Thursday, August 4, 2016

Critics of Iran Nuclear Deal Attack U.S. Cash Payment

Critics of Iran Nuclear Deal Attack U.S. Cash Payment

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Disclosure of a $400 million cash payment from the U.S. to Tehran at the time four Americans were released in January has reignited a political furor over the Iran nuclear deal.

Justice Officials Raised Objections on U.S. Cash Payment to Iran

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Some officials were afraid the timing and manner of the $400 million transfer, coming as American prisoners were released, would send the wrong message, according to those familiar with the discussions.

Woman Killed in Knife Attack in London

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As many as five other people were injured in Russell Square. Police said terrorism is one possibility being explored at this stage of the investigation.

Al-Qaida-linked extremists kill Mali officer in Timbuktu

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A group that monitors extremists’ online activity says al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has said it killed a Malian officer outside his Timbuktu home.

Syrian journalists cover civil war at home from Jordan exile

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From a small office in Jordan’s capital, two dozen Syrians and Americans talk daily by Skype with activists and civilians on both sides of the conflict in neighboring Syria to get a unique perspective on the civil war and the scope of the suffering.





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Death penalty in fatal attack on Jordan intelligence office

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Jordan’s state news agency says a gunman who killed five people in a shooting attack on a branch of the national intelligence agency has been sentenced to death.
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Tropical Storm Earl Just Became a Full-Fledged Hurricane

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Earl, a tropical storm moving through the Caribbean toward Belize, was upgraded to a Hurricane on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm, which is about 150 miles east of Belize City, has reached maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour, classifying it as a hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center expects Earl will make landfall in Belize by Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. A hurricane warning is currently in effect in Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico and the Bay Islands in Honduras.

‘Imagine Dante’s Inferno. That’s It.’ Inside an Overcrowded Philippines Jail 

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What’s going on here? The mind doesn’t register it at first. This tangle of bodies forces you to lean in and hunt for clues. These are people, sure, but what are they doing? Why are they lying that way?
First, the facts: The men are alive. They are inmates at the Quezon City Jail near Manila, the capital of the Philippines, a nation of 98 million. A photographer, Noel Celis of Agence France-Presse, recently spent several days and nights at the jam-packed facility and emerged with a rare and intimate look inside one of the world’s most-congested penal systems.
Jails around the country are holding five times the intended amount of inmates, according to AFP, which cited government data, and the Justice Secretary said areas for new facilities were being prepared. This specific jailreportedly houses those who are on trial but have not yet been convicted; it holds some 3,800 inmates despite being originally built for 800.
The idea to enter the jail emerged in an AFP editorial meeting, Celis told TIME in an email. A reporter in Manila, Ayee Macaraig, suggested a story on jails and Celis proposed the Quezon City complex, which he had previously visited.
Once at the jail, Celis asked the warden if he could photograph the men as they slept. “I was expecting to see sleeping inmates on the open basketball court but not cramped like sardines,” he said. “To go from one place to another, inmates need to stand up to give way.” For the photographer, the scene reminded him of old inferno paintings.
Inmates sleep on the steps inside the Quezon City Jail at night in Manila, Philippines, on July 21, 2016.
Noel Celis—AFP/Getty ImagesInmates sleep on the steps inside the Quezon City Jail at night in Manila, Philippines, on July 21, 2016.
Celis’ goal is simple: to expose the current state of the jail in a bid to shock viewers and advocacy groups into helping and push the government to find a solution, or perhaps build another facility. “What’s the use of photojournalism if the readers or the world would just appreciate the pictures asart,” he said. “If there’s no reaction, it’s either of the two: The photographer is a failure or the world just [doesn’t] care [and] the message didn’t get through.”
At the least, his images are calling more attention to an overcrowded prison system that’s drowning under the crackdown pushed by Rodrigo Duterte, the controversial president elected in May. Human Rights Watch recently came across the picture of inmates sleeping in the jail and attached it to a “dispatch” highlighting the safety issues and health effects from inadequate necessities and sanitation.
Phelim Kine, the deputy Asia director at HRW, said these dispatches aim to bring attention to particular rights abuses. In the Philippines they have recently revolved around the president’s anti-drug campaign that critics allege has emboldened vigilantes and left hundreds dead. “There has been a sharp increase in suspected drug dealers and users who are surrendering themselves to authorities because they are afraid they are going to get killed next,” he added. “They actually see prison as a safe haven.”
When it came time to find an image for a dispatch this week, titled “Philippines’ ‘War on Drugs’ Worsens Jail Miseries,” Kine said “everyone said this is the image–this is the one we want to carry this.”
Kine called the country’s detention centers “a human disaster” and said scenes that are similar to what Celis captured could be found across the country. “You have people spending years literally in prison waiting for a court date,” he said. “Jails, prison facilities, detention centers have become these holding tanks for people who’ve never had their day in court. The mass surrenders of suspected drug users and dealers are worsening that on an almost exponential level.”
Noel Celis is an Agence France-Presse photographer in the Philippines.
Andrew Katz is TIME’s International Multimedia Editor. Follow him on Twitter @katz.
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Chaotic scenes inside plane after crash-landing at Dubai airport – video 

