Exit: The NY Times reports that President Obama is considering an accelerated pullout from Afghanistan, leaving no troops there by the end of 2014. The paper says Obama is frustrated by deteriorating relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, which hit a new low when the US tried to open direct talks with the Taliban.

World: A Pakistani report leaked to Al Jazeera says the country’s intelligence agencies gave up looking for Osama Bin Laden in 2005 and he ultimately lived in the country undetected for nine years. Al Jazeera quotes the report as saying that “culpable negligence and incompetence at almost all levels of government can more or less be conclusively established.” According to the report, Bin Laden was once a passenger in a car stopped for speeding. Navy SEALs killed Bin Laden in May 2011.
Air Crash: Investigators are examining the possibility that one of two Chinese teenagers killed in Saturday’s San Francisco air crash was actually run over and killed by an emergency vehicle. The cause of the plane accident is unknown, but the NTSB said the Asiana 777 in its last moments was flying 39 mph under proper landing speed and was about to stall. They said the cockpit recordings reveal no crew conversations about problems or unusual behavior of the jet. In a press conference, firefighters described how they ran up the inflatable exit ramps to rescue trapped passengers and crew from the burning plane.
Train Crash: Investigators now say there had been an engine fire on board the Canadian oil train when it was parked at a siding and firefighters shut off the engine, cutting power to the air brakes. The train later rolled seven miles and crashed. The death toll in Lac-Mégantic, Que. is now 13 with 35-50 people still missing. About 25 of those are believed to have been inside a popular downtown bar that was incinerated.
National: The three women who were held captive in a Cleveland home spoke publicly for the first time in a video posted on You Tube. Reading haltingly from a prepared statement, Michelle Knight said, “I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face and my head held high,”
Turn, Turn, Turn: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the state’s longest serving governor, announced yesterday he would not seek a fifth term. Quoting Ecclesiastes he said “for everything there is a season.” Perry has been governor since George W. Bush left the office. He’s done in January 2015 but doesn’t rule out a second run for president.
Ocean’s Many: Actor George Clooney is single again.

-30-