British troops deploy to Afghan province amid Taliban battle
British troops deploy to Afghan province amid Taliban battle
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — When Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani took office, it ushered in a period of hope for the country’s traumatized people that decades of violence would soon end. But just one year later, a mood of crisis prevails: British troops are being sent to help the army maintain control of a strategically important district and many Afghans believe the Taliban are winning.
The announcement that British soldiers are being dispatched to Helmand Province came hours after a Taliban suicide bomber killed six U.S. troops near a major military base in the deadliest single attack on American troops in the country since 2013.
A British Ministry of Defense statement late Monday said “a small number of U.K. personnel” were being sent to Helmand in “an advisory role.” The U.K. has 450 troops in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s training mission.
Security has worsened across the country as the Taliban test the mettle of Afghan security forces following the end of the international combat mission last year. While they don’t typically hold any territory they win for more than a few hours or days, the Taliban have dealt a massive blow to the confidence of the over-stretched Afghan forces, who are fighting the insurgency almost alone for the first time. Officials have said casualties, as well as attrition and desertion, have taken a toll on numbers of government forces, while the Taliban strength seems never to diminish.
Trump uses crude language to mock Clinton
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump labeled Democrat Hillary Clinton “disgusting” for using the restroom during a commercial break at the last Democratic debate and used crude language to describe her primary loss to now-President Barack Obama in 2008.
“She was favored to win and she got schlonged, she lost,” he said on Monday night, using a slang word for male genitalia.
Trump, who has ramped up his criticism of Clinton in recent weeks, also mocked Clinton for returning late to Saturday’s debate following a commercial break because she’d been using the bathroom.
“What happened to her? I’m watching the debate, and she disappeared. Where did she go?!” Trump said at the rally at the DeltaPlex Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“I know where she went. It’s disgusting, I don’t want to talk about it,” he added. “No, it’s too disgusting. Don’t say it, it’s disgusting.”
Governor removes names of clerks from marriage licenses
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin ordered the state to prepare new marriage licenses that do not include the names of county clerks in an attempt to protect the religious beliefs of clerk Kim Davis and other local elected officials.
The executive order comes after Davis, the Rowan County clerk, spent five days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis said she could not issue the licenses because they had her name on them.
Bevin said wanted to “ensure that the sincerely held religious beliefs of all Kentuckians are honored.” It was one of five executive orders he issued Tuesday, the first of his administration, that mostly revised or suspended recent actions by former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.
“Today, I took action to uphold several commitments I made during my campaign so that we can implement real solutions that will help the people of Kentucky,” Bevin said in a news release.
Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins, whose office serves the state’s second largest city, Lexington, said he believes Bevin exceeded his authority. He sees marriage licenses as a civil transaction and believes the clerk’s names should remain on them for the historical record, he said.
Woman charged with murder, hit-and-run in Vegas Strip crash
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a homeless woman with murder, child abuse and hit-and-run after police said she intentionally plowed a car carrying her young daughter through crowds of pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip.
Additional charges were expected against Lakeisha Nicole Holloway, 24, as investigators interview witnesses and review video and physical evidence from the Sunday night crash.
“This is an ongoing investigation,” said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who earlier predicted “a great number” of charges would be filed. “I’ve personally seen the videos from a variety of angles, and I’m appalled at the callousness of this defendant’s conduct and what appears to be an intentional act.”
Casino and street surveillance video cited by the prosecutor has not been made public, and Wolfson said prosecutors don’t plan to present it in court Wednesday, when Holloway is expected to make her first appearance before a judge.
Authorities say Holloway repeatedly swerved onto a sidewalk packed with tourists in front of the Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood casino-hotels. A modest, makeshift memorial stood at the site on Tuesday.
Bowe Bergdahl arraigned at North Carolina Army base
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — Wearing a dress blue uniform, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl faced a military judge Tuesday for the first time since the U.S. Army decided to proceed with a military trial that could result in a life sentence for his disappearance in Afghanistan in 2009.
Bergdahl, who was held by the Taliban for five years after he walked off a base, was arraigned during a short hearing on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, a relatively rare charge that carries the severe punishment. If convicted of desertion, he could get up to five years in prison.
Bergdahl deferred entering a plea and did not decide whether he wants to face a court-martial with a jury or one with just a judge. He said little beyond answering “yes” and “no” to questions about whether he understood his rights and the court proceedings.
He appeared demure, sitting mostly still in his chair then walking deliberately with his head down as he left the courtroom. He talked quietly with his military attorney before and after the hearing.
The next pretrial hearing was scheduled for Jan. 12 before Army Judge Col. Jeffery R. Nance, who will preside over future hearings.
Judge bars only organizers from Mall of America protest
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge ruled Tuesday that several local Black Lives Matter organizers cannot demonstrate at the Mall of America on the busy shopping day before Christmas Eve, but she said she couldn’t stop others from attending the protest.
Lawyers for the nation’s largest mall had requested a temporary restraining order to prevent the Black Lives Matter protest planned for Wednesday, in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the massive demonstration that disrupted business and closed stores in the mall last December.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Karen Janisch barred three protest organizers named as defendants in the mall’s lawsuit from attending the demonstration, but she limited her order to them. The mall had sought to block the entire Black Lives Matter group from protesting.
“The Court does not have a sufficient basis to issue an injunction as to Black Lives Matters or to unidentified persons who may be acting as its agents or in active concert with the Black Lives Matters movement,” she wrote.
The judge also denied the mall’s request to order the organizers to remove posts about the protest from social media and to alert followers that the demonstration had been canceled. The organizers’ attorney argued during a Monday hearing that those demands were clearly unconstitutional.