Midday Roundup: Al-Qaeda seizes Yemeni airport, port, and oil terminal

Overrun. Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen stormed one of the country’s major airports today, taking control of the site with little resistance from government forces. Shortly after, the terrorists also overran a port and oil terminal nearby, gaining a significant advantage in their bid to take control of territory in the country. The militants have exploited political unrest in Yemen, where a rebel faction recently ousted the Western-backed president. Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Gulf nations conducting air strikes against the Houthi rebels, who are in turn backed by Iran. While the Middle East powerhouses fight for political control of the country, al-Qaeda is staking its own claim—largely unopposed.

Show me the money. The Clinton Foundation will continue to accept donations from six foreign governments during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Presumably Clinton does not believe taking money from Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, or the United Kingdom would pose a problem for U.S. foreign policy. Clinton has faced criticism over such payments in the past, especially over those from countries in the Middle East. During her time as secretary of state, the foundation stopped taking money from new donors but existing donors continued to make contributions. Ethics experts have called for an end to all foreign donations to the foundation, which totaled between $55 million and $130 million since 2001. Instead, the foundation has pledged more transparency, offering to disclose donations quarterly instead of yearly.

Landing in jail. A 61-year-old man who landed a gyrocopter on Capitol Hill yesterday is cooling his jets in jail today. But he made his point and then some. Doug Hughes, a former postal worker, was trying to deliver 535 letters, one for every member of Congress, urging campaign finance reform. But his stunt highlighted a huge hole in security around Washington, especially since Hughes talked openly to Tampa Bay, Fla., press about his plans before he left for the nation’s capital. “No sane person would do what I’m doing,” Hughes told the Tampa Bay Times. He was doing it, he said, because the United States is “heading full-throttle toward a breakdown.”The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.

Expanded search. Malaysian officials say the search for Malaysian Airline Flight 370 will be doubled if the missing plane isn’t found by May. The flight disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March 2014. Search teams are using underwater equipment to scour 23,000 square miles of ocean floor for the aircraft, which had 239 people on board. If nothing turns up by next month, the area will be expanded to 46,000 square miles, the entire area designated by experts as containing the possible crash site. The flight was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing but went off course before vanishing from radar. Investigators have not determined any reason for the deviation or the crash but have considered pilot suicide as a possible factor.

Public prayer. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled against a city in Quebec whose council members began their meetings with a prayer. The court said the prayer was discriminatory and violated the state’s duty of neutrality. But the court’s ruling doesn’t end the practice of public prayer entirely. Canada’s Parliament may still begin its sessions with prayer, as it has always done. But in Saguenay, the presence of religious symbols, including a cross, violated one atheist resident’s freedom of conscience and religion, or lack thereof, the court found. Christian leaders warn the ruling raises more questions than it answers. “For example, the court said that it is discriminatory for state officials in the performance of their functions to profess, adopt, or favor one belief to the exclusion of all others,”said Bruce Clemenger, President of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. “And yet they did not say how this might extend to matters of religious observance such as wearing religious symbols.”

Presidential payments. A bipartisan bill filed by two members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee would end pension payments to former presidents who leave office and make a lot of money. Under current law, former presidents receive a pension payment equal to a Cabinet secretary’s pay, now set at $199,700. Under a bill introduced by Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., pension payments would be set at $200,000, with annual cost-of-living adjustments. But the payment would be reduced dollar-for-dollar for every dollar of outside income earned by a former president in excess of $400,000, according to a press release issued by the lawmakers. “History shows that former presidents do very well financially after they leave office,”Chaffetz and Cummings wrote. “In fact, all living former presidents are millionaires, making it very unlikely that they depend upon their tax-payer funded allowances to make ends meet.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.