She reigns supreme: Queen Elizabeth II surpasses Queen Victoria in length of service
LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has reached a major milestone by becoming the longest-reigning monarch in Britain’s history.
She passes Queen Victoria, her great-great-grandmother, who was on the throne for 63 years and 7 months.
Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday that millions on Britons would celebrate the queen’s “historic moment.”
“Over the last 63 years, Her Majesty has been a rock of stability in a world of constant change and her selfless sense of service and duty has earned admiration not only in Britain, but right across the globe,” Cameron said.
“It is only right that today we should celebrate her extraordinary record, as well as the grace and dignity with which she serves our country.”
Kentucky clerk who fought gay marriage is released after 5 days in jail, gets a hero’s welcome
GRAYSON, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples was released Tuesday after five days behind bars, emerging to a tumultuous hero’s welcome from thousands of supporters waving large white crosses.
“I just want to give God the glory. His people have rallied, and you are a strong people,” Kim Davis told the crowd after stepping outside, her arms raised like a victorious boxer, to the blaring “Rocky”-sequel theme song “Eye of the Tiger.”
Her lawyer refused to say whether she would defy the courts again.
“Kim cannot and will not violate her conscience,” said Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, the Christian law firm representing Davis. As for whether she will issue licenses, Staver said only: “You’ll find out in the near future.”
The Rowan County clerk whose defiance has made her a hero to many on the religious right walked free after the federal judge who ordered her locked up lifted the contempt ruling against her, saying he was satisfied that her deputies were fulfilling their obligation to grant licenses to same-sex couples in her absence.
Turkey deploys ground forces into northern Iraq to hunt down PKK rebels
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey deployed ground forces across the border into northern Iraq on Tuesday for the first time since 2011, stepping up its battle against Kurdish rebels who have stung the Turkish military with a string of attacks in recent weeks.
The move, however, could frustrate the U.S.-led alliance’s efforts against the Islamic State group because Turkey is now hunting down the very fighters who are trying to hold back the militant group from taking more territory in Syria and Iraq.
Turkish authorities haven’t given a specific timeframe for the operation in northern Iraq, although one official said it was a “short-term” offensive to root out rebels. Turkish jets also carried out more airstrikes against rebel camps in the region.
The cross border operations came amid a wave of attacks by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that killed at least 31 soldiers and police since Sunday.
Turkey, a NATO ally, signed up for a more active participation in the U.S.-led coalition, after a deadly suicide bombing in July blamed on IS. It has allowed U.S. warplanes and drones to take off for missions against IS in Syria and its jets have struck IS targets near its border, in Syria.
City reaches $6.4M settlement with family of Freddie Gray, fatally injured in police custody
BALTIMORE (AP) — The parents of Freddie Gray reached a tentative $6.4 million settlement with the city of Baltimore, nearly five months after their 25-year-old son was critically injured in police custody, sparking days of protests and rioting.
The deal announced Tuesday appeared to be among the largest settlements in police death cases in recent years and happened just two days before a judge is set to hear arguments on whether to move the trials for six officers charged in Gray’s death from Baltimore.
Gray’s spine was injured April 12 in the back of a transport van after he was arrested. Gray, who was black, died at the hospital a week later. In the aftermath, Gray became a symbol of the contentious relationship between the police and the public in Baltimore, as well as the treatment of black men by police in America.
The city’s Board of Estimates is expected to approve the settlement Wednesday.
“The proposed settlement agreement going before the Board of Estimates should not be interpreted as a judgment on the guilt or innocence of the officers facing trial,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a news release. “This settlement is being proposed solely because it is in the best interest of the city, and avoids costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal and potentially cost taxpayers many millions more in damages.”
UN warns Hungary 42,000 more migrants coming in next 10 days, will need help at border
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Leaders of the United Nations refugee agency warned Tuesday that Hungary faces a bigger wave of 42,000 asylum seekers in the next 10 days and will need international help to provide shelter on its border, where newcomers already are complaining bitterly about being left to sleep in frigid fields.
Officials from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it was sending tents, beds and thermal blankets to Hungary’s border with Serbia, where for the past two days frustrated groups from the Middle East, Asia and Africa have ignored police instructions to stay put and instead have marched on a highway north to Budapest.
Commissioner Antonio Guterres accused the entire European Union of failing to see the crisis coming or take coordinated action, even though the 28-nation bloc of 508 million people should have enough room and resources to absorb hundreds of thousands of newcomers with ease.
There was needless suffering in the migration crisis “because Europe is not organized to deal with it, because the European asylum system has been extremely dysfunctional and in recent weeks completely chaotic,” Guterres said. He told a news conference in Paris that it appeared “clear that if Europe would be properly organized, it would be a manageable crisis.”
