European support for Afghanistan mission

European support for Afghanistan mission

KABUL — Europe may send 5,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan, Britain’s prime minister said Friday — affirming support for the NATO mission as the Obama administration nears a decision on increasing American troop levels.

The announcement came as the Taliban struck again in the capital. A suicide car bomber blasted a U.S. convoy near an American military base in Kabul, injuring nine American soldiers and 10 contract security guards. Three Afghans were killed in the attack — the biggest in Kabul in the last two weeks.

Brown said the NATO strategy must be to encourage a greater role for Afghan forces so that international troops “can start coming home.”

Ex-congressman gets 13 years for bribery

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A former Louisiana congressman who famously hid $90,000 cash in his freezer was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for taking bribes, the longest term ever imposed on a congressman for bribery charges.

William Jefferson, a Democrat who represented parts of New Orleans for nearly 20 years, was convicted in August of taking roughly $500,000 in bribes and seeking millions more in exchange for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa.

The sentence, though severe, was still far less than the nearly 30 years prosecutors had sought.

White House counsel gone

WASHINGTON — In a shake-up, White House Counsel Greg Craig abruptly announced his resignation Friday, just weeks after telling reporters that he had no plans to leave.

Craig gave no hint of the reason for his resignation in a statement that the White House released, and he couldn’t be reached to comment.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told people weeks ago, however, that Craig would be gone by the end of the year, and questions persisted about whether Craig would be the scapegoat for problems and delays in the planned shutdown of the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

MGM studio looks to sell

LOS ANGELES — Struggling movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is looking for a buyer.

The home of the James Bond and Pink Panther franchises said Friday it has begun to explore strategic options including “a potential sale of the company.”

In a statement, MGM also said its lenders have agreed to grant the company another brief respite until the end of January from interest payments on nearly $4 billion in debt.

The studio owes $3.7 billion to a total 140 lenders in the form of bonds maturing in mid-2012.

It also has a $250 million revolving credit facility with JPMorgan due in April.

MGM was taken private for nearly $5 billion in 2005 by a group of private equity firms, Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp.

Veteran’s ashes stolen

WASHINGTON — An urn containing the ashes of a decorated Korean War veteran has been stolen from a van the soldier’s family rented to attend his burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

The family of retired Army Col. Norbert Otto Schmidt went ahead with the burial Friday. Instead of the ashes being put in a grave, Schmidt gets a headstone in a part of the cemetery for former soldiers whose remains are missing.

The 83-year-old Schmidt, of Satellite Beach, Fla., died Aug. 4. His remains were stolen Thursday from a van his family rented to drive from Florida to Washington. Jewelry and electronics were also taken from the van.

Regulators close 3 banks

NEW YORK — Regulators shut down two banks in Florida and one in California on Friday, boosting to 123 the number of U.S. bank failures this year as loan defaults rise in the worst financial climate in decades.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Orion Bank, based in Naples, Fla., with about $2.7 billion in assets and $2.1 billion in deposits, and Sarasota-based Century Bank, with $728 million in assets and $631 million in deposits.

Pacific Coast National Bank in San Clemente, Calif. was also shut down. It had $134.4 million in assets and $130.9 million in deposits.

IberiaBank, based in Lafayette, La., agreed to assume all of Orion Bank’s deposits and $2.4 billion of its assets, as well as Century Bank’s deposits and $706 million of its assets.

The FDIC will retain the rest for eventual sale.

Combined dispatches