World European sites where US nuclear weapons held inadvertently revealed in Nato-linked document
Ben Riley-SmithThe Telegraph•
Donald Trump, the US president, has removed America from a treaty that limits the development of intermediate range nuclear weapons – AFPThe European sites where America’s nuclear weapons are stored has been inadvertently revealed in a document published by a Nato-linked body, according to Belgian media reports. The document written by for the Defense and Security Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly made passing reference to the roughly 150 US nuclear weapons being stored in Europe.“These bombs are stored at six US and European bases – Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Büchel in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi-Torre in Italy, Volkel in The Netherlands, and Incirlik in Turkey,” one line read, according to the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. The reference was reportedly contained in the original version of the document which was published in April but has since been removed in a final version which went out last week.The document, titled “A new era for nuclear deterrence? Modernisation, arms control and allied nuclear forces,” was written by a Canadian senator. A Nato official told The Washington Post the document was not from Nato itself – it was published by the group’s parliamentary assembly and added: “We do not comment on the details of Nato’s nuclear posture.”The presence of US nuclear weapons in Europe acted as a deterrent to the Soviet Union during the Cold War and also meant European countries would not need to develop their own versions.However for years the exact locations of the weapons have been a secret – though experts said their presence was widely known in the international community. The faux pas was picked up by the European press. Dutch broadcaster RTL News ran an article headlined: “Nato reveals the Netherlands’s worst-kept secret.” The reporting from De Morgen read: “Finally in black and white: There are American nuclear weapons in Belgium.”
Trump Renews Attacks Against Dem Congresswomen: ‘Pro-Terrorist,’ ‘Vile’ Hayley Miller HuffPost•Trump’s Racist Attack President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued his hate-filled attacks on a group of Democratic congresswomen of color, falsely accusing them of being “pro-terrorist” and “anti-USA.”Trump, who on Sunday launched his racist tirade, fired off a series of fresh tweets apparently aimed at freshman Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.). Omar and Tlaib last year became the first Muslim women elected to Congress.″The Democratic Congresswomen have been spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate,” wrote Trump, who also has falsely accused former President Barack Obama of founding the so-called Islamic State and who propelled the racist birther movement against him.“Horrible, anti-Israel, anti-USA, pro-terrorist & public … shouting of the F…word, among many other terrible things,” the president continued. “Why isn’t the House voting to rebuke the filthy and hate laced things they have said?”
Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump The Democrat Congresswomen have been spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate, & yet they get a free pass and a big embrace from the Democrat Party. Horrible anti-Israel, anti-USA, pro-terrorist & public…..Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump The Democrat Congresswomen have been spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate, & yet they get a free pass and a big embrace from the Democrat Party. Horrible anti-Israel, anti-USA, pro-terrorist & public…..Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump…..shouting of the F…word, among many other terrible things, and the petrified Dems run for the hills. Why isn’t the House voting to rebuke the filthy and hate laced things they have said? Because they are the Radical Left, and the Democrats are afraid to take them on. Sad!Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Omar and Tlaib ― known as “the Squad” on Capitol Hill ― have made headlines in recent months for butting heads with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), calling for Trump’s impeachment, and questioning America’s relationship with Israel.Trump unleashed a racist rant against the lawmakers on Sunday, telling them to “go back” to other countries. Omar, who is black, immigrated to the U.S. from Somalia with her family in 1995. Pressley, who is black; Ocasio-Cortez, who is Latina; and Tlaib, who is Palestinian-American, were born in the U.S.Despite a storm of condemnation, Trump has stood by his “go back” tweets, repeatedly calling on those who are unhappy in the U.S. to “leave.”“I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!” he tweeted Tuesday.“Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party,” he wrote of his targets. “See you in 2020!”Democrats were quick to deride the tweets as racist and unacceptable. Congressional Republicans have been mostly silent about the president’s bigoted remarks, save for a few exceptions.Though Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and other Trump loyalists have steadfastly denied that the tweets were racist, some GOP lawmakers have issued a rare rebuke of the president. Asked Monday whether she believes Trump’s “go back” comments were racist, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said yes.“The Squad” held a press conference Monday to address Trump’s remarks, calling his “go back” home tweet “blatantly racist” and “the agenda of white nationalists.” “We love all people in this country, and that’s why we believe health care is a human right,” Ocasio-Cortez said Monday. “We love all children in this country, and because we do, that’s why we fight for all children through college.”
