Input: The Kremlin is one of Assad’s strongest foreign backers, and Russian airstrikes have pummeled Syrian opposition forces since the end of September, bolstering the beleaguered Assad regime. But Putin has long been said to take a dim view of Assad himself, an ophthalmologist-turned-president who has been engaged in a brutal civil war since the Arab Spring protests of early 2011. [23 starve to death in besieged Syrian town, medical charity says] Dating back to the Soviet era, Syria has been the Kremlin’s biggest ally in the Middle East, and Russia has maintained a naval base in Latakia for decades. Putin’s surprise intervention in Syria was widely seen as an effort to prop up a faltering friend, and also to give Russia a seat at the table in any negotiations about the future of the country.

starve

besieged Syrian town


Input: But it had been plain for nearly as long that the proto-fascist Erdoğan intended to turn this policy to his own purposes, which no one of any decency could countenance. Seymour Hersh’s pieces in the London Review of Books have been revelatory in this context. In April 2014 he gave persuasive evidence that, in an attempt to frame Assad, Erdoğan provided extremist Sunni militias with the crudely concocted poison gas that exploded in a Damascus suburb the previous August. In his latest piece, Hersh documents the Pentagon’s many failed efforts to pull the administration off its obsession with developing a coup in Damascus and recognize Islamic terrorists as the threat that matters in Syria. “The assessment was bleak,” Hersh writes of a classified document the Joint Chiefs brass sent the White House in 2013.

exploded

extremist Sunni militias

crudely concocted poison gas

a Damascus suburb


Input: Kerry said the U.S. wants to close a loophole in the current U.N. sanctions allowing coal exports from North Korea to support the livelihood of its people. Kerry said that provision was being abused and the "greatest amount" of coal and revenue has just passed between China and North Korea. The U.S. hopes that tighter sanctions can force impoverished North Korea to return to long-stalled negotiations on providing aid in exchange for denuclearization, but there appears to be little prospect of their resumption because of Pyongyang's determination to have nuclear weapons. North Korea's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Wednesday said the North would strengthen its nuclear capabilities in quantity and quality in response to the threat from its enemies." We have warned that South Korea will be engulfed in a sea of fire and the U.S. military units in the Pacific region and the mainland will be in chaos if the U.S. wages nuclear strikes against us," the newspaper said.

providing aid

The U.S.

North Korea

impoverished North Korea

U.N.


Input: Article 5, the provision in the NATO treaty that provides for collective self-defense, is n’t binding on America in the way the US Constitution is. Instead, Article 5 works by credible commitment: If the United States signals that it is fundamentally committed to the NATO treaty, then it sends a signal to Russia and other hostile powers that the US will abide by the term of its agreements. This deters them from launching wars or any other kind of military adventurism in an American-aligned state. This is most relevant in the Baltic NATO states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. These countries were former Soviet republics, and Putin seemingly believes they still ought to be Russian possessions.

wars

them

American-aligned state

American-aligned state


Input: It is such a loss.” Footage aired on local media showed a huge fireball engulfing a wide area after the plane came down. The authorities took more than an hour to get the blaze under control, the emergencies ministry said. State media later showed pictures of rescue workers combing through scattered debris in the driving snow, with the emergencies ministry saying over 850 rescuers and 170 vehicles had been deployed. Investigators said the plane’s two black boxes had been recovered.

blaze

plane


Input: Russia withdrew its request to refuel its warships in a Spanish port, and so Moscow and Madrid both found a diplomatic way to get themselves off a difficult hook. But the passions aroused by Spain's apparent willingness to refuel Russian vessels were real, especially since this time the Russian task group was on its way-as the British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon put it- "to bomb Syrian civilians in Aleppo". How would it look, just as Nato defence ministers met to strengthen their forces in the Baltic, in Poland and around the Black Sea, if one of their members was helping a Russian task group on its way to a conflict where many Nato governments have accused Moscow of carrying out war crimes through its indiscriminate bombing? Image copyright EPA Image caption The warships were expected to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar on Wednesday Led by Russia's only aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, the naval group includes a nuclear-powered battle cruiser, two anti-submarine warships and four support vessels, probably escorted by submarines.

accused

Nato governments

Moscow

indiscriminate bombing


Input: And there are some seemingly clear cases where climate change is either sparking conflicts or making them worse. The Syrian civil war, for example, has its roots in the Arab Spring, in the brutality of the Assad regime, and in the atomized nature of Syrian society. But what also seems to have played an outsized role in kindling the five-year horror show, according to scholars, is the worst drought in Syria’s recorded history — a drought that forced millions off the farm and into crowded cities, battered food production, and exacerbated an already terrible water shortage. The American public is increasingly concerned about the security risks posed by climate change, though there is a clear partisan divide. In a Gallup poll from early March, 64 percent of Americans said they worried a “great deal or fair amount” about it, the highest level seen since 2008, while 41 percent said they feared it would affect them in their lifetimes, the highest level Gallup’s ever registered.

battered

a drought

food production

Syria


Input: The Democratic presidential nominee has faced withering criticism from Republicans for exchanging emails with her aides that contained sensitive government information. Powell also used a private America Online email account to communicate with senior U.S. officials and foreign dignitaries while serving as the nation's top diplomat under President George W. Bush. A Republican, Powell said he never discussed classified information over his private account. DCLeaks.com has been alleged to be an outlet for hackers tied to Russian intelligence. The website, which says it intends to expose the misuse of political power, has released emails from other Washington political figures.

discussed

Powell

senior U.S. officials and foreign dignitaries


Input: The Democrats, even when they had two Democratic houses of Congress, what did they do? They bailed out Wall Street. You know, they enacted all of the above, which has been basically "drill, baby, drill" on steroids. Hillary Clinton’s finger on the button is as dangerous as — certainly as dangerous as Donald Trump. And it’s Barack Obama himself who initiated the new nuclear arms race, spending a trillion dollars.

enacted

they

all of the above

houses of Congress


Input: “Together, Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration ... to break European resolve,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee (Sen. John McCain, chairman) March 1. [9] In truth, refugees are n’t entirely fleeing ISIS; they are tragically immigrating into the very NATO countries that ironically are bombing their homeland, only to face more violence from anti-immigrant far-right nationalists. From Russia’s perspective, the U.S. and NATO have consistently violated international law by invading foreign countries in order to conduct regime change (through “color revolutions” or by military force). Insofar as Russian participation in Syria, it was by invitation from Bashar al-Assad to defend Syria against terrorists: both ISIS and so-called “moderate rebels” (a.k.a.

immigrating

NATO countries


Input: As members of Congress, it our constitutional duty to provide oversight on behalf of the American people. In order to provide accurate information for our constituents we request that a briefing be made available to Congress as soon as possible to answer the following questions: At any point during the firefight did the current rules of engagement restrict the immediate use of assets on hand? Has there been any consideration in altering the current rules of engagement to be less restrictive in the future? Did the U.S. or ANDSF have any air assets available in the region to support the forces that were engaged on the ground?

firefight

forces

firefight

ground


Input: (Joel Kowsky / NASA) Upon landing in Houston on Thursday morning, Kelly was greeted by his girlfriend (who works in NASA’s communications department) and his two daughters, as well as his twin brother and sister-in-law, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). The last time Scott Kelly came home from the ISS, it was two months after Giffords had been the victim of a near-fatal assassination attempt. Kelly has cited this period — when he was unable to return home to be with his family — as the time when the isolation of spaceflight felt most profound. In addition to the gathered family, Kelly was welcomed by second lady Jill Biden, who brought apple pie and beer for the astronaut.

fatal

Giffords


Input: The country’s main vodka exporter is still Roust, the company that carries Russian Standard vodka among other brands, however a source inside the company told Kommersant that its own exports have dropped by 29 percent. Daily Emails and Alerts- Get the best of Newsweek delivered to your inbox According to industry stats obtained by the newspaper, one of the main reasons for the drop has been a decrease in demand across the West and, most dramatically, in Ukraine. Prior to the collapse in Russian-Ukrainian relations over the east Ukraine conflict and the annexation of Crimea, Russia’s annual alcohol exports to Ukraine were estimated at $ 38 million. Now, according to Kommersant, the figure is closer to $ 3.87 million.

obtained

newspaper

industry stats


Input: Rodkey said he posted the message on the sign because he thinks Muslims in the community are the favored scapegoat of the religious right. ‘This is a church that is interested in religious tolerance,’ he said.” HOT ON THE RIGHT: “Obama Will Finally Own Up to Drone War Dead,” from the Daily Beast: “The White House is finally releasing figures about how many innocents have died in U.S. drone attacks. But the claim of only 100 or so civilians slain seems almost laughably low. Obama is expected to issue an executive order as early as next week that for the first time would call for the U.S. annually to disclose how many civilians it believes it has killed in its airstrikes … The administration will announce that since Jan. 20, 2009, it believes airstrikes have killed roughly 100 civilians in countries including Yemen, Pakistan, Libya and Somalia, according to one defense official." DAYBOOK:

slain

U.S.

