3 states say they denied Russia request to monitor election
3 states say they denied Russia request to monitor election
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma and at least two other states said Friday that they denied efforts by Russian officials to be present at polling stations during the election, requests the U.S. State Department’s spokesman dismissed as “nothing more than a PR stunt.”
The Oklahoma secretary of state’s office said it received a letter in August from Russia’s consulate general in Houston seeking to have one of its officers present at a voting precinct to study the “US experience in organization of voting process.” But the office denied the request, noting Oklahoma law prohibits anyone except election officials and voters from being present while voting is taking place.
Election officials in Louisiana and Texas said they denied similar requests from Russian officials.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has faced criticism for suggesting the election might be “rigged,” and the U.S. earlier this month accused Russia of coordinating the theft and disclosure of emails from the Democratic National Committee and other institutions and individuals in the U.S. to influence the outcome of the election.
Thousands of hacked emails from accounts of individuals within Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign have been posted on the website of the WikiLeaks organization. Russian officials have denied their involvement in the cyberattacks.
While there is a formal process for foreign governments to observe U.S. elections, individual states maintain the authority to approve or deny those requests, said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
Evacuations from Aleppo fail to materialize despite lull
BEIRUT (AP) — A cease-fire to allow wounded civilians and rebels to leave besieged parts of Aleppo has been extended into the weekend by Russia, but hoped-for medical evacuations didn’t materialize by Friday evening because of a lack of security guarantees, officials and residents said.
The dawn-to-dusk “humanitarian pause” that began Thursday will last into Saturday on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, said Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, speaking in Moscow. It had been due to expire Friday.
The lull had been greeted with high hopes by U.N. officials, and the Syrian government opened a new corridor for those wanting to flee the neighborhoods shattered by weeks of Russian and Syrian airstrikes.
But by Friday evening, no evacuations were seen along the corridor, reflecting the intractable nature of Syria’s civil war, now in its sixth year.
Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N.’s humanitarian aid agency, described an “astronomically difficult situation,” although he declined to specify who was responsible for the breakdown.
Photos show Mars probe crashed, might have exploded
BERLIN (AP) — Europe’s experimental Mars probe hit the right spot — but at the wrong speed — and may have ended up in a fiery ball of rocket fuel when it struck the surface, scientists said Friday.
Pictures taken by a NASA satellite show a black spot in the area where the Schiaparelli lander was meant to touch down Wednesday, the European Space Agency said. The images end two days of speculation following the probe’s unexpected radio silence less than a minute before the planned landing.
“Estimates are that Schiaparelli dropped from a height of between 2 and 4 kilometers (1.4-2.4 miles), therefore impacting at a considerable speed, greater than 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph),” the agency said.
It said the large disturbance captured in the NASA photographs may have been caused by the probe’s steep crash-landing, which would have sprayed matter around like a blast site on Earth.
“It is also possible that the lander exploded on impact, as its thruster propellant tanks were likely still full,” the agency said.
Wonder Woman named a special UN ambassador, despite protests
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations celebrated Wonder Woman’s 75th birthday on Friday by naming the comic book character as its new Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Woman and Girls, despite frustration from both inside and outside the world organization that the spot should go to a real — and less sexualized — woman.
The carefully choreographed ceremony was marred by some 50 U.N. staffers protesting by the visitor’s entrance to the U.N. who then went inside the Economic and Social Council chamber and silently turned their back to the stage during the opening speech, some with their fists in the air.
U.N. staffer Cass Durant, who held a sign saying “Real Women Deserve a Real Ambassador” said the protesters “don’t think that a fictitious comic book characters wearing basically what looks like a Playboy-type bunny outfit is really the right message we need to send to girls or even boys for that matter.”
The super heroine’s image will be used by the U.N. on social media platforms to promote women’s empowerment, including on gender-based violence and the fuller participation of women in public life (using the hashtag WithWonderWoman). The push, hoping to reach young people, is backed by DC Entertainment and Warner Bros., which produce both comics and films featuring Wonder Woman.
But an online petition , started by U.N. staffers, asked the Secretary General to reconsider the appointment, saying “The message the United Nations is sending to the world with this appointment is extremely disappointing.” As of Friday afternoon, it had more than 1,100 signatures.