Iran talks at impasse amid bickering

Iran talks at impasse amid bickering

VIENNA

The Iran nuclear talks shifted Friday to a blame game, as Iran’s foreign minister accused the United States of shifting its demands and dismissed a warning that the U.S. was ready to quit the negotiations.

Hours after his comments, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met again with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for another attempt at resolving the differences standing in the way a landmark deal that offers Iran sanctions relief in exchange for long-term, verifiable curbs on nuclear programs that Tehran could use to make weapons.

Doctor gets 45-year sentence for fraud

DETROIT

Calling the scheme “horrific,” a judge sentenced a Detroit-area cancer doctor to 45 years in prison Friday for collecting millions from insurance companies while poisoning more than 500 patients through needless treatments that wrecked their health.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman this week heard stories of brittle bones and fried organs as patients chillingly described the effects of excessive chemotherapy at the hands of Dr. Farid Fata.

Fata, 50, offered no excuses before getting his punishment. Stone-faced all week in court, he repeatedly broke down in loud sobs as he begged for mercy Friday.

20th anniversary of massacre in Bosnia

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Foreign dignitaries were starting to arrive in Bosnia on Friday to mark the 20th anniversary of Europe’s worst massacre since World War II and attend the funeral of 136 newly found victims.

Some 50,000 people are expected to attend ceremonies today mourning the 8,000 Muslim men and boys killed in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, which had been declared a safe haven for civilians by the United Nations. The event includes a funeral for 136 recently found victims identified through DNA analysis.

Airstrikes pierce truce in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen

A new truce in Yemen was pierced within an hour as Saudi-led airstrikes hit targets in the capital Sanaa and the southwestern city of Taiz after reports of ground movement and fighting, security officials said.

The U.N.-declared truce that began after midnight Friday is meant to last through the end of the holy month of Ramadan and allow in desperately needed humanitarian aid for millions of people.

Judge releases kids locked up for not meeting with dad

PONTIAC, Mich.

A judge Friday released three siblings who have spent two weeks in juvenile detention for refusing to meet with their estranged father.

Oakland County Judge Lisa Gorcyca said she’s sending the children to a summer camp, at the request of the father.

She had a hearing Friday, three days after a TV station reported her June 24 decision to put the kids – age 15, 10 and 9 – at Children’s Village. They were kept away from juveniles who are locked up there for committing crimes.

It isn’t clear what will happen when the two-week camp ends.

“That’s up to the judge,” said Lisa Stern, an attorney for the mother.

The case stems from a divorce that began in 2009. The judge blamed the mother for alienating the two boys and their younger sister from their father.

Associated Press