Companies Avoid $200 Billion Tax Bill

Companies Avoid $200 Billion Tax Bill

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Businesses avoid paying $200 billion annually in taxes by channeling their overseas’ investments through offshore financial hubs, said a U.N. agency

U.S. Presses China for Market Access

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Top U.S. officials this week are pushing for greater access to China’s economy, reflecting growing corporate concerns that Beijing’s plans for reform will prove to be more rhetoric than reality.

Group Seeks Prosecution of Colombia Military Officials

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Senior serving and former military officers in Colombia who allegedly had sanctioned thousands of extrajudicial killings of civilians during the country’s brutal civil conflict should be prosecuted, Human Rights Watch says.

Paradox Lies at Heart of Eurozone's Plight

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Chief economics commentator Greg Ip examines the euro’s effect of fueling imbalances while curtailing member countries’ ability to address them.

Islamic State Stages Attack on Kobani

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Turkish officials say Islamic State has staged a new attack on the Kurdish town of Kobani, which resisted a monthslong assault by the Islamic militants until they were pushed out earlier this year.

Bank Crunch Leaves Greece Few Options

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Greece’s vulnerable banks are limiting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s room to bargain for better bailout terms and, more than anything, has shoved him toward compromise, Greek officials say.

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Looted Artworks Steal the Show

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Works looted by the Nazis and recently restituted to Jewish heirs stole the show at closely followed sales of impressionist and modern art in London.

Google eavesdropping tool installed on computers without ...

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The Guardian Winner of the Pulitzer prize 2014 · home; › tech · home · US · world · opinion · sports · soccer · tech selected · arts · lifestyle · fashion · business · travel · environment · science. browse all sections .... More news ...

Isis destroys Palmyra shrines in Syria | World news | The Guardian 

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Islamic State militants have blown up two ancient shrines they consider sacrilegious at the 2000-year-old Unesco world heritage site in central Syria.

'Putin Will Try For Wedge Between UK And EU'

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A key ally of Chancellor Merkel, Norbert Rottgen, has warned that Vladmir Putin would be "happy" if the UK left the European Union.

Heckler becomes the heckled as Barack Obama responds at White House LGBT event – video 

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Barack Obama has told a heckler at an LGBT event at the White House that 'it's not respectful' to heckle someone when invited to their home. 'Hey, listen, you're in my house', the US president tells the heckler, who was protesting against the deportation of migrants to the US. 'You're not going to get a good response from me by interrupting me like this', Obama says to laughs of approval from the crowd, who soon start to chant the president's name Continue reading...

Europe Seeks to Counter Kremlin Success Pushing World View - ABC News

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Washington Times

Europe Seeks to Counter Kremlin Success Pushing World View
ABC News
Larry King's back on the air, beaming his high-octane brand of talk to households around the world. Where can you catch him? Kremlin-backed TV. Moscow wants you to pay better attention to what it's saying, and to better reach your eyes and ears it's ...
Putin Vows to Further Strengthen Russian MilitaryNew York Times
Putin manages to stabilize ruble, but Russian economy still staggersLos Angeles Times

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Greece is being blackmailed. Exiting the eurozone is its way out - The Guardian

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The Guardian

Greece is being blackmailed. Exiting the eurozone is its way out
The Guardian
'Greece and the government of Syriza have now come face-to-face with the ruthless reality of the eurozone.' Photograph: Simela Pantzartzi/EPA. Thursday 25 June 2015 10.37 EDT Last modified on Thursday 25 June 2015 10.39 EDT. Share on Facebook ...

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World economy - The Economist (blog)

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The Economist (blog)

World economy
The Economist (blog)
WORRIES about the global economy are not just confined to sluggish growth, deteriorating demographics or the overhang of consumer and government debt. World trade, which used to grow faster than GDP, seems to have turned sluggish. In each of the last ...

NATO Warns Heavy Fighting Could Resume in Ukraine

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NATO's head warned on Thursday of a risk of a return to heavy fighting in Ukraine but said it would be unwise to declare a cease-fire agreement dead, despite repeated violations, because it remained the best hope for peace. The Ukrainian military on Tuesday accused pro-Russian rebels of conducting long-range artillery attacks on villages in the east and said one of its serviceman was killed and 12 wounded in clashes in the previous 24 hours. "The conflict in Ukraine has...

