Top Stories Today – June 19, 2019
Top Stories Today – June 19, 2019
Trump officially kicks off re-election
US President Donald Trump kicked off his re-election campaign at a rally in Orlando, Florida, one of the swing states that fueled his poll-defying victory in 2016. The crowd greeted him with “USA” chants as he recalled the “movement” he started four years ago.
While promoting issues like the economy and border security, the president also condemned his Democratic opponents as “socialists” and “left-wing” extremists who have tried to destroy him and his family, and have “looked down” on his supporters. The president promoted issues like border security and trade tariffs, and chastised the media and the Democrats for spotlighting the Russian issue and other controversies surrounding his presidency. The Voice of America
4 charged with shooting down plane over Ukraine
For the first time since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in July 2014, prosecutors have announced charges against suspects in the case. Three Russians and a Ukrainian have been charged with bringing a missile into the area in eastern Ukraine and with murdering 298 passengers and crew. The Dutch-led joint investigation team (JIT) named the men as Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov from Russia, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.
Igor Girkin (also known as Strelkov) is a former colonel in Russia’s FSB intelligence service. Sergei Dubinskiy (known as Khmuriy), who was employed by Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, was a deputy of Girkin and also in regular contact with Russia. Oleg Pulatov, known as Giurza, is a former soldier of the Spetznaz GRU – the special forces of Russia military intelligence – and was deputy head of the intelligence service in Donetsk. Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko has no military background but led a combat unit as a commander in Eastern Ukraine. Passenger flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over conflict-hit Ukraine. A court case will begin in the Netherlands on 9 March 2020. BBC
US House to interview former WH communication director
The House Judiciary Committee will interview former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks behind closed doors Wednesday, the first time lawmakers will hear from a person linked to the president’s inner circle since the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Obtaining the testimony from Hicks, a close and trusted former aide to President Donald Trump, is a significant victory for Democrats as Trump has broadly stonewalled their investigations. The committee originally subpoenaed Hicks to give public testimony, but agreed to the closed-door interview after negotiations. A transcript of the session will be released in the days afterward. The Voice of America
UN calls for probing Khashoggi killing
A special U.N. investigator on Wednesday called for further investigation of high-level Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Agnes Callamard, a human rights expert who is a special rapporteur for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, released a 101-page report on her months-long inquiry into Khashoggi’s death at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
The report provided new, grisly details of Khashoggi’s death that Callamard gleaned from listening to audio provided by Turkish authorities. The audio captured Saudi agents discussing the dismemberment of Khashoggi’s body before he arrived at the consulate, as well as his killing, the report said. The Washington Post
Xi praises N Korea’s direction on issues
Chinese President Xi Jinping praised North Korea for moving in the “right direction” by politically resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula in an essay published in both countries’ official media Wednesday on the eve of Xi’s visit to Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Xi had nothing to say on the biggest outside worry about North Korea — stalled nuclear weapons talks between Washington and Pyongyang — in the article published on the front page of North Korea’s main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, and by China’s Xinhua news agency. Much of the article focused on lauding the neighbors’ seven-decade relationship. Xi said his visit on Thursday and Friday will “strengthen strategic communication and exchange” between the traditional, though sometimes strained, allies. The nations fought together in the 1950-53 Korean War against the United States, South Korea and their allies, but there has been friction in recent years, especially over the North’s relentless push for nuclear bombs. The Associated Press
US air quality is slipping after years of improvement
After decades of improvement, America’s air may not be getting any cleaner. Over the last two years the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows. While it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a trend, health experts say it’s troubling to see air quality progress stagnate.
There were 15% more days with unhealthy air in America both last year and the year before than there were on average from 2013 through 2016, the four years when America had its fewest number of those days since at least 1980. President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed just the opposite, saying earlier this month in Ireland: “We have the cleanest air in the world, in the United States, and it’s gotten better since I’m president.” The Star Tribune
Shanahan withdraws Defense Secretary nomination
In the months that he has served as President Trump’s acting secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan has worked to keep domestic violence incidents within his family private. His wife was arrested after punching him in the face, and his son was arrested after a separate incident in which he hit his mother with a baseball bat. Public disclosure of the nearly decade-old episodes would re-traumatize his young adult children, Shanahan said.
On Tuesday, Trump announced in a tweet that Shanahan would not be going through with the nomination process — which had been delayed by an unusually lengthy FBI background check — “so that he can devote more time to his family.” Shanahan spoke publicly about the incidents in interviews with The Washington Post on Monday and Tuesday. The Washington Post
More than $1B worth of cocaine seized in Philadelphia
US authorities seized 33,000 pounds, or 15,000 kilograms, of cocaine from a ship at Philadelphia’s port in what they described as one of the largest drug busts in American history. They said the haul could have been worth more than $1 billion on the street. The ship’s second mate, Ivan Durasevic, and another crew member, Fonofaavae Tiasage, were charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine aboard a ship.
Online ship trackers said the vessel detained in Philadelphia sails under the flag of Liberia and arrived in Philadelphia after 5 a.m. Monday. The ship’s previous ports of call were the Bahamas on June 13, Panama on June 9, Peru on May 24 and Colombia on May 19, records show. Federal authorities say Colombia is the primary supplier of cocaine to the US Tuesday’s seizure did not set a US record. A 1989 bust in downtown Los Angeles netted almost 43,000 pounds (19,504 kilograms) of the drug. The Associated Press