NATION/WORLD
Thursday, January 14, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Navy sailors released unharmed by Iran Republican Party
begins preparing for
contested convention
Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — It
turned out to be the international crisis
that wasn’t.
Less than a day after 10 U.S. Navy
sailors were detained in Iran when
their boats drifted into Iranian waters,
they and their vessels were back safely
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
tapped the personal relationship he has
formed with Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif in the three
years of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear
program, speaking with him at least
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the quick resolution to the “critical role
diplomacy plays in keeping our country
secure and strong.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter
thanked Kerry after the sailors’ release
and couched the incident in humani-
tarian terms, noting that “the U.S. Navy
routinely provides assistance to foreign
sailors in distress.”
For Tehran, the Americans’ swift
release was a way to neutralize a
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it was expected to meet the terms of
last summer’s nuclear deal, which will
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economic sanctions.
It is likely that Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the
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have had to approve the release, given
the immense political sensitivities.
But the rapid resolution also was a
victory for moderate President Hassan
Rouhani, who has promoted greater
openness with the outside world
despite strident opposition from deeply
entrenched hard-liners at home.
“Rouhani’s policy of interaction is
working,” said Iranian political analyst
Saeed Leilaz. “Iran and the U.S. have
gone a long way in reducing tensions
but still have a long way to go in
improving their contacts. It was a big
step forward.”
The nine men and one woman were
detained Tuesday after at least one of
their boats suffered mechanical prob-
lems off of Farsi Island, an outpost in
the middle of the Persian Gulf that has
been used as a base for Revolutionary
Associated Press
IRIB News Agency via AP
This frame grab from a Tuesday video by the Iranian state-run IRIB News
Agency, shows detention of American Navy sailors by the Iranian Revolu-
tionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, Iran.
Guard speedboats since the 1980s.
The Americans’ small Riverine
boats were sailing between Kuwait and
Bahrain on a training mission when the
U.S. lost contact.
The sailors left the island at 0843
GMT (3:43 a.m. EST) Wednesday
aboard their boats, the Navy said. They
were picked up by Navy aircraft, and
other sailors took control of the vessels
for the return voyage to Bahrain, where
the U.S. 5th Fleet is based.
Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a 5th Fleet
spokesman, said the priority now would
be determining “how exactly these
sailors found themselves in Iran.”
He declined to say where they were
going or give details on their identities,
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were heading to a U.S. military facility
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authorized to discuss the matter publicly,
said they are being debriefed and getting
medical exams but were not harmed.
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said the Navy has ruled out engine or
propulsion failure as the reason the
boats entered Iranian waters. Naviga-
tion problems, due either to human or
mechanical failure, could not be ruled
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rized to discuss details of the incident
and so spoke on condition of anonymity.
The sailors were part of Riverine
Squadron 1, based in San Diego, U.S.
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with the boats, ships attached to the
USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier
strike group began a search, as did
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also spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to
discuss the incident publicly.
The Revolutionary Guard released
images of the U.S. sailors before their
release, showing them sitting on the
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bored or annoyed, although one
appeared to be smiling. The woman had
her hair covered by a brown cloth. The
pictures also showed what appeared to
be their two boats.
State TV later released more video
and photos of the Americans apparently
surrendering on their knees, their hands
behind their head. It also showed
machine guns and ammunition they had
onboard.
“After determining that their entry
into Iran’s territorial waters was not
intentional, and their apology, the
detained American sailors were released
in international waters,” the Guard said.
US Navy Cmdr. Gary Ross, a
Pentagon spokesman, said the incident
remained under investigation.
High court raises doubts over Puerto Rico sovereignty
By SAM HANANEL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Supreme
Court on Wednesday raised doubts
about whether Puerto Rico should be
treated as a sovereign state with powers
that go beyond its status as a territory of
the United States.
The justices considered the question
during arguments in a criminal case
involving two men who claim that
Puerto Rico and the federal government
can’t prosecute them for the same
charges of selling weapons without a
permit.
The double jeopardy principal
prevents defendants from being tried
twice for the same offense. But there
is an exception that allows prosecution
under similar state and federal laws,
since states are considered separate
sovereigns.
Several justices said Puerto Rico’s
power to enforce local laws really
comes from Congress, which in theory
could take it away.
