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ByJoshLedermanand Matthew Lee The Associated Press WASHINGTON PresidentBarackObama vigorously denied on Thurs- day that a $400 million cash payment to Iran was ransom to secure the re- lease of four Americans jailed in Tehran. He de- fended the transaction as evidence that the nuclear accord with Iran has al- lowed for progress on other matters. "This wasn't some nefar- ious deal," Obama said dur- ing a news conference at the Pentagon. The money was delivered to the Iranian government in January, at the same time the nuclear deal was settled and the Americans were released. The payment was part of a decades-old dispute over a failed mili- tary equipment deal dating to the 1970s, before the Is- lamic revolution in 1979. Obama also answered political questions at the news conference, pushing back at Republican nomi- nee Donald Trump's sug- gestions that the November election might be rigged, calling the assertion "ri- diculous." He said his ad- vice to Trump, a candidate he has declared "unfit" for the presidency, was to "go out there and try to win the election." Also, in regard to the presidential race. Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will soon be receiving classified briefings, giving them ac- cess to sensitive informa- tion about national secu- rity and America's military posture. Asked whether he was worried about Trump having access to such ma- terial, Obama said simply that those who want to be president need to start act- ing like it. "That means being able to receive these brief- ings and not spread them around," he said. The president's appear- ance before reporters fol- lowed an hours-long meet- ing with military leaders at the Pentagon on the fight against the Islamic State group. Obama said there have been gains in weakening IS in Iraq and Syria, but he conceded the extremist group still poses a threat to the United States as it shifts its tactics to carrying out attacks elsewhere around the world. While those at- tacks may result in less car- nage, Obama said IS knows they still create "the kinds of fear and concern that el- evates their profile." The rise of the Islamic State has kept Obama tied to the Middle East in a way he had hoped to avoid in his eighth and final year in of- fice. While the U.S. has far fewer troops in the region than when he took office in 2009, Republicans ar- gue that the drawdown of troops from Iraq created a vacuum that allowed the Is- lamic State to thrive. Asked whether he feels any personal disappoint- ment about not being able to do more to stop the Is- lamic State, Obama said "I haven't gotten numb to it. It bugs me." On Syria, the president criticized Russia's sup- port of government attacks against opposition forces and its sieges of cities such as Aleppo. He accused Rus- sia of failing to take steps to reduce violence in Syria — where a civil war has raged for much of Obama's pres- idency — but said the U.S. would continue trying to push Moscow to focus on the fight against IS and other extremists. On Iran, Obama ex- pressed surprise at crit- icism of his administra- tion's cash payment to settle a longstanding legal claim, adamantly rejecting claims that it was a ransom paid for the release of the four Americans. He pointed out that the payment, along with an ad- ditional $1.3 billion in inter- est to be paid later, was an- nounced by the administra- tion when it was concluded in January, a day after the implementation of a land- mark nuclear agreement with Iran. "It wasn't a se- cret. We were completely open about it," he said. Obama allowed that the one piece of new informa- tion, first reported this week by The Wall Street Journal, was that the $400 million was paid in cash. It was delivered to Iran on palettes aboard an un- marked plane. "The only bit of news is that we paid cash," he said. "The reason is because we couldn't send them a check and we couldn't wire the money. We don't have a banking relationship with Iran which is part of the pressure we applied on them." The payment has revived allegations from Trump and other critics of the Iran nuclear deal. The president's session at the Pentagon occurred as the U.S. was bombing targets in and around the Libyan city of Sirte, a no- table expansion of the U.S.- led coalition's military mis- sion against IS. At the urg- ing of the Pentagon, Obama authorized the strikes that started this week and in- clude precision attacks against IS tanks, rocket launchers and fighting po- sitions. Mired in chaos follow- ing the ouster of strongman Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, Libya became a target for IS extremists hoping to build a safe haven outside its initial territory in Iraq and Syria. Though the number of IS fighters in Libya has dwin- dled, the U.S. is hoping to help Libya's fledgling U.N.- backed unity government finish the job. LEGAL CLAIM Obama denies $400M payment to Iran was ransom JORGESAENZ—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday. By Jill Lawlesss and Danica Kirka The Associated Press LONDON A Somali-Nor- wegian teenager went on a knife rampage through London's Russell Square, a hub for students and tour- ists, fatally stabbing an American woman from Florida and wounding five other people. Police said Thursday that it wasn't terrorism — but in a city on edge after a summer of attacks else- where in Europe, both au- thorities and London res- idents initially responded as if it were. Police flooded the streets with extra offi- cers and mobilized counter- terror detectives before say- ing the shocking burst of vi- olence appeared to have been "triggered by mental- health issues." Police officers used a stun gun to subdue the 19-year- old suspect at the scene of the stabbings late Wednes- day, among busy streets lined with hotels close to the British Museum. "Terror in London" ran the headline in the Mail Online, one of several me- dia outlets to speculate that the attack was an act of ter- rorism. Police initially said terrorism was "one line of inquiry being explored." But hours later Metropol- itan Police Assistant Com- missioner Mark Rowley said "we have found no ev- idence of radicalization or anything that would sug- gest the man in our custody was in any way motivated by terrorism." He said detectives from the force's murder and ter- rorism squads had inter- viewed the suspect, his family and witnesses and searched properties. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said "there is no ev- idence at all that this man was motivated by Daesh" — another name for the Is- lamic State group — or sim- ilar organizations. Rowley said the suspect, whose name hasn't been released, is a Norwegian of Somali ancestry — though police don't consider that "relevant to the motivation for his actions." Norway's National Criminal Investi- gation Service said he had left the Scandinavian coun- try in 2002, when he was a small child. Florida State University said the dead woman was married to psychology pro- fessor Richard Wagner, who had been teaching sum- mer classes in London. The university didn't give her name, but Florida Gov. Rick Scott named her in a tweet as Darlene Horton. "There are no words to express our heartache over this terrible tragedy," Flor- ida State University pres- ident John Thrasher said in a statement. "We are shocked that such sense- less violence has touched our own FSU family." Two Australians, an Is- raeli, an American and a British citizen were wounded, none with life- threatening injuries. Police said a British man with a stab wound to his stomach remains hospital- ized. The four others were treated and released Thurs- day. While knife crime is a regular occurrence in Lon- don — there have been two other blade killings this week — the scale and ran- domness of the rampage rattled nerves. It came just days after authorities warned the British pub- lic to be vigilant in light of attacks inspired by the Is- lamic State group elsewhere in Europe. Student Megan Sharrock, 18, looked out her window and saw someone lying on thesidewalkunderablanket. "There was like two riv- ers of blood running away from the person so we thought, yeah, someone has been killed," she said. The response to the at- tack is complicated by the frequent overlap between terrorism and mental ill- ness. Many "lone wolf" at- tackers have a history of mental-health problems, in- cluding a Syrian who blew himself up in the German town of Ansbach last month and a Somali man who was sentenced to life this week for trying to behead a Lon- don Underground passen- ger. LONDON Police: Stabbings that killed US woman, hurt 5 others not terrorism Get Results! Putyouradin Tehama CounTry real esTaTe ONLINE ADVERTISING INCLUDED. Call Suzy Noble @ (530) 737-5056 or snoble@redbluffdailynews.com to place your ad RE/MAX American Dream 1704 Solano St. Corning, CA. 96021 (530) 824-8100 Serving.... Tehama County Northern Glenn County Southern Shasta County WESTERN REAL ESTATE MINCH PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 760MainSt.•530-527-5514 Commercial Properties For Sale: • 212 thru 238 S. 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