Though reported captured by Libyan rebels, President Muammar Qaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam made a surprising, defiant public appearance in Tripoli to “refute the lies” of his capture and to rally loyalists. Insisting that government forces “broke the back of the rebels” by luring them into “a trap,” al-Islam said, “We assure the people that things are fine in Libya” and that “of course” his father is safe.
Fresh fighting broke out in Tripoli last night after Qaddafi’s son resurfaced. There are reports of shelling and heavy gunfire being exchanged at Qaddafi’s compound and in other parts of the city still controlled by regime loyalists, but NATO says pro-Qaddafi forces are “severely degraded, losing strength through desertions and defections.”
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney would beat President Obama if an election were held today, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. Romney leads Obama 48-46 among registered voters. Obama is tied with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and leads Reps. Ron Paul (TX) and Michele Bachmann (MN) by two and four points, respectively.
In a CNN interview, GOP presidential contender Jon Huntsman (R-UT) criticized frontrunner Mitt Romney (R-MA) for enacting health care reform in Massachusetts. “Creating Obamacare before Obama, the most despised and reviled health care legislation in the history of this country, doesn’t cut it, and I think that will be terribly problematic,” said Huntsman, who also lashed out against Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX).
Standard & Poor’s President Deven Sharma will step down on Sept. 12 to “pursue other opportunities,” parent McGraw-Hill companies announced yesterday. After bungling the numbers behind the U.S. credit downgrade, one credit strategist says, “It looks like [Sharma] is being helped out the door.” Citibank COO Douglas Petersan will replace Sharma.
Most employers will continue to offer health insurance even after state-based exchanges are opened in 2014, a new survey of 900 businesses found. Only 2 percent of employers said they were “very likely” to drop coverage, while 6 percent said they were “likely” to do so. Meanwhile, enrollment in employer-based health plans rose 2 percent in the past year.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, White House official Cass Sunstein lays out how federal agencies are saving billions by removing red tape and redundancy in their programs and regulations. Sunstein said “significant burden-reducing rules” for the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Transportation will save $4 billion alone by simplifying forms and removing unnecessary regulations.
Despite a rash of food-related illnesses this summer, the agency charged with monitoring food safety, the Food and Drug Administration, is critically short on funds. The New York Times reports that despite the FDA’s recently expanded mission and broad regulation responsibilities, Washington budget-slashing has left the agency over-extended and without the resources to implement news laws mandated by Congress.
And finally: Vice President Biden visited Mongolia yesterday where he posed with a traditional wrestler, practiced his archery skills, and joked about his proclivity for foot-in-mouth disease. “A first English-to-Mongolian translator occasionally had difficulty keeping up with even brief sections of Biden’s remarks and was swapped out for another about halfway through,” Politico reports.
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