- PoliticsReuters
POLL-Republican support for Trump rises after racially charged tweets
Support for U.S. President Donald Trump increased slightly among Republicans after he lashed out on Twitter over the weekend in a racially charged attack on four minority Democratic congresswomen, a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll shows. The national survey, conducted on Monday and Tuesday after Trump told the lawmakers they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," showed his net approval among members of his Republican Party rose by 5 percentage points to 72%, compared with a similar poll that ran last week. Trump, who is seeking re-election next year, has lost support, however, with Democrats and independents since the Sunday tweetstorm.
- NewsThe Independent
‘I saw hate in his eyes’: White security guard pulls gun on black police officer
In a matter of seconds, what began with a routine errand at the IRS escalated into a frightening standoff between a white security guard and a black police officer, who said he heard hate in the guard's shouts and believed he would be shot. You don't expect to be ambushed by someone who you think is on the same team,” Mr Gaston told The Washington Post. I feel there was definitely some racial overtones involved.
- WorldBloomberg
Iran Says Missing Tanker Had Problems and Was Towed for Repairs
A small oil tanker that had gone missing in the Persian Gulf had technical difficulties and was towed into Iranian waters for repairs, an Iranian foreign ministry official said, according to the ISNA news agency. Further details on the ship, the Panamanian-flagged Riah, will be announced later, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said, according to the semi-offficial ISNA. Iran responded after a request for assistance from the tanker, the report said.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Michael Flynn’s Ex-Business Partner Points the Finger at Him in Court
If there is a question of who worked on behalf of the Turkish government to influence the 2016 Donald Trump campaign, then the court should look no further than former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, lawyers for Bijan Kian, the Iranian-American businessman and former Flynn partner, told jurors in the Eastern District of Virginia Monday. Kian is charged with two felonies—illegally lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government and conspiring covertly to influence U.S. politics about Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who is now living in Pennsylvania. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted.
WorldAFPAustralia calls on China to let Uighur mother and son leave
Australia's government on Wednesday called on China to allow an Australian child and his Uighur mother to leave the country, days after co-signing a letter denouncing Beijing's treatment of the Muslim minority. China has rounded up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities into re-education camps in tightly controlled Xinjiang region, in the country's northwest. Sadam Abdusalam has campaigned for months for his Uighur wife, Nadila Wumaier, and their son Lutifeier, whom he has never met, to be allowed to come to Australia.
- NewsAssociated Press
Serial killer linked to Arkansas woman's 1994 slaying
Authorities are investigating whether possibly the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history is behind the death of an Arkansas woman in 1994. Police in Pine Bluff are reviewing the case of Jolanda Jones's death after Samuel Little confessed to her killing, which had been determined to be drug-related. According to a police memo, when Little was in custody in Dallas, Texas, in October 2018, he indicated that he killed Jones, the Pine Bluff Commercial reported .
- NewsUSA TODAY
At least 1 dead, 15 injured — including 3 firefighters — in California house explosion
One person was killed and 15 injured — including three firefighters — after a house exploded in Southern California on Monday, sending a wall of flames and heavy smoke into the air. The Southern California Gas Company posted on Twitter that crews responded to reports of a damaged natural gas line in Murrieta, a city of about 113,000 people in Riverside County, about 65 miles north of San Diego. The explosion happened around noon Monday, shortly after crews arrived, the company said.
- WorldCar and Driver
How Kim Jong Un Got Mercedes-Benz Pullman Limos Home to North Korea
Researchers at a Washington, D.C., think tank, cited by the Wall Street Journal, have offered explanations as to how a pair of Mercedes-Benz limousines ended up in North Korean hands. Kim Jong Un must be used to convoluted means of getting at luxuries that the repressed populace he rules over cannot hope to touch. How else to explain why the North Korean dictator would pay a million dollars for a couple of 10-year-old Mercedes-Benz limousines?
