- WorldUSA TODAY
'Work with us': United States looks to other countries for help with Iran
The calls are coming with increasing frequency and from every level, including from President Donald Trump himself: Help us with Iran. After Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and re-imposed crippling sanctions on Tehran, his administration is now looking to other countries to help contain the apparent fallout. The United States' plan to secure the critical Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf, outlined earlier this week by Army Secretary Mark Esper, Trump's Defense secretary nominee, includes “passive patrols” by an international coalition that could deter Iran from further provocations.
- 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.
PoliticsAssociated PressMueller probe witness now faces child sex trafficking charge
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) A businessman who served as a key witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation now faces a charge of child sex trafficking in addition to transporting child pornography. An indictment made public Friday in federal court in Alexandria charges Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, 60, with transporting a 14-year-old boy from Europe to Washington, D.C., in February 2000 and engaging in sex acts with him. It details his efforts to serve as liaison between a Russian banker close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of President Donald Trump's transition team.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 1-Saudi Arabia says evacuated crew member of Iranian ship sent to Oman - SPA
Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had sent a crew member of an Iranian ship who was previously evacuated for medical reasons from a vessel off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, to Oman. Iran and Saudi Arabia are arch-adversaries in the Middle East, backing opposite sides in several regional wars including in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement for four years. But Saudi Arabia in June said it had evacuated a crew member for medical reasons from a "suspect" Iranian ship northwest of Hodeidah after receiving a request for help from Tehran.
- 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.
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.
- WorldTime
A Passenger Was Fined $105,000 and Banned for Life for 'Extremely Disruptive Behavior' on an Airplane
An unruly passenger has been billed $105,000 after her “extremely disruptive behavior” caused a flight to be diverted with a military escort. British budget carrier Jet2 accused passenger Chloe Haines of “a catalogue of aggressive, abusive and dangerous behavior,” including trying to open the aircraft door, during a flight from the U.K. to Turkey. The airline said in a statement Haines was restrained by crew with the help of other passengers as two military fighter jets escorted the aircraft back to London Stansted.
- 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.
- NewsThe Telegraph
Dozens of whales wash up on Icelandic beach
Dozens of beached whales have been discovered on a secluded stretch of sand in west Iceland where people rarely tread. A pilot from Reykjavík took the photographs while ferrying American tourists around the island. Edda Elísabet Magnúsdóttir, a marine biologist and whale specialist, told local news website Iceland Monitor that it was hard to confirm when the mammals washed up on the beach.
- WorldYahoo News
'Horrific for all': Pentagon intelligence chief says Iran does not want war
A U.S. Marines helicopter takes off from the flight deck of the USS Boxer during its transit through Strait of Hormuz. ASPEN, Colo. — As tensions in the Persian Gulf continued to ramp up on Friday afternoon amid news that Iran had seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Army Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, concluded that Iran does not want to start a war with the U.S. or its allies. Answering a question posed by CNN national security correspondent Jim Sciutto in Aspen, Colo., about the latest incident, Ashley declined to give a specific response to the news, but later said that none of the United States' major adversaries or competitors, including Iran, China and Russia, wants to start a war.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
See the 2020 Chevy Corvette C8 Driving on the Road Undisguised
Our spy photographers caught two different versions of the C8 out on the road with no camouflage for the first time. From Car and Driver
- 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.
- NewsThe National Interest
The War Over America’s Past Is Really About the Future
The summer season has ripped off the thin scab that covered an American wound, revealing a festering disagreement about the nature and origins of the United States. The San Francisco Board of Education recently voted to paint over, and thus destroy, a 1,600-square-foot mural of George Washington's life in San Francisco's George Washington High School. Victor Arnautoff, a communist Russian-American artist and Stanford University art professor, had painted “Life of Washington” in 1936, commissioned by the New Deal's Works Progress Administration.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Gabbard, AOC join lawmakers to call on Puerto Rican governor to resign over corruption scandal
WASHINGTON – Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, has joined a growing chorus of lawmakers including Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in calling for the resignation of Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló over a corruption scandal involving leaked text messages between the governor and top aides. In a Twitter video sent from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Friday, Gabbard called "on all Democrats running for President to come here to Puerto Rico and show support for our fellow Americans" against corruption, and called for Rosselló's resignation.
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.
- WorldAssociated Press
Hong Kong protesters use signals, Post-its to hone skills
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.
- SciencePopular Mechanics
How the Moon Landing Was Filmed
Landing on the moon was arguably the greatest achievement in human history, but filming the feat was a technological wonder, too. In the July 1969 issue of Popular Mechanics, released shortly before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the lunar surface, our editors previewed the historic spacewalk soon to come—including just how the heck everyone back on Earth would be able to watch it from their living rooms.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
2020’s Underdogs Are Attacking Bernie Sanders at Their Own Peril
The Vermont senator has so far retained his standing in the Democratic primary's top tier, coming in second to former Vice President Joe Biden in most polls and hauling $18 million in fundraising this quarter, the fourth highest sum. Two ex-elected officials—former Rep. John Delaney (D-MD) and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper—have been leading the anti-Sanders group and by the luck of the draw, they both will be on stage during the first night of debates in Detroit later this month (though, it should be noted, Hickenlooper did not confront Sanders during last month's debate despite sharing the stage with him).
- 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.
- U.S.WXMI - Grand Rapids
Woman Calls 911 on Black Family Falsely Claiming They`re a Gang
A confrontation between a woman and a neighbor in Michigan led to a false police report of alleged gang activity.
- NewsThe Independent
El Chapo: Mexico president calls life sentence ‘inhumane’ as drug lord moved to supermax prison
The Mexican president has described Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman's life sentence as “inhumane” after the notorious drug lord was sent to live out his remaining years in a supermax prison in Colorado. Guzman was sentenced to life behind bars in the US plus 30 years after being found guilty of running a murderous criminal enterprise, having already escaped Mexican prisons twice. In his home country, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador referred to sentences like the one handed to Guzman to be served in a “hostile jail” as "hard” and “inhumane", adding that it made life no longer worth living.
- 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.
- 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.
- WorldReuters
Irish, EU governments sound out Johnson to avoid no-deal Brexit: Sunday Times
Ahead of Boris Johnson's likely election next week as Britain's prime minister, EU countries are secretly wooing him in a bid to thrash out a new Brexit plan that would avoid a no-deal disaster, the Sunday Times newspaper reported. Senior Irish politicians and diplomats have held talks with two of Johnson's cabinet allies in recent days, it said. German and French figures as well as the Dutch and Belgian governments have also established contact with Johnson's team and signaled an intention to do a deal, it added.
- NewsAssociated Press
Lawsuit: North Dakota officers used 'violence' on protester
A man who was injured during protests against the Dakota Access pipeline in January 2017 has filed a lawsuit accusing North Dakota law enforcement of using "excessive violence." Marcus Mitchell, 24, filed the lawsuit Thursday against Morton County, the city of Bismarck and state Highway Patrol officers. The lawsuit says officers fired shotgun beanbag rounds at peaceful, unarmed protesters, including Mitchell.