100 or so civilians

drone

countries including Yemen, Pakistan, Libya and Somalia


Input: Apart from being a regular donor to the Clinton Foundation, Clinton herself was a director of Lafarge in the early 1990s, and did legal work for the firm in the 1980s. During her connection to Lafarge, the firm was implicated in facilitating a CIA-backed covert arms export network to Saddam Hussein. Even worse is that Lafarge was recently accused of secretly sponsoring the Islamic State (ISIS), paying taxes to the terrorist organization to operate its cement plant in Syria and the company has even bought oil from ISIS. The connections to Clinton could not be more evident, as she has a history with Lafarge dating back to the early 1990’s. From 1990 to 1992, Clinton served on Lafarge’s Board of Directors.

bought

the company

ISIS

ISIS

Syria


Input: This is not a game. Institutions do not maintain themselves. Not all damage is reversible. I do not believe that Trump will be elected, and I do not believe that, if he were elected, that would be the last relatively free and fair election for President. But it’s not impossible.

damage

Trump

Institutions


Input: — Comstock airing first ad: Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock’s first television ad, a 30-second spot featuring her daughter Caity, begins airing today in Virginia. The ad is backed by a $ 100,000 buy. “My mother has always been there for our family and brings the same commitment to all the families she represents in Congress,” Caity says in the ad before listing Comstock’s accomplishments on Congress on human trafficking, heroin and other issues. “People call her hard working … but I just call her, Mom.” Watch the ad: http://bit.ly/2ce1T9m POLLING DATA — In North Carolina … “Donald Trump holds a slight lead over Hillary Clinton in North Carolina, according to a new [Suffolk] poll released today that also gives incumbent GOP Sen. Richard Burr a modest advantage over Democrat Deborah Ross in the closely watched Senate race.

trafficking

human


Input: “In the past six years, I am not aware of a single international field staff member being fired, or even sanctioned, for poor performance. “It appeared to be a reference to the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region. Reuters reported in December 2014 on how Russia blocked a request by the United States, Britain and France for the UN to sack the Russian chief-of-staff of the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission. Aicha Elbasri, a former spokeswoman for the mission, said at the time that the Russian diplomat was responsible for withholding information from UN headquarters and the security council about Sudanese government attacks on civilians and peacekeepers in Darfur. Banbury said one of the worst examples of the UN’s failures was in Central African Republic, where international peacekeepers, including troops wearing UN blue helmets, have been accused of sexual abuse and rape.

sack

the Russian chief-of-staff of the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission

UN


Input: The United Nations the Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting for Saturday night at Russia’s request to discuss a U.S. airstrike that Moscow says struck Syrian government troops battling the Islamic State group. The council meeting was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. (2330 GMT). Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Moscow is demanding “full and detailed explanations about whether this was deliberate support of the Islamic State or another mistake.” Zakharova was quoted by the state news agency Tass as saying that “after today’s attack on the Syrian army, we come to the terrible conclusion that the White House is defending the Islamic State.” The U.S. military says it halted an air raid against IS in eastern Syria after it was informed by Russia that it might have struck Syrian troops. If confirmed, it would be the first American strike on President Bashar Assad’s forces in the five-year-old conflict. So it’s one big screw up, basically.

demanding

Moscow

the White House


Input: The video was broadcast just after analyst reports said North Korea had made a fourth failed attempt in two months to test-launch the Musudan — a missile designed to strike at targets as distant as Guam and the Philippines. The missile exploded on launch. Earlier on April 15, North Korea's military attempted a launch from a mobile launching system, but it exploded shortly after liftoff. Just two weeks later, as North Korea was preparing for the congress of the Worker's Party, there was an attempt at a dual launch — with both missiles crashing into the sea. The Musudan, also known as the BM-25, was introduced in 2003.

exploded

North Korea's military

the Musudan — a missile designed to strike at targets as distant as Guam and the Philippines

North Korea


Input: The suspected attackers hurled a grenade, which had had its pin removed, towards the building. However it did not explode and no one was injured. Read more: Teacher sacked ' for calling Muslim schoolboy terrorist after he complained about detention ' The grenade was spotted by a security guard who alerted the authorities. (Photo: Getty)

sacked

Teacher


Input: “If we win North Carolina, we’ve got this thing, folks,” the Virginia senator said at a microbrewery in Charlotte's downtown. “The bigger we can win by, the harder it is for him to whine and have anyone believe him.” Kaine made the remarks on the first day of North Carolina's early voting period, and prefaced them by attacking the state legislature's passage of a voter ID bill that was struck down by federal courts after a lawsuit found evidence that its advocates wanted to suppress the black vote. In a news conference here, Kaine said that early voting, a post-2000 election innovation available in 34 states and the District, could also limit the risk of voter suppression on Nov. 8. (Three other states — Colorado, Oregon and Washington — exclusively use a vote-by-mail system.)

advocates

its advocates

suppress the black vote


Input: While a forensics team searched the area, police set up roadblocks to find the terrorists. ”Roughly one hour later, Rosenfeld said, Border Police officers arrested two suspects matching the description of the assailants, but after extensive questioning, both young men were released without charges. “Police are continuing to search for the terrorists involved in the attack and hope to make arrests soon,” he said later in the day. Shortly after the attack, Shaare Zedek Medical Center spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio said both victims were in stable condition and expected to survive. “They are stable and conscious,” said Ruvio. “One, 86 years old, was stabbed in the back three times and is in the intensive care unit. The second victim, 82, was also stabbed multiple times and is in the department for heart surgery. She does n’t need surgery, but is being closely monitored due to a preexisting heart condition. ”Meanwhile, Rosenfeld said, security has been heightened throughout the capital, and will continue at elevated levels throughout the holiday. “All public areas will have additional police units deployed and nothing will be left to chance, as the city observes Remembrance Day and Independence Day,” he said. Last October, the Armon Hanatziv / East Talpiot neighborhood made international headlines after two terrorists from Jebl Mukaber stormed an Egged bus and stabbed and shot four victims to death before being killed by police. To stymie the deadly violence between the Arab and Jewish communities, police temporarily set up a concrete wall and checkpoint around Jebl Mukaber, which was soon taken down amid protests by human rights groups. Near the scene of Tuesday’s attack, a cross-section of residents expressed shock and indignation that the assailants preyed on women in their 80s. Meir Shahar, 67, a longtime resident of Armon Hanatziv/ East Talpiot said young Arab residents from Jebl Mukaber have long intimidated and terrorized Jews living in his neighborhood, but said he was stunned that defenseless elderly women were stabbed in the back. “These are old women!” he said with clear revulsion. “What did they do that they should be stabbed? You fight with an army, you fight with grown men – you do n’t fight with old women!” Moreover, Shahar said many Arab residents from Jebl Mukaber work in menial jobs throughout the neighborhood or routinely visit the area, making daily interaction with Jewish residents unavoidable. “All the people from there come to the promenade, to our post office, to our supermarkets and to our hospitals – to every place there – and nobody says ‘You are Arab, why are you coming here?’” he said. “The Jewish people in this area are with these people all the time, and it is known that a lot of the people who live there are connected with Hamas. They are not peaceful people, and the [Jewish residents] are afraid.

surgery

She


Input: But there’s not much evidence that winning or losing the debate will swing the election. Presidential debates do n’t normally change voters’ views much. Vice presidential debates matter even less. Nor is there any evidence that Pence or Kaine will help their running mates carry their home states. “A vice presidential candidate’s state of residence generally has no effect on how a presidential candidate performs in that state,” Politico Magazine found in April.

debates

Pence

Kaine


Input: In an email, Shamir denied that Assange is coordinating with Russia. “The problem is that incredible revelations of emails are totally suppressed by the Clintonesque media,” he wrote. “Instead of discussing Clinton’s hate to ordinary Americans, Clinton’s order to assassinate Assange etc, you discuss whether Russians are involved. Shame!” Assange remains holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London after claiming asylum, where he’s been for four years.

assassinate

Clinton

Assange


Input: A black politician in South Africa has called for a revolution to end “white supremacy” of landownership with a “land grab” – a move similar to Robert Mugabe’s policy in Zimbabwe. Andile Mngxitama, the leader of Black First Land First has set out a list of demands that include “land expropriation without compensation” and nationalisation of the mainly white-owned mines and banks. Whites own an estimated 80 per cent of farmland.

land grab

white supremacy

politician

land

South Africa


Input: Never before has one major-party U.S. presidential candidate threatened to jail his or her opponent. It is the kind of statement usually made in despotic countries, where losing candidates often end up in prison. The town hall format allowed Trump to stalk the stage, lurking behind Clinton as she answered questions, and he muscled his way into directly confronting the Democratic nominee on issues such as her emails and her modest record of accomplishment in Congress. He proudly admitted that he had indeed used $ 916 million in tax write-offs against his income, but attacked Clinton for not changing the very law he used. Asked by a Muslim woman what he would do to reassure her community, Trump defiantly ― almost contemptuously ― told her that it was her duty to inform the police if she saw any evidence of “radical Islamic terrorism.” He almost sneered when he said it.

emails


Input: Armenians gave the greatest harm to the Turkish people, by the massacring them during the First World War. In this period, the Armenians spied for the Russians, they fled from their military service, by not obeying the mobilisation orders, and those Armenians who were taken under arms joining onto the Russian Army, with their arms, and they thus committed collectively the guilt of being “treacherous to the land “. The paper’s decision to publish the ad met with criticism online, with frequent comparison to a hypothetical ad denying the Holocaust. The WSJ would not print an ad from a group denying the Holocaust, which is equally well established. Awful judgment.

