Prison for Ohio woman who buried mom in yard

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A woman who quit her job to care for her elderly mother felt at a loss to support herself when the older woman died so she buried her in the yard of their Florida home and lived off her mother's Social Security checks for 14 years, her lawyers and federal authorities say.

Now living in Ohio, Patricia Hodges of Marietta was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Columbus to 30 days in prison, plus six months of home confinement as part of a three-year period of court supervision once she gets out of prison.

The 66-year-old woman also was must repay more than $141,000 in Social Security benefits.

Hodges pleaded guilty in February to one count of theft of government money for cashing motherJanet Kelly's checks, federal authorities said. No information was immediately available on whether any charges were filed involving the mother's burial.

In November 2011, a Social Security Administration official went to Hodges' home in Marietta, seeking proof that Janet Kelly, who would have been 103, was still alive, an investigator testified at Hodges' plea hearing. The investigator said Hodges first said her mother was on a cruise and planned to live with a niece in New York after the cruise.

But an investigation by the Social Security Administration and Marietta police found that Kelly had died in 1997 and that Hodges had buried her in the backyard of the Lake Worth, Fla., home where they had lived.

Hodges admitted concealing her mother's death to collect her mother's Social Security benefits, and Florida law enforcement investigators recovered Kelly's skeletal remains, federal authorities say.

A court document filed by Hodges' defense noted that her mother died of natural causes and said Hodges "was desperate when her mother passed away." The document said Hodges had quit her job to take care of her mother and panicked when she felt she had no means of supporting herself without her mother's benefits.

"Over the years, she wanted to report the death to SSA, but did not know how to go about it," the document states.

A message left Wednesday for Hodges' attorney was not immediately returned.

The Lake Worth Police Department on Wednesday evening referred questions about charges related to the mother's burial to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, and a message was left at the sheriff's office.

France to maintain nuclear arsenal after Obama call

PARIS (Reuters) - France is not ready to reduce its nuclear arsenal for now, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama offered to cut deployed weapons as part of a global push to lower stockpiles.

Speaking in Berlin, Obama urged Russia to help build on the "New START" treaty that requires both countries to cut stockpiles of deployed nuclear weapons to 1,550 each by 2018.

"Barack Obama is proposing to Russia that together they reduce. That's fine but that is not how we see things," Le Drian told France Info radio, saying France had already narrowed its arsenal to just under 300 warheads.

"The real issue is nuclear proliferation ... it's the future risk of Iran getting a nuclear weapon," he added.

Moscow gave Obama's call for a cut in deployed arsenals of one third a frosty reaction, saying it could not take such proposals seriously while Washington was beefing up its own anti-missile defenses.

Obama's vision of a "world without nuclear weapons" set out in a speech in Prague in 2009, three months into his presidency, earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. But his mixed results so far have fuelled criticism that the prize may have been premature.

(Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry; writing by Mark John; editing by Catherine Bremer)

In northern Iraqi city, al-Qaida gathers strength

In this photo taken on June 15, 2013 shop owners stand in front of their shops as people shop in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. Al-Qaida's Iraq arm is gaining strength in the restive northern city of Mosul, reviving its fundraising efforts through gangland-style shakedowns, feeding off anti-government anger and increasingly carrying out attacks with impunity. It is a worrying development for Iraq's third-largest city, one of its main gateways to Syria, as voters prepare to cast ballots for local leaders and al-Qaida makes a push to establish itself as a dominant force among the rebels fighting to topple the Syrian regime. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this file photo taken on Jan. 16, 2012 Iraqi security forces inspect bombs at the scene of a car bomb attack outside the northern city of Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. Al-Qaida's Iraq arm is gaining strength in the restive northern city of Mosul, reviving its fundraising efforts through gangland-style shakedowns, feeding off anti-government anger and increasingly carrying out attacks with impunity. It is a worrying development for Iraq's third-largest city, one of its main gateways to Syria, as voters prepare to cast ballots for local leaders and al-Qaida makes a push to establish itself as a dominant force among the rebels fighting to topple the Syrian regime. (AP Photo, File)

BAGHDAD (AP) — Al-Qaida's Iraq arm is gathering strength in the restive northern city of Mosul, ramping up its fundraising through gangland-style shakedowns and feeding off anti-government anger as it increasingly carries out attacks with impunity, according to residents and officials.

