- WorldThe Telegraph
Iran crisis: How a British oil tanker was seized by Iran's balaclava-clad Revolutionary Guards
Allahu akbar”, or God is great, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard marine was heard shouting off camera as the group took control of the British-flagged Stena Impero. Scaling down ropes onto its bow, the balaclava-wearing hijackers made a daring - and seemingly well-rehearsed - raid of the oil tanker, as seen in alleged footage released by Fars news agency last night. The wind was choppy, the skies overcast.
WorldAFPUK considering options over seized ship: minister
London was considering several options in response to Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker, junior defence minister Tobias Ellwood said Sunday. Britain has said its priority is to de-escalate tensions with Iran in the Gulf, and has called for the release of the Stena Impero oil tanker which was seized Friday in what Britain said was an illegal move in Omani waters. "We are going to be looking at a series of options," Ellwood told Sky News television.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Lawmaker describes 'unacceptable' border detention conditions, meets with US citizen in Border Patrol custody
WASHINGTON – A U.S. lawmaker described 'unacceptable' border detention facilities while meeting with a U.S. citizen who was in Customs and Border Patrol custody for hours on Friday. Rep. Nannette Barragán, D-Calif. had been on a congressional tour of facilities on the southern U.S. border when the delegation stopped at the Ursula Detention Center, a Border Patrol processing and detention center near McAllen, Texas.
- NewsTime
Black Georgia Lawmaker Alleges White Man Told Her to 'Go Back Where You Came From' in Grocery Store Confrontation
A black lawmaker in Georgia says a white man verbally harassed her and told her to “go back where you came from” during a confrontation at a Publix grocery store on Friday. Erica Thomas, a Democrat and Georgia state representative, alleges that the man cursed at her and called her “ignorant” and “lazy” because she was checking out in an express lane with more than 10 items. Thomas' young daughter was present at the time.
- WorldAssociated Press
Hong Kong police seize explosives as rival camps rally
Police in Hong Kong discovered a stash of a powerful homemade explosive as the semi-autonomous Chinese city readied for another major pro-democracy protest on Sunday following a pro-Beijing rally that attracted thousands. Materials voicing opposition to an extradition bill that has sparked more than a month of demonstrations in Hong Kong were found at the site, local media said, but a police spokesman said no concrete link has been established and that the investigation is continuing. In a rally that aimed to counter the pro-democracy movement, thousands of people filled a park in central Hong Kong on Saturday to support the police, who have been accused of using rough tactics on protesters.
- NewsThe National Interest
Alleged American ISIS Sniper Brought Home by the Defense Department to Face Charges
An American citizen who allegedly served as a sniper for ISIS and became a leader for the terrorist group is expected to appear in federal court on Friday after being returned to the United States by the Defense Department, officials said. Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, who was born in Kazakhstan and became a naturalized U.S. citizen, is charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, the Justice Department announced on Friday. A U.S. official confirmed to Task & Purpose that the Defense Department had transported Asainov from Syria to the United States.
- WorldReuters
U.S. says Venezuelan plane aggressively shadowed a U.S. military aircraft
The U.S. military on Sunday accused a Venezuelan fighter aircraft of "aggressively" shadowing a U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II plane over international airspace, a fresh sign of growing hostility between the two countries. The encounter between the two planes occurred on Friday, the same day that the Trump administration announced it was imposing sanctions on four top officials in Venezuela's military counterintelligence agency. In a statement issued Sunday, the U.S. military said that it had determined the "Russian-made fighter aggressively shadowed the EP-3 at an unsafe distance in international airspace for a prolonged period of time, endangering the safety of the crew and jeopardizing the EP-3 ...
- ScienceMashable
The Orion capsule for NASA's next moon landing is ready to rock
The next trip to the moon isn't supposed to happen until 2024, but NASA is now ready to put living humans on the surface. On July 20, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, NASA confirmed that work on the Orion crew vehicle is complete. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine called the new development "an opportunity to take a giant leap forward for all of humanity." The Orion capsule is supposed to carry humans to the moon in 2024 as part of the larger Artemis program.