The case has broad political and legal
implications that could affect Puerto
Rico on issues ranging from taxation and
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as the high court prepares to hear a sepa-
rate dispute later this year over whether
WKH ¿QDQFLDOO\ VWUXJJOLQJ 3XHUWR 5LFDQ
government can give its municipalities
the power to declare bankruptcy.
The Caribbean island of 3.5 million
people is a U.S. territory acquired in
1898 following the Spanish-Amer-
ican War. But it gained a measure of
autonomy in 1952, when it adopted its
own constitution with the approval of
Ocean search
for Malaysian
airliner ¿nds nd
shipwreck
CANBERRA, Australia
(AP) — The undersea search
for the Malaysian airliner
that vanished almost two
years ago has found a likely
19th century shipwreck
deep in the Indian Ocean off
the west Australian coast,
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A sonar search for the
wreckage of Malaysia
Airlines Flight 370 found
what appeared to be a
man-made object on Dec.
19, the Australian Transport
Safety Bureau said in a
statement.
A follow-up investigation
using an underwater drone
captured high-resolution
sonar images on Jan. 2 that
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a shipwreck, said the bureau,
which is running the search
for the Boeing 777 which
vanished on March 8, 2014.
The Shipwreck Galleries
“Before 1952, Congress could veto Puerto
Rico’s laws. It has relinquished that right.”
— Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Congress and was allowed to pass its
own local laws.
Justice Elena Kagan said that history
means the ultimate source of the island’s
legal power is Congress.
“If Congress is in the driver’s seat,
why isn’t Congress the sole source
of authority?” she asked Christopher
Landau, the lawyer representing Puerto
Rico.
Landau said that under Puerto Rico’s
constitution “the political power of the
commonwealth emanates from the
people.” He said Congress had essen-
tially relinquished control over Puerto
Rico’s internal affairs when it allowed
the island to create its own laws and
government.
But Justice Antonin Scalia said that
doesn’t mean Congress couldn’t change
the law.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the
daughter of Puerto Rico-born parents,
seemed sympathetic to the argument
that Congress meant to confer sover-
eignty when it approved the island’s
constitution — even if Puerto Rico is not
quite equivalent to a state.
“Before 1952, Congress could veto
Puerto Rico’s laws,” Sotomayor said. “It
has relinquished that right.”
The case involves Luis Sanchez
Valle and James Gomez Vazquez, who
pleaded guilty in federal court to selling
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BRIEFLY
of the Western Australian
Museum conducted a
preliminary review of the
images and advised that the
wreck was likely to be a
steel or iron ship dating from
the turn of the 19th century,
the bureau said.
No charges for
man who killed
son he mistook for
intruder
CINCINNATI (AP) —
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against a man who fatally
shot his 14-year-old son
after mistaking him for an
intruder.
Hamilton County
Prosecutor Joseph Deters
said Wednesday that the
man, 72, won’t be charged
in the Tuesday morning
shooting in the basement of
the Cincinnati-area home.
The man had watched his
son, Georta Mack, walk to
the school bus and the boy
later called his father to say
he was on the bus, Deters
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laws, they moved to dismiss the charges
on double jeopardy grounds.
The Puerto Rico Supreme Court ulti-
mately sided with the men, ruling that
the island is not a separate sovereign.
Arguing for Valle and Vazquez,
lawyer Adam Unikowski said the issue
is simple: “States are sovereign, territo-
ries are not.”
Some justices appeared to search for
a middle ground.
Justice Stephen Breyer said an
opinion saying Puerto Rico is sovereign
would have “enormous implications.”
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that the island has some aspects of
sovereignty that would apply more
narrowly to double jeopardy.
“There are different kinds of territo-
ries,” Breyer said.
The Obama administration has
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insisting that the island remains a terri-
tory subject to the control of Congress.
Justice Department lawyer Nicole
Saharsky told the justices that Congress
has allowed “increasing self-govern-
ment” in Puerto Rico and there is no
reason to think lawmakers change that.
But she said Congress could revise the
arrangement because the island remains
a territory.
“Congress is the one who makes the
rules,” Saharsky said.
said in his statement.
The man later heard a
noise in the basement and
got his .45 caliber handgun
before investigating,
according to the prosecutor.
The father told authorities
that when he opened a closet
door, Georta jumped out and
yelled, “Boo!”
