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| TOP STORIES |
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| Obama plans to double U.S. force in Iraq |
| The move to send up to 1,500 additional troops deepens the U.S. involvement in the battle against the Islamic State.The White House said it would request $5.6 billion for the military campaign. |
| In largest such action, authorities strike against Internet’s black markets |
| ‘Operation Onymous’ targeted illicit trade but has raised alarm among advocates of online anonymity. |
| Obama rejects GOP warning against acting on immigration |
| He intends to proceed, saying that he has already waited almost two years for Congress to make headway. |
| Wemple: Fox News cuts ties with Ben Carson |
| The possible 2016 GOP hopeful will air an ad/documentary “introducing himself to the American people.” |
| Kerry says talks with Russians about Ukraine punctuate deep divide |
| Also on Saturday, Kerry sidestepped questions about whether President Obama had sent a letter to Iran. |
| Remains may be of some missing Mexican students |
| The victims were found shot, burned, wrapped in plastic bags and dumped in a river, Mexican authorities said. |
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| POLITICS |
| How former members of Congress would fix Congress |
"I kinda like the way the Capitol looks." It seemed fitting that the first thing I'd hear after leaving the National Archives on Thursday night was someone approvingly noting the U.S. Capitol's new style. The dome is completely surrounded by scaffolding, which make it seem like the 150-year-old home of Congress is wearing braces. It's not the most stunning of attire, but part of the attraction is knowing how the building will look when it's done. The thousands of cracks that have threatened to ruin it will be fused back together. The Capitol will be fixed, and all those who exist under it won't be crushed by debris. Read full article >> |
| Samantha Power on why we fund U.N. peacekeepers, even with no peace to keep |
| U.N. peacekeeping has come a long way in the 20 years since the Rwandan genocide, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute on Friday: “This is not your mother’s, or your grandmother’s, peacekeeping.” Read full article >> |
| How many black members of Congress has your state elected? |
| There have been 137 black members of Congress ever, according to the U.S. House of Representatives History, Art & Archives database. Over half the states (27) have elected at least one senator or representative who was black. Illinois has had the most with 18, followed by California with 12, and New York and North Carolina with 10. Of the 137 members, 107 were Democrats and 30 were Republicans. Read full article >> |
| OPINIONS |
| Obama’s big immigration mistake |
| Back in July, when President Obama was deciding whether to take executive action on immigration before the midterm elections, I got into one of those cable-news debates that offer the president unsolicited advice from the unqualified. Read full article >> |
| Which Republican Party won the midterms? |
| So what happens when a party that has defined itself as an insurgent outlier, scornful of compromise and dismissive of the legitimacy of its opposition, actually takes charge in Washington? The Republicans now control both the Senate and the House. The people have spoken — and loudly. Mitch McConnell is exultant, finally achieving a lifetime goal. The new majority leader will get a wonderful office with a better view of the Mall, a nicer car and the ability to control the agenda on the Senate floor. But he will also get a deeply divided party and a constant headache trying to keep all of his colleagues in town to vote, especially with several of them on the presidential campaign trail, raising cash and appealing to the most extreme elements of the base. Read full article >> |
| Ban Ki-moon: The Ebola fight is far from over |
| The Ebola outbreak is moving into a new phase that in many ways requires even greater attention and action than it has to this point. In addition to fears about the reach of the unforgiving virus and the spread of unfounded global panic, another concern has been added to the list: declaring mission accomplished too soon. Read full article >> |
| LOCAL |
| Gordon Peterson, fixture of District local news, will leave WJLA at end of the year |
| Gordon Peterson, one of the deans of local television news in Washington, says he plans to leave his station, WJLA (Channel 7), at the end of the year. But he insists he isn’t going away. “It’s not a retirement statement,” Peterson, a fixture on Washington’s airwaves for 45 years, said Friday. Chuckling, he added, “There’s still some mileage in this Chevy.” Read full article >> |
| Md. family uncovers 15-million-year-old shark skeleton during backyard dig |
| Donald Gibson found the first vertebra Oct. 23, just as he had begun to dig out the space for the sunroom he had promised to build in the back yard of his parents’ home in Calvert County. Over the following week, his brother Shawn found another vertebra, and then another, and then a few more — each one about 18 inches deep into the ground. Soon, Shawn Gibson’s 7-year-old, Caleb, joined in on the digging. He’s at an age of being “thrilled to go out and not just play in the dirt, but actually find pieces,” Gibson said of his son. Read full article >> |
| Montgomery parents want answers in middle school sex offense case |
| Parents at a Damascus middle school angrily pressed Montgomery school officials this week about why they were not told for almost a month about the arrest of a contract worker charged with groping a 12-year-old student in a hallway. Read full article >> |
| SPORTS |
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| Capitals beat Blackhawks, 3-2, to end five-game skid |
| CHICAGO — Barry Trotz entered the visitor’s locker room at United Center without a victory speech in mind. Since the Washington Capitals last won nearly two weeks ago, their coach had spoken so much about staying true to the process, preached so often about remaining patient, that now words escaped him. So Trotz kept it simple. He congratulated several players. He relished the applause. He walked away as his players hollered, bidding farewell to the skid and cheering some newfound prosperity. Read full article >> |
| Bernard Hopkins, 49, seeks to unify third title against 31-year-old Sergey Kovalev |
They say 40 is the new 30. Well, in Bernard Hopkins’s case, 50 can knock out 30 and any other age he pleases. The 49-year-old boxer is gearing up to win and unify a third title belt on Saturday, when he will take on formidable Russian light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1). Kovelev, 31, is the favorite with 4/11 odds, compared with Hopkins’s 2/1, according to PaddyPower.com. That said, Hopkins isn’t going to make it easy. He also might win.
