| Biden and Harris revive dispute on busing and criminal justice Posted: 31 Jul 2019 07:39 PM PDT  The California senator and the former vice president go another round on the topic of busing.
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| Top Navy SEAL commander writes scathing letter saying the force has a problem in the wake of SEAL scandals Posted: 01 Aug 2019 12:02 PM PDT  Rear Adm. Collin Green wrote a scathing letter to his forces, saying special operators need to shape up in the wake of SEAL scandals.
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| At least 11 people, including an amusement park mascot, have died across Japan in an unexpected heat wave Posted: 31 Jul 2019 03:17 AM PDT  Temperatures in Japan unexpectedly rose after the end of a rainy season this summer, with highs of about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit expected this week.
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| Britain tells Iran: there will be no tanker swap Posted: 01 Aug 2019 05:26 AM PDT  Britain on Thursday ruled out exchanging an Iranian tanker detained by Gibraltar for a British-flagged tanker seized by Iran in the Gulf. "We are not going to barter: if people or nations have detained UK-flagged illegally then the rule of law and rule of international law must be upheld," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said while on a trip to Bangkok. "We are not going to barter a ship that was detained legally with a ship that was detained illegally: that's not the way that Iran will come in from the cold," he said.
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| New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio asked why officer involved in Eric Garner's death wasn't fired Posted: 31 Jul 2019 07:24 PM PDT  Federal prosecutors announced earlier this month that they would not file charges against Daniel Pantaleo, who was involved Eric Garner's death.
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| How America Would Win a War Against Russia or China (Think F-35s and More) Posted: 01 Aug 2019 12:23 AM PDT  If land-based precision artillery, maneuvering Air Force fighter jets and Navy destroyers were all able to seamlessly share sensitive targeting information in real time during high-intensity combat, the Pentagon would be closely approaching its currently-envisioned concept of modern joint multi-domain warfare.While elements of this kind of information sharing, of course, already exist, DoD is currently refining and expanding its concept of joint attack with the intention of reaching an entirely new level of modern operational effectiveness. This not only includes incorporating previously less-impactful warfare domains, such as space, cyber and electronic warfare, but also envisions new dimensions of land, air, surface and undersea integrated attack.U.S. Army Futures Command has stood up two multi-domain task force units, addressing threat scenarios in Europe and the Pacific, geared toward advancing a warfare synergy between otherwise disparate spheres of attack, such as air, land or sea. Gen. John Murray, U.S. Army Futures Commander, recently told reporters that the Army is rapidly adapting to how multi-domain combat continues to inform preparations for future war. This, according to Murray, includes efforts to… "start modifying structures, organizations and TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures) regarding how you fight based upon multi-domain-capable formations."
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| Chief apologizes over hiring of officer who shot black man Posted: 01 Aug 2019 03:35 PM PDT  A Louisiana police chief apologized Thursday to his city and to the family of a black man shot and killed by a former police officer in 2016, saying the officer never should have been hired, at the same time his office announced a settlement reversing the officer's 2018 firing and allowing him to resign instead. At a news conference in Baton Rouge, Police Chief Murphy Paul and a police lawyer detailed repeated problems with Officer Blane Salamoni that they said should have raised red flags long before Alton Sterling was shot and killed. In particular, the lawyer, Leo Hamilton, said Salamoni had been arrested for a physical altercation prior to joining the police department, which normally would have prevented him from being hired.
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| Marianne Williamson on reparations, her emails with Oprah and going viral Posted: 31 Jul 2019 06:00 PM PDT  Self-help guru and bestselling author Marianne Williamson has been one of the buzziest candidates running in the Democratic presidential primary, even if she's polling at less than 1 percent.
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| Surgical plate found inside stomach of 4.7m long crocodile in Australia Posted: 01 Aug 2019 02:43 AM PDT  An Australian crocodile farmer who found an orthopaedic plate inside a crocodile's stomach said on Thursday he had been told the surgical device was from a person's body and had been contacted by relatives of missing people anxious for clues. Koorana Crocodile Farm owner John Lever found the plate inside a 4.7-metre (15-foot- 5) croc called M.J. during an autopsy in June at his business near Rockhampton in Queensland state. He initially wasn't sure if the unusual find had been part of an animal or human. But he said since making photos of the plate public, he had been told it was a type used in human surgery. Lever estimated that M.J. was 50 to 70 years old when he died. M.J. could have eaten the bone that the plate had been attached to by six screws 50 years ago, he said. All remnants of human tissue attached to the plate had been long digested before M.J. died several months after losing a fight with another croc. Koorana Crocodile Farm owner John Lever found the plate inside MJ Lever is continuing to make inquiries in the hope of discovering what decade the type of plate was used and perhaps who it had belonged to. "I wouldn't call it an investigation, we're making inquiries because we're fascinated by this whole thing," Lever said. "Obviously this crocodile has chomped on something and that plate has been left in its stomach complete with screws." Lever bought M.J. from a farmer in Innisfail, 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), north of Rockhampton, six years ago. Sometime earlier, M.J. had been trapped in the wild. Crocodiles are protected in Australia and are only trapped if they are a threat to humans. "We've had a couple of people get in touch with us about their relatives that have gone missing in the northern Queensland area and they're anxious to find out - there's been nothing heard of these people, they've just disappeared," Lever said. "We'll certainly keep these people informed of any new news that we can get." MJ the crocodile was estimated to be 50 to 70 years old when he died The last fatal crocodile attack in Australia was in October when a woman was snatched while gathering mussels with her family in a waterhole in a remote part of the Northern Territory. The last fatal attack in Queensland was a year earlier, when a 79-year-old dementia patient was killed after wandering from a nursing home at Port Douglas. The crocodile population has exploded across the country's tropical north since the 1970s. Because saltwater crocodiles can live up to 70 years and grow throughout their lives - reaching up to 7 meters (23 feet) in length - the proportion of large crocodiles is also rising.
