Scorched earth

July 08, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

South Sudan’s government is accused of destroying crops and cattle in pro-rebel areas.

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Iran nuclear talks busted through their second deadline in a week Tuesday, raising new questions about the ability of world powers to cut off all Iranian pathways to a bomb through diplomacy. The talks, already in their 12th day, were prolonged until possibly Friday. "We knew it would have been difficult, challenging, and sometimes hard," said Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief. She said the negotiations would continue despite hitting some "tense" moments, and the State Department declared the current interim nuclear arrangement with Iran extended through July 10.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras strode into a summit of eurozone leaders with a beaming smile Tuesday, but was met with anger when it became clear he had no written proposal on how to save his country from financial ruin. With Greece's banks just days away from a potential collapse that could drag the country out of the euro, Tsipras had been expected to offer up economic reforms in exchange for loans. Instead, his government said it would only present a plan on Wednesday.

The Taliban staged two separate suicide bombings on Tuesday in Kabul, killing at least one person and wounded three, including a NATO soldier, Afghan officials said. In one attack, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck at the gate of an intelligence facility in the eastern part of the Afghan capital, according to Abdul Hassib Sediqi, the spokesman for the National Directorate of Security. Earlier in the day, a suicide car bomber targeted a NATO convoy near the same area, wounding at least two people, damaging several cars and shattering windows on several buildings.

An F-16 fighter jet smashed into a small plane Tuesday over South Carolina, killing two people and raining down plane parts and debris over a wide swath of marshes and rice fields. Two people were aboard the smaller Cessna, which was completely destroyed, and both died, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said. The pilot of the F-16 ejected and "is apparently uninjured," he said.

President Obama said Tuesday that despite differences between the United States and Vietnam over "political philosophy," the two countries are deepening cooperation on health, climate, and other issues. Twenty years after normalizing diplomatic ties with its one-time foe, the US is eager to improve relations with Vietnam. Officials see Vietnam as a country that could be a linchpin in Obama's Asia policy. Even as Obama and Nguyen Phu Trong, the head of Vietnam's Communist Party, emphasized areas of cooperation, the president said they spoke candidly about human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam.

Starbucks Corp said it would raise prices for some of its coffee beverages by 5-20 cents in the United States beginning Tuesday. The price hike comes at a time coffee prices have cooled from highs hit last year after a drought in the world's biggest coffee producer, Brazil, triggered supply concerns. Some other coffee sellers are cutting prices. Last week, The J.M. Smucker Co. said it would cut prices for most of its coffee products because of declines in future prices for unroasted coffee beans.

“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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