USA

Australia halts Syria airstrikes following Russia warning

Sydney (dpa) – Australia on Tuesday said it had halted its airstrikes in Syria following a warning from Russia that it would target US coalition aircraft after a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane. “As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” a Defence Department spokesman […]

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International, Middle East, USA

McCain Hammers DepSecDef Nominee Shanahan On Russia, Boeing

Patrick Shanahan faces withering questioning this morning by Sen. John McCain WASHINGTON: “Not a good beginning. Not a good beginning,” Senate Armed Services chairman John McCain told the administration’s nominee for deputy secretary of defense this morning. “Do not do that again, Mr. Shanahan, or I will not take your name up for a vote

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International, USA

Bernie Sanders tells supporter to act in ‘unprecedented’ ways to thwart Republicans

Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders says “unprecedented” actions by his supporters must be taken to stop Republicans from passing a health care bill in the Senate. A Facebook Live event Monday with Mr. Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren included a call for unorthodox actions to halt Republican efforts to replace Obamacare, former President Barack Obama’s

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USA

Lawsuit claims San Francisco State, university leaders have history of cultivating campus environment hostile to Jews

Students and local Jewish community members filed a lawsuit Monday against San Francisco State University and the California State University system’s Board of Trustees, alleging that the San Francisco campus of the largest public university system in the country has long cultivated a hostile environment in which Jewish students are “often afraid to wear Stars

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Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Supreme Court rules band may trademark its name, strikes down law banning offensive terms

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court extended trademark protection on Monday to words and names that may be offensive, ruling that the First Amendment right to free speech allows an Asian-American band to call itself The Slants. The unanimous decision will also likely preserve the trademarked and controversial name of the Redskins, Washington’s NFL team. In

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

In Russia probe, Kamala Harris gets buzz as Feinstein works behind the scenes

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein is the power player, but Sen. Kamala Harris is becoming the star. Methodical and measured, Feinstein, D-Calif., is the only Democrat serving on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and Judiciary Committee, putting her in a unique position to influence congressional inquiries into Russia, the 2016 elections, the Trump campaign and

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USA

Netanyahu assails Abbas in tweetstorm on eve of new US peace bid

PM accuses Palestinian leader of lying to the world, ‘poisoning’ minds of Palestinians youth, as Jenin square named after infamous terrorist By Times of Israel staff Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a Likud faction meeting at the Knesset, May 29, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) Amid resurgent US peacemaking efforts and the arrival of two top Washington

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Middle East, USA

What’s behind Qatar’s fight with other Arab countries?

By David Anderson Reprinted from The Moderate Voice NEW YORK — Spats between Persian Gulf nations are commonplace: they’re similar countries with a shared language, religion, and culture. All walk the tightrope between conservative Islam and modern openness to various degrees. Conflicts are often in the differences of how each pursues modernity verses Islam. The Gulf

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Middle East, USA

Skepticism due P.A. on promise to stop aid to terrorists

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump’s straight talk about veneration of violence in Palestinian society has had important consequences.  It was the catalyst for Norway and Denmark to disassociate from the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) habit of naming public spaces for terrorists. UNRWA, the Red Crescent (UAE), and the U.N. secretary general have

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International, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA

Russia cuts communications with U.S. in Syria, threatens to target coalition jets

Russia has shut down a vital communication line with its U.S. counterparts in Syria, threatening to target any aircraft operating above Russian and Syrian regime-controlled territory in the country. Moscow outlined the changes in Syria war policy via a terse statement by officials from the Russian Ministry of Defense released Monday, local news reports state.

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International, USA