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| America could be on the verge of war - watching the Democratic debates you'd never know it Posted: 31 Jul 2019 09:26 PM PDT  For the second night in a row, the Democratic debate included only a few minutes of discussion on foreign policy. And even those few minutes did not involve much debate. It consisted of a few general questions that demanded short answers. Jon Wolfstahl, a former National Security Council official in the Obama administration, tweeted: "War could break out at any time with Iran, Russia or North Korea. Nuclear arms race happening, UK collapsing, China trade war. Watching CNN debate you would never know it."Even when Democratic candidate and New York mayor Bill de Blasio asked, in a very loud voice, why they don't talk about a potential war with Iran, CNN moderators cut him off and explained that they had to move on to the next subject. Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, who took part in the first Democratic debate in Detroit the night before, tweeted: "Well the 2 1/2 minutes on the US's upcoming catastrophic war is done let's move on."It was not only foreign policy wonks in Washington who were surprised and disappointed at the short amount of time allocated to foreign policy. Asal Rad, a California-based researcher for the National Iranian American Council, tweeted: "After four debate nights with over 20 candidates we have barely had a discussion on a policy that may have consequences for a generation to come. But please, more about Mueller."It is not clear why CNN decided to allocate such little time to foreign policy at a time when the US is dealing with a few serious international issues, mainly the potential of a military conflict with Iran. But after two nights in a row, viewers have started raising the question more vocally. Maria Afsharian, a former television journalist, told me: "When I worked at NBC, I was told that most Americans don't have the time to understand, or can't relate to foreign policy."Foreign policy is important to people like us, but not to the majority of Americans - they are worried about feeding and supporting themselves and their families."Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the only war veteran on the debate stage, who served in Iraq, was the only Democratic candidate to address foreign policy at any length. She said that the American people were lied to about that war, and she committed to bring back American soldiers."The leadership I will bring to do the right thing to bring our troops home within the first year in office. Because they shouldn't have been there this long."
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| What the Protests in Russia Mean for President Putin Posted: 31 Jul 2019 09:30 AM PDT  Protests in Russia were put down brutally. What the response reveals about President Putin's popularity and control.
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| Pilot died in F/A-18E fighter jet crash in Death Valley National Park, Navy confirms Posted: 01 Aug 2019 05:33 PM PDT  The pilot of an F/A-18E Super Hornet died when the fighter jet crashed Wednesday morning in Inyo County, the U.S. Navy confirmed Thursday.
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| Tim Ryan explains he 'wasn't protesting' by not putting his hand on heart during anthem at Democratic debate Posted: 31 Jul 2019 12:03 PM PDT  "Congressman Ryan wasn't protesting and didn't mean to make any statement last night in Detroit," read an email from the Ohio lawmaker's campaign.
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| US warns dams give China 'control' of Mekong river Posted: 31 Jul 2019 05:42 PM PDT  China is taking control of the flow of Southeast Asia's most important river through a dam-building "spree", US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Wednesday, as water levels along the Mekong reach record lows. Thefamous waterway starts in China and twists south through parts of Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, feeding 60 million people through its basin and tributaries. Pompeo said Chinese plans for the river, which include the blasting and dredging of waterbeds, represent "troubling trends".
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| View Photos of the 2020 BMW Alpina B7 Sedan Posted: 01 Aug 2019 04:59 AM PDT |
| Ex-Boyfriend Allegedly Confessed to Killing Russian Influencer After She Called Him ‘Sexually Unworthy’ Posted: 01 Aug 2019 01:53 PM PDT  InstagramThe ex-boyfriend of a Russian Instagram influencer whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase last week has confessed to her murder, saying he snapped after feeling "repeatedly insulted and humiliated" by her disparaging remarks, Russian authorities allege. Maxim Gareyev, 33, admitted to authorities that he stabbed 24-year-old Ekaterina Karaglanova "at least five times in the neck and chest" last week, BBC reported. He has been charged with murder, but has not yet formally entered a plea in Russian court."She constantly put me down and said that I am sexually unworthy and ugly. She lowered my financial opportunities and I couldn't stand it," Gareyev said in a video released by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, which was translated from Russian by The Daily Beast. "I stabbed her at least five times with a knife in her neck and chest. I regret it."Karaglanova—who was studying dermatology at a Moscow medical school— was found Friday night by her landlord in the hallway of her apartment. Gareyev told police in the video recording that he fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend, then took off her clothes and stuffed her body inside a suitcase, according to Russia's Moskovsky Komsomolets. It was not immediately clear whether the 33-year-old had a lawyer present when the police interview was recorded.Instagram Influencers Dupe Their Fans With 'Free' ProductsAuthorities allege Karaganova was murdered on June 22, the last day her family heard from her. Four days later, when her landlord opened her front door, police found a large suitcase with the 24-year-old's legs sticking out in the hallway. Police previously said there was no evidence of a struggle at Karaglanova's apartment and no murder weapon was found at the scene.Gareyev was arrested on Tuesday after CCTV footage showed a man briefly visiting her apartment, prompting authorities to question him, the BBC reported. According to Moskovsky Komsomolets, Gareyev told police he started dating Karaglanova several weeks earlier, although they had recently stopped seeing each other after she began a new relationship. The Instagram influencer was reportedly planning to celebrate her 25th birthday with her new boyfriend in the Netherlands on July 30.Gareyev appeared Thursday in court, where he apologized to her parents and told reporters that he was "ashamed," the Komsomolskaya Pravda reported."I am ashamed of myself," he reportedly said.While he admitted to being millions of rubles in debt, Gareyev allegedly said the slaying was not financially motivated but "spontaneous." The Russian outlet also reported that Gareyev's lawyer said his client will be evaluated by a mental-health expert.Hot Tub Murder Leads to Witness Suicide and Boyfriend's ArrestRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| 5 key takeaways from the 2nd Democratic debate Posted: 31 Jul 2019 09:20 PM PDT  Wednesday night's Democratic primary debate saw the two highest-polling candidates on the stage — former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris — take fire from all sides.
