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Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA. Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking? Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom or subscribe to receive the brief in your inbox each morning at www.iava.org/dailynewsbrief.

MUST READS

1) Obama rallies troops on first Afghan trip

President Barack Obama made his first trip to Afghanistan as president on Sunday, delivering a rousing speech to troops and telling Afghan President Hamid Karzai that progress on fighting corruption should match military gains.

2) U.S. troop deaths double in Afghanistan

The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban's momentum.

3) Allawi hails Iraq election victory

A secular rival edged out Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shiite alliance in final election results announced Friday. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Saturday his secular political alliance is open to bringing any of his rivals into a governing coalition that can restore Iraq's place in the Arab and Muslim world after years of war.

AFGHANISTAN

The Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday mourned its first officer to be killed in combat in Afghanistan after a roadside bomb took the life of a highly regarded SWAT team member.

The Stanley Cup traveled to Kandahar, as part of a goodwill tour organized by the Canadian government. NHL greats mixed with troops from Canada and the U.S. on a cement hockey rink.

IRAQ

A day of political drama in Iraq was marred by a pair of explosions that ripped through a cafe and a restaurant in a town north of Baghdad on Friday, killing 43 people and wounding at least 65 others, the authorities said. In a separate incident Sunday, a bombing near a prominent Sunni politician’s home killed five.

An American contractor held hostage by a Shiite militant group in Iraq was returned to U.S. custody this week, the Defense Department said in a statement Saturday.

As combat forces prepare for the end of the war in Iraq, the Army’s top logisticians have quietly but furiously ramped up for the monumental task of removing from that country millions of pieces of war-fighting equipment.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

The VA’s backlog of benefits claims could be reduced almost overnight if the VA automatically approved any claims prepared with the help of a certified veterans service officer from a veterans organization or a state or local government veterans office, says the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Con men impersonating deployed U.S. servicemen are hooking civilian women on dating Web sites and swindling them into spending money on fictitious laptops, international telephones, “leave papers” and plane tickets.

In order to help combat the high rate of suicide among veterans and troops, the national suicide hotline for veterans receives more than 300 calls per day.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

The withdrawal Friday of Maj. Gen. Robert Harding, a 33-year veteran of military intelligence, to head the Transportation Security Administration leaves the Obama administration scrambling to fill what it called its most-important vacancy.

Senior lawyers in the Obama administration are deeply divided over some of the counterterrorism powers they inherited from former President George W. Bush, according to interviews and a review of legal briefs.

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

THE SENATE

The Senate is not in session

Reconvenes at 2 p.m. on Monday, April 12

SENATE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST

No issues today

COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

No issues today

FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

April 5, 2010 Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Field Hearing on services available to Veterans in Ohio, especially Appalachia 11:15 a.m.; Scottish Rite Auditorium, Cambridge OH

THE HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES



The House is not in session

Reconvenes at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 13

HOUSE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST

 No issues today

HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST



March 29, 2010 House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health Field Hearing: Providing Essential Services and Benefits for Veterans in New Mexico and across America 2:00 p.m.; New Mexico State University Corbett Center Student Union Senate Gallery, Las Cruces, NM

FUTURE HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST



No issues

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