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BEIRUT (AP) -- International envoy Kofi Annan said Monday he was "gravely concerned" about the latest violence in Syria, citing shelling of opposition areas in Homs and reports of mortar, helicopter and tank attacks near the coast....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A program that puts billions of dollars in the pockets of farmers whether or not they plant a crop may disappear with hardly a protest from farm groups and the politicians who look out for their interests....

Spectacular regatta on the Thames

“The best defense is a good offense,” runs an adage attributed to legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. What’s true in football is even more true in politics.

As the election marches through a long, hot summer, Republicans need to go on the offensive on medical care. Playing defense against the assaults by President Obama and his Democratic allies is the path to defeat. They’re going to use the President’s healthcare plan to attack Republicans, using the socialized medicine scheme as a wedge to pry a large gap between the GOP and seniors, young folks, the working middle class and others.

“We have to keep up the drumbeat with the American public,” Sally Pipes told us. The president of the Pacific Research Institute is a noted expert on the politics and economics of medical care. Her book, “The Pipes Plan: The Top Ten Ways to Dismantle Obama-care,” recently was published by Regnery Publishing, owned by the same company that owns Human Events, Eagle Publishing, Inc.

She added, “Republicans need to explain why the Obamacare legislation is bad for Americans’ health. They need to work for full repeal in 2013 if the GOP takes back the White House and the Senate, and keeps the House. Then, Republicans would replace it with the plan outlined in my book.”

Free market solutions

Among other things, her book discusses the impending bankruptcy of Medicare, the massive taxes needed to fund Obamacare, Medicaid waste in helping the poor, coverage mandates and the virtual enslavement of young people. The appealing solutions: Allow cheaper, high-deductible insurance plans, much as are available for vehicles; expand health-savings accounts; implement block-grant Medicare to states, so they can innovate at the local level; and give Medicare patients choices among plans. In short, give freedom back patients and promote competition.

On the state mandates, Pipes explained in a May 23 article in Investor’s Business Daily, “The Medicaid population in each state is different, so states should have the flexibility to determine their own eligibility requirements, benefit levels, and means of delivering care.” People know their own states are different from others. Texas is different from California, Mississippi from Maine. So freeing the states is a winner.

We believe that just such a proactive strategy could help presumptive nominee Mitt Romney with a major weakness: his passage of the similar Romneycare program when he was governor of Massachusetts a decade ago. His Republican rivals in the GOP primaries roundly criticized him over Romneycare. But as he later said, the many debates sharpened his own candidacy and prepared him to face Barack Obama.

In this context, Republicans should play to their strengths. For example, they should say, “Let’s run medical care like Steve Jobs’ Apple instead of the DMV.” That brings up in voters’ minds the world’s most admired and wealthiest company, contrasting it with people standing in long line and dealing with grumpy government DMV functionaries.

Republicans also should show how they would free young people from the Obamacare burdens. In 2008, candidate Obama appealed to youngsters’ boundless hopes for a better future. It contrasted with—let’s face it—Sen. John McCain’s rather curmudgeonly campaign.

A better model

A better model for the GOP is that of Ronald Reagan. The Gipper’s 1980 and ’84 campaigns promised limitless opportunity for those with ideas who worked hard. He turned hopes into reality as the computer and other fields blossomed under the Reagan Revolution.

Another thing to emphasize is that government bureaucrats, not doctors, will determine what kinds of coverage people get under Obamacare. That was a key factor on Aug. 3, 2010, when a whopping 71 percent of Missouri voters passed Measure C, which blocked Obamacare health-coverage mandates. The Show Me State showed that Americans don’t like being bossed around.

Republicans also should try putting such initiatives on the ballot in other states. Although in only 24 states can initiatives enact legislation, in the remaining states non-binding advisories could be put before voters. If Democratic-controlled legislatures block such efforts, the publicity still would benefit the anti-Obamacare cause. Republicans could respond, “Obamacare is so bad Democrats won’t even let us vote on it.”

To defeat Obamacare, more than just ideas are needed: Hard, hard work. The Democrats aren’t going to let up. Neither should Republicans. As Lombardi said, “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

A suicide bomber kills at least nine other people near a church in the Nigerian city of Bauchi, amid rising violence by Islamic sect Boko Haram.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's Supreme Leader warned Sunday that any Israeli attack would be answered with a "lightning" response by the Islamic Republic and suggested Iran's nuclear program cannot be curtailed by Western sanctions....

Why did Shakespeare mistakenly describe the head of the hive as a king bee, asks Adam Gopnik - especially as he was in the habit of flattering the boss, and his boss was Queen Elizabeth I.

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad decries the "terrorists" and "conspiracy" against Syria.

House Republicans have their legislative marching orders for the summer, which includes passing legislation to shrink the size of government, to promote private sector job creation and to cut taxes as well as the price of gas.

In a memo to members last week, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said tax cuts that are scheduled to expire in January as well as the coming medical device tax will have a negative impact on jobs. A vote has been scheduled for June to overturn the measure.

“Very little of what we do this summer will be able to offset the harm to small businesses if the largest tax increase in American history is allowed to go into effect Jan. 1, 2013,” Cantor said in the memo. “Working families and small business should not be saddled with the uncertainty of a looming tax increase as they attempt to invest and grow for the remainder of this year.”

Specially tailored bills will cut red tape, sell or transfer government land and modify restrictive land use designations.

Congress will vote on a bill to protect small business from government criminalization—a response to the August raid on Gibson Guitar for violating labor laws of another country in related to its import of unfinished wood. In July, the House will vote on Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-Texas) bill authorizing an audit of the Federal Reserve, and a measure to reform the U.S. Postal Service to keep it in business.

Finally, as the price of gas continues to act as a drag on an already sluggish economy, Cantor said a series of bills Congress will take up before Labor Day would encourage oil production on federal lands while cutting unnecessary red tape.

The number of people on the Sex Offenders Register in Wales rises by 20% between 2011 and 2012, the BBC learns.

The prime minister defends the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's handling of the BSkyB takeover bid saying he acted "wisely and fairly".

LONDON (AP) -- More than 1,000 boats were to sail down the River Thames on Sunday in a flotilla tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne that organizers are calling the biggest gathering on the river for 350 years....

Sixty homes prone to flooding in Ceredigion receive their own flood barriers, which fit in doorways.

Syria's President Assad denies any government role in the Houla massacre and calls it an "ugly crime", in his first public comments since the killings.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's Supreme Leader says any Israeli attack would be answered by a "lightning" strike by the Islamic Republic....

Shane Williams warns Wales 2012 Grand Slam wings George North and Alex Cuthbert of teenager Harry Robinson's challenge.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- NATO and Afghan forces launched a daring operation to rescue two female foreign aid workers and their two Afghan colleagues after learning the Taliban planned to kill one of the hostages, an intelligence official said Sunday....

Thousands of parties are taking place all over the UK as part of celebrations to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressed his country and the newly-elected People's Assembly on Sunday, decrying what he called the "terrorists" and "conspiracy" against Syria.

Bashar al-Assad calls the killing of 100 civilians "outrageous." Referring to the Houla massacre, he said: "Even monsters do not do what we saw."