Military

"Prominent Republicans and conservative news media outlets rallied in recent weeks around the cause of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose armed standoff with authorities over grazing rights on federal land had made him an instant folk hero on the right. But Bundy’s GOP defenders, including Sens. Dean Heller (Nev.) and Rand Paul (Ky.), rapidly abandoned him on Thursday following reports of incendiary remarks that the white rancher made about minorities. Bundy wondered aloud whether blacks would be better off as slaves picking cotton, and alleged that people of color are 'against us.'"

"BANGKOK — As head of his village, Prajob Naowa-opas battled to save his community in central Thailand from the illegal dumping of toxic waste by filing petitions and leading villagers to block trucks carrying the stuff — until a gunman in broad daylight fired four shots into him."

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) weighed in Monday against a Nevada rancher who is battling the federal government. 'Well, it’s not over,'Reid told KRNV, a Reno, Nev.-based television station. 'We can’t have an American people that violate the law and then just walk away from it. So it's not over.'"

"U.S. officials ended a stand-off with hundreds of armed protesters in the Nevada desert on Saturday, calling off the government's roundup of cattle it said were illegally grazing on federal land and giving about 300 animals back to the rancher who owned them."

"MOSCOW — Even as American and Russian diplomats groped toward a settlement that would halt further Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Gazprom, the Russian energy company, stepped up the economic pressure on Tuesday by sharply raising the price it charges for natural gas."

"Gazprom has requested permission from the Crimean authorities to develop oil and gas fields, Crimea's first Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev said Tuesday."

"Federal analysis says sabotage of nine key substations is sufficient for broad outage."

"In the rings of ancient and gnarled trees, a team of scientists has found evidence of a period of consistent warmth and wetness in Mongolia between the years 1211 and 1225 -- the exact time that Genghis Khan first rose to power."