Nation & World Digest
Gates chooses official to lead Fort Hood review
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tapped a former senior defense official to lead a broad Pentagon review of the circumstances surrounding the Fort Hood shootings, The Associated Press has learned.
Gates will announce today that it will be a single, coordinated review and will call for a quick, short-term report, followed by a longer, more extensive study, according to an administration official.
Components of the wide- ranging probe could include self-examinations by the Army and the military’s medical community and likely look at personnel policies and the availability of mental-health services for troubled troops.
It would go well beyond the specific case of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 in the shootings at the Texas military post Nov. 5.
Report: Human rights still severely limited in Cuba
MEXICO CITY — Restrictions on civil liberties in Cuba are still harsh since President Raul Castro assumed power from his ailing brother, Fidel, three years ago, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
Authorities have jailed scores of dissidents, protesters and others, often through the use of a “dangerousness” provision that allows the detention of Cubans on suspicion that they might break the law, the rights group said in a report.
Human Rights Watch said its 123-page report, “New Castro, Same Cuba,” is the first broad look at human-rights conditions in Cuba since Fidel Castro handed power to his younger brother on a temporary basis in 2006. The older Castro formally stepped down as head of state in February 2008.
Human Rights Watch said liberties remain severely curtailed despite hopes among activists that new leadership in Cuba would end Cold War-era limits on dissent and the media.
Iran rejects UN nuke plan
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran will not ship its low-enriched uranium out of the country for processing, its foreign minister said Wednesday, once again rejecting a U.N. plan aimed at thwarting any attempt by Tehran to make nuclear weapons.
The United Nations last month offered a deal to take 70 percent of Iran’s low-enriched uranium to reduce its stockpile of material that could be enriched to a higher level and possibly be used to make nuclear weapons.
That uranium would be returned about a year later as refined fuel rods, which can power reactors but cannot be readily turned into weapons-grade material.
Judge: Army corps at fault for Katrina flooding
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge has ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers’ failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval late Wednesday ruled in favor of residents who alleged the Army Corps’ shoddy oversight of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet led to the flooding of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish when Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005.
AAA projects 1.4 percent rise in Thanksgiving travel
WASHINGTON — A leading auto organization is projecting a 1.4 percent increase in Thanksgiving travel this year, although fewer people will travel by air due to budget concerns, reduced airline capacity and added charges.
AAA said Wednesday it expects 38.4 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more away from home over this year’s holiday weekend compared with 37.8 million last year. The number of automobile travelers is expected to be 33.2 million compared with 32.5 million last year — an increase of 2.1 percent.
Air travel, however, is projected to decline 6.7 percent, or 2.3 million travelers this year compared to 2.5 million in 2008.
SC governor will face charges, ethics panel says
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will face charges he violated state laws, according to an ethics-panel ruling Wednesday that came after its three-month investigation into his use of state, commercial and private airplanes and his campaign-finance practices.
The State Ethics Commission did not provide details of its decision or the specific charges the governor would face during a hearing of the panel early next year.
The commission said details — which should include whether the accusations involve civil or criminal allegations — will be released next week.
Combined dispatches