Islamic State Launches 2 Major Attacks in Northern Syria - New York Times

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New York Times

Islamic State Launches 2 Major Attacks in Northern Syria
New York Times
BEIRUT — Islamic State militants launched major attacks in northern Syria onThursday in a swift counter-offensive after recent battlefield setbacks, storming government-held areas in one mostly Kurdish city and setting off deadly car bombs as they pushed  ...
Islamic State Attacks Syrian City of Kobani, Shattering Monthslong PeaceWall Street Journal 
Islamic State twin assault on Kobani and al-HasakahChannel 4 News
Islamic State attacks Syria border town of Kobane in new offensiveSydney Morning Herald
Telegraph.co.uk-The Star Online
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The Latest on Greece: ECB official warns on Greek banks aid - Chron.com

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Chron.com

The Latest on Greece: ECB official warns on Greek banks aid
Chron.com
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The latest developments involving Greece and its bailout negotiations: ___. 2:40 p.m./ 1240 GMT/ 8:40 a.m. EDT. The head of Germany's national central bank is warning that the lifeline keeping Greece's banks afloat may run ...
Who's lying in the negotiations over Greece and the euro?Washington Post (blog)
Greek Bailout Talks Stumble as Deadline LoomsWall Street Journal
HIGHLIGHTS-Euro zone finance ministers on GreeceReuters
Bloomberg -USA TODAY -Irish Times
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Supreme Court upholds housing discrimination law - USA TODAY

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USA TODAY

Supreme Court upholds housing discrimination law
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- A deeply divided Supreme Court delivered an unexpected reprieve to civil rights groups on Thursday, ruling that housing discrimination need not be intentional in order to be illegal. The justices said legal objections to lending, zoning, sales ...
Supreme Court upholds key tool used by Obama administration to fight housing ...Washington Post

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ISIS Launches Offensive in Northern Syria 

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BEIRUT — Islamic State militants in Syria stormed government-held neighborhoods in the predominantly Kurdish northeastern city of Hassakeh on Thursday morning, capturing several areas of the city, officials and state media said.
The attack came after the Islamic State group suffered several setbacks in northern Syria against Kurdish forces over the past weeks. The city of Hassakeh is divided between Bashar Assad’s forces and Kurdish fighters.
Redur Khalil, a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, said IS militants attacked government-held neighborhoods on the southern edge of Hassakeh, and captured some areas.
Syrian state TV reported intense clashes inside Hassakeh’s southern neighborhood of Nashawi. According to the report, IS fighters killed several people they captured in the city, including the head of a military housing institution. It said the militants sustained many casualties, including the commander of the group who is a foreign fighter.
IS tried to storm the city earlier this month and reached its southern outskirts before facing strong resistance from Syrian government troops who pushed them away.
Also Thursday, IS staged a new attack on the Kurdish town of Kobani, which famously resisted a months-long assault by the Islamic militants. The attack involved a suicide car bombing that wounded scores.
“A group of fighters deployed in some areas of Kobani. We are defending a position now,” Ghalia Nehme, a commander with the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units, told The Associated Press by telephone from inside the border town.
After months of bloody street fighting, the Kurdish forces in Kobani, which lies along the Syria-Turkey border, succeeded in pushing out IS militants earlier this year. That was a landmark victory against the IS, enabled in part by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.
Two Turkish officials said Thursday’s attack involved a suicide bomber who detonated his car near the border gate that separates Kobani from the Turkish town of Mursitpinar.
The first official, from the local governor’s office, said that 41 wounded were taken across the border to a hospital in Turkey. Surveillance footage showed a fiery explosion rocking Kobani in the dim light of dawn, he said, adding that video came from one of the 24 cameras monitoring the border crossing.
The second official, who is with the district government, put the number of wounded at 43 and said that sporadic gunfire could still be heard from the other side of the border later in the morning as well. He said one person, a child, had been killed.
There was no immediate way to resolve the discrepancy between their reports. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Syrian state TV said the extremists crossed from the Turkish side of the border into Kobani, adding that are casualties. It gave no further details.
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Former Dictator Noriega Asks for Panama’s Forgiveness in New Interview 

