Nation and world news briefs

Hurricane Joaquin, still a Category 4, continues moving northtmpplchld MIAMI _ Hurricane Joaquin continued moving slowly toward the northwest on Friday as it battered the central Bahamas with 130 mph winds.tmpplchld At 8 a.m. Friday, the National Hurricane Center said Joaquin was starting an expected change of course that appeared increasingly likely to steer the dangerous Category 4 storm away from the Carolinas and the heavily populated New Jersey-New York area, which had been devastated by Superstorm Sandy. The latest track threatens Bermuda but would keep the massive storm well offshore of the East Coast as it slowly weakens to a Category 1 then tropical storm by midweek.tmpplchld But forecasters cautioned that the track could still shift over the next few days. And much of the coast could see impacts _ particularly from heavy rains that could produce widespread, serious flooding in some coastal states.tmpplchld _The Miami Heraldtmpplchld ___tmpplchld Enemy fire not suspected in crash of U.S. plane in Afghanistan, Air Force saystmpplchld WASHINGTON _ Enemy fire is not suspected as a factor in the crash of a U.S. C-130 cargo plane at the Jalalabad airport in Afghanistan, the Air Force said Friday. All 11 people on board died in the early morning incident.tmpplchld First-responders were still conducting recovery operations, the Air Force said in a statement. The cause of the accident is under investigation.tmpplchld Six U.S. service members and five civilian passengers died in the crash, which occurred at 12:19 a.m., officials said.tmpplchld _Tribune Washington Bureautmpplchld ___tmpplchld Obama says he won’t sign another stopgap spending measure from Congresstmpplchld WASHINGTON _President Barack Obama said Friday that he won’t sign another stopgap funding bill to keep the federal government running, and instead called on Congress to join him in forging a longer-term deal.tmpplchld “I will not sign another shortsighted spending bill like the one Congress sent me this week,” Obama said during an afternoon news conference at the White House.tmpplchld _Tribune Washington Bureautmpplchld ___tmpplchld McCarthy: ‘Never my intention’ to link Benghazi committee to politicstmpplchld WASHINGTON _ The likely next speaker of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, returned to Fox News on Thursday night in a bid to clarify his remarks 48 hours earlier on the Benghazi committee.tmpplchld “It was never my intention to say that,” the California Republican told news anchor Bret Baier.tmpplchld He was referencing his Tuesday night’s comments to Sean Hannity, in which he credited the special committee to investigate the 2012 Benghazi attacks with sinking 2016 Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton’s poll numbers, and cited that as an example of the kind of conservative leadership he would provide as speaker.tmpplchld _CQ Roll Calltmpplchld ___tmpplchld US has funded artists and intellectuals for half a century, but it’s a perennial fighttmpplchld WASHINGTON _ Half a century ago, during a crowded Rose Garden ceremony, President Lyndon B. Johnson codified the nation’s commitment to the arts and humanities.tmpplchld Johnson, who as a young man taught students of Mexican descent in his native Texas, asked the nation not to forget the arts and humanities even as the prevailing thought was that science and technology should be the focus in an increasingly advanced world.tmpplchld This week the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts celebrate their 50th anniversaries.tmpplchld _Tribune Washington Bureautmpplchld ___tmpplchld Pentagon resuming ‘Guantanamo North’ site surveys in Coloradotmpplchld MIAMI _ A Pentagon team tasked with finding potential alternatives inside the United States to imprison and put on trial Guantanamo captives is resuming its site surveys in coming weeks in Colorado, the Defense Department said Friday.tmpplchld The White House quietly notified state and congressional politicians that the teams would inspect a now empty state-run facility, Colorado State Penitentiary II, as well as a federal prison at 10 miles away adjacent to the notorious Florence “supermax” for convicted terrorists.tmpplchld _The Miami Heraldtmpplchld ___tmpplchld Afghan forces hunt Taliban in Kunduz as militant leader claims ‘symbolic victory’tmpplchld KABUL, Afghanistan _ Afghan forces were going door to door in Kunduz on Friday searching for Taliban fighters who had overtaken the northern city earlier in the week before a U.S.-backed government counterattack appeared to have flushed out most of the militants.tmpplchld Residents reached by phone said the city’s streets were largely empty and that many people remained confined in their homes. Some Taliban militants reportedly were holed up in residential and multi-story buildings from which they continued to launch sporadic attacks.tmpplchld The Afghan flag flew from the main traffic circle in the provincial capital of 300,000 people, but residents said they heard occasional gunfire coming from the direction of the governor’s office and police headquarters.tmpplchld _Los Angeles Timestmpplchld tmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld