- PoliticsNational Review
False Racism Accusations Don’t Excuse the Real Thing
On a high wall overlooking the central court of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., the words of novelist James Baldwin are etched in stone: “The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it. Before Mr. Trump entered the fray, the Democrats were engaged in the sort of tussle that couldn't help but bring a smile to the lips of their opponents. Nancy Pelosi was attempting to corral her wayward members — the so-called “Squad” of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Alyssa Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar.
- 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.
WorldAFPItaly police deal blow to 'violent' Nigerian mafia
Italian police said Thursday they had arrested 19 suspected members of a Nigerian mob, including the leaders of a clan which forged alliances with other mafias and violently punished anyone who rebelled. In an operation dubbed "Burning Flame", coordinated by police in Bologna and Turin, over 300 officers carried out arrests and searches in nine cities across northern Italy from Bergamo to Modena, Parma and Ravenna. A two-year probe -- aided significantly by a man on the inside who fed details to investigators -- "has allowed us to destroy much of what, within the Nigerian community, is known as the 'Maphite' cult," police said in a statement.
- WorldThe National Interest
Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif: We Can't "Discount" Possibility of War
Jacob Heilbrunn Iran, World Zarif warns about mounting tensions, but also says that "nobody wants war." On Thursday, National Interest Editor Jacob Heilbrunn interviewed Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif in New York at the Ambassador's residence on the current state of U.S.-Iran relations. The transcript has been lightly edited for readability.
- Lifestylemotorious
Rally Red 1972 Dodge Challenger Shows Off Its Muscles
If you have been in the market for an iconic American muscle car, then you're in luck. GR Auto Gallery is pleased to announce this bold and beautiful 1972 Dodge Challenger up for sale. Dressed in a brilliant Rally Red paint job, the exterior shines at every angle and is in pristine condition.
- CelebrityUSA TODAY
'Not what your mom sent you:' Teen takes legendary senior photos in a bathrobe
When Tiffany Clark, owner of Chaos and Clark Photography, went to pick up her cousin for his senior photo session, she wasn't expecting anything crazy. Evan Dennison got in the car wearing sweatpants and carrying a bag. Clark asked him where his clothes were. Dennison assured her they were in his bag and he would change once they got to their location.
- PoliticsBloomberg
House Vote to Repeal Obamacare Tax Shows Health Care Tension
The House voted overwhelmingly to repeal a tax Wednesday intended to fund the Affordable Care Act, preserving tax breaks for employer-sponsored insurance plans favored by large corporations. In a reversal of the usual partisan roles, Democrats rather than Republicans led the charge to kill a key part of Obamacare. The bill to repeal the levy commonly known as the “Cadillac tax” passed 419-6 with bipartisan support.
- WorldReuters
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 all of its 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 in lasting several weeks near an oil block in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone.
PoliticsFOX News VideosStudents at Georgetown University slam Donald Trump over Obama immigration quote
Campus Reform media director Cabot Phillips speaks with students about comments made by the former president.
- PoliticsPolitico
After census debacle, White House to knock out senior Commerce official
The White House is pushing a top aide to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross out of the Trump administration, the first round of house-cleaning after the 2020 census debacle and clashes over tech policy. In recent months, Commerce policy director Earl Comstock has angered Trump's acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, White House lawyers, members of the National Security Council and officials at the National Economic Council, according to five current and former administration officials.
- WorldAssociated Press
Hand signals and Post-its: The Hong Kong protester playbook
From hand signals to Post-it notes, the protesters have honed multiple strategies and tools to maximize effectiveness, contend with police and keep up momentum: REAL-TIME MESSAGING The Hong Kong-based web forum LIHKG and Telegram, the encrypted messaging app, have served as crucial organizing platforms for the largely leaderless protests. Protesters have formed Telegram groups to share information and formulate strategies, as well as conduct real-time planning. In the thick of a protest, they will notify each other on Telegram of the whereabouts of police officers and vote on whether to end a demonstration.
- 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.
WorldAFPSqueezed by sanctions, Iranians seek day jobs in Kurdish Iraq
Mostly Kurds themselves, they have sought day jobs in construction and other menial labour in Iraq's northern Kurdish region to make up for the deteriorating economic situation at home. Wearing mesh hats and canvas bags around their waists, they wait in Arbil's industrial quarters to be picked up by people needing help with removals or construction foremen looking for labourers. "With a full day's wage in Iran, I can only buy a chicken -- but a family's need is more than just a chicken," said Rostam, 31, a worker from Iran's Urmia.