- WorldThe National Interest
An Air Force Pilot Tells Us What Flying a B-2 Stealth Bomber Is Like
Kris Osborn Security, “The B-2 is one of the most game-changing aircraft ever built…and one of the most cost-effective. One B-2 can deliver the punch of an entire aircraft carrier air wing at several orders of magnitude less in operating cost and personnel,” Deptula said. Washington, D.C.) When B-2 stealth bombers attacked Serbia on the opening night of Operation Allied Force in 1999, destroyed Iraqi air defenses during 2003's “Shock and Awe” and eliminated the Libyan fighter force in 2011 -- the attacks were all guided by highly-specialized pilots trained in stealth attack tactics.
- U.S.KSTU - Salt Lake City
Utah Police Find New Evidence in MacKenzie Lueck Case
Ayoola Ajayi made his first court appearance in connection to the murder of University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Anti-Semitism event at Justice Department turns into pro-Israel rally
As the public grappled with President Trump's latest insulting tweetstorm, widely condemned as racist, the Department of Justice held a Monday event billed as a summit on combating anti-Semitism. Trump went largely unmentioned at the event, which took place at the Justice Department's headquarters and lasted for most of the day. Instead, speaker after speaker took aim at pro-Palestinian college activists, including those who support boycotting, divesting from and sanctioning Israel, a movement known as BDS.
- WorldBloomberg
Susan Rice Calls Chinese Diplomat a ‘Racist Disgrace’ on Twitter
Sign up for Next China, a weekly email on where the nation stands now and where it's going next. Former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice sparred with a senior Chinese diplomat on Twitter in an unusual and heated dispute over race in Washington. In a series of Tweets apparently aimed at making a broader point about diplomatic divisions over the mass detention of Muslims in China's Xinjiang province, Lijian Zhao, a diplomat posted in Islamabad, said on Sunday that if “you're in Washington, D.C., you know the white never go” to the southeastern part of the U.S. capital.
- BusinessPopular Mechanics
All the Best Amazon Prime Day Tech Deals to Shop (So Far)
Get yourself a new smartwatch, an Amazon Alexa device, or a 4K television. From Popular Mechanics
- NewsINSIDER
A 3-year-old girl was asked to choose between her mom or dad as a border patrol agent tried to separate the family
A 3-year-old girl named Sofi was asked by a Border Patrol agent if she wanted to go with her mom, or her dad. As NPR reported, an agent wanted to separate the girl's family, who came to the US from Honduras seeking asylum. Under the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy, asylum seekers are being sent back to Mexico as their claims are processed.
- NewsReuters
Former tenant charged in killing of Louisiana civil rights activist
Baton Rouge detectives arrested Ron Jermaine Bell in the killing of Sadie Roberts-Joseph, 75, whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of her car on Friday afternoon, Police Chief Murphy Paul told a news conference. The suspect was already in jail in East Baton Rouge Parish for failing to register as a sex offender when police linked him to the murder, said Sheriff Sid J. Gautreaux, III, at the same news conference. Roberts-Joseph's death was ruled a homicide by the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office on Monday.
- WorldAssociated Press
Iran's top diplomat walks back from remark on missile talks
Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday that his country has no choice but to manufacture missiles for defense purposes — comments that reflect more backtracking after a remark by the top diplomat suggesting the missiles could be up for negotiations. Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with NBC News that aired earlier this week that if the U.S. wants to talk about Iran's missiles, it needs "first to stop selling all these weapons, including missiles, to our region." Iran has long rejected negotiations over its ballistic missile program, which remains under the control of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
- Businessmotorious
Boxy and Beautiful: 2004 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG
The Mercedes-Benz G-Class was born from a rugged, off-road military truck, but today's versions of this legendary SUV are more likely to terrify unsuspecting sports cars than to traverse rugged terrain. At the time, the G55 AMG represented the pinnacle for this SUV's performance with a 354-horsepower, 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 under the hood allowing for acceleration times of 0-60 mph in 5.2 seconds. This particular G55 AMG shows just under 100,000 miles on the odometer, and the interior looks as clean as it did back in 2004.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Lyft broke the law when it failed to tell Chicago about a driver it kicked off its app. A month later he was accused of killing a taxi driver while working for Uber. (LYFT, UBER)
Lyft could face penalties of up to $10,000 for failing to report an incident to Chicago authorities last year. After deactivating driver Fungqi Lu in July 2018 after a fight with a local attorney, Lyft was required by law to alert the city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. Meanwhile, Lu continued to drive for Uber despite being kicked off the Lyft platform.