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PANAMA CITY — Former dictator Manuel Noriega broke a long silence to ask his compatriots on Wednesday to forgive actions by his military regime that culminated in the 1989 U.S. invasion.
Noriega began the brief jailhouse interview with local network Telemetro reading a handwritten statement in which he said his apology came after days of reflection with his family and members of the church.
He said he wasn’t motivated by any personal interest but a sincere desire to bring closure to the military era, a dark chapter in Panama’s history that left the country in ruin and hundreds dead.
“Before the altar of my conscience I’ve come to express myself in the spirit of forgiveness,” Noriega said, his hand shaking but otherwise appearing in good health for his 81 years.
The onetime CIA informant hadn’t spoken to a journalist since a 1996 interview with CNN’s Larry King from a Miami federal prison, where following his capture by American troops he was sent for being a major conduit for Colombian cocaine traffickers.
After completing his sentence in the U.S., Noriega was extradited to France to serve time for money laundering. He returned to Panama in 2011 to complete a 60-year sentence for murder, corruption and embezzlement during the military’s three-decade rule.
Referring to himself as the “last general of the military era,” Noriega apologized to those “offended, affected, injured or humiliated” by his own actions or those of his superiors and subordinates during the regime that he began serving as a low-ranking officer in the 1960s.
He didn’t comment on any specific abuses and refused to take the bait when pressed about whether his act of contrition involved clarifying the still murky circumstances that led to the disappearance and murder of two prominent opponents.
Saying he was “totally at peace” with himself, Noriega said he didn’t want to distract from the “solemnity” of his statement.
Reaction among Panamanians was mixed.
Many on social media saw the apology as a surprising capitulation from the famously stubborn strongman, who lost his apparent interest and power to influence Panamanian politics years ago.
But others judged it as a sly move to pave the way for a presidential pardon or for him to finish his sentence under house arrest, something his lawyers have been seeking on medical grounds for years. Indeed, he prefaced his written statement with a brief protest against what he said were excessively long sentences imposed by Panamanian courts in absentia.
“The problem with Noriega is you can never distinguish between what’s true or not,” said R.M. Koster, an American novelist and biographer of Noriega who has lived in Panama for decades.
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See Photos from the Early Days of the Korean War 

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On June 25, 1950, the Korean People’s Army of North Korea, with the backing of Joseph Stalin and against the backdrop of rising Cold War tensions, invaded South Korea. Two days later, having condemned the attack, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution recommending military assistance to the Republic of Korea, now known as South Korea. By July, the U.S. was embroiled in a war that would last three years and cost more than a million lives in battle and hundreds of thousands more among civilians.
Less than a month after fighting began, LIFE published a series of photos by photographer Carl Mydans, who had documented the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division’s landing in P’ohang-dong on July 18. Mydans captured the unease of entering the unknown—in a very literal sense, as members of the Division set sail from Japan without knowing their destination. Two weeks later, the Battle of P’ohang-dong would begin, lasting for 15 days and ending with a victory for the U.N. Forces.
As Mydans wrote to LIFE’s editors in the letter below, which accompanied his film, much of this war photography had to be reviewed and approved by the U.S. government before publication, as it might otherwise weaken the security of a nation at war.
Though the impact of the war is still extremely palpable in North and South Korea–where the demilitarized zone divides an economic power from an impoverished, disconnected country—the Korean War is often referred to as a forgotten war in U.S. history, sandwiched as it is between World War II and the Vietnam War. Many Americans even during wartime tuned out news from the front lines after realizing that the conflict wouldn’t likely escalate to the level of the recently concluded Second World War. Congress never issued a declaration of war, with President Harry S. Truman calling it a “police action.” It wasn’t until the late 1950s that Congress formally designated the conflict a war.
But photographs like Mydans’, and those made by his LIFE colleagues David Douglas Duncan,Margaret Bourke-White and Michael Rougier, ensure that the war can never truly be forgotten. Though Mydans’ early photos document the quiet days before battle, it’s impossible to look at them now without knowing the horrors that each of those men would face in short order.
Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter@lizabethronk.
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How the Korean War Started 

