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 | February 24, 2015 |
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| IRAN TALKS |
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WSJ: U.S., Iran Explore Option Of 10-Year Nuclear Freeze
The U.S. and Iran are exploring a nuclear deal that would keep Tehran from amassing enough material to make a bomb for at least a decade, but could then allow it to gradually build up its capabilities again. Such a deal would represent a significant compromise by the U.S., which had sought to restrain Tehran’s nuclear activities for as long as 20 years. Tehran has insisted on no more than a 10-year freeze. The possible compromise on the table appears closer to Tehran’s timeline. While it would add some years in which the Iranian nuclear program continues to be closely monitored and constrained, Iran would be able to increase its capacity to enrich uranium, and thus get closer to bomb-making capability again. Critics in Congress and in Israel quickly attacked the prospect of a 10-year time frame as inadequate. Read more..
AP: Leaked Documents Reportedly Reveal Mossad Less Worried About Iran's Nuke Program Than Netanyahu
Israel's Mossad spy agency in October 2012 had a less alarmist view of Iran's nuclear program than an assessment delivered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations just a few weeks earlier, according to a purported secret cable published Monday by two media outlets. In a landmark speech to the United Nations in September of that year, Netanyahu had brandished a cartoon drawing of a bomb and said Iran was moving ahead with plans that would allow it to potentially build a nuclear bomb within a year or so. But in the document published Monday by The Guardian and Al-Jazeera, the Mossad is quoted as saying "Iran at this stage is not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons." The news organizations said the document was an assessment shared with South African intelligence, part of a trove of leaked spy cables sent by several different intelligence agencies, including the CIA and Russian intelligence. Read more..
Reuters: Senate Democrats Invite Benjamin Netanyahu To Closed-Door Meeting During Visit
Two senior U.S. Senate Democrats invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to a closed-door meeting with Democratic senators during his upcoming visit to Washington, warning that making U.S.-Israeli relations a partisan political issue could have "lasting repercussions." Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein extended the invitation "to maintain Israel's dialog with both political parties in Congress," according to a letter to the Israeli leader seen by Reuters. Netanyahu has faced criticism at home and abroad for his plans to address Congress on Iran's nuclear program on March 3, just two weeks before Israeli elections and at a sensitive point in international negotiations with Tehran. Read more..
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| More News |
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| POLITICAL NEWS |
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Washington Post: Republicans Split On DHS Funding, Edging Closer To Partial Agency Shutdown
Congressional Republicans remained sharply divided Monday over how to fund the Department of Homeland Security, prompting White House officials to begin preparations for a potential shutdown of the agency this weekend. “Right now, that does seem to be where we’re headed,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday. Late Monday, Senate Democrats again filibustered a Republican funding proposal for DHS because the money is tied to a repeal of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The House passed the bill in mid-January, and the Senate has been trying unsuccessfully since then to advance the proposal. On Monday the vote was 47 to 46, well short of the 60 votes necessary to overcome the Democrats’ procedural roadblock. The Monday vote marked Republicans’ fourth attempt to move the House bill. Read more..
ABC News: VA Secretary Robert McDonald Apologizes For Misstating He Served In Special Forces
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald apologized today for mistakenly saying in a videotaped exchange with a homeless man that he had served in the special forces, though his service was entirely with the 82nd Airborne Division. "Secretary McDonald has apologized for the misstatement and noted that he never intended to misrepresent his military service," a White House officials told ABC News. "We take him at his word and expect that this will not impact the important work he's doing to promote the health and well-being of our nation's veterans." The exchange with the homeless man was part of a report about an effort to find military veterans among the homeless that aired on CBS News on Jan. 30. "While I was in Los Angeles, engaging a homeless individual to determine his Veteran status, I asked the man where he had served in the military," McDonald said in a statement today. "He responded that he had served in special forces. I incorrectly stated that I had been in special forces. That was inaccurate and I apologize to anyone that was offended by my misstatement.Read more..
NYT: Christie Broke Law With Pension Move, New Jersey Judge Says
In a major blow to Gov. Chris Christie, a New Jersey judge ruled on Monday that he violated state law when he declined to make the full payment into the state’s pension system for public employees last year and ordered him to find a way to fund it now. The decision further complicates Mr. Christie’s hopes of reviving his presidential ambitions, which have suffered in recent weeks as his approval ratings in New Jersey have sunk to the lowest point of his tenure, and Republican donors have moved to other contenders for the party’s nomination. It came on the eve of his annual budget proposal to the Legislature, which already presented him with the challenge of finding $2.9 billion to make next year’s pension payment. The challenge is steep, with the state’s economy lagging well behind its neighbors’ and the nation’s, the state surplus dried up, and the governor loath to raise taxes. Mr. Christie will now be scrambling also to find the $1.57 billion the judge ordered him to pay. Read more..