From left, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., respond to remarks by President Donald Trump after his call for the four Democratic congresswomen to go back to their „broken” countries. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)Trump’s vitriolic tweets on Tuesday feigning outrage over what he claimed were “vile” and “disgusting” comments drew attention to other offensive remarks he has made in recent years.“Hey Mr. President, remember when you bragged about sexually assaulting women, talking about feeling their breasts and genitals, because ‘when you’re a star they let you do it?’” Ocasio-Cortez fired back on Twitter, referring to the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that prompted bipartisan backlash against him ahead of the 2016 election.Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women, including most recently author E. Jean Carroll, claimed his remarks bragging about groping women were simply “locker room talk.”Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez@AOC Hey Mr. President, remember when you bragged about sexually assaulting women, talking about feeling their breasts and genitals, because “when you’re a star they let you do it?”And then you imposed DOE policies to make it harder for sexual assault survivors to report assault? https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1151089268535767042 …Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrumpThe Democrat Congresswomen have been spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate, & yet they get a free pass and a big embrace from the Democrat Party. Horrible anti-Israel, anti-USA, pro-terrorist & public…..Trump on Tuesday claimed the progressive lawmakers used “filthy” language, referencing a comment made by Tlaib in January in which she called Trump “a motherfucker.” Republicans at the time issued statements condemning Tlaib’s choice of words, and she later apologized for “the distraction” her comment caused.Yet Republicans have been largely mum when it comes to the president’s use of expletives and threatening language, including his praise for a GOP lawmaker who assaulted a reporter.At a rally in May, Trump threw out the words “ass” and “bullshit.” Earlier that month, his public remarks included the words, “hell,” “damn” and “crap,” reported The New York Times. Members of his party didn’t appear to care publicly.“No one has debased the civil discourse in this country more than President Trump, and the president really does set the tone in the country,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told the Times. “We see it reflected in our offices by the hateful, belligerent, obscene and violent calls that we get now that we didn’t used to get.”This article has been updated to include additional tweets from Trump.This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
PHOTOS: 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A half-century ago, in the middle of a mean year of war, famine, violence in the streets and the widening of the generation gap, men from planet Earth stepped onto another world for the first time, uniting people around the globe in a way not seen before or since.
Hundreds of millions tuned in to radios or watched the grainy black-and-white images on TV as Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, in one of humanity’s most glorious technological achievements. Police around the world reported crime came to a near halt that midsummer Sunday night.
Astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone in the mother ship while Armstrong proclaimed for the ages, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” was struck by the banding together of Earth’s inhabitants.
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Trump administration blasts WTO ruling on China
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration blasted a World Trade Organization decision Tuesday that could let China levy sanctions on the United States.
The 2-1 decision by the WTO’s appellate body was actually a mixed verdict in a case that dates back to 2007 and is unrelated to the tariffs the administration has slapped on $250 billion in Chinese goods. In its final decision, the WTO agreed with the U.S. that China lets state-owned enterprises (SOEs) subsidize Chinese firms by providing components at unfairly low costs.
But it said the U.S. wrongly calculated the tariffs imposed to punish China for the subsidies. If the U.S. doesn’t recalculate them, China can retaliate with its own sanctions.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the ruling „undermines WTO rules, making them less effective to counteract Chinese SOE subsidies that are harming U.S. workers and businesses and distorting markets worldwide.”
Separately, the U.S.-China are locked in a yearlong standoff over U.S. allegations that China uses predatory tactics — including outright theft of trade secrets — in an aggressive push to challenge American technological dominance.
