Putting the public before politics

January 10, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

In a democracy, power is loaned to leaders by the people.

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US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a rare visit Thursday to an Air Force nuclear missile base, hoping to boost morale among the men and women who operate and safeguard the nation’s Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles. But his attempt to cheer the troops was tempered by news that launch officers at another base had been implicated in an illegal-narcotics investigation. A US defense official said two Air Force officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana were implicated but didn’t provide more details.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday ordered the release of 72 prisoners accused of attacking foreign and government forces despite US fears that the inmates could return to the insurgency. The issue has been a sticking point in Afghan-US relations as the two sides struggle to agree on a framework for the withdrawal of American and allied forces.

Tunisia’s Islamist prime minister announced his resignation Thursday in favor of a caretaker government that will supervise new elections later this year and complete the North African country’s long-delayed transition to democracy. The resignation of Ali Larayedh and the dissolution of his coalition government represent an admission of defeat for the Ennahda Party that won elections in 2011 after the overthrow of its dictatorship but has struggled to run the country in the revolution’s aftermath.

Former President Fidel Castro has made his first public appearance in nine months, attending the opening of an art studio in the Cuban capital. On Thursday, Cuban state television broadcast video of the previous night’s event.

Dennis Rodman apologized Thursday for comments he made in North Korea about a detained American missionary, saying he had been drinking and was under pressure as he organized a game with former NBA players. Rodman has been slammed for not using his influence with North Korean leader Kim Jung-un to help free Kenneth Bae, the missionary in poor health who is being confined in North Korea for “anti-state” crimes. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Rodman implied Bae was at fault.

A Pakistani court trying former president and Army chief Pervez Musharraf for treason ordered him Thursday to appear at a hearing next week, despite his lawyers saying he was too sick to attend.

Some of the nation’s largest food companies have cut calories in their products by more than 6.4 trillion, according to a new study. The study sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that between 2007 and 2012 the companies reduced their products’ calories by the equivalent of around 78 calories per person per day. The total is more than four times the amount those companies had pledged to cut by next year.

Famed film director Zhang Yimou must pay more than $1.2 million in fines for having three children in violation of China’s strict family planning rules, officials said Thursday.

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.