Holocaust


Input: So what we would like to see is Congress to act quickly, to act consistent with the urgent needs that our public health professionals say exist. So if there were a way to design a package that had strong bipartisan support that could be quickly and easily resolved that included pay-fors, I would n’t rule that out of hand. But given how long it has taken to just discuss the funding in and of itself, I find it hard to imagine a scenario in which there is n’t a protracted debate about the pay-fors. That protracted debate at this point is frankly not something that we can afford. The fact is there is no debating among scientists that Congress needs to act urgently so that we can prepare for this emergency.

funding

Congress


Input: Likewise, while we have heard a great deal recently about Russian hacking — most likely Russian government-supported hacking — of emails and other communications, we’ve heard rather less about the hacking of high-level Russian communications by ill-defined groups like Anonymous International and a collective that calls itself Shaltai Boltai, or Humpty Dumpty in Russian. Much of the information about Marine Le Pen’s National Front getting Russian money as a seeming quid pro quo for supporting the Crimea invasion in 2014 came from this group, for instance. It also carried out impish attacks like the hacking of Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev’s Twitter account in August 2014, when his 2.5 million followers thought they saw him tweet: “I’m resigning. I’m ashamed of this government’s actions. Forgive me.”

resigning

I’m

Russian Prime Minister


Input: Mike Pence, do n’t agree on the way forward. But the more important takeaway from Sunday night’s presidential debate is that Trump does n’t grasp the basic facts of the situation, does n’t understand the history of the conflict and does n’t seem curious enough to figure it out. Monday morning, the Trump campaign was in full spin mode trying to pretend that Trump and Pence did n’t openly disagree on whether or not the United States should consider using military force against the regime of Bashar al-Assad to stop the slaughter of civilians in Aleppo. On CNN’s New Day, Pence accused moderator Martha Raddatz, of ABC News, of mischaracterizing his statements from his own national debate last week. In fact, Raddatz asked Trump repeatedly to address the same question Pence answered.

slaughter

regime of Bashar al-Assad

civilians

Aleppo


Input: A large part of the success this diplomatic solution was due to Clinton successfully convincing both China and Russia to join the United States in its calls for stricter sanctions against Iran. These sanctions were approved by the UN Security Council in June of 2010 in what President Barack Obama called "the toughest sanctions ever faced by the Iranian government." By getting these sanctions in place and despite constant fear mongering and war cries from neo-Conservatives, Iran eventually did come to the negotiating table and the Obama administration was able to work out its historic Iran Deal in a case where diplomacy proved to be the correct course of action. And lastly, we would be remiss not to mention Hillary Clinton's involvement in opening up Cuba, something that has only now come to light. The reason, again, is that sometimes the seeds of democracy take several years to bloom.

negotiating

Obama administration

Iran


Input: In Washington, the DCCC said early on Friday it had hired cyber security firm CrowdStrike to investigate. “We have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network,” the DCCC said. “We are cooperating with federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation.” The DCCC had no additional comment late on Friday. Officials at the DNC did not respond to requests for comment.

investigation

with federal law enforcement

DCCC

Washington


Input: But the neocon empire struck back in 2014, with Assistant Secretary Nuland orchestrating a “regime change” in Ukraine on Russia’s border and with the neocon-dominated opinion circles of Official Washington placing the blame for the Ukraine crisis on President Putin’s “aggression.” Faced with this new “group think” and still influenced by liberal interventionist advisers such as Susan Rice and Samantha Power Obama joined the chorus of hate-talk against Putin, ratcheting up tensions with Russia and agreeing to escalate covert U.S. support for Syrian rebels seeking the long-held neocon goal of “regime change” in Syria. However, Obama continued to collaborate behind the scenes with Russia to achieve an agreement to constrain Iran’s nuclear program — to the dismay of the neocons who wanted instead to bomb-bomb-bomb Iran on their way to seeking another “regime change.” Bashing Iran As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was a hawk on the Iranian nuclear issue.

bomb

neocons

Iran

bomb

Iran


Input: He has his own set of strange beliefs. He admires dictators and may well be heavily influenced by one. Trump’s web of ties to Putin, who has a record of attempting to manipulate foreign elections, looks even more dangerous considering his green light to Russia to annex the Baltic NATO states. In light of the risks presented by Trump, who might break the rule of law and the democratic form of government, his party has offered a strange message. Rather than tamp down the fears of what he would do, they have inflamed them.

annex

Russia

Baltic NATO states

Baltic NATO states


Input: It’s hard to know how long it will last. The mania could fade just as quickly as it erupted, once the novelty of it all wears off. But for now, with Putin and his aides heaping outsize attention on the peninsula (they flew in again last month to inspect construction of a Crimea-to-Russia bridge), there is a palpable sense among many here that the place is on the verge of a development boom. Sergey, having watched countless hours of Crimea news coverage on state TV, said he’s convinced the place is destined to be “the next big thing.” Yes, yes, one local said, so big that it’ll eventually rival the French Riviera. “Drop whatever you’re doing, wherever you are, and move to Crimea,” he blurted out excitedly.

inspect

they

construction of a Crimea-to-Russia bridge


Input: He is the master shaper and retailer of Obama’s foreign-policy narratives, at a time when the killer wave of social media has washed away the sand castles of the traditional press. (emphasis added) One of the “overarching plotlines” Rhodes crafted credited Hassan Rouhani’s election in June with signaling a new willingness of Iranians to negotiate that the Obama administration then embraced. Obama, of course, would play the hero; the villains, however, numbered in the thousands, like the cast of “Ben Hur”: neocons, and those darkly loyal to Israel’s interests; partisan Republicans; knuckle-dragging warmongers, and other enemies of the peace. Of course, it was all a lie.

negotiate

Rhodes

Hassan Rouhani


Input: In trenchant comments to news agency Ria Novosti, Saran said," We have conveyed our views to the Russian side that military cooperation with Pakistan, which is a state that sponsors and practices terrorism as a matter of state policy, is a wrong approach. It will only create further problems." While this has been talked about in the government and among experts, this is the first time India has openly chided Russia for its flirtations with Pakistan. In the UN, the Pakistani diplomat trod a beaten path by offering a set of "proposals" that have long been rejected by India- "simultaneous application of IAEA safeguards on all nuclear facilities and bilateral arrangement for their reciprocal inspections, simultaneous accession to NPT, regional CTBT" etc." Just last month, our prime minister underlined Pakistan's resolve to maintain strategic stability in its region ... expressed readiness to agree on a bilateral arrangement," Janjua said. Verma, in response, described the Pakistani proposals as "self-serving" and said it was "ironic that a country whose non-proliferation track record is marked by obstructionism seeks to convince the international community on its self-serving proposals"." It is a matter of record that Pakistan is singularly responsible for blocking the international disarmament agenda and the Conference on Disarmament," he said.

inspections

IAEA

nuclear facilities


Input: They've indicated that they share that view. And what we have challenged the Russians to do is to use their influence with the Assad regime to get them to participate on those talks more constructively. And look, the fact that those talks convened, and the fact that there was, at least for several weeks, a cessation of hostilities that largely held, was a testament to the efforts of the United States and our ability to persuade the Russians to influence the Assad regime. So this is a strategy that has shown at least a little glimmer of progress, a glimmer of hope. And that's why the administration continues to push.

convened

United States

Russians


Input: It’s primary focus is “Dawah” (invitation to Muslims and non-Muslims to Islam) and recruiting Jihadis. The Muslim Student Associations are now on every major university and college campus in America and are now infiltrating high schools, middle schools and even elementary schools.” Guandolo emphasized, “All MSAs should all be shut down and their leadership imprisoned. The failure of the federal government to take strong and aggressive action against the MSAs is yet another indicator of their catastrophic incompetence and criminal negligence.” The Muslim Brotherhood goals and strategies are found on many websites, proclaiming their objective to create and rule a world-wide Islamic Empire, called a “caliphate”.

imprisoned

the federal government

leadership

recruiting Jihadis

America


Input: It can also operate up to 1,000 centrifuges at its mountain facility at Fordow-but these can not be used to enrich uranium. Plutonium production: Iran has agreed to reconfigure its heavy water reactor at Arak, so that it will only produce a tiny amount of plutonium as a by-product of power generation, and will not build any more heavy water reactors for 15 years. Inspections: International monitors will be able to carry out a comprehensive programme of inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities. Sanctions: All EU and US energy, economic and financial sanctions, and most UN sanctions, will be lifted on the day Iran shows it has complied with the main parts of the deal.

inspection

International monitors

Iran's nuclear facilities


Input: In what was surely the most chilling moment of the night, Trump said that Clinton had criminally mishandled her State Department emails, should be “in jail,” and vowed, if elected, to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her conduct in office. Of course he had already decided that she should be in jail, so who needs a prosecutor? Never before has one major-party U.S. presidential candidate threatened to jail his or her opponent. It is the kind of statement usually made in despotic countries, where losing candidates often end up in prison. The town hall format allowed Trump to stalk the stage, lurking behind Clinton as she answered questions, and he muscled his way into directly confronting the Democratic nominee on issues such as her emails and her modest record of accomplishment in Congress.

jail

U.S. presidential candidate

his or her opponent

prison


Input: READ MORE: Did Wall Street Journal ad denying Armenian Genocide cross the line? In Greece, hundreds of ethnic Armenians and sympathizers marched through Athens to denounce Turkey and slam Azerbaijan for allegedly escalating the conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The protesters marched to the Turkish and Azeri embassies in center of the Greek capital waving Armenian flags and carrying signs reading: “Truth will Triumph,”“Azerbaijan Land of Crimes,” and “Hands off Armenia.” Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators in Iran participated in an event at Tehran’s St. Sarkis Cathedral, in which they also urged Ankara to recognize the genocide of Armenians and condemned the recent uptick in hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. “Our demand is that Turkey recognizes the historical truth and accepts legal responsibility for it,” Karen Khanlari, an Iranian-Armenian lawmaker, told RT’s Ruptly video agency.

marched

The protesters

Turkish and Azeri embassies


Input: To make this idea work, you'd need ground troops to defend the safe zone from ISIS and from regime forces. The US isn't interested in putting its own ground troops in harm's way. But the Kurds have objected vociferously to using Turkish troops or Turkish-backed Syrian rebels: They believe Turkey will intentionally select territory that would obstruct PYD military advances. This puts America in a bind: Any plausible anti-ISIS safe zone would require Turkish buy-in, but a Turkish-backed safe zone would alienate the Kurds, whom America also needs. Turkey and the Kurds are too focused on one another to put aside their differences to fight ISIS.

obstruct

Turkey

PYD military advances


Input: This is the third regiment deployed by the Indian army, forming a full brigade. Two previous deployments took place in 2014 and 2015. The regiments – named Tipu Sultan, Maharana Pratap and Aurangazeb – will be positioned in the eastern Ladakh region, where temperaturescould plunge to -45 degree during winter. To make the Russian-made tanks function smoothly at the barren heights and harsh weather conditions, they were even kept running during the nights." The vast flat valleys along the mountain ranges allow for armoured movement; besides, there has been an increase in the force levels across the border," an unnamed military official told NDTV.

