Man pleads not guilty to hate crimes in attack on Colorado demonstration for Israeli hostages
DENVER (AP) — A man accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at a group of people who were demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages pleaded not guilty Friday to federal hate crime charges.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman was indicted earlier this week on 12 hate crime counts in the June 1 attack. He is accused of trying to kill eight people who were hurt by the Molotov cocktails and others who were nearby.
Investigators say Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration on Boulder's Pearl Street pedestrian mall. But he threw just two of his over two dozen Molotov cocktails while yelling 'Free Palestine.'
Soliman, who is also being prosecuted in state court for attempted murder and other charges, told investigators he tried to buy a gun but was not able to because he was not a 'legal citizen.'
He posed as a gardener, wearing a construction vest, to get close to the group before launching the attack, according to court documents. He was also indicted for having explosives, which was included in the hate crime counts.
Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, has been living in the U.S. illegally with his family.
At a hearing last week, Soliman's defense attorney, David Kraut, urged Magistrate Judge Kathryn Starnella not to allow the case to move forward. Kraut said the alleged attack was not a hate crime. He said it was motivated by Soliman's opposition to Zionism, the movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
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Hamilton Spectator
28 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Fireworks will light up this Fourth of July. Next year could be different if tariff talks fizzle
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Like clockwork, Carla Johnson sends out letters every spring asking for donations to help pay for the annual Fourth of July fireworks show that draws tens of thousands of people to New Mexico's largest lake. And she has no reservations about doling out verbal reminders when she sees her patrons around town. There's too much at stake to be shy about fundraising when donations collected by Friends of Elephant Butte Lake State Park are what make the tradition possible. But even Johnson's ardent efforts as the group's fundraiser might not cut it next year if the U.S. and China remain locked in a trade war. With nearly all of the aerial shells, paper rockets and sparkly fountains that fuel America's Fourth of July celebrations being imported from China, volunteer groups like Johnson's and cities big and small have been closely watching the negotiations. A 90-day pause on what had been massive tariffs brought some temporary relief, but industry experts acknowledge that the tiff has lit a fuse of uncertainty as the price tag for future fireworks displays could skyrocket if an agreement isn't reached. Not the first time There were similar concerns in 2019 as trade talks between the U.S. and China dragged on. Industry groups had called on officials then to exempt fireworks from escalating tariffs. The American Pyrotechnics Association and the National Fireworks Association reignited the lobbying effort this spring, noting in letters to President Donald Trump that fireworks play a crucial role in American celebrations. The groups say the industry is made up mostly of family-owned companies that are often locked into long-term contracts that leave them unable to raise prices to offset cost surges brought on by higher tariffs. And there are few options for sourcing the more than 300 million pounds (136 million kilograms) of fireworks needed to feed demands . China produces 99% of consumer fireworks and 90% of professional display fireworks used in the U.S., according to the APA. 'I think overall it's the uncertainty,' said Julie Heckman, the APA's executive director. 'Yeah, we have a 90-day pause, but are the negotiations with China going to go well? Or is it going to go sky-high again? You know, triple digits. It's very hard for a small business to plan.' How it began Fireworks have their roots in China. To ward off evil spirits, people would throw bamboo stalks into a fire, causing them to pop as the air inside the hollow pockets heated up. These early firecrackers evolved into more sophisticated fireworks after the Chinese developed gunpowder in the 9th century. By the 15th century, Europe was using fireworks for religious festivals and entertainment. In 1777, they were used in Philadelphia and Boston for what were the first organized Independence Day celebrations. Now, fireworks are synonymous with the summer holiday and with ringing in the new year. Shows have become elaborately choreographed displays that are often synced to live music. In Nashville, the Music City's award-winning symphony orchestra puts its own spin on the festivities. In New York City, organizers of the Macy's show will fire off 80,000 shells, with some reaching heights of 1,000 feet (304 meters). The National Park Service promises a spectacular show on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. At Elephant Butte in southern New Mexico, they're going old school and will light the fireworks by hand. Charlie Warren, vice president of the Friends of Elephant Butte Lake State Park, said it's like spectators are getting two shows at once as the colors reflect on the water below and the loud booms reverberate off the lake. 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The third container was put on hold to avoid the highest tariffs, meaning inventory could be tight later this year if nothing changes. 