Evening Edition is an Open Thread
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1 Ivory Coast: Ouattara camp urges force to oust Gbagbo
by Dave Clark, AFP
1 hr 7 mins ago
| ABIDJAN (AFP) – World powers turned the screw on defiant Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo on Wednesday seeking new peacekeeping troops as his Ivorian opponents urged military action to oust him.
The United States said it was in talks with Ivory Coast’s neighbours about mustering UN reinforcements, and the World Bank said it had agreed with these West African capitals to halt loans to the regime.
The new pressure on Gbagbo came after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Ivory Coast faces “a real risk of a return to civil war” unless Gbagbo stands down and hands power to his rival Alassane Ouattara. |
2 Gbagbo defies UN, insists ‘I am president of Ivory Coast’
by Dave Clark, AFP
Tue Dec 21, 6:06 pm ET
| ABIDJAN (AFP) – Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo defied a global avalanche of criticism on Tuesday, insisting he is the true president of his country and vowing that UN and French troops will have to go.
Gbagbo accused the international community of “making war” on his people, but insisted he did not want to see more bloodshed and offered to allow envoys from world powers to form a panel to study the post-election crisis.
The offer seems likely to fall on deaf ears, as the United Nations has recognised Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara as victor of the disputed poll and accuses the incumbent’s forces of carrying out death squad-style killings. |
3 Gbagbo defiant as French urged to leave Ivory Coast
by Evelyne Aka, AFP
Wed Dec 22, 10:19 am ET
| ABIDJAN (AFP) – Ivory Coast’s deadly political stand-off escalated Wednesday as a defiant Laurent Gbagbo insisted he is the one true president and France advised its large expatriate community to leave.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern for the fate of the UN peacekeepers protecting Gbagbo’s opponent Alassane Ouattara, who is holed up in a waterfront golf resort on the outskirts of Abidjan.
The streets of Abidjan were lively, with traffic jams signalling the return to work for many after the violence of the past month of crisis, but tensions remain high and former colonial power France urged its nationals to leave. |
4 Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo defiant as UN condemns siege
by Dave Clark, AFP
Wed Dec 22, 6:39 am ET
| ABIDJAN (AFP) – Ivory Coast’s deadly political stand-off escalated on Wednesday after a defiant Laurent Gbagbo insisted he is the one true president and his besieged rivals refused once again to talk with him.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern for the fate of the UN peacekeepers protecting Gbagbo’s opponent Alassane Ouattara, who is holed up in a waterfront golf resort on the outskirts of Abidjan.
Both Ouattara and Gbagbo claim to have won Ivory Coast’s November 28 election but, while the former has been recognised by the international community, the stubborn incumbent has refused to stand down. |
5 New Iraq cabinet faces ‘enormous’ challenges
by W.G. Dunlop, AFP
Wed Dec 22, 10:57 am ET
| BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq’s new cabinet held its first meeting on Wednesday faced with “enormous” challenges to improve security, public services and ties with other countries, following months of political deadlock.
“We must have a clear policy in the sectors of security, finance, oil, electricity and on improving our foreign relations,” Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told ministers in a speech broadcast on television.
“The challenges facing us are enormous.” |
6 Indonesia’s dragons draw tourists to ‘Jurassic’ islands
by Jerome Rivet, AFP
Wed Dec 22, 11:26 am ET
| KOMODO ISLAND, Indonesia (AFP) – They don’t breathe fire but Komodo dragons — the largest lizards in the world — can kill a buffalo or any one of the intrepid tourists who flock to their deserted island habitats.
“I feel like I’m in the middle of Jurassic Park, very deep in the past,” said Hong Kong visitor Michael Lien during a recent trip to Komodo Island, the main habitat of the threatened Indonesian lizards.
Spread out before him is a landscape from the dawn of time — mountainous islands with palm trees plunging down to the azure sea. Lien and his wife are excited and a little nervous at the same time. |
7 US Senate ratifies nuclear treaty with Russia
by Olivier Knox and Stephen Collinson, AFP
54 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate on Wednesday ratified a landmark nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, handing President Barack Obama a signal diplomatic and political victory after a months-long battle.
