Sunken U-boat found off Nantucket

Sunken U-boat found off Nantucket

BOSTON

Divers have discovered a World War II-era German submarine nearly 70 years after it sank under withering U.S. attack in waters off Nantucket.

The U-550 was found Monday by a privately funded group organized by New Jersey lawyer Joe Mazraani. It was the second trip in two years to the site by the team, some of whom had been searching for the lost U-boat for two decades.

Bullied bus monitor says she’s retiring

GREECE, N.Y.

A school-bus monitor who was shown in a video being relentlessly bullied by a group of boys said Friday she will retire.

Karen Klein, a 68-year-old grandmother, told The Associated Press that the decision to leave the job she had for three years was tough but wasn’t based on her now infamous encounter with the mean-spirited seventh- graders, who tormented her with profanity, insults and threats during a bus run as the school year wound down in June.

A 10-minute video of the episode went viral and spurred an outpouring of more than $700,000 in donations for Klein from all over the world.

Romney looks for Jewish vote

WASHINGTON

On a trip to Israel, Mitt Romney is trying to win over a tiny sliver of a small — but powerful — section of the American electorate. President Barack Obama is doing the same at home.

But while Romney’s trip is unlikely to change the broader presidential campaign against Obama, he’s hoping to close the gap among Jewish voters.

Yet for all the wooing of American Jews in presidential campaigns, those who say Israel’s fate drives their vote make up 6 percent of a reliably Democratic bloc. The tiny numbers are overlaid with an outsize influence. Campaign donations from Jews or Jewish and pro-Israel groups account for as much as 60 percent of Democratic money, and groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee can bring strong pressure on candidates.

Company gets final OK for oil pipeline

HOUSTON

A Canadian company that wants to build an oil pipeline from Alberta’s tar-sands region to Texas refineries has received a final permit for the Gulf Coast portion of the project and announced Friday that construction on the 485-mile section would start in the coming weeks.

President Barack Obama encouraged TransCanada to move ahead with the segment that will run from a refinery in Cushing, Okla. to Texas after he rejected the broader plan, saying the pipeline needed to be rerouted around Nebraska’s sensitive Sand Hills region. For that project, Trans-Canada needs presidential approval because it crosses an international border. The shorter portion requires only permits from state and federal agencies. TransCanada said the final of three permits it needed from the Army Corps of Engineers had been approved.

Pakistan envoy blasts drone strikes

ASPEN, Colo.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States is calling for an end to CIA drone strikes ahead of an intelligence summit in Washington between the two countries expected next week.

In a frank debate Friday with White House war adviser Douglas Lute, Ambassador Sherry Rehman said the drone attacks have already succeeded in damaging al-Qaida but are now only serving to recruit new militants. The two were speaking to an audience at the Aspen Security Forum.

Associated Press