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Though the Korean War started on this day 65 years ago—June 25, 1950—when North Korean tanks crossed the 38th parallel, the boundary with South Korea, TIME’s reporting from the following week reveals it took several days for the United States to realize the scope of what had happened.
It was early Sunday morning in Korea, the middle of Saturday afternoon in Independence, Mo. In the former, TIME reported, “North Korean radio broadcast war whoops” as “past terraced hills, green with newly transplanted rice, rumbled tanks.” In the latter, U.S. President Harry Truman was visiting with friends and supporters in his home state when he received a telephone call from Secretary of State Dean Acheson.
About a day passed. In Korea, American civilians were evacuated as the Southern army rallied to try to hold the line. The 38th parallel was, one State Department official admitted, an entirely arbitrary line, chosen by the World War II victors in Potsdam with no consideration for the geographical, economic or political realities of the country—but it was the border, nonetheless, and it had been crossed. In the U.S., Truman returned to the capital to meet with advisers. The nation had already taken a side and promised help, but the question of how to help was unresolved. “As the tense White House conferences stretched through Sunday night and Monday,” TIME reported, “that question merged with another: Would the rapidly retreating South Koreans be able to hold out long enough for the U.S. to act?”
South Korean President Syngman Rhee said publicly that he was disappointed with the American response: “Our soldiers are very brave. They sacrifice themselves against the tanks . . . Korea is very hard up because aid was so slow. It is too little and too late.” Via North Korean radio, the South was urged to surrender.
Then, on Tuesday, June 27, President Truman and his advisers came to a decision. “Shortly after 11 a.m., the U.S.’s political and military policymakers began to arrive at the White House from the State Department, the Pentagon and Capitol Hill,” TIME reported. “By 11:30 they had closed the high doors of the Cabinet Room behind them. Outside 100 reporters thronged the executive lobby or stood by telephones in the adjacent press room. Exactly at noon, Presidential Secretary Charles Ross stirred them into a whirlwind as he passed out the text of the gravest, hardest-hitting answer to aggression that the U.S. has ever made in its peacetime history.”
The President’s statement, as reprinted in the magazine, began:
In Korea the government forces, which were armed to prevent border raids and to preserve internal security, were attacked by invading forces from North Korea. The Security Council of the United Nations called upon the invading troops to cease hostilities and to withdraw to the 38th parallel. This they have not done, but on the contrary have pressed the attack. The Security Council called upon all members of the United Nations to render every assistance to the United Nations in the execution of this resolution.
In these circumstances I have ordered United States Air and Sea forces to give the Korean government troops cover and support.
The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that Communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war.
It has defied the orders of the Security Council of the United Nations issued to preserve international peace and security. In these circumstances the occupation of Formosa by Communist forces would be a direct threat to the security of the Pacific area and to United States forces performing their lawful and necessary functions in that area.
After the statement was read in Congress, though some (like Missouri Senator James Kem) questioned whether the President was in effect declaring war without the proper congressional path to action. Those in Congress who supported the President’s actions carried the day, and the House quickly approved an appropriation bill to fund the military action, which would officially continue for about three more years.
Read more about Truman’s response, here in the TIME Vault: Challenge Accepted
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What We Have Learned Since ISIS Declared a Caliphate One Year Ago 

