PoliticsAFPSomali-born lawmaker brands Trump 'fascist' after rally taunt
Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar branded Donald Trump a "fascist" on Thursday as the president sought to distance himself from mocking chants of "Send her back!" directed at the Somali-born lawmaker by his supporters. "We have said this president is racist, we have condemned his racist remarks," said Omar, one of two Muslim women in Congress. Omar received a very different reception when she returned home to Minnesota Thursday night and was greeted by crowds of supporters at the airport.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
Father charged with murder after driving two sons with severe autism off California pier
A man was charged with capital murder Wednesday for killing his two sons with severe autism after taking out insurance policies to cover his family and then driving his car off a Los Angeles-area pier four years ago, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced. Ali Elmezayen, 44, was charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder with the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders carried out for financial gain. Prosecutors in that case said he purchased $6 million in insurance policies to cover his family in the event of an accidental death.
- WorldReuters
Gibraltar extends detention of Iranian tanker for a month
Gibraltar was granted the power on Friday to detain Iran's Grace 1 oil tanker for another month, keeping the vessel at the center of a big-power quarrel between Iran and the United States and its allies. Gibraltar said the Iranian vessel, seized by marines in a daring landing in darkness off the coast of the British territory on July 4, was suspected of smuggling oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions. Iran has repeatedly called for the ship's release, denies the allegation that the tanker was taking oil to Syria in violation of sanctions and says Gibraltar and Britain seized the vessel on the orders of Washington.
- NewsYahoo News
California city set to ban gendered words like 'manhole' and 'manpower'
The City Council in Berkeley, Calif., voted this week to ban gender-specific words in the liberal city's municipal code, clearing the way for the changes to become official. As a result of the vote on the proposed ordinance, the word “manhole” would be changed to “maintenance hole” in city documents, the news site Berkeleyside reported. “Amending the municipal code to include gender-neutral pronouns by eliminating any gender preference language within the municipal code will promote equality,” according to text explaining the rationale.
- WorldAssociated Press
Navy warship sunk by German sub in WWII finally located
A private dive team has located the last U.S. Navy warship to be sunk by a German submarine in World War II, just a few miles (kilometers) off the coast of Maine. The sinking of the USS Eagle PE-56 on April 23, 1945, was originally blamed on a boiler explosion. But the Navy determined in 2001 that it had been sunk by a German submarine.
- TechnologyThe National Interest
The Navy's 6th Generation Fighter Could Put the F-35 in a Museum
New much-longer range sensors and weapons, incorporating emerging iterations of AI, are expected to make warfare more disaggregated, and much less of a linear force on force type of engagement. The Navy is currently analyzing air frames, targeting systems, AI-enabled sensors, new weapons and engine technologies to engineer a new 6th-Generation fighter to fly alongside the F-35 and ultimately replace the F/A-18. The Navy program, called Next-Generation Air Dominance, has moved beyond a purely conceptual phase and begun exploration of prototype systems and airframes as it pursues a new, carrier-launched 6th-Gen fighter to emerge in 2030 and beyond, service officials explained.
- BusinessThe Daily Beast
Ex-NRA Ad Firm: Um, Wayne LaPierre is Lying
In a new filing against the National Rifle Association, lawyers for ad agency Ackerman McQueen suggest that longtime NRA executive Wayne LaPierre is lying about a critical moment in the gun rights group's recent leadership shake up. At issue is multi-million-dollar litigation between the NRA and its ex-ad firm. In court filings of its own, the NRA has alleged that Oliver North, the groups's former president, was ousted in part because he withheld information from the NRA about payments he took from Ackerman McQueen, which had served as the gun rights group's primary ad contractor until just months ago.
PoliticsFOX News VideosBernie Sanders campaign reportedly resists unionized staff demands for $15 per hour
Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders has pledged that he will raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour if he wins the White House in 2020.