- CelebrityPolitico
Meet the woman who ties Jeffrey Epstein to Trump and the Clintons
Her family knew Trump before Epstein arrived on the scene, and she continued to socialize with Chelsea Clinton after Epstein was jailed on sex offenses. Maxwell first grew close with the Clintons after Bill Clinton left office, vacationing on a yacht with Chelsea Clinton in 2009, attending her wedding in 2010, and participating in the Clinton Global Initiative as recently as 2013, years after her name first emerged in accounts of Epstein's alleged sexual abuse. Ghislaine was the contact between Epstein and Clinton,” a person familiar with the relationship said.
- WorldPopular Mechanics
10 Surprising Moon Facts! (That Were Totally Wrong)
There are plenty of conspiracy theories, recent discoveries, and just plain old misconceptions about the moon. From Popular Mechanics
WorldAFPIsraeli minister boasts his country has been 'killing Iranians'
An Israeli minister boasted Sunday that his country was the only one that "has been killing Iranians", after tensions between Britain and Iran rose in the Gulf. Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi's comments to public radio were a reference to Israeli strikes in neighbouring Syria against Iranian and Hezbollah military targets. Asked if he feared that Israel would not receive the backing of the United States in the case of a conflict with Iran, Hanegbi suggested that Tehran would avoid such a scenario.
- CelebrityWLS – Chicago
Compton boy loses arm after neighbor hands him firework on 10th birthday
A man is in custody after handing his young neighbor a firework that blew up, causing the boy to lose his arm on his 10th birthday.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Universal Orlando reopens after police respond to report of a gunman in parking garage
Universal Orlando went under lockdown Saturday night after police received a report of a gunman spotted in a parking garage. Police arrived shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time and, along with Universal security staff, temporarily shut down both of Universal's parking garages to guests while they assessed the area. It was later deemed safe and park activity returned to normal.
- WorldAssociated Press
Israeli crews demolish Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem
Israeli work crews on Monday began demolishing dozens of Palestinian homes in an east Jerusalem neighborhood, in one of the largest operations of its kind in years. The demolitions capped a years-long legal battle over the buildings, built along the invisible line straddling the city and the occupied West Bank. Israel says the buildings were erected too close to its West Bank separation barrier.
- BusinessThe National Interest
More F-35s Are Headed to This NATO Member
The Royal Netherlands Air Force soon will buy another eight or nine F-35 stealth fighters, defense minister Ank Bijleveld said in a July 2019 interview. The additional F-35s will help the Dutch air force to reequip an additional front-line fighter squadron. The decision partially restores deep cuts to the Dutch fighter fleet that began at the end of the Cold War and continued through the 2008 global financial crisis.
- WorldReuters
Japan's Abe says will make every effort to reduce tension with Iran
Japan wants to make every effort to reduce tension between the United States and Iran before responding to an expected U.S. request to send its navy to guard strategic waters off Iran, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday. Japanese media have said a U.S. proposal to boost surveillance of Middle East oil shipping lanes off Iran and Yemen, where the United States says Iran and its proxies have carried out tanker attacks, could be on the agenda during this week's visit by U.S. national security adviser John Bolton. Abe said that before making a decision on joining the United States, Japan would like to fulfill what it sees as a unique role it has to play in reducing tension.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Vigilante Armies Are Fighting Mexican Drug Cartels, but Whose Side Are They Really on?
The men in the trucks are members of the United Front of Community Police of Guerrero State, better known by its Spanish acronym of FUPCEG. Tonight FUPCEG's shock troops are on their way to assault the nearby town of El Naranjo, which is currently held by the forces of an organized crime group called the Cartel del Sur. “We fight to free communities that have been isolated by the criminals,” says a squad leader who asks to be identified only as “El Burro” in an interview with The Daily Beast.
