Man holds hostages at Toulouse bank
TOULOUSE, France, June 20 (UPI) -- A man saying he is a member of al-Qaida took four hostages in a bank in Toulouse, France, the city where another militant attacked a Jewish school, police said.
The hostage-taker, who entered the bank late Wednesday morning, asked that the elite team that engaged the other militant to be sent to the scene, Radio France Internationale reported.
Reportedly among the hostages is the manager of the bank, which is near where Mohamed Merah had a showdown with the elite squad that broke into his apartment after a two-day standoff and fatally shot him.
RFI said there is no apparent link between Merah and the hostage-taker.
Police said a shell was fired.
Interior Ministry: Mubarak critical, alive
CAIRO, June 20 (UPI) -- Deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was in critical condition but alive in a military hospital early Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said.
The 84-year-old, ousted Feb. 11, 2011, after 18 days of demonstrations, was taken by helicopter to the suburban Cairo hospital from the maximum-security Tora Prison late Tuesday, government officials said.
The officials and the state-run Middle East News Agency initially said Mubarak had been declared "clinically dead" after suffering cardiac arrest and a stroke in prison.
Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen, a member of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, told CNN, "He is not clinically dead as reported, but his health is deteriorating and he is in critical condition."
Mubarak lawyer Fareed el-Deeb told the network: "He has been in a coma for hours now. He has had water on the lungs for 10 days now and his blood pressure is down."
Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, was at his side, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV reported.
Tora Prison management refused to let Mubarak sons Alaa and Gamal go to the hospital with their father, state-owned al-Ahram's Arabic language news Web site reported.
EU poised for $943B Spain, Italy bailout
BRUSSELS, June 20 (UPI) -- European leaders are poised to outline what is expected to be a $943 billion bailout deal for Spain and Italy, U.S. and other Group of 20 officials said.
"Nothing has been decided yet," a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said as officials from other countries started talking about the pending deal for eurozone bailout funds to buy up the bonds of crisis-hit governments.
Merkel, who has long opposed such a deal, is under intense pressure, along with other European countries -- pressure that was increased Monday and Tuesday at a summit of the Group of 20 leading industrial and developing economies in Los Cabos, Mexico -- to take radical action to stem the growing euro crisis.
The deal outline is expected to be announced when the 27 European Union leaders meet for a summit in Brussels June 28-29 -- a summit that will be "critical" to shoring up the eurozone's single currency, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Tuesday at the close of the G20 summit.
Documents: CIA short on support pre-9/11
WASHINGTON, June 20 (UPI) -- Declassified CIA documents show the agency did not get "institutional support" to pursue Osama bin Laden, a U.S. National Security Archive fellow said.
Barbara Elias-Sanborn edited 120 newly released documents, the online magazine Salon reported.
The heavily redacted documents suggest the CIA was hampered by funding problems at the end of the administration of President Bill Clinton and the beginning of that of President George W. Bush, Salon said. One document talked of the need to get Congress to move quickly in 2000 on a supplemental appropriation.
"Need forward movement on supplemental soonest due to expected early recess due to conventions, campaigning and elections," it said.
By the time al-Qaida attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001, Bush had been in office almost eight months. The documents confirm bin Laden and al-Qaida were not high priorities for the Bush administration in its early months.
Reprimand recommended in Koran burning
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 20 (UPI) -- U.S. military investigators recommended disciplinary action for the U.S. troops involved in the burning of Korans at a base in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said
Officials said one sailor and as many as six soldiers face administrative punishment -- the least severe reprimand -- for their roles in the incident, but none would face a court-martial, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
"The investigation is complete and has been subsequently forwarded to the related services for review and any service-specific actions," an official said.
Senior officers must approve the recommendations, which could include a letter of reprimand and loss of pay, Pentagon officials told the Times.