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On June 29, 2014, the apparent leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared that he stood at the head of a Caliphate, a Muslim state that spanned Syria and Iraq. He was speaking in the city of Mosul which ISIS forces had taken from the Iraqi army a few weeks earlier. ISIS still hold Mosul and while they have had recent setbacks, on Thursday, they launched fresh assaults on the northern Syrian towns of Kobane and Hassakeh.
One year ago, the success of ISIS seemed to emerge from nowhere, but now we know much more.
Supporters of Saddam Hussein are a key factor in the sucess of ISIS
Last summer, it seemed like a bunch of fanatical jihadis got together and took swathes of territory from an army the U.S. had spent $25 billion training and equipping. One year later, the roots of the military prowess of ISIS is more clear — Saddam Hussein’s ex-officers form the core of the organisation; as many as 25 of the ISIS leadership previously took orders from the late Iraqi leader.
That means, rather than a disorganized gaggle of theocrats, ISIS is being run by trained military officers with decades of experience, which means they are disciplined and able.
In the last year, ISIS has managed to expand its territory both in Syria and Iraq, despite the U.S.-led coalition’s efforts to contain it. Mosul the largest city taken by ISIS remains firmly under its control despite months of training for Iraqi security forces and numerous dates promised for the operation to retake it.
ISIS’s agility and endless supply of suicide bombers has helped give them the upper hand, says Christopher Harmer, a senior analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, who completed several tours with the U.S. Army in Iraq, but the participation of the members of the old, secular, Baathist regime has been militarily key.
“What ISIS brought to the fight was a bunch of bodies and a willingness to fight, and what the Baathists brought was a knowledge of the terrain and how the Iraqi army would fight…and an understanding of strategic and operational planning,” says Harmer.
He points out that despite having an estimated 25,000 fighters, ISIS has essentially defeated everyone they’ve come up against, though he adds that Kurdish forces as well as Shi’ite militias have managed to win some battles with the organization.
Recent ISIS defeats do not amount to a ‘turning point’
Earlier this month Kurdish-Syrian forces ousted ISIS from the strategic Syrian-Turkish border town of Tel Abyad, and are continuing to push into the Caliphate.
However, this isn’t necessarily a sign of wins to come. When Shi’ite militias and Iraqi security forces finally managed to take Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit from ISIS in March, many were quick to proclaim the victory a ‘turning point’ in the war against ISIS but last month ISIS, rather easily, took Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province and Palmyra in Syria.
As Kenneth M. Pollack, a specialist in Middle East political-military affairs and a former CIA analyst pointed out, “Tikrit was not like Stalingrad.”
ISIS likes to micro-manage
If you want to play a game of table football in the Caliphate, you’ll need to behead the players —that’s according to a decree issued by ISIS earlier this year.
“They have to cut of the heads of the figurines or they might resemble idols for worship,” explains Aymenn al-Tamimi, a researcher at the Philadelphia-based think tank Middle East Forum, who has analyzed more than 200 ISIS administrative documents.
From education curriculum and textbooks, to fishing regulations and fines for littering ISIS has laws and by-laws that are more detailed than some recognized states.
Beyond the small stuff, the Caliphate has a structure that mirrors modern states. “Now it’s a lot more like the conventional ministries and state departments you recognize in governments around the world,” says al-Tamimi, adding we have a much clearer idea of ISIS’s government structures than we did a year ago.
These structures include a responsive economic system with multiple sources of income. As the U.S. targets ISIS oil infrastructure making it more difficult to sell the product, ISIS has been raising taxes in parts of the Caliphate, selling antiquities and telling their subjects to stock-up on grain.
Al-Tamimi points out that all this micro-management has helped ISIS maintain control and keep out competing Islamist groups, as well as bringing a “sense of order,”
ISIS will not be simply bombed out of power
Not everyone hates living under ISIS. For some the sense of order is better than the chaos and war that preceded it.
Since President Obama declared war on ISIS last summer, the U.S. has spent nearly $3 billion on thousands of air strikes against the group, but they’ve made only a dent. It’s testament both to ISIS’s military ability but also the need for a political solution. For some, particularly the millions of Iraqi Sunnis who were neglected and marginalized for years by the Shi’ite-lead government in Baghdad, the Caliphate is an improvement.
“The native Sunni populations doesn’t trust the alternative to ISIS,” says Hamid. Until real political moves are made to gain the trust of Sunni populations and tribal leaders, ISIS is likely to maintain a support base despite strict and violent rule.
ISIS represents so much more than terrorism
Part of this failing strategy against the militants might also be that Washington considers ISIS as just another terrorist group. “We saw ISIS as a terrorist organization, but ISIS was never primarily a terrorist organization in the traditional sense of the word,” says Hamid. Unlike groups before them, ISIS prioritized capturing and holding territory, rather than attacking political targets. “The fact that we had this rubric of terrorism I don’t think prepared us for understanding what ISIS was really about and what it was trying to do.”
This territorial expansion and vision that goes far beyond just violence, has also made ISIS the world’s premier jihadi group. ISIS has managed to establish, expand and govern a Caliphate, something Osama bin Laden only talked about.
Another key difference with al-Qaeda; it hasn’t orchestrated terror attacks on the West. Unlike al-Qaeda, ISIS has been putting its efforts into the Caliphate project, maintaining and expanding its borders and trying to solidify its control.
“Al-Qaeda saw one of its primary objectives as provoking the West,” says Hamid. While the American intelligence community has warned that ISIS is a threat to the U.S., the group hasn’t devoted resources to attacks on American soil. However, they have been quick to encourage and congratulate supporters in the West who do so. “ISIS, as an organization, the leadership structure, that’s not what their about, that’s not what they are focused on.”
ISIS has used propagand to shock and entice
ISIS has skilled producers who produce stylish videos of military action and choreographed executions. In their latest polished broadcast ISIS finds new, horrific ways to execute its victims — submerging five men in a cage in a swimming pool and beheading another group with necklaces of explosives.
Since declaring their Caliphate, ISIS has put out dozens of well-produced videos documenting their massacres and atrocities, many featuring Mohammed Emwazi, a British fighter nicknamed Jihadi John who became notorious for beheading kidnapped foreigners.
While this propaganda may have helped attract foreign and local recruits, Hamid points out that the idea of the Caliphate was likely the key to the appeal for many. “I think 99% of Muslims disagree with ISIS’s version of the Caliphate, but the idea of a Caliphate is powerful and will continue to be powerful because it speaks to the weakness of the Muslim world,” says Hamid. “The Caliphate harkens back to a time when Muslim empires were successful and strong in military and economic terms, so it was brilliant marketing.”
As many as 20,000 foreigners have joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria and while some now wish to leave,disillusioned with what they’ve experienced, others continue to make the journey into the Caliphate.
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AP Top News at 10:14 a.m. EDT