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| Woman, 65, tasered by police after fleeing then kicking officer who stopped her over broken light: 'You're not placing me under no arrest' Posted: 01 Aug 2019 02:49 AM PDT  A 65-year-old woman was tasered after fleeing then kicking out at a police officer who stopped her over a broken light. Debra Hamil, from Oklahoma, has been charged after body camera footage showed her resisting arrest during the confrontation in the town of Cashion last month. "I don't think that I deserve to pay $80 for something that is fixable and I can fix it," Ms Hamil is heard telling the officer after he issues her a ticket for a broken tail light.After being asked to step out of her pick-up truck, she repeatedly refuses and eventually drives away, prompting a brief pursuit. After pulling over in a car park, the officer approaches her with his gun pulled and drags her out of the vehicle when she again refuses to step out.Following a brief struggle in which Ms Hamil kicks out, the officer fires his stun gun at her and places her under arrest. "Do you realise you just got yourself in a whole lot more trouble?" the officer says.Ms Hamil replies: "Yeah, I tried to kick you because I'm a country girl." Local media reported Ms Hamil was taken to hospital for a medical assessment despite refusing treatment. She was subsequently charged with one count of assault against a police officer and one misdemeanour for resisting arrest.
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| Police say 1 baby dead, 1 in hospital after twin newborns were found near a dumpster in Fairfield Posted: 30 Jul 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Police say one baby has died and the other has been hospitalized after twin newborns were found near a large outdoor trash container in Fairfield.
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| Dubai sheikh posts cryptic poem as wife Princess Haya attends court for start of custody battle Posted: 31 Jul 2019 04:10 PM PDT  The ruler of Dubai published an online poem about "shining swords with sharp blades" on the day his estranged wife asked a British judge to make an arranged marriage protection order. The billionaire Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 70, posted a verse online called "Swords of the Excellencies" as Princess Haya attended the High Courts of Justice in London for the start of their bitter legal battle over their two children She was seen in public for the first time on Tuesday after fleeing United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the youngsters earlier this year while apparently "in fear for her life". The vice-president and prime minister of the UAE has applied to the British courts for the "summary return" of his two children from Britain. On Tuesday afternoon - the first day of the preliminary hearing - Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the Family Courts Division, allowed the media to report how the princess was applying for a "forced marriage protection order." The 45-year-old Jordanian princess is also asking seeking a non-molestation order, it emerged. As those details became public triggering headlines around the world, the sheikh, a self-proclaimed poet, posted his latest poem. The verse was uploaded at 4.06pm British time. Princess Haya bint Al-Hussein (R) and her husband Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (L) arrive for the Epsom Derby Credit: Rex The sheikh has earlier published a poem which accused an unnamed woman of "treachery and betrayal". The verse, called 'Live or Die', includes the line: "You no longer have a place with me. I don't care if you live or die." However, in the latest poem released on Tuesday, it has locally been interpreted as an ode to the UAE's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, or MBZ as he is known in the region. "He (his Excellency) has shining swords with sharp blades. In their sheaths, they can cut if drawn," he wrote on his official Instagram page. "For confronting and keeping away the enemies, he has many soldiers. He has protected heroes so that nobody will conspire against them." In Arabic, he appears to be speaking figuratively but it could be viewed as a veiled threat, possibly to regional enemies such as Iran or Qatar, with whom the UAE has had strained relations in recent years. Sheikh Maktoum suggests the UAE has not shown its true power and asks what would happen if this sword were ever to be used. The sheikh, thought to have more than 20 children by six wives, is known regularly to write poetry. Before he and his sixth wife split earlier this year, they were often photographed together with the Queen, a friendship cultivated from their shared passion for horses. The Queen greets Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Credit: AP As the founder of the Godolphin horse racing stable, the Sheikh this year received a trophy from the Queen after one of his horses won a race at Royal Ascot. The break up - likely to result in a £4 billion divorce battle - has become increasingly acrimonious in recent months. It is understood the Princess, the sheikh's youngest wife, flew on a private jet with her children to the UK in April. It is not known why she left, but speculation has focused on how two of the sheikh's children - Princess Shamsa and Princess Latifa - had tried unsuccessfully to flee the emirate. Full details about the orders applied for and the identities of the children discussed in the two-day preliminary hearing, which ended yesterday, cannot be reported for legal reasons. The trial is due to start properly in November.
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| GOP pushes immigration bill, skirting rules as Dems protest Posted: 01 Aug 2019 01:38 PM PDT  Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee upended the rules Thursday for immigration legislation that would extend family detentions as chairman Lindsey Graham muscled the measure forward over the objections of Democrats. Graham gaveled open the hearing saying he wasn't going to wait any longer to address the crisis at the southern border. He acknowledged that his outreach to Democrats has failed to reach a compromise on detention policies for children and families. In pushing the bill forward, the chairman skirted committee rules allowing for amendments and requiring minority participation in certain actions, including to end debate.
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| Uighurs challenge China to prove missing relatives are free Posted: 31 Jul 2019 09:51 PM PDT  China's claim that "most" inmates have been released from re-education camps in its Xinjiang region has been met with anger and scepticism by the Uighur diaspora which has launched a social media campaign challenging Beijing to prove it. Rights groups and experts say more than one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up in internment camps in the tightly-controlled northwest region, home to China's Uighur population. "It's absolutely not true," said Guly Mahsut, a Uighur based in Canada.
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| Here's how the locked-down Saudi Arabia-Qatar border became one of the tensest places on earth, sparking outrageous plans to build a 37-mile-long canal and turn Qatar into an island Posted: 01 Aug 2019 03:02 AM PDT  In June 2017, Saudi Arabia turned the Gulf against Qatar, cutting it off, and accusing its leadership of backing Iran and terrorists.
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| Florida man who knowingly spread HIV gets 10 years in prison Posted: 31 Jul 2019 02:54 AM PDT  A Pensacola man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for having sex without notifying his partners that he was HIV positive.
