NATO says 3 US soldiers killed by gunman in Afghan uniform
NATO says 3 US soldiers killed by gunman in Afghan uniform
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan wearing a security forces uniform turned his weapon against U.S. troops Saturday, killing three in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, in another apparent attack by a member of the Afghan forces against their international allies.
The shooting took place in Gardez, capital of eastern Paktia province, Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, said. The area, near the border with Pakistan, has been a front line in fighting with the Taliban and other militants.
The attack took place inside a base of the Afghan army in the city, according to a security official in Gardez, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give details while the incident was still under investigation.
A U.S. Defense Department official confirmed that all three soldiers were Americans, but that no further details would be released until after their relatives had been notified. NATO said the shooting was carried out by a gunman wearing the uniform of the Afghan National Security Forces, but it gave no further details.
Killings by uniformed Afghans of foreign soldiers and civilians rose dramatically last year, eroding confidence between the sides at a crucial turning point in the conflict. So-called insider attacks killed 62 personnel in 47 incidents last year compared to 35 killed in 21 attacks a year earlier, according to NATO.
Chinese politician Bo Xilai gets life sentence
JINAN, China — A Chinese court convicted Bo Xilai of corruption Sunday and gave him a stern sentence of life in prison, capping a 20-month scandal that derailed one of China’s most up-and-coming politicians while exposing a murder and illicit enrichment among the country’s elite.
The former Politburo member and Chongqing city party leader was convicted of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power in a case set in motion by his wife’s poisoning of a British business associate, but also widely regarded in China as a prosecution that was carried forward because the charismatic populist had lost support among top leaders.
In a marked departure from other recent politically charged trials, which are typically understood to be closely choreographed proceedings, Bo launched an unusually vigorous defense during his trial last month.
He denied all charges and blamed the corruption on others in his inner circle, thus forgoing the opportunity to earn leniency as is customarily given in Chinese courts when a defendant expresses contrition.
Bo also became the highest-level politician convicted for corruption under China’s leader Xi Jinping, who has staked his reputation on combatting graft within the Communist Party.
Writer Carolyn Cassady of Beat generation dies
LONDON — Carolyn Cassady, a writer who was married to Jack Kerouac’s travel companion and a lover of the famous Beat author, has died. She was 90 years old.
Longtime friend Estelle Cimino, co-owner of the Beat Museum in San Francisco, said Saturday that Carolyn Cassady died Friday in a hospital near her home in Bracknell, southeast England. Cimino and her husband are longtime family friends of Cassady and her children. Cause of death was not immediately clear.
Cassady was married to Neal Cassady — a central character in the Beat generation and the basis of the character Dean Moriarty in Kerouac’s “On the Road” — for around 20 years.
The couple had three children.
She was also a close friend of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, and chronicled her experiences with the three in the memoir “Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg,” published in 1990.
By wire sources