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AP Top News at 10:14 a.m. EDT
Supreme Court upholds nationwide health care law subsidiesWASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has upheld the nationwide tax subsidies under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, in a ruling that preserves health insurance for millions of Americans. The justices said in a 6-3 ruling Thursday that the subsidies that 8.7 million people currently receive to make insurance affordable do not depend on where they live, under the 2010 health care law.
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP) - A maximum-security prison guard accused of delivering frozen meat with tools hidden inside to two inmates before they escaped will be arraigned Thursday on charges of promoting prison contraband and other offenses. Gene Palmer, 57, is accused of providing a screwdriver and needle-nose pliers to Richard Matt and David Sweat four times before the pair escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6. Palmer, in return, received paintings from the inmates. The prison guard is accused of burning and burying the paintings after the escape, according to court documents.
Islamic State launches 2 major attacks in northern SyriaBEIRUT (AP) - Islamic State militants launched two major attacks in northern Syria on Thursday, storming government-held areas in the mostly Kurdish city of Hassakeh and pushing into Kobani - the Syrian Kurdish border town they were expelled from early this year - where they set off three cars bombs, killing and wounding dozens, activists and officials said. The attacks came after the Islamic State group suffered several setbacks in northern Syria against Kurdish forces over the past weeks.
Greece, creditors at loggerheads as debt deadline loomsBRUSSELS (AP) - Greece and its international creditors remained at loggerheads Thursday over reform measures that Athens must introduce to unlock billions of euros in loans and prevent a likely bankruptcy of the country. With talks in Brussels at an impasse, leaders from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission raised the stakes by putting forward their joint position on the kind of reforms they would accept to offer Greece a financial lifeline.
In North Korea, war anniversary is climax of anti-US fervorSUSAN-RI, North Korea (AP) - June is something like Hate America Month in North Korea. Officially, it's called "Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Month" and - more so than usual - it's a time for North Koreans to swarm to war museums, mobilize for gatherings denouncing the evils of the United States and join in a general, nationwide whipping up of anti-American sentiment.
Watchdog: IRS workers mistakenly erased tea party emailsWASHINGTON (AP) - Investigators are blaming mistakes by IRS employees - not a criminal conspiracy - for the loss of thousands of emails related to the tax agency's tea party scandal. IRS workers erased 422 computer backup tapes that "most likely" contained as many as 24,000 emails to and from former IRS official Lois Lerner, who has emerged as a central figure in congressional investigations, according to IRS's inspector general.
Restoration students do wheel nice work on vintage ridesHERSHEY, Pa. (AP) - Eugene Toner stomped on the foot-operated ignition. The engine sputtered and coughed, but wouldn't catch. Uh oh. Here at The Elegance, one of the nation's most prestigious gatherings of antique automobiles, the exquisitely restored town cars, coupes and convertibles don't just sit pretty. They're expected to run. Toner's instructor lifted the hood to adjust the choke linkage. A few tense moments later, the 1916 Scripps-Booth Model D roared to life, allowing Toner, a 24-year-old auto restoration student from the Philadelphia suburb of Quakertown, to pull out of his spot and begin a triumphant circuit around the show grounds.
MacFarlane: Some media exaggerate political correctnessNEW YORK (AP) - "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane dismisses the notion that comedy has become more politically correct these days. Instead, he blames some members of the press for exaggerating the situation.

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AP Top News at 6:01 a.m. EDT

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AP Top News at 6:01 a.m. EDT
Guard arrested for aiding convicts faces arraignmentPLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP) - A maximum-security prison guard who delivered frozen meat with tools hidden inside to two inmates before they escaped will be arraigned on charges of promoting prison contraband and other offenses. But a lawyer for correction officer Gene Palmer says his client had no knowledge any contraband was inside the meat.
Church resumes Bible study as slain pastor's body returnedCHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - The site of a massacre a week ago, the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is being reclaimed by parishioners who are pledging to remember the loved ones they lost in a shooting rampage while carrying on the work of the beloved pastor who was slain beside them. Only hours before the body of state senator and pastor Clementa Pinckney was to be returned to the historic black church one last time for his wake, members of his flock and non-church members alike packed into the church's basement to attend Wednesday night Bible study. It was the very same thing that was taking place a week ago before Pinckney and eight parishioners were gunned down in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime.
10 Things to Know for TodayYour daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. WHO IS THE LATEST PERSON ARRESTED IN PRISON BREAK
US Capitol's Confederate statues prompt renewed debateWASHINGTON (AP) - Alexander H. Stephens, onetime vice president of the Confederacy, sits memorialized in stone, right leg crossed over left, staring sternly into the distance as summer-clad tourists mill about him in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall. Solemn and cold, he looks like he could sit there for eternity. But the renewed debate about symbols of the Confederacy in the wake of the horrific shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, raises new questions about whether he will.
Islamic State group storms northeast Syrian city of HassakehBEIRUT (AP) - Islamic State militants in Syria stormed government-held neighborhoods in the predominantly Kurdish northeastern city of Hassakeh on Thursday morning, capturing several areas of the city, officials and state media said. The attack came after the Islamic State group suffered several setbacks in northern Syria against Kurdish forces over the past weeks. The city of Hassakeh is divided between Bashar Assad's forces and Kurdish fighters.
Obama scolds heckler: 'You're in my house'WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama took on a heckler head-on at a gay pride month reception at the White House Wednesday, scolding the protester for being disrespectful in "my house." The heckler had interrupted Obama's remarks by protesting the detention and deportation of gay, lesbian and transgender immigrants.
Defense to begin case in Colorado theater shooting trialDENVER (AP) - Attorneys for Colorado theater shooter James Holmes begin presenting their case Thursday by trying to show he was legally insane when he opened fire on a packed movie premiere, killing 12 people and wounding 70. Defense witnesses will offer a less emotional and more clinical assessment of Holmes after two months of often-gruesome testimony from prosecution witnesses, including many visibly wounded victims.
Conservationists: New China policy could save elephantsJOHANNESBURG (AP) - Conservationists hail it as a possible game-changer in the struggle to curb the slaughter of elephants: an unexpected pledge by a senior Chinese official to stop the ivory trade in a country whose vast, increasingly affluent consumer market drives elephant poaching across Africa. Now they are waiting in suspense for China to outline how and when it would ban an industry that criminal syndicates use as cover for their illicit business in tusks.
Okafor, others get their answers Thursday in NBA draftNEW YORK (AP) - Jahlil Okafor's wait is almost over. The NBA draft is Thursday night, and the Duke big man will be one of the top picks. He said Wednesday he wished he already knew his destination.