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| Boris Johnson’s Belfast Brexit Message Leaves Dublin and EU Cold Posted: 31 Jul 2019 10:02 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson went a long way toward cementing his working majority in the U.K. Parliament with a visit to Northern Ireland on Wednesday, but did little to break the Brexit impasse with Dublin and Brussels.The new prime minister met with the region's main political parties in Belfast on the latest leg of a nationwide tour after taking office last week. He reiterated his plan to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 with or without a deal, while promising not to add infrastructure at the Irish border -- the U.K.'s land frontier with the bloc -- in any Brexit scenario.Only the Democratic Unionist Party, which props up the government in Westminster, came out unequivocally in support of Johnson's strategy. Leader Arlene Foster called it "sensible" and echoed his demand for a Brexit deal that both removes the backstop -- a fallback provision in the agreement designed to keep the border with Ireland free of checks -- and doesn't "break up the United Kingdom."Johnson's rejection of the backstop, a key element of the divorce deal his predecessor Theresa May negotiated with Brussels, has put the U.K. on a collision course with the EU and made a no-deal Brexit -- the scenario most feared by businesses -- more likely. The U.K. is due to leave the bloc in just three months' time.Border ProblemJohnson's pledge not to add physical infrastructure on the Irish border, without offering a solution for how customs checks can be done, is particularly challenging to the Republic of Ireland and the EU. It puts the onus on them to find a solution to what will become an external frontier for the bloc's single market, while likely souring any talks on a future trade deal.Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Ireland "isn't going to be bullied" on the backstop and needs to stand firm. There is "total support" from the EU on the issue, he said in an interview with the Irish Mirror newspaper.Johnson's unwillingness to pursue a compromise on the backstop also triggered anger from his opponents in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said Brexit is changing minds on the issue of a united Ireland, and called on the U.K. government to lay out what it sees as the threshold for a referendum on unification."If you are democratically intent on it, who are we to stop you?" McDonald said of Brexit on BBC Radio. "But you can't wreck Ireland in the process."The Ulster Unionist Party, even though it opposes the backstop, also used a meeting with Johnson to raise its opposition to leaving the EU without a deal, the Belfast Telegraph reported, citing leader Robin Swann.Reassuring AlliesThe opposition of some of Northern Ireland's parties won't worry Johnson because he's gained the approval for his "do or die" Brexit stance from the only one that matters in terms of votes in the Westminster Parliament -- the DUP. Even a plunge in the pound hasn't derailed that in the past few days."We are stepping up a gear and increasing the pace of our preparations as we get ready to leave the EU" on Oct. 31, Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said in a statement after meeting executives from companies including General Electric, BAE Systems and Tate and Lyle Sugars in London.Nevertheless, Johnson's tour of the four U.K. nations -- which he dubbed the "awesome foursome" -- has not yielded wholly positive headlines. From boos in Edinburgh to a backlash from sheep farmers in Wales and calls for a united Ireland in Belfast, his promise to use Brexit to boost British unity looks a difficult challenge.To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in London at sbiggs3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Alex MoralesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Ethiopia's PM says "people from abroad" had role in June twin attacks Posted: 01 Aug 2019 09:52 AM PDT ![Ethiopia's PM says "people from abroad" had role in June twin attacks]( "Ethiopia's PM says \"people from abroad\" had role in June twin attacks") Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday that attackers in a failed regional coup in June had been trained by people who had come from foreign countries, without giving details. A rogue militia tried to seize power on June 22 in the northern Amhara region, an attack which authorities blamed on Asamnew Tsige, who was killed in fighting on the outskirts of the regional capital Bahir Dar. The army chief of staff was also killed in the capital Addis Ababa simultaneously with the failed Bahir Dar assault, an attack which was also blamed on Asamnew's rogue militia.
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| Elderly woman jailed for feeding stray cats that kept her company Posted: 31 Jul 2019 03:18 AM PDT  A 79-year-old woman has been sentenced to 10 days in jail for feeding the stray cats she said brought her comfort and companionship.Nancy Segula, of Ohio, began feeding the cats about two years ago when they were left behind after her neighbour moved."There's been about six to eight adult cats and now there's kittens coming over, too," Ms Segula told cleveland.com."I miss my own kitties. They passed away, my husband passed away. I'm lonely. So the cats and kitties outside help me."Garfield Heights Municipal Court magistrate Jeffrey Short handed Ms Segula the 10-day sentence after she received more than $2,000 in fines, Fox 8 Cleveland reported.Under a city ordinance, it is illegal to feed stray dogs and cats in Garfield Heights.Mr Short was covering for Judge Jennifer Weiler on the day of the sentencing. She told the Washington Post she would like to hear all sides of the case with everyone in the room, including the defendant and her lawyer, the prosecutor and a representative from animal control, to decide whether the jail sentence is fair."I'll try to find out what's going on, what's happening and then try and make a decision that makes sense for the circumstances," Ms Weiler said.Ms Segula said she did not know there was a city ordinance against feeding cats, Fox 8 reported."The cats keep coming over to my house," she said. "I just feel bad so then I will give them something to eat."Segula's son, Dave Pawlowski, was in disbelief when his mother told him about the sentence."I'm sure people hear about the things that happen downtown in that jail," Mr Pawlowski told Fox 8. "And they are going to let my 79-year-old mother go there?"Ms Segula was told to appear at the Cuyahoga County Jail on 11 August.
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| Can Kazakhstan be America's New Partner in Central Asia? Posted: 01 Aug 2019 09:37 AM PDT  Change has come to Kazakhstan, at last.The former Soviet republic's first president, seventy-nine-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev, stepped down in March after nearly thirty years in power. His successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, won the post in last month's elections, racking up 70 percent of the vote.The election process, albeit imperfect, was Kazakhstan's most legitimate yet. (In the previous election, for example, Nazarbayev won with a reported 97.7 percent of the vote.) Just as Important was what didn't occur. Many had expected the Nazarbayevs to attempt a family power grab; it never transpired.President Tokayev has a full in-box. His country suffers from corruption, social unrest and a weak economy. Keenly aware of these problems, his inauguration speech outlined not just three, or five, but ten priorities for reform.
