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White House Lit Up in Rainbow

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The White House is illuminated in celebration after the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution gu …

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The White House is illuminated in celebration after the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution gu …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is lit up in rainbow colors in commemoration of the Supreme Court's ruling to legalize same-sex marriage.

Gay and lesbian couples in Washington and across the nation are celebrating Friday's ruling, which will put an end to same-sex marriage bans in the 14 states that still maintain them.

President Barack Obama said earlier Friday that the court ruling has "made our union a little more perfect."

The colors illuminated the north side of the White House as Obama returned Friday evening from Charleston, South Carolina, where he delivered the eulogy of the funeral of Clementa Pinckney, one of nine people murdered in the massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last week.

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Port el Kantaoui (Tunisia) (AFP) - Thousands of scared foreign holidaymakers were being flown from Tunisia on Saturday after an Islamist gunman killed 38 people, most of them British tourists, at a beach resort.

The Islamic State jihadist group, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Tunisia's recent history.

Dozens more people were wounded when the assailant pulled a gun from inside a beach umbrella and opened fire on crowds of tourists on the beach and by a hotel pool in the popular Mediterranean resort of Port el Kantaoui.

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid announced that from next month armed tourist security officers would be deployed all along the coast and inside hotels.

But a heavy blow had already been delivered to the key tourism industry with British tour operator Thomas Cook announcing it would offer all customers the possibility to change bookings to Tunisia up to and including July 24.

The Association of British Travel Agents said it was consulting with the Foreign Office about the longer term.

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A Tunisian soldier guards in front of the Imperial Hotel in the resort town of Sousse, a popular tou …

The Tunisian prime minister said that most of the dead were British but that they also included Germans, Belgians and French.

The attack, the second against tourists in Tunisia this year, came on the same day that 26 people were killed at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait and a suspected Islamist attacked a factory in France.

IS claimed both the Kuwait bombing and the Tunisia attack, which came just days before the first anniversary of the group declaring its territory in Iraq and Syria a "caliphate".

IS said the gunman was a "soldier of the caliphate" who had targeted enemies of the jihadist group and "dens (of...) fornication, vice and apostasy".

Most of those killed were "subjects of states that make up the crusader alliance fighting the state of the caliphate", the group said, referring to the US-led coalition conducting an air campaign against it in Iraq and Syria.

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Tunisian Assembly President Mohamed Ennaceur (2nd R) visits a Belgian survivor of the mass shooting …

Tunisian Secretary of State for Security Rafik Chelly told Mosaique FM the gunman was a student previously unknown to the authorities.

"He entered by the beach, dressed like someone who was going to swim, and he had a beach umbrella with his gun in it. Then when he came to the beach he used his weapon," Chelly said.

- 'I saw someone get shot' -

Witnesses described scenes of panic after the shooting at the hotel on the outskirts of Sousse, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of the capital Tunis.

"All I saw was a gun and an umbrella being dropped," British tourist Ellie Makin told ITV television.

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Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid speaks at a press conference in Tunis, on June 26, 2015, after t …

"Then he started firing to the right-hand side of us. If he had fired to the left I don't know what would have happened, but we were very lucky."

Briton Olivia Leathley, 24, heard "loud bangs" and when she went to the lobby to find out what was happening, she saw a woman whose husband had "been shot in the stomach in front of her".

"All she said was that he'd been shot and that he was there bleeding on the beach and he was just saying, 'I love you, I love you', and then his eyes rolled back into his head."

Another woman described how her fiance was shot three times while trying to protect her and was in intensive care in hospital.

"I owe him my life because he threw himself in front of me when the shooting started," 26-year-old holidaymaker Saera Wilson told the BBC.

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Tourists comfort each other after a mass shooting attack in the resort town of Sousse, a popular tou …

Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel pastry cook Slim Brahim said that after mowing down tourists on the beach the gunman had then turned his weapon on guests by the hotel pool.

"I saw someone fire on elderly tourists. They were killed," Brahim told AFP. "Then he threw a grenade by the pool."

- New security measures -

The Tunisian premier said a raft of new anti-terrorism measures would go into effect from July 1, including the deployment of reserve troops to reinforce security at "sensitive sites... and places that could be targets of terrorist attacks".

He said the government would also close 80 mosques suspected of inciting extremism.

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Tunisian medics stand next to covered bodies in the resort town of Sousse, a popular tourist destina …

It constituted an "exceptional plan to better secure tourist and archaeological sites," he said.

But tour operators scambled to fly thousands of fearful holidaymakers home from Tunisia.

During the night, 13 aircraft took off from Enfidha airport north of Sousse.