AP: Aaron Schock, Lawmaker With Lavish Office Decor, Used Taxpayer Funds For Private Planes, Concerts
Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, a rising Republican star already facing an ethics inquiry, has spent taxpayer and campaign funds on flights aboard private planes owned by some of his key donors, The Associated Press has found. There also have been other expensive travel and entertainment charges, including for a massage company and music concerts. The expenses highlight the relationships that lawmakers sometimes have with donors who fund their political ambitions, an unwelcome message for a congressman billed as a fresh face of the GOP. The AP identified at least one dozen flights worth more than $40,000 on donors' planes since mid-2011. The AP tracked Schock's reliance on the aircraft partly through the congressman's penchant for uploading pictures and videos of himself to his Instagram account. The AP extracted location data associated with each image then correlated it with flight records showing airport stopovers and expenses later billed for air travel against Schock's office and campaign records. Read more..
Washington Post: CIA Looks To Expand Its Cyber Espionage Capabilities
CIA Director John Brennan is planning a major expansion of the agency’s cyber-espionage capabilities as part of a broad restructuring of an intelligence service long defined by its human spy work, current and former U.S. officials said. The proposed shift reflects a determination that the CIA’s approach to conventional espionage is increasingly outmoded amid the exploding use of smartphones, social media and other technologies. U.S. officials said Brennan’s plans call for increased use of cyber capabilities in almost every category of operations — whether identifying foreign officials to recruit as CIA informants, confirming the identities of targets of drone strikes or penetrating Internet-savvy adversaries such as the Islamic State. Read more..
Washington Post: Mike Huckabee, Tour Guide In The Holy Land
Whether or not Mike Huckabee becomes president of the United States, the nation of Israel — and especially Israel’s hard-line right wing — has few more devoted fans than the former Arkansas governor, evangelical pastor and gung-ho tour guide to the Holy Land. The man is just nuts about Israel. Huckabee has been a regular visitor to Israel for 42 years, he says. Some years, he comes three or four times. He can’t remember how many trips exactly. Lots. Among the many hats that Huckabee wears — he is also a former Fox news personality — the hat he has worn the longest is leader of the “Israel Experience With Mike Huckabee.” He’s led dozens of tours. Huckabee said he believes that “Americans support Israel, but until they see it, they don’t get it.” He’s not hot on the idea of two states for two peoples. But he is passionate about visiting the places where the Bible comes alive for him, such as the green hills now covered in wildflowers on the Mount of Beatitudes in the Galilee, where tradition says Jesus gave the sermon that called upon his followers to turn the other cheek, rather than take an eye for an eye. Read more..
Politico: Ash Carter Warns Russia On Nukes
Ash Carter has quietly thrown down the gauntlet in a lingering dispute with Russia: If President Vladimir Putin continues to violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the U.S. could respond in kind. “The range of options we should look at from the Defense Department could include active defenses to counter intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missiles; counter-force capabilities to prevent intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missile attacks; and countervailing strike capabilities to enhance U.S. or allied forces,” Carter told senators in little-noticed written answers to follow-up questions from his confirmation hearing. Obama administration officials believe Russia began testing what they call its illegal cruise missile as long ago as 2008, predating the current crisis in Europe over Moscow’s military incursion into Ukraine. Read more..
Yahoo News: Alaska Becomes 3rd State With Legal Marijuana
Smoking, growing and possessing marijuana becomes legal in America's wildest state Tuesday, thanks to a voter initiative aimed at clearing away 40 years of conflicting laws and court rulings. Making Alaska the third state to legalize recreational marijuana was the goal of a coalition including libertarians, rugged individualists and small-government Republicans who prize the privacy rights enshrined in the state's constitution. But when they voted 53-47 percent last November to legalize marijuana use by adults in private places, they left many of the details to lawmakers and regulators to sort out. Read more..
NYT: E.P.A. Issues Stiffer Rules On Vehicle Fuel Ratings
After two years of imposing increasingly stiff penalties on automakers that overstate their fuel economy ratings, federal regulators on Monday said they would tighten guidelines used in determining the mileage advertised to consumers. Next year, automakers will face stricter rules for conducting a crucial test or face an audit by the Environmental Protection Agency and potential penalties. The rules for the test had not been updated in over 10 years. “We think this guidance will result in more accurate fuel economy numbers that consumers can trust,” said Byron Bunker, director of compliance for the E.P.A.’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality. Read more..
Reuters: U.S. Names First-Ever LGBT Human Rights Envoy
The United States Department of State on Monday named its first-ever special envoy to advocate globally for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Randy Berry, an openly gay senior diplomat, has served as U.S. Consul General in Amsterdam since 2012. His earlier foreign service postings included Nepal, Bangladesh, Egypt, Uganda, South Africa and New Zealand. "Defending and promoting the human rights of LGBT persons is at the core of our commitment to advancing human rights globally--the heart and conscience of our diplomacy," said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in announcing the groundbreaking appointment. Read more..