– UN ‘concerns’ -No US diplomats are based in Iran as the two countries broke off relations in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah.”Foreign Minister Zarif, he uses the freedoms of the United States to come here and spread malign propaganda,” the top US diplomat said.UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that the UN Secretariat was in contact with the US and Iranian missions about Zarif’s travel restrictions and „has conveyed its concerns to the host country.”The United States, as host of the United Nations, has an agreement to issue visas promptly to foreign diplomats on UN business and only rarely declines.Washington generally bars diplomats of hostile nations from traveling outside a 40-kilometer (25-mile) radius of New York’s Columbus Circle.Zarif is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the UN Economic and Social Council, which is holding a high-level meeting on sustainable development.Despite the restrictions, the decision to admit Zarif is the latest sign that Trump’s administration appears to be retreating from its vow to place sanctions on him as part of its „maximum pressure” campaign on Iran.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on June 24 that sanctions against Zarif would come later that week.
Critics questioned the legal rationale for targeting Zarif and noted that sanctions would all but end the possibility of dialogue — which Trump has said is his goal.
Zarif said in an interview with The New York Times he would not be affected by sanctions as he owns no assets outside of Iran.
Man arrested in murder of American biologist in Greece as grisly new details emerge
Greek police have arrested a suspect in the murder of an American scientist who was found dead in an abandoned World War II bunker on the island of Crete last week.The unnamed suspect is a 27-year-old Greek man who was brought in for questioning Monday and was later arrested after he „confessed his crime,” according to Maj. Gen. Constantinos Lagoudakis, director of Police General Directorate of Crete.”He admitted his guilt and today he will be brought to justice,” Lagoudakis said in a statement Tuesday.The suspect claimed that he spotted U.S. citizen Suzanne Eaton walking toward the Evelpidon monument during the afternoon of July 2 and, „motivated by sexual satisfaction,” hit her twice with his car to stop her, according to Eleni Papathanassiou, a spokeswoman for Crete’s police department.The suspect claimed he put Eaton, who was apparently unconscious, in the trunk of his vehicle and drove to the bunker’s ventilation drain, where he raped her and abandoned her there, Papathanassiou said. He then blocked the entrance to the drain with a wooden palette and drove to a nearby graveyard where he „carefully cleaned” the trunk of his car, according to Papathanassiou.”Following the criminal proceedings, the perpetrator has been led to the District Prosecutor’s Office, while awaiting the results of the forensic, clinical and toxicological results of the examinations,” Papathanassiou said in a statement Tuesday.(MORE: Crucial piece of evidence may identify killer of American professor murdered in Greece, police source says)Papathanassiou told ABC News that the suspect is from the town of Kissamos, about 20 miles from the port city of Chania where Eaton was staying on Crete. The suspect, whose father is a priest, lives with his wife and two small children in the village of Maleme, some 10 miles from Chania, according to Papathanassiou.The man was arrested just days after police obtained DNA evidence from nearly a dozen people who live nearby.Eaton, a 59-year-old molecular biologist and mother of two, was attending a scientific conference held at the Orthodox Academy of Crete in northwest Crete when she vanished on July 2. It was that afternoon that Eaton went back to her hostel room after lunch, changed into athletic attire and went out for her daily walk, leaving behind her mobile phone and other personal belongings, police said. She never returned.An organizer of the conference reported Eaton missing to local police on July 4, when she was expected to present findings from her research. Greek authorities, joined by volunteers and Eaton’s loved ones, launched a large-scale search for her in the area, using dogs and helicopters. Her body was found on July 8 in the cave-like bunker, built by Nazis after they occupied Crete in 1941. Her cause of death was ruled a murder by asphyxiation, police said.An autopsy determined that Eaton died at noon on July 2. Her body showed signs of „a violent criminal act and possibly sexual abuse,” Lagoudakis said in his statement Tuesday. She had many broken ribs and face bones as well as multiple injuries to both hands, according to Papathanassiou’s statement.(MORE: American scientist murdered in Crete fought for her life, police say)A police source told ABC News that Eaton fought for her life when she was attacked by someone with a knife. Her body had substantial injuries from a blade that was „defensive” in nature, the source said.Greek state coroner Antonis Papadomanolakis, who examined the body, told Greece’s ANT1 News that „something complicated happened” during Eaton’s death, stating that it was „not immediate” and „there was duration involved.”Investigators searched for men with muscular builds and the ability to overpower Eaton, who was an avid runner and had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. They also requested data records from local mobile phone companies in hopes that they may identify the person or people who left Eaton’s body in the bunker, according to police sources.
