World/Nation
Clerk who fought gay marriage is released Tuesday
GRAYSON, Ky. - The Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples was released Tuesday after five days behind bars, emerging to a tumultuous hero's welcome from thousands of supporters waving large white crosses.
"I just want to give God the glory. His people have rallied, and you are a strong people," Kim Davis told the crowd after stepping outside, her arms raised like a victorious boxer, to the blaring "Rocky"-sequel theme song "Eye of the Tiger."
Her lawyer refused to say whether she would defy the courts again.
"Kim cannot and will not violate her conscience," said Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, the Christian law firm representing Davis. As for whether she will issue licenses, Staver said only: "You'll find out in the near future."
The Rowan County clerk whose defiance has made her a hero to many on the religious right walked free after the federal judge who ordered her locked up lifted the contempt ruling against her, saying he was satisfied that her deputies were fulfilling their obligation to grant licenses to same-sex couples in her absence.
UN to Hungary: 42,000 more migrants coming
BUDAPEST, Hungary - Leaders of the United Nations refugee agency warned Tuesday that Hungary faces a bigger wave of 42,000 asylum seekers in the next 10 days and will need international help to provide shelter on its border, where newcomers already are complaining bitterly about being left to sleep in frigid fields.
Officials from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it was sending tents, beds and thermal blankets to Hungary's border with Serbia, where for the past two days frustrated groups from the Middle East, Asia and Africa have ignored police instructions to stay put and instead have marched on a highway north to Budapest.
Commissioner Antonio Guterres accused the entire European Union of failing to see the crisis coming or take coordinated action, even though the 28-nation bloc of 508 million people should have enough room and resources to absorb hundreds of thousands of newcomers with ease.
There was needless suffering in the migration crisis "because Europe is not organized to deal with it, because the European asylum system has been extremely dysfunctional and in recent weeks completely chaotic," Guterres said. He told a news conference in Paris that it appeared "clear that if Europe would be properly organized, it would be a manageable crisis."
The EU has struggled, in part, because front-line nations such as Hungary and Greece have not put enough facilities in place to house a human flow averaging 2,000 to 3,000 a day while the vast majority of people try to push deeper into Europe and seek refugee protection in Germany, the nation accepting the greatest number by far.
Clinton's apology adds to email controversy
WASHINGTON - It took three interviews and five days for Hillary Rodham Clinton to say "I'm sorry."
After resisting apologizing for using a personal email account run on a private server to conduct government business as secretary of state, Clinton shifted course Tuesday.
"That was a mistake," she said of her email practice. "I'm sorry about that. I take responsibility," the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination said in an interview with ABC News.
Clinton's late-arriving mea culpa came just 24 hours after she insisted in an interview with The Associated Press she didn't need to apologize because "what I did was allowed." That comment came after a sit-down with NBC News on Friday, in which Clinton said only that she was sorry if her actions had caused voters any confusion.
The apology evolution is the latest chapter for an issue that has dogged Clinton's presidential campaign for months. Despite a big fundraising advantage and a slew of endorsements from party leaders, Clinton's standing with voters has slipped - multiple polls show a majority of Americans don't find her honest and trustworthy.
Democrats clinch crucial votes for Iran nuclear deal
WASHINGTON - Pressing their advantage, the White House and insistent Senate Democrats locked up the votes Tuesday to frustrate attempts by outraged Republicans to pass a legislative rebuke to the Iran nuclear accord.
Four previously undeclared Senate Democrats - Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Gary Peters of Michigan and Maria Cantwell of Washington state - announced their support for the international agreement in a coordinated burst. That pushed supporters to a 42-vote total, one more than necessary to block a GOP disapproval resolution with a filibuster, and prevent a final vote.
"There is no better deal available now," declared Blumenthal, one of the Senate's Jewish Democrats, announcing his support for an accord that is strongly opposed by Israeli leaders as well as Republican senators.
Blumenthal, Wyden and Peters were among just a handful of undeclared senators and were all considered possible "no" votes. Coming on the first day of Congress' fall session after a five-week summer recess, their announcements were a dramatic start to what promises to be a bitter, partisan debate on the deal aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program.
- The Associated Press