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.
- 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.
- 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.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Texas teen arrested for spitting in tea bottle and putting it back, police say
The police officer said the teen repeatedly told him that he took a drink of the tea, then put it back, because it was "gross." has seen a number of Texans gain viral fame for doing weird and often disturbing things with food and drinks, including licking ice cream and drinking wine from a Pringles can. Woman licks tub of Blue Bell ice cream, then puts it back in the store freezer A video posted in June of a woman appearing to lick a tub of Blue Bell ice cream before putting it back in a grocery store freezer attracted the attention of millions, including Blue Bell Creameries.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
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.
- 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
Hong Kong police seize explosives ahead of weekend protests
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. 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.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Los Angeles police officer charged with multiple rapes after DNA links him to cold case
A ten-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department is facing life in prison after the department's investigation into a rape accusation linked him to another unsolved sexual assault from 2015. William Rodriguez, 33, was arrested and charged with two counts of forcible rape, with a special allegation of multiple victims Tuesday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a press release. Rodriguez is accused of sexually assaulting a female acquaintance at his home last November.
- 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
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.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump fumes over Ilhan Omar's 'welcome home' crowd
After claiming he wasn't happy that his supporters broke into a “send her back” chant at his rally in North Carolina, President Trump on Friday fumed over the media coverage of Rep. Ilhan Omar's return to Minnesota, where she was greeted by a crowd cheering “Welcome home. In a series of tweets, the president complained that the media had become “crazed” over the chant, which came after he questioned Omar's loyalty to the United States, yet “is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three Radical Left Congresswomen. Trump has been very publicly feuding with four — not three — congresswomen.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
How Nicaragua’s Sandinista Revolution Was Resurrected—and Betrayed
White Pine Pictures is a Canadian documentary film production company whose members in 1986 produced The World Is Watching, about the coverage of the Contra War in Nicaragua by Western media. I was one of the featured journalists. In 2002, some 16 years later, White Pine contacted me to ask whether I would be willing to return to Nicaragua to film a sequel.
WorldAFPIsrael unearths remains of rare ancient mosque
Israeli archaeologists said Thursday they had unearthed the remains of a rare ancient rural mosque from the seventh and eighth centuries AD in the country's south. The remains were discovered during preparations to construct a new building in the Bedouin town of Rahat, the Israel Antiquities Authority said. It said the remains were of an open-air rectangular mosque with a mihrab, or prayer niche, facing Mecca.
- 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.
- WorldAssociated Press
Taiwan says it will treat Hong Kong asylum seekers humanely
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said she would follow "humanitarian principles" in dealing with asylum seekers from Hong Kong, which has been roiled by pro-democracy protests. Tsai made the comments after Radio Free Asia reported that more than a dozen protesters from Hong Kong have fled to Taiwan. In response, China's foreign ministry Friday accused Taiwan of exhibiting fake benevolence.
- 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.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Court docs show Hope Hicks in contact with Michael Cohen during hush-money discussions
WASHINGTON – New court filings show Hope Hicks, then press secretary of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, might have been present for discussions about hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who had claimed to have had an affair with Trump – potentially contradicting Hicks' June 2019 testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. In the filings, authorities laid out a timeline of emails, text messages and phone calls – some involving Trump himself – that "concerned the need to prevent" Daniels from going public with her claims.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 1-UK's Hunt says Iran may be on "dangerous path" after seizing tanker
British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said on Saturday that he was worried that Iran had taken a "dangerous path" after it seized a British-flagged tanker on Friday in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Fars news agency reported that the Stena Impero had been taken to the port of Bander Abbas, which faces the strait, after it said the tanker had been involved in an accident with an Iranian fishing vessel. "Yesterday's action in Gulf shows worrying signs Iran may be choosing a dangerous path of illegal and destabilising behaviour after Gibraltar's legal detention of oil bound for Syria," Hunt said on Twitter.
