Relatives gather to identify 57 victims killed Brazil prison riot

Dozens of family members of inmates killed by other detainees during a prison riot in the north of Brazil have gathered outside the local forensic institute, waiting to identify their loved ones

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Sanctions-hit Iran to cut zeros and rename plunging currency

The government in sanctions-hit Iran on Wednesday approved a plan to remove zeros from the rial and rename the currency -- something its people have long been doing to simplify transactions. "The cabinet today agreed on a bill to eliminate four zeros from the currency and that 'toman' will be our national currency," government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters in Tehran. The value of the Iranian rial has hit low after record low since last year.

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5 key takeaways from the Democratic debate in Detroit

An alliance from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson shining and Steve Bullock stumbling late highlighted the first of two Democratic debates in Michigan.

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Chicago shooting deaths: Outcry as anti-gun violence mothers shot dead while campaigning

Two women who campaigned against Chicago’s infamous gun violence, have themselves been shot and killed on a street corner where activists frequently stood to keep watch.The anti-gun violence group Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK), confirmed Chantell Grant and Andrea Stoudemire were killed after a blue SUV pulled up to the corner, and someone in the vehicle opened fired into the crowd.“People are tired of being afraid. We’re sick of being afraid. We live in these communities and then we somehow are penalised and punished for living here. If you’re poor, you’re poor,” said MASK founder Tamar Manasseh.“But when women are killed, it’s not their fault. It’s not because they made bad decisions. It’s not they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.”Police said the two women were killed on Friday night in South Side neighbourhood of Englewood, where members of the group often stood watch.Mr Grant, 26, was mother to three young children. Ms Stoudemire, 35, had two children. They were among a total of 48 people shot in the city over the weekend, eight of them fatally.Chicago has a reputation for some of the deadliest and most persistent gun violence in the country, though it is not evenly distributed.Most occurs in the South Side, which has had a large African American population and which has long suffered from poverty, partly the result of hosing laws that long discriminated against minority communities.MASK was founded in 2015 and works to “interrupt violence and crime, and teach children to grow up as friends rather than enemies”.NNC News said there have been more than 1,190 shooting incidents in the city so far this year, and almost 1,530 shooting victims, according to police.Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi called the murders “senseless”. He added: “We have no evidence to suggest the women were the intended targets.”

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'Overpriced s***': California gunman railed against garlic festival hours before mass shooting

The 19-year-old California gunman who killed three people and wounded around a dozen others when he opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival had mocked the food event on social media, police said.Santino William Legan cut through a fence at the festival on Sunday evening and seemingly shot people at random with an “AK-47-style” assault rifle, according to Gilroy police chief Scot Smithee.Legan, fatally shot by police within a minute of the attack, appeared to post a photograph from the festival on his Instagram account shortly beforehand, with captions expressing his disdain.“Ayyy garlic festival time,” he wrote beneath a picture of people walking through the festival grounds. “Come get wasted on overpriced s***.”Another photograph posted on Sunday showed a sign warning of a high danger of forest fires. Its caption urged people to read “Might is Right” – a racist and sexist treatise written in the 19th century.“Why overcrowd towns and pave more open space to make room for hordes of mestizos and Silicon Valley white tw**s?” the caption said. The term “mestizo” refers to people of mixed race. The account was only a few days old, and was deactivated on Monday.Donald Trump described the gunman as a “wicked murderer” following the mass shooting.Police and FBI agents are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting and investigating unconfirmed reports by witnesses that Legan may have had an accomplice.“It could have gone so much worse so fast,” Mr Smithee said, noting that the festival, which takes place about 30 miles southeast of Silicon Valley, is attended by thousands of visitors.The police chief said that search warrants had been obtained for a home in Gilroy associated with the suspect and a car that officers believe he drove to the festival.Investigators believe Legan – who was originally from Gilroy – purchased the rifle legally on 9 July in Nevada, where he had recently been living.He was believed to evaded metal detectors and other security measures at the entrance by cutting through the fence, police said.Legan killed two children and a man in his 20s, and at least 11 people were treated for wounds, according to Santa Clara Health System. Early police reports said that one person was in critical condition on Sunday.The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner identified the victims as Stephen Romero, six, and Keyla Salazar, 13, of San Jose, and Trevor Deon Irby, 25, of Romulus, New York.The six-year-old child’s grandmother, Maribel Romero, described Stephen as a loving boy who was “always kind, happy and ... playful”.His mother and his other grandmother were also shot and were being treated in hospital, Ms Romero told media.Founded in 1979, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is an annual event run by volunteers and held outdoors at Christmas Hill Park. The agricultural community bills itself as the “Garlic Capital of the World”.Additional reporting by agencies

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Montana Gov. Bullock attacks Warren's border plan: 'You are playing into Donald Trump's hands'

The Montana governor challenged his progressive rivals on whether migrant border crossings should be decriminalized.

