China's dangerous strategy

March 20, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

By aggressively staking claims on reefs and shoals throughout the South China Sea, China is alienating its closest neighbors.

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The radical Islamic State Group claimed responsibility Thursday for the attack on a famed Tunis museum that left 23 people dead, scores of tourists wounded and upended the country's struggling tourism industry. Defying the extremists, hundreds of Tunisians rallied Thursday at the National Bardo Museum, proclaiming their solidarity with the victims and with Tunisia's fledgling democracy.

About 1,000 students gathered at the University of Virginia campus Wednesday night to demand justice for a student who was injured during an arrest and appears in a photo with a bloody face as he is being held down by an officer. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has also called for an investigation into the early-morning arrest of Martese Johnson, whose lawyer said he needed 10 stitches in his head. Johnson was charged on two counts: obstruction of justice without force, and public swearing or intoxication, Charlottesville General District Court records show.

The Boston Marathon bombing trial jury on Thursday saw the remains of a pressure-cooker bomb that prosecutors say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hurled at police during a gunfight four days after the bombing as well as jihadist files recovered from his laptop. The bomb, described as similar to the twin bombs set off at the race, was extracted from a Honda Civic in which it embedded itself on a Watertown, Massachusetts street after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, detonated it during the gunfight. The pressure cooker was the same type as was used in the bombs that killed three people and injured 264 on April 15, 2013, said Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Brian Corcoran, though the pieces found in Watertown were more intact than those discovered at the race's finish line.

An unidentified warplane attacked the presidential palace in Aden on Thursday after rival forces fought the worst clashes in years in Yemen's second city, an official and residents said, in a sharp escalation of the country's months-long turmoil. Thirteen people were killed when forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fought their way into Aden's international airport and wrested an adjacent military base from a renegade officer, Aden governor Abdulaziz bin Habtoor said. Both the fighting on the ground and subsequent air attack appeared to be part of a deepening power struggle between Hadi and the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group, which controls the capital Sanaa and is allied with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

A draft nuclear accord now being negotiated between the United States and Iran would force Iran to cut hardware it could use to make an atomic bomb by about 40 percent for at least a decade, while offering the Iranians immediate relief from sanctions that have crippled their economy, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. As an added enticement, elements of a UN arms embargo against Iran could be rolled back.

Democratic support for Hillary Clinton's expected presidential campaign is softening amid controversy over her use of personal email when secretary of State, but most Democrats are for now sticking by their party's presumed candidate. Support for Clinton's candidacy has dropped about 15 percentage points since mid February among Democrats, with as few as 45 percent saying they would support her in the last week, according to a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll. Support from Democrats likely to vote in the party nominating contests has dropped only slightly less, to a low in the mid-50s over the same period.

Tesla Motors Inc plans to offer hands-free steering on its Model S sedan in about three months, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said Thursday. The automatic steering feature, which will be available only when driving on the highway, will be part of a continuing series of free software upgrades delivered wirelessly to Model S owners, Musk said. Tesla is among several automakers, including BMW and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz, offering over-the-air updates.

“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.

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