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| Saturday September 27th 2014 |
Islamic State 'targeted by strikes on Syria border'
Islamic State fighters
besieging the Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border have been
targeted by air strikes, reports from the area say.
Warplanes circled through Friday night and explosions were heard in the early hours, the BBC's Paul Wood says.Kurdish fighters have been defending the town from an advance by Islamic State militants.
There has been no word from the US-led coalition on whether it carried out air strikes in the area.
Kobane has become a flashpoint over the past week, as an estimated 140,000 civilians have fled the town and surrounding area.
Those displaced Kurds have crossed the nearby border with Turkey.
British Warplanes On First Mission In Iraq Since Strikes Approved
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Ministry of Defense says warplanes have taken off for their first combat mission over Iraq since Parliament approved airstrikes targeting the Islamic state group.The Tornado GR4 aircraft took off from RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus on Saturday, hours after Britain joined the U.S.-led coalition of nations that are launching airstrikes against the extremists.
The Ministry of Defense says that the Tornados "are now ready to be used in an attack role as and when appropriate targets are identified."
Prime Minister David Cameron has described U.K. involvement as critical to security on home soil, arguing that facing down terrorists has become a matter of urgency. He says the hallmarks of the campaign would be "patience and persistence, not shock and awe."
Afghanistan’s new leader has transformed himself to win power and now promises to tackle corruption ‘root, stock and branch’
To become president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai changed his wardrobe and modified his name, gave up coffee, embraced a man he once denounced as a “known killer” and even toyed with anger management classes to tame a notorious temper.
An impressive intellectual who is as comfortable in a village meeting as an international boardroom, he has been a professor and World Bank technocrat, finance minister and top security official, and was once in the running to head the UN.
He wrote the primer for his new job several years ago, a slim volume called Fixing Failed States, but a reputation as a clean, modernising technocrat won him few votes in 2009, the year he first ran for office.
Spurred by that defeat into a dramatic transformation, he emerged this year as a ruthless and highly effective politician. Top vote-getter in a fraud-riddled election, he steered through months of fraught negotiations to emerge as president of a unity government formed with his main rival.
Critics say that that voters who risked their lives to cast ballots have been betrayed by an elite who simply stitched up a deal behind closed doors. Supporters argue that all the sacrifices and concessions will pave the way for vital changes.
Both claims will be tested from Monday, when Ghani takes power – a rare academic now able to put his theories of government to the test on the grandest of scales.
“It’s a ticket that is going to win in order to bring out an agenda of transformation,” he told the Guardian during the campaign, when asked about some of his controversial alliances. “Without putting together an electoral ticket that can win, all these ideas remain just that.”
At stake is his country’s future. He will have to beat off a resurgent Taliban and build up a small, frail economy at a time when foreign funding and interest are ebbing fast.
To become president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai changed his wardrobe and modified his name, gave up coffee, embraced a man he once denounced as a “known killer” and even toyed with anger management classes to tame a notorious temper.
An impressive intellectual who is as comfortable in a village meeting as an international boardroom, he has been a professor and World Bank technocrat, finance minister and top security official, and was once in the running to head the UN.
He wrote the primer for his new job several years ago, a slim volume called Fixing Failed States, but a reputation as a clean, modernising technocrat won him few votes in 2009, the year he first ran for office.
Spurred by that defeat into a dramatic transformation, he emerged this year as a ruthless and highly effective politician. Top vote-getter in a fraud-riddled election, he steered through months of fraught negotiations to emerge as president of a unity government formed with his main rival.
Critics say that that voters who risked their lives to cast ballots have been betrayed by an elite who simply stitched up a deal behind closed doors. Supporters argue that all the sacrifices and concessions will pave the way for vital changes.
Both claims will be tested from Monday, when Ghani takes power – a rare academic now able to put his theories of government to the test on the grandest of scales.
“It’s a ticket that is going to win in order to bring out an agenda of transformation,” he told the Guardian during the campaign, when asked about some of his controversial alliances. “Without putting together an electoral ticket that can win, all these ideas remain just that.”
At stake is his country’s future. He will have to beat off a resurgent Taliban and build up a small, frail economy at a time when foreign funding and interest are ebbing fast.