Lawmakers voted 71-26 in favor of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), easily clearing the two-thirds majority needed to approve the pact, which Obama had made a lynchpin of efforts to “reset” relations with Moscow.
He also signed a historic law to enable gays to serve openly in the US military for the first time in history, another unlikely triumph in the waning days of his Democratic allies’ control over the polarized Congress. |
8 Fears grow of euro-style debt crisis in US states
by Andrew Beatty, AFP
Tue Dec 21, 6:47 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) – No sooner has the last crisis ended, than warnings about the next one begin. In the dying days of the year, with the sub-prime mortgage debacle entering the rear-view mirror, economy-watchers are warning 2011 could see US states and municipalities plunge into a debt crisis of that type that has wrought chaos in Europe.
Although the US economy is slowly getting to its feet after a brutal recession, state and local budgets are still prostrate.
To the west, California faces a budget shortfall of over 25 billion dollars. To the east, New York faces a nine-billion-dollar deficit. The north, south and center of the country are not faring much better. |
9 Mexico’s tequila refines its act
by Joe Ray, AFP
Tue Dec 21, 10:30 am ET
| TEQUILA, Mexico (AFP) – The truck trundled through Mexico’s tequila country, its trailer crammed with trimmed heads of agave plants, as a troupe of elaborately-dressed dancers performed for visitors in a nearby distillery.
At one point the main protagonist, Mayahuel, the Mayan goddess of fertility, thrust her arms skyward, eyes wide.
Just underneath her sequined skirt, peeking out on the top of her underwear, were two words however that revealed this was a very modern take on an ancient ceremony: Calvin Klein. |
10 Obama signs repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
AFP
Wed Dec 22, 10:33 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama Wednesday signed a law allowing gays to serve openly in the military, repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in a sweeping and historic shift for the US armed forces.
“We are not a nation that says ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ We are a nation that says, ‘Out of many, we are one,'” Obama said in a raucous and emotive ceremony at the Interior Department in Washington.
“We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot,” Obama said. |
11 British economy suffers growth downgrades
by Roland Jackson, AFP
Wed Dec 22, 9:26 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) – British economic growth for the first three quarters of 2010 was downgraded Wednesday in a fresh piece of bad news for the economy, which faces headwinds next year from government austerity measures.
Gross domestic product — the total value of all the goods and services produced in the economy — grew by 0.7 percent in the July-September period.
“UK gross domestic product (GDP) in volume terms rose by 0.7 percent compared with the previous quarter, revised down from the 0.8 percent rise published in November,” the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. |
12 Protests in Athens before austerity budget vote
by John Hadoulis, AFP
Wed Dec 22, 8:05 am ET
| ATHENS (AFP) – Protests and rubbish clogged central Athens on Wednesday as lawmakers prepared to approve an austerity budget under a tough economic overhaul imposed after the debt-hit country’s international bailout.
Unionists, Communists and leftists staged separate demonstrations to reject the economic blueprint containing over 14 billion euros in savings for 2011 in a bid to restore balance to Greece’s woeful public finances.
The streets of the capital were already clogged with traffic since morning from a public transport strike — the fourth this month — against wage cuts and parts of the city are overflowing with garbage after a sanitation walkout. |
13 U.S. military to allow gays, but rules will take time
By Missy Ryan, Reuters
Wed Dec 22, 10:29 am ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a landmark law to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military for the first time, but it could be many months before a move some top officers warn may endanger troops will finally take effect.
The Pentagon is drafting new rules following the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which Congress passed this month, to cheers from opponents of a long-standing policy that forced gay service members to hide their sexuality.
Since the Pentagon introduced the policy in 1993, ending a blanket ban on gay soldiers, at least 13,000 people have been expelled from the armed forces for violating the rules. |
14 Special report: Overselling the American dream overseas
By James Kelleher, Karin Matz and Melanie Lee, Reuters
Wed Dec 22, 10:28 am ET
| SHANGHAI/CHICAGO (Reuters) – In a conference room in an office building in downtown Shanghai, Jason Lee is literally selling the American dream.
