World/Nation Briefs January 8, 2013
<p>A member of a historic club wearing an 1812-era French army general's uniform rides during a Monday reenactment of the French Invasion of Russia in 1812, during celebrations to mark the Russian Orthodox Christmas in St. Peterburg, Russia. Christmas falls on Jan. 7 for Orthodox Christians who rely on the old Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholics and Protestants and commonly used in secular life around the world.</p>
Obama picks Hagel, Brennan for military posts
WASHINGTON - Digging in for a fight, President Barack Obama riled Senate Republicans and some Democrats, too, on Monday by nominating former senator and combat veteran Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon and anti-terrorism chief John Brennan as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Hagel and Brennan, in separate Senate confirmation hearings, will face sharp questions on a range of contentious issues, including U.S. policy about Israel and Iran, targeted drone attacks and harsh interrogation tactics. Of the two men, Hagel is expected to face a tougher path, though both are likely to be confirmed.
Hagel would be the first enlisted soldier and first Vietnam veteran to head the Pentagon.
"These two leaders have dedicated their lives to protecting our country," Obama said, standing alongside them and the men they would succeed during a ceremony in the White House East Room. "I urge the Senate to confirm them as soon as possible so we can keep our nation secure and the American people safe."
Pakistani official: 8 militants die in U.S. drone strike
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - Several missiles fired from American drones slammed into a compound near the Afghan border in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing eight suspected militants, Pakistan officials said.
The two intelligence officials said the compound was located near the town of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan tribal area.
One of the officials said an al-Qaida operative was believed to have been killed in the strike.
North Waziristan, the area where the strike occurred, is considered a stronghold for insurgent groups operating in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is one of the few parts of the tribal areas that border Afghanistan in which the Pakistani military has not conducted a military operation to root out militants, despite repeated pushes to do so from the American government.
Tanker hits San Francisco-Oakland bridge
SAN FRANCISCO - An empty oil tanker caused minor damage Monday when it struck a tower in the middle of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge while navigating beneath the hulking span, officials said.
The 752-foot Overseas Reymar rammed the tower about 11:20 a.m. as it headed out to sea, according to the Coast Guard and state transportation officials. It didn't affect traffic on the busy bridge, which is the main artery between San Francisco and Oakland, Ney said.
OSG Ship Management Inc., which is the parent company that owns the Marshall Islands-registered ship, said the vessel hit an underwater portion of the massive bridge structure.
Visibility at the time was about a quarter-mile, but officials didn't say if that was a factor.
Wild dogs kill 4 in Mexico City park, officials say
MEXICO CITY - Wild dogs mauled and killed four people whose bodies were found over the past two weeks in a park on the edge of Mexico City, authorities confirmed Monday. In one case, a teenage girl frantically called her sister with her cellphone to plead for help as the attack took place.
Neighbors of the Cerro de la Estrella, a partly wooded, hilltop park surrounded by the city's poor and populous Iztapalapa district, first found the bodies of a 26-year-old woman and a 1-year-old child in the area on Dec. 29, authorities in Mexico's capital said.
The woman, Shunashi Mendoza, was missing her left arm, and prosecutors said that both she and the boy had bled to death and been partially eaten. Then on Friday visitors to the same park found the bodies of a teenage couple who had also bled to death.
"Experts have established that due to the gravity of the wounds, at least 10 dogs were involved in each attack," Mexico City prosecutors said in a statement.
In the second attack, Alejandra Ruiz, 15, and her boyfriend Samuel Martinez, 16, had gone to the park Friday afternoon.
The girl called her sister Diana Ruiz around 7 p.m. pleading for help.
"Several dogs are attacking us, help me!" the girl screamed. The call then stopped.
Plenty of Earth-sized planets in Milky Way galaxy
LOS ANGELES - Our Milky Way is home to at least 17 billion planets that are similar in size to Earth, a new estimate suggests. That's more than two Earth-size planets for every person on the globe.
It's the first reliable tally of the number of worlds outside the solar system that are the size of Earth, but the hunt for our twin is far from over.
Despite the explosion of exoplanet discoveries in recent years, one find remains elusive: A planet that's not only the right size but also in the so-called Goldilocks zone where it's not too hot or too cold for water to be in liquid form on the surface.
- The Associated Press