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Tim Ryan: Democrats will 'lose 48 states' on a 'Medicare for All' platform

Ryan called the "Medicare for All" proposals a "potential disaster" for the party.

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Trump renews attack on black congressman Elijah Cummings and says he should ‘investigate himself’

Donald Trump has attacked a black US congressman about the city of Baltimore for the second time in less than a week.Elijah Cummings, whose congressional district covers approximately half of the Maryland city, should use his role as House Oversight Committee chairman to “investigate himself”, the US president claimed. Billions of dollars sent to tackle crime and boost Baltimore’s economy had been “stolen or wasted”, Mr Trump tweeted. He wrote that the city’s “numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy.”He added: “Billions of dollars have been pumped in over the years, but to no avail. The money was stolen or wasted. Ask Elijah Cummings where it went. He should investigate himself with his Oversight Committee!”Mr Trump was criticised over the weekend for saying the congressman’s majority-black district in the Baltimore area was a “rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live”.But when he was accused of race-baiting, the president insisted there was nothing racist about his comments.Instead, he accused Mr Cummings of racism.“If racist Elijah Cummings would focus more of his energy on helping the good people of his district, and Baltimore itself, perhaps progress could be made in fixing the mess that he has helped to create over many years of incompetent leadership,” he tweeted. He added: “His radical ‘oversight’ is a joke!”The remarks followed a weekend of attacks against Mr Cummings, who is leading number of congressional investigations into Mr Trump and his administration.Mr Trump claimed that the congressman’s district, which includes Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Social Security Administration and the national headquarters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is “considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States”.He later accused rival Democrats of trying to “play the race card”.He tweeted: “There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district, and of Baltimore itself.“Dems always play the race card when they are unable to win with facts. Shame!”Mr Trump has been repeatedly accused of racism in recent weeks after he attacked four Democratic congresswomen of colour known as “the squad”. He said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan should leave the US “right now”. He added that if they “hate our country” they can go back to their “broken and crime-infested” countries.All four Democrats are American citizens and only Ms Omar, who arrived in the US from Somalia at the age of seven, was not born in the US. He has also repeatedly attacked Mr Cummings. Earlier this week, he tweeted: “If the Democrats are going to defend the Radical Left ‘Squad’ and King Elijah’s Baltimore Fail, it will be a long road to 2020.”

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Inmates behind Brazil deadly prison riot transferred: official

Forty-six inmates involved in one of Brazil's deadliest prison riots were being transferred to other jails Tuesday, an official said. At least 57 people were killed on Monday when fighting broke out between rival drug gang factions in the Altamira Regional Recovery Centre in the northern state of Para. Sixteen were decapitated in the hours-long battle, but most died in a fire that engulfed part of the overcrowded facility that used converted shipping containers to house some of the inmates.

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UK PM Johnson faces first electoral test in vote for Welsh parliamentary seat

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could see his working majority in parliament reduced to just one when voters in a rural Welsh parliamentary seat go to the polls on Thursday in his first electoral test as leader.

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U.S. judge tosses Democratic Party lawsuit against Trump campaign, Russia over election

U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan said he could not hear the claims against Russia, which were the focus of the case, because of a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity that shields foreign governments from litigation in the United States.

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Canada police shift manhunt for teen slaying suspects

Canadian police said Tuesday they have pulled out of a remote northern town after an intensive search turned up no sign of two fugitive teenagers suspected of killing three people — a college professor, a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police used dogs and drones, helicopters, boats and even a military Hercules aircraft to scour the area around York Landing, Manitoba, but were unable to confirm a possible sighting of the two men reported by members of a neighborhood watch group. Nineteen-year-old McLeod and 18-year-old Schmegelsky have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Leonard Dyck, a University of British Columbia professor whose body was found last week in British Columbia.

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Trump dismisses Baltimore backlash: 'I am the least racist person anywhere in the world'

President Trump on Tuesday tried to defend his most recent attack on a lawmaker of color, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Baltimore, claiming the city’s African-American residents “really appreciate what I’m doing.”

