Jul 18, 2023 By Ap 7 min read

North Korea silent about its apparent detention of the US soldier who bolted across the border

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has been silent about the highly unusual entry of an American soldier across the Koreas’ heavily fortified border although it test-fired short-range missiles in its latest weapons display. Travis King, who bolted across the border Tuesday, is the first known American detained in the North in nearly five years. The North’s missile launches Wednesday were seen as unrelated. Instead, they were suspected to be a protest of the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea the previous day. King had served time in a South Korean prison for assault and was being sent home to Fort Bliss, Texas, when he disappeared. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed King was likely now in North Korean custody.

Trump downplays his legal challenges on the campaign trail in Iowa after revealing new target letter

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump joked about his legal challenges while campaigning in eastern Iowa on Tuesday night, just hours after announcing he’d received a target letter in the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Headlining a Republican county meeting, Trump attacked the Justice Department while trying to make light of what could be his third criminal indictment since March. He told the audience at an Elks Lodge in Cedar Rapids: “I didn’t know practically what a subpoena was and grand juries. Now I’m becoming an expert.” He continued to cast the cases as politically motivated in an interview later with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

Phoenix scorches at 110 for 19th straight day, breaking big US city records in global heat wave

PHOENIX (AP) — The extreme heat scorching Phoenix set a record Tuesday, the 19th consecutive day temperatures hit at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit in a summer of suffering that’s echoing around much of the globe. As human-caused climate change and a newly formed El Nino are combining to shatter heat records worldwide, the Phoenix region stands apart among major metropolitan areas in the U.S. Weather historian Christopher Burt of the Weather Company says no other major city has had any streak of 110-degree days or 90-degree nights longer than Phoenix.

Michigan charges 16 fake electors for Donald Trump with election law and forgery felonies

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s attorney general has filed felony charges against 16 Republicans who acted as fake electors for then-President Donald Trump in 2020. In charges filed Tuesday, they are accused of submitting false certificates confirming they were legitimate electors despite Joe Biden’s victory in the state. The group includes the head of the Republican National Committee’s chapter in Michigan, as well as the former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party. Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, alleged a “coordinated effort” among Republican parties in several battleground states to push so-called alternate slates of electors with fake documents. Nessel said she wants federal authorities to make an evaluation for possible charges.

House passes resolution to show support for Israel after Democrat’s comments about ‘racist’ state

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted overwhelming bipartisan to pass a resolution reaffirming support for Israel, which appears to serve as an implicit rebuke of a leading Democrat who called the country a “racist state” but later apologized. Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, drafted the resolution after comments made by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., at a conference Saturday where she criticized Israel and its treatment of Palestinians. The text of the measure does not explicitly name her. Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, walked back the comments the next day, insisting her comments were aimed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not the Jewish state.

North Korea fires 2 short-range missiles into the sea as US docks nuclear submarine in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea early Wednesday in what appeared to be a statement of defiance as the United States deploys a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in decades. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday that North Korea from 3:30 to 3:46 a.m. fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near capital Pyongyang that flew about 550 kilometers (341 miles) before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula. The range roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the USS Kentucky arrived Tuesday afternoon in the first visit by a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea since the 1980s.

Texas trooper’s accounts of bloodied and fainting migrants on US-Mexico border unleashes criticism

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The White House is criticizing Texas’ operation to stop migrants along the U.S. border with Mexico after a state trooper told a supervisor that the mission has become inhumane. Nicholas Wingate sent an email this month giving accounts of migrants that were left bloodied from razor-wire barriers and fainting in triple-digit temperatures. He also said he and another trooper were given orders to “push the people back into the water.” The White House press secretary said Tuesday that the trooper’s account, if true, was “abhorrent.” A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson says the account is under internal investigation and that the department has no policy instructing troopers to push migrants into the water.

Tupac Shakur’s long-unsolved killing again under spotlight as Las Vegas police conduct search

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Authorities in Nevada say they have served a search warrant in connection with the long-unsolved killing of rapper Tupac Shakur in September 1996. News of the search confirmed Tuesday has propelled the case back into the spotlight nearly 30 years after Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was 25. Las Vegas police said the search happened Monday in the nearby city of Henderson. It’s unclear what they were looking for and where they were looking. Las Vegas police also didn’t say whether a suspect has been identified. No arrests have ever been made, but attention on the case has endured for decades.

This isn’t the first time Hollywood’s been on strike. Here’s how past strikes turned out

NEW YORK (AP) — The common refrain is that there’s nothing Hollywood loves so much as its own history. But that’s a history that’s inextricable from major labor movements. As the industry comes to a momentous halt courtesy of dual strikes by its actors and screenwriters, it’s worth looking back at the effects of past protests, walkouts and other actions. The Screen Actors Guild and the Screen Writers Guild, the forerunner to today’s Writers Guild of America, were each founded in 1933, though threads of collective action and solidarity run to the very beginnings of the motion picture industry. Accumulated successes and failures have shaped the contemporary landscape.

Adrift for 3 months, Australian and his dog lived on raw fish until Mexican fishermen rescued him

MANZANILLO, Mexico (AP) — An Australian sailor who was rescued by a Mexican tuna boat after being adrift at sea with his dog for three months has stepped foot on dry land for the first time since their ordeal began. After a visit from a doctor on board the Maria Delia, 54-year-old Timothy Lyndsay Shaddock and his dog, Bella, disembarked Tuesday in the Mexican port city of Manzanillo from the fishing boat that rescued them. He told reporters, “I’m feeling alright. I’m feeling a lot better than I was, I tell ya. To the captain and fishing company that saved my life, I’m just so grateful. I’m alive and I didn’t really think I’d make it.”