| | May 02, 2013 | | The Scary Truth They've got chemical weapons, but we have no clue where they're stashed. The Daily Beast's Eli Lake on the desperate hunt by U.S. officials. Plus, the militias that might be training to use them. CUSTOM CABINET Is President Obama hoping Penny Pritzker can stimulate the economy with her own money? The commander in chief selected businesswoman Penny Pritzker as his secretary of Commerce on Thursday morning—and if confirmed by the Senate, she would be the richest member of the current cabinet by a long shot. Pritzker and the president previously have worked closely together—she was his finance chair during his first White House campaign and co-chair of his second campaign. Certain groups may look upon the nomination with some scrutiny. Pritzker, with an estimated worth of $1.85 billion, is ranked as one of the 300 wealthiest people in the U.S. by Forbes magazine. The Pritzker family runs the Hyatt hotel chain, which has clashed with union leaders in Los Angeles and Chicago. In 2001 Superior Bank, which the Pritzker family co-owned and Penny Pritzker chaired from 1991 to 1994, became the largest bank failure in a decade. BOSTON Nobody wants to own up to their citizens using "LOL" so much. Kazakhstan officials insisted Thursday that they are working with the U.S. after finding out that two Kazakh citizens—college students in the U.S. on visas—have been charged with aiding the Tsarnaev brothers in the Boston Marathon bombing. Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19, were friends from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, with the younger Tsarnaev brother, Dzhokhar. They have been accused—along with a third man, U.S. citizen Robel Phillipos—with removing a backpack and laptop from Dzhokhar's room after the boming. After the attack, which killed three and wounded over 200, Kadyrbayev allegedly texted Dzhokhar that his face was on the news, to which Dzhokhar responded, "lol," and warned his friend, "you better not text me again." HARSH Bill Clinton, any chance you're going to meet Kim Jong-un any time soon? North Korea sentenced U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years in a hard-labor camp for so-called crimes against the state. Bae, who was born in South Korea, but is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested while visiting North Korea as a tourist. The reasons behind his arrest are unclear, although some have speculated that he was arrested after taking pictures of starving children. The harsh sentence could be that he will end up as a bargaining chip for North Korea, as relations between the communist country and the U.S. have continued to deteriorate. But it's an even harsher sentence than the one given to two American journalists in 2009, when Bill Clinton had to personally negotiate for their release. SHERPAS ATTACK A group of Western climbers were attacked by a large group of Buddhist sherpas this week. What sparked the unusual bout of violence? Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan report. | |
GET The Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of news and must-reads from across the Web. You'll love the featured original stories on politics, entertainment, and more from The Daily Beast's diverse group of contributors. GET Culture Beast Weekly cultural recommendations from The Daily Beast.
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment