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Nation
Building the Benghazi Case A suspected ringleader of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans was ordered held without bond during a Wednesday hearing in D.C. federal court. Ahmed Abu Khattala, who has pleaded not guilty to a single conspiracy charge, was seized in a secret raid in Libya in June. (THE WASHINGTON POST )
In court documents filed late Tuesday, prosecutors alleged that Abu Khattala’s motivation to attack the U.S. facilities sprang from his extremist anti-Western views. They said many of his associates in the Ansar al-Sharia militia have been identified as being among a group of 20 or more armed men who gathered outside the U.S. mission on Sept. 11, 2012, and who later “aggressively breached the gate” before entering the facility, setting fire to the property and stealing a U.S. vehicle. In the days that followed the Benghazi attacks, prosecutors said, Abu Khattala tried to obtain equipment and weapons to defend himself from possible U.S. retaliation.
DANA VERKOUTEREN (AP)
Prosecutors Say Suspect Held Extremist Views
This artist’s rendering shows Ahmed Abu Khattala being sworn in during a June 28 hearing.
The Evidence
The ‘Place Holder’ Charge
According to a U.S. official who has reviewed the case against Abu Khattala, the evidence includes photographs and video from the attacks, testimony from witnesses, and evidence of the attacks’ planners boasting of their involvement.
U.S. officials said they consider the conspiracy charge, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, a “place holder” to avoid revealing more evidence while a search for witnesses continues. In the coming weeks, a superseding indictment is expected to bring additional charges, including ones that carry the death penalty.
“In the days before the Attack, the defendant voiced concern and opposition to the presence of an American facility in Benghazi.” — Prosecutors in the case against Ahmed Abu Khattala, in court filings
Arthur Will Only Ruin Some Holidays Charleston, S.C. SURVEY SAYS
America: Home of The ‘Kinda Free’? Happy Independence Day from Gallup, which reported a big drop in Americans’ perception of how free they are. Since 2006, the number of Americans surveyed who said they are “satisfied” with the freedom they have “to choose what they do with their lives” dropped 12 percentage points — from 91 percent to 79 percent in 2013. The percentage of Americans saying they are dissatisfied doubled, from 9 percent to 21 percent, Gallup reports. The U.S. is ranked 36th in perceptions of personal freedom. Uzbekistan ranked higher. (THE WASHINGTON POST )
As one of the year’s busiest travel weekends approaches, so does another visitor: Tropical Storm Arthur, expected to grow into a hurricane by the Fourth of July and hit most harshly at North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season prompted a hurricane warning for a wide swath of the North Carolina coast and a mandatory evacuation of Hatteras Island. On Wednesday afternoon, Arthur was about 220 miles south of Charleston, S.C., and moving north about 7 mph with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. The National Hurricane Center predicted it would grow to a Category 1
8 a.m. Sat.
H
Projected path H
S
8 a.m. Fri.
8 a.m. Thurs. 11 a.m. Wed.
SOURCE: NOAA
AP
hurricane with sustained winds of at least 74 mph by Thursday. The forecast did not call for a landfall in the U.S., but officials and travelers north to New England kept an eye on the storm’s projected path. Many areas warned of rain, wind and potential rip tides.
The worst of the storm should occur at Cape Hatteras, N.C., about dawn Friday, with 3 to 5 inches of rain and sustained winds up to 85 mph, said Tony Saavedra, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. But forecasters said that by later Friday, the effects of Arthur would be past the Outer Banks, with the rest of the weekend — and most Friday night fireworks shows — salvaged. (Though Ocean City, Md., is postponing its fireworks until Saturday, just in case.) The Hurricane Center predicted the storm would be off the coast of New England later in the day Friday — so it may be too rainy for fireworks in Cape Cod, Mass., and that region — and eventually make landfall in Canada’s maritime provinces as a tropical storm. BRUCE SMITH (AP)
It’s All Pomp And Patriotism Until Someone Burns a Limb Washington The number of fireworks-related injuries soared to their highest level in more than a decade last year, according to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report released last week. An estimated 11,400 injuries were reported in 2013, a 31 percent climb over the year before. As one might expect, a majority of the fireworks-related injuries last year occurred in the month surrounding Independence Day. The commission studied the 7,400 injuries reported between June 21 and July 21.
Among the Findings: Men were more likely to be injured than women, 57 percent to 43 percent. Roughly half of the injured were 25 or younger. Children under 4 accounted for 14 percent of the injuries. Which fireworks caused the most injuries? Sparklers. They accounted for 2,300 of the 7,400 injuries reported during the study. The flickering wands burn at roughly 2,000 degrees and often wind up in the hands of children. Hands and fingers were the body parts most likely to be burned or otherwise hurt, accounting for 36 percent of injuries during the study. STE VEN OVERLY (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Note to Readers
33%
The proportion of voters who say President Barack Obama is the worst president since World War II, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University. He is followed by George W. Bush (28 percent), Richard Nixon (13 percent) and Jimmy Carter (8 percent). The best since WWII? Ronald Reagan (35 percent). (THE WASHINGTON POST )
There will be no Express on Friday because of the Independence Day holiday. We will return Monday.