Democrats call for halt of military academy book purge

WASHINGTON — Leading Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee are demanding the Navy “immediately” put a stop to the removal of books from the service’s academy library after officials pulled hundreds of titles promoting diversity, equity and inclusion from the collection.

The call came in the days after the U.S. Naval Academy got rid of nearly 400 volumes from its Nimitz Library collection on topics ranging from racism to gender identity and the Holocaust — the latest salvo in the Trump administration’s push to target so-called culture war issues in the armed forces.

House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, the top Democrat on the Military Personnel Subcommittee, slammed the action as “a blatant attack” on free speech and “a clear effort to suppress academic freedom and rigor” in an April 4 letter to Navy Secretary John Phelan.

“To develop the next generation of Naval officers, the United States Naval Academy must remain committed to intellectual freedom by ensuring the Brigade of Midshipmen can access, explore, and express ideas freely without restriction or interference,” they wrote.

—CQ-Roll Call

Kamala Harris believes Biden is to blame for her loss, new book says

Following a six-day vacation in Hawaii and after returning to Washington for her final month as vice president, Kamala Harris came to a counterintuitive conclusion about her 2024 presidential election loss: She just needed more time.

“She could have won, she told friends, if only the election was later in the calendar — or she got in earlier,” writes Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes in “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” a new book chronicling last year’s unorthodox presidential campaign. “In other words, Joe Biden was to blame. If only he had not run.”

While former President Biden’s unpopularity surely weighed on Harris’ truncated 107-day candidacy, the idea that the Democratic ticket would’ve performed better with more time struck even some Harris allies as farcical.

Harris enjoyed her best polling in the wake of August’s Democratic National Convention, when she leaped ahead of Donald Trump in some polling due to the new burst of energy stemming from Biden’s late departure from the race.

—Miami Herald

Groundbreaking international torture trial to start in Denver this week

DENVER — A Gambian man accused of torturing people during a dictatorship in the West African country will stand trial in Denver this week in a first-of-its-kind case in the United States.

Michael Correa, 45, will become the first non-U.S.-citizen to stand trial in an American federal court for torture committed abroad when his 10-day jury trial starts Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver.

Correa is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit torture and six counts of inflicting torture on specific victims. He faces up to 20 years in prison on each charge.

He is accused of torturing at least six people over several months in 2006 while he served in a special Gambian armed unit known as the “Junglers” that took orders directly from then-President Yahya Jammeh. The prosecution is being closely followed by international human rights organizations and by people across The Gambia.

—The Denver Post

Rain complicates recovery in quake-hit Myanmar as toll passes 3,500

BANGKOK — The death toll from the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar 10 days ago has risen to at least 3,514, with another 210 people still missing, according to figures released by Myanmar's military government on Monday.

Most casualties were reported in and around Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, where over 2,100 deaths have been confirmed.

Relief efforts have been severely hampered by ongoing heavy rainfall and wind, which have damaged tents and makeshift medical facilities set up by international teams. Meteorologists warn of increased risks of flooding and landslides as the rainy season approaches.

The ruling military junta is now focusing on cleanup efforts, as it said rescue operations had been completed, according to junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun. The news portal Myanmar Now reported that rescue workers are struggling to transport the bodies.

—dpa