plunge


Input: Binney told Klein he would likely have faced jail time if he had established a private email server that transmitted sensitive government information while working at the NSA,. Binney stated: “Certainly I’d have all kinds of security violations and very likely fired. And maybe indicted on exposing or compromising classified material. It’s something that civil service people would be put in jail (for).” With his hacking estimations, Binney joins former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said last week the “odds are pretty high” that Clinton’s emails may have been hacked by either China, Iran or Russia.

indicted

I

exposing or compromising classified material


Input: In the video, many found Clinton’s tone to be dismissive, especially in contrast to how Sanders handled a similar situation in Seattle in which two Black Lives Matter protesters stormed the stage. Some justify Clinton’s response believing the interruption to be rude and an inappropriate time. But that is precisely the privileged stances that have allowed black people to continue to be murdered and disproportionately incarcerated at the hands of an unjust government and judicial system that does not value their lives. That is a bigger inconvenience. What are we to make of this video, especially when just days earlier Clinton gave a speech in Harlem where she said:

incarcerated

government and judicial system

black people


Input: “They end up being worse than the people” … What people? What the fuck is he talking about? Perhaps out of sheer spite for his selected number two’s echoing the opinion of a woman he has vowed to imprison if elected, Trump admitted that he has n’t “spoken” to Pence and “disagrees” with this policy. Here, I think, is a historic confession from a major party candidate for the highest office in the world. The lonely man in the tower on Fifth Avenue knows more than the generals and will listen to the best people on so many issues (it’ll make your head spin), but he does n’t even talk to his own running-mate.

vowed

he


Input: The White House’s “force multipliers” were put to work every time the American people got too close to the truth about the Iran deal. This was most in evidence while a few intrepid reporters at the Wall Street Journal or Associated Press broke revelations of numerous radical Obama administration giveaways, especially the Parchin side deal. Iran was allowed to make a deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect itself, and the terms of this deal were never turned over to Congress as the Corker-Cardin law required. Once again, friendly media action covered illegal action. Ignorant journalists who knew nothing but what they had been fed were willing partners in shutting down the debate.

inspect

itself

itself

Iran


Input: Most recently, The Daily Beast questioned the legality of a scholarship program he launched that serves white men. It’s also not the first time this election season that supporters of Trump attempted to draw a line between white LGBT people and LGBT communities of color. The candidate himself repeatedly made the case after the Orlando massacre that the appropriate reaction is a ban on all Muslims entering the country, combined with "extreme vetting" that questions about an immigrant's ideology. Southern Poverty Law Center mentioned several white nationalist groups that seem to be working to bring white sexual minorities into the fold, rallying on an islamophobic agenda. This dangerous conflation of LGBT rights and white power is n’t just tied to the U.S. – as nationalist groups around Europe have touted LGB inclusivity while advocating for white supremacy.

massacre

Orlando


Input: US officials acknowledged there might no longer be any agreement left to salvage after the convoy attack. If the truce is abandoned, it would most likely wreck the last hope of any breakthrough on Syria before the administration of President Barack Obama leaves office in January. A senior Obama administration official said of the ceasefire: “We don't know if it can be salvaged”. “At this point the Russians have to demonstrate very quickly their seriousness of purpose because otherwise there will be nothing to extend and nothing to salvage,” the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, added. A burnt out vehicle is abandoned in the road after the fire (AP)

ceasefire

Russians

We

Syria


Input: TV horror live: A Charlie Brown Christmas gets shot up on air by Mohammed cartoons Democrats vow to burn the country down over Ted Cruz statement, ' The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats ' Russia's trend to sign bombs dropped on ISIS with "This is for Paris" found response in Obama administration's trend to sign American bombs with "Return to sender" University researchers of cultural appropriation quit upon discovery that their research is appropriation from a culture that created universities Archeologists discover remains of what Barack Obama has described as unprecedented, un-American, and not-who-we-are immigration screening process in Ellis Island

bombs

Russia

ISIS


Input: "Among the civilians taken by IS there were people used as human shields but also many who chose voluntarily to leave the town due to fear of reprisals" by the SDF, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. The SDF launched an assault in May on Manbij, on a key jihadist supply route between the Turkish border and IS's de facto Syrian capital Raqa. A woman sets fire to a niqab after she was evacuated with others by the Syria Democratic Forces fighters. (Reuters Photo)The jihadists, who have suffered a string of losses in Syria and Iraq, have often staged mass abductions when they come under pressure to relinquish territory they hold. IS has also booby-trapped cars and carried out suicide bombings to slow advances by their opponents. SDF forces captured Manbij on August 6 but had continued to battle pockets of jihadists in parts of the town. According to the Observatory, 437 civilians, including more than 100 children, were killed in the battle for Manbij and surrounding territory. Around 300 SDF fighters died, along with more than 1,000 jihadists, it said. Pentagon deputy press secretary Gordon Trowbridge said Friday that IS "is clearly on the ropes"." It has lost the centre of Manbij, it has lost control of Manbij," he said. Since fighting for Manbij began, US-led strikes have taken out more than 50 of IS's heavy weapons and destroyed more than 600 fortified fighting positions, Trowbridge said. But the job of clearing the city will be complicated after the jihadists left behind hundreds of mines and booby traps, he added. Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 and has since killed more than 290,000 people and drawn in world powers on all sides of the war. On Friday Russian and Syrian jets pounded rebel positions in and around second city Aleppo. The raids came despite a pledge by Russia to observe a three-hour daily ceasefire in Aleppo to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries.

ceasefire

Russia

Aleppo


Input: And we should not rest easy with a voting system that tells us we only have two lethal choices. We could, in fact, enact ranked choice voting right now in any legislature across the state, that would take the fear out of voting. But the Democrats wo n’t pass it, because they rely on fear to intimidate your vote, which tells you they are not your friend. They do not deserve your vote on that basis alone. AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Jill Stein, you remind me of someone.

intimidate

they

you


Input: According to the Russian Defense Ministry, any airstrike or missile hitting targets in territory controlled by the Syrian government would put Russian personnel in danger. If the Obama administration is insane enough to start ordering airstrikes against Syrian positions, let us hope and pray that the Russians are willing to back down and show restraint. Because if Russian S-300 and S-400 air defense systems start shooting down U.S. military aircraft, that could set off a chain of events that may be unstoppable. And right now the Russians are taking the threat of war with the U.S. very seriously. For example, the Kremlin has ordered all top officials to return to Russia as soon as possible …

shooting

Russians

U.S. military aircraft

Russian S-300 and S-400 air defense systems


Input: Read more here. 11/5 5:47 p.m: Judge denies Democrats ' request to block RNC poll watching A federal judge denied Democrats’ request to issue an injunction against the Republican National Committee for violating a long-standing consent decree that bans the RNC from carrying out a range of poll-watching activities. Democrats had presented evidence that they said showed the RNC was conspiring with the Trump campaign to engage in poll-watching, in violation of the decree. That evidence included Trump’s frequent calls to supporters to closely monitor the polls in "certain areas," which have led to fears that minority voters in particular could be blocked form voting or intimidated.

injunction

federal judge

Republican National Committee

long-standing consent decree


Input: Chelsea Clinton had also reported concerns to Podesta and other Clinton advisors that Band and his recently-launched consulting firm, Teneo, were using her father’s name without his knowledge to contact British lawmakers for clients, including Dow Chemical. In the 12-page memo, Band describes how he and several colleagues spent much of the years after Bill Clinton’s presidency working to fund the Clinton Foundation, which has raised nearly $ 2 billion from individuals, corporations and governments for charities focusing on climate change, economic development, health, women and girls issues and other causes. Band claims in the memo that from 2006 to 2011, he and a colleague, Justin Cooper, raised $ 46 million for the Foundation through the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual networking conference that is one of the Foundation's big sources of income. But the Foundation work was just a part of what Bill Clinton did during his wife’s time as a Senator and Secretary of State, and it was n’t always clear where the former president's non-profit activities ended and his for-profit ones began. Five months before he wrote the memo, Band joined forces with a recently retired State Department envoy, Declan Kelly, to form Teneo, which Band said provided merchant and investment banking services, corporate restructuring, public relations and communications services and strategic advising services to 20 clients, including Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, UBS, Barclays and BHP Billiton, among others.

income

Justin Cooper

Foundation

$ 46 million


Input: “If they didn't pick up, we had to find them," the officer said in his office, showing a Reuters reporter Rabadanov's profile on his computer monitor. The police officer said that during preparations for the Olympics, Rabadanov was listed as a person "with non-traditional Islamic beliefs, Wahhabism" -the school of Sunni Islam known for its strict interpretation of the faith. At one point, Rabadanov had been detained for keeping explosives at his home, according to his father, Suleiban Rabadanov, but had been released shortly afterwards and placed under house arrest instead. Despite being under such restriction, Rabadanov was able to leave Russia: He passed through passport control at a Moscow international airport along with his wife and his son in May 2014, his father and the local police officer said. He later turned up in Syria, his father said.

detained

Rabadanov

Russia


Input: The monitor -- which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information -- says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved. Asked about the Al-Tukhar strike, the US-led coalition said it had "conducted air strikes near Manbij ... recently" and that it was looking into the reports alleging civilian casualties." As with any allegation we receive, we will review any information we have about the incident ... such as the proximity of the location "to coalition air strikes, it wrote in an email to AFP." We take all measures during the targeting process to avoid or minimise civilian casualties or collateral damage and to comply with the principles of the Law of Armed Conflict." Al-Tukhar lies 14 kilometres (nine miles) north of the town of Manbij, a key IS stronghold that has been repeatedly targeted in raids by the US-led coalition.