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Britain to spend an extra $2.6 billion on no-deal Brexit planning

Britain is ramping up preparations for a no-deal Brexit by preparing to spend an extra 2.1 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) to make sure the country is ready to leave the European Union with or without a divorce deal at the end of October. The new government led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which took power last week, has pledged to leave the trading bloc without an agreement in three months unless the EU agrees to renegotiate the deal agreed by his predecessor Theresa May. Ministers have warned that one of the most hotly contested elements of the divorce agreement - the Irish border backstop - will have to be struck out if there is to be a deal, something the EU has repeatedly said it won't agree to.

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'Everything changed,' says woman forced to be a child bride in America

Ashley Duncan got married on what started out as a typical school day school. She said she didn't realize "how big of a commitment I was making" when her aunt took her to the courthouse.

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Israel approves hundreds of Palestinian homes in West Bank amid reports of US peace plan rollout

Israel has made an unusual move to approve hundreds of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank amid reports the US is preparing to roll out its long-awaited peace plan.  Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, granted permits for 700 Palestinian houses but tried to appease his Right-wing base by also approving 6,000 housing units for Jewish settlers.   Israel rarely grants building permits to Palestinians and the move was seen as a potential concession to the White House, which is trying to convince Palestinians and Arab states to back its peace initiative.   Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and top aide on Israeli-Palestinian issues, is expected in Jerusalem this week to discuss the plan with Mr Netanyahu.   The plan remains secret but Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Mr Trump intends to unveil it at a summit with Arab leaders at Camp David in the coming weeks. A White House official denied that planning for a summit was underway and said Mr Kushner’s team would report back after their trip to Israeli and Arab states before deciding their next move. “No summit has currently been planned,” the official said.  The US unveiled the less controversial economic side of the plan at a conference in Bahrain in June but has not given a timeline for releasing the political side of the plan.  Mr Trump enjoys the pageantry of high-profile international meetings and Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, has often been the site of peace talks between Israel and its neighbours. Expectations for Mr Trump’s peace effort are low. The Palestinians have preemptively rejected the plan, arguing that Mr Trump is heavily biased towards Israel and is not an honest broker.   David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, signaled that the White House opposed the idea of an independent Palestinian state, which has long been a demand of both Palestinians and America’s Arab allies.     Mr Friedman instead endorsed Mr Netanyahu’s position that the Palestinians can be granted autonomy but not a state of their own.   “We believe in Palestinian autonomy,” he told CNN. ”We believe that autonomy should be extended up until the point where it interferes with Israeli security."

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Fox News Proves Pete Buttigieg Right That All Democrats Will Be Called Socialists

REUTERSDuring Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential primary debate, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg declared that it is time for Democrats to “stop worrying about what the Republicans will say” because no matter what agenda they embrace, “they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists.”Following the debate, a number of conservatives and Republicans on Fox airwaves have already gone out of their way to prove the mayor right.Discussing the debate Tuesday evening on The Ingraham Angle, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani suggested that former Vice President Joe Biden—who is participating in Wednesday’s debate— may have gotten a boost from the debate before, of course, painting the Democratic field as socialist.“I think Biden probably gains tonight if he can have a decent performance tomorrow night,” he told host Laura Ingraham. “He is the one that naturally people would think of as a moderate, but Biden has been running to pretend that he can out-socialist all of them.”The following hour, Fox News anchor Shannon Bream welcomed Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to weigh in on the debate. It didn’t take long for the RNC head to invoke socialism.“What you saw from the Democrats tonight is the total socialist plan, takeover of all of our health care with this proposal from Medicare for All,” she groused. “They didn’t know how to pay for it. They were dishonest about the fact that it was would raise taxes on every single American.”The following morning, meanwhile, Fox Business Network anchor Stuart Varney kicked things off on Varney and Co. by mockingly brushing off the notion that there were any centrist candidates on the stage the night before.“Now, the political story of the day, very obviously, the debates,” he declared. “The socialists, Sens. Warren and Sanders, emerged as the clear front-runners, at least for last night. So-called moderates, Klobuchar, Mayor Pete, Delaney, Bullock and Ryan, had very little impact. Beto all but disappeared. Last night, socialism rules!”Later on in the program, Fox News contributor Doug Schoen agreed with Varney that the party is “moving hard left and socialists rule the day,” adding that self-described Democrats like himself traditionally “don’t share socialist principles” and he can’t support Sanders, Warren or “their ilk.”The most glaring example, however, was a Wednesday morning interview with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) during Fox News’ America’s Newsroom.Speaking with anchor Bill Hemmer, Kennedy fully rejected any notion that Tuesday’s debate was between progressives and moderates before fully proving Buttigieg’s prophecy correct.“I would remind you that the lesser of two socialists is still a socialist,” the Republican senator exclaimed. “And what I heard last night even from the so-called less liberal candidates—I’m not impugning their integrity—even from the less liberal candidates, I heard a job-killing, soul-crushing socialist agenda.”He added: “The only thing missing was the Cuban national anthem.”Hemmer, meanwhile, ended the brief segment by joking with the Republican lawmaker: “I don’t know how it played in Havana,” he said with a smile. “But I appreciate you coming back today.”There was one die-hard Fox News viewer who was thrilled over Kennedy’s on-air remarks, making sure to amplify them immediately.“‘The lesser of two Socialists is still a Socialist!’ Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana,” President Trump tweeted minutes after Kennedy’s appearance.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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House Dems Near 50 Percent Support for Impeachment Inquiry

