Kerry meets Cuba foreign minister in countries' highest-level talks in decades

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met his Cuban counterpart in Panama late Thursday in the highest-level discussion between representatives of Washington and Havana in more than 50 years.
The State Department said Kerry met Cuba Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez ahead of the Summit of the Americas, which begins Friday. A senior State Department official described the discussion between Kerry and Rodriguez as "lengthy and very constructive", but provided few details.
Reuters reported that the meeting in the restaurant of a Panama City hotel lasted for at least two hours, with Kerry occasionally gesticulating toward Rodriguez.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro are also in Panama to attend the summit. The two leaders are expected to interact in some form Friday, though no formal meeting is scheduled. This year marks Cuba's first appearance at the Summit of the Americas, which have been seven times since 1994.
In December, Obama and Castro announced their intention to restore diplomatic relations, beginning a painstaking process that has brought to the surface difficult issues that have long fed in to the U.S.-Cuban estrangement. Hopes of reopening embassies in Havana and Washington before the summit failed to materialize. The U.S. is still pushing Cuba to allow more freedom of movement for its diplomats, while Cuba wants relief from a sanctions regime that only Congress can fully lift.
Most controversially, some White House officials have indicated that the State Department is poised to recommend that Cuba be removed from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba has been on the list since 1982.
While in Jamaica on Wednesday, Obama signaled that he will soon act to remove Cuba from the list, a move that could come within days.
"We don't want to be imprisoned by the past," Obama said in Kingston, before flying to Panama City. "When something doesn't work for 50 years, you don't just keep on doing it. You try something new."

Fort Hood shooting victim denied benefits, despite Purple Heart decision

EXCLUSIVE -The Obama administration has finally acknowledged that those hurt and killed in the 2009 Fort Hood shootings were victims of terrorism -- and not “workplace violence,” as it was previously described. But while formal recognition of that is set for Friday, when victims will receive the Purple Heart, it may only be symbolic.
Fox News has learned as part of its ongoing investigation of the 2009 terrorist attack that the military, at least in one case, is still denying benefits for injuries sustained in the attack.
"I think it's almost unheard of for someone to receive the Purple Heart but not have their injuries deemed combat-related," Shawn Manning, who was seriously injured in the 2009 attack, told Fox News. "I know that was not what Congress intended to have happen, but it is what currently the Army has determined is going to happen."
On Nov. 5, 2009, then-Staff Sgt. Manning was shot six times by Maj. Nidal Hasan. Two bullets are still in his body -- one in his leg, the other in his back -- and he suffers from PTSD.
The 2015 defense budget -- known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA -- included language that meant Fort Hood victims were eligible for the Purple Heart honor because the attack was inspired by a foreign terrorist group, and not workplace violence, as the Defense Department initially labeled it.
Manning submitted new paperwork so the Army would recognize his injuries were sustained in the line of duty. But his appeal was rejected by a physical evaluation board, apparently based on a narrow interpretation of the law.
"Section 571 of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act addresses both the awarding of the Purple Heart to service members killed or wounded in attacks inspired or motivated by foreign terrorist organizations and the Defense of Freedom Medal for those members and civilians killed or wounded during the Fort Hood attack on 5 November 20009," the April 6 letter states.
"Nowhere in the act, however, does it offer combat benefits for service members permanently disabled in attacks inspired or motivated by foreign terrorist organizations. Although subsequent and guidance may change, currently, the Board has no authority to award V1/V3 (service related) designation to soldiers disabled during the Fort Hood attack. "
Manning said, “it's a great thing to finally be recognized, to stand up there and say, ‘Hey your sacrifice did mean something.’”
But he said the board’s decision means, on a practical level, his family will lose back pay, and $800 a month in benefits, adding he believes other Fort Hood survivors will face the same treatment. “I think you know it's a huge let-down. I hope that's not what the Army had intended to do."
An earlier letter in 2012 was absolute in its denial of the terrorist connection, even though the evidence showed Hasan was emailing the Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the attack.“MAJ Hasan has been charged with criminal activity, but has not been adjudicated a terrorist. Therefore, the clear preponderance of evidence does not support that the injuries sustained were the direct result of armed conflict,” the letter said.
It went on to state Manning’s injuries were not caused by an “instrumentality of war” because Hasan’s “weapon was a private semi-automatic pistol. The army did not issue this weapons to the soldier.”
Fox News contributor and former Army Chief of Staff retired Gen. Jack Keane said the Purple Heart is much more than a medal. It is also a promise to care for the injured.
"This country has made a commitment for some time to take care of people who have those disabilities and to provide, not just medical support but financial support as well,” he said.“So, I'm convinced this is going to get fixed."
Army spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith told Fox News in a statement, “All recipients of the Purple Heart Medal under section 571 of the NDAA 2015 will receive the benefits to which they are legally entitled.In the case at issue, no final decision has been rendered, and the Soldier will have a full opportunity to present evidence at a formal hearing."
Based on the statement, Fox News followed up to ask if it is the Army's intention that the Fort Hood Purple Heart recipients would need to go to a formal hearing, as is the case with Manning,to prove their injuries are combat-related. There was no further comment from the Army.

