Congress dodging new war powers
Congress dodging new war powers
WASHINGTON — In the battle against the Islamic State group, members of Congress talk tough against extremism, but many want to run for cover when it comes to voting on new war powers to fight the militants, preferring to let the president own the battle.
They might not be able to run for long.
The U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Syria is creeping forward, putting more pressure on Congress to vote on a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force. It would be the first war vote in Congress in 13 years.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a leading force in the Senate for a new authorization, said the reluctance to vote runs deep and that many in Congress prefer to criticize President Barack Obama’s policy in Iraq and Syria without either authorizing or stopping the fight.
“There is sort of this belief that if we do not vote, we cannot be held politically accountable. We can just blame the president,” Kaine said.
Rangers in Congo killed by poachers
JOHANNESBURG — The eight suspected poachers stood under a tree, apparently unaware they were being tracked by 10 rangers from Congo’s Garamba National Park. But as the rangers approached, gunfire rang out from the tall grass nearby, where other heavily armed men were hidden. The dragnet swiftly turned into a desperate fight for survival.
The shootout last month, in which three rangers and a Congolese army colonel were killed, highlights the challenge of protecting parks in a part of Africa plagued for decades by insurgencies, civil war, refugee flows and weak governments. It shows how some conservation efforts resemble a kind of guerrilla warfare in which rangers and soldiers stalk — and are stalked by — poachers who are slaughtering Africa’s elephants and other wildlife.
More than 200 elephants have been poached in Garamba since a census in April 2014 counted 1,780 elephants — down from more than 11,000 two decades ago.
An earlier generation of poachers in Garamba killed with spears. Today’s intruders carry grenades and rocket launchers, and in some cases, have even targeted elephants from helicopters. These gunmen have turned a world heritage site the United Nations defines as “in danger” into a spot where deadly skirmishes are likely to forestall significant tourism for quite some time.
2016 hopeful Carson: Questions on his veracity are irrelevant to finding the next president
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Sunday that he’s facing an unprecedented level of scrutiny about the veracity of his life story and questioned whether the issues dogging him over his autobiography are important to the nation’s search for the next president.
“Every single day, every other day or every week, you know, they’re going to come out with, ‘Well, you said this when you were 13,’” the retired neurosurgeon said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“The whole point is to distract the populace, to distract me,” Carson added. “If you’ve got a real scandal, if you’ve got something that’s really important, let’s talk about that.”
Moving on, at least in the short term, is unlikely. The accuracy of Carson’s autobiography has dominated his campaign in the past few days, and there are likely to be more questions asked on Tuesday during the next GOP presidential debate. The scrutiny reflects Carson’s transformation from political outsider to the top of the polls in the unsettled nomination fight, second only to billionaire developer Donald Trump.
Russian security experts en route to Egypt
CAIRO — International passengers departing Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh continued to line up for flights on Sunday, as the first of three teams of Russian inspectors was dispatched to the country to examine airport security following the Oct. 31 airline disaster.
The Russian flight’s crash in the Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 people onboard continues to generate fallout, after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for its downing and U.S. and British officials say intelligence shows it was likely brought down by a bomb on board.
Britain and several airlines have stopped normally scheduled flights to the resort, while Russia has suspended all flights to Egypt because of security concerns.
U.S. lawmakers weighed in on the issue Sunday. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC’s “This Week” if it’s confirmed the plane was brought down by an Islamic State bomb, then “ISIS has now fully eclipsed al-Qaida as the gravest terrorist threat in the world.”
British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond told the BBC on Sunday that if the bomb is confirmed, it will require a potential rethinking of airport security in all areas where the extremist group is active,
Millions vote in historic Myanmar elections
YANGON, Myanmar — With tremendous excitement and hope, millions of citizens voted Sunday in Myanmar’s historic general election that will test whether the military’s long-standing grip on power can be loosened, with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party expected to secure an easy victory.
In a country that was under military rule for almost a half-century, many of the eligible 30 million voters cast ballots for the first time in what was billed as the nation’s freest election ever. It was the first time even for Suu Kyi, the epitome of the democracy movement who had defied the junta for decades.
Wearing her trademark thazin flowers in her hair, a smiling Suu Kyi arrived at the polling station near her lakeside residence, where she was mobbed by hundreds of journalists. She quickly cast her vote and left without speaking to reporters.
Many people lined up in Buddhist temples, schools and government buildings early in the morning to vote, well before a heavy downpour beat down in Yangon an hour before voting ended peacefully in the late afternoon with no reports of major irregularities or violence.
Election monitors called it “a remarkable day” full of excitement and energy.
By wire sources.