Documents from bin Laden go public
WASHINGTON (AP) — Documents swept up in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound portray a leader cut off from his underlings, disappointed by their failures, beset by their complaints and regretting years of separation from much of his extensive family.
Despite some surprising quirks in the collection, the overall message of the 103 letters, videos and reports made public Wednesday, however, hews to the terror group’s familiar mission: In the name of God, find a way to kill Americans. Kill Europeans. Kill Jews.
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the documents, released as online images, were among a collection of books, U.S. think tank reports and other materials recovered in the May 2011 raid that killed bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
IS seizes control of Syria’s Palmyra
BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic State extremists captured the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra after government defense lines there collapsed Wednesday, a stunning triumph for the group only days after it captured the strategic city of Ramadi in Iraq.
It was unclear how close to Palmyra’s famed archaeological site the militants had advanced, activists said, adding that Syrian soldiers were seen fleeing the area.
Banks fined more than $5 billion
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four of the world’s biggest banks agreed Wednesday to pay more than $5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to rigging the currency markets — a rare instance in which federal prosecutors have wrung an admission of criminal wrongdoing from a major financial institution.
Traders at JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup’s banking unit Citicorp, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland were accused of working together to manipulate rates on the foreign exchange market, where hundreds of billions of dollars and euros change hands back and forth.
The penalties are a victory for the government and reflect a broader effort by the Justice Department, long criticized as reluctant to prosecute big banks, to tackle financial misconduct.
Blumenthal subpoenaed by House panel
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime confidant of Hillary Rodham Clinton, was subpoenaed to testify before a special House panel investigating the deaths of four Americans at the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, according to an official familiar with the probe.
This official, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the subpoena was issued by the panel led by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. The official declined to be identified publicly because he wasn’t authorized to discuss by name an investigation still in progress.
