North Korea calls US aircraft carrier dispatch outrageous
North Korea calls US aircraft carrier dispatch outrageous
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea is vowing tough counteraction to any military moves that might follow the U.S. Navy’s decision to send the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula.
The statement from Pyongyang comes as tensions on the divided peninsula are already high because of U.S.-South Korea wargames now underway and recent ballistic missile tests by the North. Pyongyang sees the annual maneuvers as a dress rehearsal for invasion, while the North’s long-range missile launches are a violation of U.N. resolutions.
“We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,” a spokesman for its Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency in a report late Monday.
Alabama governor resigns, pleads guilty to misdemeanors
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley resigned Monday rather than face impeachment and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor campaign violations that arose during an investigation of his alleged affair with a top aide.
In a remarkable fall, the mild-mannered 74-year-old Republican and one-time Baptist deacon stepped down as the sex-tinged scandal gathered force over the past few days. Legislators turned up the pressure by opening impeachment hearings Monday. Last week, the Alabama Ethics Commission cited evidence that Bentley broke state ethics and campaign laws and referred the matter to prosecutors.
“There’ve been times that I let you and our people down, and I’m sorry for that,” Bentley said in the old House chamber of Alabama’s Capitol after he pleaded guilty.
The violations were discovered during the investigation of his affair but were not directly related to it.
In court, Bentley appeared sullen and looked down at the floor. One misdemeanor charge against Bentley stemmed from a $50,000 loan he made to his campaign in November that investigators said he failed to report until January. State law says major contributions should be reported within a few days. The other charge stemmed from his use of campaign funds to pay nearly $9,000 in legal bills for political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason last year.
“He did what he did, and he deserves now to be called a criminal,” said Ellen Brooks, a retired district attorney overseeing the state investigation.
The plea agreement specified that Bentley must surrender campaign funds totaling nearly $37,000 within a week and perform 100 hours of community service as a physician. The dermatologist also cannot seek public office again.
Bentley’s successor is Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, who became Alabama’s second female governor. The first was Lurleen Wallace, wife of segregationist and four-term Gov. George C. Wallace. She ran as a surrogate for her still-powerful husband in 1966 when he couldn’t seek re-election because of term limits. She won, but died in office in 1968.
Official: Russia knew Syrian chemical attack was coming
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has concluded Russia knew in advance of Syria’s chemical weapons attack last week, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
The official said a drone operated by Russians was flying over a hospital as victims of the attack were rushing to get treatment. Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the usage of chemical weapons.
The senior official said the U.S. has no proof of Russian involvement in the actual chemical attack in northern Syria.
But the official said the presence of the surveillance drone over the hospital couldn’t have been a coincidence, and that Russia must have known the chemical weapons attack was coming and that victims were seeking treatment.
The official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on intelligence matters and demanded anonymity, didn’t give precise timing for when the drone was in the area, where more than 80 people were killed. The official also didn’t provide details for the military and intelligence information that form the basis of what the Pentagon now believes.
Gorsuch sworn into Supreme Court, restores conservative tilt
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Neil Gorsuch took his place in history Monday as the newest addition on the bench of the Supreme Court, restoring a narrow conservative majority and marking a much-needed political victory for President Donald Trump.
Gorsuch was sworn in during a sun-soaked ceremony in the Rose Garden, nearly 14 months after the seat was left vacant with the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The oath was administered during the White House ceremony by Justice Anthony Kennedy, whom Gorsuch once served as a law clerk. A smiling Trump stood behind his nominee.
It was the second of two oaths — the first was conducted privately in the Justices’ Conference Room by Chief Justice John Roberts.
“To the Scalia family, I won’t ever forget that the seat I inherit today is that of a very, very great man,” Gorsuch said to the audience of family and administration staffers, as well as all the sitting Supreme Court justices.
“I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of this great nation,” he said.
9 life sentences in state case on Charleston church slayings
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof was given nine consecutive life sentences in prison after he pleaded guilty to state murder charges Monday, leaving him to await execution in a federal prison and sparing his victims and their families the burden of a second trial.
Judge J.C. Nicholson imposed the sentences following a hearing in which church members and Roof’s grandfather testified about the personal toll of the case.
The self-avowed white supremacist entered his guilty pleas while standing at the defense table with his attorneys, clad in a gray and white striped jail jumpsuit and handcuffed to a chain at his waist.
Roof’s plea deal with state prosecutors, who also had been pursuing the death penalty, came in exchange for a life prison sentence on the state charges.
Solicitor Scarlett Wilson called the plea deal “an insurance policy for the federal conviction.” With a new administration in Washington, Wilson said she’s more confident that a federal death sentence will be carried out.