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| Brazil inmates 'suffocated' during transfer after jail riot Posted: 31 Jul 2019 08:53 AM PDT  Four inmates involved in one of Brazil's deadliest prison riots suffocated while being transferred to another jail, officials said Wednesday, taking to 62 the number killed over two days. The men were among 46 prisoners removed from the Altamira Regional Recovery Center in the northern state of Para on Tuesday, a day after clashes between rival drug factions left 58 dead, according to the latest death toll. On Tuesday, 30 prisoners were handcuffed and put in four cells on a bus that was to take them to jails in the capital Belem, the state secretary for public security and social defense said in a statement.
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| Al Sharpton Is Not a Civil-Rights Hero Posted: 31 Jul 2019 10:31 AM PDT  Imagine David Duke being a regular, esteemed guest and former honored host on Fox News Channel. Imagine every Republican presidential candidate scrambling to praise him whenever he's in the news. Imagine David Duke being given a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention or President Trump welcoming him to the White House and openly soliciting his support. Imagine Duke appearing on White House visitor logs more than 70 times during Trump's administration.Imagine all of this and you'll have some idea of how the right and even, I think, the center of American political thought reacts to seeing Al Sharpton continue to be cosseted by the Democratic party and its allies in the media. Sharpton should long ago have been ruled out of bounds.Employing the morally disastrous logic that the enemy of your enemy is your friend, the Democrats have allowed President Trump to troll them into extolling Sharpton. Trump is incorrect about many things, but he fairly described Sharpton as a racist. Sharpton is a "con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score," Trump tweeted. "Hates Whites & Cops!" That's a lot closer to the truth than the framing of Democrats, who bent the knee to Sharpton as though he were some sort of civil-rights hero rather than a huckster.> .@TheRevAl has spent his life fighting for what's right and working to improve our nation, even in the face of hate. It's shameful, yet unsurprising that Trump would continue to attack those who have done so much for our country.> > -- Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 29, 2019> .@TheRevAl is a champion in the fight for civil rights. The fact that President Trump continues to use the power of the presidency to unleash racist attacks on the people he serves is despicable. This hate has no place in our country. It's beneath the dignity of the office.> > -- Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 29, 2019> .@TheRevAl has dedicated his life to the fight for justice for all. No amount of racist tweets from the man in the White House will erase that—and we must not let them divide us. I stand with my friend Al Sharpton in calling out these ongoing attacks on people of color.> > -- Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 29, 2019Sharpton holds the position of America's Senior Spokesman for Civil Rights only because it's been some time since he's done anything so egregiously contemptible that it made the front page; the Left simply assumes short memories have sanitized Sharpton's reputation. I almost wrote "inflammatory reputation," but that word might be too literal given the arson attack that followed one of his most notorious hate campaigns.After a black boy, Gavin Cato, was accidentally killed by a motorcade of Jews in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1991, Sharpton delivered an incendiary eulogy at the funeral:> All we want to say is what Jesus said: If you offend one of these little ones, you got to pay for it. No compromise, no meetings, no coffee klatch, no skinnin' and grinnin'.For extra incendiary effect, he urged the crowd to think of Jews as "diamond merchants" responsible for apartheid in South Africa, and he marched at the head of an angry group of demonstrators on the Jewish sabbath. Rioters subsequently murdered Yankel Rosenbaum, a Jewish youth, in retaliation. Twenty years later Sharpton issued a watery not-quite apology in the form of a Daily News op-ed.Four years later, in 1995, Sharpton inflamed tensions on Harlem's 125th Street that culminated in the murders of seven people in an arson attack. The owner of the building in dispute was actually a black Pentecostal church, whose leaders had asked a Jewish tenant to evict a black subtenant, who enlisted the aid of Sharpton and other race-baiters to whip up street protests. At one such demonstration, Sharpton shouted,> There is a systemic and methodical strategy to eliminate our people from doing business off 125th Street. I want to make it clear . . . that we will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business.A fellow protest leader said, "We're going to see that this cracker suffers. Reverend Sharpton is on it." One protester, wielding a gun, entered the store in December, crying, "It's on now, all blacks out!" He set fire to the store and killed seven before shooting himself dead. Sharpton didn't apologize.It can hardly be stated often enough that the reason Sharpton first came to prominence was for promoting a vicious lie. In 1987, Tawana Brawley, a black upstate New York teen who wished to conceal from her father the fact that she had run away from home, concocted a story about being raped for four days by six white men, smeared with feces that spelled out racial slurs, and left in a dumpster. At the time, hate-crime hoaxes were all but unknown, and New York was still reeling over a genuine hate-crime attack, of a black youth in Howard Beach, Queens. After a jury ruled that the Brawley case was a hoax, state supreme-court justice S. Barrett Hickman wrote, "It is probable that in the history of this state, never has a teenager turned the prosecutorial and judicial systems literally upside-down with such false claims." A local district attorney accused by Sharpton of being one of Brawley's attackers, Steven Pagones, lost his job. It took him ten years to carry out and win a defamation action against Brawley, Sharpton, and another civil-rights activist. Sharpton never apologized for any of this.A few years ago, progressive reporter Wayne Barrett dug up a detail worthy of Bonfire of the Vanities. He found that Comcast had paid Sharpton's outfit, the National Action Network, some $140,000 as it was preparing to buy NBC/Universal. By remarkable coincidence, Sharpton gave his blessing to the merger, which was being opposed by black leaders such as Jesse Jackson on diversity grounds. By a still-more amazing coincidence Sharpton was, after the merger, given his own hour-long talk show on MSNBC, though today he is merely a frequent guest on the news network. Stuart Stevens at The Daily Beast wrote, "Sharpton is hardly alone in having spent decades vomiting hate, leaving innocent victims in his wake. What distinguishes Sharpton is the willingness of powerful people and organizations to look past the hate when they believe it may benefit them."Al Sharpton is a not a leading voice of anything except anti-Semitism. He seeks only to leverage racial resentment to advance the interests of Sharpton, to go "as far as his bullhorn audacity will carry him," in the words of the New York Post columnist Bob McManus, who took Sharpton out to dinner once but drew the line at paying for the $350 glass of cognac Sharpton indicated he wanted. Making a career out of lies and hate has worked nicely for Sharpton, but only because the media and the Democratic party have served as his public-relations team.
