US interviews Colombian prostitute in Madrid By ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press – 24 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Investigators have interviewed the Colombia prostitute at the center of a Secret Service scandal that cost eight officers their jobs and became an election-year embarrassment for the Obama administration.Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan says Dania Londono Suarez spoke to investigators at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid on Thursday — a month after the incident.Londono says a Secret Service officer took her back to his hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, last month after a night of heavy drinking at a local bar but refused to pay her the next morning.A dozen Secret Service employees and 12 military personnel have been implicated in the episode. They were in Colombia ... Continue reading →

WASHINGTON — When a boat springs a leak, it's often the Coast Guard to the rescue. But the tables have turned, and the Coast Guard is looking for a little help with holes it found last month in the hull of one of its newest ships. Three were "pinholes" and a fourth was "slightly smaller than a golf ball." Capt. Charles Cashin, commander of the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, said his crew discovered the holes and other rust on the ship's hull while they were working off the coast of Los Angeles. The holes have been patched, for now, and the 418-foot ship will head to dry dock soon. The Coast Guard took delivery of the Stratton in September and Cashin and his crew put ... Continue reading →

New Border Patrol strategy targets repeat crossers SAN DIEGO — With border crossings at a 40-year low, the U.S. Border Patrol announced a new strategy Tuesday that targets repeat crossers and tries to find out why they keeping coming.For nearly two decades, the Border Patrol has relied on a strategy that blanketed heavily trafficked corridors for illegal immigrants with agents, pushing migrants to more remote areas where they would presumably be easier to capture and discouraged from trying again."The jury, for me at least, is out on whether that's a solid strategy," Chief Mike Fisher told The Associated Press.The new approach is more nuanced. Outlined in a 32-page document that took more than two years to develop, agents will now draw on intelligence to identify ... Continue reading →

Woman in Secret Service case calls agents 'fools' By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press – 57 minutes ago BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A woman who says she was the prostitute who triggered the U.S. Secret Service scandal in Colombia on Friday called the agents involved "idiots" for letting it happen, and said that if she were a spy and sensitive information was available, she could have easily obtained it.The woman said she spent five hours in a Cartagena, Colombia, hotel room with an agent, and while she barely got cab fare out of him, she could have gotten information that would have compromised the security of U.S. President Barack Obama if the agent had any. "Totally," she replied when asked."The man slept all night," said the ... Continue reading →

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — On World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders condemned the "astonishing pace" at which journalists are being attacked and murdered — 67 killed in 2011 and 22 more deaths since the beginning of the year.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the attacks "outrageous" and urged all countries to prevent and prosecute violence against the media and take action to ensure the safety of journalists and freedom of the press.At Thursday's U.N. commemoration of Press Freedom Day, Ban asked the assembled diplomats, members of the media and civil society representatives to observe a minute of silence "in honor of the journalists who were killed in the line of duty last year."According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 179 journalists were detained ... Continue reading →