Travel companies Thomson and First Choice said 10 Thomson Airways flights would be repatriating about 2,500 Thomson and First Choice customers on Saturday.

They said some of their customers had been caught up in the massacre.

The shooting followed a March attack claimed by IS on Tunis's Bardo National Museum that killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman, and the tourism industry had already been bracing for a heavy blow.

Tourism accounts for seven percent of Tunisia's GDP and almost 400,000 direct and indirect jobs.

VIENNA (AP) — World powers and Iran are back in nuclear talks, and this round may be the deciding one.

After nearly a decade of international diplomacy, negotiators are trying to reach a final agreement by Tuesday that would curb Iran's nuclear activities for a decade and put tens of billions of dollars back into the Iranian economy through the easing of financial sanctions. The deadline is a bit soft; if they reach a deal any time in the next couple of weeks, negotiators will consider it a victory.

But significant obstacles remain.

Iran says it won't allow inspectors to visit military sites and interview scientists to ensure Iranian compliance. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, also says he wants all economic sanctions lifted before the deal is signed, while the U.S., Britain, France, China, Germany and Russia must still agree among themselves - and then with Iran - on a much-slower schedule for rolling back sanctions and a plan for snapping them back into place if the Iranians are caught cheating.

Meanwhile, Israel is threatening potential military action to destroy Iran's nuclear infrastructure and Saudi Arabia's Sunni monarchy is considering an atomic program of its own to match that of its Shiite neighbor.

Here is a look at the emerging Iran agreement, the remaining obstacles and the political challenges it faces:

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WHAT'S ON THE TABLE?

—Enrichment: To ease the biggest threat posed by Iran's nuclear program, negotiators are limiting the number of centrifuges Iran can keep installed to a little more than 6,000 for 10 years. Of these, some 5,000 can be in operation; they can only include Iran's basic, least efficient model for enriching uranium. Uranium can be enriched for energy, medicine and science purposes, as Iran claims are its goals. It can also be spun into material for a nuclear warhead. The deal locks in place restrictions on Iran's enrichment so material stays far below weapons-grade. It also forces Iran to deeply cut its stockpile of enriched uranium over 15 years.

—Underground enrichment facility: The restrictions are more severe at Iran's Fordo enrichment facility, dug deep into a mountainside and possibly impervious to an air attack by the United States or Israel. Here, Iran cannot enrich uranium or conduct uranium-related research and development for at least 15 years as the site becomes a nuclear physics and technology research center. Centrifuges running at Fordo must use other material that cannot be turned into bombs.

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A Police guard walks past Palais Coburg where closed-door nuclear talks with Iran take place in Vien …

—Breakout time: The enrichment constraints are designed to extend the time it would take Iran to amass enough material for a bomb if it secretly attempts to develop one. The so-called breakout time for Iran is currently around two to three months. The U.S. says the deal extends the timeline to at least a year in the first decade.

—Plutonium: Iran must redesign a nearly built heavy water reactor at its facility in Arak so it can't produce weapons-grade plutonium. The original core of the reactor will be destroyed or exported. The Iranians can't build another heavy water reactor for 15 years.

—Transparency: The U.N's International Atomic Energy Agency will monitor Iran's nuclear facilities and have access to the program's entire supply chain. Inspectors can examine uranium mines and mills, and maintain continuous surveillance of Iran's centrifuge rotors and storage facilities for unused machines. Iran must allow the IAEA to investigate suspicious sites or allegations of covert nuclear work. It will work with world powers on a list of actions to help the IAEA resolve decade-old suspicions about past Iranian nuclear weapons work.

—Sanctions: U.S. and European nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after the IAEA verifies Iranian compliance. If Iran violates the deal, sanctions can be re-imposed. U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iran will be lifted simultaneously with Iran fulfilling commitments related to enrichment, Fordo, Arak and other matters. Disagreements will go to a dispute resolution process.

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AREAS OF DISAGREEMENT

—Inspections: Iran is playing hardball on military installations that nations have long suspected of nuclear involvement. Khamenei this week rejected allowing inspections or allowing Iranian scientists to be interviewed. The government enacted legislation this week banning such access. The U.S. has backed off its talk of "snap" or "anywhere, anytime" inspections. But it says a deal hinges on monitors being allowed to investigate what they deem necessary and within a reasonable period of time.

—Sanctions relief: Iran wants sanctions lifted up front; the West says Iran must first fulfill its responsibilities. Khamenei says the U.S. approach takes too long and would not include a "complete lifting of sanctions." The Obama administration is hamstrung in how fast it can move because of Congress. It also is struggling to separate sanctions it will suspend in an agreement from others it wants to keep, such as those counteracting Iranian ballistic missile efforts or punishing it for its human rights and terrorism records.