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| PALESTINIAN GROUPS FOUND LIABLE IN TERROR TRIAL & OTHER STORIES FOR THIS TUESDAY MORNING... |
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NYT: Defense Chief Vouches For U.S. Strategy On ISIS
The new defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, said Monday after meeting with senior American military and diplomatic officials in Kuwait that the Obama administration had “the ingredients of the strategy” to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. In describing an approach that has included political and economic pressure in addition to military force, Mr. Carter said the United States now needed to better use the assistance of other countries in the international coalition that has come together to fight the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Mr. Carter also said that despite the concerns and challenges surrounding the arming and training of Syrian rebels — whose allegiances may not ultimately line up with the United States’ — the American military would be able to balance the risk. “We have a lot of experience in doing this,” Mr. Carter said, referring to equipping the rebels. Read more..
NYT: Palestinian Groups Are Found Liable At Manhattan Terror Trial
The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization were found liable on Monday by a jury in Manhattan for their role in knowingly supporting six terrorist attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004 in which Americans were killed and injured. The damages are to be $655.5 million, under a special terrorism law that provides for tripling the $218.5 million awarded by the jury in Federal District Court. The verdict ended a decade-long legal battle to hold the Palestinian organizations responsible for the terrorist acts, an effort that encompassed fights over jurisdiction, merit and even practicality: History has shown that it is difficult for victims of international terrorism to bring their civil cases to trial, let alone to recover damages. While the decision on Monday was a huge victory for the dozens of plaintiffs, it could also serve to strengthen Israel’s claim that the supposedly more moderate Palestinian forces were directly linked to terrorism. Read more..
Washington Post: Marine Found Guilty Of Desertion After Disappearing In Iraq, Lebanon
A Marine who vanished from his military base in Iraq in 2004 and was later shown in captivity in a video on Islamist militant Web sites was found guilty on Monday of desertion after spending most of the past decade in Lebanon. Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 34, was found guilty of deserting with intent to avoid hazardous duty and desertion with intent to remain away permanently, said Marine Capt. Stewart Coles, a spokesman at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where the trial took place. Hassoun also was found guilty of losing government property — a 9mm M9 pistol that authorities said he had when he disappeared. The Marine was sentenced to two years in prison, a reduction in rank to private, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a dishonorable discharge, Coles said. Hassoun faced up to 7½ years of confinement. Read more..
Reuters: Ukraine Says Cannot Withdraw Heavy Weapons As Attacks Persist
Kiev accused pro-Russian rebels of opening fire with rockets and artillery at villages in southeastern Ukraine on Monday, all but burying a week-old European-brokered ceasefire deal. The Ukrainian military said it could not pull weapons from the front as required under the tenuous truce, as long as its troops were still under attack. The Ukrainian currency, nearly in freefall this month, fell a further 10 percent on Monday on fears that the truce could collapse. The central bank said it would impose import curbs to sustain the hryvnia. The value of Ukrainian debt also fell, with bonds now trading at 40 cents on the dollar. The reported shooting came closer to killing off the truce, intended to end fighting that has killed more than 5,600 people, which rebels ignored last week to capture the strategic town of Debaltseve in a punishing defeat for Kiev. Read more..
Huffington Post: Greece Misses Deadline In Bailout Talks
Greece will present its economic reform plans to the euro zone on Tuesday, a government official said, missing a Monday deadline for the list which is a condition for extending the country's financial lifeline. The official gave no reason for the delay but said euro zone finance ministers would consider Greece's plans, which include a crackdown on tax evasion and corruption, as scheduled on Tuesday afternoon. In Brussels a euro zone official said the "content of the letter will not be a surprise" to the euro zone and therefore the Tuesday submission was not a major issue. Greece has said it was working closely with its euro zone partners in drawing up the list. Read more..
The Guardian: Egyptian Activist Alaa Abd El Fattah Sentenced To Five Years In Jail
An Egyptian court has sentenced a prominent pro-democracy activist to five years in prison for violating a law banning unauthorised protests in what rights groups describe as an ongoing clampdown on dissent. Alaa Abd El Fattah – a software engineer, blogger and activist – was one of the public faces of the 2011 revolution that removed Hosni Mubarak from power. The verdict came in a retrial of 25 defendants who had previously been sentenced to 15 years over a demonstration against military trials of civilians in 2013. The remaining defendants in the case received three-year sentences on Monday, while 15-year sentences were upheld for others tried in absentia. Before the hearing, Abd El Fattah and other prisoners were brought into the courtroom but confined to a metal and glass cage, unable to speak to their families, other activists, and journalists. As the judge read out the sentences, the courtroom at Tora prison in Cairo erupted in outrage. Read more..
