Hawk may replace Hagel
WASHINGTON – Michele Flournoy, formerly the Pentagon’s policy chief and among President Barack Obama’s more hawkish advisers, could be in line to become the first woman to lead the U.S. military after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s resignation.
Passed over by Obama for the job 20 months ago, Flournoy heads a short list of candidates to direct the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and to help Afghanistan fight the Taliban insurgency.
Other contenders include Ashton Carter, until last year the Pentagon’s No. 2-ranked official, and Robert Work, Hagel’s current deputy.
Sen. Jack Reed isn’t interested in the job, a spokesman said Monday. Obama had mentioned Reed on Monday as he recounted a 2008 trip to Afghanistan with the Rhode Island Democrat and Hagel, then a Republican senator from Nebraska.
Calorie counts coming on menus
WASHINGTON – Counting your calories will become easier under new government rules requiring chain restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores – and even movie theaters, amusement parks and vending machines – to post the calorie content of food “clearly and conspicuously” on their menus.
The long-delayed rules announced by the Food and Drug Administration apply to businesses with 20 or more locations and give them until November 2015 to comply.
The idea is that people may pass on that bacon double cheeseburger at a chain restaurant, hot dog at a gas station or large popcorn at the movie theater if they know that it has hundreds of calories. Beverages are included, and alcohol will be labeled if drinks are listed on the menu.
Iran nuclear talks stumble, extended
VIENNA – A yearlong effort to seal a nuclear deal with Iran fizzled Monday, leaving the U.S. and its allies little choice but to declare a seven-month extension in hopes that a new deadline will be enough to achieve what a decade of negotiations have failed to do – limit Tehran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon.
Pushback from critics in Congress followed almost immediately, with powerful Republicans saying that Iran is merely trying to buy time.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other Western foreign ministers defended the add-on time as the best way forward. “We would be fools to walk away,” Kerry declared.
But a week of tough maneuvering appeared to have achieved little more than agreement to keep on talking. Negotiators will now strive to nail down by March 1 what Iran and the six world powers it is negotiating with must do, and by when. A final agreement is meant to follow four months later.
Associated Press
