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officials have finished an investigation into how and why Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (boh BURG'-dahl) disappeared from his base in Afghanistan. Bergdahl was held captive for five years by the Taliban. The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is expected to be briefed on the report as early as today. Details about the probe's conclusion are closely held. But Bergdahl could face charges of desertion or being absent without leave. The final disposition will determine whether he is charged or gets up to $300,000 in back pay and other benefits.

9, was a gentle giant who had his hands in the air and was running away when he was shot. Video images later showed that he had robbed a convenience store shortly before the police confrontation. Then an autopsy report confirmed that Brown was so close to Officer Darren Wilson that he had gunpowder residue on his hand, and that all of the bullets that hit him came from the front, none from the back. Nor where Browns palms raised, according to analysis by forensic pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek. Protesters shrugged at all of this, declaring they would continue to honor Browns memory by chanting, Hands up, dont shoot. Demonstrators chant Hands up, dont shoot! on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery in protest a day after the Ferguson grand jury decision to not indict officer Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown case Nov. 25.Photo: Getty Images Even if you dont find that its true, its a valid rallying cry, Ferguson protester Taylor Gruenloh told The Associated Press. If a few black-owned businesses get destroyed, and others are forced out of business by rising insurance costs, who cares?

9, was a gentle giant who had his hands in the air and was running away when he was shot. Video images later showed that he had robbed a convenience store shortly before the police confrontation. Then an autopsy report confirmed that Brown was so close to Officer Darren Wilson that he had gunpowder residue on his hand, and that all of the bullets that hit him came from the front, none from the back. Nor where Browns palms raised, according to analysis by forensic pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek. Protesters shrugged at all of this, declaring they would continue to honor Browns memory by chanting, Hands up, dont shoot. Demonstrators chant Hands up, dont shoot! on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery in protest a day after the Ferguson grand jury decision to not indict officer Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown case Nov.

The real number was well under half that. In his State of the Union address Obama said, We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, which was laughable. Apparently what Obama was referring to was a federal goal to double gas mileage by 2025. Lets apply that thinking to dieting: Just say, Im going to lose 20 pounds. Its the same thing as actually losing 20 pounds! In the Obama years, lies are no longer lies. Theyre essential tools to keep at bay the McCarthyites and their nasty slurs; theyre narratives that serve a larger, political function such as ruining fraternities or the life of a guy who dared to be a Republican on a liberal campus.

The two al-Qaida detainees were transferred to mediators in Niger on Saturday and turned over to al-Qaida, the Malian official said. It was not clear if they remained in Niger. A French official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is sensitive said Lazarevic was freed Tuesday but declined to give any details on the release of the al-Qaida prisoners beyond saying the negotiations over Lazarevics release were led by Mali and Niger. Lazarevic and Verdon were kidnapped from their hotel in Hombori in northeastern Mali while doing a feasibility study for a future cement factory, their families have said. Speculation is widespread, however, that there were other reasons for their presence in Mali, a long-time desert hideout for al-Qaida and other extremists in Africas Sahel region. Hostage-taking is a lucrative business in Mali and other Sahel countries. American officials have quietly accused France and other European countries of paying ransoms for their kidnapped citizens. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb took numerous Western hostages until France intervened in Mali in January 2013 to rout out extremists. Hollande on Tuesday urged French citizens and companies to take continued precautions against kidnappings.

Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban captivity this year. Despite the close ties, the State Department expressed concern. Officials requested in October that Qatars government lift the Huangs travel ban, allowing them to return to the United States. The 22 long months of court proceedings following their daughters tragic death have compounded the tragedy for the Huang family, and it is time now, as the Appeals Court stated, to let the Huangs return home, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. We are deeply concerned about new delays that have prevented their departure, he said. A United Nations special rapporteur investigating the justice system in Qatar also called attention to the Huangs case and urged the government to release them and send them home. Fighting family After the couples arrest, their two sons, also adopted from Africa, were temporarily placed in a Qatari orphanage. They have since been sent back to the United States to live with Grace Huangs mother.

A report by pathologists hired by the defense, obtained by CNN, stated they found no evidence tissue samples were taken from Gloria's body after her death, despite the fact Qatari investigators submitted an autopsy report. Advocates for the Huangs suggested the lab report was fabricated and said their request with the Qatari judiciary for a formal investigation went unanswered. A United Nations special rapporteur investigating the justice system in Qatar also called attention to the Huangs' case and urged the government to release them and send them home. Fighting family Matthew Huang was employed in Doha by an international company working on construction projects for the 2022 World Cup. After the couple's arrest, their two sons, also adopted from Africa, were temporarily placed in a Qatari orphanage, but have since been sent back to the United States to live with Grace Huang's mother. The entire family chipped in during the prolonged separation. With Matthew Huang fired from his job, the couple is living on donations from family and friends. Grace Huang's brother, Daniel Chin, gave up his job in California to work on the case full time. He was the nerve center of the family, raising money for its expenses and defense costs and dealing with the Huangs' lawyers and advocates.

That so-called employer mandate requires companies with 50 or more employees working at least 30 hours weekly to offer health care coverage or pay fines. Smaller businesses are exempt. The requirement was initially to take effect this year. Now, companies with 50 to 99 employees have until 2016 to comply while bigger firms have until next year. The suit also accuses Obama of illegally preparing to pay insurance companies an estimated $175 billion over the next decade plus $3 billion paid this past year even though Congress hasnt provided money for that purpose. According to the suit, insurance companies providing coverage under the health law must offer reduced rates to many lower-income policyholders. The law established a fund to reimburse insurers who do that. Congress hasnt put money into that fund but the administration has started paying insurance companies anyway, the suit says.

The payment was made in January-February 2014, according to sources, through Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). This is supported by the fact that JSOC did pursue at last two lines of effort for Bergdahl: a kinetic rescue operation if necessary, and; a payment to the Haqqani Network to gain Bergdahls release. The Haqqani Network is a Taliban group believed to have held Bergdahl for five years after he left his unit's base in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009. Given the significance of this matter, as well as the fact that Pentagon officials have denied that a payment was even considered, and you also said you were unaware of any such attempt, I ask you to immediately inquire with JSOC to determine the specific order of events, Hunter wrote. I also ask that you confirm whether a payment of any kind was considered and/or paid. The Washington Times reported Thursday that a con man had posed as an intermediary and made away with an unspecified large amount of money paid by the U.S. as part of a failed bid to secure Bergdahl's release. Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters Thursday that no money was paid as ransom or in any other context.

Oscar-winning screenwriter Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) has been brought on to work on the film's screenplay, which will be directed by Seth Gordon . The action project might seem an odd choice for the journalist-turned-filmmaker, who is known for hard-hitting news-oriented dramas like Zero Dark Thirty and its depiction of the killing of Osama bin Laden by a team of Navy SEALs. But Boal, who recently launched his Page 1 production company with backing from Megan Ellison, is said to be a fan of the popular video game, which is being envisioned as a swashbuckling adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones. Watch more THR's Awards Season Roundtable Series 2012: The Writers The video game centers on a treasure hunter named Nate Drake, a descendent of explorer Sir Francis Drake, who believes he has learned the whereabouts of the fabled golden South American city El Dorado from a cursed statue. His search for El Dorado becomes competitive when a rival hunter joins the fray. Both face creatures, mutated descendants of Spaniards and Nazis, that begin attacking those hoping to learn the treasure's true secrets. Sony still needs to find its leading man for the film before it can move forward. Mark Wahlberg had been attached but eventually moved on.