Three Climbers Die On Everest

Puerto Rico promises Culebra island more independence with hospital, school, recycling center    

Little done in Brazil to improve safety at gathering spots 100 days after nightclub fire    

The Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009 in Pakistan and Yemen. The disclosure to Congress comes on the eve of a major national security speech by President Barack Obama. Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt U.S. Air Force An unmanned Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone flies over southern Afghanistan during a 2009 combat mission. Drones are a major part of a new high-tech "shadow war" policy that allows the United States to attack enemy forces without committing ground troops. Attorney General Eric Holder gestures while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, before the House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the Justice Department. Holder told Congress Wednesday that a serious national security leak required the secret gathering of telephone records at The Associated Press as he stood by an investigation in which he insisted he had no involvement. FILE - In this May 15, 2013, file photo, Attorney General Eric Holder gestures while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington. Four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Holder said that in conducting U.S. counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida and its associated forces, the government has targeted and killed one American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric, was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. The administration released the information the day before President Barack Obama is scheduled to make a major speech on national security.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to ask Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to intervene. Ex-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, also disqualified, won't appeal.TEHRAN — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday denounced as unjust the supervisory electoral body's disqualification of his top aide from next month's presidential poll and said he plans to appeal to the nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.    

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments approved a mission on Wednesday to help Libya improve its border security in response to concerns that Islamist militants and weapons move freely across the North African country's frontier.