- WorldBloomberg
Hong Kong Protesters Who Stormed Legco Seek Asylum in Taiwan: Report
About 30 protesters have already landed in Taiwan, while as many as 30 others -- and possibly more -- are planning to try soon, the Hong Kong newspaper said, citing unidentified people who assisted them. The people who assisted the protesters told the paper they had been in contact with Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which handles the island's relations with Beijing, to seek help. The council hasn't received any formal asylum applications from Taiwan's National Immigration Agency, its deputy minister Chiu Chui-cheng said in a text message.
- WorldThe Independent
Satellite images ‘show US military buildup in Saudi Arabia’ amid Iran tensions
The United States is preparing to send hundreds of troops to Saudi Arabia where satellite images appear to show a build up of American forces on the ground. The moves would likely strengthen the US' controversial relationship with Saudi Arabia, while also responding to rising tensions with Iran which escalated dramatically in recent months. After the US unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal last year and reimposed tight sanctions, Iran announced in July that it had surpassed limits on enriched uranium imposed in the agreement.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
View Photos of the Lexus GXOR Concept
The off-road-ready SUV was created using readily available modifications. From Car and Driver
- WorldThe Telegraph
Cyprus detains 12 Israeli men over allegations of gang rape of British teenager
Twelve Israeli tourists were remanded in custody for eight days by a court in Cyprus for the alleged gang rape of a 19-year-old British woman at a popular holiday resort on the island. The Israelis were arrested on Wednesday after the British teenager told police that she had been raped at the hotel where she was staying in the beach resort of Ayia Napa. Doctors who treated the woman said they found bruises and scratches on her body.
- WorldReuters
Ahead of U.S. deadline, Mexico minister has fulfilled migration enforcement pledge
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday that Mexico has followed through on its commitment to the United States to reduce migration from Central America, as a deadline in a bilateral pact approaches. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to travel to Mexico City to discuss migration and trade with Ebrard on Sunday, a day before the end of a 45-day period in which the Mexican government pledged to significantly lower the number of people trying to cross the U.S. border illegally. Mexico struck the deal in June to avert punitive trade tariffs.
- WorldAssociated Press
Ukraine's president says he backs prisoner swap with Russia
Ukraine's president on Friday outlined the details of an impending prisoner swap with Russia, saying that Kiev is willing to release a jailed Russian journalist in exchange for a Ukrainian film director. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's statement comes at the end of the week of shuttle diplomacy, with the Russian and Ukrainian human rights ombudswomen holding talks both in Moscow and in Kiev. The flurry of activity around imprisoned Russians and Ukrainians follows last week's first telephone call between Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
WorldAFPRamush Haradinaj, Kosovo's 'Rambo' ex-PM and Serbian antagonist
Ramush Haradinaj, who resigned as Kosovo's prime minister on Friday, is hailed as a hero at home -- where he is nicknamed "Rambo" -- but considered a war criminal by Belgrade, which has long sought to see him behind bars. The controversial 51-year-old, who was a wartime commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), stepped down after being summoned as a suspect by a war crimes court in the Hague. It is the second time he has resigned after being called before a war crimes court over crimes allegedly committed by the ethnic Albanian KLA separatists during the 1998-99 war.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Rand Paul Fires Back at Jon Stewart on Fox News: He’s ‘Not Using His Brain’
A day after former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and 9/11 responder John Feal came on Fox News and eviscerated him and fellow GOP Sen. Mike Lee for blocking the reauthorization of the 9/11 victims' compensation fund in the Senate, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared on Fox to return fire. And not only did the Kentucky lawmaker toss a lot of insults Stewart's way, but Paul also claimed he should be lauded as a hero for holding up additional funding for 9/11 victims. I know Jon Stewart,” Paul told Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Thursday.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
D-Day flag that flew at Normandy landing gifted to US 75 years later. Trump accepts flag from Netherlands PM
WASHINGTON – Seventy-five years later, the United States has recovered an American flag that flew through one of the most horrific and important days in U.S. history: D-Day. “It will tell visitors from around the world about the story of freedom,” President Donald Trump said in accepting the flag from Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte during a White House ceremony on Thursday. The flag, pierced by German bullet holes and tattered by the wind, flew aboard one of the landing crafts that troops used to storm the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.