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The moments inside flight EK521 after it crash-landed on the runway at Dubai International airport on Wednesday. Panicking passengers scream, with some people trying to gather their belongings until flight staff insist that passengers slide down the emergency exits. The video footage was filmed on WhatsApp
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China Jails Activist Lawyer For 7 Years on Subversion Charge

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A court in China jailed a prominent human rights lawyer for seven years on Thursday for subverting the government, state media said, the latest in a string of convictions linked to an unprecedented crackdown on legal defenders. Zhou Shifeng, 51, the director of the Beijing Fengrui law firm, is among dozens of lawyers and activists who since July last year have been swept up in a crackdown on dissent. President Xi Jinping's administration has tightened control over almost every...

The GOP's Donald Trump freak-out - CNN

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CNN

The GOP's Donald Trump freak-out
CNN
(CNN) Republicans are freaking out about Donald Trump, but the candidate himself is insisting his campaign has never been in better shape. Trump took the stage in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Wednesday with his presidential bid apparently floundering.
Trump Campaign Changed Ukraine Platform, Lied About ItDaily Beast
Donald Trump Is the Lone Ranger CandidateU.S. News & World Report
Donald Trump's Campaign Chair Insists Everything Is FineHuffington Post
CBS News -BBC News -Politico -RealClearPolitics
all 44 news articles »

Trump's nuclear nightmare - Politico

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Politico

Trump's nuclear nightmare
Politico
Anytime the words “Donald Trump” and “nuclear weapons” appear in the same sentence, a mushroom cloud of anxiety rises over the world of politics and national security. Wednesday was no exception, after Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's “Morning Joe,” ... 
Donald Trump's Musings On Nukes May Be The Most Disqualifying Thing He's Done YetHuffington Post

A Former Nuclear Missile Officer on Why Trump Can't Be Trusted With the American ArsenalSlate Magazine
Donald Trump Roundup For Wednesday EveningMother Jones Donald Trump allegedly very interested in the U.S. nukes arsenalNew York Daily News
The Sydney Morning Herald-The Australian

Washington Post- Ten Eyewitness News-Irish Independent-TIME
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Page 3

Report: One Dead In London Knife Attack - Daily Beast

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News18

Report: One Dead In London Knife Attack
Daily Beast
Police responded to reports of an individual in possession of a knife at Russell Square in London on Wednesday. Up to six people have been injured and one person is reported dead. An individual was arrested already. Read it at Metropolitan Police ... 
London knife attack leaves 1 dead, 5 hurtCNN