It is a disturbing development for Iraq's third-largest city, one of the country's main gateways to Syria, as al-Qaida in Iraq makes a push to establish itself as a dominant player among the rebels fighting to topple the Syrian regime.

The show of force comes as Mosul residents cast ballots in delayed local elections Thursday that have been marred by intimidation bymilitants. Al-Qaida's renewed muscle-flexing is evident in dollar terms too, with one Iraqi official estimating that militants are netting more than $1 million a month in the city through criminal business enterprises.

Mosul and the surrounding countryside, from where al-Qaida was never really routed, have emerged as major flashpoints in a wave of bloodshed that has killed nearly 2,000 Iraqis since the start of April — the country's deadliest outbreak of violence in five years. Gunbattles have broken out between militants and security forces, and several candidates have been assassinated.

Just since the start of last week, attackers in and around the city have unleashed a rapid-fire wave of five car bombs, tried to assassinate the provincial governor and killed another local politician and four other people in a suicide bombing.

The violence increased as Thursday's elections approached in Ninevah and neighboring Anbar province. Iraqis elsewhere went to the polls in April, but the Baghdad government postponed voting in the two provinces, citing security concerns.

Other Sunni militant groups, including Ansar al-Islam and the Army of the Men of the Naqshabandi Order, are also active in Ninevah. Mosul is the capital of the Sunni-dominated province.

Al-Qaida's growing power is particularly worrying because it is thought to be behind the bulk of the bombings across Iraq and because it is trying to assert itself as a player in neighboring Syria's civil war. The head of al-Qaida's Iraq arm last week defied the terror network's central command by insisting that his unit would continue to lay claim to al-Qaida operations in Syria, too.

"We're definitely concerned about it," said a U.S. diplomat about the deteriorating security situation in Mosul. The diplomat, who wasn't authorized to speak on the record, said al-Qaida's Iraq arm sees an opportunity to try to build support in the area and is "out blowing things up to show that the government can't protect and serve the people."

Al-Qaida's growing strength in Mosul is painfully clear to businessman Safwan al-Moussili. Traders like him say they are once again facing demands from militants to pay protection money or face grave consequences. Merchants say that practice had largely disappeared by the time American troops left in December 2011.

"They tell us: 'Pay this amount.' And if it's higher than before, they say something like: 'You recently went to China and you imported these materials and you made such and such profits,'" he said. "It seems they know everything about us."

Small-scale shop owners, goldsmiths, supermarkets, gas stations and pharmacies are all being hit up for money these days.

Al-Moussili and his fellow businessmen feel they have little choice but to pay up. About two months ago, he recalls, one businessman refused to pay, and insurgents planted a bomb inside his shop that killed the man.

"That forced everybody to pay, because we don't see the security forces doing anything to end this situation," he said.

A Mosul food wholesaler, who referred to himself only by the nickname Abu Younis out of concern for his security, said he and other traders resumed paying $200-a-month kickbacks to al-Qaida three months ago after finding threatening letters in the market hall where they operate.

Al-Qaida focused its operations in historically conservative Mosul following setbacks in Anbar province in 2006. It soon became the only major Iraqi city with a significant al-Qaida presence.

The U.S. urged Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to focus his resources on Mosul to wipe out al-Qaida and prevent the insurgents from reorganizing there. Instead, the government shifted resources at a key moment to crush al-Maliki's armed Shiite rivals in the southern city of Basra, which prevented a decisive defeat of al-Qaida.

Over time, the militants, exploiting ethnic tensions in the Mosul area between Arabs and Kurds, were able to reinforce their position.

Michael Knights, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who closely follows regional security issues, said al-Qaida in Iraq has long generated cash from businesses such as trucking and real estate, and through extortion of large firms such as mobile phone companies.

