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Canadian PM visits Afghanistan Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper walks through a wheat field Monday at Tarnack Farms in Afghanistan. The prime minister made a surprise stop in the country to mark the end of Canada’s decade-long military mission there and pay tribute to fallen soldiers.
AP PHOTO
Kingston
WASHINGTON
Joint Chiefs chair picked
President Barack Obama moved Monday to seal an overhaul of his national security team, selecting Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as the next Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman amid protracted battle in Afghanistan, U.S. involvement in the NATO-led effort against Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and a winding down of the war in Iraq.
Obama announced a new lineup of his top military leadership group in the Rose Garden of the White House.Dempsey, an accomplished veteran of the Iraq war, will succeed Adm. Mike Mullen as his top military adviser. Obama called Dempsey “one of our nation’s most respected and combat-tested generals.”
The president also announced he has chosen Navy Adm. James Winnefeld as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Army Gen. Ray Odierno as Army chief of staff.
The nominees have to be approved by the Senate, and Obama voiced hope that could happen in a timely fashion.
MIAMI
Hip-hop star hurt in crash
Authorities say hip-hop singer Sean Kingston is hospitalized after crashing a personal watercraft into a Miami Beach bridge.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jorge Pino said Kingston and a female passenger were injured when the watercraft hit the Palm Island Bridge around 6 p.m. Sunday.
Pino said both were hospitalized early Monday at Ryder Trauma Center, but he didn’t know their conditions.
The Miami Herald reported a passing boater saw the accident and took the two on board his vessel.
Pino said authorities are investigating the crash, and “nothing at this point would indicate that alcohol played a role.”
BILLINGS, Mont.
Flooding threat worsens
Flooding disrupted emergency phone service across a broad swath of eastern Montana on Monday as areas of the state remained inundated and downstream communities prepared for the worst.
Residents of one southeast South Dakota town were told to be ready to leave their homes by Thursday as the Missouri River continued to rise.
Authorities say northwestern Montana and the Dakotas are next in line for high water problems as mountain snow melts and record flows are released from the Missouri’s swollen reservoirs.
LONDON
Royal couple set to travel
Prince William and his bride will travel thousands of miles from Canada’s north to Southern California on their first official overseas trip, royal officials said Monday.
William and the former Kate Middleton will visit Canada from June 30 to July 8, taking in the country’s north, south, east and west.
Palace officials said the couple will visit Canada’s capital, Ottawa, and the surrounding region; Montreal and Quebec City ; Charlottetown and Summerside; the Northwest Territories capital of Yellowknife and the oil boom town of Calgary, Alberta.