One dead, several hurt in central London knife attackBBC News 
One Dead, Six Injured In Potential Terrorist Attack In Russell Square, Central LondonBreitbart News
NBCNews.com-
 New York Times -TIME-Los Angeles Times
all 126 
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ISIS Defector Describes Group's Interest in Western Attacks: Report - NBCNews.com

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NBCNews.com

ISIS Defector Describes Group's Interest in Western Attacks: Report
NBCNews.com
A German man jailed after joining and later fleeing the terror group ISIS in Syria said an organizer for the group was more focused on planning terror attacks in European cities than his joining the battle in Syria. Harry Sarfo, from Bremen, Germany ...
How a Secretive Branch of ISIS Built a Global Network of KillersNew York Times
Reservation for terror: A former terrorist reveals ISIS' secretsFox News 
Two-Year US Campaign More Than Doubles ISIS' ReachAntiwar.com

Washington Free Beacon - Complex-Irish Independent-The Australian 
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Daily Mail
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US Cyber Pros: Hackers Could Hit Electric Voting Machines Next 

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U.S. cyber security professionals say suspected foreign hackers who recently attacked computer systems of the Democratic Party could do something even more sinister in the future. The cyber pros, who appeared on this week's Hashtag VOA program, said U.S. electronic voting systems are likely to be among the next targets. When the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks published leaked emails of the U.S. Democratic National Committee last month, it caused major embarrassment to the party,...

Yazidis Mark Second Anniversary of Islamic State Massacre

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With vigils and demands to free the enslaved, Yazidis in Iraq and throughout the world on Wednesday commemorated the second anniversary of a massacre committed by Islamic State militants in Sinjar. At least 5,000 Yazidis, mostly men and boys, were killed during the 2014 attack on the Iraqi city. The United Nations reported Wednesday that the religious minority continues to suffer at the hands of IS. “Two years on, over 3,200 women and children are still held by IS and are subjected to...

Cuba Sees Tourism Rise; French to Operate, Renovate Havana Airport 

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More than 2 million tourists have visited Cuba this year, state media said Wednesday, putting the country on track for a record number of visitors bringing badly needed cash to an economy facing a sharp reduction in subsidized oil from its chief ally, Venezuela. Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said visitor numbers were running 12 percent ahead of those last year, which already saw a record number of tourists. The surge is credited to a wave of international interest in Cuba prompted by...

Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Prisoners, Most in a Century 

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U.S. President Barack Obama has shortened the sentences of 214 inmates of U.S. federal prisons, in what the White House called the largest batch of commutations on a single day in more than a century.   The early release is part of Obama's effort to correct what he views as unreasonably long mandatory minimum sentences. The president's push to lessen the burden on nonviolent drug offenders reflects his long-stated view that the nation should remedy the consequences of...

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Trump: Campaign Has 'Never Been So Well United'

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says his campaign "has never been so well united," despite several signs that the campaign and the Republican party are in disarray. The latest indication came Wednesday when Trump's vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, endorsed Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan for reelection. Trump has gone against the party establishment by refusing to endorse Ryan for another term in the...

Postcard Business Delivers New Life to Timbuktu Post Office

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Timbuktu's post office lacks both windows and doors. The only furniture inside the low brick building is a desk for the city's only postman, Ousmane Aliou Maiga. Mail piles up in the adjoining room – letters, bills, debt collection demands. So many residents fled when conflict began in the north during 2012. "We have been abandoned by the state," said Maiga. "For a long time I didn't even bother to open the office. No one was sending any letters anymore. Then...