"If they're extending their extortion back out to local traders, that indicates they've got better street control," he said. "It just shows they're able to operate in the urban neighborhoods and don't see a security force retaliation like they did two years ago. And they don't fear informants identifying them."

Abdul-Rahim al-Shimmari, a member of the Ninevah provincial council, agreed that extortion is making a comeback.

He blamed rising political and sectarian tensions fueled in part by the civil war in nearby Syria, where mostly Sunni rebels are trying to topple President Bashar Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Al-Qaida is also enjoying increased sympathy in Mosul because of what al-Shimmari called the central government's "brutal and irresponsible" handling of Sunni protests that have raged for months against the Shiite-led administration in Baghdad.

In March, security forces in Mosul opened fire on Sunni demonstrators demanding the release of a local tribal sheik who had been detained. At least one person was killed.

Human Rights Watch recently urged Iraqi authorities to investigate allegations that federal police executed five people, including a 15-year-old boy, south of Mosul in early May. Residents discovered the bodies more than a week later in the same area where the five were last seen being led away by federal police, according to the rights group.

Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharawi, the federal police 3rd Division commander who was named in the rights group's report, called the allegations baseless. He said the five were no longer in police custody at the time of their deaths. He blamed al-Qaida for killing them in an effort to tarnish the image of the police.

A lack of trust from the people, who fear both the militants and the security forces, is hindering authorities' fight against al-Qaida and other militants, according to Iraqi officials.

"The problem is that nobody in Mosul will come forward and complain" about al-Qaida's increasing abuses, said a senior military intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss operational matters with reporters.

He estimated that al-Qaida is able to pull in between $1 million to $1.5 million from Mosul alone each month — a considerable amount in Iraq.

"We want to catch these people red-handed, but the local government is not cooperating with the security forces," he complained.

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Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed reporting.

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Syrian rebel general grapples with disarray in his ranks

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN (Reuters) - The commander of Syria's main rebel force is coming under increasing pressure to impose unity on his fighters as the United States and other powers move towards arming the opposition battling to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

General Salim Idriss, a defector chosen six months ago as consensus figure to lead the rebel Supreme Military Council, is being promoted as a cool head to bring together fractious combat units and curb the influence of radical Islamists.

Idriss's Supreme Military Council, which runs the Free Syrian Army that looked on the verge of toppling Assad last year, is trying to recover from the loss of the town of Qusair to government troops reinforced by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia this month.

Washington's decision to arm the council, an umbrella group organized into five geographical fronts, and reports that weapons are also coming in from the Gulf, have put the onus on the East German educated former military academic to forge a single rebel front.

His response to Washington's offer of military assistance was to call for heavy weapons to fight off an assault on the northern city of Aleppo by Assad's forces, a battle he must win to keep his campaign on track.

In the absence of a unified political opposition, Idriss is also assuming a political role by sending delegates to the Syrian National Coalition, the civilian arm of the opposition.

But first Idriss has to impose discipline on his own officers and improve the reputation of the military council, which have proved less effective than hardline Islamist units and has struggled to assert its authority on the battlefield.

Like Idriss, most defectors in the Military Council are Sunni Muslims, a group who form the majority of Syria's population and most of the opposition to Assad.

Sunnis also formed the bulk of the army but had little influence in an organization dominated by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has controlled the military and security apparatus since the 1960s.

Away from the battlefield, the military council has had disagreements over strategy, but Idriss has shown skill in defusing them, notably over a proposal by one commander who wanted to hit Hezbollah in Lebanon after the Qusair defeat.

Although Idriss agreed with the officer, colonel Abdeljabbar al-Oqaidi, that Hezbollah is propping up Assad and is seeking to expand its gains in central Syria, Idriss opposed expanding a war to topple the Syrian leader into Lebanon, the sources said.

This pragmatic streak has won Idriss backers in the West and among members of the political opposition, who hope he may help bring together a divided opposition which has failed to elect a leadership or form a planned provisional government.

One opposition official said Idriss proved himself two months ago at a meeting of the pro-opposition Friends of Syria grouping in Istanbul which almost collapsed when the Syrian delegation head, Moaz al-Alkhatib, walked out to protest international inertia in the face of what he said was the slaughter of Syrian civilians.