'As a small business, we are passionate about watching our price points and intentional about passing along as much savings on to customers as possible,' said Melissa Torkleson, a managing partner at Big Blast. With some orders on hold, industry experts say Chinese manufacturers throttled back production as warehouses filled up. The backup in the supply chain also has resulted in competition for shipping space aboard ocean vessels, and Heckman, the APA's director, said it will take much more than flipping a light switch to ease either situation. If the trade war drags on, she said, there are ways that show organizers can adjust and spectators might not notice. A minute or two could be shaved from a show or certain types of fireworks could be substituted with less expensive options. As for this year, Warren said the price tag for the Elephant Butte show was unchanged and he and Johnson can't wait to see spectators lining the shoreline, on the surrounding hillsides and on boats bobbing on the lake. The mission every year is to make sure 'that the T's are all crossed,' Warren said. 'Because this community would not be happy if this show didn't come off,' he said. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Vox
3 hours ago
- Vox
What the '12-day war' teaches us about Trump's foreign policy
is a senior politics correspondent at Vox, covering the White House, elections, and political scandals and investigations. He's worked at Vox since the site's launch in 2014, and before that, he worked as a research assistant at the New Yorker's Washington, DC, bureau. When President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he ordered the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, critics on both the left and the right feared a spiral into a wider war. Yet just two days later, Trump announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran that he claimed would end what he called 'the 12-day war' entirely. And though this ceasefire looked quite fragile at first, three days later, it's still holding. There's much we still don't know about whether Trump's strikes were successful in their short-term objective of disabling Iran's nuclear program. And of course, the long-term consequences of the war for Iran and the region are very far from clear. The past week's events did, however, clarify some things about Trump and his approach to foreign policy in his second term. Specifically, though Trump attacked Iran's nuclear program, he quickly pivoted to a ceasefire, suggesting that he's still wary of the hawks' transformational 'regime change' ambitions. He instead prefers to deal with countries' existing leaders at the negotiating table — and views military force as a tool to get himself a better deal. At first, it seemed that Trump had handed hawks on the right a decisive victory. Sweeping aside the concerns of the 'America First' faction that urged restraint and feared entanglement in a new 'forever war,' Trump supported Israel's attack on Iran and then sent US bombers in as well. But what Trump did next is just as revealing. Though the Iranian government was badly weakened, and some hawks were hoping it could be toppled, Trump demurred, dismissing Iran's retaliation against the US Monday as inconsequential and working to put together a ceasefire. That is, he had an opportunity to push onward for regime change in Tehran but turned it down. Then, when it looked like the new ceasefire might not hold, Trump profanely berated both Iran and Israel and particularly urged Israel to scale back a retaliatory mission that was in progress. After Israel complied, Trump did a solid for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a Truth Social post urging Israeli authorities to cancel Netanyahu's corruption trial. Finally, Trump also declared the US strikes a complete success, insisting that Iran's nuclear program has been wiped out and disputing leaked intelligence estimates that say otherwise. He seems uninterested in hawkish arguments that he hasn't finished the job. This week, administration officials have even tried to restart nuclear talks with Iran, unlikely as that may seem. All this suggests that, despite bombing the nuclear sites, Trump has not embraced open-ended war as US foreign policy just yet. He rolled the dice on a risky military operation — but remained intent on avoiding a wider war. He supported Israel — but then, when he wanted the war to stop, called the Israelis out. It also suggests that Trump, unlike the GOP's more hawkish faction, is uninterested in seeking transformational regime change in Iran. Despite a Truth Social post on Sunday (after the strikes and before the ceasefire) in which Trump suggested 'Regime change' might be a possibility, he didn't go through with it. During his first presidential run, Trump trashed George W. Bush's Iraq War as a debacle, and the collapse of Iran's government would likely bring similar turmoil. Rather, Trump would prefer to settle things at the negotiating table, and he continues to view military action like his strikes on Iran as another way to enhance his leverage there. If negotiations aren't going the way he likes, however, dropping bombs is still a card he could play — or at least, that's what he wants his negotiating partner to fear. As I wrote before the US struck Iran, Trump has some wariness toward the hawks, but he's not a dove or a peacenik: If he's persuaded a military action will go well and make him look strong and successful, he's happy to endorse it. It is clear, though, that he continues to be wary of more prolonged wars that could go poorly. So for now at least, Trump appears to lack the appetite for a prolonged, costly, and painful war. He approved the Iran strikes because he thought Iran had been so weakened that he could get away with them, with limited consequences to Americans. But just as soon as he approved them, he hastened to wrap up the conflict.