Lee runs Maslink, a firm that connects cash-hungry American businesses with Chinese investors keen to move to the United States. His company is part of a global cottage industry that has popped up in recent years to profit from a program that allows foreigners who invest in certain small U.S. businesses to get on the fast track to U.S. residency and citizenship.
Interest in the immigration program, known as EB-5, is so high that Maslink, which already has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Chongqing, is expanding to two more Chinese cities. |
15 Deutsche Bank U.S. tax fraud deal opens floodgates
By Harro Ten Wolde and Jason Rhodes, Reuters
Wed Dec 22, 9:22 am ET
| FRANKFURT/ZURICH (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank’s U.S. tax fraud settlement has heightened expectations of more deals being struck as American authorities target overseas banks in a crackdown on tax dodgers.
U.S. prosecutors are pushing ahead with more probes, emboldened after top Swiss wealth manager UBS had to hand over the details of 4,450 clients.
Leads from that case have helped investigators look at banks in Asia and the Middle East, while clients from HSBC have also been under scrutiny, lawyers have said. |
16 France warns citizens as Ivorian crisis deepens
By John Irish and Tim Cocks, Reuters
Wed Dec 22, 9:54 am ET
| PARIS/ABIDJAN (Reuters) – France asked its citizens to leave Ivory Coast and the World Bank froze funding to the West African state on Wednesday, as a violent power struggle deepened between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara.
Gbagbo has refused to quit following a November 28 election that African countries and western powers say he lost to Ouattara, in a dispute that has already killed 50 people and threatens to restart a civil war.
“We ask those who can to leave Ivory Coast temporarily until the situation normalizes,” French government spokesman Francois Baroin told reporters in Paris. There are now about 13,000 French nationals in the former French colony. |
17 Greeks protest before 2011 austerity budget vote
By Renee Maltezou and Ingrid Melander, Reuters
Wed Dec 22, 9:14 am ET
| ATHENS (Reuters) – Thousands took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday to protest against the 2011 Greek budget which imposes yet more austerity on the debt-choked nation, but parliament was set to pass the bill later in the day anyway.
Public transport ground to a halt in the capital as about 3,000 protesters rallied peacefully in front of parliament shouting “We can’t take it any more.”
“We have no hope, we are just drowning,” said Apostolos Kostopoulos, 46, a technician at the Public Power Corporation, whose salary was cut. “Parliament is voting today on a budget that will plunge people deeper into poverty,” he said as others waved a large Greek flag covered with “For Sale” tags. |
18 Ernst & Young accused of hiding Lehman troubles
By Grant McCool, Reuters
Tue Dec 21, 6:47 pm ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) – Accounting firm Ernst & Young was sued by New York prosecutors over allegations it helped to hide Lehman Brothers’ financial problems, in the first major government legal action stemming from the Wall Street company’s 2008 downfall.
The civil fraud case contends that Ernst & Young stood by while Lehman used accounting gimmickry to mask its shaky finances. The lawsuit says Lehman ran “a massive accounting fraud,” but it did not name as defendants any former top executives at the investment bank whose September 2008 collapse helped spark the global financial crisis.
The lawsuit seeks more than $150 million in fees that Ernst & Young received from 2001 to 2008 as Lehman’s outside auditor — less than 1 percent of its global annual revenue — plus other unspecified damages. |
19 Republican-leaning states gain clout from Census
By John Whitesides, Reuters
Wed Dec 22, 8:55 am ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican-leaning states in the South and West will gain clout from U.S. population figures released on Tuesday, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats that could linger for years.
The Census estimates show a population shift from Democratic states in the Northeast and Midwest to Republican strongholds like Texas, Utah and South Carolina, giving those states more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The new figures also could play a role in the 2012 presidential and congressional races. The number of House seats determines each state’s representation in the Electoral College, which is used to elect a president. |
20 Divided FCC adopts Internet rules
By Jasmin Melvin, Reuters
Tue Dec 21, 7:09 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A divided Federal Communications Commission banned Internet service providers like Comcast Corp from blocking traffic on their networks, provoking warnings the rules would be rejected in the courts and threats from Republican lawmakers to overturn them.