strikes

coalition

near Manbij


Input: Seven CIA employees, as well as the GID officer, were killed in the attack. Two recent heads of the service, also known as the Mukhabarat, have been sent to prison on charges including embezzlement, money laundering and bank fraud. One of them, General Samih Battikhi, ran the GID from 1995 to 2000 and was convicted of being part of scheme to obtain bank loans of around $ 600 m for fake government contracts and pocketing about $ 25 m. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, but the sentence was eventually reduced to four years that were served in his villa in the seaside town of Aqaba. General Mohammad al-Dahabi, who ran the service from 2005 to 2008, was later convicted of stealing millions of dollars that GID officers had seized from Iraqi citizens crossing into Jordan in the years after the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

loans

General Samih Battikhi

bank

General Samih Battikhi

$ 600 m

Jordan


Input: “As expected, Turkey has reacted, and I hope that we will succeed in the next days and weeks to avoid any overreaction,” he told journalists during a visit to Buenos Aires. ‘Responsibility for the past’ More than 20 nations, including France and Russia, have already recognised the massacre as a genocide, but Thursday’s vote comes at a particularly awkward time. Germany and the European Union are relying on Turkey to help stem a record influx of migrants into the bloc, even as tensions are rising between both sides over human rights and other issues. The resolution, put forward by the ruling left-right coalition and the opposition Greens, was entitled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916.”

genocide

Armenians and other Christian minorities


Input: It also confirmed that recent scanning and probing of state election systems originated on servers operated by a Russian company, though the intelligence community is "not now in a position" to attribute that activity to the Russian government. But a senior administration official told NBC News that intelligence officials do believe the Putin government is behind attempted hacks on election systems, and that they are aggressively trying to confirm that as part of an effort to protect the upcoming vote from outside interference. Although hackers have breached online voter registration databases in Illinois and Arizona, Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence took pains to reassure the public that the chance of the actual presidential election being hijacked is minuscule." It would be extremely difficult for someone, including a nation-state actor, to alter actual ballot counts or election results by cyber attack or intrusion," the statement said." This assessment is based on the decentralized nature of our election system in this country and the number of protections state and local election officials have in place.

hijacked

someone

presidential election

cyber attack or intrusion

this country

ballot counts or election results


Input: HOW SUN-STARVED ASSANGE 'S HEALTH HAS SUFFERED IN EMBASSY The hacker has endured a self-imposed imprisonment in a single room after being given diplomatic asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London’s Knightsbridge. The embassy — strewn with red, yellow and blue Ecuadorian flags — takes up a single floor of an imposing block behind Harrods. Initially, Assange slept on an inflatable mattress donated by embassy staff, who are described as having become ‘like family’ to him. But when it became clear his stay was not going to be temporary, a small room was transformed into his living quarters and a bed installed. He is thought to have stood in direct sunlight for only about 20 minutes during his incarceration, when he emerged on the balcony to address his supporters in August 2012.

donated

embassy staff

Assange

The embassy


Input: The average incident rate for the 28 EU countries is 0.0602 with a 95% confidence Interval of .0257 to .09477. The US rate is 0.078 is higher than the EU rate, but US and the average for EU countries are not statistically different. The average fatality rate for the 28 EU countries is 0.114 with a 95% confidence Interval of -.0244 to .253. The US rate is 0.089 is lower than the EU rate, but they are again not statistically significantly different. There were 55% more casualties per capita from mass public shootings in EU than US from 2009-15

fatality

28 EU countries


Input: U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby stressed Monday night that the Obama administration does not consider the Golan Heights to be part of Israel, one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed they "will forever remain under Israeli sovereignty." "The U.S. position on the issue is unchanged," Kirby told reporters during a daily briefing at the State Department in Washington." This position was maintained by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

vowed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel


Input: So-called liberals and “progressives” have caught the Mad Democratic Cow Disease, frothing at the mouth at those who would resist the coronation of the corporate warmonger, Hillary Clinton. They flail with McCarthyite fury at both Donald Trump and the Green Party presidential ticket of Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka. “Liberals are now quite deranged and applaud a woman who will crush their feeble agenda as soon as she says the oath of office.” Freedom Rider: Liberal Hate for Stein and Baraka by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

oath

the corporate warmonger, Hillary Clinton


Input: Hillary Clinton deliberately undermined government intelligence-handling protocols and ignored Freedom of Information Act requests. FBI director James Comey, after a lengthy investigation, has stated before Congress that Mrs. Clinton was untruthful in her various public explanations about her reckless behavior. We are discovering from her unsecured and once-deleted correspondence more evidence of negligence and unethical behavior — from crossover business between State Department operatives and the Clinton Foundation to quid pro quo favors and discussions about a U.S. informant who was later executed by the Iranian government. Unfortunately, Mrs. Clinton can not distinguish truth from falsehood in areas that transcend the e-mail scandal. She went on record falsely attesting that the Benghazi tragedy was a result of popular anger against a filmmaker.

executed

Iranian government

U.S. informant


Input: Earlier in September, figures suggested South Korea's domestic and export car sales hit a seven-year low of just over 250,000 in August. The figures followed strikes by workers at Hyundai and Kia throughout the summer. Unions demanded bigger wage increases, while a temporary tax cut on new car purchases was canceled in late July. The world's top four car producers are China, the United States, Japan and Germany. Germany's Volkswagen became the global leader in car sales in April this year.

purchases

new car

the United States


Input: “If we win North Carolina, we’ve got this thing, folks,” the Virginia senator said at a microbrewery in Charlotte's downtown. “The bigger we can win by, the harder it is for him to whine and have anyone believe him.” Kaine made the remarks on the first day of North Carolina's early voting period, and prefaced them by attacking the state legislature's passage of a voter ID bill that was struck down by federal courts after a lawsuit found evidence that its advocates wanted to suppress the black vote. In a news conference here, Kaine said that early voting, a post-2000 election innovation available in 34 states and the District, could also limit the risk of voter suppression on Nov. 8. (Three other states — Colorado, Oregon and Washington — exclusively use a vote-by-mail system.)

voting

Kaine

early voting period

North Carolina


Input: In an interview with the BBC at the same Munich conference, Mr Stoltenberg said Russia had changed borders by force and had become more assertive-and that Nato had to be able to respond to threats." We are not in a cold-war situation, but also not in the partnership that we established at the end of the Cold War," Mr Stoltenberg said. Nato, he said, did not want an escalation, but enhanced political dialogue with Russia. Early this month, the BBC broadcast a programme entitled World War Three: Inside the War Room, which imagines a hypothetical Russian attack on its Baltic neighbours-Nato members-and nuclear confrontation.

dialogue

he

Russia


Input: Of the nearly 200 deaths, most were police officers killed in a gun battle with a helicopter near the Parliament complex in Ankara, NTV reported. The building was damaged. Another 1,140 people were wounded. At least 2,839 military officers were detained, a source in the President's office said. The Ankara chief public prosecutor's office took nearly 200 top Turkish court officials into custody, Anatolian News Agency reported Saturday.

wounded

people

gun

Ankara


Input: How Verizon is getting around a saturated wireless market Why the starter home remains elusive as the housing market recovers "China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands and nearby waters," China’s Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement on Wednesday." China resolutely opposes the relevant country illegally occupying parts of China’s Spratly islands and reefs and on these illegally occupied Spratly islands and reefs belonging to China carrying out illegal construction and military deployments.” The United States is also monitoring developments closely.

faxed

China’s Foreign Ministry

China


Input: Social Media Website via Reuters TV BEIRUT Islamic State fighters have captured the pilot of a Syrian warplane which crashed southeast of Damascus on Friday, a news agency affiliated to the militant group said." The pilot, called Azzam Eid, from Hama was captured after he fell by parachute near the site where his plane crashed east of Damascus," the news agency Amaq said. Citing a Syrian military source, Russian news agency Interfax said the plane belonged to the Syrian Air Force and crashed because of a technical fault." The plane had recently undergone repairs ... there was no attack from the ground.

captured

militant group

Azzam Eid

east of Damascus


Input: Based at Dubai airport, the low-cost airline has a strong safety record, although one of its planes was hit by a bullet as it landed in Baghdad airport in January 2015, prompting multiple companies to suspend flights to the Iraqi capital. No one was hurt in that incident. Russian airports have a patchy safety history with the fatal private jet crash in 2014 that killed Total oil giant’s boss Christophe de Margerie on take-off in Moscow one of a string of incidents. The last major aviation tragedy involving Russia was in October last year, when a passenger jet on its way from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh resort to Saint Petersburg was brought down by a bomb in the Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board, the vast majority of them Russian, were killed, with the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State group claiming responsibility for the attack.

fatal

crash

Total oil giant’s boss Christophe de Margerie

Moscow


Input: That makes it a lot easier for neoreactionaries to defend their narrative of Western decline and democratic failure. If you look at the numbers, the Whig theory of history — with some faults and starts, everything's getting better — appears to be basically right. Extreme poverty is at historic lows, hunger and infant mortality are plummeting, life expectancy is going up, war is on the decline, education is more available, homicide rates are down, etc. But what if those numbers are all lies produced by biased Cathedral sources in academia and propagated by Cathedral tools in the media like Vox? What then?

homicide


Input: But the main issue, as I’m sure Gordon and Ian will agree, is to stop the war in Syria and prevent more innocents from suffering and losing their lives and homes. I think the flopped coup, which is pushing Turkey out of the NATO orbit and into the waiting arms of Iran and Russia, is likely to help achieve that. What’s more, I hope and expect that US refusal to extradite CIA stooge Gulen will help the AKP and its allies turn Turkey into a truly independent democratic Islamic republic like Iran, just as Carter’s refusal to extradite the Shah helped consolidate the original democratic Islamic republic. And if Erdogan does consolidate power and avoids war crimes prosecutions … well, he is WAY down the list of war crimes perps as far as I am concerned. Let’s clean house here in the USA (starting with the Israelis / assets who own us and who did 9/11) and THEN move on to the smaller-time far-away crooks like Erdogan, whose apparent victory is not really about him, but about the Turkish people saving their decades-old movement toward Islam / democracy and independence from NATO-Zionist occupation.