Analysis: Trump Not the First to Claim Voter Fraud Will Rig Elections - NBCNews.com

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NBCNews.com

Analysis: Trump Not the First to Claim Voter Fraud Will Rig Elections
NBCNews.com
Donald Trump, slipping in the polls, has taken to warning that the election is being "rigged." In an interview with The Washington Post published Tuesday, Trump suggested that recent court rulings against strict voting laws in North Carolina, Wisconsin ...
Trump's refusal to back House speaker angers Republican Party chiefReuters
Someone Needs an Intervention Here, and It's Not Donald TrumpSlate Magazine
Trump Campaign Changed Ukraine Platform, Lied About ItDaily Beast
New York Daily News -NPR -People Magazine -Bloomberg
all 1,261 news articles »

Kris Jenner Involved in Car Accident, Crashes White Rolls-Royce - People Magazine

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People Magazine

Kris Jenner Involved in Car Accident, Crashes White Rolls-Royce
People Magazine
While driving westbound on Calabasas Rd. in Calabasas, the Keeping Up With the Karsashians matriarch was involved in a two-car accident, Malibu/Lost Hills Lt. Ed Winslow told PEOPLE. As 60-year-old Jenner, who was alone in the car, drove westbound ...
Kris Jenner Injured in Car Crash: Is She Okay?!?The Hollywood Gossip
Kris Jenner Injured in Car Crash ... Possible Broken WristTMZ.com

all 55
 
Kylie Jenner Rushes to Mom Kris' Side After Car AccidentJust Jared
TMZ.com
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Hillary Clinton is content to let Donald Trump grab the attention while she campaigns - Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles Times

Hillary Clinton is content to let Donald Trump grab the attention while she campaigns
Los Angeles Times
As Donald Trump stumbles from one self-inflicted wound to the next, that other candidate in the presidential race — the one Trump has been too distracted to engage with very much — has also been out on the campaign trail, garnering much less ...
Hillary Clinton Again Knocks Donald Trump Over Foreign-Made ProductsWall Street Journal
Hillary Clinton Hits Trump Over OutsourcingNPR
Trump downgrades Clinton from 'the devil' to the 'founder of ISIS'The Boston Globe
CBS Local -ABC News -Washington Post -Washington Times
all 66 news articles »

Sorry, GOP: There Is No Trump 'Reset' Button - RealClearPolitics

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RealClearPolitics

Sorry, GOP: There Is No Trump 'Reset' Button
RealClearPolitics
Back in mid-March—when Americans could still operate in healthy denial regarding the political tragicomedy to come—Dr. Ben Carson, fresh off of endorsing Donald Trump for president, delivered a somnolent yet strangely chipper performance on MSNBC'S ...
Fury at top of Republican Party over Trump snub of House speakerReuters
Someone Needs an Intervention Here, and It's Not Donald TrumpSlate Magazine
Newt Gingrich: Trump Is UnacceptableDaily Beast
Washington Post (blog) -NBCNews.com -Politico -U.S. News & World Report
all 96 news articles »
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Page 5

China jails activist lawyer for seven years for subversion

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BEIJING (Reuters) - A court in China jailed a prominent human rights lawyer for seven years on Thursday for subverting the government, state media said, the latest in a string of convictions linked to an unprecedented crackdown on legal defenders.
  

