News In Brief

Trump ordered aide to give Kushner security clearance
Reuters, Washington
US President Donald Trump ordered his chief of staff in May to grant his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner a top-secret security clearance, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
It said senior administration officials were troubled by the decision, which prompted then White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to write an internal memo about how he had been ordered to give Kushner the top-secret clearance.

US Navy’s version of F-35 jet ‘ready for combat’
AFP, Washington
The US Navy’s version of the F-35 stealth fighter jet is “ready for combat,” officials said Thursday, marking another milestone in the development of the most expensive weapons program ever.
“The F-35C is ready for operations, ready for combat and ready to win,” Vice Admiral DeWolfe Miller, who commands Naval Air Forces, said in a statement.

8 dead in Iran bus accident
AFP, Tehran
Eight people were killed and 36 wounded when a bus overturned on Friday on Iran’s Qom-Tehran highway, the semi-official ISNA News Agency reported.
The Volvo bus, carrying 44 passengers, was travelling on the key artery from the southeastern province of Kerman towards Tehran at 7:40 AM when the driver fell asleep, local officials told ISNA.

Netanyahu to be indicted on
corruption charges
AFP, Jerusalem
Israel’s attorney general announced Thursday he intended to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a decision just weeks ahead of April elections.
The long-awaited announcement will further shake up the turbulent political campaign and threaten Netanyahu’s lengthy tenure at the top of Israeli politics.

Ghani hindering peace deal with Taliban
Reuters, Kabul
An influential former adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, now a leading electoral rival, has accused his old boss of hampering peace with the Taliban by blocking efforts to include a broad range of voices in the process.
With Afghan politics in deep confusion as talks between the United States and Taliban representatives proceed, Mohammad Haneef Atmar, a former national security adviser once seen as the second-most powerful man in Afghanistan, accused Ghani of exploiting the uncertainty to gain re-election.