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asked to dig for root causes of problems that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says threaten to undermine public trust in the nation's nuclear arsenal.
• The Air Force may have taken an overly rosy view of the report -- it was not uniformly positive -- by a Pentagon advisory group headed by retired Gen. Larry Welch. The study described the nuclear Air Force as "thoroughly professional, disciplined" and performing effectively.
• The inquiry itself may have missed signs of the kinds of trouble documented in recent months in a series of Associated Press reports. In April 2013, the month the Welch report came out, an Air Force officer wrote that the nuclear missile unit at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., was suffering from "rot," including lax attitudes and a poor performance by launch officers on a March 2013 inspection.
• An exam-cheating scandal at a nuclear missile base prompted the Air Force to remove nine midlevel commanders and accept the resignation of the base's top commander. Dozens of officers implicated in the cheating face disciplinary action, and some might be kicked out, the Air Force said last week.
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• BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Hungary's governing party is tipped to win parliamentary elections Sunday, while a far-right party is expected to make further gains, according to polls.
• Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party and its small ally, the Christian Democrats, are expected to win easily and they may even retain the two-thirds majority in the legislature gained in 2010 which allowed them to pass a new constitution, adopt unconventional economic policies, centralize power and grow the state's influence at the expense of the private sector.
• Polls predict Fidesz will win around 45-50 percent of the votes, with a close race for second between a coalition of five left-wing groups led by Attila Mesterhazy and the Socialist Party -- seen getting 25 percent -- and the surging far-right Jobbik party which could receive up to 20 percent.
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