Americans stuck in Yemen file suit demanding State Department, military rescue them

WASHINGTON –  Claiming the Obama administration turned its back on them, 41 Americans stranded in war-torn Yemen filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the State Department and Defense Department for not evacuating them -- as fighting intensifies and U.S. allies launch airstrikes.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeks to compel the government to use “all resources” possible to rescue the stranded Americans. The plaintiffs range in age from just a few weeks old to senior citizens.
“Despite the clear danger to Americans in Yemen – and the death of at least one American – the Obama administration has not yet taken any substantive steps to help citizens or permanent residents reach safety,” the lawsuit claims.
The suit was filed on the plaintiffs' behalf by The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Though the exact number of Americans stuck in Yemen is unknown, hundreds of people have expressed concern about loved ones in Yemen through a website set up to track and help them, Jenifer Wicks, a lawyer for CAIR, told reporters Thursday.
The political crisis in Yemen has escalated in recent months, with the country’s capital taken over by the Iran-backed Shiite rebel group known as the Houthis.
Yemen’s president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has fled the country. The U.S. embassy, meanwhile, closed its doors, leaving many Americans without a way to get home. At the same time, a Saudi-led Arab coalition is launching airstrikes against the rebels in the country, an effort supported by the U.S. government.
The suit filed Thursday is not the first warning from advocacy groups about Americans trapped in Yemen.
Last week, the groups behind the lawsuit launched the website www.stuckinyemen.com to provide assistance to Americans, or the friends and families of Americans, trying to escape Yemen.
“We honestly do not understand why the government would not help,” CAIR Director Nihad Awad said. Awad pointed to other countries, like India, China and Turkey, which have used their resources to rescue their citizens.

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April 9, 2015: CAIR Director Nihad Awad (left) listens as Abed Ayoub, policy director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (right), discusses the plight of U.S. citizens stuck in Yemen. (Barnini Chakraborty)

