Syria’s military to reduce airstrikes for Aleppo evacuations
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s military command said it would scale back its bombardment of the contested city of Aleppo on Wednesday to allow civilians to evacuate besieged rebel-held neighborhoods.
The announcement, broadcast on state TV, followed 16 days of airstrikes and shelling that have killed over 300 civilians and damaged hospitals and water facilities. Satellite images released Wednesday by the U.N. show the scale of the destruction since a U.S.-Russia brokered cease-fire collapsed two weeks ago.
The government is accused by opponents and international observers of using violence to forcibly depopulate areas seen as disloyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“The government has used scorched earth tactics against us, and then blesses us with an opportunity to leave? Of course this is refused,” said Ammar Sakkar, the military spokesman of the Fastiqum rebel faction inside east Aleppo.
Doctors inside the city’s besieged eastern neighborhoods said there were fewer attacks on Wednesday, after two weeks of airstrikes in which Russian and Syrian government jets targeted underground hospitals with bunker-busting bombs.
NSA contractor accused of taking classified information
WASHINGTON (AP) — A contractor for the National Security Agency has been arrested on charges that he illegally removed highly classified information and stored the material in his house and car, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was arrested by the FBI in August after authorities say he admitted to having taken government secrets. A defense attorney said Martin did not intend to betray his country.
The arrest was not made public until Wednesday, when the Justice Department released a 5-page criminal complaint that accused Martin of having been in possession of top-secret information.
Among the classified documents found with Martin, according to the FBI, were six that contain sensitive intelligence — meaning they were produced through sensitive government sources or methods that are critical to national security — and date back to 2014. All the documents were clearly marked as classified information, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint does not specify what documents Martin was alleged to have taken. The arrest was made around the same time that U.S. officials acknowledged an investigation into a cyber leak of purported hacking tools used by the NSA. The tool kit consists of malicious software intended to tamper with firewalls, the electronic defenses protecting computer networks. Those documents were leaked by a group calling itself the “Shadow Brokers.”
Some see Pence, post-debate, as top-of-ticket material
HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — Republican Mike Pence emerged from the vice presidential debate Wednesday an energized No. 2 set on using his Midwestern reserve to win over small-town and rural conservatives in battleground states.
But the praise Pence is receiving after Tuesday’s debate against Democrat Tim Kaine is also an awkward reminder of Trump’s failings at his own top-of-the-ticket showdown against Hillary Clinton. That has some Republicans wishing for a ticket flip — with Pence the one running for president — and looking ahead to Pence’s prospects in 2020.
“Some people say they wish the ticket were reversed. I can see that,” said Jim Wood, a retired Army officer and Iraq War veteran from nearby Waynesboro, Virginia. “People got to see that last night. For all of Trump’s anger, this guy plays it cool.”
The understated Pence kept calm during the debate, offering only an indignant “Oh, come on” at Kaine’s assertion that Trump’s “personal Mount Rushmore” includes the faces of dictators including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The more a wound-up Kaine challenged him to defend Trump’s statements and policies, the calmer Pence seemed to get. And as the political intelligentsia debated which man won, Pence offered a gracious deflection.
Paris climate agreement to take effect Nov. 4
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The landmark Paris agreement on climate change will enter into force on Nov. 4, after being pushed past a key threshold Wednesday by a coalition of the world’s largest polluters and small island nations threatened by rising seas.
President Barack Obama hailed the news as “a turning point for our planet,” and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the agreement’s strong international support a “testament for the urgency of action.” Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech, called it: “A moment of bright hope in the increasingly discouraging landscape of climate science.”
U.N. Spokesman Farhan Haq said the EU, Canada and Nepal would deposit their instruments of ratification Wednesday, edging the percentage of emissions by ratifying countries past the 55 percent threshold needed for the treaty to take effect.
“I am delighted to announce that today the Paris Agreement will cross the second and final threshold needed for entry into force, and will enter into force on 4 November 2016,” Ban said in a statement issued from Europe. “Global momentum for the Paris Agreement to enter into force in 2016 has been remarkable. What once seemed unthinkable is now unstoppable. “
The deal takes effect 30 days after 55 countries, accounting for at least 55 percent of global emissions, have adopted it. Sixty-two countries had done so as of Tuesday but they accounted only for about 52 percent of emissions.
For Clinton, election likely to be won or lost in October
WASHINGTON (AP) — Each night, Hillary Clinton’s data experts head to a conference room on the 11th floor of her Brooklyn headquarters, to start counting votes.
The sessions in the “early voter boiler room,” as it’s been dubbed by campaign aides, stretch into the early hours of the morning. The team pores over turnout patterns in states where advance voting is already underway, projects how many votes Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have already received, and updates crucial targeting lists of the voters she still needs.
For Clinton, October is when she’s likely to win or lose the election, not Nov. 8. By the third week of this month, Clinton’s campaign hopes to have a solid enough sample of the early vote to know whether the Democrat is on track to win the White House.
“Many battleground states are already voting so every day is Election Day,” said Matt Dover, Clinton’s voter analytics director.
In several competitive states, including North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado, Florida and Nevada, at least 45 percent of the total vote is expected to come in early. Initial metrics show good news for Clinton in North Carolina, a must-win state for Trump. There are modestly positive signs for the Republican in Iowa, but that’s a state the Democrat can likely afford to lose.
Utah man charged $40 for ‘skin-to-skin’ contact with newborn
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Ryan Grassley discovered a perplexing charge on a hospital bill for the recent birth of his son: Nearly $40 for “skin to skin” contact after his wife gave birth via cesarean section.
Amused by the bill, he posted a picture of it on Reddit this week and commented: “I had to pay $39.35 to hold my baby after he was born.”
The post set off a flurry of outrage and consternation on Reddit. Nearly 12,000 people commented, with many sharing their own stories of what they said were bizarre or ridiculous medical charges.
“A lot of people like to be shocked and outraged by things,” Grassley said in an interview Wednesday. “Today, It happened to be my hospital bill.”
The fee technically wasn’t for Grassley to hold his baby, but to have an additional nurse present in the hospital recovery room for C-section patients to ensure mother and baby were safe, said Janet Frank, spokeswoman for Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, Utah.
