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Alabama's State Legislature has voted to legalize medical marijuana cnn.it/3xQN7gX
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South Carolina and Montana are ending federal pandemic unemployment benefits for their residents next month, the fiâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…5h
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A third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is "inevitable" in India, the principal scientific adviser to the Indian goveâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…9J
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Two American students have been convicted of murdering an Italian police officer in an alleged drug deal gone wrong cnn.it/3enVXuO
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The day's most popular stories
The five most popular CNN.com stories during the last 24 hours, according to Newspulse:
Obama 'angry' after reading McChrystal's remarks: The fate of the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan hinges on his meeting Wednesday with President Barack Obama, who was "angry" after reading the general's remarks about colleagues in a magazine profile to be published Friday.
Man arrested after wife writes to Obama: Not everyone expects a response when they write a letter to the president of the United States. But Caroline Jamieson got much more than she expected when her husband ended up in jail and afraid he would be deported.
Bachelor Pavelka and Girardi split: Many viewers of "The Bachelor" groaned when Jake Pavelka picked Vienna Girardi amid tabloid rumors about Girardi's wild past and accusations of betrayal and plastic surgery. Pavelka defended her - and his decision - but just over three months later, something has gone wrong.
Psych report: Van der Sloot has women issues: Joran van der Sloot has a low tolerance for frustration and "doesn't value the female role," according to excerpts from a psychological investigation report given to a judge by prosecutors Monday.
Officer on paid leave after hospital arrest: The Chattanooga, Tennessee, police department has placed an officer on paid administrative leave after he arrested a man who was speeding and ran three red lights as he tried to rush his wife to a hospital, police said.
Security Brief: Accused militia members remain jailed
Five members of a militia in Michigan arrested and charged in March with seditious conspiracy have lost their bid to be freed on bail. A federal appeals court Tuesday reversed a lower court judgment in May that the five – who belonged to the Hutaree militia – should be allowed bail. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote that “each defendant poses a danger to the community and that no conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of the community.â€
Housing market report drives treasury gains, stock slump
A look at highlights from the day's business news:
Stocks slump in volatile tradingÂ
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Stocks slipped Tuesday, giving up earlier gains in a very choppy session amid a worse-than-expected existing home sales report and the continuing European debt crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 149 points, or 1.4 percent. The S&P 500 index lost 18 points, or 1.6 percent. The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite lost 27 points, or 1.2 percent.
Trading was volatile throughout Tuesday's session, with an early advance petering out after the release of the housing market report. But the tone turned decidedly negative in the last hour.
Alleged drug lord arrested in Jamaica
Alleged druglord Christopher "Dudus" Coke has been arrested in Kingston, Jamaica, police said Tuesday.
Security Brief: U.S. indirectly funding Afghan insurgents
Portions of a taxpayer-funded $2.1 billion Pentagon contract to truck supplies to U.S. troops in Afghanistan are being indirectly paid to Afghan insurgents and corrupt public officials as protection money, a congressional investigation revealed.
The U.S military outsources much of the security for truck convoys carrying food, water, equipment, fuel and ammunition to remote and dangerous areas in Afghanistan, and those contractors hire local Afghans who pay bribes for safe passage, according to investigators. FULL POST
Day 64: Latest oil disaster developments
[Updated at 8:42 p.m.] Here are the latest developments on the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which unfolded after an explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon on April 20:
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- From midnight to noon Tuesday, BP collected about 8,195 barrels of oil (344,190 gallons) and about 5,045 barrels of oil (211,890 galllons) and 27.2 million cubic feet of natural gas were burned, the company said.
- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement Tuesday that a six-month halt on deepwater drilling is "needed" and "appropriate" after a federal judge in Louisiana blocked the moratorium. "We see clear evidence every day, as oil spills from BP's well, of the need for a pause on deepwater drilling," the statement said. "That evidence mounts as BP continues to be unable to stop its blowout, notwithstanding the huge efforts and help from the federal scientific team and most major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico."
