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.”
A look at highlights from the day's business news:
Stocks slump in volatile trading
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 druglord Christopher "Dudus" Coke has been arrested in Kingston, Jamaica, police said Tuesday.
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
[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."
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.”
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
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 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.'"
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
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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