Uzbekistan Acts Against Brother Of RFE/RL Journalist

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WASHINGTON -- A court in Uzbekistan today sentenced the brother of an RFE/RL journalist to 8 years in prison on drug-related charges, the latest government action involving persons affiliated with the media company's Uzbek Service. In court proceedings, Aziz Yusupov was represented by a lawyer assigned to him by Uzbekistan’s National Security Service (formerly the KGB), whom Yusupov's family said persuaded him to make a false confession to mollify the court. During the one-day trial, no evidence was brought against Yusupov to corroborate the charges. “This has all the signs of an attempt by the government to intimidate RFE/RL journalists because of their uncensored reporting in Uzbekistan," said RFE/RL President Thomas Kent. “We vigorously condemn any attempt to silence us.” Yusupov told RFE/RL that the charges brought against him were changed several times during the series of interrogations that preceded the trial in order to increase the severity of the sentence he could serve. Yusupov was targeted in an earlier incident in March 2013, when state security agents confiscated his state-issued ID, computer, and other personal documents, citing his brother's work for RFE/RL and an interview Yusupov gave to its Uzbek Service. During their interrogations of Yusupov, Uzbek agents accused RFE/RL of slandering Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan frequently brings narcotics-related charges against political activists and critics. In 2008, Uzbek Service contributor Salijan Abdurahmanov was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of drug smuggling that the OSCE characterized as “made-up,” adding that the trial “did not withstand the scrutiny of a fair procedure.” In another incident this week, agents with Uzbekistan’s National Security Service seized an apartment in Tashkent owned by the director of RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service. Uzbekistan authorities have interrogated the family members of other RFE/RL employees in recent months about their relatives’ journalistic work. On at least four occasions, family members of Uzbek Service correspondents have also been denied exit visas, a Soviet practice still required in Uzbekistan, to leave the country. RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service relies on constant innovation and a wide network of local sources to report news and engage with audiences in one of the world’s most closed societies. RFE/RL was forced by the Uzbek government to close its bureau in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, after reporting on the 2005 government killing of protesters in the city of Andijon. Despite government efforts to block access, the Service’s website averages more than 2 million visits per month, and its video reports are viewed more than 4 million times per month on YouTube.

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Iran Executes Up To 20 Kurdish Militants, Drawing Human Rights Criticism

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Iran has executed up to 20 Kurdish Islamists suspected of attacks on security forces, drawing condemnation from rights groups who say the convictions may have been based on forced confessions.

Russia Accuses U.S.-Supported Syrian Rebels Of Using Toxic Agent

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The Russian military has charged that Syrian militants used a toxic agent against civilians in Aleppo, killing seven and sickening another 23 people.

The Kremlin may savor Trump – but still might prefer Clinton

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In Moscow, the Republican seems Russia-friendly, but disconcertingly unpredictable.





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Abroad in America: Trying to Recognize America in a Wild Campaign 

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With less than 100 days until Election Day, a Times foreign correspondent sets out to explain the American presidential race to a global audience.
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The Interpreter: Donald Trump, Perhaps Unwittingly, Exposes Paradox of Nuclear Arms 

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A deactivated Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile in a silo at the Titan Missile Museum, a preserved military complex near Tucson.

Editorial: Turkey’s New Anti-Americanism

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In accusing the United States of aiding a coup attempt, the Turkish president has made tensions between the NATO allies worse.

Syria 'toxic attack': Aleppo rebels accused by Russia

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The Russian military tells the US it believes rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo deployed "toxic substances" in an attack on Tuesday.

Trump Taj Mahal casino to shut down after years of losses

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Trump Taj Mahal, the Atlantic City casino, founded by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump but no longer under his ownership, will shut down after years of losses.

U.S. strikes easing advance against Islamic State in Sirte, says commander

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SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - U.S. air strikes are easing the passage of Libyan forces as they seek to clear Islamic State from the militant group's former North African stronghold of Sirte, a senior field commander said on Wednesday.
  

Austrian Chancellor suggests ending EU accession talks with Turkey

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VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said on Wednesday that he would start a discussion among European heads of government to quit talks with Turkey about joining the European Union because of the country's democratic and economic deficits.
  
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Anti-Semitic incidents rise 11 percent in UK this year

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LONDON (Reuters) - The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain rose by 11 percent in the first six months of the year reflecting a worrying trend of intolerance across the country, a Jewish advisory body said on Thursday.
  

U.S., Israel close many gaps in defense aid talks, hope for deal soon

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Israel have closed many of the remaining gaps in negotiations over a new multibillion-dollar military aid package for Washington's top Middle East ally, and the two sides hope to reach a final deal soon, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.
  

Pentagon not to pay Pakistan $300 million in military reimbursements

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon will not pay Pakistan $300 million in military reimbursements after U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter decided not to tell Congress that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network, a U.S. official said.
  

