Liz truss

LONDON — After six years in Tehran separated from her family, first in prison and then under house arrest, a British-Iranian woman’s ordeal in detention in Iran is finally over. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe — arrested in Tehran’s airport in 2016 on her way home to London, and used as a diplomatic pawn, her family says — was finally reunited with her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, and daughter, Gabriella. Her release, and that of another British-Iranian citizen, Anoosheh Ashoori, came after the settlement of a longstanding British debt to Iran that had roiled relations between the two countries, according to Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss. Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr. Ashoori, who spent years detained in the same Tehran prison, were taken to an airport on Wednesday and flown back to Britain after a stop in Oman. Their flight arrived in Oxfordshire early Thursday morning, according to Reuters and a video that Mr. Ashoori’s daughter, Elika Ashoori, posted on social media. … [Read more...] about After Six-Year Ordeal in Iran, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Is Freed

Recently hacked Iranian files obtained by an Iranian opposition group highlight the Iranian Ministry of Defense’s “covert and complex methods” employed by Tehran to circumvent international sanctions and finance its military operations. In a bombshell report from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the Islamic Republic of Iran’s methods of circumventing sanctions were revealed in detail. The recently published documents, obtained through its constituent group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) network in Iran, confirm Tehran’s efforts to bypass international sanctions imposed on it due to its harmful activities. PRESS CONFERENCE: @NCRIUS Exposes IRGC’s Elaborate International Scheme to Evade Sanctions and Fund Terror #BlacklistIRGC #IranRevolution https://t.co/2TpitGjZRK — NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 31, 2023 The material was accessed by hacktivist group “Uprising till Overthrow” which claimed to have breached 120 servers of the … [Read more...] about Iranian Dissident Group Claims Hack Reveals Iran’s ‘Complex’ Sanction-Evading Methods

Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance are uniting to introduce legislation announced Thursday to reduce the risks of large bank failures. The Failed Bank Executives Clawback Act would propose harsher penalties for failed bank executives, and is intended to serve as a bipartisan response to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in early March, according to Warren’s office. The proposed legislation would require the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ( FDIC ) to recover some or all of executive payments from the three years prior to their bank’s failure, covering larger banks with more than $10 billion in assets. “Nearly three months after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a bipartisan group of Senators is demonstrating a serious commitment to pass legislation requiring financial regulators to claw back pay from executives when they implode their bank,” Warren said in a statement. “Congress must answer the President’s … [Read more...] about Liz Warren, JD Vance Join Forces To Punish Execs Of Failed Banks

ATHENS — Pangiotis Smailis paused from his lunch and cleared his throat with a swig of bitter retsina wine. The patrons seated around him on Friday at the Hangout, a legendary taverna inside Athens’s oldest food market, had broken into a heated dispute over Greece’s referendum on a European bailout, and he jabbed his finger in the air to command attention. “For those who want to vote yes Sunday, think about Greece’s dignity!” shouted Mr. Smailis, a clothing shop owner whose business has been ravaged by the crisis. “We must reject this and fight our creditors for a just outcome. If I was dead, I would climb from my grave to vote no!” “If we do that, we’ll no longer belong to Europe,” retorted Spyros Pangiotopoulos, a government employee who had settled at the same table. “Greece doesn’t exist without Europe.” “No,” Mr. Smailis persisted. “Europe won’t exist without Greece.” The squabble set off a new cacophony and exposed a schism that has gripped the country ever since … [Read more...] about Bailout Referendum Lays Bare Deep Schisms Among Beleaguered Greeks

CASPER, Wyo. — I first saw it while working the rope line at a monster-truck rally during the 2016 campaign by my husband, Tim, for Wyoming’s lone congressional seat. As Tim and I and our boys made our way down the line, shaking hands and passing out campaign material, a burly man wearing a “God bless America” T-shirt and a cross around his neck said something like, “He’s got my vote if he keeps those [epithet] out of office,” using a racial slur. What followed was an uncomfortable master class in racism and xenophobia as the man decanted the reasons our country is going down the tubes. God bless America. I now understand the ugliness I heard was part of a current of Christian nationalism fomenting beneath the surface. It had been there all the time. The rope line rant was a mission statement for the disaffected, the overlooked, the frightened. It was also an expression of solidarity with a candidate like Donald Trump who gave a name to a perceived enemy: people who do not look like … [Read more...] about What Christian Nationalism Has Done to My State and My Faith Is a Sin

People living in poorer counties died at nearly two times the rate of people who lived in richer counties during the pandemic. Arizona Mirror , News Partner Posted By Shondiin Silversmith, Arizona Mirror Six Arizona counties ended up as part of a report that showcased the top 300 counties nationwide with high poverty and COVID-19 death rates, with Apache County landing at No. 17. The counties were included in a report by the Poor People’s Campaign, which advocates for public policies aimed at helping economically disadvantaged communities — particularly those of color. The report connects COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. to both poverty and race, according to a press release. “The COVID-19 disparities among counties across the US are striking,” Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, said in a statement. “This report shows clearly that COVID-19 became a poor people’s pandemic.” … [Read more...] about Report Shows Several Arizona Counties With High Poverty And COVID Death Rates