Pakistan is likely working to create tactical nuclear weapons, which are smaller warheads built for use on battlefields rather than cities or infrastructure. These weapons are diminutive enough to be launched from warships or submarines, which makes them easier to use on short notice than traditional nuclear weapons.
Developing tactical nuclear weapons calls for miniaturization of current weaponry (the "Davy Crockett," developed by the US in the '50s, was designed to launch from a simple tripod). But as The Washington Post reports, analysts are divided on whether Pakistan will be able to make warheads tiny enough for sea-launching.
There's less uncertainty about the military advantage gained with such weapons. A warhead-toting navy would allow Pakistan to stay nuclear-capable regardless of what happens to its homeland, where its nuclear infrastructure is spread out.
Developing tactical nuclear weapons calls for miniaturization of current weaponry (the "Davy Crockett," developed by the US in the '50s, was designed to launch from a simple tripod). But as The Washington Post reports, analysts are divided on whether Pakistan will be able to make warheads tiny enough for sea-launching.
There's less uncertainty about the military advantage gained with such weapons. A warhead-toting navy would allow Pakistan to stay nuclear-capable regardless of what happens to its homeland, where its nuclear infrastructure is spread out.
Ebola: Mapping the outbreak
The Ebola outbreak in
West Africa was first reported in March 2014, and has rapidly become the
deadliest occurrence of the disease since its discovery in 1976.
In fact, the current epidemic which has swept across the
region has now killed more than all other known Ebola outbreaks
combined.Up to 21 September, 2,917 people had been reported as having died from the disease in four countries; Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The total number of reported cases is in excess of 6,000.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) admits the figures are underestimates, warning that there could be as many as 20,000 cases by November if efforts to tackle the outbreak are not stepped up.
Ebola Deaths in Western Africa up to 21 September 2,917
Ebola Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected
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1,677 Liberia
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635 Guinea
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597 Sierra Leone
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8 Nigeria
Emergency declared
In August, the United Nations health agency declared an "international public health emergency", saying that a co-ordinated response was essential to halt the spread of the virus.
However, WHO director general Margaret Chan said earlier this
month that the "number of patients is moving far faster than the
capacity to manage them". While the outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria were "pretty much contained" and the situation in Guinea had appeared to be stabilising according to the WHO, there appears no indication of a reversal in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Transmission is continuing in urban areas, with the surge in Liberia driven mainly by a sharp increase in the number of cases reported in the capital, Monrovia.
The situation in Sierra Leone also continues to deteriorate with a sharp increase in the number of newly-reported cases in the capital, Freetown, and its neighbouring districts of Port Loko, Bombali, and Moyamba, which are were placed under quarantine on 25 September.
That means that five of Sierra Leone's 15 districts are on lockdown, with more than a third of the population of six million no longer able to move freely.
Tens of thousands gather in Spain for beatification of early leader of Opus Dei
MADRID – Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Madrid for the beatification of an early leader of the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei.At a large outdoor mass Cardinal Angelo Amato began the process that will turn Alvaro del Portillo into a saint. Del Portillo succeeded Opus Dei founder Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer as leader of the organization.
The turning point came with Dan Brown's best-selling book "The Da Vinci Code" and subsequent 2006 movie. The plot portrayed Opus Dei as a murderous, power-hungry sect at the center of a complex conspiracy.
Japan's Mount Ontake Volcano Erupts, Leaving At Least 7 Missing
TOKYO (AP) — A volcano in central Japan erupted in spectacular fashion on Saturday, catching mountain climbers by surprise and stranding at least 40 injured people in areas that rescue workers have been unable to reach. Another seven people were missing.The injured, unable to descend 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake on their own, are staying in mountain lodges, said Sohei Hanamura, a crisis management official in Nagano prefecture. Thirty-two people had serious injuries, including at least seven who lost consciousness.
Police, fire and military rescue workers were planning to try to reach the area on foot after daybreak Sunday, after deciding that the ash in the air made it too dangerous to use helicopters.
Lodge managers are familiar with first aid procedures and were communicating with rescue officials in town, he said.
With a sound likened to thunder, the volcano erupted shortly before noon on a clear autumn day, spewing large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky and blanketing the surrounding area in ash.
Smaller eruptions continued into the night. About 250 people were initially trapped on the slopes, but most had made their way down by Saturday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. Some were in shelters set up in four nearby towns.
One witness told NHK that the eruption started with large booms that sounded like thunder.