—Snapback sanctions: World powers must devise a formula among themselves for quickly reinstating sanctions if the Iranians break the accord. For U.N. measures, Russia and China traditionally have opposed any plan that would see them lose their veto power.

—Research and development: An April framework between world powers and Iran was vague on permitted levels of research and development. For advanced centrifuges, the U.S. said Iran can engage in "limited" R&D. After 10 years, it said Tehran must adhere to an R&D plan it submits to the IAEA. Khamenei said Iran won't even accept an initial decade of such restrictions, calling the demands "excessive coercion."

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POLITICAL CHALLENGES

—Congress: The Senate can weigh in but voting 'no' won't kill the deal, because President Barack Obama doesn't need congressional approval for a multinational deal that is not designated a treaty. Lawmakers have 30 days to review the agreement, during which Obama can't ease penalties on Iran. If negotiations drag on past July 9 without a deal, that review period extends to 60 days. If lawmakers were to build a veto-proof majority behind new legislation enacting new sanctions or preventing Obama from suspending existing ones, the administration would be prevented from living up to the accord.

—Iranian hardliners: When Iran's parliament voted last weekend to ban access to military sites, some lawmakers chanted "Death to America." The scene underscored the deep opposition to any understanding with a country that hardliners in Iran refer to as the "Great Satan." Backed by Khamenei, they will examine the deal for any sign of concessions. And groups largely beyond the government's control, such as the Revolutionary Guard Corps, may not be keen to implement the requirements.

—Israel: The Jewish state's leaders have lobbied aggressively against a deal they see as paving the way to a future Iranian nuclear arsenal, which they consider a grave national security threat. Israel has threatened for years to attack nuclear sites if it feels the Iranians are getting too close to weapons capacity. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appealed directly to Congress to maintain sanctions pressure on Iran.

—Saudi Arabia: The Saudis, similarly, say they'll do whatever it takes to guarantee their security. Along with the other Sunni monarchies of the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia is particularly concerned about Iran recouping up to $100 billion in blocked assets overseas and funneling some of that money into insurgencies and terrorist activity throughout the Middle East. The Saudis have been coy on whether they may start a nuclear enrichment program to match Iran's capabilities in response to an agreement.

—France: The French have taken a public posture of being even tougher on proliferation than the Americans. They delayed a 2013 interim agreement with Iran out of concern that the deal wasn't tough enough on Tehran. French officials have made similar complaints about the current, emerging package and threatened to block consensus unless their concerns are addressed.

By John Clarke

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Police have opened an investigation into the killing of an unarmed black man by law enforcement officers outside Baltimore, authorities said on Saturday, two months after the city was rocked by protests over the death of another African-American who was taken into custody.

The latest incident unfolded in the Baltimore suburb of Owing Mills, where three officers fired at least 19 rounds and killed Spencer Lee McCain, 41, during a domestic disturbance on Thursday. The Baltimore County police's homicide unit is investigating, police said in a statement Saturday.

Police will conduct an internal review to determine compliance with departmental policy, rules and regulations, the department said. It will send the findings to the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for review.

The investigation comes at time when U.S. law enforcement is under close scrutiny over the use of lethal force, especially in confrontations with African-American men.

In April, 25-year-old Freddie Gray died from a spinal injury suffered in custody of Baltimore police. His death triggered protests and rioting on the day of his funeral, drawing national attention to the city. Six Baltimore police officers are now facing criminal charges in his death.

A statement by the Baltimore County police identified the officers involved in the latest incident as Wilkes, Besaw and Stargel, providing only their last names.

A police spokesman would not provide first names or ages, saying he was prohibited from doing so by union rules.

Baltimore County Police Department salary records show Shenell Wilkes, Jonathan Besaw and Shannon Stargel as the only employees with those last names.

Wilkes is a six year veteran, Besaw an eight year veteran, and Stargel is a five year veteran, police said.

Officers were called to a home in Owings Mills just after 1 a.m. on Thursday. They forced their way inside when they heard a disturbance, police said.

Three officers shot McCain, fearing he had a weapon, but no firearms were found. Investigators found 19 shell casings, but the exact number of rounds fired was unknown, police said.

McCain was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The officers have been placed on administrative leave.

A woman and two children were also in the home and the woman was injured, the police statement said. McCain was under a protective order barring him from having contact with the woman and the children and from going to the home.

Police had been called to the address about 17 times since January 2012, police said.

(Editing By Frank McGurty and Tom Brown)

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