Christie expected to enter race Tuesday
NEWARK, N.J. – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is entering the 2016 Republican presidential nomination contest and will announce that Tuesday at his old high school, several people familiar with his plans told The Associated Press.
The Republican leader of a Democratic stronghold has been laying the groundwork for a White House run for months. In 2012, he decided against seeking the GOP nomination to challenge President Barack Obama, and focused on his duties in the state and planning a re-election campaign.
This time, Christie, battered and bruised after a political scandal at home, will not be a potential front-runner when he joins a field of more than a dozen major GOP candidates. Instead, he is trying to emerge from a pack of senators, governors, businesspeople and others, with more people expected to join in coming weeks.
Officials say guard helped two escapees
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – A prison guard charged in connection with the escape of two killers admitted providing them with tools, paint, frozen hamburger and access to a catwalk electrical box but claims he never knew they planned to bust out, authorities say.
As the search for the convicts entered its 20th day Thursday, Gene Palmer was released on $25,000 bail after his arrest on charges of promoting prison contraband, tampering with evidence and official misconduct.
Palmer, 57, became the second Clinton Correctional Facility employee to be charged since Richard Matt and David Sweat used power tools to cut their way out of the maximum-security prison in far northern New York on June 6.
Prison tailor shop instructor Joyce Mitchell, 51, stands charged with helping them break out.
French taxi drivers protest Uber service
PARIS – French taxi drivers pulled out the throttle in an all-out confrontation with the ultra-cheap Uber car service Thursday, smashing livery cars, setting tires ablaze and blocking traffic during a nationwide strike that caught tourists and celebrities alike in the mayhem.
Travelers going to and from the airport were forced to walk alongside highways with their bags, while others, including singer Courtney Love, had their cars set upon by striking taxi drivers.
Taxi drivers justified their rage, saying Uber’s lowest-cost service UberPop was ruining their livihoods.
Despite repeated rulings against it and an October law that explicitly outlaws UberPop, its drivers continue to ply French roads, and the American ride-hailing company is actively recruiting drivers and passengers alike.
Islamic State attacks Kurdish areas in Iraq
BEIRUT – After weeks of setbacks, militants from the Islamic State group launched swift counteroffensives Thursday on predominantly Kurdish areas of northern Syria, killing and wounding dozens and setting off car bombs, activists and officials said.
The two-pronged attack on the northeastern city of Hassakeh and the border town of Kobani came two days after an Islamic State spokesman acknowledged that the group might lose some battles but would not be defeated. The spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, had urged militants to strike back at their foes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and “shake the ground beneath them.”
NATO expects more fighting in Ukraine
BRUSSELS – Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t finished using his military in eastern Ukraine, the top U.S. military commander for NATO said Thursday as the U.S. and its allies outlined additional support for Kiev, including aid in defusing roadside bombs.
U.S. Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO’s supreme allied commander, said there continues to be a constant flow of ammunition and other military supplies from Russia across the border to Ukraine and a well-trained and ready Russian force.
“Mr. Putin is very clear that he does not want Kiev leaning to the West and that he will use the appropriate force necessary to keep Kiev from leaning to the West, and so for that reason, as you know, Kiev remains leaning to the west,” Breedlove told reporters in Brussels. “And so, I don’t think Mr. Putin is done in eastern Ukraine.”
Associated Press
