- WorldUSA TODAY
Iran claims arrest of 17 CIA spies; some sentenced to death
Iran's state media claimed Monday that authorities arrested 17 spies recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on its nuclear and military sites. The semi-official Fars news agency said some of them have been sentenced to death. The Fars news agency published images that Iran's Intelligence Ministry said showed the CIA officers who it claimed were in touch with the suspected spies.
- WorldAssociated Press
Vatican college space holds bones of dozens, expert says
A genetics expert retained by the family of a girl who went missing in 1983 said Saturday that a cavernous underground space near a Vatican cemetery holds thousands of bones that appear to be from dozens of individuals, both "adult and non-adult." The expert, Giorgio Portera, said the "enormous" size of the collection under the Teutonic College was revealed when Vatican-appointed experts began cataloguing the remains, which were discovered last week . "We didn't expect such an enormous number" of bones and other remains which "had been thrown into a cavity," Portera said.
WorldAFPIraq Kurds arrest two suspects in killing of Turkish vice consul
Iraqi Kurdish authorities announced Saturday they had arrested two suspects involved in the murder of three people, including a Turkish diplomat, in the regional capital Arbil this week. The autonomous region's security council first said its counterterrorism unit had arrested "the main perpetrator" Mazloum Dag, a 27-year-old from Turkey's Diyarbakir region. The council had put out a wanted notice for Dag a day earlier in connection to Wednesday's killing of Turkish Vice Consul Osman Kose and two Iraqi nationals.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Road-tripping couple 'just enjoying life to the full' found dead on the side of the road
Canadian police are investigating after an American woman and her Australian boyfriend were found dead alongside a British Columbia highway this week. Chynna Noelle Deese, 24, and Lucas Robertson Fowler, 23, were on a road trip in Canada, when police believe they were murdered. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Janelle Shoihet said in a press conference Friday that the deaths are being investigated as homicides.
- PoliticsThe National Interest
90% of Border Crossers Aren’t Referred for Asylum Interviews
The government is implementing a new proposal that would ban asylum for immigrants coming to the United States through Mexico. It pins the uptick in border crossers on the asylum process, but the government's statistics reveal that 90 percent of crossers in 2019 were not referred for an asylum interview at the border, and the highest share ever referred was just 19 percent in 2018. Figure 1 compares the rate at which undocumented immigrants at the southwest border were referred for asylum interviews at the border—called credible fear interviews—for each year from 2010 and 2019 as well as March 2019—the most recent month available.
- BusinessThe Independent
Drug bosses joked about US opioid crisis that led to lives being needlessly lost, leaked emails show
As the opioid epidemic was raging in America, in May 2008 a representative of the nation's largest manufacturer of opioid pain pills sent an email to a client at a wholesale drug distributor in Ohio. Victor Borelli, a national account manager for Mallinckrodt, told Steve Cochrane, the vice-president of sales for KeySource Medical, to check his inventories and “[i]f you are low, order more. If you are okay, order a little more, Capesce?
- 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 ...
- 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.
- BusinessThe Daily Beast
2020 Candidates Delayed Paying Staff to Look Richer on Paper
For months, Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-MN) presidential campaign made regular payments to its staff and vendors, with varying daily expenditures that never exceeded $335,000. By putting off the payments until then, Klobuchar was able to put the best possible spin on her presidential campaign's financial position during the previous three months. A Daily Beast review of campaign finance records indicates that the delayed-expenses strategy has continued through the just completed cycle, and has involved payments to campaign staffers as well.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Britain warns Iran of 'serious consequences' if British-flagged oil tanker not released
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned Iran of "serious consequences" if it does not release a British-flagged oil tanker it seized in the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway on Friday, although he ruled out "military options." Hunt announced later in a tweet that he had spoken with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and "expressed extreme disappointment" that Iran had "behaved in the opposite way" of trying to deescalate the situation. The seizing of the "Stena Impero" potentially marks the most significant escalation in tensions between Iran and the West since they began rising in May, about a year after the United States pulled out of an international accord aimed at Ir...
