Vladimir Putin has accused US lawmakers of “insolence”, and promised Russia will retaliate if the latest round of US sanctions against Russia are signed into law.
The House of Representatives voted by 419 votes to three on Tuesday to pass the new sanctions bill, which targets Russia as well as North Korea and Iran.
[Trump] is likely to face a major backlash if he attempts to veto the legislation, with his administration already
embroiled in a Russia scandal.
“We are behaving in a very restrained and patient way, but at some moment we will need to respond,” said Putin at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart, ] Niinistö.
Too much sugar could increase depression risk in men, study suggests
Men who consume a lot of added sugar in drinks, cakes and confectionery run an increased risk of depression, according to a new study.
Researchers from University College London (UCL) looked at sugar in the diet and common mental health problems in a very large cohort of 5,000 men and 2,000 women recruited for the Whitehall II study in the 1980s.
EU nationals can register to enter UK during Brexit transition
EU nationals will still be able to come to the UK during a transitional period after Brexit but must go through a “registration and documentation” process, Amber Rudd has said.
The home secretary reassured businesses that there will be “no cliff-edge” in the migration system when the UK officially leaves, after Brandon Lewis, her junior minister, said free movement would officially end in 2019…
Rudd said free movement would end as a point of principle in March 2019 because it is part of being in the EU. But arrangements very similar to free movement could still carry on during the implementation phase lasting until around 2022.
Joseph Stiglitz: Trump's tax cuts for the rich won't make America great again
Although America’s rightwing plutocrats may disagree about how to rank the country’s major problems – for example, inequality, slow growth, low productivity, opioid addiction, poor schools, and deteriorating infrastructure – the solution is always the same: lower taxes and deregulation, to “incentivise” investors and “free up” the economy. Donald Trump is counting on this package to make America great again.
It won’t, because it never has. When Ronald Reagan tried it in the 1980s, he claimed that tax revenues would rise. Instead, growth slowed, tax revenues fell, and workers suffered. The big winners in relative terms were corporations and the rich, who benefited from dramatically reduced tax rates.
Foreign Policy
Browder Says “No Doubt” Lawyer Who Met With Trump Jr. a Russian Agent
The Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump, Jr. was working on behalf of the Russian government to persuade the Trump campaign to repeal the Magnitsky Act, Bill Browder, the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management testified before Congress on Thursday.
On July 11, Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, disclosed emails he exchanged arranging a meeting with a Russian lawyer named Natalya Veselnitskaya. He claims the meeting focused mostly on adoption.
“There’s no doubt” Veselnitskaya was working on behalf of the Russian government, Browder told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Not only was she working for a family in Russia closely tied to Putin, but she also worked for Russian security service the FSB “in the Moscow region where she’s from,” Browder said.
Voice of America
Trump Tower Russia Meeting Part of Kremlin-backed Campaign to Repeal Magnitsky Act
Hermitage Capital CEO Bill Browder, who fought successfully to have the Magnitsky Act signed into U.S. law, says he believes the July 2016 meeting between President Donald Trump's eldest son and a Russian attorney who promised incriminating material about Trump's opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, was actually part of a long-running Kremlin-backed campaign to subvert the 2012 law targeting Russian human rights abusers.
The 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, the American-born, London-based investor told VOA, coincided with a marathon campaign by Kremlin-linked operatives aggressively seeking repeal of the Magnitsky Act…
Russia's ban on adoptions by American families, colloquially referred to as Moscow's “anti-Magnitsky Act,” was advanced by Putin's United Russia party nine days after former President Barack Obama signed the Magnitsky Act into law.
North Korean Development, Shortages Go Hand in Hand
What may seem like conflicting reports — that North Korea’s economy is growing while its people also face severe food shortages because of drought — underline the sharp divisions that exist in one of the world most isolated and repressive states.
“We have to understand that North Korea is a very unequal society,” said Go Myong-Hyun, a North Korea economic analyst with the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
According to the Bank of Korea in Seoul, the North’s economy grew last year by 3.9 percent, its fastest pace in 17 years despite international sanctions imposed for its nuclear and missile programs. Exports to China of coal and other minerals accounted for much of the increase.
East African Refugees Make Indefinite Home for Themselves in Indonesia
Ranna, 24, an Oromo Ethiopian woman, is not only a third-generation refugee, but also a two-time refugee. Indonesia, which is home now, is the second place to which she has been displaced in her young life. […]
East African asylum seekers face years-long wait times to even be granted refugee status in Indonesia, according to Trish Cameron, an independent refugee lawyer based in Jakarta. And if that happens, they face even longer wait times for resettlement out of Indonesia -- if they are resettled at all, which is not a given, especially as developed countries have closed their doors in recent years.
