(CNSNews.com) – State Department spokesman Mark Toner acknowledged Wednesday that the administration had not been completely forthcoming about how Iran was paid $1.7 billion earlier this year, after the Treasury Department confirmed that payment of the full amount had been made in cash.
Toner attributed the "piecemeal way in which we've divulged the details" to an "overabundance of caution" regarding protecting the confidentiality of other parties that helped in the transaction.
AMHERST — After an internal dormitory email sent by several resident assistants ordering students to refrain from making jokes about the gorilla Harambe made its way online, sparking a flood of media coverage and criticism, University of Massachusetts officials announced that the school does endorse such policies.
"As an institution that values free speech and exchange of ideas, UMass-Amherst has not taken any steps to ban jokes or references about Harambe the gorilla," university spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said in a prepared statement provided to the New Boston Post. "The email sent by two well-intentioned undergraduate student resident assistants was a cautionary attempt to advise new students on their floor that the Harambe reference could be considered offensive to the campus's Harambee community, a residential program focused on African and African-American history and culture, and that all students should be treated with respect and civility."