A group of five Democratic representatives called on leadership to begin an impeachment inquiry against President Trump Tuesday night, bringing the total number of House Democrats in support of impeachment to 116, just two votes short of reaching the 50 percent threshold.Democratic Representatives Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, Grace Meng and Eliot Engel of New York, Jason Crow of Wisconsin, and Judy Chu of California joined a growing cohort of House Democrats clamoring for an impeachment inquiry in the face of a reluctant leadership wary of the move's potential electoral consequences for the more moderate members of their caucus.Engel, a moderate member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, argued that former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony last week “provided ample evidence that the president committed obstruction of justice.”“The president abused the power of his office in an effort to stymie a legitimate investigation into his campaign’s involvement with Russia,” Engel said.Meng, meanwhile, struck a more cautious tone, presenting the requested impeachment inquiry as an opportunity to “uncover the truth, and to obtain critical supporting evidence like the grand jury materials and witness testimonies.”Pelosi was unmoved on the question of impeachment following Mueller's testimony, telling reporters she still preferred to continue the many ongoing oversight investigations into the president, and allow the pending legal challenges against the administration to be resolved, before opening an impeachment inquiry.Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, who has reportedly privately pressured Pelosi to begin impeachment proceedings, conceded that Trump “richly deserves impeachment” following Mueller's testimony, but questioned whether it was politically pragmatic.“But that’s not the question,” he told reporters. “The question is, can we develop enough evidence to put before the American people?”The mounting support for impeachment comes as the first ads, produced by the liberal advocacy group Need to Impeach and featuring Mueller's testimony to make the case for impeachment, aired across the country.“As much as this president and his administration attempt to cover up the facts, with this ad we are ensuring that Americans hear the facts directly from Mueller,” Nathaly Arriola, executive director of Need to Impeach, said in a Tuesday statement.

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Follow the law, get pulled over: Why a police plan to 'ticket' drivers backfired in Arizona

Tempe Police Department started a "Positive Ticketing Campaign" initiative to hand out Circle K drink coupons for following traffic laws.

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U.S. will extend sanctions waivers for Iran nuclear programs: Bolton

The United States will renew sanctions waivers for Iranian nuclear programs that allow Russia, China and European countries to continue their civilian nuclear cooperation with Tehran, White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday.

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North Korean missile tests didn't violate Kim pledge to Trump: Bolton

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday that Pyongyang's recent missile tests do not violate a pledge that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made to President Donald Trump, but he questioned when working-level talks on denuclearization would begin.

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South Korea detains North Korean man crossing the DMZ

The South Korean military detained a North Korean man who crossed the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two countries, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) said on Thursday.

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Taking Nasa's space buggies for a spin

BBC Click's Spencer Kelly takes a ride in some in some of Nasa's latest vehicles.

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Gang database made up mostly of young black, Latino men

Boston police are tracking nearly 5,000 people — almost all of them young black and Latino men — through a secretive gang database, newly released data from the department shows. Black people comprise about 25% of all Boston residents, Latinos about 20% and white people more than 50%. The racial disparity is "stark and troublesome," said Adriana Lafaille, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which, along with other civil rights groups, sued the department in state court in November to shed light into who is listed on the database and how the information is used.

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Jeffrey Epstein served with fresh court documents alleging rape of 15-year-old girl

Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein found out he was facing further legal peril last week, the day before he was found unconscious in his cell with neck injuries. Epstein, 66, was presented with court documents relating to accusations made by Jennifer Araoz, who claimed he raped her when she was 15. Miss Araoz, now 32, made her accusations on July 10 – shortly after Epstein was arrested by police on charges filed by New York prosecutors. She claimed that, in the autumn of 2002, when she had been visiting his New York home for a year, he raped her after she gave him a massage. Last week, on July 22, Qin Zhang, deputy sheriff, handed Epstein the documents in his cell in the Manhattan Correctional Center, where he is awaiting trial. Jeffrey Epstein awaiting his bail decision on July 15. The judge ultimately denied bail. Miss Araoz’s documents sought to depose Epstein, to learn the identity of the young woman who allegedly recruited her outside the Talent Unlimited High School and took part in his “grooming” of her “to be sexually assaulted by Epstein.” Miss Araoz has described the woman as a brunette in her 20s. Daniel Kaiser, Miss Araoz’s lawyer, said that Epstein or his lawyer will have to appear before a judge on August 27, to fight her wish to have him deposed and produce all evidence. Miss Araoz plans to sue both Epstein and the recruiter, Mr Kaiser said, but has to wait until August 14 under terms of the state Child Victims Act. The law, which Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York state, signed in February, lifted a statute of limitations that barred victims of childhood sexual abuse from suing their attackers more than three years after turning 18. The new law allows for criminal charges against sexual abusers of children to be filed until their victims turn 28 for felony cases. Jeffrey Epstein, 66, is facing up to 45 years in prison on charges of sex trafficking of minors It also allows for civil charges to be brought against their abusers - and institutions that enabled them - until they turn 55. Finally, it enacted a one-year, one-off period of grace, allowing all victims to seek civil action, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred. That period begins on August 14. The day after the court papers were served, Epstein - who’s being held without bail on conspiracy and child sex trafficking charges - was found nearly unconscious on the floor of his cell, law enforcement sources have said. Based on the appearance of the marks on his neck, investigators suspect he was choked by someone else, The New York Post reported, and they questioned his cellmate, a former policeman awaiting a death penalty trial in four drug-related killings.

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Iran says US rejected offer as 'not seeking dialogue'

Iran said on Monday the US had rejected an offer from Tehran for more robust nuclear inspections in exchange for lifting sanctions because Washington is "not seeking dialogue". Under the 2015 nuclear deal agreed to by Tehran, Iran must ratify a document, known as the additional protocol, prescribing more intrusive inspections of its nuclear programme eight years after the deal was adopted. "If the US is really seeking an agreement... Iran can make the additional protocol into law (in 2019) and (the US) at the same time bring a plan to the Congress and lift all illegal sanctions," said foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi.

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California has strict gun laws. Here's how the Gilroy gunman evaded them

US lawmakers renew calls for federal gun reform after shooter purchased weapon legally in NevadaPolice officers escort people from Christmas Hill Park following the shooting. Photograph: Noah Berger/APCalifornia has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, including a ban on the type of rifle that a shooter used to kill three and wound 15 at the garlic food festival in Gilroy on Sunday.But the gunman had legally purchased the “assault-type rifle”, in the style of an AK-47, from the neighboring state Nevada on 9 July before carrying it illegally over state lines into California, highlighting what some gun control advocates say is a loophole in the way laws operate, state by state.The suspect, 19, opened fire in the last hours of the three-day garlic festival, a beloved annual tradition that draws thousands of attendees of all ages. He injured 15 people and killed three – a six-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s – before being shot dead by police officers, who rushed him within a minute of bullets being heard.> Just days ago, a California judge upheld that state’s assault weapons ban. > > Yesterday, a murderer who acquired an assault weapon legally in Nevada shot more than a dozen people in Gilroy in less than one minute. THIS is why we need a national ban. NoRAhttps://t.co/CCVonmecqL> > — NoRA (@NoRA4USA) July 29, 2019The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranks California first in the nation for having the strongest gun laws.California raised the minimum age to purchase a rifle to 21 in 2018. And last week, a federal judge upheld California’s ban on owning, manufacturing or selling semiautomatic rifles and so-called “bullet buttons”, rifle attachments that allow shooters to reload more quickly. The state has banned semi-automatic weapons for 20 years. The bullet button ban dates from 2016.Nevada, on the other hand, is ranked 25th in the Giffords Center’s ranking.Big Mikes Gun and Ammo, the Nevada store where the gunman bought his weapon, said in a statement on its Facebook page that the shooter had bought the rifle off of the store’s internet page.“The reach of the California law ends at our border,” California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “and so we cannot control what other states do, and that’s what makes it so tough. We may have progressive gun laws, but if other states don’t match us, we have to rely on the ability to catch” the person.Several lawmakers have pointed at Sunday’s shooting to once again call for a federal law that would close this cross-state loophole.“The gun used by the Gilroy shooter was an AK-47 type assault rifle. This weapon is illegal to buy or possess in California, which appears to be why the shooter crossed into Nevada to buy the gun,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein in a statement. “The assault weapons ban legislation I introduced earlier this year would have prevented that sale from happening. It’s time for Congress to debate this bill and vote on it.”Feinstein continued: “There are other bills out there that deserve to see the light of day including bills to require comprehensive background checks, help establish extreme-risk laws, prohibit the purchase of high-capacity magazines and eliminate loopholes that allow prohibited individuals [to acquire] guns.”“This loss cannot be in vain,” tweeted the California congresswoman Jackie Speier early Monday.Speier is looking to close the gap, as one of 190 members of the House who co-sponsored a bill that would ban the import, sale, manufacturing or possession of semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices on the federal level.> I worked to pass the state law banning assault weapons in the 90’s. We need to buy back the ones still in people’s possession & throw the book at those who defy the law! We must also pass H.R. 1296, the Assault Weapons Ban, to ban military-style assault weapons across the U.S.> > — Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) July 29, 2019The California representative Eric Swalwell, who campaigned briefly for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination and was the only one of two dozen candidates to focus his platform primarily on stronger gun control, was another one of the bill’s co-sponsors.> My heart breaks for all of our Bay Area neighbors who attended the GilroyGarlicFestival. We need gun reform and we need it now. EnoughIsEnough> > — Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) July 29, 2019Senator Kamala Harris, who represents California, has called for a renewal of a federal assault weapons ban as well. She has stated that should she be elected, she will give Congress 100 days to take legislative action on gun violence, and if lawmakers cannot reach a consensus, she will take executive action.> Simply horrific. I'm grateful to the first responders who are on the scene in Gilroy, and my thoughts are with that community tonight. Our country has a gun violence epidemic that we cannot tolerate. https://t.co/WqWNxGAQnA> > — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 29, 2019The gun laws differ so vastly from state to state that a small California city located near the Nevada and Arizona borders voted this month to ask state legislators to allow gun owners from other states to carry registered firearms in the town.> Our thoughts are with the families of those lost last night in Gilroy, CA, as well as the survivors facing a tough road ahead. But thoughts are not enough — action must be taken to EndGunViolence. Every day the Senate refuses to act is a stain on the conscience of our nation.> > — Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 29, 2019

