Pakistan to release bin Laden hunter

Pakistan to release bin Laden hunter

denver

A relative of an American on a solo mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden says the Colorado man is being released by the Pakistani government without charges.

Gary Faulkner, of Greeley, was detained June 13 in the woods of northern Pakistan after being found with a pistol, a sword and night-vision equipment. The 50-year-old told officials he was out to kill the al-Qaida leader. Faulkner was then moved to Islamabad, and a relative told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he was being released to American authorities there and would return to the U.S. “very soon.”

White House budget director to leave post

WASHINGTON

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag says he’s stepping down next month, positioning him to be the first high-profile member of President Barack Obama’s team to depart the administration.

Orszag confirmed his planned resignation in a brief interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. He said he views passage of last year’s economic recovery act as his most significant accomplishment.

S. Carolina voters elect Haley, Scott

COLUMBIA, S.C.

In a clear sign of the South’s racial progress, Republicans overwhelmingly chose Nikki Haley, an Indian-American woman, to run for governor in South Carolina and easily nominated Tim Scott, in line to become the former Confederate state’s first black GOP congressman in more than a century.

Six-term Republican Rep. Bob Inglis fell to prosecutor Trey Gowdy, making him the fifth House or Senate incumbent to stumble this year.

In North Carolina, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall won the Democratic nomination to challenge GOP Sen. Richard Burr in the fall. And Utah Republicans chose a GOP successor to vanquished Sen. Bob Bennett in a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic senator in four decades.

Bombing kills 5

ANKARA, TURKEY

Kurdish rebels detonated a remote-controlled bomb in Istanbul Tuesday, killing five people and wounding 12 on a bus carrying military personnel and their families, officials said. Authorities stepped up security across Turkey, fearing more attacks.

The dead included the 17-year-old daughter of an officer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. The bombing raised the number of Turkish soldiers killed in rebel attacks since Friday to 17.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, an offshoot of the autonomy-seeking Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for the attack, the pro-Kurdish Firat News agency reported.

Law would take DNA from all criminals

ALBANY, N.Y.

Gov. David Paterson has proposed roughly doubling New York’s DNA database to include samples from even low-level offenders, making it the first in the nation to so broadly collect and use that evidence to solve crimes and exonerate people wrongly convicted.

New York’s law would require adding about 48,000 samples a year to a laboratory system that state officials say is capable of handling the extra work.

Drug lord arrested

KINGSTON, JAMAICA

Reputed gang leader Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who eluded a bloody police offensive in his slum stronghold last month, was arrested Tuesday by authorities outside Jamaica’s capital, the island’s top cop said.

Coke has been called one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords by U.S. authorities and faces trial in New York on drug and arms trafficking charges.

Associated Press