Gen. Stanley McChrystal: Latest developments
Here are the latest developments involving Gen. Stanley McChrystal, America's top commander in Afghanistan. He and his staff made comments in a Rolling Stone article that appear to mock top civilian officials, including Vice President Joe Biden. The story, which is to appear in Friday's edition, was written by Michael Hastings.
[Updated at 10:11 p.m.] McChrystal likely will resign Wednesday, a Pentagon source with ongoing contacts with the general said.
[Updated at 7:43 p.m.] McChrystal is prepared to resign if the president has lost confidence in him, a national security official told CNN.
[Updated at 6:04 p.m.] McChrystal has "offered to resign," according to a Twitter post from Time magazine's Joe Klein on Tuesday. Earlier, Klein, citing "a very reliable source," told CNN that McChrystal had already submitted his resignation.
The Twitter post from Klein's magazine offered the "clarification" that the general has "'offered to resign' he has NOT submitted his resignation."
[Updated at 5:55 p.m.] President Obama said that McChrystal showed "poor judgment," but he added that he would wait until meeting in person with McChrystal before making a decision on McChrystal's future. Obama is expected to meet with McChrystal on Wednesday.
[Updated at 4:41 p.m.] McChrystal has submitted his resignation, Time magazine's Joe Klein told CNN, citing an unnamed source. CNN is working to confirm Klein's information.
[Updated at 3:50 p.m.] Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, called for McChrystal to step down, telling CNN that the remarks in Rolling Stone were "unbelievably inappropriate and just
can't be allowed to stand."
[Updated at 3:30 p.m.] Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his staff "became aware" that the Rolling Stone story would be controversial before it was published, story author Michael Hastings told CNN Tuesday.
I "got word from (McChrystal's) staff ... that there was some concern" about possible fallout from the story, Hastings said.
Hastings noted that there was "a lot" of material from the interviews with McChrystal that he didn't use in the article.
[Updated at 1:41 p.m.] Waheed Omar, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal is the best commander for the war in Afghanistan and hopes Obama does not replace him. Karzai and his team believe McChrystal is a man of strong integrity who has a strong understanding of the Afghan people and their culture, Omar said.
[Updated at 1:25 p.m.] President Barack Obama was "angry" after seeing the upcoming controversial magazine article about Gen. Stanley McChrystal, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.
"I gave him the article last night," Gibbs said at the daily White House news briefing. "He was angry."
Earlier, Gibbs described the "magnitude and graveness" of mistakes by McChrystal in the article as "profound."
[Updated at 1:10 p.m.] White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that Gen. Stanley McChrystal will have President Barack Obama's "undivided attention" on Wednesday when the two meet in person. "The president looks forward to speaking with him tomorrow about what's in the (Rolling Stone) article," Gibbs said.
P.M. Security Brief
Afghan Hamid President meets with U.N Security Council delegates in Kabul on Tuesday.
A look at some of the top stories on national security, terrorism and intelligence this afternoon:
Militants removed from watch list - The United Nations will remove Taliban militants not tied to al Qaeda from a terror blacklist in a "step-by-step" fashion, the Afghan president's office said on Tuesday. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267 freezes the assets of individuals with links to the Taliban, as well as al Qaeda, but at the recent peace jirga called by President Hamid Karzai there were calls for the blacklist to be revised. Several of those on the list are former Taliban officials who now serve in parliament.
Karzai met a 15-member committee of the UN Security Council Tuesday and requested they "remove names of those Taliban who are not linked to Al-Qaeda", the president's office said. In another move toward reconciliation, Dr. Mohammad Zasim Hashimzai, Afghanistan's deputy minister of justice and legal affairs, said more than 25 prisoners have been freed in a move to get militants to lay down their arms.
Mexico asks court to reject Arizona immigration law
Mexico on Tuesday filed a brief in federal court in Arizona supporting a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a tough new immigration law, Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, said on his Twitter account.
