WORLD
IRAQ: A top Islamic State group
commander, Omar al-Shishani, has been
killed in Iraq, the jihadist-linked Amaq
agency said on Wednesday.
CHINA: China warned rivals Wednesday
against turning the South China Sea into a
"cradle of war" and threatened an air defense
zone there, after its claims to the strategically
vital waters were declared invalid.
ZIMBABWE: The pastor who has emerged
as leader of Zimbabwe's new protest
movement was charged Wednesday with
attempting to overthrow the government.
SOUTH SUDAN: South Sudan President
Salva Kiir on Wednesday said he was
granting an amnesty to ex-rebels loyal to his
longtime rival, Riek Machar, who battled
government troops in four days of fierce
fighting in the capital Juba.
JAPAN: Japan's ageing Emperor Akihito
plans to step down in favor of his eldest son
within a few years, Japanese media reported
Wednesday, in what would be the first such
royal abdication in two centuries.
ITALY: Sicilian "Cosa Nostra" mafia boss
Bernardo Provenzano, dubbed "the tractor"
for the way he mowed down his victims, died
Wednesday after a long illness. Provenzano,
83, was the Cosa Nostra crime group's "boss
of bosses" until his arrest in 2006 after 40
years on the run.
Offended Trump demands Supreme Court judge step down
Donald Trump called Wednesday for the
resignation of Supreme Court justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg, charging that the
83-year-old judge's "mind is shot" after she
branded him a "faker." It is exceptional for a
Supreme Court justice to speak openly about
politics and their political preferences. But
Ginsburg dropped all pretenses of reserve in
two interviews she gave recently and which
have caused a sensation. "He is a faker,"
Ginsburg said Monday of the presumptive
Republican presidential nominee in an
interview with CNN. "He has no consistency
about him. He says whatever comes into his
head at the moment," said the Brooklyn-born
justice, a diminutive but tough-as-nails figure
who has earned the nickname "Notorious
RBG." "He really has an ego," she said.
Trump, the presumptive Republican
presidential nominee, hit back Wednesday at
the leader of the court's progressive wing,
suggesting she is getting senile. "Justice
Ginsburg of the Supreme Court has
embarrassed all by making very dumb
political statements about me. Her mind is
shot - resign!" Trump wrote on Twitter. The
Supreme Court normally has nine justices but
has been one short since the conservative
Antonin Scalia died in February. There is an
even tie between conservatives and liberals,
who include Ginsburg. Worried that a court
dominated by conservatives could now tip in
the liberals' favor, President Barack Obama's
Republican foes in the Senate have refused
to vote on his nominee to replace Scalia,
Merrick Garland
US will welcome target of 10,000 Syria refugees
The United States will welcome 10,000
Syrian refugees this fiscal year as promised
by President Barack Obama, Secretary of
State John Kerry announced Tuesday.
Washington has been criticized by some
activists for moving too slowly to settle those
fleeing the conflict, while Obama's
opponents warn their number may include
terrorists. But Kerry said the United States is
now on course to admit 10,000 vulnerable
refugees, chosen from UN camps and vetted
by US security and intelligence agencies. "It's
also representing six-fold increase over what
we did the year before," Kerry said, referring
to the US fiscal year, which runs from
October 1 to September 30. "I'm proud to say
that the United States is by far the largest
contributor of emergency aid, but we all
recognize that still more needs to be done,"
he said. Kerry made the remarks at a dinner
in Washington to mark the Muslim holiday of
Eid al-Fitr.
May takes over as British PM, makes Johnson foreign minister
Theresa May, who took over as Britain's new
prime minister on Wednesday charged with
pulling the country out of the EU, caused
surprise by immediately appointing leading
Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson as foreign
minister. May replaced David Cameron as
Conservative leader after he stood down
following the seismic vote to leave the
European Union on June 23, which sparked
three weeks of intense political turmoil and
volatility on financial markets. May, who had
supported Britain's continued EU
membership, moved quickly to heal divisions
sparked by the referendum by appointing
leading "Leave" campaigner Johnson to a
senior cabinet post. The decision to name
Johnson, the eccentric former mayor of
London, to the high-profile post of foreign
secretary is likely to cause controversy.