The 3-2 decision on Tuesday highlighted a huge divide between those who say the Internet should flourish without regulation and those who say the power of high-speed Internet providers to discriminate against competitors needs to be restrained.
But the FCC did allow Internet providers like Comcast, AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc to “reasonably” manage their networks and to charge consumers based on levels of Internet usage. |
21 Obama signs ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press
1 min ago
| WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed a new law Wednesday that will allow gays for the first time in history to serve openly in America’s military. And he urged those kicked out under the old law to re-enlist.
Framing the issue as a matter of civil rights long denied, Obama said that “we are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot … a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal.”
Repealing the 17-year-old policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” in a ceremony that was alternately emotional and rousing, the president said “this law I’m about to sign will strengthen our national security and uphold the ideals that our fighting men and women risk their lives to defend.” |
22 Deal reached on aid package for 9/11 responders
By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press
4 mins ago
| WASHINGTON – After a last-minute compromise, the Senate passed legislation Wednesday to provide up to $4.2 billion in new aid to survivors of the September 2001 terrorism attack on the World Trade Center and responders who became ill working in its ruins.
A House vote was expected on the bill within hours as lawmakers raced to wrap up their work for the year before Christmas. President Obama has said he looks forward to signing the measure, though some supporters of the bill have criticized him for not getting more involved in the fight.
The measure was a product of a compromise involving Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. |
23 Jury recommends death for dad, son in bank bombing
Associated Press
31 mins ago
| SALEM, Ore. – A jury Wednesday recommended that a father and his son be sentenced to death for planting a bomb that exploded inside an Oregon bank two years ago, killing two police officers and maiming a third.
In a trial that spanned three months, prosecutors portrayed Bruce and Joshua Turnidge as bigoted men who hated authorities, were desperate for money and feared that newly elected President Barack Obama would take away their guns.
Both defendants stood with their lawyers and stared straight forward, showing no emotion as Marion County Circuit Judge Tom Hart read the jury’s decisions. Sheriff’s deputies handcuffed them with their hands in front of their bodies to be jailed until Hart formally sentences them Jan. 24. |
24 Iraqi churches cancel Christmas festivities
By YAHYA BARZANJI and SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press
10 mins ago
| KIRKUK, Iraq – No decorations, no midnight Mass. Even an appearance by Santa Claus has been nixed after Iraq’s Christian leaders called off Christmas celebrations amid new al-Qaida threats on the tiny community still terrified from a bloody siege on a Baghdad church.
Christians across Iraq have been living in fear since the assault on Our Lady of Salvation Church as its Catholic congregation was celebrating Sunday Mass. Sixty-eight people were killed. Days later Islamic insurgents bombed Christian homes and neighborhoods across the capital.
On Tuesday, al-Qaida insurgents threatened more attacks on Iraq’s beleaguered Christians, many of whom have fled their homes or the country since the church attack. A council representing Christian denominations across Iraq advised its followers to cancel public celebrations of Christmas out of concern for their lives and as a show of mourning for the victims. |
25 Ohio county fights extreme pill addiction problem
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press
47 mins ago
| PORTSMOUTH, Ohio – Nearly one in 10 babies were born addicted to drugs last year in southern Ohio’s Scioto County. Admissions for prescription painkiller overdoses were five times the national average. In a rare step, the health commissioner declared a public health emergency, something usually reserved for disease outbreaks.
The culprits putting the rural county at the forefront of a burgeoning national problem are not only the people abusing the painkillers, officials say. They blame at least eight area “pill mills” – clinics or doctors that dole out prescription medications like OxyContin with little discretion. At least two health care providers are facing criminal charges.
“I would describe it as if a pharmaceutical atomic bomb went off,” said Lisa Roberts, a nurse for the health department in Portsmouth, an Ohio River city of about 20,000 with falling population and high unemployment. |
26 DNA says new human relative roamed widely in Asia
By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer
1 hr 54 mins ago
| NEW YORK – Scientists have recovered the DNA code of a human relative recently discovered in Siberia, and it delivered a surprise: This relative roamed far from the cave that holds its only known remains.