Officials move to designate Pakistani Taliban as terror group
The State Department intends to designate the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) as a "foreign terrorist organization" after the suspect charged in the failed Times Square bombing admitted to being trained by the group, two senior officials tell CNN.
Both officials called the decision to designate the group inevitable after Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old Pakistani-American suspect in the failed Times Square bombing case, entered pleas of guilty Monday in federal court to all 10 counts he was facing after the botched attempt to ignite a vehicle bomb in Times Square on May 1.
There is still some process before the group is added. Both officials stressed that the State Department still needs to do its due diligence in following the strict legal guidelines involved in officially adding a group to the blacklist, but that the intent to designate the group as a foreign terrorist organization is there. The designation would freeze any of the group's assets in the United States and impose financial and travel restrictions on its members.
Source: Alleged bin Laden hunter to be released by Pakistan
An American man detained last week in Pakistan while on a hunt for Osama bin Laden will be released Tuesday with no charges filed, a source close to Gary Faulkner's family told CNN. Faulkner, who suffers from kidney disease, has been given dialysis in a Pakistani military hospital in Islamabad and is in good condition, the source said.
U.S. officials in Pakistan were allowed to meet last Thursday with the American, according to an embassy spokesman.
Oldest known images of apostles Andrew, John found
The oldest known image of the apostles Andrew and John have been discovered in catacombs under the city of Rome, dating back to the 4th century A.D., archaeologists announced Tuesday.
The paintings were found in the same location where the oldest known painting of St. Paul was discovered last year, the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology said Tuesday.
Federal judge blocks drilling moratorium in Gulf
A federal judge in New Orleans, Louisiana, has blocked a six-month federal moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf.
Several dozen plaintiffs had sued President Barack Obama's administration, arguing the ban would create long-term economic harm to their businesses. Obama ordered the moratorium after the April 20 explosion of an oil rig off Louisiana that killed 11 people and triggered an underwater oil gusher.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the government will immediately appeal the ruling to the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
"The president strongly believes, as the Department of Interior and Department of Justice argued yesterday, that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened is - does not make any sense and puts the safety of those involved, potentially puts safety of those on the rigs, and the safety of the environment and the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now," Gibbs said.
McChrystal apologizes, media ask: Should he be axed?
The gaffe from America's top military commander in Afghanistan and his staffer’s “Biden?-Did-you-say-Bite-Me?†comment is biting back. Hours after news broke that Gen. Stanley McChrystal was recalled to Washington amid his controversial remarks about colleagues in an explosive Rolling Stone magazine article, calls for the firing of the general have surfaced.
The Atlantic magazine’s national correspondent wrote that McChrystal has violated the chain of command and should be sacked for disrespect and insubordination.
"… first is for the civilian Commander in Chief to act in accordance with Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution and demonstrate that there are consequences for showing open disrespect for the chain of command."
A Talking Points Memo columnist points out that this isn’t the first time McChrystal has gone on a scathing tirade about those who are “not in their groove on strategy.†Not firing McChrystal will only hurt President Obama’s standing as commander in chief, he argues.
"Obama needs to fire him. If he doesn't, McChrystal's brand will be validated and the environment of insubordination and unprofessional conduct will be reinforced. If McChrystal survives his White House encounter, then Obama will be diminished. That is what this has come to."
Calling the general’s comments in Rolling Stone “near-suicidal," The Daily Telegraph’s U.S. editor thinks keeping McChrystal, on the contrary, might bode well for Obama’s administration.
"If Obama still believes that success in Afghanistan is possible then the ultimate display of genuine toughness, self-confidence and courage on the President’s part could be to stick with the man he chose to get the job done, despite the general’s reckless and insulting words."
Security Brief: Man in burqa held in Pakistan
A German national wearing a burqa was taken into custody by Pakistani security forces while trying to escape from a security check post innorthwestern Pakistan, a government official told CNN Tuesday.
