Ethiopian Airlines plane crashes into sea
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people crashed into the Mediterranean Sea Monday soon after taking off from Beirut airport, authorities said.
Citing Lebanon's National News Agency, CNN reported the Boeing 737 disappeared from radar about 30 minutes after takeoff from Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut.
Ethiopian Airlines flight 409, which took off around 2:30 a.m. local time, was headed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The New York Times said the airline did not respond immediately to calls and e-mails, and a spokesman would not comment.
The newspaper said African airlines do not have a good safety record generally, but Ethiopian Airlines does.
The plane was carrying 82 passengers and eight crew members, officials said.
U.S. Marines end role in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The last Marine command is leaving Iraq in a significant step in the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country, military officials announced.
In Iraq's Al Anbar province, the II Marine Expeditionary Force handed over command to the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division as Marine Corps deployments to Iraq end after more than six years, the armed forces said Sunday.
At Camp Ramadi, many Iraqi soldiers, police, sheiks and government officials joined U.S. service personnel at a ceremony to mark the transfer of authority.
"There have been many significant security gains in Anbar over the last couple of years," said Maj. Gen. R.T. Tryon, the commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force. "Many of the people responsible for these gains are here in the audience today. … We praise you for your courage and determination."
Anbar province was once a stronghold of the al-Qaida-backed insurgency that gripped Iraq in 2007. At the height of the insurgency, almost 27,000 Marines were in Iraq, mostly in Anbar province.
The U.S. military has shifted its emphasis to Afghanistan.
Pakistan plan frustrates U.S. officials
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The Pakistani army's announcement it plans no new offensive against militants for up to a year could threaten U.S. military goals in the region, officials say.
The announcement came last week during the visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said on his South Asia trip that a "syndicate" of terror groups working with al-Qaida along the Afghan-Pakistan border region wants to destabilize the entire region, including India.
U.S. military officials expressed frustration over the announcement, as the Obama administration's Afghan strategy depends on Pakistani cooperation to go after the militant sanctuaries inside the country in places like North Waziristan, The New York Times reported.
The report, quoting sources, said the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network, based in North Waziristan, stages attacks on Afghanistan from there. The tribal region is also the hideout for Pakistani Taliban militants from South Waziristan.
U.S. officials said they were surprised the Pakistani army made the announcement during Gates' visit, and some officials said they worried the announcement would help militant militias plan better.
Pakistani officials have not ruled out a North Waziristan campaign but say their forces are overstretched.
U.N.: Reduce Taliban names on terror list
KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Afghanistan should seek removal of some Taliban leaders' names from a United Nations terror list, a U.N. official said.
That would be a move toward the country's direct negotiations with the insurgent group, Kai Eide, head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, told The New York Times
His comments came as he discussed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's plan to help Taliban fighters reintegrate into society.
Eide also told the Times the U.S. military should accelerate its review of the cases of about 750 people in military prisons in Afghanistan, another grievance of Taliban leaders.
The Karzai government reportedly will soon disclose its plan to help Taliban fighters wiling to cross over into mainstream society with offers of jobs, security, education and other social benefits.
The plan has qualified support of U.S. officials.
Eide said he hoped the two initiatives could facilitate direct talks between Afghan officials and Taliban leaders, many of them believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
The Times report said some Taliban leaders have indicated they might be willing to be involved in talks if their names are taken off the U.N. terror list, which includes the name of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar. Eide said he did not believe Omar's name should be deleted from the list but lower-level leaders could be taken off.
Absent a Pakistani campaign, U.S. officials have said they will rely more on missile strikes from drones operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.
Axelrod: Obama won't walk away from reform
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama will not abandon healthcare reform efforts despite the Massachusetts Senate election of a Republican critic, a top aide said Sunday.
David Axelrod, the chief political adviser to Obama, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that even though GOP candidate Scott Brown last week won a special election to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Edward Kennedy while vowing to derail healthcare reform efforts, the American people nevertheless want to see reforms.
"The president will not walk away from the American people, will not hand them over to the tender mercies of health insurance companies who take advantage," Axelrod said. "He will not walk away from people with pre-existing conditions. He will not walk away from senior citizens in Medicare."
Axelrod attributed Brown's election partly to allowing "insurance industry propaganda, the propaganda of the opponents" to define what the healthcare reforms are about.
But, he asserted, "the underlying elements of (the Democrats' reforms) are popular and important. And people will never know what's in that bill until we pass it, the president signs it and they have a whole range of new protections they never had before."
