Cheat Sheet - James Gandolfini the Great

Today: U.S. Tries to Salvage Taliban Talks , I Will Not Return to the Dark Reality of Putin's Russia , $7B Afghan War Gear Scrapped June 20, 2013 1961–2013 1. Gandolfini the Great James Gandolfini, the hulking star of HBO's acclaimed The Sopranos, has died at age 51 while traveling in Italy. Jace Lacob on the legacy the actor and producer leaves behind. Plus, Marlow Stern on Gandolfini's best performances and Dr. Kent Sepkowitz on what killed Tony Soprano. Read it at The Daily Beast HUFF 2. U.S. Tries to Salvage Taliban Talks The U.S. is desperately working to salvage a plan to open negotiations on Afghanistan's security after a meeting with the Taliban offended Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who now won't answer phone calls from Secretary of State John Kerry. The U.S. had planned to begin peace talks with the Taliban as part of a deal to solidify security in Afghanistan after NATO troops leave in 2014. But Karzai took the initial American overture toward the Taliban—allowing it to open an embassy in Qatar—as an affront after the Taliban portrayed itself as Afghanistan's legitimate government-in-exile. Karzai suspended the talks, creating a diplomatic headache. Read it at The Guardian DARK REALITY 3. I Will Not Return to Putin's Russia Garry Kasparov declares that though he will refrain from returning to Russia for the time being, he will not give up his fight to oust Putin or his hopes for a democratic future for his country. Read it at The Daily Beast Waste 4. $7B Afghan War Gear Scrapped Working to meet a tight withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan, the U.S. military is destroying massive amounts of its own equipment that is too expensive to bring home. The unprecedented scrapping effort has destroyed about 170 million pounds of gear, worth about $7 billion. The military arrived at the decision because of complex laws governing donations of arms to other nations, and U.S. allies eligible to be given the equipment won't want to pay to retrieve it. So the only choice was to trash 20 percent of the gear, crushing it and selling it for pennies per pound.  "This is the largest retrograde mission in history," Major General Kurt Stein said. Read it at The Washington Post Plague 5. New Virus More Deadly Than SARS A new virus distantly related SARS is shaping up to be more deadly and spread even more quickly than the one that caused a global outbreak in 2003, killing 800 people. About 60 cases of the new virus, known as MERS, have been reported so far; most have been in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East. The source of MERS, a respiratory virus, remains completely mysterious to the team of scientists who have examined the cases so far. Some of the infected patients had no obvious exposure to anyone else with the virus. In addition to the Middle East, several cases have been reported in France, Great Britain, and Italy. Read it at The Associated Press KENTUCKY Four Convicted in Gay Attack First under federal hate crimes law. the invisible war Naval Academy Charges 3 on Assault For allegedly raping a female classmate last year. SUSPICIOUS New Theory on TWA Flight 800 Crash Investigators want case reopened. Train Trouble EU: Lower Eurostar Prices, or Else threatens France and Britain with fines. INNER GODDESS '50 Shades' Gets a Director Sam Taylor-Johnson of 'Nowhere Boy.' 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. Yeezus on the Street If Kanye West's new album sounded crazy coming out of his mouth, imagine what it sounds like when nice regular folks start saying phrases like 'black d**k all in your spouse again.' More Videos Paula Deen's Shocking Deposition by Kevin Fallon Interactive: An Illustrated Guide to Force-Feeding by Michael Keller , Clarisa Diaz , Abby Haglage The 'Me, Me, Me' Wedding by Hannah Seligson

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