WorldAFPIndia-Pakistan spy case ruling due at world court
The International Court of Justice will decide Wednesday on India's bid to remove an alleged spy from death row in Pakistan, in a case that has stoked tensions between the South Asian rivals. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was arrested in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Baluchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage. The 48-year-old was then sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in 2017, sparking outrage in India.
- PoliticsThe National Interest
Odd Man Out: How the Independent Justin Amash Could Shake Up the 2020 Presidential Election
Washington circles are abuzz with the suggestion that Justin Amash, the ex-Republican congressman from Michigan, may mount a third-party presidential campaign in 2020. Michigan representative Justin Amash has made waves in recent weeks with his challenges to the Republican establishment. Amash seemed to send mixed signals about his next move, telling CNN that he's planning to run for re-election to the House of Representatives, but confirming that he still “wouldn't rule anything like [a Libertarian presidential run] out.” Read the full article.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Woman found in remote area near California-Nevada border after four days
RENO, Nev. – Searchers and family members are celebrating after finding a woman alive after she was lost in mountainous terrain near the California-Nevada border for four days. Sheryl Powell disappeared from the Grandview campground in the White Mountains on Friday while taking her dog for a walk as her husband, Joseph Powell, prepared to set up camp. Searchers worried Powell, 60, would struggle to survive in rugged terrain with no water, little shade and no cell phone signals to call for help.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe being transferred to psychiatric hospital raises hopes for release, husband says
The husband of a British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran has said her transfer to a hospital psychiatric ward raises hopes of her being released. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, was arrested at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport while travelling with their young daughter in April 2016 and sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spying, a charge she vehemently denies. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe said she was transferred from Evin prison on Monday to the psychiatric ward of Iman Khomeini hospital, in Tehran, where she is being held under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
- NewsBloomberg
Landlords Sue NYC Over New Rent Caps on a Million Apartments
The decades-old law that limits rent increases violates the U.S. Constitution by placing an unfair burden on property owners, particularly those who own pre-1974 buildings with six or more units, according to the suit, filed Monday in federal court in Brooklyn. The state legislature, now under full Democratic control, adopted sweeping tenant protections in June that further cap rent increases and restrict landlords' ability to evict residents. The massive rewrite of the rent rules, which cover about 2.4 million residents, aimed to preserve affordable housing by eliminating tools landlords used to remove units from regulation.
- PoliticsReuters
Judge scolds Trump ex-adviser Stone and bans social media posts
A visibly irritated federal judge on Tuesday banned President Donald Trump's former adviser Roger Stone from posting on social media, describing him as behaving like a schoolchild unable to follow simple orders, after prosecutors accused him of violating a gag order by repeatedly discussing his case on Instagram. "Your lawyer had to twist the facts, twist the plain meaning of the order and twist himself into a pretzel" to argue that Stone's social media posts did not violate her order, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson told Stone at a hearing. Jackson said she would not jail Stone for violating the order, saying a contempt hearing, which could result in jail time or a fine, would only generate more media attention that could affect potential jurors down the road.
- BusinessAssociated Press
Trump administration blasts WTO ruling on China
The Trump administration blasted a World Trade Organization decision Tuesday that could let China levy sanctions on the United States. The 2-1 decision by the WTO's appellate body was actually a mixed verdict in a case that dates back to 2007 and is unrelated to the tariffs the administration has slapped on $250 billion in Chinese goods. In its final decision, the WTO agreed with the U.S. that China lets state-owned enterprises (SOEs) subsidize Chinese firms by providing components at unfairly low costs.
