Bonuses lead to increase in number of recruits

Bonuses lead to increase in number of recruits

WASHINGTON — The Army and Marine Corps doled out nearly $640 million in the past year in bonuses to entice recruits to join the military, as the two services continue to bear the brunt of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Buoyed by incentives that can be as high as $40,000 each, and coupled with the promise of thousands more for education or house down payments, the annual cost grew by 25 percent over last year’s totals for the two services, The Associated Press has learned.

The money — particularly in these shaky economic times — has proved to be a strong recruiting tool, even as the U.S. death toll in Iraq surpasses 4,100 and violence in Afghanistan escalates.

As a result, the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force all met their recruiting goals for the fiscal year that ended Tuesday. The Air Force did not provide bonus data.

Cop whose order led to death commits suicide

NEW YORK — The man was naked, teetering on a building ledge and jabbing at police with an 8-foot-long fluorescent light bulb as a crowd gathered below.

Lt. Michael Pigott responded by ordering an officer to fire a stun gun at the man, who froze and plunged headfirst to his death in a scene captured on amateur video and replayed frequently on the Internet.

The officer was remorseful and distraught. He apologized and sought the family’s forgiveness. Then he went to his unit’s headquarters Thursday morning, his 46th birthday, and fatally shot himself just hours before the family laid the victim to rest.

The suicide marks another tragic turn in a case that has raised questions about the use of Tasers by the nation’s largest police force.

U.N. orders staff’s kids out of Pakistan’s capital

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The U.N. declared the Pakistani capital unsafe for the children of its international staff Thursday and ordered them out, putting the once tranquil city on a par with Kabul and Somalia.

Pakistan is under intense U.S. pressure to combat militants responsible for rising attacks at home and in neighboring Afghanistan. Its faltering efforts so far have been met with a blur of suicide bombings that have killed nearly 1,200 people since July 2007, according to army statistics released this week.

The U.N., which employs more than 2,000 people in Pakistan, including about 100 foreigners, has not been hit.

However, the truck bombing of Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel last month, which killed 54 people, including three Americans and the Czech ambassador, prompted the world body as well as foreign missions to review security.

No mistrial for Stevens

WASHINGTON — A federal judge rejected a vigorous defense bid Thursday for a mistrial in the corruption case against Sen. Ted Stevens despite finding that prosecutors broke rules requiring them to turn over evidence favorable to the veteran Alaska lawmaker.

After a roller-coaster day of discord, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan told lawyers that ending the trial after several days of testimony would be too drastic. Instead, he ordered the government to give stacks of previously undisclosed documents to the defense and called a recess until Monday.

U.N. Somalia resolution

UNITED NATIONS — A proposed U.N. resolution calls on all countries with a stake in maritime safety to send military ships and aircraft to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia, according to a draft obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The Security Council measure would also call on ships and planes to use “the necessary means” to stop acts of piracy.

The French-drafted resolution was expected to be put to a vote early next week, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions are taking place in private.

2010 census concerns

NEW YORK — Fear of the government in some communities after the Sept. 11 attacks and years of debate over immigration policy could create problems in getting an accurate count of the U.S. population in 2010, the director of the Census Bureau said Thursday.

“We have a lot of fear about government intrusion; we have a very contentious debate going on about immigration,” the agency’s director, Steve Murdock, told The Associated Press.

To combat people’s hesitancy, the bureau will work with local governments and organizations such as churches and community groups to make sure people understand what the census is and that the data won’t be shared, Murdock said.

Associated Press