3 hours ago
Israel-Iran live updates: Senate rejects war powers resolution limiting Trump
6 Updates Jun 26, 2025, 4:41 PM EDT Israel says it did not destroy all enriched uranium in Iran, tried to assassinate Khamenei Israel did not destroy all of Iran's highly enriched uranium and tried to kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during its operation, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in an interview to Channel 13 on Thursday evening. When asked about the 408 kilograms of highly enriched uranium the Iranians had before the war and if it was moved inside Iran or taken out of the country, Katz said, "It was clear from the outset of our attack that we would not eliminate all of the material. The shared U.S.-Israeli position is that the Iranians will be asked to hand over that material." Israel tried during the war with Iran to assassinate Khamanei, but there was "no operational opportunity to do so," Katz said. He laughed off the suggestion Israel would need "permission" from the U.S. He denied it was "forbidden" by the U.S. Iran still evaluating if and how they will continue work with IAEA, remain in NPT, Iranian FM says Iran is still evaluating if and how they will work with the International Atomic Energy Agency in light of a new bill passed in Iran's Parliament Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Iranian state TV Thursday. Whether or not Iran will stay in the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty, also known as the NPT, needs to be investigated, Araghchi said. Iran will "act accordingly with the interest of the country," he added. One of the reasons Iran cannot maintain the same relationship with the IAEA as it had before the 12-day war is because the IAEA did not condemn Israel and the US's attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, he said. "The IAEA Director-General should have done this," referring to condemning Israel and the U.S.'s attacks on Iran's' nuclear facilities, Araghchi said. 'Attacking nuclear facilities is an unforgivable crime from international law." Araghchi said the law passed by Iran's Parliament will be further investigated by the Iranian government and said the new law hasn't completely blocked a path for cooperation with the IAEA. "We need to perform more legal work on this law and decide how we can set our relations with the IAEA," Araghchi said. The IAEA inspections have stopped inside Iran, Araghchi said. Jun 26, 2025, 3:42 PM EDT Iran has not reached an agreement to resume negotiations with the US, Iranian FM says Iran has not reached an agreement to return to negotiations with the U.S. on its nuclear program and no date for a potential meeting to re-start the negotiations has been set, the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Iranian state TV Thursday. Araghchi said speculation about negotiations resuming should not be taken seriously. "I would like to state clearly that no agreement, appointment or conversation has been made to start new negotiations," Araghchi said. Araghchi also said the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran will only be more difficult after the U.S. and Israel's military actions. "The next negotiations won't be any easier for the Americans compared to the previous ones," Araghchi said. "Human beings have been killed for it. It's not possible to make an agreement on it as easy as before." Jun 26, 2025, 2:45 PM EDT Iran will not change its position on nuclear program, foreign ministry says Iran will not change its position regarding its nuclear program despite the military action taken by the U.S. and Israel, Esmaeil Baghaei, a foreign ministry spokesperson, told Iranian state media on Thursday. "We have shown that pressure, intimidation, threats, and even the use of naked force against a sovereign state, in violation of all international standards and norms, cannot undermine our rights. Our rights remain intact," Baghaei told IRNA in a lengthy interview published Thursday. Baghaei also addressed accusations that Iran was looking to prolong the negotiations with the U.S. that had been scheduled to take place in Oman before Israel attacked. "All of these cases show that the American side was not serious about the negotiations from the beginning. But this does not diminish the value of the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In my opinion, Iran's entry into these negotiations truly exposed the hypocrisy and lies of the other side," Baghaei said. "History will record that in the midst of a diplomatic process between Iran and a party that considers itself a global power, Iran's logic prevailed, and they failed to meet this logic. For this reason, they encouraged and supported their proxy in the region to attack Iran," Baghaei added. On the calls to resume negotiations with the U.S. over Iran's nuclear program, Baghaei said, "First, we never trusted the other side. Because sometimes some words are used, such as 'the recent incident caused trust between Iran and America to decrease' or 'to disappear,' while we basically never trusted [them]. One of the reasons for this is the events that we are witnessing now. We were talking to the other side in an atmosphere of absolute distrust. The reason for this distrust is their history of breaking promises." -ABC News' Othon Leyva
