In the news

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit, who faces charges of racketeering and extortion and owes the city $855,000 in restitution, reported to a Michigan-run lockup for a three-day stay for violating the terms of his parole received in an unrelated 2008 criminal case.

Silvio Berlusconi, 76, the former prime minister of Italy, has vowed to scrap the country’s property tax, enacted by his successor, Mario Monti, in a bid to boost public funds, on his first day if he wins election to the post.

Reince Priebus, 40, who became the chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2011 and helped improve its finances, was elected to lead again in an unopposed bid for his post at the committee’s annual winter meeting in Charlotte, N.C.

Lobsang Sangay, prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile based in India, is urging Tibetans to avoid celebrating their New Year next month and instead say prayers for the rising number of activists - 83 last year - setting themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule, which they say attacks their culture and religion.

Clayton Anderson, an astronaut who’s spent almost 170 days in space, including nearly 40 hours on spacewalks, announced that he is ending his 30-year career with NASA to spend time with his family in Houston, but said on Twitter that “no doors are closed” on future plans.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, is wearing glasses rather than her contact lenses because of “lingering issues stemming from her concussion” suffered after fainting last month, and will require them “for a period of time,” said her spokesman, Philippe Reines, who wouldn’t elaborate on the “lingering issues.”

Lyudmila Garifulina, 63, a Russian municipal legislator who opposed a construction project that would destroy a forest just outside Moscow, is in intensive care after being stabbed four times outside her apartment, the latest in a string of attacks on environmental defenders standing in the way of business interests.

Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate under Sen. John McCain in 2008 and former Alaska governor, has left her contributor role at Fox News, according to Bill Shine, the channel’s executive vice president for programming, who in a statement wished her well in the future.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/26/2013