"There's not really anywhere to go right now," said Ranna. There are about 200 Oromo refugees in Jakarta, according to Cameron, and "hundreds" of East African refugees in Pasar Minggu Baru.
CNN
US Joint Chiefs blindsided by Trump's transgender ban
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, including chairman General Joseph Dunford, were not aware President Donald Trump planned to tweet a ban on transgender service members, three US defense officials told CNN -- the latest indication that top military leaders across all four service branches were blindsided by the President's announcement.
For now, Dunford has informed service members that there will be "no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidelines."
"In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect," Dunford wrote in a memo to the military that was obtained by CNN. "As importantly, given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions."
Venezuelan government to ban protests, starting Friday
The government just announced it will ban all protests leading up to Sunday's vote, starting Friday.
"It is prohibited throughout all national territory, all public meetings and demonstrations, gatherings and other similar acts that might disturb the electoral process," the country's interior and justice minister, Néstor Reverol, announced on state-run VTV.
Sunday's election -- called for by the government of President Nicolas Maduro -- is for a special assembly that would have powers to rewrite the South American country's 1999 constitution and dissolve state institutions.
Two Swedish ministers quit as IT scandal threatens government
An IT scandal forced Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to reshuffle his government on Thursday as two top ministers resigned, CNN affiliate Expressen reported.
The security breach occurred in March 2015, when the Swedish Transport Agency outsourced the handling of its IT system to IBM, whose staff in Eastern Europe oversaw the operation.
According to Expressen, sensitive information including the entire registry of Swedish drivers' licenses and data on protected identities was accessible to people who had not been vetted by the Swedish security service. The Prime Minister was not made aware of the breach until January 2017.
Los Angeles Times
California has too much pot, and growers won't be able to export the surplus
A leader of California’s marijuana industry warned Wednesday that the state’s cannabis growers produce eight times the pot that is consumed in the state so some will face “painful” pressure to reduce crops under new state regulations that will ban exports after Jan. 1.
Some marijuana growers will stay in the black market and continue to illegally send cannabis to other states, which is also not allowed under federal law, said Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers’ Assn.
“We are producing too much,” Allen said, adding state-licensed growers “are going to have to scale back. We are on a painful downsizing curve.”
Britain to ban sale of new diesel and gasoline cars by 2040
Sweeping new efforts to bring Britain’s growing air pollution crisis under control were announced by the government Wednesday, including a ban on the sale of new diesel and gasoline vehicles beginning in 2040.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the changes are part of a $3.9-billion clean air strategy, adding there was no alternative to embracing new technology.
“We can’t carry on with diesel and petrol [gasoline] cars,” he said, “not just because of the health problems that they cause, but also because the emissions that they cause would mean that we would accelerate climate change, do damage to our planet and the next generation.”
Reuters
Trump DoJ says anti-bias law does not protect gay workers
The Trump administration told a U.S. appeals court that federal law does not ban discrimination against gay employees, a sharp reversal of the position former President Barack Obama took on a key civil rights issue.
The U.S. Department of Justice, in a friend of the court brief, told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Wednesday that Congress never intended Title VII, which bans sex discrimination in the workplace, to apply to gay workers.
The department also said the court owed no deference to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that enforces Title VII and has argued since 2012 that the law bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Russia used Facebook to try to spy on Macron campaign
Russian intelligence agents attempted to spy on President Emmanuel Macron's election campaign earlier this year by creating phony Facebook personas, according to a U.S. Congressman and two other people briefed on the effort.
About two dozen Facebook accounts were created to conduct surveillance on Macron campaign officials and others close to the centrist former financier as he sought to defeat far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and other opponents in the two-round election, the sources said. Macron won in a landslide in May.
Facebook said in April it had taken action against fake accounts that were spreading misinformation about the French election. But the effort to infiltrate the social networks of Macron officials has not previously been reported.
BBC News
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe urged by first lady to name heir
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, 93, has been urged by his wife to name his successor in order to end divisions over who the next leader will be.
The president should not be "afraid" to choose his heir and his word would be "final", Grace Mugabe said.
Mr Mugabe is the world's oldest ruler, and his Zanu-PF party has nominated him to stand for re-election next year.
But rival factions have been vying to strengthen their position as concern about his health mounts.
Grenfell Tower: Corporate manslaughter considered by police
Police investigating the Grenfell Tower fire say they have "reasonable grounds" to suspect that corporate manslaughter offences may have been committed.
It means senior executives from the council and the tenant management organisation that ran the block are likely to be interviewed under caution…
Labour MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, whose friend Khadija Saye died in the fire, said the punishment for corporate manslaughter was a fine, which would not "represent justice for the Grenfell victims and their families".
