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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is expected to announce today the deployment of about 100 Green Berets to Iraq, to help train and advise the Iraqi forces. Obama will be speaking after a meeting with his national security team about how to respond to the deteriorating situation in Iraq. The administration has been weighing whether to press the Shiite prime minister in Baghdad to step down in a last-ditch effort to prevent disgruntled Sunnis from igniting a civil war.
MOSCOW (AP) — Intense fighting is raging in eastern Ukraine, and an insurgent leader says rebels are losing the battle. Both the government and the rebels say fighting is taking place just east of the rebel stronghold of Slovyansk (SLAHV'-yansk), a city in the region that has been the epicenter of the insurgency in Ukraine. A rebel chief says in a statement on YouTube that his men are far outnumbered and outgunned by Ukrainian forces and are likely to retreat. He issued a desperate plea to Russia for military assistance.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani official says nearly 80,000 people have fled the country's northwest tribal region since the start of a military offensive there to root out militants. Residents have been streaming out of the region in the past two days, in vehicles loaded down with possessions. The military launched the operation Sunday night, saying it was targeting militants who have long used the region as a base from which to launch attacks targeting security forces and civilians.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Both sides in the debate over the new health care law will find some ammunition in a new poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Most of the people who were surveyed who had signed up for coverage under the new law are giving high ratings to their insurance. But a substantial number of them are still struggling with the cost. More than half of the people covered by the new exchanges were previously uninsured. But more than two out of five say they've had difficulty paying their monthly premiums.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A report on the crash that seriously injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed another man says the driver of a tractor-trailer was speeding before the crash. The preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board says trucker Kevin Roper was driving 65 miles an hour. The report says that about a half-mile south of the crash on the northbound New Jersey Turnpike, signs advised drivers to slow from 55 to 45 because of construction ahead. The truck plowed into Morgan's limo van. Morgan is hospitalized in fair condition with a broken leg and other injuries.
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