Staff Blog
What We’ve Found: Local police program successful, community-based policing in Rio, Iranian tried after two years in Philly jail, Iran releases UK sailors, covert U.S. military expansion in Pakistan and Afghanistan troop surge not yet paid for
Julia Harte with your morning fix.
Philadelphia police yesterday announced that Operation Pressure Point, a crime-fighting effort that flooded the city's worst neighborhoods with law enforcers each weekend for the past seven months, has been a resounding success.
In preparation for the 2016 Olympic Games, police in Rio de Janeiro are attempting a new, community-based policing system, in which citizens call on the police when crimes occur, or to report on drug trafficking activity.
An Iranian arms trafficker, who was arrested by Philadelphia-based federal agents in Europe in 2007 and extradited to the United States, where he's been imprisoned near Philadelphia ever since, was expected to be publicly tried for the first time today.
Five British sailors whose racing yacht accidentally strayed into Iranian waters last week were released today by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, after being detained and interrogated for several days.
Behind the scenes of his public statements, such as last night's speech, President Obama has reportedly been authorizing an expansion of the U.S. military presence in Pakistan, increasing the C.I.A.'s budget for operations there and ordering more drone attacks in the southern part of the country.
The 30,000-troop surge in Afghanistan announced last night by President Obama will cost at least $30 billion more than current spending, and it is unclear where the government will find the money to pay for it. Democratic leaders have already reviewed and struck down the idea of imposing a "war tax".
