Leaving Guantánamo

May 13, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

The Obama administration is trying to persuade countries to accept Guantánamo detainees from among 57 cleared for release. But recent protests by a group of prisoners sent to Uruguay last year shows that resettlement isn't easy.

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The United States and Russia emerged Tuesday from their most extensive, high-level talks in years vowing closer cooperation on Ukraine and Syria but unable to point to any breakthrough or new approach to bridge the major differences separating the two powers. The atmosphere was cordial and the tone was promising as US Secretary of State John Kerry held eight hours of talks with President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Kerry's first trip to Russia since the Ukraine crisis began coincided with the 70th anniversary of the allied defeat of Nazi Germany, and both sides hailed the virtues of US-Russian engagement.

Dozens of people were killed and hundreds more injured Tuesday when a second earthquake struck Nepal in less than a month. The magnitude-7.3 quake hit hardest in remote mountain districts northeast of the capital, terrifying a nation already shell-shocked by a more powerful quake on April 25 that killed more than 8,000 and flattened entire villages.

Senate Democrats dealt President Barack Obama a stinging setback on trade Tuesday, blocking efforts to begin a full-blown debate on his initiatives. The president's supporters said they will try again, possibly starting in the House. But they were unable to sugar-coat a solid rebuke of a major Obama priority by members of his own party, some of whom served with him in the Senate. Only one Senate Democrat, Tom Carper of Delaware, voted for a GOP-crafted motion to start considering Obama's request for "fast track" trade authority. Fast track would let the president present trade agreements that Congress could ratify or reject, but not amend.

Saudi-led air strikes pounded the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday just hours before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire was set to begin. Looking to prepare for the truce and jumpstart stalled political talks among Yemen's civil war factions, the new UN envoy to the country arrived in Sanaa, saying fighting would not resolve a conflict that crosses ethnic and religious faultlines.

A white Wisconsin police officer won't face criminal charges for fatally shooting an unarmed 19-year-old biracial man who witnesses say was acting erratically and had assaulted two people, a prosecutor announced Tuesday. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said he won't file charges against Madison Officer Matt Kenny in the death of Tony Robinson. Kenny shot Robinson on March 6 in an apartment house near the state Capitol building. Police said Kenny was responding to calls that Robinson was running in and out of traffic and had assaulted two people, and Kenny was attacked when he entered the apartment house.

An Athens, Georgia man who saved a dog from a hot Mustang has been arrested for smashing a car window to free the animal. Multiple news outlets report Michael Hammons was charged with criminal trespassing after freeing a small Pomeranian mix in distress from a hot car outside an Athens store. Witnesses say while a group of shoppers waited for police to arrive to free the dog, the Desert Storm veteran took action and smashed the window. Deputies say the car's owner insisted Hammons be arrested. The woman, who deputies didn't identify, was cited for leaving the dog in the hot car.

Verizon Communications Inc said it would buy AOL Inc in a $4.4 billion deal that gives the biggest US wireless carrier access to AOL's successful digital advertising service and content including the Huffington Post news website. The deal, which includes about $300 million of AOL debt, will take the form of a tender offer followed by a merger, with AOL becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon.

“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.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

“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.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

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