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| US Air Force orders all units to stand down for one day as suicide rate skyrockets Posted: 01 Aug 2019 10:10 AM PDT  The Air Force has seen 78 suicides so far this year, significantly more than this time last year, and the service is scrambling for answers.
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| Mother of man charged in missing brothers case speaks out Posted: 01 Aug 2019 03:29 PM PDT  The mother of a Missouri farmer charged with tampering with a truck used by two missing Wisconsin brothers said they came to the farm to look at cattle but that she can't see her son being involved in their deaths. Tomme Feil told The Kansas City Star that the two men — Nicholas Diemel, 35, and his 24-year-old brother Justin — came to look at calves owned by the family. Feil said she has no idea why her son, Garland Nelson, would have moved their vehicle.
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| The 20 Most Stolen Late-Model Cars, Trucks, and SUVs Posted: 01 Aug 2019 03:00 PM PDT |
| Russiagate Is Deader Than Ever Posted: 01 Aug 2019 04:27 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The ruling by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl to dismiss the Democratic National Committee's lawsuit against Russia, the Trump campaign and others on Tuesday may look like something of an afterthought now that Robert Mueller, the special counsel, has failed to find evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump's team. It is, however, anything but anticlimactic: It contains some hard truths for those still hanging on to the Trump-Russia story.The DNC sued in April 2018, painting a picture of collusion between a Russian government eager to get Trump elected and a Trump campaign that was "a willing and active partner in this effort." This picture, unlike Special Counsel Robert Mueller's eventual report, was based on "connecting the dots" – an exercise in which many commentators have happily engaged since Trump won the 2016 election. Even at the time it was filed, the DNC lawsuit was widely dismissed as a political stunt. But it also followed the example of the Democrats' legal action against President Richard Nixon's re-election committee after Watergate, which ended in a $750,000 settlement when Nixon resigned. Koeltl refused to penalize the DNC for suing frivolously: Indeed, the case helped him clarify some important points.In his ruling, Koeltl, who once worked for Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, first explained that Russia cannot be sued in a U.S. court for government actions planned in Moscow. That seems obvious, but the DNC disputed it in the lawsuit, and there'd been a lot of public indignation about Russia's actions on U.S. soil that contravene U.S. laws. The Russian government, of course, isn't bound by these laws any more than the U.S. government is bound by Russian laws. As things stand, the two are adversaries, and as such, they'll do to each other what they feel they can get away with, not what the other side deems legal. Retaliation is a matter of policy rather than law. So when Trump called on Russia to hunt for missing Hillary Clinton emails, he wasn't really condoning illegal action, since this concept doesn't apply to the Russian government; he was merely hinting that as president, he wouldn't retaliate against Russia for trying to unearth the emails. From a legal point of view, it appears safer to call on Russia to do some hacking than to ask the same of a specific American hacker. One can find Trump's call unpalatable, or accept his logic that whatever helps him win is good, but this is a political choice, not a legal dilemma.Another point Koeltl makes is that, though it's not OK to steal documents such as personal and work-related emails, it's perfectly OK to disseminate and publish them under the First Amendment – as long as the disseminator isn't also the thief. This has important implications for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whom neither Mueller nor anyone else has accused of actually stealing the emails of DNC operatives and Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta – or, indeed, any of the classified documents WikiLeaks has published. It can be argued that he helped some of the whistle-blowers to steal files and that constitutes a crime, but in general, he shouldn't be held responsible for publishing pilfered material.Moreover, according to the ruling, it's fine to ask a thief for information he's known to have stolen. And even if Russia's military intelligence service had sent the stolen emails directly to the Trump campaign, the campaign wouldn't have been legally liable for publishing it.As the 2020 presidential election approaches, any foreign government can obtain, by whatever means, compromising information about any of the candidates, hand it to the media or to the candidate's competitors, and the media or the competitors can publish it – all without anyone being legally liable. I can see why that can make some people uncomfortable. But there it is. Countries will spy on each other, and they'll get their hands on information of public interest in the process. If this information is genuine, the public should get access to it. (But of course the publisher should first make sure it's not fake). And the foreign government that stole the information should suffer the consequences – for example, in the form of sanctions – unless there are political reasons not to retaliate.The Democrats should accept the reality and play by the same rules as their opponents – who, in this case, appear to have played by the rules, such as they are.As for Trump-Russia, the Democratic candidates appear to have made the right decision about it. During Tuesday's debate, the word "Russia" was heard exactly twice, from Senator Amy Klobuchar, who criticized Trump for pulling out of an arms control agreement. Perhaps the story will float up again as the campaign goes on – but it should stay buried. There are more legitimate reasons to push back against President Vladimir Putin's regime: His aggression against neighboring countries, his ruthless suppression of protest, his support of other murderous regimes, and so on. In U.S. elections, it's the voters who decide, regardless of whether Putin helps a candidate by sharing some kompromat.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Texas mom who allegedly left her baby in a running car at a nightclub flashed a big smile in her booking photo Posted: 31 Jul 2019 09:56 AM PDT  Samantha Grace Vaughan allegedly left her infant in a running car while she took shots at a Texas nightclub, police said in an arrest affidavit.
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| A Cambridge student fell to her death after forcing a plane door open above Madagascar, police say Posted: 01 Aug 2019 06:59 AM PDT  The police say Alana Cutland, 19, had five paranoia attacks in the first eight days of a research trip to Madagascar.