- ScienceBloomberg
Trump Says ‘NASA’s Back’ Thanks to ‘Rich Guys’ Paying U.S. Rent
President Donald Trump pledged to re-establish U.S. dominance in space, a day after he welcomed the surviving Apollo 11 astronauts to the White House to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. Sustained exploration that extends from our Earth to the Moon and on to the Martian surface will usher in a new era of American ingenuity,” Trump said in a message on Saturday, which he declared Space Exploration Day. Trump on Friday invited retired astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and the family of Neil Armstrong -- the first man to walk on the moon -- to the White House to mark the space milestone.
BusinessAFPAsian markets sink as traders consider Fed rate cut
Asian markets were in retreat Monday on dimming hopes for a deep interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, but all the firms on a new tech-focused board in China rallied on its opening day. Oil prices extended last week's gains after Iran seized a British tanker in the Gulf, fuelling fresh concerns about supplies and a possible conflict in the tinderbox Middle East. Traders took a step back after last week's gains as the New York Federal Reserve tempered comments from its president, John Williams, who had suggested the central bank would cut borrowing costs by 50 basis points at its policy meeting this month.
- HealthAssociated Press
Military studies 'hyperfit' women who pass grueling courses
In the nearly four years since the Pentagon announced it was opening all combat jobs to women , at least 30 have earned the Army Ranger tab, two have graduated Marine infantry school and three have passed the grueling initial assessment phase for Green Beret training. Army medical researchers hope to uncover answers in a just-launched voluntary study. "We're really interested in those elite women that are the first to make it through physically demanding training," said Holly McClung, a nutritional physiologist at the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Massachusetts.
- WorldThe Telegraph
New German defence chief pledges to speed up race to Nato 2pc spending target
Germany's new defence minister has picked an early fight inside the country's troubled coalition, pledging to beef up military spending against the will of junior partners the Social Democrats. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer will make it a priority to allocate a budget equivalent to 2 percent of the German economy to the Bundeswehr, the 56-year-old told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper in an interview published on Sunday. The woman known as “mini-Merkel” due to her loyalty to the Chancellor, took over as leader of the Christian Democrats from Angela Merkel at the end of 2018 and is set to take a run at the Chancellery in 2021 at the latest.
PoliticsFOX News VideosTom Homan tells Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez anyone who commits a crime will be separated from their child
Scherie Murray, Republican challenger to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, weighs in on an exchange between former acting ICE Director Tom Homan and AOC.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Kentucky host Matt Jones yanked amid speculation he'll challenge Mitch McConnell
Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones is losing his television show until the outspoken media personality makes a decision on running for U.S. Senate in 2020, according to a Lexington station. LEX 18's General Manager Pat Dalbey announced on Tuesday that Jones is taking a leave of absence as host of "Hey Kentucky!" as he considers entering the Democratic primary for a chance to take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
- BusinessThe National Interest
Will Taiwan Get the New F-16V Fighters It Desperately Wants?
Sebastien Roblin Security, And how mad will China get? On July 8, the U.S. State Department announced it would approve a $2.2 billion arms deal with Taiwan including 108 Abrams main battle tanks and 250 Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missiles—a deal which elicited new sanctions from Beijing on the companies involved. But the announcement was more notable for what the approval didn't include—a nearly done-deal for sixty-six F-16V jet fighters built fresh off the F-16 production line in Greenville, South Carolina.
- WorldReuters
NZ plans firearm register, tighter licensing amid gun law reforms
New Zealand on Monday revealed plans to establish a firearm register and to overhaul its licensing systems for gun owners in the second set of gun law reforms introduced in response to mass shootings in the city of Christchurch. The new legislation would tighten the rules for gun owners and dealers to get and keep a licence, which would have to be renewed every five years, and prohibit visitors to New Zealand from buying a gun, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a press conference. New Zealand banned military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles in the first phase of reforms introduced days after a lone gunman attacked Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, killing 51 people.