extradite

Carter

Shah

US


Input: Mackenzie Eaglen, a defense analyst at AEI, estimated the tab to be $ 50 billion to $ 60 billion per year above the current budget caps. “It is highly unlikely the next president would be able to push through a defense spending increase of this magnitude given all of the other pressures on the federal budget,” Harrison said. “It would require some combination of more borrowing, offsetting spending cuts elsewhere, or tax increases — none of which have been politically viable for the past five years." Former House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), who retired from Congress in 2015, said he thinks Trump’s new proposals for strengthening the military could help win over some in his own party who remain wary of his approach to national security. “I hope so.

borrowing

budget

the next president

$ 50 billion to $ 60 billion per year


Input: And unless there was some new comment today, I don't have anything to add,” McConnell said. His answer left reporters frustrated but won kudos from his colleagues. “Mitch’s answer was textbook,” beamed one Republican senator, discussing his appearance on “Meet the Press.” CNN’s Erin Burnett asked McConnell in an interview if Ryan went too far in calling Trump’s comments racists. But McConnell declined to criticize, reflecting the broader feeling in his caucus that the GOP has been too consumed by infighting this year.

discussing

Republican senator

Meet the Press


Input: AFAD said as of Monday afternoon, 3,648 people had already crossed through Pulluyazi, a village near the border town of Yayladagi in Hatay province. The influx has accelerated since Jan. 24, when Rabiya, a rebel-held town in Latakia province, was captured by Syrian pro-government forces. The Syrian government's military campaign came as the U.N. struggled to convene the first peace talks in two years in Geneva, where opposition representatives are seeking a halt to attacks on civilian areas, the release of detainees and a lifting of blockades. Most of Syria's pre-war population have been forced out of their homes by the war, 5 million as refugees and 6.5 million displaced within the country." On average, since 2011, 50 Syrian families have been displaced every hour of every day," UNHCR said in its latest Syria report.

convene

U.N.

representatives

Geneva


Input: Dozhd soon found itself the subject of a Kremlin smear campaign and was booted from its offices in an old Moscow factory. The coup de grâce for Dozhd came in 2014 when one of its programs asked viewers how they felt about the siege of Leningrad, which resulted in a half-million deaths during World War II. Should the Russians have capitulated to save lives, journalists asked. Putin immediately accused the TV station of “neo-Nazi” tendencies and a lack of patriotism. Overnight, cable stations across the country dropped Dozhd, virtually shutting it down.

capitulated

Russians

Nazi

Leningrad


Input: Simultaneous slowdown in Brics economies would jeopardise chances of pick-up in global growth this year, report says The risk of the global economy being battered by a “perfect storm” in 2016 has been highlighted by the World Bank in a flagship report that warns that a synchronised slowdown in the biggest emerging markets could be intensified by a fresh bout of financial turmoil. The Bank said the possibility that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the so-called Brics economies – could all face problems simultaneously would put in jeopardy the chances of a pick-up in growth in the coming year. It added that the impact would be heightened by severe financial market stress of the sort triggered in 2013 by the announcement by the Federal Reserve that it was considering reducing the stimulus it was then providing to the US economy.

battered

global economy

perfect storm


Input: The man Masri would replace, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a separate message also expressed support for the decoupling and called for infighting between jihadist groups to end. Golani said the change does not represent an ideological split. Instead, it was intended to remove the excuse used by the international community -- led by the United States and Russia -- to "bombard and displace Muslims ... under the pretense of targeting Jabhat al Nusra." The group emerged in late 2011 during the early days of the Syrian civil war and was initially largely made up of battle-hardened Syrians who had traveled to Iraq to fight U.S. troops during the American engagement there. It has become one of the most effective factions fighting the Syrian regime and currently controls swaths of northwestern Syria.

bombard

the international community

Muslims

the excuse

northwestern Syria


Input: Afterward, prosecutors would have to persuade a judge to block the sale permanently. Lynch said such an amendment would give the federal government the ability to stop a sale to somebody on the terror watch list. Meanwhile, thousands of people packed Lake Eola Park in Florida Sunday evening for a vigil to honor the victims of the shooting. The park was filled with people holding white flowers, American flags and candles. At the end of the gathering, people held up their candles as the name of each victim was read, creating a ring of fire around Lake Eola.

shooting

victims

Florida


Input: Considering the reactions of lawmakers so far though — even among Republicans who stabbed voters in the back by campaigning on a platform of stopping Obama, then empowering him with “Fast Track” authority to ram TPP through Congress — the White House is likely to face major hurdles in getting TPP ratified before the November election, if ever. Even the most “progressive” members of Obama's party are fervently denouncing what Obama called the “most progressive trade agreement in history.” On Obama's side of the aisle, for example, more than a few left-wing Democrats are urging their colleagues to stop Obamatrade. “Congress will have to vote straight up or down on TPP. We wo n’t have a chance to strip out any of the worst provisions, like [supranational kangaroo courts allowing mega-corporations to sue taxpayers for their decisions on how to govern themselves],” said far-left Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.

urging

more than a few left-wing Democrats

their colleagues

On Obama's side of the aisle


Input: USA TODAY 11 of 22 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE PANAMA PAPERS Obama, World Leaders React to ' Panama Papers ' | 1:48 Governments around the world are trying to contain the fallout from the publication of thousands of names of rich and powerful people who conducted offshore financial activity through a Panamanian law firm. (April 5) AP 12 of 22 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE PANAMA PAPERS These politicians have links to the Panama Papers | 1:22 Here are 12 of the 140 politicians worldwide who have been linked to Mossack Fonseca either directly or by association. Video by Jasper Colt and Caleb Calhoun, USA TODAY 13 of 22 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE PANAMA PAPERS ' Panama Papers ' force Iceland's PM to resign | 0:39 After leaked files showed the premier's wife owned an offshore firm with big claims on Iceland's collapsed banks, the deputy head of his party said on Tuesday Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson will step down. USA TODAY 14 of 22 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE PANAMA PAPERS The Panama Papers: What you need to know | 0:42 Here are the basics of what the Panama Papers leak is all about. Video by Jasper Colt, USA TODAY 15 of 22 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE THE PANAMA PAPERS The ' Panama Papers ' possible impact on banks | 3:32 John Haynes, head of research at Investec Wealth & Investment, discusses the state of financial services system and possible impact from the leak of the ' Panama Papers '.

resign

Iceland's PM

Iceland

Iceland


Input: An ABC News / Washington Post poll shows Clinton's lead is 2 percentage points -- with likely voters split 46% for Clinton, 44% for Trump, 5% supporting Libertarian Gary Johnson and 1% for the Green Party's Jill Stein. That's well within the poll's 4.5 percentage point margin of error. Clinton's debate prep sessions Saturday went late into the night, with her motorcade only returning to her Chappaqua, New York, home at 11:45 p.m. ET. Clinton, along with her top aides, is continuing debate preparations on Sunday at a hotel and conference center in Rye Brook, New York, while both she and Trump are separately meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

debate

Clinton


Input: Men stand near a hole in the ground as they inspect the damage after airstrikes by pro-Syrian government forces in the rebel held al-Sakhour neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria February 5, 2016. REUTERS / Abdalrhman Ismail BEIRUT Tens of thousands of Syrians fled an intensifying Russian assault around Aleppo on Friday, and aid workers said they feared the major city could soon fall under a full government siege. Iran reported one of its generals had been killed on the front line, giving direct confirmation of the role Tehran is playing along with Moscow in what appears to be one of the most determined offensives in five years of civil war. The government assault around Aleppo, and advances in the south and northwest, helped to torpedo Geneva peace talks this week.

fled

Syrians

Aleppo


Input: And to decide whether we the people are guilty of violating their sacrosanct right to future profits — since when is the right of future profit-making a sacrosanct right of corporations that trumps our right to democracy? It is utterly mind-boggling that such a bill is even being considered. You've seen a vast expansion of the surveillance state in the U.S., and in Canada as well through Bill C-51. What do you think is behind all of this? The war abroad tends to create a war at home.

surveillance

U.S., and in Canada

U.S., and in Canada


Input: MORE may offer if elected. ADVERTISEMENT "I promise you that we will, we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton — if she were president — would put up," the Arizona Republican told a Philadelphia radio station on Monday." This is why we need the majority." To win control of the Senate, Democrats need to pick up four seats on Nov. 8, or five if GOP nominee Donald Trump Donald TrumpLewandowski near ' high six-figure book deal ': report GOP fires opening attack on Dem reportedly running for Heller's Senate seat Overnight Tech: Trump seeks tech's help for ' sweeping ' IT overhaul | FTC looks to block sports fantasy merger | Firm exposes nearly 200 M voters ' data MORE wins the White House, a goal they expressed confidence in achieving last week.

promise

I

you

Philadelphia


Input: — He claimed there is no proof the Russians are responsible for recent cyberattacks and that it might just as easily be some 400-pound guy sitting on a couch. Uh, no, Donald — not unless the 400-pound fellow is a Russian hacker. — Trump reiterated his constant excuse for refusing to show his income tax returns, insisting an IRS audit prevents it. Actually, that is not the case. He could do it anytime he wants, just as presidential candidates have done for decades.