Johnson led the Brexit camp to victory,
antagonising many EU leaders in the process,
but dismayed many of his supporters by
pulling out of the race to succeed Cameron at
the last minute
United States In Brief
LEW: Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew on
Monday urged Britain and the European
Union to remain "highly integrated" despite
the British vote to leave the bloc. Lew spoke
as he travelled Europe to gauge the economic
landscape in the wake of the referendum
decision in favour of Brexit. "An outcome
from the UK and EU that produces a highly
integrated relationship" Lew told reporters.
IS: The State Department named two
Russians allied to the Islamic State group as
"Specially Designated Global Terrorists",
including a Chechen militant tied to deadly
attacks in Moscow. The State Department
said Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukaev, also
known as Amir Khamzat, is the IS leader in
Chechnya and responsible for suicide
bombings in Russia including the January
2011 attack on Moscow's Domodedovo
Airport.
VAPOR: Two more employees have reported
possible exposure to chemical vapors on the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation - even as
workers engaged in a job action to demand
better protection from such fumes. The two
workers were given medical evaluations
Tuesday and cleared to return to work,
according to Washington River Protection
Solutions, a private contractor that manages a
section of the reservation.
(AP)
GM: A federal appeals court has decided that
people injured in crashes caused by faulty
General Motors Co. ignition switches can sue
the company even if they were hurt before
GM's 2009 bankruptcy filing. The ruling by
the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in
Manhattan means that hundreds of
pre-bankruptcy claims can proceed,
including some lawsuits alleging that GM's
actions caused the value of its cars to drop.
(AP)
GOOGLE: Tech giants Google and LinkedIn
may be rivals online, but they're collaborating
in the real world on a Silicon Valley land
swap. Google and LinkedIn say they have
completed a swap that will give Google
LinkedIn's current headquarters in Mountain
View. In return, LinkedIn receives property
elsewhere in the city, where it will build a
new headquarters.
(AP)
AMAZON: Amazon's big sales day is here to
stay. Amazon says Prime Day orders rose 60
percent globally this year versus last year's
inaugural showing. It says sales of Amazon's
own electronic devices were particularly
strong. And the company says that this won't
be the last "Prime Day." "After yesterday's
results, we'll definitely be doing this again,"
said Greg Greeley, Amazon Prime vice
president. (AP)
SPORT
TUESDAY'S SCOREBOARD
MLB
All-Star Game
American League 4 National League 2
MLB: Kansas City's Eric Hosmer and
Salvador Perez blasted home runs as the
American League claimed home field
advantage in the World Series with a 4-2 win
Tuesday over the National League in the
annual all-star game.
NFL: Tom Brady is poised to start the 2016
NFL season serving a four-game ban after an
appeals court denied the New England
quarterback's bid to have his "Deflategate"
case reheard.
NHL: Shane Doan has signed a one year
contract to remain with the Arizona Coyotes,
the media reported. Doan, of Canada, signed
a contract is worth $2.5 million but it could
increase to $5 million with bonuses.
NBA: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said
Tuesday that the league might look at ways
of maintaining competitive balance following
Kevin Durant's blockbuster move to join the
Golden State Warriors.
BOXING: Filipino boxing star Manny
Pacquiao plans to come out of retirement to
fight, his promoter said Tuesday, though the
boxer said no fight has yet been set.
CYCLING: Overall leader Chris Froome
produced another surprise attack to gain time
on his Tour de France rivals as Peter Sagan
won Wednesday's blustery 11th stage.
ATHLETICS: US-based long-jumper Darya
Klishina can compete at the Rio Olympics
under the Russian flag despite the athletics
world body saying she should take part as a
neutral, IOC president Thomas Bach said
Wednesday
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