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North Carolina school bus driver suspected of setting up hit on student, police say

Durham police said they believe a school bus driver may have ordered someone to shoot a 17-year-old Northern High School student.

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Trump 'rodent' tweets ring true at Kushner-owned apartments

Davon Jones doesn't have to look far to see the irony in President Donald Trump's tweets that Baltimore is a "rat and rodent infested mess." His apartment owned by the president's son-in-law has been invaded by mice since he moved in a year ago. Jared Kushner's family real estate firm owns thousands of apartments and townhomes in the Baltimore area, and some have been criticized for the same kind of disrepair and neglect that the president has accused local leaders of failing to address. James says he sees a massive contradiction in Trump's much-publicized tweets laying the blame for Baltimore's poverty, crime and rodent problems on frequent antagonist Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings.

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Russia says U.S. may be aiming to quit nuclear test ban treaty

The United States may be planning to blame Russian non-compliance as a pretext to pull out of the Comprehensive nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a Russian diplomat told the Conference on Disarmament, the world's main arms talks forum, on Tuesday. "It would appear that through propaganda around false claims about Russia’s compliance there are attempts to prepare international opinion for a U.S. exit from the CTBT and then to blame Russia again for everything," the Russian diplomat said.

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Trump hails 'righteous cause of American self-government'

President Donald Trump on Tuesday marked the 400th anniversary of American democracy and its gift "of the country we love," but his celebration of what began as an experiment in self-government was boycotted by black Virginia lawmakers incensed by Trump's continued disparagement of a veteran black congressman and the majority-black district he represents. The uplifting rhetoric from Trump marking 400 years of representative government contrasted sharply with his stream of attacks against U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, including before and after the event.

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Death toll in Brazil prison massacre rises to 57 with over a dozen decapitated

SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A bloody clash between two prison gangs on Monday left at least 57 inmates dead with 16 of them decapitated, authorities in the state of Para said, the latest deadly clash as Brazil's government struggles to control the country's overcrowded jails. Prisoners belonging to the Comando Classe A gang set fire to a cell containing inmates from the rival Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, gang, Para's state government said in a statement. "It was a targeted act," state prison director Jarbas Vasconcelos said in the statement, adding there was no prior intelligence that suggested an attack would take place.

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Ilhan Omar hits back at Rand Paul with retweet mocking assault on senator

After Sen. Rand Paul offers to buy Rep. Ilhan Omar a ticket to Somalia so she can 'appreciate America more,' the Democrat congresswoman responds with a retweet mocking the violent assault on the Republican senator by a neighbor in 2017.

