Blast on Russian subway kills 11; 2nd bomb is defused
Blast on Russian subway kills 11; 2nd bomb is defused
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia’s second-largest city Monday, killing 11 people and wounding more than 40 in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. Hours later, anguish and fear rose again when police found and defused a shrapnel-packed explosive device at another St. Petersburg station.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown. In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of terrorism, usually blamed on Islamic militants.
News reports initially said police were searching for two suspects, and Russian state television showed a photo of one suspect wearing what appeared to be a skullcap characteristic of Russia’s Muslim regions. However, the Interfax news agency later cited unspecified sources as saying police now suspect the blast was the work of a suicide bomber linked to radical Islamists.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said it was looking for the “perpetrators and organizers of the terror attack.”
St. Petersburg, a major tourist destination famed for its imperial palaces and lavish art museums, had been spared previous attacks.
Dems claim votes to block Gorsuch; GOP will override them
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats claimed the votes they needed Monday to block President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, but the victory was only fleeting, setting up a historic showdown with Republicans who intend to rewrite Senate rules and muscle Neil Gorsuch onto the high court.
The coming fight was assured as the bitterly divided Judiciary Committee voted 11-9, along party lines, to send Gorsuch’s nomination to the full Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has vowed he will be confirmed on Friday.
Short of the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles, McConnell is ready to lead Republicans in a unilateral voting change so significant in the rules-conscious Congress that it’s been dubbed the “nuclear option,” lowering the confirmation threshold to a filibuster-proof simple majority in the 100-member Senate.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware became the key 41st vote for the Democrats Monday, declaring during committee debate that Gorsuch’s conservative record showed an activist approach to the law and that he evaded questions during his confirmation hearings. Coons also said that Republicans’ treatment of former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, left lasting scars after they denied him so much as a hearing following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia early last year.
“We are at a historic moment in the history of the United States Senate” due to actions by both parties, Coons said. “We have eroded the process for reaching agreement and dishonored our long traditions of acting above partisanship.”
News of Iraq trip with Kushner mid-air poses security risks
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s failure to keep senior adviser Jared Kushner’s trip to Iraq secret isn’t standard practice for top U.S. officials visiting warzones. Such trips are usually kept quiet, with the cooperation of journalists, until the officials arrive in order to ensure maximum security.
A senior administration official told reporters Sunday evening that Kushner — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law — was in Iraq, even though he was still en route. For the military and security professionals managing the mission, the public disclosure of the unannounced trip was a security breach. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, also was on board.
Although the plane landed safely in Baghdad on Monday, the Iraqi capital is hardly a secure location, having suffered countless extremist attacks over the years. The threat is no less acute today as Iraq wages a bitter battle to try to rid the Islamic State from its territory. For trips to the city, the military seeks to avoid public mention of plans ahead of time so extremist groups can’t plot attacks.
“It’s been longstanding practice to strictly avoid announcing the visits of senior U.S. officials in advance of their travels to warzones,” said George Little, a Pentagon and CIA press secretary for Leon Panetta, who managed both departments under President Barack Obama. “The main reason is obvious. You want to avoid giving the enemy any information that could help them to target these delegations, especially in areas where the battle lines aren’t clear on the map.”
Knowing when and where a senior U.S. military or civilian official might arrive makes attacks easier. Such details could help groups target the plane as it takes off or lands, or use roadside bombs or shoulder-launched rockets to strike dignitaries while they’re on the ground.
Bill O’Reilly and ex-Fox chief are hit with more allegations
NEW YORK (AP) — A Fox News contributor came forward Monday to level more sexual harassment allegations against deposed chief executive Roger Ailes, two days after it was revealed that the network’s most popular on-air personality, Bill O’Reilly, has settled multiple complaints about his own behavior with women.
O’Reilly was due to return to the air on Monday following a weekend report in The New York Times that he and his employer had paid five women a total of $13 million to settle allegations of sexual harassment or other inappropriate conduct by Fox’s ratings king.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for another woman who says she was punished for rebuffing O’Reilly’s advances called on New York City’s Human Rights Commission to investigate O’Reilly’s behavior.
The new lawsuit against Ailes was brought by Fox’s Julie Roginsky and is notable because it accuses Fox’s current management of trying to cover up for Ailes.
Roginsky said that Ailes, who lost his job last summer following sexual harassment complaints that he has denied, suggested she have sex with “older, married, conservative men.” She said Ailes would insist upon a kiss hello at their meetings, requiring Roginsky to bend over so he could look down her dress.
Leftist claims win in Ecuador election; rival cries foul
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Leftist candidate Lenin Moreno appeared to have won Ecuador’s presidential election but his conservative rival refused to recognize the results on Monday, calling on his supporters to take to the streets to guard against fraud.
Sunday’s second-round runoff in the Andean nation of 16 million was seen as a barometer of whether the left, which had dominated South American politics for the past 15 years, could stop a string of right-wing victories across the region.
With more than 99 percent of polling places counted, Moreno had 51 percent of the vote while conservative banker Guillermo Lasso stood at just under 49 percent.
Even as leaders from right-wing governments in Latin America began called Moreno on Monday to offer their congratulations, Lasso vowed to keep up the fight against the installation of an “illegitimate” government.
“We’re on the correct side of history. We won’t cross our arms and stand by,” he said on Twitter. “We will exhaust all political and legal channels in Ecuador and abroad to respect the will of the people who called for a change.”