Ursula von der Leyen élue de peu à la tête de la Commission européenne
L’Allemande Ursula von der Leyen a été élue de peu mardi 16 juillet par les eurodéputés présidente de la Commission européenne, devenant la première femme à la tête de l’exécutif européen.
La démocrate-chrétienne allemande Ursula von der Leyen a été élue mardi présidente de la Commission européenne par le Parlement européen à une courte majorité, en obtenant 383 voix. Elle devait en obtenir 374, soit la majorité des 747 membres actuellement élus à Strasbourg.
Son prédécesseur, Jean-Claude Juncker, issu comme elle du Parti populaire européen (PPE), le groupe le plus important du Parlement, avait recueilli 422 voix sur les 376 nécessaires en juillet 2014.
Actuelle ministre de la Défense dans le gouvernement d’Angela Merkel, Ursula von Leyen est née à Bruxelles il y a soixante ans alors que son père, Ernst Albrecht, travaillait à la Commission européenne. Elle devient la première femme à en assumer la présidence.
Sa candidature, fruit d’un compromis gouvernemental franco-allemand, avait été fraîchement accueillie par le Parlement, vexé que les candidats proposés par ses principaux groupes politiques aient été écartés les uns après les autres par les chefs d’État et de gouvernement.
Le PPE et Renaissance, le groupe centriste où siège La République en marche, lui avaient promis leur soutien, mais l’extrême droite, les Verts et la gauche radicale refusaient de lui apporter leurs suffrages tandis que le groupe social-démocrate était divisé.
Sa délégation française, qui jugeait les propositions de la candidate insuffisantes et demandait un report du vote à septembre, avait annoncé qu’elle voterait contre.
Finalement, les sociaux-démocrates ont annoncé qu’ils voteraient aux deux tiers en faveur d’Ursula von der Leyen.
Mère de sept enfants et médecin de profession, Ursula von der Leyen est néanmoins créditée d’une fibre sociale et d’une approche libérale sur les sujets de société.
Dans un discours devant le Parlement, mardi matin, elle s’est efforcée de donner des gages à la gauche et aux écologistes sur l’Europe sociale et la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique.
Le collège de 28 commissaires (dont elle-même, soit un par État membre) qu’elle va maintenant constituer, sur la base des candidats proposés par les États, fera l’objet d’un second vote du Parlement, à l’automne, après que les eurodéputés auront auditionné chacun des postulants.
(Avec agences)
Macron demands answers from Iran over academic’s detention
Paris (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called on Tehran to explain why a Franco-Iranian academic based at a Paris university has been arrested in Iran, expressing concern for the woman’s welfare.
The detention of Fariba Adelkhah, a well-known expert on Iran and Shiite Islam at the prestigious Sciences Po university, risks increasing tension between Paris and Tehran at a critical moment in crisis talks to save the beleagured Iranian nuclear programme.
Adelkhah has been denied contact with consular staff, the French foreign ministry said Monday, confirming her dual nationality.
„France calls on the Iranian authorities to shed full light on Mrs Adelkhah’s situation and repeats its demands, particularly with regard to an immediate authorisation for consular access,” the ministry said in a statement.
„What has happened worries me a great deal,” Macron told reporters at a news conference in Belgrade, where he is visiting. „We have been aware of this for some days.
