Around the World: March 31, 2015

 

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Wrapping up six days of marathon nuclear talks with mixed results, Iran and six world powers prepared Tuesday to issue a general statement agreeing to continue negotiations in a new phase aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord by the end of June, officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

 

The joint statement is to be accompanied by additional documents that outline more detailed understandings, allowing the sides to claim enough progress has been made thus far to merit a new round, the officials said.

 

The talks have already been extended twice as part of more than a decade of diplomatic attempts to curb Tehran's nuclear advance, and the next stage will be presented as a new phase, because most of the parties had ruled out another prolongation of this round.

 

One of the officials said the statement was general in part because differences between the sides remained ahead of a new phase of negotiations toward a comprehensive deal by late June. The second official said other documents will be more technical in nature and will also be made public later in the day.

 

Both demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to comment on the talks.

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton emailed her staff on an iPad as well as a BlackBerry while secretary of state, despite her explanation she exclusively used a personal email address on a homebrew server so that she could carry a single device, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

 

The State Department released a total of four emails between Clinton and her top advisers as part of a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2013 by the AP, which sought Clinton's correspondence with senior advisers over a four-year period relating to drone strikes overseas and U.S. surveillance programs.

 

While limited, the emails offer one of the first looks into Clinton's correspondence while secretary of state. The messages came from and were sent to her private email address, hosted on a server at her property in Chappaqua, New York, as opposed to a government-run email account.

 

They show that Clinton, on at least one occasion, accidentally mingled personal and work matters.

 

In reply to a message sent in September 2011 by adviser Huma Abedin to Clinton's personal email account, which contained an AP story about a drone strike in Pakistan, Clinton mistakenly replied with questions that appear to be about decorations.

 

"I like the idea of these," she wrote to Abedin. "How high are they? What would the bench be made of? And I'd prefer two shelves or attractive boxes/baskets/ conmtainers (sic) on one. What do you think?"

 

 

DETROIT (AP) — Many tractor-trailers on the nation's roads are driven faster than the 75 mph their tires are designed to handle, a practice that has been linked to wrecks and blowouts but has largely escaped the attention of highway officials.

 

Nearly all truck tires have been built for a maximum sustained speed of 75 mph since the middle of last decade, when drivers across the vast majority of the U.S. were allowed to go no faster than 65 or 70 mph.

 

But 14 states, mainly west of the Mississippi River, now have speed limits of 75, 80, even 85 mph in part of Texas. Some of those states acted without consulting the tire industry.

 

Safety advocates and tire experts say that habitually driving faster than a tire's rated speed can generate excessive heat that damages the rubber, with potentially catastrophic results.

 

"It's a recipe for disaster," said James Perham, president of Extreme Transportation Corp., an automobile-hauling company near San Diego that filed a complaint with regulators about Michelin tires after seven blowouts caused an estimated $20,000 to $30,000 in damage to its rigs.

 

 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The fight over "religious freedom" proposals facing increasing criticism from businesses and advocates who call them a license to discriminate against gays and lesbians has shifted toward Arkansas, which was poised to become the second state this year to enact such a measure.

 

A final vote could come as early as Tuesday in the state House on the proposal that would prohibit state and local government from infringing on someone's religious beliefs without a "compelling" reason. Unlike Indiana — where Republicans were working on adding language to clarify the state's recently enacted law after a firestorm of protests — Arkansas lawmakers said they weren't seeking to modify the measure.

 

"There's not really any place to make any changes now," Republican Rep. Bob Ballinger of Hindsville said about his proposal. "If there are questions in two years we can fix it."

 

Hundreds of protesters filled Arkansas' Capitol to oppose the measure, holding signs that read "Discrimination is not a Christian Value" and "Discrimination is a Disease," and chanting "Shame on You" at Ballinger after the measure was endorsed by a House committee.

 

"I believe that many people will want to flee the state and many people will want to avoid our state," said Rita Jernigan, a protester and one of the lead plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging Arkansas' gay marriage ban. "I think it will hit us hard everywhere. I feel like we're moving backwards rather than being a progressive state."

 

 

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — The warnings are strong and security is always tight, but most drivers are versed in the daily routine as thousands of employees and contractors stream through the closely guarded entrance to the National Security Agency.

 

The ordinary start to the work week came to a violent halt Monday, though, when two men dressed as women and driving in a stolen, dark-colored SUV ignored officers' orders at the gate to the spy agency headquarters at Fort Meade in Maryland. Police fired on the SUV, which then rammed into a police vehicle. One suspect was killed. The second suspect was injured, as well as a police officer.