By comparing the DNA to that of modern populations, scientists found evidence that these “Denisovans” from more than 30,000 years ago ranged all across Asia. They apparently interbred with the ancestors of people now living in Melanesia, a group of islands northeast of Australia.
There’s no sign that Denisovans mingled with the ancestors of people now living in Eurasia, which made the connection between Siberia and distant Melanesia quite a shock. |
27 No. 89: UConn tops UCLA, beats Florida St 93-62
By DOUG FEINBERG, AP Basketball Writer
Wed Dec 22, 7:03 am ET
| HARTFORD, Conn. – No. 89 came and went as effortlessly as nearly all their previous games. This season. Last season. And the season before.
UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, never at a loss for words, was close Tuesday night.
“It’s pretty amazing. It really is,” he said. |
28 Fight looms after Texas gets 4 new US House seats
By JAY ROOT, Associated Press
Wed Dec 22, 7:05 am ET
| AUSTIN, Texas – A surge of Hispanic residents and other population gains have Texas poised to add more congressional clout than any other state, but a partisan fight now looms over exactly where the new seats should go.
Texas is gaining four seats in the U.S. House, twice as many as Florida, the only other state to pick up multiple ones, according to new population figures announced Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. All told, Republican-leaning states will pick up at least a half dozen House seats thanks to the 2010 census, which found the nation’s population growing more slowly than in past decades but still shifting to the South and West.
With Texas Republicans using recent elections to fortify their already solid control of the state Legislature, the political process of redrawing the state’s congressional map would seem to benefit the GOP, too. |
29 Electronic info dominates George W. Bush’s archive
By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press
21 mins ago
| LEWISVILLE, Texas – Archivists responsible for putting together the presidential library of former President George W. Bush are tasked with processing 80 terabytes of electronic information – 20 times the Clinton administration’s four terabytes.
Bush’s electronic archives contain more than 200 million e-mails, compared with about 20 million in former President Bill Clinton’s. Bush’s archives also include share drives, hard drives, scheduling systems and digital photography, which his administration switched to about halfway through his tenure.
The average size of a quality digital photo is about three megabytes, meaning just one terabyte can store more than 300,000 such pictures. |
30 Obama’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year
By CALVIN WOODWARD and NANCY BENAC, Associated Press
2 hrs 19 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AP) – Barack Obama’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year got off to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad start.
There he was, on New Year’s Day, on vacation with his family in Hawaii, stuck on a secure phone with counterterrorism officials, trying to figure out what screw-ups had allowed a would-be terrorist to board a Christmas Day flight with explosives in his underwear.
Things only got worse for Obama when he returned to Washington in between a pair of epic winter storms. |
31 Garrett descendant objects to pardoning the Kid
By SUE MAJOR HOLMES, Associated Press
Wed Dec 22, 1:16 pm ET
| ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Descendants of Old West lawman Pat Garrett and New Mexico Territorial Gov. Lew Wallace are outraged that Gov. Bill Richardson is considering a pardon for Billy the Kid, saying Wallace never offered a pardon, and a petition seeking one is tainted because it comes from a lawyer with ties to Richardson.
Sheriff Pat Garrett’s grandson J.P. Garrett and Wallace’s great-grandson William Wallace submitted their objections after Richardson set up a website last week to take public comment on the possibility of a posthumous pardon for the Kid on a murder indictment. The governor said he will decide before his term ends Dec. 31.
As of Tuesday, the governor’s office had received 370 e-mails and about 20 letters, with sentiment so far running slightly in favor of the pardon, said Eric Witt, Richardson’s deputy chief of staff. |
32 2010: A quake, a meltdown, a dramatic rescue
By MARCUS ELIASON, Associated Press
Wed Dec 22, 12:08 pm ET
| The disruptions of earthly existence came from some unlikely places in 2010: ash from an Icelandic volcano; the contents of an airline passenger’s underwear; a website called WikiLeaks spilling the secret cables of international diplomacy onto front pages across the world.
