Monday,  May 14, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 305 • 18 of 33 •  Other Editions

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posed all such unilateral penalties, whether against Iran, Sudan, Cuba, Myanmar or any country.
• That opposition, he said, dates back to his time in Namibia, where he saw the damage that sanctions can have on innocent people.

States cracking down on strangulation attempts
ERIC TUCKER,Associated Press

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- By the time the late-night argument ended, Jacqi

Galles had been hoisted off the ground in a tight stranglehold and choked so vigorously that she says she nearly passed out. She fled her home and called the police on her then-boyfriend, who was charged with a misdemeanor and spared a prison sentence after pleading guilty.
• Moved by that case and others like it, South Dakota this year joined a growing list of states that have made non-fatal choking a felony crime, which is more serious and can carry stiffer penalties. Anti-domestic violence groups behind the effort say the laws are intended not only to secure tough prison sentences for domestic abusers but also to promote awareness of a crime they say often precedes homicide -- yet is chronically under-prosecuted.
• "For decades, we've simply lumped it into assault or battery or causing injury to another," said Scott Burns, executive director of the National District Attorneys Association. "But there's a heightened awareness that this is something different. This is far more serious."
• Attempted strangulation cases have long vexed police and prosecutors seeking

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