- NewsAssociated Press
White man denies saying 'Go back where you came from'
A white man has admitted cursing at a pregnant black Georgia lawmaker for taking too many items into a supermarket express lane but denies telling her, "go back where you came from." Eric Sparkes showed up during a WSB-TV interview with Rep. Erica Thomas of Austell on Saturday, outside the Atlanta-area Publix store where the incident occurred , the station reported . He denied making any racially charged comment, adding, "I am Cuban."
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.
PoliticsFOX News VideosBernie Sanders' campaign staff demanding a 'living wage' and health care
Bernie Sanders pushes for a $15 minimum wage during his campaign; reaction from 2016 Sanders campaign staffer Tezlyn Figaro.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- BusinessThe Independent
Explosion in popularity of hemp products leaves Texas unable to bust marijuana users
But since Greg Abbott signed the measure into law in June, county prosecutors around Texas have been dropping some marijuana possession charges and declining to file new ones, saying they do not have the time or the laboratory equipment needed to distinguish between legal hemp and illegal marijuana. Collectively, the prosecutors' jurisdictions cover more than 9 million people — about a third of Texas' population — including in Houston, Austin and San Antonio. The accidental leniency represents one of the unintended consequences states may face as they race to cash in on the popularity of products made with or from hemp.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
2020 Democrats Are Starting to Turn Obama’s Legacy Against Biden
Former Vice President Joe Biden has used Barack Obama's beloved status among Democratic voters to insulate him from criticism from the massive field of candidates jockeying to be the next president. But in recent weeks, the Democratic frontrunner has had that legacy used against him, with his competitors pointing the to shortcomings of the last Democratic administration as evidence that Biden's not up to the task of leading the next one. Barack Obama, personally, is incredibly popular among Democratic primary voters,” Karthik Ganapathy, a progressive consultant now running his own firm, told The Daily Beast.
- 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.
WorldAFP'Canary in the coal mine': Singapore woes ring trade alarm bells
A plunge in exports and the worst growth rates for a decade have fuelled concerns about the outlook for Singapore's economy, with analysts saying the figures offer a warning that Asia is heading for a slowdown as China-US tensions bite. While it may be one of the smallest countries in the world, the export hub is highly sensitive to external shocks and has long been viewed as a barometer of the global demand for goods and services. The affluent city-state is highly dependent on trade and has traditionally been one of the first places in Asia to be hit during global downturns -- with ripples typically spreading out across the region.
- NewsUSA TODAY
With over 40K blacked out, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo rips Con Edison: 'They should have been better prepared'
"We've been through this situation w ConEd time & again & they should have been better prepared—period," Cuomo tweeted. About 46,000 New York City customers were blacked out as of 9 p.m. EDT because of continued heat and high usage, just one week after a transformer fire turned off the lights for nearly 75,000 people. Con Edison restored power to around 13,000 people in southeast Brooklyn, according to a statement released 1 a.m. EDT Monday, but 40,000 remained without electricity.
- 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.
- WorldThe Telegraph
France braces for second heatwave amid fears of pollution spike
As France braces for its second heatwave this summer, with air pollution expected to spike again, Marseille has imposed speed limits on ships entering its port in an effort to curb emissions. Cruise liners cause more nitrogen dioxide pollution in the Mediterranean city than cars, according to a recent survey by a government-approved air quality monitoring organisation. Marseille has lowered the speed limit for ships entering its port from 10 to 8 knots.
- BusinessBloomberg
Millions of Barrels of Iranian Oil Are Piled Up in China’s Ports
Two and a half months after the White House banned the purchase of Iran's oil, the nation's crude is continuing to be sent to China where it's being put into what's known as “bonded storage,” say people familiar with operations at several Chinese ports. This oil doesn't cross local customs or show up in the nation's import data and is not necessarily in breach of sanctions. The store of oil has the potential to push down global prices if Chinese refiners decide to draw on it, even as Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies curb production amid slowing growth in major economies.