Cambodians protest Australia using country as refugee ‘dumping ground’
Protesters outside Australian embassy in Phnom Penh call for Cambodia’s human rights and poverty to be addressed first
Monks, students and villagers from two of Phnom Penh’s most notorious
eviction sites protested outside the Australian embassy on Friday,
calling for a controversial refugee settlement deal not to be signed
later in the day by the immigration minister, Scott Morrison.
Details are scant on what the memorandum of understanding contains, but it would see refugees who intended to seek asylum in Australia – only to be sent to the South Pacific island of Nauru – resettled in Cambodia.
Morrison is expected to ink the deal in a joint ceremony with Cambodia’s interior minister, Sar Kheng, at 3pm on Friday.
The embassy road was heavily manned with riot police, who erected barricades at either end to prevent the rally from getting too close. Protesters held up signs calling for Cambodia’s own dismal human rights and poverty situation to be addressed first.
One read: “Cambodia doesn’t discriminate other nations, but we need to help ourselves first, then we can help others.”
Another said Cambodia can’t accept what Australia has proposed, “as we are still poor”.
On Friday morning Morrison revealed that Australia will give $40m in aid to Cambodia, but denied it was part of a deal to take the refugees for resettlement.
The group of about 50 protesters made their way on foot around the block to get as close to the building as possible in order to hand in a petition asking for the deal to be called off.
At one point, in the shadow of the imposing embassy wall, a woman called Bo Chhorvy, from the Boeung Kak community – where 3,000 families have been evicted and their houses torn down to make way for a massive development project – was knocked down by police officials and suffered a cut to her head. Her friends dragged her aside and tried to revive her.
Guenther Oettinger outlined a plan which would see Russia supply Ukraine over the winter and into the spring.
Ukraine would pay Russia $2bn (£1.2bn) of its gas debt by the end of October and another $1.1bn by the year's end.
The talks will continue next week. Russia halted supplies in June over Ukraine's unpaid debts.
Relations had soured after the overthrow of Ukraine's pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych, in February and Russia's subsequent support for separatists in Crimea and other Ukrainian regions.
'Price at issue' Friday's talks came after Hungary cut its gas deliveries to Ukraine, arguing that it needed to stock up its reserves.
Hungary was criticised by the European Commission but argued that it could not risk being cut off by Russia before winter set in.
Hundreds of other protesters, however, showed no sign of leaving the area next to a courtyard in the government complex that the students had entered, and chanted at police to release their colleagues. The standoff between pro-democracy protesters and authorities looked set to drag on into a second night as a steady stream of supporters arrived at the demonstration zone throughout the day.
The dispersal followed a night of scuffles between police and about
150 protesters who forced their way into the government compound, some
scaling a tall fence. Police on Friday night responded with pepper spray
to push them back, but about 50 had remained inside the gated premises
by early Saturday afternoon, when police moved in to clear them out.
At least 29 people have been injured and 61 arrested since Friday night, police said.
Hong Kong Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok told reporters that police acted appropriately and gave students sufficient warning before starting the process of clearing the square.
The scuffles came at the end of a weeklong strike by students demanding China's Communist leaders organize democratic elections in 2017. Thousands of university and college students who had spent the week boycotting classes were joined Friday by a smaller group of high school students.
Tensions over Hong Kong's political future have risen significantly since control of the former British colony passed to China in 1997.
China's leaders have promised universal suffrage for the city, but last month ruled out letting the public nominate candidates, instead insisting they be screened by a committee of Beijing loyalists.
Hong Kong's young people have become vocal supporters of full democracy in recent years, fueled by anger over widening inequality and Beijing's tightening grip on the city.
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Ms Clinton, 34, married Marc Mezvinsky in 2010, and announced her pregnancy in April 2014.
The baby arrives as Hillary Clinton considers a presidential bid in 2016.
She is seen as the leading Democratic contender for nomination to succeed President Barack Obama, and has said that she will make a decision on whether to run from around the beginning of 2015.
Bill Clinton served as the 42nd US president, from January 1993 to January 2001.
The former first daughter has often been tipped to follow her parents into politics.
Chelsea Clinton, educated at Stanford, Columbia and Oxford Universities, runs the Clinton Foundation with her parents. Her husband Marc Mezvinsky is an investment banker.