Turkey detains 20 suspected Islamic State members: media

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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police detained 20 suspected members of the Islamic State militant group in the southern city of Adana early on Thursday, the private Dogan news agency reported.
  

U.S. designates Pakistan's Jamaat-ur-Ahrar as 'terrorist group'

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States has added the Pakistani militant outfit Jamaat-ur-Ahrar to its list of global terrorists, triggering sanctions against a group that has staged multiple attacks on civilians, religious minorities and soldiers.
  

4 dead identified as cause of California bus crash probed

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ATWATER, Calif. (AP) -- A husband and wife traveling to see their daughter in Washington were among the four Mexicans nationals identified Wednesday as those killed when a bus slammed into a highway sign that tore through the vehicle in California's Central Valley....
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America seen from abroad: arrogant, nice, tech-savvy, free

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BANGKOK (AP) -- The rest of the world may think Americans eat a lot of burgers, have huge shopping malls and are ruled by an arrogant government. And yet the "Ugly American," it would seem, isn't all bad. Americans are also seen from afar as generous tippers, friendly, uncomplicated, rich and the standard bearers of freedom, equality, creativity and technological power....

London Police Investigate Motive in Wake of Stabbing Attack

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Police were investigating the motive of a 19-year-old man who killed one woman and injured five other people in a stabbing spree, just hours after security was bolstered on the U.K. capital’s streets.

Trump Adviser Bashed US Policy Toward Russia In July Moscow Speech

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An adviser to Donald Trump criticized United States policy toward Russia in a July trip to Moscow, theHuffington Post reported Tuesday. The trip came the week before the Trump campaign reportedly worked to soften language in the Republican party platform regarding U.S. support for Ukraine against Russian aggression.
"Washington and other Western capitals have impeded potential progress through their often hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization, inequality, corruption, and regime change," Trump adviser Carter Page said in a speech at a graduate school in Moscow in July, according to Huffington Post.
He also called for the U.S. to lift sanctions on Russia that were put in place after the annexation of Crimea.
Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who has advised pro-Russian Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych, has denied that the campaign tried to change the platform, and there's no evidene that Page was involved.
This all comes as Trump has praised Russian Leader Vladimir Putin, suggested he won't support NATO allies, said he would look into recognizing the Russian annexation of Crimea, and called for a better relationship with Russia.
Page has investments in the Russian energy giant Gazprom, and consults businesses looking to work with Russian entities, according to the Huffington Post. And he told Bloomberg News in March that U.S. sanctions on Russia have hurt his business.
“So many people who I know and have worked with have been so adversely affected by the sanctions policy,” Page told Bloomberg in March. “There’s a lot of excitement in terms of the possibilities for creating a better situation.”
In his July speech in Moscow, Page said that if the U.S. were to lift sanctions on Russia, American companies could begin to work with Russian entities in the oil business, according to the Huffington Post.
Trump has denied that he has any business investments in Russia, but he has yet to address whether Russian businesses entities are invested in his projects.

Suicide rate of U.S. veterans rose one third since 2001: study

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The Trump-Putin Bromance Is Getting Even Shadier