- NewsThe National Interest
Marine Corps Tells Rep. Duncan Hunter He Can’t Use Trademarked Corps Material for His Campaign
"It is personally disappointing to Congressman Hunter that he is now being told that he cannot use this motto or image that thousands of Marines like Congressman Hunter, who went to war under this banner, have used for tattoos, coins, and multiple other items of personal sentiment," Harrison told Task & Purpose. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has been told to stop using the Marine Corps' emblem and the 1st Marine Division's motto in his campaign literature, Corps officials confirmed. The Marine Corps Trademark Licensing Office has sent Hunter, a Marine veteran, a cease and desist letter telling him to quit using the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor emblem along with the phrase, "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy," on a fundraising mailer that accuses his political opponent of having links to terrorism, NBC News first reported on Wednesday.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Trevor Noah on Why Those Racist Trump Rally Chants Against Ilhan Omar Were ‘Extra-Disturbing’
On Thursday night, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah addressed President Trump's bordering-on-fascist rally the night before at Williams Arena in Greenville, North Carolina—you know, the one where Trump worked up his crowd into a lather till they unleashed a racist chant against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). “And obviously and importantly, Omar has a history of launching vicious, anti-Semitic screeds,” offered Trump, to loud chants of “SEND HER BACK!” from the crowd. A U.S. citizen, send her back,” offered a defeated Noah.
- LifestyleDelish
Your Kids Won't Have Any Room For Candy After These Halloween Dinner Ideas
Halloween fun should go way beyond just candy. From Delish
- WorldBloomberg
From Russia, No Love for EU's New Chief and her Hawkish Stance
Russia's top diplomat was asked during a visit to Germany about the incoming president of the European Commission and her “strict” view of his country. “Show me anyone who isn't critical of Russia nowadays,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Thursday at a conference in the city of Koenigswinter. Von der Leyen takes over at the helm of the EU's executive arm in November and Chancellor Angela Merkel's defense minister staked out a hawkish stance on Russia.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Delaware woman who says she was brutally beaten in the Dominican Republic sues resort for $3 million
The Delaware woman who claims she was beaten unconscious while on a January vacation in the Dominican Republic has sued the resort she and her husband stayed at for $3 million. Tammy Lawrence-Daley, a 51-year-old from Wilmington, first revealed her story in a lengthy Facebook post made on May 29. "Mrs. Lawrence-Daley and her team want Americans to know that they are being misled to believe that the Majestic Elegance Punta Cana did their job in handling this matter and that their facilities are safe," the press release reads.
- WorldReuters
India says illegal immigrants from Bangladesh becoming citizens
India said on Friday thousands of illegal immigrants from neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh had produced false documents to become citizens in the far-eastern Indian state of Assam. The Supreme Court had ordered the citizenship tally for Assam following years of campaigns against immigrants from Bangladesh who ethnic Assamese say are eating into their resources and taking their land. A final register is due on July 31 but on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government told the court that authorities needed to review the draft list of citizens because they believed many on it had given false information.
- WorldAssociated Press
Strong quake hits near Greek capital of Athens, sparks fear
A strong earthquake hit Friday near the Greek capital of Athens, causing residents to run into the streets in fear and firefighters to check for people trapped in elevators. The Athens Institute of Geodynamics gave the earthquake a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 but the U.S. Geological Survey tagged it as a magnitude of 5.3. The Athens Institute says the quake struck at 2:13 p.m. local time (1113 GMT) some 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) north of Athens.
- WorldAssociated Press
Mexican to seek return of "Chapo" Guzman's drug money
Mexico's president said Thursday he will use legal channels to try to get the fortune of convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman returned to Mexico. "I think that everything that is confiscated and has to do with Mexico must be returned to Mexico," López Obrador said at his daily news conference. U.S. officials have estimated Guzman's fortune at $14 billion and a judge ordered Guzman to pay $12.6 billion as part of his U.S. life sentence announced Wednesday.
WorldAFP'My entire world was gone': floods devastate northern Pakistan
Now only jagged rocks and a few damaged homes remain after torrential rains wreaked havoc on the picturesque mountain village in the Laswa Valley. More than 270 people have been killed in recent days across South Asia as monsoon rains deluged large swathes of the subcontinent, flooding waterways and destroying communities. "I was holding the hand of my mother trying to save her, but unfortunately I lost her hand and she was swept away by the floodwater," says Amin Butt, who was visiting his family in Kashmir.
- 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.
- TechnologyCar 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
Iran claims US shot down its own drone by mistake
Iran and the US were locked in a bizarre war of words on Friday, after Tehran denied President Donald Trump's claim that a US Navy ship had "destroyed" an Iranian drone. Mr Trump said on Thursday that the drone had flown to within 1,000 yards of the USS Boxer and had ignored "multiple calls to stand down" in the latest episode to stir tensions in the Gulf. It was the first US military engagement with Iran following a series of increasingly serious incidents and the Trump administrator threatened more yesterday if Iranian planes flew too closely to its ships.
What to Read Next
Kelly Ripa Shares Throwback Photo From Honeymoon With 'Baby Face' Mark Consuelos
Entertainment Tonight