India, for example, is leading the rescue of trapped foreigners in Yemen, successfully evacuating more than 550 people from 32 countries, including a dozen Americans and three Pakistanis, through a combined air, sea and rail effort.
Reports indicate the U.S. embassy advised American nationals trapped in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa to seek out help from other countries. It’s a move Abed Ayoub, policy director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, doesn’t agree with. He says this should be the responsibility of the American government.
“It is our duty to get them out,” he said. “You can’t ship this responsibility.”
Ayoub summed up a recent conference call he had with the State Department: “We can’t do anything. Good luck.”
Asked Wednesday, in anticipation of the lawsuit, whether a federal court even had the ability to mandate an evacuation, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said she didn't know. She did not comment further on the case and, at the time, said she wasn't aware of it.
On Thursday, Jeff Rathke, another State Department spokesman, said the department is "aware of some American citizens who remain in Yemen" and that protecting them is a "top priority."
As stated in the lawsuit, at least one American has been killed in the fighting -- California resident Jamal al-Labani, killed in a mortar strike last month.
Ayoub said if the government doesn’t become more pro-active, the ADC is prepared to file more lawsuits, as it did against top Cabinet officials for failing to protect American citizens in Lebanon in 2006. The ADC pulled its case when a ceasefire was declared.
The suit urges the U.S. to use “all resources at their disposal” including “deploying military ships, vessels and airplanes and/or contracting with private commercial ship liners and airplanes” to evacuate U.S. citizens from Yemen and safely return them to America.
If that doesn’t work, it might be up to Americans to rescue themselves.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a 26-year-old Bay Area businessesman who got stuck in Yemen, escaped by motorboat before finding a flight home.
“Yemeni Americans have been effectively abandoned in Yemen,” Alkhanshali told the Chronicle, when safely back on American soil. “No one helped me come here. I’m happy to be back, but at the same time I feel saddened by the way I came back.”

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California lawmakers advance bill requiring vaccinations for most schoolkids

SACRAMENTO, Calif. –  California lawmakers on Wednesday advanced a bill that would require schoolchildren in the state to be vaccinated amid impassioned pleas from parents and doctors, even activist Robert Kennedy Jr.
Under the proposal, parents would no longer be able to send unvaccinated kids to school with waivers citing religious or personal beliefs. Exemptions would be available only for children with health problems.
Supporters say the measure would increase the number of vaccinated young people and improve public health.
Ariel Loop told lawmakers that such a plan could have prevented her child from contracting measles at Disneyland. "My infant shouldn't have had to suffer. He shouldn't, still months later, be having complications with his eyes," she said. "I shouldn't have had to fear for his life."
Opponents, however, say vaccines can be as dangerous as the diseases they aim to fight and that the bill would trample parental rights.
Karen Kain said her daughter died of injuries from a mercury-tainted vaccine. "I stand here today before you to share my story so you can all see and hear what happens when vaccines go wrong," she said. "Who gets to make the choice now of whose babies are more important? Because there is risk, there must be choice."
The measure, SB277 from Sen. Richard Pan, was in the earliest stages of the legislative process. But it drew large crowds, including parents who brought their children. During the emotionally charged hearing, one opponent threatened to put a curse on lawmakers who voted for the bill and another woman was removed after an outburst.
The bill passed out of the Senate Health Committee on a 6-2 vote Wednesday.
If the bill passes the Legislature and signed by the governor, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states with such strict vaccine rules.
Similar efforts to reduce exemptions were proposed elsewhere after a measles outbreak in December that started at Disneyland and sickened more than 100 people across the U.S. and in Mexico. In Oregon and Washington state, however, such proposals were rejected recently.
Opponents include Kennedy, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
Kennedy has been promoting the film "Trace Amounts" and is editor of a book called "Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak," linking autism to the vaccine preservative thimerosal. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the mercury-containing chemical has been removed from routine childhood vaccines since 2001.
The Sacramento Bee reported that when Kennedy asked the crowd at a screening of the film on Tuesday how many parents had a child injured by vaccines, numerous hands went up.
"They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone," Kennedy said. "This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country."
At a rally ahead of Wednesday's legislative hearing, Kennedy said he had all six of his children vaccinated, but he remains concerned the pharmaceutical industry profits immensely when governments make vaccines mandatory.
Dr. Dean Blumberg, a pediatrician who testified on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the California Medical Association, said childhood vaccination has been so successful that it's easy to overstate their risks and dismiss the diseases they prevent.
"Unfortunately, there's much misinformation about vaccine safety and effectiveness," Blumberg said. "Let me be clear: There is no scientific controversy about vaccine safety and vaccine effectiveness. ... This is not open to dispute among mainstream doctors and scientists."
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, California is among 20 states that allow for exemptions based on personal belief and 48 that allow for religious exemptions.
Public health officials believe an immunization rate of at least 90 percent is critical to minimizing the potential for a disease outbreak. California's kindergarteners met that threshold at the start of this school year, according to state statistics: 2 percent were exempted because of their parents' personal beliefs and another half a percent were exempted because of their parents' religion.

