Family of Muslim teen arrested for homemade clock files suit
The family of a Muslim boy who was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Texas school officials and others, saying the incident violated the 14-year-old boy’s civil rights, prompted death threats and forced them to leave the United States.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ahmed Mohamed, who was arrested at his suburban Dallas high school in September and charged with having a hoax bomb. He says he brought the homemade digital clock to school to show his English teacher.
Ahmed showed off the clock, made out of a plastic pencil box and electrical wire and other hardware salvaged from his parents’ garage, on Monday during a news conference with his parents and attorneys.
Irving police later dropped the charge, but he was still suspended for three days. He never returned to the school; his family opted to have him take classes elsewhere.
Kansas waterslide remains closed amid probe of boy’s death
A Kansas thrill ride billed as the world’s tallest waterslide remained off-limits Monday as authorities pressed to figure out how a state lawmaker’s 10-year-old son was killed on a day the park honored elected officials and their families.
Details remained murky about how Caleb Thomas Schwab died Sunday on the 168-foot-tall “Verruckt” — German for “insane” — that since its debut two years ago has been the top draw at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas.
In a statement Monday afternoon, Schlitterbahn said it was “deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab family and all who were impacted by the tragic accident.” The park was tentatively scheduled to reopen Wednesday, but “Verruckt is closed,” according to the statement.
On the waterslide certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest, riders sit in multi-person rafts during “the ultimate in water slide thrills,” subjecting “adventure seekers” to a “jaw dropping” 17-story drop, the park’s website says. Passengers then are “blasted back up a second massive hill and then sent down yet another gut wrenching 50 foot drop,” the website adds.
Delta recovering after canceled, delayed flights
At least half of all Delta Air Lines flights Monday were delayed or canceled after a power outage knocked out the airline’s computer systems worldwide.
About 17 hours after the outage at its Atlanta facility, Delta was struggling to resume normal operations and clear a backlog of stranded passengers. It sought to appease frustrated customers by offering refunds and $200 travel vouchers.
By 7 p.m., Delta said it had canceled more than 740 flights, although its computer systems were fully functioning again.
Tracking service FlightStats Inc. counted more than 2,400 delayed flights.
Delta representatives said the airline was investigating the cause of the meltdown. They declined to describe whether the airline’s information-technology system had enough built-in redundancies to recover quickly from a hiccup like a power outage.
Delta said that about 3,300 of its nearly 6,000 scheduled flights had operated by 7 p.m. Eastern time. The airline posted a video apology by CEO Ed Bastian.
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Clinton’s ‘Moscow Spring’ ended as Putin returned to power
WASHINGTON (AP) — As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton basked in a diplomatic “Moscow Spring,” seizing on Vladimir Putin’s break from the presidency to help seal a nuclear arms-control treaty and secure Russia’s acquiescence to a NATO-led military intervention in Libya. When Putin returned to the top job, things changed.
Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, has vowed to stand up to Putin if elected, drawing on her four years of ups and downs as the public face of President Barack Obama’s first-term “reset” with Russia. By comparison, her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has rung alarm bells in Washington and Europe with his overtures to the authoritarian Russian leader.
But Clinton’s wrangles with Russia led to mixed results. Her fortunes dipped dramatically after Putin replaced Dmitry Medvedev as president in May 2012.
Just weeks later, Russia outmaneuvered her in negotiations over a complicated Syria peace plan, dealing her what was arguably her worst diplomatic defeat. While Clinton hailed it as a triumph, the war only escalated. And while her aides still insist she came out on top, the blueprint effectively gave Syria’s Moscow-backed president, Bashar Assad, a veto over any transition government, hampering all mediation efforts still.
“There is no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be president, that did change the relationship,” Clinton said in a Democratic debate last year. “We have to stand up to his bullying and specifically, in Syria it is important.”
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Entire Russian team banned from competing in Rio Paralympics
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — After escaping a blanket ban from the Olympics, Russia was kicked out of the upcoming Paralympics on Sunday as the ultimate punishment for the state running a doping operation that polluted sports by prioritizing “medals over morals.”
Paralympic leaders expelled one of its most significant members as the IOC announced that 278 Russians have been given clearance to compete at the Olympics after their eligibility in Rio de Janeiro was left to individual sports.
Russia’s years of doping deception, including tampering with samples at the 2014 Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi, were outlined last month by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren.
“The facts really do hurt,” IPC President Philip Craven said. “They are an unprecedented attack on every clean athlete who competes in sport. The anti-doping system in Russia is broken, corrupted and entirely compromised.”
In contrast to IOC President Thomas Bach, who opposed the “nuclear option” of banning Russia ahead of Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony, Craven directly condemned the Russian state’s involvement in doping but stopped short of blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Iran executes nuclear scientist who was convicted of spying
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran executed a nuclear scientist convicted of spying for the United States, an official said Sunday, acknowledging for the first time that the nation secretly detained and tried a man who was once heralded as a hero.
Shahram Amiri defected to the U.S. at the height of Western efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear program. When he returned in 2010, he was welcomed with flowers by government leaders and even went on the Iranian talk-show circuit. Then he mysteriously disappeared.
He was hanged the same week that Tehran executed a group of militants, a year after Iran agreed to a landmark accord to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Amiri first vanished in 2009 while on a religious pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia. A year later, he reappeared in a series of contradictory online videos filmed in the U.S. He then walked into the Iranian-interests section at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and demanded to be sent home.
In interviews, he described being kidnapped and held against his will by Saudi and American spies. U.S. officials said he was to receive millions of dollars for his help in understanding Iran’s nuclear program.
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Giant Turkish anti-coup rally packs Istanbul waterfront area
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey will continue fighting whatever powers seek to undermine the government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Sunday as he addressed a massive flag-waving rally in Istanbul in the wake of the country’s abortive July 15 coup.
The Yenikapi meeting area by the Marmara Sea waterfront in Istanbul’s European side was transformed into a sea of red and white, the colors of Turkey’s flag. No official crowd figure was provided, but Turkish media said millions attended. The event was so full that large crowds were turned away at the gates, spilling into surrounding streets.
“As a state and as a nation we need to analyze the July 15 coup attempt very well. We need to evaluate well not just those who engaged in this treachery, but the powers behind them, the motives that made them take action,” Erdogan told the cheering crowd.
He spoke from a 60-meter (200-foot) stage framed by two platforms and draped with massive national flags and banners depicting Erdogan and Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
The “Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally” was billed as a cross-party event representing Turkish unity in the wake of the failed coup, in which a group of renegade military officers attempted to seize power with tanks, helicopters and fighter jets, leaving more than 270 people dead.