More than ever, for good and or bad, history became an experience shared worldwide, from the horror of Haiti’s earthquake at the start of 2010 to the thrill that coursed across the continents in October as Chilean miners trapped underground for 10 weeks were winched to safety.
The year opened with two images – one of triumph, another of tragedy. The world’s tallest skyscraper, more than 160 stories high, was inaugurated in the Persian Gulf state of Dubai, only to be eclipsed within days by the elegant white presidential palace of Haiti, collapsed in an earthquake that killed 230,000 people. |
33 Jaguar style notches up
By ANN M. JOB, For The Associated Press
Wed Dec 22, 10:14 am ET
| The 2011 Jaguar XJ Supersport sedans are powerful, decadent – and get the kind of gasoline mileage expected from a pickup truck. A very big pickup truck.
In fact, at today’s fuel prices, it can cost upwards of $75 to fill the tank of a new, four-door, four-passenger, supercharged Jag XJ. Evidently, pampered luxury, supercharged V-8 power and heady oil consumption remain in style even in troubled economic times.
Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, is $73,575 for a base, 2011 XJ sedan with naturally aspirated, 385-horsepower V-8. |
34 Texts, Web really do allow Santa to be everywhere
By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press
Wed Dec 22, 7:37 am ET
| PHILADELPHIA – He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, and he knows how many followers you have on Twitter.
Not long ago, there were two ways to tell Santa Claus what you wanted for Christmas: sitting on his lap or writing a letter. Now, like with just about everything else, St. Nick is available by text or e-mail, Twitter or Facebook. Kids can watch his worldwide journey online or take a phone call.
Santa Claus is truly everywhere. And just as unfettered access sometimes tempts adults to lose their cool on e-mail listservs or Facebook comments, spoiled kids can be tempted to flame out on Santa. |
35 Foodies fight with film school for space in LA
By JACOB ADELMAN, Associated Press
Wed Dec 22, 3:05 am ET
| LOS ANGELES – For a few weeks this month, Los Angeles’ arugula-munching set confronted a threat that seemed as potent as any malicious insect, pathogen or pesticide-tainted produce.
Where would they get their lovingly grown, locally sourced fruits, vegetables and artisanal edibles if a parking dispute with an adjacent film school forced the Hollywood Farmers Market to move or close?
The Los Angeles Film School, which has held classes in its nine-story Sunset Boulevard building since 1999, had refused to sign off on a permit for the Sunday farmers market because it blocks an entryway into a lot where the school’s growing number of students park. |
36 US suits against Pakistani spy chief face hurdles
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press
Wed Dec 22, 3:03 am ET
| NEW YORK – The plaintiffs in two U.S. lawsuits accusing Pakistan’s spy chief of nurturing terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks are hoping for a historic outcome recalling the Lockerbie settlement, but they would have to overcome serious legal obstacles first, lawyers and experts say.
The civil complaints naming Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha and his Inter-Services Intelligence agency as defendants are like past lawsuits filed in federal courts against overseas figures with alleged links to terrorist attacks and other atrocities.
A lawyer for the U.S. plaintiffs, John Kreindler, said Tuesday that they hope to win a deal like the one struck with Libya over the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The $1.5 billion settlement announced in 2008 was seen both as a victory for the families of 180 Americans killed in the terrorist attack and as a diplomatic breakthrough with the North African nation, once a pariah. |
37 APNewsBreak: Nearly 1 in 4 fails military exam
By CHRISTINE ARMARIO and DORIE TURNER, Associated Press
Tue Dec 21, 9:26 pm ET
| MIAMI – Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can’t answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new study released Tuesday.
The report by The Education Trust bolsters a growing worry among military and education leaders that the pool of young people qualified for military service will grow too small.
“Too many of our high school students are not graduating ready to begin college or a career – and many are not eligible to serve in our armed forces,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP. “I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America’s underperforming education system.” |
38 Group pushes for nationwide wolf restoration
By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press
Tue Dec 21, 8:01 pm ET
| BILLINGS, Mont. – Environmentalists said Tuesday they intend to sue the Obama administration to force it to restore gray wolves across the lower 48 states – even as Republicans in Congress sought unsuccessfully to strip the animals of protection.