University of Michigan reverses decision, will show 'American Sniper' as scheduled

The University of Michigan said late Wednesday that it will show the film "American Sniper" as originally scheduled after a protest by students and staff caused the screening to be scrapped.
University Vice President for Student Life E. Royster Harper called the decision to cancel the Friday night showing a "mistake" in a statement.
"The initial decision to cancel the movie was not consistent with the high value the University of Michigan places on freedom of expression and our respect for the right of students to make their own choices in such matters," Harper said. "The movie will be shown at the originally scheduled time and location."
Harper added that the university will also screen the family-friendly film "Paddington" as an alternative.
"American Sniper", which stars Bradley Cooper as former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, was originally scheduled to be shown as part of a university-sponsored social event called UMix. However, the screening was canceled after a protest letter garnered more than 300 signatures.
"The movie 'American Sniper’ not only tolerates but promotes anti-Muslim and anti-MENA [Muslim, Middle Eastern and North African] rhetoric and sympathizes with a mass killer," the letter read in part. "Chris Kyle was a racist who took a disturbing stance on murdering Iraqi civilians."
"Watching this movie is provocative and unsafe to MENA and Muslim students who are too often reminded of how little the media and world value their lives," the letter continued.
The cancelation drew a strong reaction, and The Michigan Daily reported that a third-year Law School student named Rachel Jankowski circulated a petition calling on the university's Center for Campus Involvement to restore "American Sniper" to the UMix schedule. The university's football coach, Jim Harbaugh, weighed in on the controversy by tweeting that he would watch the movie with his team.

Before Harper's statement, the Center for Campus Involvement had announced plans to show "American Sniper" in a separate location from the UMix program, in what it said would be "a forum that provides an appropriate space for dialogue and reflection." It was not immediately clear whether the "forum" would be part of the revived Friday night screening.

ICE, Homeland Security arrest more than 1,200 in nationwide gang raids

EXCLUSIVE: Targeting gangs across the country, teams from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested more than 1,200 people, while seizing weapons and drugs directly used by international crime syndicates.
Members and associates from 239 different gangs were arrested in 282 cities across the U.S. during what’s been called Project Wildfire, a six-week operation that included 215 state, local and federal law enforcement agencies. Already at least 913 people have been charged with criminal offenses as a result of the operation, which began in mid -February. Those arrested include 650 with violent criminal histories, including 19 individuals wanted on active warrants for murder and 15 for rape or sexual assault. There were 200 foreign nationals arrested in the raids.
“This is where grassroots law enforcement starts. This is how we get a baseline read of what’s happening… it all builds on itself…this is what federal agencies, investigative agencies like HSI, are doing to target transnational criminality,” Homeland Security's Greg Mandoli said as he, and a team of officers that included local agencies, returned from raids in Placentia, Calif.

“We’re looking to prevent, deter and protect communities."- Greg Mandoli, of Homeland Security

The operation targeted transnational criminal gangs and others associated with transnational criminal activity.
“We’re looking to prevent, deter and protect communities. The public doesn't realize what’s happening in a federal investigative agency like HSI and the breath of the investigations that we’re doing. So, with Project Wildfire, we’re looking to take ground information and feed them back into the collective pool... working with our local partners to identify community threats as we look to prevent, deter and protect the homeland,” said Mandoli.
The majority of those taken into custody were affiliated with the Sureños, Norteños, Bloods, Crips, Puerto Rican-based gangs and several prison-based gangs, with the greatest activity taking place in the San Juan, Puerto Rico; Dallas, El Paso, Los Angeles and Detroit HSI areas. Those arrested during the Project Wildfire raids came from 18 countries in South and Central America, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean. Agents also seized weapons, vehicles, currency and counterfeit merchandise totaling $1 million, as well as drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.
This operation was part of HSI’s overall plan dubbed Operation Community Shield, which globally targets crime and combats the growth and proliferation of transnational criminal street gangs, prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs in the United States and abroad. According to agents, since 2005, more than 36,000 have been arrested and linked to more than 2,600 different gangs.