The German, two local tribesmen and a 6-year-old girl were traveling in a car from Mir Ali, North Waziristan, to Bannu, Kyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Monday, said Zahir Shah, a senior government official in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
South Africa beats France; both ousted from World Cup
It hasn’t been a storybook World Cup for the French – unless it’s a horror story.
After failing to prove in their first two games that they are one of FIFA’s top 10 teams, Les Bleus were summarily sent home from the Cup on Tuesday by the host, South Africa. Though hosts typically enjoy home-field advantages,
French media and fans will be reluctant to overlook that Bafana Bafana was ranked 83rd in the world when it took the pitch.
Following first-half goals from defender Bongani Khumalo and striker Katlego Mphela, South Africa played tight defense to hold on to a 2-1 win. France’s best effort came late in the 70th minute when a stint of dazzling passing ended with a Florent Malouda goal.
France could muster no more – and with that, the 2006 World Cup runner-up saw its ticket back to Paris stamped. South Africa also failed to qualify for the second round after Mexico advanced via a tiebreaker based on goals.
At the final whistle an angry coach Raymond Domenech refused to shake hands with South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and he later told reporters: "The overriding emotion is one of sadness.
"We would have liked the dream to have continued. I shook hands with the players because we have been through some difficult times together. We need to be dignified in victory and defeat."
Back in France, Les Bleus will almost certainly be met with boos and hissing as the team's run-up to Tuesday’s last group stage match was on par with a soap opera.
After reports that Domenech used the zodiac to pick his team, criticism erupted that he had left top players – including Arsenal’s Samir Nasri and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema – at home. Several media outlets have taken to calling the French coach “Crazy Ray.â€
A halftime locker room argument between Domenech and Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka ended with the prolific goal scorer being sent home after France's 2-0 loss against Mexico. Anelka's teammates later refused to practice in protest, and before Tuesday’s game, Domenech benched star defender Patrice Evra and stripped him of his captain’s armband. Domenech also benched several other star players.
It didn't help team solidarity that the French conditioning coach, as well as French Football Federation Director Jean-Louis Valentin, quit during the group stage.
French sports minister Roselyne Bachelot had been in France attempting to mediate between Domenech and his players. But on Monday night Bachelot told journalists the French players had "tarnished the image of France," according to French sports newspaper L'Equipe.
Domenech further said that his players' decision to strike was "unspeakably stupid." He called their actions "an aberration and an imbecility."
The group stage saga, of course, follows the infamous “hand of frog" incident, in which a handball by striker Thierry Henry resulted in a French goal that booted the Irish national team from the tournament.
See the 10 biggest World Cup upsets | World Cup Coverage | Twitter Buzz
Security Brief: Afghan prisoners freed in gesture of goodwill, official says
Afghanistan has announced the freeing of prisoners and the United Nations' intentions to remove some Taliban members from a terror blacklist, efforts that come on the heels of a recent nationwide peace conference, government officials said on Tuesday.
More than 25 prisoners have been freed in a move to get militants to lay down their arms, a government official told CNN Tuesday.
Excerpts from Rolling Stone article on Gen. McChrystal
Excerpts from a Rolling Stone magazine profile on Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, set to appear Friday:
- "Even though he had voted for (President Barack) Obama, McChrystal and his new commander-in-chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. 'It was a 10-minute photo-op,' says an adviser to McChrystal. 'Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his f-ing war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.'"
Security Brief: General recalled to Washington after controversial remarks in article
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, America's top military commander in
Afghanistan, has been recalled to Washington amid his controversial remarks
about colleagues in a Rolling Stone article, officials said. FULL POST
Tornado flattens part of Wisconsin town
Emergency officials were attempting Tuesday to assess the damage caused by an apparent tornado that touched down in southern Wisconsin, flattening the local fire chief's house as he tried to help others.
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