"Gross negligence manslaughter carries a punishment of prison time, and I hope that the police and the CPS are considering charges of manslaughter caused by gross negligence," he added.
Sea level fears as Greenland darkens
Scientists are "very worried" that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet could accelerate and raise sea levels more than expected. They say warmer conditions are encouraging algae to grow and darken the surface.
Dark ice absorbs more solar radiation than clean white ice so warms up and melts more rapidly. Currently the Greenland ice sheet is adding up to 1mm a year to the rise in the global average level of the oceans.
It is the largest mass of ice in the northern hemisphere covering an area about seven times the size of the United Kingdom and reaching up to 3km (2 miles) in thickness. This means that the average sea level would rise around the world by about seven metres, more than 20ft, if it all melted.
Alaska Dispatch News
Trump administration threatens retribution against Alaska over Murkowski health votes
Donald Trump isn't going to just let go of Sen. Lisa Murkowski's no vote Tuesday against debating Obamacare repeal.
Early Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to express displeasure with Murkowski's vote. By that afternoon, each of Alaska's two Republican senators had received a phone call from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke letting them know the vote had put Alaska's future with the administration in jeopardy…
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said the call from Zinke heralded a "troubling message."
"I'm not going to go into the details, but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop," Sullivan said.
NPR News
Kansas Gov. Brownback To Be Nominated Ambassador For Religious Freedom
Trump is nominating Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as an ambassador at large for religious freedom. The State Department post requires confirmation by the Senate, of which Brownback was a member from 1996 to 2011. He would be succeeded by Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer.
After the announcement Brownback tweeted, "Religious Freedom is the first freedom. The choice of what you do with your own soul. I am honored to serve such an important cause."
Jim McLean of member station KCUR reports:
"Brownback would leave office as one of the least-popular governors in the nation. That's largely due to the tax cuts he championed, which instead of igniting the Kansas economy as he promised sent state revenues plummeting, forcing lawmakers to deal with annual holes in the state budget.
Palestinians Cheer Israel's Removal Of Security Measures At Historic Mosque
Jerusalem's mufti Mohammed Hussein has declared an end to recent protests, saying Muslims will again pray inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, rather than outside it, after Israeli police removed the last of the security equipment from the entrance to the holy site.
Clashes marred the return of thousands of worshippers to the site Friday afternoon.
"Shortly after returning to Temple Mount, Israeli security forces and Muslim worshippers clashed inside the compound," Ynet News reports. "Security forces used stun grenades next to the Dome of the Rock to disperse rioters, as the Red Crescent reported that 46 people were injured."
Deutsche Welle
How Wieland Wagner, once Hitler's friend, lifted the Nazi shadow from Bayreuth
Adolf Hitler considered him a sort of stepson and heaped favors on him. As a young man, he was a member of the Nazi party and artistically arch-conservative.
But after World War II, Wieland Wagner went on to shock Wagnerians with his radical break with the past and a completely fresh take on his grandfather Richard Wagner's works. Then Wieland Wagner died young, not yet 50 years old, lending a touch of myth to a life marked by high artistic achievement. […]
After the war, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus still stood, but its stage equipment and costumes had been plundered. It was in this situation that the Bayreuth Festival was re-established with Wieland and his brother Wolfgang as co-directors.
When the curtain opened on a new era of the Bayreuth Festival on July 30, 1951, the audience saw... nothing. On a darkened stage, the protagonists stood and sang on a huge disc, their thoughts, emotions and situations suggested by lighting effects. Gone was the cult of Germanic gods; now the focus was on the human being…
By ignoring convention, Wieland Wagner's stagings restored credibility to a theater that had been totally ruined by Nazi ideology.
Hijacked 'Landshut' plane returning to Germany
The decommissioned Boeing 737 airplane that became notorious as the hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 in 1977 is expected to arrive at the Dornier Museum - an aviation and aerospace museum in southern Germany - in September.
The aircraft had been parked at Fortaleza airport in Brazil gathering dust since 2008. It will be dismantled and transported to Germany before it is restored.
"To this day, the rescue of the 'Landshut' is a living symbol of a free society, which cannot be defeated by fear and terror," said Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel.
Financial Times
Fed nominee backs bank call for changes to stress tests
Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Reserve’s regulatory wing has said he wants to inject greater “transparency” into the system of stress tests that the central bank uses to gauge banks’ health.
Randal Quarles said it was possible for the Fed to provide more information about the tests — something that has been a perennial demand from Wall Street, which has complained about the opaque nature of the process…
Mr Quarles came under questioning from Democrats who accused him of failing to spot the risks that were brewing before the crisis when he served in the Treasury under George W Bush.