CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — Former President Bill Clinton was recovering at his suburban home with his wife on Friday after leaving a Manhattan hospital where he underwent a heart procedure to fix a blocked artery. Three black SUVs with tinted windows arrived around 7:45 a.m. Friday and pulled through the high gates at the house. The Westchester County hamlet of Chappaqua is about 35 miles north of New York City. A Clinton adviser said Clinton left New York Presbyterian Hospital “in excellent health.”
D.C.: New nuclear reactors
President Barack Obama next week will announce a loan guarantee to build the first nuclear power plant in the United States in almost three decades, an administration official said Friday. The two new Southern Co. reactors to be built in Burke, Ga., are part of a White House energy plan that administration officials hope will draw Republican support. Obama’s direct involvement in announcing the award underscores the political weight the White House is putting behind its effort to use nuclear power and alternative energy sources to lessen American dependence on foreign oil.
Pentagon’s sex assault rules
The sexual assault of employees of U.S. military contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan will be tracked by the Pentagon under a system it is setting up. The tracking will likely begin this year, Defense official Gail McGinn said in a memo to the Pentagon’s Inspector General included in a report released Friday. The IG evaluation was initiated by a request from congressional members concerned that not enough protections were offered to U.S. contracting employees assaulted in the war zones.
Organic milk, meat standards
The Agriculture Department is sharpening the standards for organic milk and meat. New rules announced Friday say organic milk and meat must come from livestock that graze in pastures at least four months of the year. The old rules required only that animals have access to pasture. The new organic rules also say 30 percent of animals’ feed must come from grazing and that ranchers must have a plan to protect soil and water quality. The Agriculture Department has taken years to set new standards.
Pakistan: Talks with India
Senior officials from Pakistan and India will hold talks later this month, the first formal dialogue between the nuclear-armed rivals since the deadly Mumbai siege of 2008. Pakistan’s government said its foreign secretary would meet his Indian counterpart in New Delhi on Feb. 25. The meeting marks a significant thawing of relations between the two countries, which have long been marred by disputes over Kashmir and plummeted after the Mumbai attack, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
Haiti: Lawyer may lack license
A Dominican man who has served as legal adviser for 10 Americans detained in Haiti on child-kidnapping charges has no license to practice law in his native country, officials said Friday. Jorge Puello, who has been a high-profile advocate for the jailed Baptists as they navigate the Haitian justice system, is in apparent violation of Dominican law for failing to register with the local bar association or obtain a license, the vice president of the Dominican Lawyers Association said.
Belgium: Flying over Spain
The world’s largest pilots’ group said a pay dispute between authorities and air traffic controllers in Spain is raising concerns about the safety of its airspace. The International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations said the dispute could cause increased tension in the controller’s work place, unanticipated shortages of air traffic controllers and unexpected delays. Last week, Spain’s government said it was ending the controllers’ autonomy and control over their salaries, which average $513,400. The IFAPA said pilots should use caution in the region.
Mexico: Border tunnel found
Mexican troops have found an unfinished tunnel apparently designed to burrow under the U.S. border starting from a Mexican customs facility. Mexico’s customs service has been beset by corruption for decades. A statement issued Friday by Mexico’s army said soldiers found the 16-yard-long tunnel at Mexican federal customs in Tijuana. The army said the tunnel is 3 feet across. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said the Mexican army told U.S. officials that the tunnel was about 160 feet from reaching the border.
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