„I have expressed my disagreement and asked President (Hassan) Rohani for clarification,” he added. But he added that France had so far received no meaningful explanation.
Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said he could not confirm the charges.
Adelkhah, 60, is the latest Iranian national with a Western passport to be arrested in Iran.
British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, has been jailed in Tehran since 2016 on sedition charges, a detention that has caused major tensions with Britain.
– ‘Totally unacceptable’ –
Adelkhah’s arrest comes just as Macron is seeking to lead European efforts to find a way of keeping the 2015 nuclear deal alive, which limits Iran’s atomic programme.
Macron has sent an envoy to Tehran twice in the last month and was even rumoured to be considering becoming the first French president in more than 40 years to travel to the Iranian capital.
The landmark deal is at risk of collapsing after US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out unilaterally, leading Iran to violate safeguards that limited its stockpiling and enrichment of uranium.
Jean-Francois Bayart, a French academic and friend of Adelkhah’s, said he and colleagues had alerted French authorities when the anthropologist did not return home from a trip to her homeland as scheduled on June 25.
He said he thought she had been arrested on June 5 and was being held at the Evin prison in Tehran.
„She has been visited by her family. She hasn’t been mistreated, but I’m worried about her because she isn’t physically strong,” Bayart told AFP. „We don’t know how long this totally unacceptable detention is going to last.”
„Iran doesn’t recognise dual nationality, so for them she is Iranian, which is why consular access has not been permitted,” he added. „But talks have taken place at the highest levels between the countries.”
– ‘Talented researcher’ –
Adelkhah was arrested while visiting her mother.
Bayart said that Adelkhah had arrived in France in 1977 to study.
„She’s a free, independent and extremely talented researcher,” he told AFP.
Other Iranian dual nationals jailed in Iran include Iranian-American Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer, who are serving 10-year sentences for espionage in a case that has outraged Washington.
Chinese-American Xiyue Wang, a Princeton University researcher, is serving a 10-year sentence for espionage and US national Michael White, 46, was this year also sentenced to 10 years.
French academic Clotilde Reiss was detained in Iran for 10 months in 2009-10 before being released in a case that attracted widespread attention at the time.
At around the same time as her release, French judicial authorities freed Ali Vakili Rad, who had been convicted of the 1991 murder outside Paris of the ousted shah’s former prime minister Shapour Bakhtiar.
The timing led to speculation about a bilateral deal over the prisoners, though French authorities denied any exchange.
For several months in 2007, Iran detained US-Iranian academic Haleh Esfandiari, one of the most prominent US-based academics working on Iran, who at the time was director of the Middle East programme at the Wilson Center.
Démission de François de Rugy: La ministre des Transports Elisabeth Borne nommée ministre de l’Ecologie
GOUVERNEMENT – Elle gardera également le portefeuille des Transports, sans pour autant prendre le titre de ministre d’Etat de son prédécesseur
La ministre des Transports Elisabeth Borne a été nommée mardi soir ministre de la Transition écologique et solidaire en remplacement de François de Rugy, a annoncé l’Elysée. Elle gardera également le portefeuille des Transports, sans pour autant prendre le titre de ministre d’Etat de son prédécesseur, a précisé l’Elysée.
Elisabeth BORNE
✔@Elisabeth_Borne
La confiance que m’accordent le Président de la République et le Premier ministre est un immense honneur. Déterminée à poursuivre ce combat essentiel qu’est la transition écologique et solidaire. Au travail dès demain, avec @brunepoirson et @EmmWargon ! @Min_Ecologie
« La confiance que m’accordent le Président de la République et le Premier ministre est un immense honneur », a réagi sur Twitter Elisabeth Borne. « Déterminée à poursuivre ce combat essentiel qu’est la transition écologique et solidaire. Au travail dès demain, avec@brunepoirson et@EmmWargon », a-t-elle ajouté.
François de Rugy a démissionné mardi après-midi de son poste, après une série de révélations portant notamment sur des dîners fastueux lorsqu’il était président de l’Assemblée nationale.