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AP Top News at 1:40 a.m. EDT

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AP Top News at 1:40 a.m. EDT
Guard who gave meat to 2 inmates arrested after their escapePLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP) - A maximum-security prison guard who delivered frozen meat with tools hidden inside to two inmates before they escaped was arrested on Wednesday. But correction officer Gene Palmer had no knowledge any contraband was inside the meat he gave to the two convicted killers, his lawyer said.
Marathon bomber 'sorry' for attack after 2-year silenceBOSTON (AP) - Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev broke his silence on the death and devastation he caused two years ago with words that were not a political tirade or a justification. He apologized to his victims and their families at his formal sentencing Wednesday in federal court.
Stronger economy, cheap gas expected to spur holiday travelNEW YORK (AP) - A stronger economy, rising consumer confidence and cheap gasoline will likely have Americans traveling in big numbers this Independence Day. An estimated 41.9 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home during the holiday weekend, up 0.7 percent from last year and the most since 2007, right before the recession, according to travel agency and car lobbying group AAA.
Pat Houston: Bobbi Kristina Brown moved to hospice careNEW YORK (AP) - Bobbi Kristina Brown has been moved to hospice care after months in the hospital, and a lawsuit has been filed against her partner. In a statement Wednesday, her aunt Pat Houston said Whitney Houston's daughter's condition has worsened.
Towns, Okafor and good lesser-known players top NBA draftNEW YORK (AP) - Karl-Anthony Towns hoisted a child high up toward his shoulders, letting the youngster at an NBA community service event feel what it was like to rock the rim with a dunk. Next up for Towns might be trying to help lift the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Armenian premier holds out olive branch to protesters

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YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's prime minister held out an olive branch on Thursday to thousands of people protesting for a fourth day against plans to raise electricity prices, offering concessions for the poor.
  

Russian court arrests suspected Lithuanian spy: Interfax

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia arrested a suspected Lithuanian spy on Thursday, a court spokeswoman said, adding to a list of espionage allegations as tensions grow between Moscow and the Baltic states it once governed.
  

France Freezes Russian Bank Accounts In Magnitsky-Inspired Fraud Case

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French authorities have frozen millions of euros in bank accounts after launching an investigation into an alleged Russian fraud scheme uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, a Moscow lawyer who died in a Russian jail.

NATO Warns Of Risk Of Heavy Fighting in Ukraine

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NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned there is still a risk of heavy fighting in Ukraine and urged Moscow to halt its support for separatists.

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Page 6

From Revolution To Rapprochement

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Former Hungarian Service deputy director recounts perilous escape from Hungary during the 1956 uprising and his work for Radio Free Europe.

Armenian Demonstrators Stand Firm In Yerevan

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Protesters flew the Armenian flag, chanted slogans, and helped clean the streets on June 25 after they spent another night on the capital's central Bagramian Avenue. The demonstrations have swelled into the thousands in recent days in protest against a planned hike in electricity prices.

Ukrainian Police, Guardsmen Hold Defense Exercises

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Ukrainian police and a National Guard unit practiced defending territory from a potential attack in the city of Dobropillya, near rebel-held territory in Donbas. Members of the Azov Regiment, formerly a volunteer militia, took part in the drills.

Russia Arrests Russian-Lithuanian National Suspected Of Treason

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A Russian court has arrested a dual Russian-Lithuanian national on treason charges.