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| Germany rejects US call to join Gulf taskforce Posted: 31 Jul 2019 06:44 AM PDT  Germany has rejected US pressure to send warships to protect shipping in the Persian Gulf from seizure by Iran. Olaf Scholz, the German vice-chancellor, publicly confirmed on Wednesday that his country would not take part in a US-led naval taskforce. Mr Scholz, who is who is deputising for Angela Merkel while she is on holiday, warned of the danger of the world "sleepwalking into a much larger conflict". "We want to talk about how to address the situation with our French and British partners in Europe, but there is no discussion of a mission as requested," he said. Calls for the joint taskforce have intensified following the seizure of the British-flagged Stena Impero tanker in the Strait of Hormuz last month. The tanker remains in Iranian hands, with the commander of the British warship that is already accompanying UK-flagged ships on this route saying yesterday that Tehran appeared to be testing the Royal Navy's resolve. "The Iranians seem to be keen to test our resolve, test our reactions most of the time," William King, commander of the HMS Montrose, told the BBC, adding that over 27 days patrolling the region he had experienced 85 "interactions with Iranian forces". Germany reportedly rejected calls to take part in the planned taskforce last week, but this is the first time the German government has commented publicly . Mr Scholz said a naval taskforce would be "getting ahead of events", and that Germany's priority was to prevent an escalation in the Gulf. "The worst thing would be a real military conflict. Then shipping would really be in jeopardy," he said. Mr Scholz, the leader of Angela Merkel's main coalition partner, rejected suggestions the German government is divided over the US request. His centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) have a track record of opposing German involvement in military operations abroad, while Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) have been more open to the idea. But in this case Mrs Merkel's government is believed to be reluctant to back a naval taskforce for fear any incident could be used by hardliners in the Trump administration as a pretext for war with Iran. Along with Britain and France, Germany has been keen to rescue the nuclear deal agreed with Iran by Barack Obama, which Mr Trump withdrew from last year. Germany has come under intense pressure from the US over military spending in recent years amid President Trump's attempts to make Nato's European members pay more towards the cost of their defence. Mr Trump has been highly critical of Europe's biggest economy over its failure to meet Nato's target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is widely seen as Mrs Merkel's designated successor, recently pledged to meet the target when she took over as defence minister. "We made a clear commitment to Nato's two percent goal. I know that we can't get there from one day to the next, but I'm just as clear on the fact that we must get there in the end," she said.
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| Texas police rescue 9-year-old boy from human trafficker trying to sell him Posted: 01 Aug 2019 07:52 AM PDT  Texas police officers rescued a 9-year-old boy who they say was kidnapped by asuspect allegedly looking to sell the child into human trafficking
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| Chinese envoy in NZ lauds students in anti-HK scuffle Posted: 01 Aug 2019 04:02 AM PDT  China's consulate general in Auckland on Thursday praised the "spontaneous patriotism" of pro-Beijing students who reportedly manhandled a Hong Kong-supporting protester on a university campus in New Zealand's largest city. In a statement, the Chinese mission also criticised pro-Hong Kong democracy activists in New Zealand for using "so-called freedom of expression" to spread falsehoods. The statement, which attracted criticism from New Zealand lawmakers and academics, was issued after a scuffle on Monday at a University of Auckland demonstration supporting democracy in Hong Kong.
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| Ex-McConnell staffers lobbied for Russian-backed Ky. project Posted: 31 Jul 2019 02:54 PM PDT  Two former top staffers to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have lobbied Congress and the Treasury Department for the development of a new Kentucky aluminum mill backed by the Russian aluminum giant Rusal, according to a new lobbying disclosure.
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| Gunmaker asks US Supreme Court to hear Sandy Hook appeal Posted: 01 Aug 2019 11:54 AM PDT ![Gunmaker asks US Supreme Court to hear Sandy Hook appeal]( "Gunmaker asks US Supreme Court to hear Sandy Hook appeal") The maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal Thursday of a state ruling against the company. Remington Arms, based in Madison, North Carolina, cited a much-debated 2005 federal law that shields firearms manufacturers from liability in most cases when their products are used in crimes. Gunman Adam Lanza opened fire at the Newtown, Connecticut, school with a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 first graders and six educators.
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| Navy: Littoral Combat Ship Preparing for Massive “Blue Water” Warfare Posted: 31 Jul 2019 12:53 AM PDT  Destroying enemy helicopters on the open sea, hitting attacking enemy drones and countering opposing surface ships from safer stand-off distances are all combat missions now being emphasized by the Navy as it prepares its Littoral Combat Ship for massive "blue water" warfare - an effort designed to widen the ship's attack potential and build upon its expansive scope of shallow water missions.As part of this, the Navy has fired a HELLFIRE missile from an Independence variant of its LCS to better arm the ship for offensive attack. The test-firing, described by Naval Sea Systems Command as a "structural test firing," involved the shooting of a Longbow HELLFIRE on the Point Mugu Sea Range on June 11.Referred to as the Surface-to-Surface Missile Module, the weapon is being prepared as part of an integrated suite of combat technologies for the LCS. For many years now, the Navy has been working vigorously to evolve the LCS mission scope from an initial focus upon littoral operations including land attack, countermine operations and closer in combat operations -- to include preparation for dispersed, long-range, major deep water warfare against a heavily armed near-peer adversary.
