| Why Turkey’s fight with the Dutch is good for nationalists – on both sides Posted: 11 Mar 2017 01:04 PM PST ![Why Turkey's fight with the Dutch is good for nationalists – on both sides]( "Why Turkey's fight with the Dutch is good for nationalists – on both sides") Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan denounced the Dutch government on Saturday as "Nazi remnants and fascists" after it barred his foreign minister from landing in Rotterdam to campaign among Turkish immigrants there, in an unusual eruption of diplomatic antipathies between the NATO allies. "I sent them so they could contribute to your economy," foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN Turk TV, in reference to the roughly 400,000 Turks living in the Netherlands. A pro-Erdoğan rally where Mr. Cavusoglu was scheduled to speak was cancelled, citing security concerns.
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| Will gerrymandering ruling turn Texas blue? Posted: 11 Mar 2017 12:22 PM PST ![Will gerrymandering ruling turn Texas blue?]( "Will gerrymandering ruling turn Texas blue?") In the ongoing struggle over voting rights in Texas, a federal ruling may have given voting rights advocates reason to hope. On Friday evening, a panel of federal judges in the Western District of Texas ruled 2-1 that three Congressional districts must be redrawn. The ruling affects the districts currently represented by Reps. Blake Farenthold (R), Will Hurd (R), and Lloyd Doggett (D).
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| Why Florida judge rejected the ‘stand your ground’ defense in movie shooting Posted: 11 Mar 2017 08:45 AM PST ![Why Florida judge rejected the 'stand your ground' defense in movie shooting]( "Why Florida judge rejected the 'stand your ground' defense in movie shooting") A retired Tampa Bay police captain will face second-degree murder and aggravated battery charges after a judge rejected his petition to dismiss the case based on Florida's "stand your ground" law. The ruling comes as Florida's state senate prepares to vote on a bill that would force prosecutors to prove that a defendant was not acting in self-defense before cases are brought to trial. Recommended: How much do you know about the Trayvon Martin case?
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| Trump fires 46 Obama-era Justice Dept. attorneys. How normal is that? Posted: 11 Mar 2017 07:50 AM PST ![Trump fires 46 Obama-era Justice Dept. attorneys. How normal is that?]( "Trump fires 46 Obama-era Justice Dept. attorneys. How normal is that?") Political appointees are accustomed to leaving their posts with each new administration. On Friday, acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente called the 46 remaining US attorneys who had been appointed under President Obama. Mr. Boente, the top prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia and himself a holdover from the Obama administration, requested these attorneys' resignations, effective immediately.
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| Trump vs. the media: the war over facts Posted: 11 Mar 2017 07:10 AM PST ![Trump vs. the media: the war over facts]( "Trump vs. the media: the war over facts") Not many months ago I was among the millions of moviegoers transfixed and inspired by the work of a small team of journalists at The Boston Globe – the Spotlight Team – who in 2002 told the shocking story of pedophile priests whose vile acts were routinely protected by the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy. For example, in what remains the low point of press freedom in the US, President John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, which, among other things, criminalized criticism of government officials.
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| Break up the family? White House weighs new border deterrent Posted: 11 Mar 2017 05:15 AM PST ![Break up the family? White House weighs new border deterrent]( "Break up the family? White House weighs new border deterrent") When Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly confirmed this week that the Trump administration was considering separating immigrant mothers from their children at the border – a calculated way to deter other families from making the journey to seek refuge in the United States – Lisa Koop immediately thought of the fears and hardships many of her clients faced. For their part, officials say the surge is so large that such a drastic policy is necessary.
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| For students at an American university in Iraq, travel ban debate is keenly felt Posted: 11 Mar 2017 04:00 AM PST ![For students at an American university in Iraq, travel ban debate is keenly felt]( "For students at an American university in Iraq, travel ban debate is keenly felt") The joke did the rounds among Iraqi university students the day after President Trump ordered a travel ban in January on seven mainly Muslim nations – including Iraq. "Hey, are you aware that we are banned from going to America? Congratulations, we are suddenly terrorists!" recalls Mohammed Salh Qadir, a third-year international studies student at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS).
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| Threats to China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, Latin America’s declining left, The shifting role of journalism, What does Trump mean for US role in the world?, Will ‘Scoxit’ follow ‘Brexit’? Posted: 11 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PST ![Threats to China's One Belt, One Road initiative, Latin America's declining left, The shifting role of journalism, What does Trump mean for US role in the world?, Will 'Scoxit' follow 'Brexit'?]( "Threats to China's One Belt, One Road initiative, Latin America's declining left, The shifting role of journalism, What does Trump mean for US role in the world?, Will 'Scoxit' follow 'Brexit'?") "Troubled ports in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, envisioned as part of China's string of pearls linking the Eurasian heartland to the Middle Kingdom, exemplify political pitfalls that threaten Beijing's ambitious One Belt, One Road project...," writes James Dorsey. "And they're winning because those of us who work in traditional journalism don't understand what they're after: the feel-bad factor.... Traditionally, governments are good-news merchants.
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| Readers write: Russian history, politics and science, work of art Posted: 11 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PST ![Readers write: Russian history, politics and science, work of art]( "Readers write: Russian history, politics and science, work of art") Bravo to Fred Weir for detailing how the United States covertly influenced the reelection of Boris Yeltsin in 1996 in his Jan. 30 OneWeek article, "Why Russians have soured on US." The irony is sharp in light of today's hot issue of Russian interference in the US election, and the article is a potent reminder that abuse of power wears no single political party ID. Recommended: Could you pass a US citizenship test? The Monitor showed its well-known balance in covering the issue of climate control in the Feb. 13 Focus story, "For scientists, this time feels different." There is, however, a deeper issue that underpins this story – the use of scientific methods in dealing with a broad range of national challenges.
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| What’s next for the prison at Guantánamo? Posted: 10 Mar 2017 02:51 PM PST ![What's next for the prison at Guantánamo?]( "What's next for the prison at Guantánamo?") Attorney General Jeff Sessions endorsed bringing in new detainees at the Guantánamo Bay facility in a radio interview on Thursday, saying he saw it as a "very fine place" to hold newly captured enemy combatants. "Eventually, this will be decided by the military rather than the Justice Department. President Trump is contemplating an executive order that would send fighters from the self-proclaimed Islamic State, Al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated forces to Guantánamo – a constant feature of several drafts, which at times included reopening CIA prisons and using interrogation techniques harsher than those included in the Army Field Manual, according to The New York Times.
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| Civil engineers give America's infrastructure a D+. Is that credible? Posted: 10 Mar 2017 02:11 PM PST ![Civil engineers give America's infrastructure a D+. Is that credible?]( "Civil engineers give America's infrastructure a D+. Is that credible?") The American Society of Civil Engineers has just confirmed what residents of Flint, Mich., and Oroville, Calif., already know too well: America's infrastructure is in bad shape. On Thursday, the ASCE released its 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, giving a D+ to the physical systems that keep America running. Indeed, the Society has given US infrastructure a D or D+ in each of the six report cards it has issued since 1998.
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