Iraqi town outside Mosul rises up against militants
Iraqi town outside Mosul rises up against militants
AL-HUD, Iraq (AP) — The mutilated bodies of Islamic State group fighters were still strewn on the ground of this northern Iraqi town on Wednesday. One was burned. Another’s face was flattened by abuse.
Iraqi troops on the march toward Mosul moved into al-Hud a day earlier and declared it liberated. But they found residents had already risen up and killed many of the militants in the town themselves.
With the offensive to recapture Mosul in its third day, Iraqi forces advancing from the south and east are fighting to retake the towns and villages the dot the plains and line the Tigris River leading to the city. At times, they’ve met fierce resistance, with the militants sending explosives-packed vehicles careening toward the troops’ positions.
This area has been under control of the militants ever since the summer of 2014, when IS fighters captured Mosul and much of the north in a lightning advance.
In al-Hud, a Sunni Arab town on the Tigris, residents saw their chance to get rid of them. On Monday, a man paraded through town with an Iraqi flag in a show of defiance, residents told The Associated Press. IS fighters shot and killed him.
Modest gain seen for Obama’s last health care sign-up season
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing new challenges to a legacy law, the Obama administration on Wednesday set modest expectations for the president’s final health care sign-up season. The biggest worry: rising premiums and dwindling choices.
Some 13.8 million people are expected to sign up for 2017 coverage, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said. That would be an increase of a bit less than 9 percent from the 12.7 million who picked plans during open enrollment for this year.
This year is shaping up to be the most difficult sign-up season since HealthCare.gov launched in 2013 and the computer system froze up. But technology isn’t the issue this time. Premiums are going up by double digits in many communities, and some major insurers have left the program, leaving consumers with fewer choices next year.
The administration says taxpayer-provided subsidies designed to rise alongside premiums will cushion most of the pocketbook impact. About 85 percent of customers get financial help. And for those policyholders whose insurer bailed out, the government is automatically matching them to another carrier’s plan. It’s up to the consumer whether or not to accept the match or keep shopping.
Officials say returning customers will notice a smoother, more informative website, making it easier to compare plans. Those who are satisfied with their current plans don’t need to do anything; they’ll be automatically renewed.
Leaks put Assange at odds with Ecuador’s warming up to US
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finding himself in open conflict with his Ecuadorean protectors as the group’s latest dump targeting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign runs afoul of the South American government’s goal of warming up to Washington.
Ecuador’s move to cut off his internet access at its embassy in London was a stinging rebuke from leftist President Rafael Correa, who in 2012 heralded Assange as a digital-age Robin Hood and granted him asylum over protests from the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape.
Correa’s government said Tuesday that WikiLeaks’ publication of a trove of damaging emails from Clinton’s campaign had impacted the U.S. election in violation of Ecuador’s traditional respect for other nations’ sovereignty.
Analysts say Correa is unlikely to now kick Assange out into the streets of London where he faces certain arrest. But allowing him to keep leaking secrets from the embassy risks putting the small Andean nation unwittingly on Russia’s side of a brewing cyber-battle with the United States, Ecuador’s top trade partner, at a time of deep economic stress.
“Before, the costs for Ecuador of hosting Assange were minor,” said Santiago Basabe, a political analyst at the Latin American School of Social Sciences in Quito. “But they are growing bigger now because they involve questions of U.S. national security, its tense relations with Russia and the presidential elections.”
California attorney general investigating Wells Fargo bank
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s attorney general is leading a criminal investigation into the sales practices scandal that has rocked San Francisco-based Wells Fargo bank.
A search warrant released Wednesday by the state Department of Justice shows that agents sought evidence related to allegations that bank employees created up to 2 million bank and credit card accounts without customers’ approval in order to meet sales goals.
The warrant, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, was served Oct. 5 as Attorney General Kamala Harris runs for the U.S. Senate.
Copies obtained by The Associated Press show her office sought the names of customers who had accounts opened without their permission, employees who opened the accounts and their managers, and fees associated with the improperly opened accounts.
Harris’ office and the bank did not comment.