Iran issues and opportunities

July 16, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

The Iranian nuclear deal is complex. It will inevitably generate controversy. It could also be a new beginning.

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President Obama vigorously defended the nuclear deal with Iran on Wednesday, casting the historic accord as the only possibility to avert a war with Iran and a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. A day after the US, Iran and world powers announced the deal, Obama said the US faces a "fundamental choice" — whether or not to embrace the opportunity to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue peacefully. His remarks in a White House news conference appeared aimed squarely at Congress, where lawmakers are discussing legislation to try to stop the deal's implementation.

Prices for the producers of goods and services rose modestly in June, a sign that broader inflation is being kept in check. But an outbreak of avian influenza caused the cost of eggs to nearly double, as prices soared at the fastest pace ever recorded. The Labor Department said Wednesday that its producer price index increased 0.4 percent in June. Inflation remains tame as producer prices have fallen 0.7 percent over the past 12 months due to lower oil and gasoline costs. Wholesale gas prices rose 4.3 percent last month but are down 30.3 percent from a year ago. Chicken egg prices jumped 84.5 percent last month, the largest increase recorded since the government began tracking producer costs in 1937.

A parliamentary committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would expand the role of Japan's military after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc forced the vote in the face of protests from some lawmakers and citizens. Opposition lawmakers tried to stop the committee vote as hundreds of citizens protested outside. The unpopular legislation was crafted after Abe's Cabinet adopted a new security policy last year that reinterpreted a part of Japan's post-World War II constitution that only permitted the nation's military to use force for its self-defense. The bills in question would allow Japan to also defend aggression against its allies — a concept called collective self-defense.

The brother of Ethel Rosenberg, who was a star witness against his sister and brother-in-law in a sensational Cold War atomic spying case, minimized his dealings with his sister during an earlier appearance before a grand jury and said that they had never discussed her role "at all," according to secret court records unsealed Wednesday. The revelation may heighten public suspicion that Ethel Rosenberg was wrongly convicted and executed in an espionage case that captivated the country at the height of the McCarthy-era frenzy about Communist allegiances. Rosenberg and her husband Julius were put to death in 1953 after being convicted of conspiring to steal secrets about the atomic bomb for the Soviet Union, though they maintained their innocence until the end.

Honda reached a settlement Tuesday to resolve allegations that the company discriminated against minority car buyers by marking up interest rates on loans, a practice industry experts describe as common because of the discretion given to individual dealerships. Honda's settlement with the US Department of Justice, which is subject to court approval, was filed in federal court in Los Angeles. Honda 's US operation is based in nearby Torrance, California.

Michele Velleman needed to sell a Zumba dance fitness kit, a cellphone and a table through Facebook. So she found buyers and made the trades at — where else? — the police station. "Online safe zones" like the one Velleman uses are popping up at police stations nationwide as authorities try to clamp down on crime associated with online trade between strangers. More than 100 police departments now provide space in their lobbies or parking lots where people can make their deals and know that police are only feet away.

“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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