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'Passive aggression. It's a lifestyle': Ocasio-Cortez responds to a GOP congressional critic

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., accused Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of having "deliberately misled the American people" about the treatment of migrants in detention.

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Missouri school shooter Drew Grant killed in car crash 21 years after attack

A Missouri man, who, along with an accomplice, shot and killed four studentsand a teacher at an Arkansas middle school 21 years ago, died in a car crashlast Saturday, KAIT reports

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Top aides leave Dem campaign arm amid diversity complaints

A mass departure of top aides shook the House Democrats' campaign arm Tuesday, an exodus that followed complaints from Hispanic and black lawmakers that the organization's staff lacked diversity and that came amid a war of words between the party and President Donald Trump over race. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement late Monday that she had "fallen short" and promised to "work tirelessly to ensure that our staff is truly inclusive." Executive Director Allison Jaslow announced her departure Monday, and a DCCC aide said five other senior aides had also resigned hours later.

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'Stay inside and lock your doors': Tiny Canadian village on lockdown as teenage murder spree suspects spotted scavenging for food

A massive police manhunt has been launched in a remote part of northern Canada for a pair of teenager double murder suspects.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been chasing Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, for weeks since the pair were connected to two separate killings in British Columbia earlier this month.The teenagers have been tracked in a series of stolen cars as they have travelled thousands of miles across Canada, from its Pacific coast in the west all to the way east to rural Manitoba.Police helicopters, a plane, drones, dog units and armed officers have flooded the area around York Landing, a small village in remote northern Manitoba, where a local indigenous neighbourhood watch group had spotted the duo.Officers tweeted residents in York Landing should stay inside and lock all their doors and windows while the heavy police presence searched their community.James Favel from the Bear Clan Patrol, the First Nations group which reported the sighting, said some of his volunteers spotted two young men who matched the description of Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky.The pair immediately stood out in the small, close-knit village while scavenging for food near a dump and ran away as soon as they realised they had been seen, he added.RCMP units had already been searching the nearby town of Gillam and believe the pair have been cornered in this region of rural Manitoba.But the intense police presence was leaving its mark on the locals. “Up here, all the towns and communities, they look like ghost towns,” said Wade Taylor, another volunteer with the Bear Clan Patrol.“Like, everyone’s inside. There’s a high level of stress, anxiety and fearfulness because they’re being kept in their houses.“Some of the people, you can tell by their voice that they’re almost at the point of breaking down crying. You could say it’s traumatic.”The manhunt saga began on 12 July when Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky, childhood friends, left their home in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island and travelled 1,500 miles north to Whitehorse, in the Yukon, to look for work.But on 15 July police discovered the bodies of a young couple near Liard Hot Springs, back in British Columbia and the RCMP has said the teenagers are suspects in the case and wanted for questioning.A few days later a burnt-out truck driven by the pair was discovered, along with the body of Leonard Dyck. Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky have been charged with his murder and chased across Canada by the RCMP ever since.The duo are believed to be armed and the public has been warned not to approach them.The father of Mr Schmegelsky has told reporters he believes his son is on a “suicide mission” and expects him to eventually die in a confrontation with the police. “A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people,” he said. “A child in some very serious pain does.”

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How to Stop Iran’s Maritime Misadventures

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- European nations, alarmed by Iran’s capture of a British oil tanker, are mounting a response to protect their commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf. The Royal Navy has started to escort British ships, and a plan for a European naval mission has been endorsed by Denmark, France and Italy.It’s a promising start. But effectively curbing Iran’s misbehavior and safeguarding ships in the region will require a more ambitious —and truly international — effort. Most important, it needs to involve the U.S. Navy.The Europeans are wary of combining their fleets with a nearby American operation for fear of being identified with President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. France’s foreign minister says a separate effort is needed to reduce tensions and “create the conditions for inclusive regional talks on maritime security.”This is both naïve and shortsighted. A disjointed naval effort increases the likelihood of accidents and miscalculations. It might leave open gaps that could be exploited by the marauding speedboats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. And it creates unnecessary quandaries for ship captains: If, say, an American tanker with British nationals aboard were attacked while under U.S. Navy protection, would the HMS Duncan not respond to a call for assistance, for fear its intentions might be misconstrued by the Iranian regime?QuicktakeThe World’s Oil FlashpointFar better to present a united front. By fully joining their resources, the Americans and Europeans would be better able to police sea lanes and respond to provocations. In fact, they should be working together to recruit other countries — India, for instance — into a unified coalition, akin to the multinational task force formed to counter Somali pirates a decade ago. That effort, first headed by the U.S., drastically reduced attacks, helped strengthen local navies and coast guards, and safeguarded commercial traffic and humanitarian missions.Mounting such a response in the Gulf may sound politically difficult. But Europe should remember that the capture of the British ship, the Stena Impero, had essentially nothing to do with the nuclear deal: It was retaliation for the British Navy’s seizure of a vessel carrying Iranian crude to Syria, in contravention of European Union sanctions. Iran should’ve contested the seizure through legal processes. Instead, it’s holding the British ship hostage and demanding as ransom the release of its own tanker — and the freedom to keep sending oil to Syria, in support of the dictator Bashar al-Assad.It’s yet another reminder of how Iran’s misconduct threatens the entire region, and part of a disturbing pattern. In recent weeks, the regime has attacked ships and oil installations, shot down an American drone, restarted its uranium enrichment program, and even test-fired a ballistic missile, all while refusing good-faith efforts at mediation. It’s lashing out in the hopes that it can intimidate the world into doing what it wants.The U.S. and Europe shouldn’t give in to this kind of aggression. They should instead be united in opposing it. The waters of the Persian Gulf would be a good place to start.—Editors: Bobby Ghosh, Timothy Lavin.To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg Opinion’s editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net, .Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Princess Haya, Dubai ruler’s wife, urges UK court to grant a forced marriage protection order

Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, the youngest wife of the multi-billionaire ruler of Dubai, has urged a British court to protect one of her ­children by granting a forced marriage ­protection order. The Jordanian princess, who fled to Britain in May with her two children “in fear for her life”, is fighting an ­application from her husband, Sheikh Mohammed, for the “summary return” of the youngsters to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Jordanian princess is also seeking a non-molestation order, a process normally used to protect someone who claims they have been subjected to ­domestic violence. However, the ­details surrounding the order, ­including to whom it applies, cannot be reported. The children are living with their mother in her £85 million home in Kensington, west London. The princess has applied successfully for them to be wards of court, and any decisions about their ­future cannot be made without the approval of the presiding judge, Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the Family Courts Division. Princess Haya, 45, attended the first day of the preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. It is the first time she has been seen in public since she left her family home in the Gulf last month. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Princess Haya bint Al Hussein attend Derby Day at Ascot in 2016 Credit: David M Benett/Getty In what is likely to be one of the most expensive child welfare cases in British family court history that may reveal how women are treated in the Dubai royal household, Princess Haya sat next to her lawyer, Baroness Shackleton, and stared intently, listening to proceedings. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, 70, the founder of the Godolphin horse racing stable and thought to be worth £9 billion, is not in court but is represented by Lady Helen Ward, a family and divorce lawyer. He and his estranged wife are both friends with the Queen, due to their shared love of horses. A court order is in place which means the names, ages and gender of their two children and details of the case cannot be reported. However, according to the Government’s website, the “forced marriage protection order” the princess is seeking for one of her children is commonly used to prevent someone “threatened with a forced marriage” leaving the country. The former Olympic equestrian, who became the sheikh’s sixth wife in 2004, was said to have flown on a private jet to Germany, before making her way to the UK. While the exact details of why she left are not known, some have said it stemmed from the earlier treatment of two of the sheikh’s princess daughters who also tried to flee. Princess Latifa, 33, ran away from Dubai last year to try to seek asylum. Princess Haya bint al-Hussein greeting Queen Elizabeth II in 2016 at Royal Ascot Credit: Jason Dawson However, she was seized off the coast of India by commandos and returned to Dubai. She recorded a video before her capture in which she warned her life was a sham and claimed she had suffered abuse. In December last year, Princess ­Latifa was pictured alongside Mary Robinson, the former president of ­Ireland and friend of Princess Haya, in the Dubai family home in what was largely seen as a publicity stunt. In 2000, Princess Shamsa ran away from her father’s estate near Chobham in Surrey. It is believed she was later abducted and returned to Dubai. It has been claimed Princess Haya, the half-sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan, fled Dubai because she learnt “the truth” about Princess Latifa. The sheikh, the vice-president and prime minister of the UAE as well as leader of Dubai, is said to have 23 ­children by his different wives. A poem recently appeared on his ­official Instagram page thought to have been written by him which accused an unnamed woman of “treachery and ­betrayal”. The judge on Tuesday allowed the ­media to report how Princess Haya had applied for wardship of their children, as well as for a forced marriage ­protection order and a non-molestation order. Rejecting an application by Sheikh Mohammed’s lawyers for those details to be subject to reporting restrictions, Sir Andrew ruled that “there is a public ­interest in the public understanding, in very broad terms, proceedings that are before the court.” The hearing continues.

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