"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

FBI probe of Petraeus began with 'suspicious emails'

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 02:50 PM PST

File photo of General David Petraeus gesturing during the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in WashingtonThe FBI investigation that led to the discovery of CIA Director David Petraeus' affair with author Paula Broadwell was sparked by "suspicious emails" that initially did not contain any connection to Petraeus, U.S. law enforcement and security officials told Reuters on Saturday. But the CIA director's name unexpectedly turned up in the course of the investigation, two officials and two other sources briefed on the matter said. It was "an issue with two women and they stumbled across the affair with Petraeus," a U.S. government security source said. ...

Parolee in '02 murder held in 2010 Bellwood slaying

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 03:18 PM PST

A Chicago man on parole in a 2001 murder was ordered held without bail today after being charged in the 2010 slaying of an Indiana University graduate in Bellwood.

NIU police chief on leave after misconduct allegations

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 02:25 PM PST

Northern Illinois University's police chief was put on paid leave today and banned indefinitely from the police department because of allegations of misconduct by the department. It's the latest disruption for a school that has faced a series of troubling events in recent months.

Storms drop hail, a little rain, but mild weekend continues

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 01:30 PM PST

Short-lived but strong storms moved through the Chicago area midday today, leaving little real rain in most places, but dumping hail up to 1-1/2 inches in diameter in some western sububs.

BBC director general resigns over 'shoddy journalism'

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 02:12 PM PST

BBC director general George Entwistle speaks to the members of the media after appearing before a Culture and Media Committee hearing at Parliament in LondonBBC Director General George Entwistle resigned on Saturday, just two months into the job, after the state-funded broadcaster put out a programme denounced by the corporation's chairman as shoddy journalism. The BBC, reeling from revelations that one of its former stars was a paedophile, brought further problems on its head when a flagship news programme aired a mistaken allegation that a former senior politician sexually abused children. ...

Florida's West refuses to relinquish seat in Congress to Murphy

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 02:11 PM PST

Allen West Will Not Go Quietly Into that Good NightMath says Allen West lost his Florida congressional seat to Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy. West begs to differ. 

International prosecutor probes new cases in Libya

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 02:09 PM PST

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 file photo, intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi, right, whispers to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in Sabha, Libya. A government statement read on national radio states that Mauritania has agreed to extradite Moammar Gadhafi's former spy chief, months after he tried to slip into Mauritania wearing a disguise and traveling on a fake passport. An official said Al-Senoussi is already on a plane headed to Libya. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany, File)AP Interview: International Court prosecutor collects evidence for new cases in Libya

GOP showing in Calif. worries party strategists

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 03:48 PM PST

FILE - This Feb. 24, 2012 file photo shows Kay Aaron waiting for customers at a booth selling pictures of Republican leaders and icons during the California Republican Party convention in Burlingame, Calif. If the future happens first in California, the Republican Party has a problem. The nation's most populous state _ home to one in eight Americans _ has entered a period of Democratic political dominance so far-reaching that the dwindling number of Republicans in the Legislature are in danger of becoming mere spectators at the statehouse. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)If the future happens first in California, the Republican Party has a problem.

BBC chief: Abuse report was 'fundamentally wrong'

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 12:16 PM PST

FILE This March 25, 2008 file photo shows Jimmy Savile showing a medal in London. Amid mounting complaints that British authorities for decades failed to properly examine allegations of child abuse, lawmakers called Tuesday Nov. 6, 2012 for a sweeping national inquiry into the issue. Allegations that renowned BBC children's TV host Jimmy Savile abused hundreds of young people have prompted national debate, and led scores of adults to contact authorities about other, unrelated cases of sex offenses in the past. (AP Photo/Lewis Whyld/PA Wire)The BBC's director general said Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts.

Frustrated residents protest outside New York utility

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 04:53 PM PST

In the Dark: Long Island's Power Problems PersistEven as the lights came on for many who lost power in New York and New Jersey during the superstorm and a later nor'easter, hundreds of residents protested Saturday outside a Long Island utility, frustrated ...

