As Iraq shakes, Kurds may see their moment

June 13, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

If the Iraqi government is unable to reestablish control, Kurdistan may go its own way.

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President Obama promised Thursday to send more military aid to Iraq to help beat back a fast-moving insurgency as the United States evacuated a major air base in the nation’s north where it had been training Iraqi security forces. Obama did not say what kind of new assistance would be given to Baghdad. But two US officials who are familiar with ongoing negotiations said the White House is considering airstrikes and increased surveillance, requested this week by the Iraqi defense minister, as the insurgency nears Baghdad.

Bowe Bergdahl, the Army sergeant who has been recuperating in Germany after being released from five years of Taliban captivity, is scheduled to arrive at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas on Friday, a defense official said. The official, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been publicly announced, declined to provide details. Officials had previously said the intention was for Bergdahl to be reunited with his family at Brooke and to spend an undetermined period there in further recuperation.

Ukraine’s president rallied support Thursday for his plan to end fighting in the country’s east in phone calls with US, Russian, and German leaders, even as he condemned what Ukrainian officials called an incursion of armored vehicles from Russia. The Ukrainian interior minister said three tanks crossed into Ukraine along with other armored vehicles from Russia and were attacked by military forces fighting pro-Moscow separatists. Russia has denied sending troops or equipment into Ukraine, describing Russian citizens who have joined the armed separatists as volunteers.

President Obama on Thursday praised ally Australia as a trusted military partner whose cooperation is providing the US with added reach in the Asia-Pacific region, but questions lingered about their differences on climate change. Obama was speaking after a one-hour meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who thanked Obama for the deeper engagement by the US in the region. He said Australia will be “an utterly dependable ally of the United States.”

The former president of Ivory Coast must stand trial on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the months he clung to power after losing elections, a panel of judges at the International Criminal Court ruled Thursday. Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is charged with orchestrating violence carried out by his supporters after Ivory Coast’s 2010 elections. He denies wrongdoing.

Former President George H.W. Bush celebrated his 90th birthday on Thursday by making a tandem parachute jump near his summer home in coastal Maine, fulfilling a goal he made five years ago after a similar jump even though he can no longer use his legs. Bush jumped from a helicopter at about 6,000 feet while harnessed to retired Sgt. 1st Class Mike Elliott, a former member of the Golden Knights, the Army’s parachute team.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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