Read full article >> |
| FEDERAL GOVERNMENT |
| VA chief considering disciplinary action for up to 1,000 employees |
| Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald is considering disciplinary action for up to 1,000 employees at the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs, he told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview scheduled to air Sunday. Read full article >> |
| Some fed-worker health plans to cover sex changes and transgender care next year |
| Federal workers will be eligible for sex-change operations next year through some of the government’s employee health-insurance plans. Aetna, which participates in the Federal Employee Health Benefits program, announced last month that it will cover gender-reassignment surgeries for federal employee members in all 50 states. Read full article >> |
| CIA tweets day-long ‘Argo’ fact check |
Not only was Tuesday Election Day, but it was also the 35th anniversary of the first day of the Iran Hostage crisis. All week, the CIA has been tweeting historical factoids about the 1979 crisis. Then Friday, the spy agency’s social media team spent the better part of the day correcting the record on some Hollywoodized parts of the 2012 Academy Award-winning movie “Argo,” the Ben Affleck film about the CIA’s risky rescue of six diplomats during the crisis. Read full article >> |
| WORLD |
| Ukraine accuses Russia of major cross-border incursion to aid separatists |
| MOSCOW — Ukraine accused Russia on Friday of supplying fresh military equipment and troops to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, threatening the collapse of a tenuous two-month-old cease-fire. Col. Andriy Lysenko, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said 32 tanks, 16 artillery launchers and 30 trucks carrying munitions and personnel had come into the Luhansk region from Russia. He did not provide specific evidence to back up his claims, and since Ukraine does not control long stretches of its border with Russia, it was not immediately clear how the military obtained such specific information. Read full article >> |
| White House blasts China on human rights ahead of APEC summit |
| BEIJING — Concern about human rights in China threatened to overshadow discussions on trade as officials from 21 countries gathered Friday in advance of an international economic summit that President Obama will attend next week. Read full article >> |
| Japan’s Abe says Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks with U.S. are near ‘final stage’ |
| TOKYO — Japan’s prime minister has affirmed his commitment to reaching a broad trade deal with the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations, even as Tokyo stands accused of refusing to budge on the thorny issue of agricultural tariffs. Read full article >> |
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| BUSINESS |
| Rich people are splurging on million-dollar homes again. Here’s why. |
Want to get a good rate on a new mortgage? Two tips: Be wealthy, and borrow more. For the first time in recent memory, lenders are offering well-heeled buyers large “jumbo” mortgages at the same — or even better — interest rates as smaller loans. The trend is helping fuel a resurgence at the high end of the real estate market. Sales of homes priced $1 million or more are soaring as lower-priced properties lag, accentuating the uneven nature of the economic recovery. Read full article >> |
| Is Bethesda building worth more without McDonald’s in it? |
The newly completed building at 4500 East-West Hwy. in Bethesda offers many of the modern features that companies clamor for:
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| When it comes to car loans, it pays to stay in the fast lane |
| There are some things you want to run long. I like two-week vacations, so I can have time to wind down. A week is just not enough. If you’re an investor, the best thing going is that you have a long time to let your money work for you. Read full article >> |
| TECHNOLOGY |
| How drones and GoPro cameras are helping recover lost WWII planes |
Every year, a team of scientists and researchers dive into the waters of the western Pacific republic of Palau, armed with underwater drones, thermal cameras, metal detectors -- and the drive to solve a decades-old mystery. On Friday, GoPro released a short film documenting an expedition the action-camera company participated in with the BentProp project, a group dedicated to recovering World War II planes shot down in the western Pacific.
Read full article >> |
| Up-vote all you want, but the Internet isn’t a democracy |
The front page of The Washington Post is carefully plotted by a small team of people with very particular and unyielding tastes. The front page of the Internet, it turns out, may not be all that different. Read full article >> |
| Federal sites leaked the locations of people seeking AIDS services for years |
| Two federal government Web sites that help people find AIDS-related medical services have begun routinely encrypting user data after years in which they let sensitive information -- including the real-world locations of site visitors — onto the Internet unprotected. Read full article >> |
| LIFESTYLE |
| In Maryland’s Strongman competition, lifting, grunting and the ol’ heave-ho |
| Some are as innocuous-looking as the lawyers and accountants and government contractors they are. Others are as fearsome as a child’s nightmare, with shaved heads and tapered backs, and upper arms the thickness of small trees. Read full article >> |
| At U.S. tour opener, rising star FKA Twigs vaults herself into impressive company |
| Plenty of musicians dazzle audiences with a combination of chops, attitude and style, but few have the type of presence owned by larger-than-life icons like Beyoncé or Bjork. Opening her first U.S. headlining tour at a sold-out 9:30 Club on Thursday night, FKA Twigs seems on her way to joining that exclusive club. Read full article >> |
| Anne Hathaway is fighting an impossible battle against her haters. It’s not worth her time. |
Oh, the case of poor Anne Hathaway. The Oscar-winning actress has received an avalanche of bad pressover the last couple of years for that most polarizing kind of offense: Being herself. She’s the kind of celebrity that inexplicably bugs people. She has “too perfect” of an image; a sunny personality that must be fake; a tendency to take herself very seriously. Things really heated up during the 2013 awards season when Hathaway took home many well-earned trophies for her role in “Les Miserables.” But to many, she came off as smug and self-important through the entire process. So despite winning awards, her reputation ended up being greatly damaged instead of enhanced. Read full article >> |