 

Whether the pair wanted to breach the perimeter or the driver was desperate and confused in a security-sensitive area only added to the mystery of the officer-involved shooting.

 

The FBI's Baltimore field office said it was investigating the "shooting incident."

 

"The shooting scene is contained and we do not believe it is related to terrorism," spokeswoman Amy Thoreson said in a statement.

 

 

PARIS (AP) — France's air accident investigation agency says it is examining cockpit entry and psychological screening procedures following the crash of a Germanwings plane in the French Alps that killed all 150 people on board.

 

Authorities say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who in the past had been treated for suicidal tendencies, locked the captain out of the cockpit before flying the Airbus 320 into a mountain during its March 24 flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.

 

In its first statement since the co-pilot's responsibility was established, the French agency known as BEA said Tuesday its investigation was aiming to provide a "detailed analysis" of flight data.

 

The BEA also said it would be studying "systemic weaknesses" that could have led to the crash — notably psychological screening procedures and cockpit-door procedures.

 

 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Despondent over the slow pace of post-war reconstruction, displaced Gazans have begun to return to their damaged homes, patching up the structures with cinder blocks and plastic sheets and living in the unstable and unsafe buildings while they wait for promised aid to arrive.

 

The returns reflect a failure by local authorities and the international community to rebuild Gaza after a devastating war between Israel and Hamas militants last summer. Officials say most of the more than $5 billion of international aid that was pledged never materialized, and returning residents say that small subsidies they received — and their patience — have run out.

 

"We have lost hope. There is no hope and nobody is interesting in helping us," said Mohammed Afana, a 27-year-old resident of Shaaf, a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.

 

An estimated 18,000 homes throughout Gaza were destroyed during the 50-day war, displacing 110,000 people, according to the United Nations. Less than 10,000 people are still living in U.N. schools that have been turned into shelters.

 

Shaaf, located close to the Israeli border, was among the hardest hit districts. Israeli ground forces took up positions on the eastern edges of the neighborhood, and Hamas said that its fighters engaged Israeli forces in the area.

 

 

YAKUM, Israel (AP) — Israeli high school seniors have more on their minds than prom and final exams.

 

With a mandatory three-year military service looming after graduation, Jewish teenage boys, and increasingly girls too, are gearing up for the draft, getting into shape and trying to improve their chances of acceptance into elite combat units. Girls serve two years, but very few are placed in combat positions.

 

Military service has long been a national rite of passage in Israel, with high school students competing to get into the most prestigious combat units. Some train solo, others in groups, to be ready for the pre-draft workouts the military holds for those who want to become air force pilots, naval officers or infantry commandos.

 

The military is Israel's most admired institution, and men serve in reserve units well into their 40s.

 

Ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs are largely exempt.

 

Among secular youth, it is customary to spend afternoons and weekends in military-style training preparations.

 

 

NEW YORK (AP) — The choice of South African comic Trevor Noah as Jon Stewart's replacement on "The Daily Show" advances an intriguing new trend of late-night comic hosts with a more worldly perspective while continuing the longer-running pattern of keeping those jobs filled with men.

 

Comedy Central announced Monday that the 31-year-old Noah will take over from Stewart, who said last month that he will exit the show that has made him a key part of the news and cultural landscape since 1999.

 

Noah follows James Corden — also little-known, also from overseas — who recently began as host of CBS' "Late Late Show" host. Corden is British, as is John Oliver, a veteran of "The Daily Show" who began a well-regarded late-night show on HBO last year.

 

"It says the world is a much smaller place than it used to be," said Michele Ganeless, Comedy Central president. "I think people will connect with him regardless of where he was born and where he grew up, as a citizen of the world."

 

Although he's not from the United States, Noah said in an interview Monday that he's lived in the country "and I've learned to love the place. I'll bring something different because I am different."

 

 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Quinn Buckner says he and his 1976 Indiana teammates aren't chilling any champagne to uncork in celebration of a Kentucky loss.

 

Instead, the nation's last undefeated college basketball team is eager to end the 39-year wait to add another member to the club — even if an old rival is trying to make history in the Hoosiers' backyard.

 

"These are young people who have a terrific opportunity to do something great," said Buckner, an Olympic gold medalist, an NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and now a TV analyst for the Pacers. "I think for me and my teammates, it's hard to pull against young people."

 

Perhaps these Hoosiers feel safe knowing that, two years ago, the NCAA named them the greatest team in college history. Or perhaps it's because their reign has survived so many other threats.

 

Last March, Wichita State was 35-0 when it lost to Kentucky on the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

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