reiterated

Trump


Input: There are only around 30 doctors in east Aleppo left to care for thousands of people in need of emergency and other medical care. Their job is complicated by the fact that equipment and drug stocks are beginning to dry up. Horrific images of surgeries being carried out on floors slick with blood in makeshift clinics and reports of amputations carried out because there is n’t time to save limbs have shocked the world and led the UK, US and France to accuse Russia of war crimes for its complicity in bombing built-up civilian areas. Russia used its position as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to veto a resolution to reimplement a ceasefire last week. Both Damascus and Moscow maintain that air strikes are targeted at US-backed and al-Qaeda affiliated rebels in east Aleppo who use civilians as human shields.

surgeries

people


Input: As dangerous as Trump’s disinformation is, fact-checkers in the press have challenged it all the way. The Snopes website has bird-dogged it, too. Any literate, rational and inquiring person can see the campaign’s disinformation demolished by making a few clicks. But the political disinformation storm can be intercepted only if readers are determined enough to double check the crap produced online, repeated on TV or propelled out of Trump’s mouth. A fact-check accomplishes little if few people read it.

demolished

person

disinformation

a few clicks


Input: The ceasefire is the second negotiated by Washington and Moscow since Russia joined the war in September 2015. But while it led to a significant reduction in fighting at the outset, violence has increased in recent days and aid has mostly failed to arrive. Plans to evacuate several hundred rebels from the last opposition-held district of Homs city have also overshadowed the agreement, with rebels saying it would amount to the government declaring the ceasefire over. The Homs governor said the plan had been postponed from Monday to Tuesday. Washington and Moscow back opposite sides in the war between Assad's government and the insurgents, while both oppose the Islamic State jihadist group.

evacuate

rebels

Homs city


Input: Fifty-three percent said they think Clinton will win this November, while 31 percent said Trump and 16 percent were unsure. “In Iowa, there is a marked difference between what voters will do at the polls and what voters think others will do at the polls,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston. Suffolk University conducted its latest sampling of 500 likely voters in Iowa via telephone interviews from Aug. 8 to 10. The survey has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. Iowa went for President Obama during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.

telephone

Suffolk University

500 likely voters

Iowa


Input: Still, the regime’s return to using them is unusual and may be due to the importance it attached to this particular battle. It also may be due to Assad’s confidence since Russia began pouring in massive military aid last September. With Russian backing, the Assad regime has been carrying out more conventional massacres as well. In the past week, hundreds of people were killed in the heavy bombing of Aleppo, including more than 50 people killed in a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders. Eyewitnesses said the hospital was deliberately hit in several rounds of bombing.

massacres

Assad regime

people

heavy bombing

Aleppo


Input: Unfounded rumors about vote rigging, spreading in viral speed on the Internet, have even forced state officials to play the role of fact checkers. One fake news article moved so quickly last week that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted felt compelled to issue a statement attempting to debunk a widely circulated story that purported to show “one dozen black, sealed ballot boxes filled with thousands of Franklin County votes for Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates.” “This post is both false and intentionally misleading,” Husted, a Republican, said of the article posted on christiantimesnewspaper.com. He pointed out that the picture accompanying the story was a “slightly doctored version of a photo used in a 2015 article about election results in the United Kingdom.” “A Christian myself, I take offense to reading such unbelievable lies from a publication alleging Christian ties,” Husted said.

misleading

post


Input: On Thursday, the House speaker, Paul Ryan, distanced himself from Trump’s remarks, accusing Putin of conducting state-sponsored cyber-attacks “on what appears to be [the US] political system”. “Vladimir Putin is an aggressor who does not share our interests,” Ryan told reporters at a press conference in Washington. “Vladimir Putin is violating the sovereignty of neighboring countries. He is acting like an adversary.” Ryan, who has endorsed Trump, grew frustrated by questions about the Republican nominee’s remarks.

violating

Vladimir Putin

neighboring countries


Input: Lopez-Sanchez, who is in the U.S. illegally, has a history of felony convictions and has been deported five times. ADVERTISEMENT Critics of the sanctuary laws say such policies encourage people to immigrate to the U.S. illegally at the expense of citizens. “A refuge for whom? A sanctuary for whom?” Rep. Trey Gowdy Trey GowdyHouse Dems: ' Does not appear ' Flynn disclosed trip to Middle East Chaffetz: Trump administration ' almost worse ' than Obama's on transparency Gowdy: Mueller a ' quintessential straight arrow ' MORE (R-S.C.) said.

immigrate

U.S.

people

U.S.


Input: Trump told the audience," If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do," adding:" Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know." (The Washington Post) The Muslim ban, the David Duke denial, the “Mexican” judge flap, the draft dodger denigrating John McCain’s military service, the son of privilege attacking an immigrant Gold Star mother and the constant revisionism and lying about past political positions taken are but a few of the lowlights that have punctuated Donald Trump’s chaotic chase for the presidency. Any one of these offenses would have disqualified any other candidate for president. But the Republican nominee remained competitive against a historically weak Democratic nominee on the promise of bringing radical change and dramatic disruption to Washington.

lying

Donald Trump

presidency


Input: At the Security Council Wednesday, Lavrov said Russia always put as a top priority the resumption of the inter-Syrian political dialogue without any preconditions. And he called for a "thorough and impartial" investigation into Monday's bombing, which left the convoy of trucks in a twisted wreck of smoking metal. And he urged his counterparts at the meeting to "refrain from emotional comments." US officials have fingered Russia as the perpetrator of the attack based on intelligence and reports from the ground. Kerry cited eyewitnesses who said that "all of a sudden, the place became hell and the fighter jets were in the sky."

urged

Lavrov

his counterparts

the meeting


Input: Russia on Friday failed to win re-election at the UN Human Rights Council during a vote that capped a campaign by rights groups to reject Moscow over its role in the war in Syria. The UN General Assembly elected Hungary and Croatia instead to represent eastern Europe at the rights council, in a major upset for Moscow which has been a member for all but one year since the council was set up in 2006.The 193 member-states voted to fill 14 seats at the 47-nation council, which is tasked with monitoring and investigating rights violations worldwide. More than 80 human rights and aid organizations had urged UN member-states to vote Russia off the council for its military support of President Bashar al-Assad in the war in Syria. Russia has been accused by western powers and rights groups of indiscriminate bombings in the monthlong Syrian government operation to seize rebel-held eastern Aleppo. Some 250,000 civilians in east Aleppo have been living under siege since July and food rations are expected to run out soon, the United Nations has warned. Russia picked up 112 votes, while Croatia won 114 and Hungary 144. The three countries were competing for two regional seats. Human Rights Watch had warned that the return of Russia and also of Saudi Arabia risked weakening the council in its work to hold abusers to account. Saudi Arabia, which was re-elected with 152 votes, was almost guaranteed to retain its seat as part of a clean slate of four countries vying for four regional seats. China, which has been criticized for its rights abuses, was also re-elected, while Cuba and Egypt, also cited for their dubious rights records at home, won seats as well. Croatia, Iraq and Rwanda were elected for the first time. The other elected members were Brazil, Britain, Japan, South Africa, Tunisia and the United States.

urged

human rights and aid organizations

UN member-states

UN


Input: "The United States stands firmly with the people of Ukraine in the face of continued — and I emphasize continued — aggression from Russia and Russian-backed separatists," Biden said in November. So the official position of the U.S. government is that the Russian annexation of Crimea is illegal and dangerous. Trump, though, left open the possibility Wednesday of simply recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and even perhaps lifting related sanctions. And not only that, but a top Trump foreign policy adviser has previously said, in an interview with Bloomberg, that Russian business interests have expressed excitement to him about the prospect of a President Trump easing sanctions: A globe-trotting American investment banker who's built a career on deals with Russia and its state-run gas company, Carter Page says his business has suffered directly from the U.S. economic sanctions imposed after Russia's escalating involvement in the Ukraine.

sanctions

Trump

Russian business

Russia


Input: He then proceeds, in all seriousness, to praise the late Muammar Qaddafi of Libya and regret that Hillary Clinton was complicit in removing him rather than working with him to combat terrorists. For good measure, he adds a few words about how Bashar Assad can be an asset in the war on terror. When all is said and done, despite his strongly pro-Israel rhetoric, Cruz, like Trump, advocates for a new version of fortress America. And what of Hillary Clinton? In her long public career, she has been a champion of what David Brooks calls “prudent globalism.” In short, she is everything that Sanders, Trump, and Cruz are not.

advocates

Trump

new version of fortress America


Input: A pair of American F-16s fighter-bombers and another pair of A-10 ground attack planes struck Syrian troops encircled by ISIS near Deir ez-Zor airport. Deir ez-Zor is a city in eastern Syria which has been continuously besieged for three years now, first for a year by the anti-Assad coalition and for the past two years by ISIS. The city's residences represent the largest community in Syria under siege (but you won't read much about them) and can only receive limited supplies via air (meaning that with the humanitarian's no-fly zone its inhabitants would starve and be overrun by ISIS). Ironically the city is home to an Armenian Christian minority which stems from the rare survivors of death marches from their homeland into the Syrian desert that Armenians were subjected to by the Ottoman Empire during WWI -- those who miraculously avoided annihilation in 1915 may still be eradicated in 2016 -- all under the watchful gaze of Washington. Americans have explained that "coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit" and added that "the coalition will review the strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned".

supplies

supplies

air

Syria


Input: There is a campaign in the United States and in Israel to literally outlaw any advocacy of a boycott movement against Israel, similar to the boycott and divestment and sanctions campaign that brought down Israel and the United States’s closest ally, which was the apartheid regime in South Africa. Now you can certainly raise objections to the tactic of boycotting Israel, and lots of people have, but to render it illegal depends upon this grotesque equating of an advocacy of a boycott of Israel with anti-Semitism and then saying that because anti-Semitism should be banned from universities or from private institutions, that it should be literally outlawed, to ban advocating the boycott of Israel, as well. And people in Europe are actually being arrested for advocating a boycott of Israel. Students in American universities are being sanctioned and punished for doing so. And what Hillary Clinton did was go before AIPAC and pander, as grotesquely as she typically does, by affirming this line that if you "malign," quote-unquote, the government of Israel and support a boycott of it, in opposition to their decades-long occupation of the Palestinians, it means essentially that you’re guilty of maligning the Jewish people.

