Amid heckling, Obama defends drone strikes, vow to close Guantanamo

Saying it’s time “to fight terrorists without keeping America on a perpetual war-time footing,” President Barack Obama invited Congress in a speech on Thursday to help him scale back the country’s 12-year conflict against al-Qaida and its affiliates. “America is at a crossroads. We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else [...]

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IMF's Lagarde questioned over French arbitration case

IMF chief Lagarde waves as she leaves after a hearing by French magistrates in ParisBy Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) – IMF chief Christine Lagarde was questioned in court by French magistrates on Thursday over her role in a 285-million-euro ($366 million) arbitration payment made to a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Lagarde, in court the entire day, risks being placed under formal investigation when the hearing wraps up on Friday for her 2007 decision as Sarkozy's finance minister to use arbitration to settle a court battle between the state and businessman Bernard Tapie. …

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Medea Benjamin's Two-Step Verified Trick to Sneaking Around Washington

Code Pink protester Medea Benjamin got herself inside the National Defense University in Washington on Thursday for President Obama’s big speech about drones, even though she’s been a famous heckler in Washington for a decade. Indeed, she’s been seen and heard at many big political events over the last year: at CIA chief John Brennan’s confirmation hearing, the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre’s press conference, the Republican National Convention. As Financial Times reporter Anna Fifield tweeted, “amazing how Medea Benjamin of @codepink gets in to all these speeches. …

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Mexico drug cartel commander pleads guilty in murder of U.S. official

By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Mexican drug cartel commander known as “Tweety Bird” pleaded guilty on Thursday in federal court in Washington to ordering the ambush and murder of U.S. immigration agents in 2011, according to U.S. officials. The plea related to a February 2011 incident when two “hit squads” from the Los Zetas drug cartel forced an armored U.S. government vehicle off a highway near Mexico City and surrounded it, federal prosecutors said. Zetas commander Julian Zapata Espinoza, known as “El Piolin” (Tweety Bird), ordered U.S. …

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