Closing the deal with Iran

November 17, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

As nuclear negotiations enter the home stretch, outlines of an agreement are taking shape.

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Islamic State militants said in a video on Sunday they had beheaded US hostage Peter Kassig, which was later confirmed by the White House, and warned they would kill other US citizens "on your streets." Kassig's death, the fifth such killing of a Western captive by the group, formed part of a 15-minute video posted online in which Islamic State showed the beheadings of at least 14 men it said were pilots and officers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Four months after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine, The Associated Press has obtained video that shows how close the burning passenger jet came to hitting village homes and suggests that residents first assumed it was a Ukrainian military plane that had been struck. The amateur footage, filmed by a resident of Hrabove, shows people reacting in alarm as wreckage blazes only a few meters away from their homes on the afternoon of July 17. The video is perhaps the first taken immediately after the plane came down.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an early exit on Sunday from a two-day summit of world leaders where he was roundly criticized over Russia's escalating aggression in Ukraine, but brushed off suggestions that he had felt pressured. Putin was the first leader to fly out of Brisbane on Sunday afternoon as his fellow leaders in the G-20 club of wealthy and developing nations shared a lunch and before they released the communique to cap off their annual summit. He also departed Australia shortly before President Barack Obama and European leaders opened their talks on Ukraine, where Russia is backing separatist rebels in the east of the country after annexing Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in March.

When US spy chief James Clapper flew to North Korea on a mission to bring home two US captives, he ran into a potential hitch. North Korean officials wanted a diplomatic concession of some sort in return for freeing the men and Clapper had none to offer. "I think they were disappointed," Clapper said, fleshing out details of the secret trip a week after its completion. It was not until he was ushered into a hotel room for an "amnesty-granting ceremony" that he knew the release of Americans Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller would proceed as planned.

The Nigerian army has regained control of Chibok, the northeastern town where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Islamic extremists more than six months ago, said army officials. The army wrested back control of Chibok on Saturday, about 48 hours after it had been captured by the Islamic militants of Boko Haram, Nigerian army spokesman Brigadier General Olajide Olaleye told the Associated Press.

The streets of Ferguson, Missouri, bear two hallmarks of the months of sometimes violent protests that followed the August police shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer. One is boarded-up shop windows, the other, ever-present "I Love Ferguson" signs, T-shirts and stickers. The signs were dreamed up by the city's former mayor, Brian Fletcher, a week after the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown provoked rioting in which businesses were burned out. Sales of "I Love Ferguson" merchandise have become a fund-raising tool intended to help the damaged businesses.

“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.

“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.

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