The Center for Biological Diversity said in a formal notice to the Interior Department that it will sue the agency in 60 days unless the government crafts a plan to bring back wolves throughout their historical range.
“Wolves once roamed nearly the whole country and down into Mexico, but at this point there just in a fraction of that range,” said Noah Greenwald, director of endangered species for the Center for Biological Diversity. |
39 Stopgap spending measure clears Congress
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press
Tue Dec 21, 7:55 pm ET
| WASHINGTON – Congress cleared a stopgap funding bill Tuesday to keep the federal government open into March, a temporary truce until Republicans and President Barack Obama rejoin the battle over the budget next year.
The bill was passed by the House in the evening just hours after speeding through the Senate. Obama was poised to sign it by midnight to avoid a government shutdown.
The measure would freeze agency budgets at current levels. That’s still too high for Republicans set to take over the House, who vow to cut many programs to levels in place when Obama took office. That will be difficult to achieve, even though Republicans will control the House and possess greater strength in the senate. |
40 Man gets nearly 20 years in Haiti sex abuse case
By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press
Tue Dec 21, 7:49 pm ET
| NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A Colorado man was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison Tuesday for sexually abusing children for more than a decade at a school he founded in Haiti, including some who faced him in the courtroom and testified that he threatened to put them back on the streets if they did not submit to his advances.
Judge Janet Bond Arterton called Douglas Perlitz a serial rapist and molester as she imposed the sentence in New Haven federal court. She said she believed he would commit the same crimes again if he were in a similar position.
Perlitz, 40, apologized to his victims while speaking in Creole before the sentence was handed down. He said he knew his crimes were horrible but pleaded for leniency nevertheless, asking the judge to consider the good work he did in the impoverished Caribbean nation. |
41 Gulf oil spill voted top news story of 2010
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
Tue Dec 21, 6:23 pm ET
| NEW YORK – The massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, triggered by a deadly blast at a rig used by BP, was the top news story of 2010, followed by the divisive health care overhaul, according to The Associated Press’ annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors.
The oil spill received 54 first-place votes out of 180 ballots cast for the top 10 stories. The health care bill was next, with 30 first-place votes. The U.S. election was third.
In fourth place was the U.S. economy, which had been voted the top story of 2009. |
42 Analysis: A political rebound, but can it hold?
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press
Tue Dec 21, 5:41 pm ET
| WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is rebounding from his party’s midterm drubbing with the kind of lame-duck victory list any White House would want: a tax deal, a landmark repeal of the ban on openly gay military service, and the prospect of a major nuclear treaty with Russia.
Each represents a different approach at deal-making, but none alone offers a clear path to governing in a divided capital over the next two years.
In the seven weeks since the election, Obama negotiated with Republican leaders on taxes and left angry liberals on the sidelines. On the New START arms treaty, he sidelined GOP Senate leaders and negotiated with like-minded Republicans. And with the repeal of the Pentagon’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy on gays in uniform, he delighted liberals, won Republican rank-and-file support and left conservatives fuming. |
43 Appeals court: Judge was wrong in Texas arson case
By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press
Tue Dec 21, 5:26 pm ET
| DALLAS – A Texas appeals court halted an inquiry Tuesday into whether a man convicted of arson was wrongly executed, saying the presiding judge acted improperly by not ruling on a motion for his recusal.
In a 2-1 decision, the Third Texas Court of Appeals ruled that Judge Charlie Baird “abused his discretion” by not recusing himself or referring a motion for his recusal to another judge. Baird presided over an October hearing into whether Cameron Willingham was wrongly executed for setting a 1991 fire that killed his three daughters – a 2-year-old and 1-year-old twins.
Although Willingham was executed in 2004, many of the nation’s foremost fire experts, some of whom testified in October, now say the blaze was accidental. Some of Willingham’s surviving relatives and attorneys from the Innocence Project are trying to clear Willingham’s name and get the state to acknowledge he was wrongly executed. |
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