Ms Clinton stepped down from a $600,000 (£370,000) a year position as NBC special correspondent in August to concentrate on her pregnancy, motherhood and philanthropic work.
Just how that operation, formally approved by Congress last week, will play out is largely an open question. But based on past operations including those the U.S. already is running, analysts say allies in the region would likely help in getting military aid to rebels -- whom the U.S. hopes will one day fight as a cohesive unit to rout the Islamic State in their Syria headquarters, aided by airstrikes.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the U.S. is now
"setting up the vetting system" to determine which opposition fighters
will get U.S. training. Hagel, while unable to say who the head of that
opposition is, said that process would include "regional partners" as
well as the State Department and intelligence agencies.
Lt. Gen. William Mayville, head of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier this week that the mission is in the "beginnings of implementation" and described it as "a multi-year program."
This is not the United States' first foray into the region.
In the year leading up to Monday’s airstrikes, the CIA had set up camps in Jordan with the purpose of turning Syrian rebels into competent foot soldiers.
"It is my understanding most of the lethal aid that has been provided by the U.S. has been through the clandestine channel – the CIA," Jeffrey White, a defense fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told FoxNews.com.
While the Pentagon said it could not comment further for this story, White speculated that there likely is a "third party being used to actually deliver" weapons to the Syrian fighters.
He said the U.S. probably is getting help from Syria’s regional neighbors Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It remains unclear what role they might play in the new train-and-equip mission. Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia is among the countries that has offered to host a training facility.
In the largest-ever payment made by the US to a native American tribe, the Obama administration has agreed to compensate the Navajo people to the tune of $554m (£339m), thus settling a lawsuit that had accused the federal government of mismanaging the tribe’s resources for over half a century.
The agreement will be signed at Friday’s event in Window Rock, the capital of the vast Navajo Nation, which has more than 300,000 members and covers 27,000 square miles of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, including the iconic Monument Valley. It is the largest native American nation by both land mass and population.
Some 14 million acres of that land is held in trust for the tribe by the US, which leases it for logging, farming, mining and energy development in a system established during the 19th century. But according to the lawsuit, which originally demanded $900m in compensation, the federal government has neglected to handle those natural resources responsibly since at least 1946.
As part of the settlement, the Navajo Nation has agreed to waive the suit, which was first filed in 2006. The litigation alleged that the government did not properly reimburse the tribe for the resources mined from its reservation, which include coal, uranium, oil and gas. The US, it argued, failed to negotiate adequate deals with the companies extracting those resources, failed to ensure the tribe was paid sufficiently, and bungled its investment of the proceeds on the tribe’s behalf. Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly described the settlement as “a victory for tribal sovereignty”. In a statement, he said: “The Navajo Nation has worked tirelessly for many years to bring this issue to a close. After a long, hard-won process I am pleased that we have finally come to a resolution on this matter to receive fair and just compensation for the Navajo Nation.”
The steadfastness of Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed a potential gap between President Barack Obama’s senior military and political advisers over whether there might once more be American “boots on the ground” in Iraq three years after the last American combat troops left.
In another sign of the expanding American mission in the region, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the first U.S. military personnel had arrived in Saudi Arabia to lay the groundwork for training 5,000 “moderate” Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State.
Congress last week authorized the training mission but still must consider an administration request for $500 million for the program. The authorization came after Obama said he would expand the U.S. air campaign against the Islamic State from Iraq into Syria, a step that occurred this week with air assaults on 22 locations in Syria.
The grand jury charged Jeffrey Neely, who was a regional administrator for the GSA, with submitting fraudulent reimbursement claims and making false statements, said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag and GSA Office of Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge David House.
If convicted, Neely faces a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 for each of the five charges.
Neely, 59, was infamously pictured in a hot tub during a government-funded junket in Las Vegas that cost taxpayers $823,000.
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Video of the week:
Details are scant on what the memorandum of understanding contains, but it would see refugees who intended to seek asylum in Australia – only to be sent to the South Pacific island of Nauru – resettled in Cambodia.
Morrison is expected to ink the deal in a joint ceremony with Cambodia’s interior minister, Sar Kheng, at 3pm on Friday.
The embassy road was heavily manned with riot police, who erected barricades at either end to prevent the rally from getting too close. Protesters held up signs calling for Cambodia’s own dismal human rights and poverty situation to be addressed first.
