Obama nominates Garland to high court, challenging GOP
Obama nominates Garland to high court, challenging GOP
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama nominated appeals court judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, thrusting a respected moderate jurist and former prosecutor into the center of an election-year clash over the future of the nation’s highest court.
Obama cast the 63-year-old Garland as “a serious man and an exemplary judge” deserving of a full hearing and a Senate confirmation vote, despite Republican vows to deny him both. Standing in the White House Rose Garden with Garland, Obama argued the integrity of the court was at stake and appealed to the Senate to “play it straight” in filling the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
“It’s supposed to be above politics,” Obama said of the high court. “It has to be. And it should stay that way.”
Republican leaders, however, held to their refusal to consider any nominee, saying the seat should be filled by the next president after this year’s election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke with Garland by phone but did not change his position that “the American people will have a voice.” He said he would not be holding “a perfunctory meeting but he wished Judge Garland well,” a spokesman said.
Others in the GOP ranks were less wedded to the no-hearing, no-vote, not-even-a-meeting stance — a sign that Republicans are aware the strategy could leave them branded as obstructionist.
North Korea sentences US tourist to 15 years in prison
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea’s highest court sentenced an American tourist to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion on Wednesday, weeks after authorities presented him to media and he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner.
Otto Warmbier, 21, a University of Virginia undergraduate, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial in North Korea’s Supreme Court.
The U.S. government condemned the sentence and accused North Korea of using such American detainees as political pawns.
The court held that Warmbier had committed a crime “pursuant to the U.S. government’s hostile policy toward (the North), in a bid to impair the unity of its people after entering it as a tourist.”
North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies to overthrow its government to enable the U.S.-backed South Korean government to take control of the Korean Peninsula.
More than 12 punished for mistaken Afghan hospital attack
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a dozen U.S. military personnel have been disciplined — but face no criminal charges — for mistakes that led to the bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital that killed 42 people in Afghanistan last year, U.S. defense officials say.
The punishments, which have not been publicly announced, are largely administrative. But in some cases the actions, such as letters of reprimand, are tough enough to effectively end chances for further promotion. The military has previously said some personnel were suspended from their duties but has given no further details.
The disciplined include both officers and enlisted personnel, but officials said none are generals.
The officials, who were not authorized to discuss the outcomes publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity, said the disciplinary process is nearly complete. It is derived from a military investigation of the Oct. 3, 2015, attack, the results of which are expected to be made public in a partially redacted form in coming days.
Sandra Murillo, a spokeswoman for Doctors Without Borders, said the charity would not comment on disciplinary actions until the Pentagon communicates its decisions directly to the group or makes a public announcement.
Kurds plan to declare a federal region in northern Syria
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian Kurds are preparing a plan to declare a federal region in the area they control across northern Syria, saying Wednesday it is a model for a more decentralized government in which all ethnic groups would be represented.
Although the idea might seem like a way forward after five years of civil war, it faces big obstacles: It was promptly dismissed by the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the rebels who oppose him, both fearing it would lead to a partition of the country.
Turkey also opposes it, wary of the growing Kurdish influence in the border region of northern Syria and its effect on its own Kurdish minority.
But Ahmad Araj, a Kurdish official in northern Syria, insisted that a federal system containing such a region, which would effectively combine three Kurdish-led autonomous areas, is in fact meant to preserve national unity and prevent Syria from breaking up along sectarian lines.
“After all the blood that has been spilled, Syrians will not accept anything less than decentralization,” Araj said.
Court: Inmate who survived execution can be put to death
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state can try again to put to death a condemned killer whose 2009 execution was called off after two hours during which he cried in pain while receiving 18 needle sticks, the Ohio Supreme Court said Wednesday.
The court’s 4-3 ruling rejected arguments that giving the state prisons agency a second chance to execute Romell Broom would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and double jeopardy.
Prosecutors had argued double jeopardy doesn’t apply because lethal drugs never entered Broom’s veins while executioners unsuccessfully tried to hook up an IV. They also said a previously unsuccessful execution attempt doesn’t affect the constitutionality of his death sentence.
Broom’s attorneys called the ruling disappointing and said they were exploring “additional legal remedies.” Ohioans to Stop Executions, the state’s largest anti-death penalty group, called on Gov. John Kasich to commute Broom’s sentence to life without parole.
With a federal appeal of the ruling likely, a second execution is years away. In addition, Ohio already has more than two dozen death row inmates with firm execution dates but no lethal drugs to use on them.
Fed keeps key rates unchanged; foresees fewer hikes in 2016
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is keeping a key interest rate unchanged in light of global pressures that risk slowing the U.S. economy.
As a result, Fed officials expect to raise rates more gradually this year than they had envisioned in December. The officials now foresee two, rather than four, modest increases in their benchmark short-term rate during 2016.
The Fed said Wednesday that the economy has continued to grow moderately but that the global economy and financial markets still pose risks. Offsetting the threats, the Fed said in a statement after a policy meeting that it foresees further strengthening in the job market.
At a news conference, Chair Janet Yellen said the Fed expects inflation, which has stayed persistently low, to reach the central bank’s 2 percent target in two to three years.
Investors seemed pleased by the Fed’s expectation of a more gradual pace of rate increases. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been up slightly before the Fed’s statement was issued, closed up 74 points. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.91 percent from 1.97 percent.
Citing Rome symbol, pregnant politician announces mayor bid
ROME (AP) — A pregnant Italian politician announced her candidacy Wednesday to become Rome’s next mayor, infusing the race for the Eternal City with a feminist edge after both her prime challenger and her onetime mentor said she should stay home and be a “mamma.”
The candidacy of Giorgia Meloni, a former protege of Silvio Berlusconi, is the latest twist in the sordid saga of Rome’s city hall, after the previous mayor was forced out in an expense account scandal and the mayor before him was implicated in a huge corruption investigation.
In recent days, as Meloni hesitated over whether to run, both Berlusconi and his candidate for Rome mayor, Guido Bertolaso, said she should concentrate on being a mother and not join the taxing race. Their comments enraged other female politicians and prompted rounds of headlines and talk shows about sexism in Italy.
In a chaotic campaign announcement outside Rome’s iconic Pantheon, Meloni said she would have preferred to have enjoyed her pregnancy without the stress and exhaustion of a political campaign. But she recalled that the symbol of Rome itself is a she-wolf nursing twins, and said mothers must be free to decide whether to work or not.
“What I strongly believe is that no man can tell a woman what she can and cannot do during her pregnancy,” Meloni said.