The startled man, whose
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a shot that hit the boy in the
neck.
“He scared me!” the
distraught father said in his
911 call. “I thought he was
in school. I heard noise, so I
went downstairs looking and
he jumped out at me. .... Oh,
God. Get here quick!”
Police said the teen had
headed to the bus stop but
apparently decided he wasn’t
going to school and came
back home through a back
door.
Deters said all the
forensic evidence matched
the father’s account of what
happened and no charges
were appropriate.
“There is only one word
for this — tragedy,” Deters
said. “It is impossible
to imagine how horrible
this father must feel for
mistaking his son for an
intruder.”
Istanbul suicide
bomber registered
as refugee
ISTANBUL (AP) — The
suicide attacker who
detonated a bomb that killed
10 German tourists in the
heart of Istanbul’s historic
district had registered
as a refugee just a week
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said Wednesday, raising
questions over whether
extremists are posing as
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anti-immigrant sentiment in
Europe.
Turkish authorities
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Tuesday’s attack as a Syrian
man who was born in 1988,
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somehow with the Islamic
State group.
understand the rules and all
the members of the RNC
CHARLESTON, S.C. understand how this would
— The Republican National play out going forward.”
Added South Carolina
Committee has started
chairman
Matt
preparing for a contested GOP
national convention, which Moore: “The story of this
would follow the primary election cycle has been
season should no GOP ‘expect the unexpected.’
candidate for president win So we’re getting ahead of
enough delegates to secure it and preparing for every
single scenario at the
the party’s nomination.
While calling the need national convention. I don’t
for such plans ultimately think it’s likely, but it’s
unlikely, several GOP certainly possible. And you
leaders at the party’s winter always plan for things that
meeting in South Carolina are possible.”
To win the nomination
told The Associated Press
on Wednesday that such outright, a successful
preliminary
planning candidate needs to secure
is nonetheless actively more than half of all
available delegates in the
underway.
primary
They stressed it had state-by-state
little to do with concerns contests leading up to the
about the candidacy of convention.
The last time a
billionaire
businessman
convention
Donald Trump, describing Republican
the early work instead as opened without such a
a necessary contingency clear nominee was 1976,
given the deeply divided when Gerald Ford led in
delegates but lacked a
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With less than three majority coming into the
weeks to go before the Feb. convention. There was
1 leadoff Iowa caucuses, plenty of drama as Ford
there are still a dozen major beat back a challenge from
Republican candidates in Ronald Reagan and eked
out the nomination on the
the race.
“Certainly, management ¿UVWYRWH
The last time there was a
of the committee has been
working on the eventuality, truly brokered convention,
because we’d be wrong at which delegates turned
not to,” said Bruce Ash, to someone who didn’t run
chairman of the RNC’s in the primaries, was in
rules committee. “We 1952. That year, Democrats
don’t know, or we don’t drafted Adlai Stevenson,
think there’s going to be who won the party’s nomi-
a contested convention, nation on the third ballot.
,Q WKH *23 ¿HOG WKLV
but if there is, obviously
everybody needs to know year, Trump and Texas Sen.
what all those logistics are Ted Cruz have the edge in
the most recent preference
going to look like.”
The RNC will hold a polls, much to the dismay
EULH¿QJ RXWOLQLQJ SRVVLEOH of many party leaders who
VFHQDULRV ZLWK SDUW\ RI¿- fear neither man is electable
cials and the presidential in a general election. The
campaigns on Thursday, centrist wing of the party
said Steve Duprey, a has yet to coalesce around
Republican
national an alternative to Trump or
committeeman from New &UX] 7KRVH ¿JKWLQJ IRU
that role include Florida
Hampshire.
Discussion is expected Sen. Marco Rubio, New
to focus on logistics related Jersey Gov. Chris Christie,
to planning for the July former Florida Gov. Jeb
convention in Cleveland, a Bush and Ohio Gov. John
task traditionally controlled Kasich.
While party leaders
by
the
presumptive
caution they don’t believe
nominee.
“I never thought we’d a clear nominee will fail
deal with this,” Duprey said. to emerge from the glut of
“The best way to make sure candidates, they argue it
we don’t have some messy would be malpractice not to
¿JKWLVLIDOOWKHFDPSDLJQV prepare for the prospect.
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