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Top Stories Today – July 12, 2019


   

 

 

Top Stories Today – July 12, 2019

Turkey defies US as Russian defense system arrives

Turkey has received the first parts of a Russian S-400 missile defense system despite opposition from the US. The shipment arrived in an airbase in the capital Ankara on Friday, the Turkish defense ministry says.

The move will anger the US, which has warned that Turkey cannot have both the S-400 anti-aircraft defense system and US F-35 fighter jets. Turkey and the US are Nato allies – but Turkey has also been establishing closer links with Russia. US defence officials said the S-400 is incompatible with the wider Nato air-defence system in the region. The officials said they did not want the F-35 jets to be near S-400 systems because they feared Russian technicians would be able to access the F-35’s vulnerabilities. BBC

 

 

India shooting for the moon

India is looking to take a giant leap in its space program and solidify its place among the world’s spacefaring nations with its second unmanned mission to the moon, this one aimed at landing a rover near the unexplored south pole.

The Indian Space Research Organization plans to launch a spacecraft using homegrown technology on Monday, and it is scheduled to touch down on the moon Sept. 6 or 7. The $141 million Chandrayaan-2 mission will analyze minerals, map the moon’s surface and search for water. It will “boldly go where no country has ever gone before,” ISRO said in a statement. India is the world’s fifth-largest economy. The Associated Press

 

Trump abandons citizenship question to census

US President Donald Trump says he is issuing an executive order for the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data. But he is abandoning trying to add a controversial question on citizenship in the country’s once-a-decade census next year. The president announced that federal agencies are to provide Commerce with all relevant data that can be used to tabulate both citizens and noncitizens in the United States.

The action comes in wake of an injunction preventing the citizenship query on the ballot after the Supreme Court called “contrived” the administration’s argument that the question was essential to support the Voting Rights Act. The Voice of America

 

 



 

 

Tropical storm lashes Louisiana

Tropical Storm Barry’s wind and rain began hitting parts of Louisiana Friday as New Orleans and coastal communities braced for a drenching from what could be the season’s first hurricane. A hurricane warning was in effect along the Louisiana coast, with forecasters predicting landfall as a hurricane by early Saturday. The storm’s rains are expected to pose a severe test of New Orleans’ improved post-Katrina flood defenses . Barry is forecast to bring more than a foot and a half (0.5 meters) of rain to parts of the state as it moves slowly inland.

National Guard troops and rescue crews were stationed around the state with boats and high-water vehicles. Helicopters were also on standby, and supplies including drinking water and blankets were ready for distribution, the Guard said. President Donald Trump on Thursday night declared a federal declaration of emergency for Louisiana, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts. The Associated Press

 

 

R. Kellly arrested on federal sexual abuse charges

Singer R. Kelly, already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, was arrested in Chicago Thursday on a federal grand jury indictment listing 13 counts including sex crimes and obstruction of justice. US Attorney’s Office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick said the R&B singer was taken into custody about 7 p.m. local time and was being held by federal authorities. He was arrested after the indictment was handed down earlier Thursday in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois.

“The counts include child porn, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that further details would be released Friday. The arrest was the second time this year that Kelly has been taken into custody in Chicago on sex charges. The Voice of America

 

 

US House authorizes subpoenas of Trump officials

The US House Judiciary Committee on Thursday authorized subpoenas of a dozen current and former Trump administration and campaign officials as part of its investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and the separation of families at the border with Mexico.

Democrats who control the panel overrode Republican objections to give committee chairman Jerrold Nadler broad discretion in authorizing him to subpoena a wide array of officials who are or have been close to President Donald Trump during his two-and-a-half year presidency. “We will not rest until we obtain their testimony and documents,” Nadler said. The Voice of America

 

 

New victims come forward in Epstein sexual abuse case

Since Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest over the weekend on sex trafficking charges, at least a dozen new victims have come forward to accuse him of sexual abuse. At least five women have contacted Florida attorneys Brad Edwards and Jack Scarola, and they “are underage victims in Florida and in New York,” Scarola said. “They are not individuals whose claims have previously been part of any law enforcement investigation.” New York prosecutors say Epstein, who is currently in a New York City prison, sexually abused dozens of girls inside his Manhattan mansion from 2002 to 2005. In court on Thursday, his lawyers argued he should be released to await trial in this house; prosecutors say he’s a flight risk. The Miami Herald via The Week

 

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