Putin Vows To Continue Russian Military Modernization

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President Vladimir Putin has vowed to continue a sweeping military modernization effort, saying a "powerful army equipped with modern weapons is the guarantor of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia."

Former Lithuanian Head Of State On RFE/RL In The Baltics

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Vytautas Landsbergis, the first independent leader of Lithuania after the fall of the Soviet Union, describes RFE/RL as a vital source of independent news and information for listeners in the Eastern Block, saying the renewal of propaganda in Russian language media makes RFE/RL’s mission as important now as ever. (Produced by Anna Sous and Andrew Wills).

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Page 7

The Many Miseries of Yemeni Families 

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Children are terrified by noises. Finding food is a challenge. There’s rarely power. Many people in Yemen and beyond dream of an end to the fighting.

U.S. to Reduce Long Stays for Families at Immigration Centers

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Homeland Security officials announced plans to end the long-term detention of mothers with children caught crossing the border illegally by allowing most to be released on bond.

News Analysis: Obama Bolsters His Leverage With Trade Victory, but at a Cost 

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In rescuing his trade legislation, the president worked with Republicans but may have worsened relations with fellow Democrats.

ISIS Carries Out Deadly Attacks on Syrian Border Town of Kobani 

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As they waited at the border to cross into Turkey on Thursday, relatives of a woman who died after being wounded in Kobani, northern Syria, mourned over her body.

ISIS Attacks Two Border Towns in Northern Syria

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As they waited at the border to cross into Turkey on Thursday, relatives of a woman who died after being wounded in Kobani, in northern Syria, mourned over her body.

ISIS tries again to take key towns in northern Syria

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Militants launch attacks in 2 places close to Turkish border, including 1 where U.S. air power helped turn them back almost a year ago
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Page 8

Supreme Court upholds major portion of Obamacare

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Consumers in all states are eligible for Obamacare tax credits, Supreme Court rules, even in states that rely on the federal exchange

Hospital stocks jump as Obamacare subsidies upheld

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Wall Street reacts to high court ruling, which one analyst says should discourage future attempts at rescinding the law

ISIS reinforces Raqqa as Kurds get closer

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ISIS is reportedly digging trenches and calling on reinforcements to prepare for a possible assault by Kurdish forces on their stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, activists and a Kurdish official told CNN on Wednesday.
    


Is that my father?: Queen unimpressed by portrait

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Britain's Queen Elizabeth appeared to be unimpressed by a portrait painted of her as a child. Art critic Estelle Lovatt joins CNN Today to explain what the artist might've been going for.
    


Rwanda president denounces UK

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Rwanda's President Paul Kagame launches a scathing verbal attack on the UK government after the arrest of its intelligence chief in London.

UK frees Rwandan general on bail

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Rwanda's intelligence chief Karenzi Karake is released on bail of £1m ($1.6m) in London after his arrest on Saturday.
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Page 9

The Latest: Obama says health law is 'here to stay'

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on the Supreme Court's decision on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. (All times Eastern)...

Supreme Court upholds nationwide health care law subsidies

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the nationwide tax subsidies under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, in a ruling that preserves health insurance for millions of Americans....

U.S. intelligence chief: China top suspect in hack of U.S. agency - WSJ

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States' intelligence chief said on Thursday that China was the top suspect in a hack of a U.S. agency that compromised the personnel records of millions of Americans, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
  

How Egyptian media has become a mouthpiece for the military state 

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With imprisonment of journalists at an all-time high, Nour Youssef speaks to leading journalists about their inability to criticise the government
When Tahrir Square was flooded with Egyptians calling for former president Hosni Mubarak’s downfall, journalists were divided: jump ship, or defend the president?
Some, like Ibrahim Eissa, joined the calls of the protesters, co-founding the daily newspaper El-Tahrir (The Liberation). Others, like then-state TV presenter Khairy Ramadan, turned on demonstrators, suggesting they were funded by foreign conspirators.
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Dragons and penis sheaths: here are the worst diplomatic gifts of all time | Hannah Jane Parkinson 

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The Queen was not impressed with a painting presented to her by Germany – but she can take heart that it wasn’t a tub of goose fat or a Komodo dragon
We already know that Her Majesty has incredible fashion game (often featuring in best dressed lists) and that she is handy with a Leica. Now it turns out Elizabeth is also the Queen of throwing shade.
Upon visiting the German president, Joachim Gauck, Elizabeth II was presented with a Nicole Leidenfrost painting. The work, which resembled a George Stubbs piece – if Stubbs had been a Central Saint Martins student off his tits on Quaaludes – features a young Liz on horseback.
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Air Tankers Briefly Grounded After Drone Spotted Over Blaze

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Air tankers briefly grounded after small drone spotted over Southern California forest fire

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