About that Iran "open letter"

March 11, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

Tehran surely understands the separation of powers between Congress and the White House. So why the civics lesson?

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Likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday it would have been better if she had used a government email account and a separate mobile device as US secretary of State, but said the vast majority of her correspondence went to employees using government addresses. Clinton has come under fire for her use of a private email account for official business when she served as the top US diplomat because of concerns about security and concerns that she shielded important facts about her tenure from the public.

Olympic gold medalist Camille Muffat had retired from swimming to focus on her personal life, boxer Alexis Vastine had some unfinished business after two disappointing Olympics, and the beloved sailor Florence Arthaud was a pioneer for women in her sport. The three athletes were among 10 people who died as two helicopters filming a European reality show crashed in a remote part of Argentina on Monday. As France awoke to the news, the country's political leaders and best-known sports figures registered their shock and expressed their condolences on television and social media.

Democrats in the White House and Congress accused 47 GOP senators of undermining President Barack Obama in international talks to curb Iran's nuclear program, saying that trying to upend diplomatic negotiations was tantamount to rushing into war with Tehran. "The decision to undercut our president and circumvent our constitutional system offends me as a matter of principle," Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement. In an open letter Monday to the leaders of Iran, Republican lawmakers warned that any nuclear deal they cut with Obama could expire the day he walks out of the Oval Office. The letter was an aggressive attempt to make it more difficult for Obama and five world powers to strike an initial agreement by the end of March to limit Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday pro-Russian rebels were amassing heavy weapons in depots around separatist-held Donetsk city despite a ceasefire deal. Attacks have fallen in the past week, but accusations from both sides of violations show the fragility of the peace deal agreed in Minsk last month, which calls for the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines.

Iraqi troops and militias drove Islamic State militants out of the town of al-Alam on Tuesday, fighters and a local official said, clearing the way for an offensive to retake the nearby city of Tikrit from the ultra-radical group. A Reuters photographer saw dozens of families, who had earlier fled al-Alam to escape Islamic State control, returning to the town, celebrating and slaughtering sheep for the victorious fighters.

President Obama slapped sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials Monday, accusing them of perpetrating human rights violations and public corruption in the socialist-governed South American nation. The individuals all come from the top echelon of the state security apparatus that was responsible for cracking down on anti-government protests that rocked Venezuela last year and for pursuing charges against leading opponents.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com .

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com .

Subscribe Now to read this post!

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