A federal judge ruled that Basit Sheikh, a North Carolina man arrested in November for trying to join the Al Nusrah Front in Syria, should face trial in July; prosecutors have asked for additional time to provide intelligence data to defense attorneys without compromising classified information. A Pentagon official said the US is planning to train Iraqi counterterrorism troops in a third country. Vice President Biden is pushing for a minimal to zero US troop presence in Afghanistan after 2014, a number lower than the 9,000 to 12,000 preferred by some US military officials. A recent expert analysis of a rocket used in the Aug. 21 sarin gas attack in Damascus concluded that it could well have been used by rebels, not the Assad government as claimed by the US.