One read: “Cambodia doesn’t discriminate other nations, but we need to help ourselves first, then we can help others.”
Another said Cambodia can’t accept what Australia has proposed, “as we are still poor”.
On Friday morning Morrison revealed that Australia will give $40m in aid to Cambodia, but denied it was part of a deal to take the refugees for resettlement.
The group of about 50 protesters made their way on foot around the block to get as close to the building as possible in order to hand in a petition asking for the deal to be called off.
At one point, in the shadow of the imposing embassy wall, a woman called Bo Chhorvy, from the Boeung Kak community – where 3,000 families have been evicted and their houses torn down to make way for a massive development project – was knocked down by police officials and suffered a cut to her head. Her friends dragged her aside and tried to revive her.
EU hopeful of gas deal between Ukraine and Russia
The EU's energy
commissioner is hopeful of a deal between Ukraine and Russia to end
their dispute over gas deliveries after three-way talks in Berlin.
Guenther Oettinger outlined a plan which would see Russia supply Ukraine over the winter and into the spring.Ukraine would pay Russia $2bn (£1.2bn) of its gas debt by the end of October and another $1.1bn by the year's end.
The talks will continue next week. Russia halted supplies in June over Ukraine's unpaid debts.
Relations had soured after the overthrow of Ukraine's pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych, in February and Russia's subsequent support for separatists in Crimea and other Ukrainian regions.
'Price at issue' Friday's talks came after Hungary cut its gas deliveries to Ukraine, arguing that it needed to stock up its reserves.
Hungary was criticised by the European Commission but argued that it could not risk being cut off by Russia before winter set in.
Hong Kong protesters, police clash over democratic reforms
HONG KONG – Riot police in Hong Kong on Saturday arrested dozens of students who stormed the government headquarters compound during a night of scuffles to protest China's refusal to allow genuine democratic reforms in the semiautonomous city.Hundreds of other protesters, however, showed no sign of leaving the area next to a courtyard in the government complex that the students had entered, and chanted at police to release their colleagues. The standoff between pro-democracy protesters and authorities looked set to drag on into a second night as a steady stream of supporters arrived at the demonstration zone throughout the day.
At least 29 people have been injured and 61 arrested since Friday night, police said.
Hong Kong Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok told reporters that police acted appropriately and gave students sufficient warning before starting the process of clearing the square.
The scuffles came at the end of a weeklong strike by students demanding China's Communist leaders organize democratic elections in 2017. Thousands of university and college students who had spent the week boycotting classes were joined Friday by a smaller group of high school students.
Tensions over Hong Kong's political future have risen significantly since control of the former British colony passed to China in 1997.
China's leaders have promised universal suffrage for the city, but last month ruled out letting the public nominate candidates, instead insisting they be screened by a committee of Beijing loyalists.
Hong Kong's young people have become vocal supporters of full democracy in recent years, fueled by anger over widening inequality and Beijing's tightening grip on the city.
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Chelsea Clinton gives birth to girl
Chelsea Clinton, daughter
of former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, has given birth to a baby girl.
"Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we
celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky," Ms
Clinton tweeted.Ms Clinton, 34, married Marc Mezvinsky in 2010, and announced her pregnancy in April 2014.
The baby arrives as Hillary Clinton considers a presidential bid in 2016.
She is seen as the leading Democratic contender for nomination to succeed President Barack Obama, and has said that she will make a decision on whether to run from around the beginning of 2015.
Bill Clinton served as the 42nd US president, from January 1993 to January 2001.
The former first daughter has often been tipped to follow her parents into politics.
Chelsea Clinton, educated at Stanford, Columbia and Oxford Universities, runs the Clinton Foundation with her parents. Her husband Marc Mezvinsky is an investment banker.
Ms Clinton stepped down from a $600,000 (£370,000) a year position as NBC special correspondent in August to concentrate on her pregnancy, motherhood and philanthropic work.
US launching complex operation to train, arm Syrian rebels amid airstrikes
WASHINGTON – Newly launched airstrikes in Syria are only one piece of the puzzle in the war against the Islamic State, as the U.S. military prepares to launch a complex operation to train and arm Syrian rebels.Just how that operation, formally approved by Congress last week, will play out is largely an open question. But based on past operations including those the U.S. already is running, analysts say allies in the region would likely help in getting military aid to rebels -- whom the U.S. hopes will one day fight as a cohesive unit to rout the Islamic State in their Syria headquarters, aided by airstrikes.