The EU has struggled, in part, because front-line nations such as Hungary and Greece have not put enough facilities in place to house a human flow averaging 2,000 to 3,000 a day while the vast majority of people try to push deeper into Europe and seek refugee protection in Germany, the nation accepting the greatest number by far.
AP Exclusive: Thousands of wastewater spills scar land, threaten water amid drilling boom
CROSSROADS, N.M. (AP) — Carl Johnson and son Justin are third- and fourth-generation ranchers who for decades have battled oilfield companies that left a patchwork of barren earth where the men graze cattle in the high plains of New Mexico. Blunt and profane, they stroll across a 1 1/2-acre patch of sandy soil — lifeless, save for a scattering of stunted weeds.
Five years ago, a broken pipe soaked the land with as much as 420,000 gallons of oilfield wastewater — a salty and potentially toxic drilling byproduct that can quickly turn fertile land into a dead zone. The leaked brine killed every sprig of grama and bluestem grasses and shinnery shrubs it touched.
For the Johnsons, the spill is among dozens that have taken a heavy toll: a landscape pockmarked with spots where livestock can no longer graze, legal fees running into the tens of thousands and worries about the safety of the area’s underground aquifer.
“If we lose our water, that ruins our ranch,” Justin Johnson said. “That’s the end of the story.”
Their plight illustrates a largely overlooked side effect of oil and gas production that has worsened with the past decade’s drilling boom: spills of wastewater that foul the land, kill wildlife and threaten freshwater supplies.
United Airlines Jeff Smisek steps down as CEO in connection with Port Authority investigation
(AP) United Airlines has abruptly replaced its CEO as federal officials continue to investigate the airline’s ties to the former chairman of the agency that operates New York-area airports, including Newark, a key hub for the carrier.
United Continental Holdings Inc. said Tuesday that Jeffery Smisek and two other senior executives had resigned. Oscar Munoz, a railroad executive and head of United’s audit committee, was named CEO and president.
Munoz’s appointment was so sudden that no pay package had been worked out.
United disclosed earlier this year that the company and some of its executives had received subpoenas from a federal grand jury for information about its dealings with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. United said it was cooperating with the government probe and conducting its own internal investigation.
Former Port Authority chairman David Samson’s activities have been subject of document requests from the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey, including Samson’s votes on United Airlines projects at Newark Airport at the same time United was restarting flights from Newark to Columbia, South Carolina, near where Samson has a vacation home.
Democrats clinch crucial votes to block GOP resolution against Iran nuclear deal in Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressing their advantage, the White House and insistent Senate Democrats locked up the votes Tuesday to frustrate attempts by outraged Republicans to pass a legislative rebuke to the Iran nuclear accord.
Four previously undeclared Senate Democrats — Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Gary Peters of Michigan and Maria Cantwell of Washington state — announced their support for the international agreement in a coordinated burst. That pushed supporters to a 42-vote total, one more than necessary to block a GOP disapproval resolution with a filibuster, and prevent a final vote.
“There is no better deal available now,” declared Blumenthal, one of the Senate’s Jewish Democrats, announcing his support for an accord that is strongly opposed by Israeli leaders as well as Republican senators.
Blumenthal, Wyden and Peters were among just a handful of undeclared senators and were all considered possible “no” votes. Coming on the first day of Congress’ fall session after a five-week summer recess, their announcements were a dramatic start to what promises to be a bitter, partisan debate on the deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program.
The debate will take on some of the trappings of a political circus Wednesday with presidential candidate Donald Trump preparing to headline an anti-accord rally outside the Capitol.
US vows to help Europe but unclear if it will share migrant strain with allies across Atlantic
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration wants to help its allies across the Atlantic with an escalating migrant crisis, but is unlikely to open America’s doors to vast numbers of Syrian and other refugees arriving each day by the thousands in Europe.
While Germany braces for some 800,000 asylum seekers this year, many of whom are fleeing Syria’s civil war, the U.S. isn’t saying if it will increase its worldwide quota for resettling refugees from 70,000. Only a fraction of those would be Syrians, who must first navigate a multiyear application process before learning if they can start a new life in the United States.
Secretary of State John Kerry plans to brief members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees on Wednesday about how many Syrian refugees the U.S. is willing to take in.
When it comes to the current migrant challenge, the U.S. and Europe are clearly in different places. Whereas the United States is separated by an ocean from the Middle East and North Africa, Europe’s place adjacent to one of the world’s most volatile regions makes it an obvious destination for people fleeing war, persecution and poverty. And there are no gut-wrenching images of refugees drowning while trying to swim or smuggle their way across 3,000 miles of open sea.
Still, a spokesman for the National Security Council said Monday the U.S. was “actively considering” steps to alleviate the situation in Europe, where more than 340,000 people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia now have arrived. Beyond Syria, many are also fleeing parts of Iraq that are under the Islamic State group’s control.