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From the standpoint of the United States, the prospect that a President Donald Trump would be unduly influenced by Vladimir Putin has paled beside the far more harrowing prospect that he wouldbe Vladimir Putin. Still, Trump’s relationship with Putin is creepy and mysterious. Some of its elements lie perfectly visible — the exchange of compliments between the two men, Putin’s efforts to help elect Trump, Trump’s adoption of unusually Russophilic policies on Ukraine, and the financial ties between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin. The latter is coming more clearly into view with several new reports today.
1. Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, previously worked on behalf of a pro-Russian candidate’s effort to bring Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit, a campaign that enjoyed Russian support. Michael Crowley reports that Manafort’s joining the Trump campaign was an inflection point. Despite a fondness for Putin as a strong leader who crushes his enemies, Trump had a hawkish line on his aggression against Ukraine. “We should definitely be strong. We should definitely do sanctions,” said Trump, who described Putin’s seizure of Crimea as taking Ukraine’s “heart and soul.” Since Manafort signed on, his tone has changed radically.
2. A second source of influence on Trump’s Russia policy is his Russia adviser, Carter Page.Christina Wilkie and S.V. Date report that, just days before Trump’s convention (where his campaign beat back a plank to endorse defensive weapons for Ukraine), Page traveled to Russia and delivered speeches criticizing American policy toward Russia as “hypocritical,” and called for an end to the sanctions imposed after the Ukraine invasion.
As Masha Froliak notes, Page is heavily invested in Gazprom. Gazprom is not merely a Russian firm the way Apple is an American one. It is a lever of the regime’s power, used to dispense patronage to allies and threaten countries that stand in the way of Russia’s foreign-policy goals. Page has complained that the sanctions hurt his energy firm’s bottom line.
3. Jeff Nesbit delves into the murky — and largely hidden — financial connections between Trump and Russia. This is the most potentially explosive piece of the relationship, and also the most inscrutable. Nesbit cites a lawsuit against Trump Soho, a hotel project that attracted financing from Russian underworld figures. (Read Michael Idov’s 2008 New York feature on the murky construction of the building.) A lawsuit cited by Nesbit “alleged that a primary source of funding for Trump’s big projects with Bayrock arrived ‘magically’ from sources in Russia and Kazakhstan whenever the business interest needed funding.” This gets closer to the deepest suspicion surrounding Trump: Because his multiple bankruptcies have made him un-creditworthy — banks don’t like lending money to people who make a practice of not paying back the loans — he has had to turn to unconventional sources. It is possible Trump is merely intertwined with Russians, as with other sources of capital. But it is also possible he has grown uniquely dependent on them in a way that gives Russia leverage over his policies.
The Trump-Russia connection would be a first-tier campaign scandal and probably a complete disqualification by its own volition, if it were not for the daily parade of jaw-dropping offenses that have commanded attention. There’s a reason why the Russian propaganda apparatus on televisionand the internet have thrown themselves behind Trump, and why the Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee was released at just the time when it could do the most damage. What we don’t know for certain is just what that reason is.
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Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort disputes reports of turmoil - USA TODAY

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USA TODAY

Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort disputes reports of turmoil
USA TODAY
Donald Trump's campaign manager has a message: Everything is just fine at Team Trump. In an appearance Wednesday on Fox News, campaign chief Paul Manafort was asked about reports that top aides would be leading an “intervention” to try to reset the ...
Manafort: Trump 'is in control of his campaign'Politico
Donald Trump's Campaign Chair Insists Everything Is FineHuffington Post
Manafort: Only Group In Need Of Intervention Are Media Types Who Keep Saying Untrue ThingsRealClearPolitics
Newsmax -CNBC -Media Matters for America -Paste Magazine
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Report: Person of interest in downtown Austin shooting arrested in Georgia - Chron.com

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Chron.com

Report: Person of interest in downtown Austin shooting arrested in Georgia
Chron.com
The main suspect linked to a shooting early Sunday morning in downtown Austin that left one woman dead and four others injured was arrested in Georgia, according to reports. Endicott McCray, 24, was arrested at a bus station in East Point, Ga ...
Austin shooting suspect arrested days later in AtlantaFox News
The gunman suspected of carrying out Sunday's attack in Austin has been arrestedBusiness Insider
Austin shooter who killed innocent bystander caught in Atlanta11alive.com
KPRC Houston -KTRK-TV -Dallas Morning News -STLtoday.com
all 21 news articles »

Biden, Iraq's Al-Abadi discuss security situation in Iraq: White House

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi in a phone call on Wednesday discussed the importance of sustaining the fight against Islamic State and efforts to enhance Baghdad security, the White House said.
  

33 US military members have contracted Zika - CNN



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