- NewsThe National Interest
Army Recruiters Signed Off On Hundreds of Recruits Who Hadn't Passed a Required Fitness Test
Task and Purpose military, Our best and brightest? Over 300 soldiers were found to have enlisted after either failing a required fitness test, or never taking it at all, according to documents obtained by Army Times. In 2017, the Army was straining to meet its goal of 476,000 active-duty soldiers, meaning the service had to bring in 68,000 recruits.
- WorldThe Guardian
Iran makes 'substantial' nuclear offer in return for US lifting sanctions
Iran has offered a deal with the US in which it would formally and permanently accept enhanced inspections of its nuclear programme, in return for the permanent lifting of US sanctions. The offer was made by the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on a visit to New York. But it is unlikely to be warmly received by the Trump administration, which is currently demanding Iran make a range of sweeping concessions, including cessation of uranium enrichment and support for proxies and allies in the region.
- NewsAOL.com
Wasp spray leads to 3 deaths in West Virginia after being used as alternative meth
West Virginia state police are cautioning residents against using wasp spray as an alternative form of methamphetamine after three people purportedly overdosed. Sgt. Charles Sutphin told WCHS that a number of people in Boone County are making "a synthetic type methamphetamine out of wasp spray." Law enforcement believe it led to three fatal overdoses last week.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoMurderer deemed too old for prison released early, kills again
Albert Flick first landed in prison in 1979, when he was found guilty of stabbing his wife to death in front of her young daughter. Now, the 77-year-old, who a judge previously deemed too old to pose a threat, has been sentenced to prison again for a nearly identical crime.
- WorldReuters
CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Vietnam says Chinese vessel violated its sovereignty in South China Sea
Vietnam on Friday accused a Chinese oil survey vessel and its escorts of violating its sovereignty and demanded that China remove the ships from Vietnamese waters. Vietnam and China have for years long been embroiled in a dispute over the potentially energy-rich stretch of waters in the South China Sea. On Wednesday, two U.S.-based think tanks reported that Chinese and Vietnamese vessels had engaged in a standoff lasting several weeks near an oil block in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone.
- NewsAssociated Press
Correction: Puerto Rico-Protests-Miranda story
A corrected version of the story is below: Lin-Manuel Miranda joins rally against Puerto Rico governor "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has joined protests in New York demanding the resignation of Puerto Rico's governor NEW YORK (AP) — "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has joined protests in New York demanding the resignation of Puerto Rico's governor. Miranda led about 200 people, many from Puerto Rico, at a rally in Manhattan's Union Square on Wednesday. They waved Puerto Rican flags and followed him to a drumbeat, chanting in Spanish, "Viva Puerto Rico libre," which translates to "Long live free Puerto Rico."
WorldAFPGreat Barrier Reef agency breaks with Australia gvt in climate warning
The agency that manages the Great Barrier Reef broke ranks with Australia's conservative government to call for the "strongest and fastest possible action" against climate change to save the world heritage marine wonder. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, a government body, said in a study released this week that an urgent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, both nationally and globally, was needed to protect the future of the reef. Rising sea temperatures linked to climate change have killed off large areas of coral in the 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) reef, a UN-listed World Heritage site, that suffered back-to-back coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017.
- WorldThe Telegraph
France turns down citizenship for immigrant nurse because she 'works too much'
France has rejected an immigrant nurse's application for citizenship on the grounds that she was working too many hours a week in breach of the statutory 35-hour week and strict limits on overtime. The nurse, whose name and nationality have not been made public, holds three jobs and averages 59 hours a week, which the authorities said placed her “in violation of regulations on working time in France”. The 35-hour rule introduced under a Socialist government in 2000 gave France one of the world's shortest working weeks, but it has since been loosened and employees may be permitted to work up to 48 hours a week including overtime.
