- 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.
WorldAFPUS offers $7 mn to find Hezbollah agent as Pompeo visits Argentina
The United States on Friday offered a $7 million reward to find a Hezbollah operative accused of masterminding a deadly 1994 attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to unite Latin American nations against the militants. Pompeo visited to mark the 25th anniversary of Argentina's deadliest attack, lighting a candle at the site of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association where a plaque lists the names of the 85 dead. "They were killed by members of a terrorist group, Hezbollah, and had help that day from Iran," Pompeo told a remembrance ceremony, saying that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards provided "logistical support and funding."
- 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.
- 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.
- NewsAOL.com
Five guys arrested for fighting at Five Guys burgers in Florida
An appropriate number of guys were arrested when a fight broke out at a Five Guys restaurant in Florida on Wednesday. Police apprehended three juvenile males and two adult males — a total of five guys — following a lunchtime brawl at the burger chain's location in Stuart, Fla. according to the Orlando Sentinel.
- 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.
- 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.
- NewsNational Review
For Planned Parenthood, No Doctors Need Apply
For the longest time, Planned Parenthood has insisted that it's a health-care organization, and it only cares about abortion — supposedly a tiny share of its business — insofar as it's a function of health care. Whenever Republicans have threatened Planned Parenthood's funding over abortion, the response was, Abortion? The hiring of Wen as president seemed the natural extension of this line of argument.
- U.S.WLS – Chicago
13 Philadelphia police officers to be fired following Facebook post investigation
Thirteen Philadelphia police officers will be fired following an investigation into racist and offensive Facebook posts, Commissioner Richard Ross said.
- NewsYahoo News
Trump says he is seeking the release of rapper A$AP Rocky at Melania’s request
President Trump confirmed reports Friday that his administration is working to help release rapper A$AP Rocky after the entertainer was arrested in Sweden on suspicion of assault charges earlier this month. During an Oval Office event honoring the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Trump told reporters that he plans to continue reaching out to “friends of his” in Sweden to lobby for the release of Rocky, also known as Rakim Mayers, who's been in foreign custody since July 2. Trump did not give a more specific timeline on when he thinks the musician might be freed.
WorldAFPS. Korean man kills himself as dispute with Japan escalates
An elderly South Korean man died on Friday after setting himself on fire outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul as a bitter diplomatic dispute over wartime forced labour compensation took a fatal turn. The row has seen Tokyo restrict exports of chemicals vital to Seoul's world-leading chip and smartphone industry in an escalation of a decades-long dispute over Japanese forced labour during World War II. The man in his 70s started a fire inside his vehicle parked in front of the embassy building and later died after being treated in hospital, authorities said, adding around 20 disposable gas canisters were also found in the car.
- 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.
- 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.
- NewsUSA TODAY
9-year-old girl dies after bounce house blown into power lines
Hundreds of people lined the hallways of Renown Regional Medical Center to honor the 9-year-old girl who died after being injured in a bounce house incident earlier this week. Lizzy Hammond died after a bounce house blew into power lines in South Reno near Bartley Ranch on Sunday. Two other children were also injured in the incident.
- WorldReuters
Saudi king approves hosting U.S. troops to enhance regional security: SPA
Saudi Arabia's King Salman approved hosting U.S. forces in the country to boost regional security and stability, the state news agency (SPA) reported on Friday. The U.S. Defense Department confirmed the move in a statement, saying it would deploy troops and resources to Saudi Arabia to "provide an additional deterrent" in the face of "emergent, credible threats." The gesture comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran in the Gulf that have impacted global oil markets.
- 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.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Jon Stewart Eviscerates Rand Paul for Blocking 9/11 Victim Funding: ‘It’s an Abomination’
Stewart went on to condemn Paul for supporting President Trump's $1.5 trillion tax cut that “added hundreds of billions of dollars to our deficit” and now trying to “balance the budget on the backs of the 9/11 first responder community. Bret, this is about what kind of society we have,” a clearly furious Stewart continued. At some point, we have to stand up for the people who have always stood up for us, and at this moment in time maybe cannot stand up for themselves due to their illnesses and their injuries.
- 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
- PoliticsThe Independent
AOC confronts Trump administration official over 'images of my violent rape' on Facebook
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has powerfully confronted a Trump administration official over a secret Facebook group for border agents, that contained twisted jokes about migrant children and showed computer generated images of her being raped and sexually assaulted. The existence of the group, consisting of current and former members of the nation's border patrol agency often referred to as CBP, was revealed earlier this month by an investigative journalism site. This week, the New York congresswoman, who recently visited migrant detention facilities overseen by the US authorities and spoke of her horror at what she saw, questioned the acting head of the department of homeland security about the Facebook group and its contents.
WorldAFPPhilippine police seek sedition charges against VP, Duterte critics
Philippine police have recommended sedition charges against the vice president and other opposition figures, a move slammed Friday as an attempt to stifle dissent under President Rodrigo Duterte. Police allege Vice President Leni Robredo, Catholic Church leaders and opposition politicians plotted to destabilise the Duterte government by implicating him in the narcotics trade. Duterte launched a war against the drug trade when he came into power three years ago.
- NewsThe National Interest
The U.S. Marines Might Be Souring on Amphibious Assault Ships. Here's Why.
Welcome to an A2/AD world. The U.S. Marines Might Be Souring on Amphibious Assault Ships. The incoming commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps is backing away from the service's longstanding requirement for 38 dedicated amphibious assault ships. New commandant Gen. David Berger is “willing to shed some key tenets of the Marines' amphibious force-planning in recent years – including the demand for 38 amphibious warships to support a two Marine Expeditionary Brigade-sized forcible entry force,” Megan Eckstein reported for the U.S. Naval Institute.
- 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."
- BusinessUSA TODAY
Two Delta Air Lines planes clip wings at Boston Logan International Airport
Two Delta Air Lines planes touched wings at Boston Logan International Airport as a flight was arriving to its gate Friday night. Delta spokesperson Susannah Thurston confirmed the news in a statement to USA TODAY Saturday. “As Delta flight 2488 from San Francisco to Boston was taxing to the gate upon arrival, the aircraft's wing made contact with the wing of another Delta aircraft, which was parked at an adjacent gate and scheduled to operate on flight 154 from Boston to Dublin," the statement read.
- WorldReuters
Bosnia buries 86 victims of 1992-95 war recovered from grisly ravine
Thousands of relatives from Bosnia and across Europe gathered in the village of Hambarine for the burial of 86 Bosniak Muslims on Saturday, 27 years after they were killed and dumped in a ravine in one of the most gruesome incidents of the Bosnian war. The victims, mainly prisoners from the war-era detention camps for non-Serbs near the town of Prijedor, were told they were being released in a prison exchange but instead were driven to the Koricani Cliffs in central Bosnia, lined up by the edge of the ravine and shot by Bosnian Serb forces in August 1992. Jasna Elezovic, standing by five coffins draped in green cloth which held the remains of her father, brother, two cousins and uncle in the nearby Kamicani graveyard, said their bodies were found only last year.
- 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.
