Mideast buildup prompted Iran ‘step back’ commander says
BAGHDAD — Iran has chosen to “step back and recalculate” after making preparations for an apparent attack against U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, but it is too early to conclude the threat is gone, the top commander of American forces in the Mideast said Thursday.
In an interview with three reporters accompanying him to the Gulf, Gen. Frank McKenzie said he remains concerned by Iran’s potential for aggression, and he would not rule out requesting additional U.S. forces to bolster defenses against Iranian missiles or other weapons.
“I don’t actually believe the threat has diminished,” McKenzie said. “I believe the threat is very real.”
McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, and other military officials are trying to strike a balance between persuading Iran that the U.S. is prepared to retaliate for an Iranian attack on Americans, thus deterring conflict, and pushing so much military muscle into the Gulf that Iran thinks the U.S. plans an attack, in which case it might feel compelled to strike preemptively and thus spark war.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have worsened since President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and several world powers, and reinstated sanctions on Tehran. Last month, in response to what American officials characterized as an imminent threat, the U.S. announced it would rush an aircraft carrier and other assets to the region.
Training rollover kills West Point cadet, injures many
WEST POINT, N.Y. — A vehicle loaded with West Point cadets on summer training overturned in rough, wooded terrain Thursday, killing one cadet and injuring several others, the U.S. Military Academy said.
The tactical vehicle operated by two soldiers overturned around 6:45 a.m. as it was headed to a land navigation site as part of standard summer cadet training, said West Point’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams.
The two soldiers were injured along with 19 cadets in the Class of 2020. Williams said none of the injuries were life-threatening. Injuries included broken arms and facial abrasions, an official with the hospital at West Point said.
“It is not common for these vehicles to turn over. It is very rough terrain,” Williams told reporters at a briefing near the accident site Thursday afternoon. “You can see the hills we have here.”
US and Mexico: More talks, no deal yet to avert tariffs
WASHINGTON — Ending a second day of tense negotiations, U.S. and Mexican officials failed Thursday to reach a deal to avert import tariffs that President Donald Trump is threatening to impose as he tries to strong-arm Mexico into stemming the flow of Central American migrants across America’s southern border.
Vice President Mike Pence, monitoring the talks from his travels in Pennsylvania, said the U.S. was “encouraged” by Mexico’s latest proposals but, so far, tariffs still were set to take effect Monday.
Pence added that it would be “for the president to decide” whether Mexican was doing enough to head off the tariffs. Pence said that, among other issues, negotiators had been discussing a potential agreement to make it more difficult for those who enter Mexico from other countries to claim asylum in the U.S. Mexico has long resisted that request.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders issued a statement Thursday saying Trump’s position “has not changed” and the president was “still moving forward with tariffs at this time.”
From wire sources
Trump has threatened to impose a 5% tax on all Mexican goods beginning Monday as part of an escalating tariff regime opposed by many in his own Republican Party.
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Feds to finally examine 2016 NC poll books for hacking
RALEIGH, N.C. — More than two years after voter check-in software failed on Election Day in a North Carolina county, federal authorities will finally conduct a forensic analysis of electronic poll books to see if Russian military hackers who targeted the software provider may have tampered with registration information to disrupt voting.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security analysis of laptops used in Durham County is the first known federal probe of voting technology that malfunctioned during the 2016 election, when Russian hackers infiltrated election systems in several states, part of what special counsel Robert Mueller said was an effort to favor Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The malfunction of VR Systems’ electronic poll book software forced officials in the heavily Democratic county to switch to paper registration records and extend voting hours. How many voters may have been disenfranchised as a result is unknown.
State election officials seized for evidence 21 laptops used to check in Durham County voters for the 2016 balloting shortly after the leak of a National Security Agency report revealed in mid-2017 that VR Systems had been targeted by a Russian spear-phishing campaign, said Josh Lawson, who was general counsel of the North Carolina board of elections at the time.
Lawson said Thursday that his office asked federal officials to do a forensic exam of the laptops — and that the FBI assisted the state in making images of their hard drives.
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From fire and ash to caps, gowns: Graduation in burned town
PARADISE, Calif. — Sean Newsom’s senior year of high school started with typical teenage pranks, like sticking a cup to the roof of his car with magnets just to mess with people as he drove around his small town in the Northern California mountains.
It ended with him living in an apartment with his older brother and two roommates, working at a tanning salon and learning how to be an adult without his parents.
In between, a monstrous wildfire consumed his home and destroyed the town of Paradise, leaving most residents homeless and scattering its close-knit people throughout the region with little time to say goodbye. Newsom’s parents moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his two younger siblings to start a new life.
Newsom stayed because of Paradise High School.
The school was one of the few buildings in the town to survive the blaze that tore through the town on Nov. 8, killing 85 people, although it could not be used for classes.