user: Mitt Romney abroad

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Summary: Mitt Romney’s overseas trip this week offers him a platform to highlight his extensive travel as a salesman of American-centric beliefs, but it also serves as a reminder that the world also has curved Romney’s trajectory.


Q: Senate Panel Approves Loretta Lynch to Be Attorney General

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved Loretta E. Lynch to be the next attorney general, sending her nomination to the full Senate for what is likely to be a contentious vote.

The panel voted 12 to 8 to advance Ms. Lynch, President Obama’s pick to replace Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., with all of the votes against her coming from Republicans. The full Senate will probably vote in the next week or two.

While praising Ms. Lynch’s credentials, Republicans made it clear that their objections to her nomination hinged on her belief in the legality of the president’s executive action on immigration, the same issue that has tied up the approval of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

Several Republicans said they did not believe that she would be willing to stand up to the president if needed. Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, said that approving Ms. Lynch would amount to approving Mr. Obama’s policies.

“A vote for this nominee, in my opinion, who favors and will defend this unconstitutional action, does provide support for the president’s agenda, and I don’t think we should provide that,” he said.

But Ms. Lynch needed just two Republican votes to proceed to consideration by the full Senate. She got the votes of three: Senators Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Mr. Hatch said he believed that Ms. Lynch would act more independently than Mr. Holder. He criticized his colleagues for opposing her based solely on some of her testimony before the committee and for dismissing her “substantial” career.

“I do not believe that that is the proper way to evaluate any nominee’s fitness,” he said.

Several senators criticized their colleagues, saying they had hashed out the immigration debate in an inappropriate forum.

“The place for this fight is in the courts,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

Mr. Graham concurred, saying, “We can yell and scream all we like, but the courts are the right place for this to be resolved.” He added, “I’m sorry the president has created this mess, but I’m not going to add to it.”

As the United States attorney in Brooklyn, Ms. Lynch has already been confirmed by the Senate twice. But she is expected to meet some resistance this time, with conservative Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas opposing her because of her defense of Mr. Obama’s immigration actions, and with others, like Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, promising to reject all of Mr. Obama’s nominees.

Mr. Cruz on Thursday called Ms. Lynch “unsuitable” for the job, saying her confirmation would open up the possibility that Mr. Obama would take broader action on immigration and other policies.

“In this instance, Ms. Lynch has sat in this room and told the members of this committee what she intends to do,” he said. “If those answers are not sufficient to vote against a nominee, I don’t know what answers will be.”

But a change to the Senate rules orchestrated by Democrats in 2013 means that only a simple majority, not the previous threshold of 60 votes, is needed to stop a filibuster and confirm a nominee. With a handful of Republicans already expressing their support for Ms. Lynch, it seems likely that she will be confirmed.

The vote on Thursday came a month after her confirmation hearings, which featured criticism not of Ms. Lynch but of Mr. Holder. Senators quizzed her about her stances on Mr. Holder’s policies, such as his choice not to defend a federal ban on same-sex marriage; she coolly replied that she would make her own decisions.

Republicans further postponed the committee vote two weeks ago, a move that Senate Democrats criticized. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the committee’s ranking Democrat, pointed out that Ms. Lynch has had the longest wait of any attorney general nominee in the modern era, with nearly four months passing since Mr. Obama announced her nomination. He said that she had answered an “unprecedented” number of written questions from the committee.

Mr. Holder, who in September announced his plans to resign, has served in the Obama administration for six years, drawing conservative ire for his outspoken, liberal approach to leading the Justice Department. He has a close relationship with the president and was one of the earliest members of his cabinet.

A version of this article appears in print on February 27, 2015, on page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Senate Panel Approves Pick to Head Justice Dept.. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

A: The Senate Judiciary Committee sent the nomination of Ms. Lynch to the full Senate for what is likely to be a contentious vote.


Problem: Man jailed for shaking and killing his baby son

A man who shook and killed his baby son in a fit of rage because he would not feed has been jailed for seven years and three months.

David Sinclair shook four-month-old Joshua in a "momentary loss of control" at their home in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, on 6 December 2012.

The cause of death was only discovered after a case review by medical experts.

Sinclair, 34, was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of culpable homicide.

Jailing him at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Bracadale told Sinclair: "You assaulted your baby son by shaking him, causing the injuries which killed him.

"You must have known at the time you had shaken him, but you did not disclose that. It was only after extensive medical investigations you admitted what you had done.

"Your wife believed in you. She now feels she had been misled by you and can no longer support you."

Lord Bracadale described the effects of Joshua's death as "catastrophic" for all concerned and added: "Nothing can bring Joshua back."

The court previously heard that that on the day the child died, Sinclair and his wife Kirsty had gone swimming with Joshua and then shopping in East Kilbride.

At 17:30 Kirsty Sinclair went out to meet her mother and sister.

Just 11 minutes later she received a phone call from Sinclair, who sounded "shocked". He told her: "Joshua isn't breathing properly, come home right away." He then hung up and dialled 999.

The infant was rushed to Hairmyres Hospital where he died.

Initially the cause of Joshua's death was unascertained, but the case was reviewed by a team of medical experts who discovered evidence of trauma in the eyes and brain which could only have been caused non-accidentally, close to the time of death.

One of the experts, Dr Peter Richards, consultant paediatric neuro-surgeon at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, said: "This would be compatible with him having suffered a shaking injury involving handling at greater force than encountered in everyday life."

Defending QC, Ian Duguid, told the court that Sinclair was "extremely remorseful" for his actions.

Write a one or two sentence summary.

Summary:

assistant: A man who shook and killed his baby son in a fit of rage because he would not feed is jailed for seven years and three months.