boycott

people in Europe

Israel

Europe


Input: POWER PLAYERS IN THE NEWS: The Pope kicked off a six-day tour of Mexico by calling on its president to bring justice to a country racked by corruption and gangs. Francis offered an unvarnished assessment of Mexico’s troubles, including the country’s “drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and human trafficking.” (Joshua Partlow and Gabriela Martinez) In Cuba, Francis met with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill -- the first time two such leaders have met in centuries. The pair urged the international community to protect persecuted Christians around the globe. (CNN) Jim Gilmore ended his presidential campaign Friday night.

met

two such leaders

two such leaders


Input: "Trying to get a court to prevent people from participating in the political process in ways that are protected by the First Amendment." 10/31 11:32 a.m.: North Carolina sued over alleged illegal purge of thousands of voters Voting rights lawyers have filed suit against North Carolina and three counties on behalf of the state's NAACP chapter over what they allege is an illegal purge of the voter rolls. The complaint charges that the counties have been "cancelling the voter registrations of thousands of North Carolina voters who have been targeted in coordinated, en masse challenge proceedings brought in the final weeks and months before Election Day, and whose right to vote has been challenged solely on the basis of a single piece of undeliverable mail, in clear violation of the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”) and other federal laws." A spokesman for the North Carolina Board of Elections didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, but the boards said last week that it believes the removals of voters are legal.

Voting

North Carolina and three counties

thousands of North Carolina voters

the counties


Input: FBI Director James Comey's letter to employees. Clinton's campaign and allies quickly decried the decision's timing, and the candidate herself on Friday forcefully called on the FBI to release the "full and complete facts" about its review." Voting is underway, so the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," Clinton said at a brief news conference in Des Moines, Iowa, adding it was "imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay." Clinton said she was "confident whatever (the emails) are will not change the conclusion reached in July," when Comey said he wouldn't recommend criminal charges in the matter. Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has spent the past several weeks on defense, seized on the issue.

Voting

American people

American


Input: It was the morning of 18 January 1979. The venue: the same quiet inn near Khomeini's compound outside Paris. Khomeini had authorized Beheshti to meet with the generals, Yazdi confirmed. And Zimmermann had an important clarification for the ayatollah. During their second meeting, Washington had warned Khomeini that his "sudden return" would lead to a disaster, as the Iranian military might react "to protect the constitution" which stated in no uncertain terms that the constitutional monarchy was "unchangeable for eternity".

meet

Beheshti

generals

Khomeini's compound outside Paris


Input: (Katie Mettler) -- A 27-year -old Syrian man killed himself and injured 12 others in southern Germany after being denied asylum in the country. He set off a bomb outside an open-air music festival in the city of Ansbach after he was denied entry. Meanwhile, another 21-year -old Syrian refugee in the country was arrested this weekend after killing a woman and injuring several others in a machete attack. GET SMART FAST:

denied entry

man

himself

Germany


Input: THE ENCRYPTION FIGHT IS BACK — As soon as today, the House could vote on an amendment that would block the government from mandating encryption backdoors or conducting searches of information collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for information about U.S. citizens without getting a warrant first. The amendment has been adopted overwhelmingly in previous years (and then was stripped during Senate negotiations), but opponents this time around are raising the specter of the Orlando shooting. “If this amendment were enacted, the Intelligence Community would not be able to look through information lawfully collected under FISA Section 702 to see if Omar Siddiqui Mateen, the Orlando nightclub attacker, was in contact with any terrorist groups outside the United States,” Reps. Devin Nunes and Lynn Westmoreland wrote in a letter to colleagues about the amendment sponsored by Reps. Tom Massie and Zoe Lofgren. Lofgren took issue with that in a statement: “Nothing in the Massie-Lofgren amendment would prevent the Intelligence Community from querying their database for Omar Mateen’s online communications collected under Section 702 – or under any other FISA authority for that matter. The Massie-Lofgren amendment merely requires a warrant be obtained to search a U.S. person’s online communications.”

enacted

Senate

amendment

Senate


Input: “Hillary for prison! She deserves to be in stripes,” Pat Smith, the mother of one of the Benghazi victims, declared from the podium. Chris Christie, in his Star Chamber presentation to the convention Tuesday night, held a mock trial to “hold Hillary Rodham Clinton accountable.” “Lock her up!” the delegates chanted. “We’re getting there,” Christie replied.

trial

Chris Christie

Hillary Rodham Clinton

the convention


Input: Finally this campaign can get back on track with Paul Manafort in charge, said the arms dealer holding a briefcase of cash. — Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) June 20, 2016 Firing Lewandowski = big move by @realDonaldTrump 2 overhaul campaign. But doesn't account 4 fact that Trump's been running show all along. — David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) June 20, 2016

Firing

Lewandowski

campaign


Input: Sanders is running on a domestically oriented platform centered on economic inequality, so it's no surprise his discussion of foreign policy on the campaign trail has been limited to Iraq. But you'd have to be kidding yourself to think the grand overhauls of American banking, education, and health care Sanders lauds in his speeches would make it through a Republican-controlled legislature. Any reforms a President Sanders would pursue would have to be extremely watered-down versions of what he preaches on the stump, which washes away any competitive advantage he would have over a President Clinton or Biden on domestic issues. The realm the next president will exercise the most individual influence over will undoubtedly be foreign policy. This is a realm that demands strong, decisive leadership and a firm command of the issues, especially now.

preaches

he

the stump


Input: Those figures were based on reports from functioning health centers and the true figures were probably much higher, spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said." As of yesterday, we have now only six partially functional hospitals that are in service, only one hospital that offers trauma care services," Chaib told the briefing. WHO still hopes to be able to evacuate sick and wounded from Aleppo, she said. The Syrian government has yet to respond to a U.N. plan for aid convoys in Syria during the month of October, U.N. spokesman Jens Laerke said. (Reporting by Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay, additional reporting by Jack Stubbs in Moscow and Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Ralph Boulton and Angus MacSwan)

evacuate

sick and wounded

Aleppo


Input: 10/31 1:53 p.m.: Dems sue Trump campaign over alleged voter intimidation in four states Democrats are suing the Trump campaign, Trump ally Roger Stone, and four state Republican parties, alleging illegal voter intimidation. The four lawsuits, filed Monday, charge that state parties in Arizona, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania are teaming up with the Trump campaign and Stone to raise unfounded fears about voter fraud and intimidate minority voters. The lawsuits cite the Voting Rights Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act, which aim to prevent voter intimidation. “The campaign of Donald J. Trump, Trump’s close advisor Roger J.

intimidate

voter fraud

minority voters


Input: Capital will move offshore and the wealthier job creators will leave the country. Consider the following: In 40 years of public policy involvement, Clinton has never advocated cutting any government program except defense. Under Obama, federal government spending as a percentage of GDP averaged 22.9 percent, one of the highest ever and the debt he accumulated as a result is more than all American presidents combined — $ 19.7 trillion. However, under a Clinton presidency, the programs proposed so far will likely tip government spending over the 23 percent mark and will increase the debt to the point that it may be unsustainable.

advocated

Clinton


Input: including Iraq, Syria, Cyprus and energy in the eastern Mediterranean,” said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity about Biden’s upcoming meetings with Erdogan and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. [17 things Erdogan has said about journalists] Turkey charges that Syrian Kurdish fighters, known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, share the PKK’s goal of establishing a separate political entity in Kurdish regions of Turkey, Syria and Iraq. To add to the complexity, Turkey has sent troops into northern Iraq near PKK havens, leading Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to threaten to invite Russian planes to strike in the region. Turkish-Russian relations have been strained since Turkey shot down a Russian jet that strayed into its territory from Syria in November.

charges

Turkey

Syrian Kurdish fighters

establishing a separate political entity

Kurdish regions


Input: Back at Piraeus port, where more than 3,000 migrants are camped in pup tents and cargo warehouses facing the Aegean Sea, the smugglers have found fresh quarry. After debarking from the ferry, Mr. Salami said men offered to make false visas, good for entry into the European countries that are members of the Schengen zone of passport-free travel, for € 4,500, “so that we can go anywhere in Europe.” Mirwas Mahmoodi, a 21-year -old Afghan migrant, listened in desperation to some who promised to make a fake ID and put him on a plane to enter Germany “legally” if he paid € 8,000. When he told them he was short of cash, they offered to take him through Macedonian forests for € 1,000 to continue north. “They told me, ‘The border is closed forever,’” he said.

paid

Mirwas Mahmoodi, a 21-year -old Afghan migrant

some

him

€ 8,000

Piraeus port


Input: "We're going to be working very closely with our friends in the Muslim world, which are all at risk for violent attacks," he said. His comments on Muslims and Middle East partners have been lightning rods throughout the campaign. Trump had previously called for a temporary ban on Muslim foreigners entering the United States and suggested that U.S. Middle East allies need to shoulder more of the cost of American military involvement in the region. But he added that these countries also need to acknowledge America's contributions." This has to be a two-way street," he said.

suggested

Trump

U.S. Middle East allies


Input: The IMF warned that slower Chinese growth, a stronger US dollar and the collapse in oil prices could all wreak further havoc in struggling economies like Russia's." The market will be generally driven by global economic sentiment, which does not exactly look hopeful at the moment," said analysts at Alfa Bank. Western sanctions over the Kremlin's support for the separatist insurgency in Ukraine have all but closed access to foreign borrowing for Russia and exacerbated the crisis. Moscow's economic sanctions against Turkey over the downing of a Russian bomber at the Syrian border in November has further complicated matters. Polls and anecdotal evidence show that average Russians have begun saving on food purchases.

borrowing

Russia

Russia