Syrian opposition debates forming U.S.-backed assembly

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 12:17 PM PST

Youths try to lower a Syrian flag in the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain as seen from the Turkish border town of CeylanpinarHost nation Qatar, backed by the United States and the United Arab Emirates, on Saturday pressed the Syrian opposition to form a united leadership to pursue its war against Bashar al-Assad. At talks in Doha bringing together various opposition groups, the Islamist-flavoured Syrian National Council (SNC) has been concerned that it might be sidelined in a new broad coalition. ...

Officials: Threats from Broadwell led to FBI probe

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 04:46 PM PST

The scandal that brought down CIA Director David Petraeus started with harassing emails sent by his biographer and paramour, Paula Broadwell, to another woman, U.S. officials said Saturday.

Rove defends his $300 million election disaster

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 11:21 AM PST

Karl Rove Defends His $300 Million DisasterKarl Rove boasted on the eve of Tuesday's election that all signs pointed towards an electoral college landslide. He was right about the result, just wrong about the candidate. And now it's up to Rove to explain to donors why.

Four days later, Obama wins Florida

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 10:30 AM PST

El presidente Barack Obama hace una pausa durante su discurso en la fiesta de noche de elección en McCormick Place, en Chicago, el miércoles 7 de noviembre de 2012. En un discurso por radio e internet, Obama dijo el viernes 10 que no aceptará un plan para evitar el llamado abismo fiscal que no exija a los ricos a pagar más en impuestos. (Foto AP/Carolyn Kaster, archivo)The president was declared the winner of Florida's 29 electoral votes Saturday, ending a four-day count with a razor-thin margin.

Across U.S., Veterans Day commemorations under way

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 03:16 PM PST

Crowds wave to Navy Capt. Jim Minta as he participates in the 31st annual Veterans Day Parade in downtown Atlanta, Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012. (AP Photo/David Tulis)Saturday marked the first of what will be three days of Veterans Day commemorations across the United States.

4.3 magnitude earthquake reported in Kentucky

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 10:11 AM PST

New Seismograph Shows EarthquakeThe U.S. Geological Survey is reporting that an earthquake centered in Kentucky also rattled at least three other states. The USGS website says the epicenter of the 4.3 magnitude earthquake on Saturday afternoon was about 10 miles west of Whitesburg. Residents in eastern Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee reported feeling the temblor. National Weather Service spokesman Jeff Carico says employees at the office in Jackson, which is about 60 miles northwest of Whitesburg, felt the ground shake for about 15 seconds. He says the office has gotten numerous calls, but so far no one has reported any serious damage.

21-year-old dies in rollover on Dan Ryan Expressway

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 03:43 PM PST

Phillip Briner Briner was killed early Saturday morning after a drunk driver crashed into him on the Dan Ryan Expressway near 95th Street, authorities said.

Exxon shuts pipeline after offshore oil leak in Nigeria

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 07:40 AM PST

Nigeria Oil SpillExxon has shut a pipeline off the coast of Nigeria's Akwa Ibom state after an oil leak started by an unknown cause, the company's local unit said on Saturday. The U.S. major's outage will add to production ...

Gaza flares as Israel hits back killing five

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 01:50 PM PST

An Israeli tank in Beer Milcha, near the border between Egypt and IsraelGAZA (Reuters) - Israeli tank fire killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after militants blew up an Israeli army jeep with an anti-tank missile, wounding four soldiers. Palestinian fighters retaliated by firing rockets into southern Israel and an Israeli air strike targeted a rocket crew, killing a Palestinian militant, the Israeli army said. The flareup carried the risk of further escalation. Explosions were audible and projectiles lit up the sky over Gaza shortly before midnight, but no further details were immediately available. ...

Pentagon releases Benghazi timeline, defends response

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 12:20 AM PST

People stand near a burnt car at the U.S. consulate, which was attacked and set on fire by gunmen yesterday, in BenghaziWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon leaders knew of the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi an hour after it began, but were unable to mobilize reinforcements based in Europe in time to prevent the death of the U.S. ambassador, according to a timeline released on Friday. Senior defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, rejected criticism accusing the Pentagon of failing to move quickly to send reinforcements to relieve the consulate or using armed aerial drones to fire on the attackers. ...