Kerry says US won't 'stand by' in Middle East as Iran steps up Yemen involvement

Secretary of State John Kerry warned Iran over its increased involvement in Yemen's civil war Wednesday, vowing that the U.S. would not "stand by" as the Middle East became destabilized.
Meanwhile, Iran President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday that a Saudi-led campaign of airstrikes against Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, was a "mistake." Rouhani did not single out any country in particular but said, "You learned that it was wrong. You will learn, not later but soon, that you are making mistake in Yemen, too."
Speaking on the "PBS Newshour" Wednesday, Kerry said that Tehran was "obviously" supplying the rebels, whose military advances forced Yemen's U.S-and Saudi-backed president to flee last month. In response, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have been carrying out airstrikes against Houthi targets since March 26.
"Iran needs to recognize that the United States is not going to stand by while the region is destabilized or while people engage in overt warfare across lines — international boundaries — in other countries," Kerry said. "We have an ability to understand that an Iran with a nuclear weapon is a greater threat than an Iran without one. And at the same time we have an ability to be able to stand up to interference that is inappropriate or against international law, or contrary to the region’s stability and interest and those of our friends."
Kerry's interview was broadcast on the same day that Iran said it was sending a destroyer and another naval ship to the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait. Iranian Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari was quoted as saying that the ships were part of an anti-piracy campaign to "safeguard naval routes for vessels in the region" by the English-language state broadcaster Press TV.
The comments by Kerry and Rouhani, as well as the Iranian naval maneuvers underscore the growing international tensions surrounding the chaotic fighting in Yemen, with the U.S. shoring up the Saudi-led forces on one side and Iran allegedly backing the Houthis on the other – though Iran and the rebels deny any direct military assistance.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Wednesday he could not say whether “Iranian money or equipment” has been delivered to the Houthis, but “we know the Iranians are partnered with the Houthis and they are working together.”
On PBS, Kerry said, "There are obviously supplies that have been coming from Iran. There are a number of flights every single week that have been flying in."
The fighting and international involvement threaten to hang over ongoing nuclear talks, which yielded a deal framework last week in Switzerland. The U.S., Iran and five other world powers are trying to strike a final deal by June – though critics have pointed to Iran’s involvement in Yemen and elsewhere as a serious cause for concern.
The unrest has also provided cover for Al Qaeda's Yemen branch, which the U.S. considers the world's most dangerous wing of the group, to make "great gains" on the ground. That in turn has caused Washington to rethink how it prevents it from launching attacks in the West.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met with Pakistan's prime minister in an effort to to push for peace talks to resolve the crisis.
"We need to work together in order to put an end to the crisis in Yemen," said Zarif, who also called for the imposition of a humanitarian cease-fire. "We need to find a political solution in Yemen, a comprehensive political solution leading an inclusive government through Yemeni dialogue."
Zarif's visit came as Pakistan's parliament is debating whether to contribute forces to the Saudi-led air campaign. The airstrikes against the Houthis and their allies, including loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, have so far failed to stop the rebels' advance on Aden, Yemen's second-largest city, which was declared a provisional capital by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi before he fled to Saudi Arabia.
Humanitarian groups in Yemen say they are running out of supplies and have called for a temporary halt to the fighting to allow aid into the country. The World Health Organization said Tuesday at least 560 people have been killed in the past weeks and 1,768 have been wounded, many of them civilians. It said another 100,000 have fled their homes.