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| ‘Serving under Trump is embarrassing’: Fifth Republican congressman retires in just two weeks as GOP fears more exits Posted: 31 Jul 2019 03:45 AM PDT A fifth Republican congressman appears set to quit the party in the space of two weeks amid ongoing tension over Donald Trump's presidency.Representative Mike Conaway will not seek re-election to his Texas seat in 2020, the Politico website reported. He has not confirmed his decision or reason for retiring but he is set to make a statement to the media. The move has prompted worries within the party that others will follow suit and step down, because of the difficulties that come with serving under Mr Trump and working with a Democratic majority in Congress."Serving in the era of Trump has few rewards," Tom Davis, a former senior Republican congressman, told The Hill website. "He has made an already hostile political environment worse. "Every day there is some indefensible tweet or comment to defend or explain. It is exhausting and often embarrassing."Mr Conaway, who has served in congress for 15 years, will join Republican representatives Paul Mitchell, Pete Olson, Martha Roby and Rob Bishop in announcing his retirement.Mr Mitchell had told the House that "rhetoric overwhelms policy and politics consumes much of the oxygen" in Washington DC. One of his former campaign workers Jamie Roe, later said that Mitchell had "been frustrated with the fact that things don't get done here".While he did not explicitly attribute blame to the president, he was one of the first Republican congressmen to complain about Mr Trump's recent racist remarks about the group of Democratic congresswoman known as the squad. "We must be better than comments like these," he tweeted after the president suggested Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan should go back to their "broken and crime-infested" countries.Mr Mitchell added: "I share the political frustrations with some members of the other party, but these comments are beneath leaders."Ms Roby said she would not vote for Mr Trump in 2016 as his behaviour had been "unacceptable as a candidate for president" but has since improved their relationship and received an endorsement from him in 2018.The Republican Party is facing a difficult task in reclaiming the House in 2020 after Democrats were victorious in last year's midterm elections.Mr Trump's approval ratings remain low, currently at about 43 per cent on average, and his divisive political agenda could prove costly in congressional elections next year.Mr Conaway, Mr Mitchell, Ms Roby and Mr Bishop all represent safe Republican districts that are expected to pick candidates from the party in 2020.However, Mr Olson's district could be competitive – the Texas congressman saw his majority cut to 5 per cent in 2018.Even in safe districts, the prospect of returning to the House in 2020 may be unappealing for many conservative representatives as Democrats are expected to win a majority again next year.In a general ballot, recent polling has shown Democrats lead Republicans by 5.6 per cent for the 2020 election, according to an average by political analysis website FiveThirtyEight.All 435 voting seats in the House of Representatives will be up for election in 2020, along with 34 seats in the US Senate.
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| Gillibrand Says She Can Explain White Privilege to ‘White Women in the Suburbs’ Who Voted for Trump Posted: 31 Jul 2019 08:38 PM PDT  Instead of apologizing or avoiding her white privilege during Wednesday evening's Democratic presidential debate, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said she wants to use it to "talk to those white women in the suburbs that voted for Trump.""I can talk to those white women in the suburbs that voted for Trump and explain to them what white privilege actually is," the New York senator said."When their son is walking down the street with a bag of M&Ms in his pocket, wearing a hoodie, his whiteness is what protects him from not being shot," she continued to applause from the audience. "When their child has a car that breaks down and he knocks on someone's door for help and the door opens and the help is given, it's his whiteness that protects him from being shot."Gillibrand explained that she wants to join in helping educate Americans about racism and white privilege instead of leaving it solely up to lawmakers of color such as senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris."I don't believe that it's the responsibility of Cory and Kamala to be the only voice that takes on these issues of institutional racism," Gillibrand said. "I think as a white woman of privilege who is a U.S. senator running for president of the United States, it is also my responsibility to lift up those voices that aren't being listened to."Gillibrand's remarks were in response to a question about what the Democratic candidates would do to heal race relations in America.Washington governor Jay Inslee remarked on the topic as well, acknowledging that he "has never been a black teenager pulled over in a white neighborhood.""That is what white privilege in America is today," Gillibrand concluded.
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| Santino William Legan: Gilroy shooter from boxing-loving family Posted: 01 Aug 2019 04:13 PM PDT  Santino William Legan, the 19-year-old named by police as the Gilroy shooter, wasn't a troublemaker -- but apparent Insta posts reveal his anger.
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| Merkel ally calls for Europe to go it alone in the Gulf Posted: 01 Aug 2019 07:57 AM PDT  A key ally of Angela Merkel has called for Europe to set up its own naval taskforce in the Persian Gulf independent of the US. Amid a widening divide between Western allies over how to deal with Iran, Norbert Röttgen called on Thursday for France and Germany to lead a European mission to protect shipping from Iran. The UK has sought to build consensus for an international taskforce following the seizure of a British-flagged tanker by Iran. But France and Germany have rejected calls to contribute warships to a US-led mission over concerns at Donald Trump's aggressive stance towards Iran. Mr Röttgen, who is chairman of the German parliament's powerful foreign affairs committee, called on Thursday for Europe to go it alone. "The reasons for a European mission in the Gulf remain, even if Britain should decide on a joint mission with the US," he said. "It's about European interests, not specific British ones, so a European mission should be made up of a group of European states, to which France and Germany must belong." Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary, initially called for a European-led taskforce in response to the seizure of the Stena Impero last month. But Boris Johnson's government has shifted the UK position, with Dominic Raab, the new foreign secretary, suggesting a European mission may not be "viable" without US support. Mr Röttgen's comments come amid signs of a rift in Mrs Merkel's coalition government over the issue. Olaf Scholz, the vice-chancellor, appeared to rule out German contributing to a US-led taskforce on Wednesday, only to be contradicted by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the defence minister, who said the proposal was still being considered. But despite Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer's comments, German involvement remains unlikely. Any military deployment needs parliamentary approval in Germany, and with Mr Scholz's centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) opposed, there is no majority in favour. Mohammed Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, faces new US sanctions Credit: Evgenia Novozhenina /REUTERS German and French concerns are understood to centre on the Trump administration's increasingly belligerent tone towards Iran, amid fears any incident could be seized on by US hardliners as a pretext for war. The European Union spoke out yesterday against a decision by the US to impose sanctions on Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. "We regret this decision," a spokesman for Federica Mogherini, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, said. "From our side, we will continue to work with Mr Zarif as Iran's most senior diplomat, and in view of the importance of maintaining diplomatic channels." The decision means Iran's chief negotiator will now have to seek special permission to enter the US to attend the United Nations. Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, accused the US of "resorting to childish behaviour" over the sanctions. "They were claiming every day, 'We want to talk, with no preconditions' and then they sanction the foreign minister," Mr Rouhani said.
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