WSJ: Big Banks Face Scrutiny Over Pricing Of Metals
U.S. officials are investigating at least 10 major banks for possible rigging of precious-metals markets, even though European regulators dropped a similar probe after finding no evidence of wrongdoing, according to people close to the inquiries. Prosecutors in the Justice Department’s antitrust division are scrutinizing the price-setting process for gold, silver, platinum and palladium in London, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has opened a civil investigation, these people said. The agencies have made initial requests for information, including a subpoena from the CFTC to HSBC Holdings PLC related to precious-metals trading, the bank said in its annual report Monday. Read more..
NYT: Metro-North Engineer Tried To Slow Train Before Crash With S.U.V., Report Says
Nearly three weeks after a fatal Metro-North Railroad crash, the National Transportation Safety Board released a summary of its preliminary findings on Monday, but official conclusions about the cause of the crash are months away. The two-page document lays out many of the facts released during the first days of the board’s investigation into the Feb. 3 crash, which killed six people in Valhalla, N.Y. But the document provided no answers to one of the central questions: How a dozen large pieces of the third rail were ripped from the track bed and ended up tearing into the train after it struck a sport utility vehicle stopped in a rail crossing. Read more..
Washington Post: Exposing Infants To Peanuts Causes Big Reduction In Peanut Allergy, Study Shows
Peanut allergy, an occasionally life-threatening condition that has prompted changes in food consumption rules everywhere from pre-schools to airlines, can be sharply reduced by feeding peanut protein to children at risk for the condition beginning when they are infants, researchers reported in a landmark study Monday. The findings could have implications for other potentially dangerous childhood allergies, such as those to milk and eggs, and, if follow-up research shows the approach is safe, might be a response to the rapid spread of peanut allergies in the western world, experts said. "This is really quite an important study," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, which partly funded the research. Read more..
USA Today: Texas Gunman Kills 3, Himself
Four people were killed and a fifth was seriously wounded in a shooting rampage in Killeen, Texas, police said Monday. Police spokeswoman Tina Amerson said a preliminary investigation revealed that a 30-year-old male suspect fatally shot a man and a woman and wounded another woman at the home late Sunday. Amerson said the suspect then then forced his wife into their residence. The Killeen Police Tactical Response Unit -- SWAT -- was called in after the suspect barricaded himself inside the home, Amerson said. After several efforts to communicate with the suspect failed, officers went in a early Monday and found the bodies of the suspect, 30, and his wife, 28. The first victims include a 29-year-old female and a 40-year-old male, Amerson said. A 41-year-old female victim was transported to the Baylor Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple in serious condition. Amerson said the investigation is continuing. Names were not released pending notification of family members.Read more..
Huffington Post: This Was The Least-Watched Oscars Ceremony In 6 Years
Sunday's Oscars turned out to be the least-watched ceremony in six years. According to early Nielsen estimates, 36.6 million viewers tuned in to see Neil Patrick Harris host the awards show. It was a 16 percent decrease from last year's broadcast, which Ellen DeGeneres hosted. The last time the numbers were this low was in 2009, when 36.3 million viewers watched "Slumdog Millionaire" walk away with Best Picture and Hugh Jackman hosted. But the numbers are in keeping with this year's other awards shows. The Oscars had 11.3 million more viewers than the Grammys, which attracted 25.3 million people. Only 19.3 million viewers tuned into January's Golden Globes. Read more..
Washington Post: Report: Michael Sam Is Going To Be On ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Former University of Missouri player Michael Sam made history as the first openly gay man to be drafted by the NFL, but has struggled to find his footing since. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson) Michael Sam may be trading his football cleats for dancing shoes. So says a report from TMZ, which claims Sam is slated to start work on the show’s 20th season next month. Filming starts March 16. Sam had a rough go after becoming the first openly gay man ever drafted by an NFL team. A planned reality show on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network was scrapped after it raised the ire of league officials. He was cut by the St. Louis Rams, the team that drafted him, and while he briefly found a home on the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, he was released last season. Since then, Sam’s been a free agent. Read more..
Huffington Post: NFL Prospect Byron Jones Decimates Jumping Record At Scouting Combine
NFL prospect Byron Jones was standing in place at the league’s scouting combine on Monday when he bent his knees, jumped off both feet and landed 12 feet and three inches away from where he started. That’s an NFL combine record, but that word almost feels like an understatement. Jones actually jumped a full eight inches farther than what was previously logged in the NFL.com database as the top broad jump, as this type of jump is called, and may have set a world record, too. Not bad for a Monday. Jones was previously a cornerback at the University of Connecticut, where he injured his shoulder during his senior season. But he’s looking plenty healthy now. Jones also came just a half inch away from tying the record for vertical jump. Read more..
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