Headlines:

• 4 in 5 in US Face Near-Poverty, No Work
• Iran Grants Syria $3.6B Credit Facility to Buy Oil Products
• Drone Strikes Cast Negative Impact on Relationship with US: Pakistan
• China Will Soon Face Arc of US F-35s, Other Fighters, Bombers

Details:

4 in 5 in US Face Near-Poverty, No Work

Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend. The findings come as President Barack Obama tries to renew his administration's emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to "rebuild ladders of opportunity" and reverse income inequality. As non-whites approach a numerical majority in the U.S., one question is how public programs to lift the disadvantaged should be best focused - on the affirmative action that historically has tried to eliminate the racial barriers seen as the major impediment to economic equality, or simply on improving socioeconomic status for all, regardless of race. Hardship is particularly growing among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among that racial group about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987. In the most recent AP-GFK poll, 63 percent of whites called the economy "poor." While racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, race disparities in the poverty rate have narrowed substantially since the 1970s, census data show. Economic insecurity among whites also is more pervasive than is shown in the government's poverty data, engulfing more than 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60, according to a new economic gauge being published next year by the Oxford University Press. The gauge defines "economic insecurity" as a year or more of periodic joblessness, reliance on government aid such as food stamps or income below 150 percent of the poverty line. Measured across all races, the risk of economic insecurity rises to 79 percent.  Marriage rates are in decline across all races, and the number of white mother-headed households living in poverty has risen to the level of black ones.  "It's time that America comes to understand that many of the nation's biggest disparities, from education and life expectancy to poverty, are increasingly due to economic class position," said William Julius Wilson, a Harvard professor who specializes in race and poverty.[Source: Associated Press]

Iran Grants Syria $3.6B Credit Facility to Buy Oil Products:

Syrian authorities and Iran signed a deal this week to activate a $3.6 billion credit facility to buy oil products with long term payment terms, officials and bankers said on Wednesday. The deal, which was agreed last May between the two allies and will allow Iran to acquire equity stakes in investments in Syria, was part of a package to extend Iranian aid to President Bashar al Assad's government, its main political ally. Another $1 billion credit line to Damascus has already been extended to buy Iranian power generating products and other goods in a barter arrangement that has helped Syria export textiles and some agricultural produce such as olive oil and citrus, trade officials say. Syria is short of diesel for its army and fuel to keep the economy running because of U.S. and European Union sanctions imposed after a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Its main supplier of petroleum products by sea has been Iran. Iran has steadily expanded economic ties with Syria to help it withstand Western economic sanctions and sealed a free trade deal that granted Syrian exports a low 4 percent customs tariff. [Source: Voice of America]

Drone Strikes Cast Negative Impact on Relationship with US: Pakistan:

Pakistan has once again strongly denounced the CIA-led drone campaign in the tribal areas of Pakistan on Monday, warning that such unilateral strikes cast a ‘negative impact' on efforts to forge a cooperative relationship with the US. The condemnation from the Foreign Ministry came in response to the latest drone strike in Shawal Area of North Waziristan Agency on Sunday. "These unilateral strikes are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Pakistan has repeatedly emphasized the importance of bringing an immediate end to drone strikes," the statement said. It recalled that the Government of Pakistan had consistently maintained that drone strikes were counter-productive, entail a loss of innocent civilian lives and have human rights and humanitarian implications. "Such strikes also set dangerous precedents in inter-state relations," the foreign ministry spokesperson said. Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry maintained that such drone strikes "have a negative impact on the mutual desire of both countries to forge a cordial and cooperative relationship and to ensure peace and stability in the region." The latest drone attack was the forth since the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) government took charge following the May 11 parliamentary elections. A recent report in the Washington Post suggested that the United States had drastically scaled back the number of drone attacks against militants in Pakistan and had limited strikes to high-value targets in response to growing criticism of the program in the country. Those actions appear to have temporarily appeased Pakistani officials, who publicly oppose the covert CIA strikes, US officials said. But some officials were still worried about a pushback from Pakistan's new civilian leaders, who took power in June with a strong stance on ending the attacks altogether. [Source: The Express Tribune]

China Will Soon Face Arc of US F-35s, Other Fighters, Bombers:

The United States and its allies are clearly working well together to remind China that it faces enormous power and cannot act unilaterally without cost. The latest American fighters and bombers will be deployed in an arc from Japan to India, lacing across all of China's maritime regions, Carlisle made clear. America's most capable all-around air weapon, the F-35, will be deployed first in the Pacific once it achieves Initial Operating Capability (IOC), Carlisle said. Air Force F-35s probably will head to four bases: Misawa, Japan; Kadena, Japan; Osan Air Base, Korea; and Kunsan Air Base, Korea. No final decision has been made but Air Force Gen. Herb "Hawk" Carlisle made it pretty clear these bases fit the glove best. In Australia, the U.S. Air Force plans to send "fighters, tankers and at some point in the future, maybe bombers on a rotational basis," Carlisle said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast. They will operate near the Australian Air Force base at Darwin. Singapore is buying F-35Bs. Other US fighters will fly from Korat Air Base in Thailand. And American aircraft may operate from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a base in India, Carlisle said.

Abu Hashim