Midday Roundup: Lebanon has ISIS leader's wife, daughter in custody

Bargaining chip. Lebanese officials claim to have captured the wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Sagia Dulaimi and her 9-year-old daughter were detained last week at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon. Officials also say they have in custody the wife of another high-ranking ISIS leader. They hope the women can be used as bargaining chips in a possible hostage exchange. So far, ISIS has not made any comment about the detentions. Dulaimi and her daughter were carrying false identification documents as they fled Syria, where ISIS is trying to establish an Islamic caliphate. Although Lebanon does not support ISIS, many of its operatives’family members have taken refuge there, officials say.

Kenyan terror. Islamic militants from Somalia launched another attack in northern Kenya today, killing 36. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the raid at a quarry near the Somali border. The militants shot 32 victims in the head, but the other four were beheaded. Last week, al-Shabaab attacked a bus in the same area, killing 28 Christians. It is not clear whether the victims at the quarry were asked to recite a verse from the Quran, as the bus passengers were. Both attacks took place near the town of Mandera. The militants claim the attacks are retribution for Kenya’s actions in Somalia, where the government there has forced al-Shabaab into an increasingly small area of operations. After the bus attack, Kenyan officials said their forces bombed an al-Shabaab base, killing about 100 fighters.

Support for Palestine. Legislators in France approved a non-binding resolution asking the government to recognize a Palestinian state. Although supporters claim the resolution is designed to give a boost to Middle East peace talks, it’s sure to spark anger in Israel. The French vote comes a month after Sweden became the first Western nation in the European Union to recognize a Palestinian state. EU representatives are debating whether they can reach an agreement on the issue that would satisfy all 28 member countries. Since Sweden’s decision, lawmakers in Britain, Spain, and Ireland have adopted resolutions similar to the one approved in France. Israeli officials say they support a two-state solution, but blame statehood resolutions for giving the Palestinians an excuse not to negotiate over issues that have kept peace away for decades.

Body cameras. Amid continued unrest in Ferguson, Mo., President Barack Obama met Monday with cabinet officials and civil rights advisers, among them MSNBC talk show host Al Sharpton. Monday’s talks focused on the strained relations between police and the African-American community. The Obama administration issued a $253 million proposal to improve community policing, including the purchase of 50,000 body cameras to capture officers’ encounters with the public. The family of Michael Brown, the teenager killed in a clash with a Ferguson officer, has called for police to wear body cameras, too.But Joe Hicks of Project 21 says he has misgivings about the president’s involvement in the Ferguson unrest. Hicks says the president appears to take a middle-of-the-road approach to the unrest, which opens the door for exhibitionists to fan the flames of conflict.

Job competition? Last month, Obama offered work permits to 5 million illegal immigrants. But now critics are pointing out that those people are not eligible for Obamacare. That means employers will nothave to provide them with health insurance or face fines, as they would if they hired citizens. Genevieve Wood of the Heritage Foundation said the action gives incentive to employers to hire illegal immigrants over American citizens. And it will give Congress even more reason to take on Obamacare when Republicans take over in January.

The Associated Press and WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard and Jim Henry contributed to this report.