Lt. Gen. William Mayville, head of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier this week that the mission is in the "beginnings of implementation" and described it as "a multi-year program."
This is not the United States' first foray into the region.
In the year leading up to Monday’s airstrikes, the CIA had set up camps in Jordan with the purpose of turning Syrian rebels into competent foot soldiers.
"It is my understanding most of the lethal aid that has been provided by the U.S. has been through the clandestine channel – the CIA," Jeffrey White, a defense fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told FoxNews.com.
While the Pentagon said it could not comment further for this story, White speculated that there likely is a "third party being used to actually deliver" weapons to the Syrian fighters.
He said the U.S. probably is getting help from Syria’s regional neighbors Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It remains unclear what role they might play in the new train-and-equip mission. Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia is among the countries that has offered to host a training facility.
Former employee releases secret N.Y. Federal Reserve recordings
September 26, 2014 9:07 PM EDT - In 2012, Carmen Segarra, a former employee for the Federal Reserve in New York, started secretly recording her colleagues to find out first hand how the institution was being regulated. In this excerpt from NPR's This American Life, federal regulator Mike Silva questions Goldman Sachs about a deal it had just closed with Spanish Banco Santander. (This American Life/ProPublica)
A hard-won victory for the long-suffering people of the Navajo Nation as US agrees $554m payout
In the largest-ever payment made by the US to a native American tribe, the Obama administration has agreed to compensate the Navajo people to the tune of $554m (£339m), thus settling a lawsuit that had accused the federal government of mismanaging the tribe’s resources for over half a century.
The agreement will be signed at Friday’s event in Window Rock, the capital of the vast Navajo Nation, which has more than 300,000 members and covers 27,000 square miles of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, including the iconic Monument Valley. It is the largest native American nation by both land mass and population.
Some 14 million acres of that land is held in trust for the tribe by the US, which leases it for logging, farming, mining and energy development in a system established during the 19th century. But according to the lawsuit, which originally demanded $900m in compensation, the federal government has neglected to handle those natural resources responsibly since at least 1946.
As part of the settlement, the Navajo Nation has agreed to waive the suit, which was first filed in 2006. The litigation alleged that the government did not properly reimburse the tribe for the resources mined from its reservation, which include coal, uranium, oil and gas. The US, it argued, failed to negotiate adequate deals with the companies extracting those resources, failed to ensure the tribe was paid sufficiently, and bungled its investment of the proceeds on the tribe’s behalf. Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly described the settlement as “a victory for tribal sovereignty”. In a statement, he said: “The Navajo Nation has worked tirelessly for many years to bring this issue to a close. After a long, hard-won process I am pleased that we have finally come to a resolution on this matter to receive fair and just compensation for the Navajo Nation.”
U.S. combat role in Iraq not off table, Gen. Dempsey says
WASHINGTON — The nation’s top military commander refused Friday to back off his controversial stance in Senate testimony that he would recommend committing U.S. troops to combat in Iraq if he believed they were needed to help defeat Islamic State militants.The steadfastness of Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed a potential gap between President Barack Obama’s senior military and political advisers over whether there might once more be American “boots on the ground” in Iraq three years after the last American combat troops left.
In another sign of the expanding American mission in the region, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the first U.S. military personnel had arrived in Saudi Arabia to lay the groundwork for training 5,000 “moderate” Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State.
Congress last week authorized the training mission but still must consider an administration request for $500 million for the program. The authorization came after Obama said he would expand the U.S. air campaign against the Islamic State from Iraq into Syria, a step that occurred this week with air assaults on 22 locations in Syria.
Hot-tubbing GSA official indicted over lavish trips
A San Francisco grand jury has indicted a former General Services Administration official whose lavish trips on the taxpayer’s dime and whose image relaxing in a hot tub in 2012 became a symbol of government fraud and abuse.The grand jury charged Jeffrey Neely, who was a regional administrator for the GSA, with submitting fraudulent reimbursement claims and making false statements, said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag and GSA Office of Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge David House.
Neely, 59, was infamously pictured in a hot tub during a government-funded junket in Las Vegas that cost taxpayers $823,000.
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