"Alkhatib literally threw a fit and walked out. Idriss took over and saved the meeting. The Turks who were skeptical of him realized how much they owe him," the official said.

SCEPTICAL REBELS

But impressing international powers is one thing. Convincing skeptical Syrian rebels - who see Idriss as more of a spokesman and arms procurer than genuine leader - is a tougher challenge, and increasingly urgent as Assad's forces win back rebel ground.

"Idriss has done well as an interlocutor with the West and the Gulf, but the military situation is degenerating ... It is not too late to save it but he does not have much time," said a senior opposition figure who did not want to be named.

"The Islamists do not like Idriss but they do not hate him either," the source said.

Islam Alloush of the Liwa al-Islam brigade, one of the strongest Islamist rebel units, said his group is willing to cooperate with Idriss and is in touch with the Military Council.

"We consider any one who is fighting to rid Syria of Bashar al-Assad to be with us," Alloush said.

Strengthening the Military Council with arms would help the moderates carve a bigger role in the military struggle against Assad and redress the balance of power with Islamist rebel units, especially in eastern Syria, where Salafist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham and al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front almost singlehandedly captured the city or Raqqa.

Diplomats say the rationale behind the Western support for Idriss is to create a well-financed and well-armed formation that would attract fighters who until now had little option but to join more radical Islamist units.

"Western officials have flatly told us they do not want another Rwanda in Syria where the Alawites would end up annihilated. They want to strengthen the opposition enough to force Assad to concede a political transition and leave the country," an opposition leader said. "Idriss's core strength is that he is rational. He fits the bill."

Idriss told Reuters his main aim was to see Assad leave power to build a "tolerant, democratic Syria."

Militarily the main challenge is to obtain enough weapons to strengthen all five fronts and counter fighters from Hezbollah, Iran and Iraq, of which he said about 15,000 were in Syria, giving a major boost to the 50,000 troops Assad can rely on.

A shipment of Konkurs anti-tank missiles to military council units in Aleppo last week has already helped stem the advance of Assad's forces who had exploited a gap in rebel lines northwest of Aleppo.

"We do not belittle the military ability of these fighters, especially from Hezbollah, who are well-trained and are being led by Iranian officers and use a different technique," Idriss said. "We've absorbed the shock. We are starting react and counter them."

(Editing by Giles Elgood)

The Taliban Wants to Swap a Captured U.S. Solider for Five Gitmo Prisoners

The Taliban Wants to Swap a Captured U.S. Solider for Five Gitmo Prisoners

The Taliban's see-saw between talking peace and waging violence swung back to conciliation on Thursday, when the group offered toreturn a captive American solider in exchange for prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay.

RELATED: Taliban Denies Karzai's Claim it's Ready for Afghan Peace Talks

There is believed to be only one American solider currently held captive by the Taliban, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who went missing from his Afghanistan base in 2009. A Taliban spokesperson says they willing to release Bergdahl in exchange for five prisoners who have been in American custody for more than a decade. The spokesperson also siad Bergdahl is in "good condition," and his parents in Idaho received a letter from him earlier this month, that was delivered through the Red Cross.

RELATED: Revenge of the Taliban

The prisoner exchange is said to be an opening prerequisite before any peace negotiations can begin. But the entire peace process has been nothing but demands and accusations to this point, and we're not much closer to actual talks than we were when the war started. The Taliban opened an office Qatar for the express purpose of beginning diplomatic meetings, but they were already canceled before they begin, in part because the Afghan government was offended by the Talibans use of its old, banned name. Now the actual status of the peace talks appears to be up in the air, as the diplomatic bickering continues.

RELATED: Urinating on a Dead Taliban Insurgent Only Costs You $500, Military Court Says

Meanwhile, the Taliban hasn't let up on its attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces, making it even more difficult to take the peace process seriously. The U.S. hasn't responded to the prisoner swap idea yet, but given the difficult that the President has had in closing the prison, convincing everyone to let five Taliban fighter go (even in exchange for one of our own) won't be easy.