal strip.
Brende did not say what the other half of the funds would be spent on. Other delegates have spoken of budgetary support, boosting economic activity, emergency relief and other projects.
“The message was clear to the international community that the Palestinian brothers are not alone,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told a news conference after the meeting.
Police use pepper spray to subdue some arrested in St. Louis protest of Ferguson shooting
ST. LOUIS — Officers arrested 17 protesters and used pepper spray to subdue some of them Sunday in a St. Louis neighborhood not far from the suburb where violence erupted this summer after the shooting of a black man by a white policeman.
The arrests were the only incident in an otherwise peaceful weekend of demonstrations in the city to protest the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson in August. The shooting sparked sometimes violent demonstrations in the predominantly black suburb.
Early Sunday morning, about 200 protesters gathered in Shaw, a south St. Louis neighborhood where last week another black 18-year-old was killed by a white police officer, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said. The protesters, some wearing masks, marched toward a QuikTrip convenience store and tried to force open its doors, Dotson said.
Riot police told the crowd to disperse but some 50 protesters linked their arms to create a human chain, he said. About half of them heeded the police warning.
“The people who were left there were people who made a conscious decision they wanted to be arrested,” Dotson said.out race. Yet widespread poverty remains, in America and beyond, and bombs still fall as brutal wars rage on.
Calif. health exchange awards millions in no-bid contracts; ties questioned
LOS ANGELES — California’s health insurance exchange has awarded $184 million in contracts without the competitive bidding and oversight that is standard practice across state government, including deals that sent millions of dollars to a firm whose employees have long-standing ties to the agency’s executive director.
Covered California’s no-bid contracts were for a variety of services, ranging from public relations to paying for ergonomic adjustments to work stations, according to an Associated Press review of contracting records obtained through the state Public Records Act.
Several of those contracts worth a total of $4.2 million went to a consulting firm, The Tori Group, whose founder has strong professional ties to agency Executive Director Peter Lee, while others were awarded to a subsidiary of a health care company he once headed.
Awarding no-bid contracts is unusual in state government, where rules promote “open and fair competition” to give taxpayers the best deal and avoid ethical conflicts. The practice is generally reserved for emergencies or when no known competition exists.
By wire sources