Administration to release Bush-era interrogation memos

The Obama administration will release four Bush-era memos on terror interrogations Thursday, according to a senior administration official. The administration also informed CIA officials they will not be prosecuted for past waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, the official also confirms. The memos, written by a top Justice Department lawyer, provided legal guidance to the entire executive branch, including the intelligence agencies, on permissible “enhanced interrogation techniques” that could be used against suspected terrorists taken into custody.

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Obama: Latin America on equal footing with U.S.

President Barack Obama on Thursday embarks on a trip to Latin America, where the leader of the world’s lone superpower said he seeks to engage in talks with the region’s leaders as equals. “Times have changed,” President Barack Obama told CNN en Español on Wednesday. Referring to his planned meeting in Trinidad and Tobago with Brazilian President Lula, he said, “My relationship with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is one of two leaders who both have big countries, that we are trying to solve problems and create opportunities for our people, and we should be partners

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Obama addresses economy, tax plan on filing day

President Obama touted his tax cut Wednesday as an important component of his plan to right the U.S. economy and put working families on a more prosperous path. “My administration has taken far-reaching action to give tax cuts to the Americans who need them while jump-starting growth and job creation in the process,” Obama said

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Obama heads to Mexico amid escalating drug violence

President Obama travels to Mexico on Thursday as the United States’ neighbor to the south continues to wrestle with increasingly deadly drug wars. Obama recently announced a crackdown on border violence and on the smuggling of cash and weapons into Mexico — a step that could mark an end to a blame game over where responsibility for the violence lies. The president recently designated three Mexican organizations, which he says are involved in drug trafficking, to face hefty financial sanctions under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.

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Saudi official moves to regulate child marriages

Days after a Saudi upheld the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a man 39 years her senior and blocked a divorce, the kingdom’s justice minister said he plans to enact a law that will protect young girls from such marriages, according to local media reports. CAMARGO, Mexico (CNN) — There are no welcome signs on the approach to Camargo. It’s a hardscrabble Mexican border town and home turf for “Los Zetas,” a gang of hitmen and corrupt former special forces cops on the bankroll of the Gulf Cartel.

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Hitmen’s bloody reign all about logic, trafficker says

There are no welcome signs on the approach to Camargo. CAMARGO, Mexico (CNN) — There are no welcome signs on the approach to Camargo. It’s a hardscrabble Mexican border town and home turf for “Los Zetas,” a gang of hitmen and corrupt former special forces cops on the bankroll of the Gulf Cartel.

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‘Robust action’ could curtail piracy, expert says

Both the United States and France pulled off-high profile rescues in the waters off the Horn of Africa in the past week, killing a total of five pirates to free hostages who had been holed up for days. While those operations gained international attention, there have been dozens of attacks so far this year. Experts say it will take an international effort to combat the rising number of attacks.

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