Officials: Airstrike kills 25 militants

Officials: Airstrike kills 25 militants

BAGHDAD

A government airstrike killed 25 al-Qaida-linked militants in a besieged province west of Baghdad amid fierce clashes Tuesday between Iraqi special forces and insurgents battling for control of the key cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraqi officials said.

Iraqi military spokesman Gen. Mohammed al-Askari said the Iraqi air force struck an operations center for the militants on the outskirts of Ramadi, the provincial capital, killing 25 fighters who were holed up inside.

He didn’t give more details about how the death toll was confirmed but cited intelligence reports.

IRS reports rise in identity thefts

WASHINGTON

The Internal Revenue Service is seeing a big jump in thieves stealing Social Security numbers to fraudulently claim tax refunds, the agency said Tuesday.

The IRS launched 1,492 criminal investigations into identity theft last year, a 66 percent increase from the year before. Prosecutions and indictments more than doubled. The numbers dwarf those from just two years ago.

In all, the IRS said it has flagged 14.6 million suspicious tax returns since 2011, blocking more than $50 billion in fraudulent refunds.

Chemical weapons taken out of Syria

bEIRUT

The first batch of the most-dangerous chemicals in Syria’s arsenal was loaded onto a Danish ship and taken out of the country Tuesday under tight security, an important milestone in the international operation to rid President Bashar Assad of the weapons by midyear.

The chemicals were supposed to have been removed from Syria by Dec. 31, but poor security, bad weather and other factors meant the deadline was missed by a week.

Fla. executes man who killed 3 people

STARKE, FLA.

A Florida inmate was executed Tuesday for fatally stabbing a prison guard with a sharpened spoon while on death row for abducting and killing a Miami couple.

Askari Abdullah Muhammad, previously known as Thomas Knight, was pronounced dead at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, the governor’s office said. The execution took place in the same prison where Muhammad killed corrections officer Richard Burke in 1980.

Muhammad, 62, was initially condemned to die for the 1974 abduction and killings of Sydney and Lillian Gans of Miami. Tuesday’s execution was specifically for Burke’s killing.

Lawmakers progress on spending bill

washington

Funding for implementing the new health care law and other sticking points remain, but negotiators reported significant progress Tuesday on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September.

“We are looking at narrowing the differences, looking at ... how we can compromise without capitulation on both sides,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. After a meeting of the four principal negotiators — the top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate Appropriations committees — Mikulski was cautiously optimistic of reaching agreement on the massive bill later this week in hopes of a vote next week.

The two sides remain at odds over funding to implement so-called Obamacare and a 2010 overhaul of financial regulations, and they’re still sorting through more than 130 policy items known as “riders” in Washington-speak.

Associated Press