Iran deal is historic, all sides say, but is it a promising ‘new chapter’ or ‘stunning’ error?
Iran deal is historic, all sides say, but is it a promising ‘new chapter’ or ‘stunning’ error?
VIENNA (AP) — Overcoming decades of hostility, Iran, the United States, and five other world powers struck a historic accord Tuesday to check Tehran’s nuclear efforts short of building a bomb. The agreement could give Iran access to billions in frozen assets and oil revenue, stave off more U.S. military action in the Middle East and reshape the tumultuous region.
The deal sets in motion a years-long test of Iran’s willingness to keep its promises to the world — and the ability of international inspectors to monitor compliance. It also sets the White House up for a contentious fight with a wary Congress and more rocky relations with Israel, whose leaders furiously opposed the agreement.
Appealing to skeptics, President Barack Obama declared that the accord “offers an opportunity to move in a new direction. We should seize it.”
Under terms of the deal, the culmination of 20 months of arduous diplomacy, Iran must dismantle much of its nuclear program in order to secure relief from biting sanctions that have battered its economy. International inspectors can now press for visits to Iran’s military facilities, though access is not guaranteed. Centrifuges will keep spinning, though in lesser quantities, and uranium can still be enriched, though at lower levels.
In a key compromise, Iran agreed to continuation of the U.N.’s arms embargo on the country for up to five more years and ballistic missile restrictions for up to eight years. Washington had sought to keep the arms ban in place, while Russia and China joined Iran in pushing for an immediate suspension.
Greece: Revolt over austerity deal reaches Cabinet, Tsipras vows to stay on
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s left-wing government launched a frantic 24-hour effort late Tuesday to push more austerity measures through parliament and meet demands from European creditors as it faced down mounting anger at home.
The belt-tightening measures, which include pension cuts and higher sales tax rates on everything from condoms to race horses, were agreed upon with eurozone leaders to prevent the Greek economy from collapsing, and as part of planned third bailout worth 85 billion euros ($93 billion).
The new measures mean recession-hit Greeks will have to pay more for most goods and services by the end of the week.
Hard-liners in Prime Minister Tsipras’ own Syriza party were in open revolt, and unions and trade associations representing civil servants, municipal workers, pharmacy owners and others called or extended strikes to coincide with Wednesday’s parliament vote.
Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said lead eurozone lender Germany and its allies had acted like “financial assassins” by forcing the deal on Athens, and urged Tsipras to reject it.
In final appeal to jury, prosecutor says theater shooter was sane, intent on mass murder
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — James Holmes was legally sane when he entered a packed movie theater armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, intent on killing as many people as he could, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday in closing arguments at the gunman’s trial.
“That guy was sane beyond a reasonable doubt, and he needs to be held accountable for what he did,” District Attorney George Brauchler said.
In his final appeal to jurors before they begin deliberations, Brauchler again stressed the heavy toll on unsuspecting victims who had gone to see the midnight premier of a Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”
“They came in hoping to see the story of a hero dressed in black, someone who would fight insurmountable odds for justice,” Brauchler said. “Instead, a different figure appeared by the screen. … He came there with one thing in his heart and his mind, and that was mass murder.”
Many of the victims and family members in the courtroom wept as Brauchler showed photos of the dead and wounded and recounted their stories. Josh Nowlan, who was shot in the leg and walks with a cane, pressed his hands into his eyes and shook.
Teen in good spirits, jokes about watching ‘Survivor’ after mountain plane crash
SEATTLE (AP) — With her step-grandparents dead or dying in the burning wreckage of their small plane, 16-year-old Autumn Veatch needed to somehow find her way off the remote, thickly forested Washington state mountainside where they crashed Saturday afternoon.
Bruised by the impact, singed by the fire, fearing an explosion and knowing she couldn’t help the other victims, the girl did what she could: She headed down the steep slope, following a creek to a river. She spent a night on a sand bar, where she felt safer. She drank small amounts of the flowing water, but worried she might get sick if she drank more.
She followed the river to a trail, and the trail to a highway. Two men driving by stopped and picked her up Monday afternoon, bringing her — about two full days after the crash — to the safety of a general store in Mazama, a tiny town in north-central Washington, near the east entrance of North Cascades National Park.
“We crashed, and I was the only one that made it out,” she told a 911 operator, after a store employee called for her. “I have a lot of burns on my hands, and I’m kind of covered in bruises and scratches and stuff.”
As authorities continued searching for the plane’s wreckage Tuesday, aided by clues Veatch provided, they also marveled at the wherewithal of a teenager who managed to survive — and to later joke from her hospital bed about how it was a good thing her dad made her watch the television show “Survivor.”