After 54 years, Confederate flag removed entirely from South Carolina Statehouse
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — For the first time since the civil rights movement, the Confederate flag was removed entirely from the South Carolina Statehouse, in a swift ceremony Friday before thousands of people who cheered as the Civil War-era banner was lowered from a 30-foot flagpole.
Many people believed the flag would fly indefinitely in this state, which was the first to leave Union, but the killing of nine black church members during a Bible study in Charleston last month changed that sentiment and reignited calls to bring down Confederate flags and symbols across the nation.
Dylann Roof, a white man who was photographed with the Confederate flag, is charged in the shooting deaths, and authorities have called the killings a hate crime.
The crowd, estimated at up to 10,000 people, chanted “USA, USA” and “hey, hey, hey, goodbye” as an honor guard of South Carolina troopers lowered the flag during a 6-minute ceremony. Gov. Nikki Haley stood on the Statehouse steps along with family members of the victims and other dignitaries. While she didn’t speak, she nodded and smiled in the direction of the crowd after someone shouted: “Thank you governor.”
Haley supported the flag before the shooting, but the Republican had a change of heart in the days after the killings and led the push to get legislators to pass a bill before the end of the summer. She signed the legislation Thursday.
Greek MPs head into all-night parliament session on reforms proposal for austerity deal
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek lawmakers braced for an all-night parliament session Friday as the country’s prime minister sought to rally support for tough austerity measures designed to win approval for a third bailout.
The proposed measures, including tax hikes and cuts in pension spending, are certain to inflict more pain on a Greek public who just days ago voted overwhelmingly against a similar plan.
But the new proposal, if approved by Greece’s international creditors, will provide longer-term financial support for a nation that has endured six years of recession.
The government was asking for lawmakers’ endorsement to use the proposed measures as a basis for negotiation.
If approved, Greece would in turn get a three-year loan package worth nearly $60 billion (53.5 billion euros) as well as some form of debt relief — far more than the 7.2 billion euros creditors had been offering during the previous five months of fruitless negotiations.
Under fire for massive data breach, government personnel chief Katherine Archuleta steps down
WASHINGTON (AP) — The embattled head of the government’s personnel office abruptly stepped down Friday, bowing to mounting pressure following the unprecedented breach of private information her agency was entrusted to protect.
Katherine Archuleta had served as director of the federal Office of Personnel Management since November 2013. The former national political director for President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, Archuleta came under scathing criticism amid revelations this year that hackers — widely believed to be China’s government — had infiltrated her agency’s databases as well as background-check records for millions who applied for U.S. security clearances.
On Thursday, Archuleta had rebuffed demands that she resign, declaring she was “committed to the work that I am doing.” But her continued tenure at the agency grew untenable as calls from lawmakers — including members of Obama’s own party — mushroomed. On Friday morning, she came to the White House to personally submit her resignation to Obama.
He named Beth Cobert, currently deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, to step in as acting director at OPM.
“It’s quite clear that new leadership, with a set of skills and experiences that are unique to the urgent challenges that OPM faces, are badly needed,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Iranian nuclear talks turn from inching progress to blame game, extended until Monday
VIENNA (AP) — The Iran nuclear talks shifted Friday to a blame game, as Iran’s foreign minister accused the United States of shifting its demands and dismissed a warning that the U.S. was ready to quit the negotiations.
Hours after his comments, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met again with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for another attempt at resolving the differences standing in the way a landmark deal that offers Iran sanctions relief in exchange for long-term, verifiable curbs on nuclear programs that Tehran could use to make weapons.
Afterward, Kerry spoke of progress, while acknowledging a “couple of very difficult issues” still blocking a deal. And despite the sharp public comments by both sides, he said the negotiating atmosphere was “very constructive.”
Still, the sense of drift grew. A senior U.S. official said the preliminary April deal that set up the present negotiations had been extended until Monday. That effectively set a fourth target date for a final accord that initially was supposed to be sealed by June 30.
The tougher rhetoric Friday mirrored the frustrations by the sides as the current round of talks entered its 14th day. After blowing past two extensions, negotiators had hoped to wrap up the talks by Friday, but Zarif’s comments cast doubts that agreement was near.
Customers hear toy Minion spout curse words — but experts say it might be brain phenomenon
NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s swears up and down that the little yellow “Minions” Happy Meal toy is speaking only nonsense words and not something a little more adult.
Experts say the company may be right, and the curse words many hear may be tied to how our brains are primed to find words even when they’re not really there.
The world’s largest hamburger chain and purveyor of Happy Meals said Friday that it doesn’t plan to take the talking Happy Meal toy out of distribution, even though some customers say it sounds like it’s cursing.
A toy bought by The Associated Press made a sound that could be interpreted as the phrase often abbreviated as “WTF.” Another phrase sounded like it could be “Well I’ll be damned.” The sound quality of the toy makes it hard to say definitively who is right.
The little yellow Minion characters speak a nonsense language and McDonald’s Corp. said the Minion Caveman toy makes three sounds — “ha ha ha,” ”para la bukay,” and “eh eh.” The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company issued a statement saying it received only a few comments from customers about the toy, which was introduced July 3.
Defense in Colorado theater shooting rests after trying to show gunman was legally insane
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — The defense in the Colorado theater shooting trial rested its case Friday after trying to show James Holmes was legally insane when he opened fire at a midnight movie and was suffering from delusions that each person he killed would increase his self-worth.
Holmes’ public defenders ended their case after playing two silent surveillance videos of Holmes taken in the months following the attack. One showed him in his jail cell, running and slamming his head against the wall, then falling backward and sitting down.
The other, taken at a hospital, showed Holmes naked and tethered to a bed, repeatedly trying to cover his head with a blanket and then a sheet. Uniformed officers and hospital workers pull them off and try to cover the lower half of Holmes’ body with them.
Jurors also read a sheaf of papers that included writing by Holmes titled “Galactic Colonization,” but the contents were not discussed in court.
The decision to rest the case ended 10 weeks of often-gruesome testimony, with witnesses describing the bloody shooting scene and their own crippling wounds and attorneys probing psychiatrists about Holmes’ mental condition.
US Treasury Department’s decision to change $10 bill rankles descendant of Alexander Hamilton
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Doug Hamilton is just fine with plans to put a woman’s portrait on U.S. paper money, but he’d prefer that the Treasury Department leave the $10 bill alone — particularly the prominent visage of his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Alexander Hamilton.
The 10-spot is a source of family pride in Hamilton’s house in suburban Columbus, a dignified symbol of the historical importance of his ancestor, whose picture has been on it since 1929. So naturally, Hamilton started making some noise when he heard about the proposal that has Alexander Hamilton sharing the note with a deserving woman yet to be chosen.
The 64-year-old salesman for IBM has joined a growing backlash against what he calls the “diminishing” of Hamilton, who as the country’s first treasury secretary created the modern U.S. financial system, with a national debt, bank and mint, and with the dollar as currency.
“He’s the father of paper money,” says Doug Hamilton, who has a son and grandson carrying the name of their famous ancestor. (His daughter, Elizabeth, was named for Alexander Hamilton’s wife.)
He’s urging people to sign a petition on the White House “We The People” website, and this weekend he’ll be preaching the Hamiltonian gospel at a series of annual events in New York and New Jersey planned around the anniversary of Alexander Hamilton’s death on July 12, 1804, a day after his duel with Aaron Burr.
