The Libyan militant charged in the 2012 Benghazi attacks, Ahmed Abu Khattala, is in federal law enforcement custody in Washington, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office says. Khattala was captured by U.S. special forces two weeks ago, marking the first breakthrough in the Benghazi investigation. He faces criminal charges in the deaths of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. He was captured without incident and has pled not guilty to all charges.
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An Arkansas Republican official is learning the hard way that off-handed comments about Hillary Clinton getting shot aren’t taken lightly. The state Republican Party’s 2nd District chairman Johnny Rhoda resigned over suggesting on Tuesday that the former Secretary of State would "get shot" if she came to Arkansas. When asked how Arkansas would react to a Clinton 2016 run for president, Rhoda said “She’d probably get shot at the state line. Nobody has any affection for her. The majority don’t.” Rhoda's resignation was announced Wednesday. Arkansas Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb said Rhoda “knows that his statements have created an unnecessary distraction from the important issues before the state today.”
The tale of a 3-year-old girl who was disfigured in a pit bull attack being asked to leave a KFC in Mississippi was a hoax, sources with knowledge of the investigation told a local newspaper. According to the grandmother of Victoria Wilcher, the family sat down to eat at a local KFC and were told that the young girl's face was scary to customers. The story, which has resulted in $135,000 in donations and nationwide outrage against KFC, cannot be corroborated by surveillance footage or transaction records, according to a source. The family maintains the story was legitimate.
A new study by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that since 1997, the population of great white sharks has risen by an estimated 42 percent. This serves as great news for the ecology of the ocean. “Our white sharks and all of our sharks are the real balance keepers,” said Chris Fischer, founding chairman and expedition leader of research firm Ocearch. “We need them in our oceans…There’s just no robust path forward for the ocean without lots of sharks.” The report credits the population increase to a federal ban on hunting great whites, an increase in the population of seals (sharks’ favorite food), and conservationists’ efforts to change the animals’ image.
A suicide bombing in northern Nigeria killed at several people and critically injured 15 who were watching the Brazil and Mexico World Cup match at an outdoor viewing center Tuesday. The blast is being blamed on Boko Haram, but no group has claimed it yet. This is the third explosion in the area recently, and at least 40 have been killed, despite government promises that more security would be provided following an abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls.
The mayor of San Marino, California, resigned earlier today after being caught throwing a bag of dog poop into a neighbor's yard. “These events continue to be embarrassing to me and to the city. Because of this, I have decided to step down as mayor,” Dennis Kneier said, apologizing for his bad judgment. The incident, which occurred earlier this month and was caught on tape, got him a citation for littering by the police.
Speaking from the White House South Lawn on Friday, President Obama outlined for the first time publicly his stance on the violence and chaos gripping Iraq this week. “We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq,” he said, adding he’s asked his national-security team for other options, which essentially leaves air strikes. If the president decides to bomb targets in Iraq, it would take U.S. aircraft less than 24 hours to strike.
Obama said “any action that we may take… has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq’s leaders to set aside sectarian differences, to promote stability, and account for the legitimate interests for all Iraq’s communities.” Without that, Obama said, military action won’t succeed in the long term. The president laid the blame for the unrest at the feet of Iraq’s government led by Nouri al-Maliki, which not only has failed to safeguard all Iraqis but was initially resistant to U.S. offers of help. The president made very clear his reluctance for short-term military action, particularly, as he pointed out, Iraq’s own military is “not willing to stand and fight and defend their posts,” which “indicates that there’s a problem with morale, there’s a problem in terms of commitment.”
While the U.S. could bomb tomorrow, Obama said it will take several days for both military or diplomatic actions to unfold, “so people should not anticipate that this is something that will happen overnight.” Even while he floated taking action, it was clear Obama has been reluctant to do so. “We’re not going to allow ourselves to be dragged back” and that “the United States is not simply going to involve itself… minus a political plan from the Iraqis.”
In the most stunning upset since Republicans took over the House of Representatives four years ago, Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his GOP primary to a poorly funded and disorganized Tea Party activist. David Brat, an economics professor, beat Cantor by 12 points when the Associated Press called the race shortly after 8 p.m. Cantor served as the congressman from Virginia’s 7th District since 2001 and as the leader of House Republicans since 2011. “I know there’s a lot of long faces here tonight, and it’s disappointing, sure, but I believe in this country, I believe there’s an opportunity around the next corner for all of us,” Cantor told supporters after his defeat.Cantor was the chief opponent of President Obama in the House, organizing unanimous opposition to the stimulus act in 2009 and opposing a deal led by House Speaker John Boehner to avoid a government shutdown in 2011 in part by raising revenue. Cantor felt the heat from Brat over immigration, airing ads in the closing days saying he opposed “amnesty.”
According to an audit of 731 Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics, 57,000 patients are still waiting for their initial appointment, and 64,000 who have enrolled over the past decade have never actually been seen. V.A. hospitals and clinics are dealing with a massive backlog that makes the 14-day goal for seeing first-time patients unreachable, the Veterans Affairs Department said Monday. The audit also states that 13 percent of staffers reported they were told by supervisors to falsify appointment dates to make wait times seem shorter.
The American public is not pleased with the way President Obama handled the swap of missing U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban prisoners, according to a USA Today/Pew Research Center poll. It found that 43 percent of Americans believe it was wrong for Obama to make the deal, while 34 percent think it was right. Around half are angry at Bergdahl for walking off his base, while half are sympathetic, and 56 percent of Americans say it was the country's responsibility to bring its soldier home regardless of the circumstances of his disappearance.
Apparently less popular than previous world leaders who guaranteed themselves 100 percent of the vote, Bashar al-Assad has won reelection in Syria with 88.7 percent of the vote Wednesday. The nail-biter win gives Assad, who is currently fighting a civil war because of his brutal regime, a third term in office. The opposition said his challengers were charades, and that the election was a scam. Syria's constitutional court said that turnout was 73 percent, however voting only took place in government-controlled areas. The civil war in Syria has so far killed 160,000 and displaced 3 million people. Previously, in October, Assad had said he would not seek re-election if his people did not want him to.
A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that hurricanes with female names are historically more deadly because people don't take them as seriously. “[Our] model suggests that changing a severe hurricane’s name from Charley … to Eloise … could nearly triple its death toll,” researchers from the University of Illinois and Arizona State University write in their report. Of the 47 most-damaging hurricanes between 1950 and 2012, storms with male names produced an average of 23 deaths, while those with feminine names killed 45 people on average.
Members of the Taliban handed over the only U.S. service member known to be held hostage in Afghanistan on Saturday morning in exchange for five Afghan detainees. Though Americans are pleased with Bergdahl's return, the government is facing scrutiny for failing to consult with Congress. There are also concerns regarding the Afghanis released from Guantanamo Bay. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel defended the government's decision not to give Congress the required 30-day notice for the release of detainees because Bergdahl's health was believed to be in danger. He said U.S. intelligence had information that Bergdahl's "safety and health were both in jeopardy, and in particular his health was deteriorating." Hagel seemed very pleased with how the exchange for Bergdahl went. "No shots were fired. There was no violence. It went as well as we not only expected and planned, but I think as well as it could have …The timing was right. The pieces came together," he said. The deal, which the Obama administration has been pursuing for several years, was brokered by the government of Qatar. Some Americans, however, are questioning the release.