Top Stories Today – July 23, 2019
Top Stories Today – July 23, 2019
Boris Johnson becomes UK’s new PM
Boris Johnson has been elected new Conservative leader in a ballot of party members and will become the next UK prime minister. He beat Jeremy Hunt comfortably, winning 92,153 votes to his rival’s 46,656. The former London mayor takes over from Theresa May on Wednesday.
In his victory speech, Johnson promised he would “deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn”. Speaking at the Queen Elizabeth II center in London, he said: “We are going to energize the country. The outgoing PM in turn congratulated her successor, promising him her “full support from the backbenches”. US President Donald Trump also tweeted his congratulations to Johnson, adding: “He will be great!”. BBC
S Korea fires warning shots at Russian warplane
South Korean air force jets fired 360 rounds of warning shots Tuesday after a Russian military plane twice violated South Korea’s airspace off the country’s east coast, Seoul officials said in an announcement that was quickly disputed by Russia. South Korea said three Russian military planes — two Tu-95 bombers and one A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft — entered the South’s air defense identification zone off its east coast before the A-50 intruded in South Korean airspace. Russia said later that two of its Tu-95MS bombers were on a routine flight over neutral waters and didn’t enter South Korean territory.
According to South Korean government accounts, an unspecified number of South Korean fighter jets, including F-16s, scrambled to the area and fired 10 flares and 80 rounds from machine guns as warning shots. Seoul defense officials said the Russian reconnaissance aircraft left the area three minutes later but later returned and violated South Korean airspace again for four minutes. The officials said the South Korean fighter jets then fired 10 flares and 280 rounds from machine guns as warning shots. South Korea said it was the first time a foreign military plane had violated South Korean airspace since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff summoned Russia’s acting ambassador and its defense attaché to protest. The Associated Press
Charlotte condemns Trump’s racist comments
Lawmakers of the North Carolina city set to host the 2020 Republican National Convention have condemned recent comments by President Trump as racist and xenophobic. CBS Charlotte affiliate WBTV reports the Charlotte City Council voted 9-2 Monday to pass a resolution calling out specific tweets and comments by Trump. The council’s two Republican members voted against it.
Trump tweeted this month that four minority congresswomen should return to “the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” CBS News
Venezuelan in the dark again
The lights went out across much of Venezuela, reviving fears of the blackouts that plunged the country into chaos a few months ago as the government once again accused opponents of sabotaging the nation’s hydroelectric power system. The power in the capital went out after 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) Monday and immediately backed up traffic as stop lights and the subway stopped working during rush hour.
Almost three hours into the blackout authorities broke their silence and blamed an “electromagnetic attack” on a series of dams located in southern Venezuela — the same culprit it attributed an almost week-long outage in March that left millions of Venezuelans without water or the ability to communicate with loved ones. President Nicolás Maduro blamed the March outage on a US-sponsored attack against the nation’s biggest hydroelectric dam. But his opponents said the outage laid bare years of underinvestment in the nation’s grid by corrupt officials who mismanaged an oil bonanza in the nation sitting atop the world’s largest crude reserves. The Associated Press
San Juan braces for an 11th day of protests
San Juan braced on Tuesday for an 11th day of protests calling for the resignation of Puerto Rico’s governor over offensive chat messages that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people. Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds late Monday and early Tuesday while protesters threw bottles and other objects at police, multiple media reports said.
Governor Ricardo Rosselló has insisted he will not step down as leader of the US Territory over misogynistic and homophobic messages exchanged between him and top aides, but said on Sunday that he would not seek re-election next year. Rosselló also said he would step down as head of the New Progressive Party and asked Puerto Ricans to give him another chance. Reuters
N Korea’s latest escalation
North Korean state media on Tuesday published pictures of Kim inspecting an imposing, newly built submarine, saying the vessel will soon be deployed in the waters off Korea’s east coast. Although the article didn’t say what kind of weapons the submarine would carry, the reference to “strategic” capabilities implied the vessel could handle nuclear-capable missiles for strategic deterrence purposes.
The development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or SLBMs, would add an unpredictable new component to North Korea’s arsenal. SLBMs are mobile, potentially increasing the range of North Korea’s ballistic missile arsenal. They are also easier to hide. Following several failed tests, North Korea in 2016 successfully tested a ballistic missile launched from an experimental Gorae-class submarine. Several reports, based partly on commercially available satellite images, have suggested North Korea was working on a new, larger class of submarine that could fire several SLBMs. The submarine unveiled Tuesday appears to confirm those reports, according to many analysts. The Voice of America
Brazil cocaine seizures up 90% in 2019
Brazil seized 25.3 tons of cocaine bound for Europe and Africa in the first half of 2019, up more than 90 percent on the same period last year, officials said Monday. Nearly half of the drugs were found at Santos port in southern Brazil, not far from where police recently arrested two men suspected of belonging to Italian mafia ‘Ndrangheta. Customs officials attributed the increase in seizures to better intelligence and increased vigilance along Brazil’s borders.
Brazil, which has some 10,500 miles of land borders, is an important hub for international drug trafficking. Drugs produced in Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela and Paraguay are smuggled into Brazil and then sent to mainly European markets. Some routes to Africa are also opening up. Cocaine seizures have soared in recent years, from 958 kilograms in 2014 to last year’s record 31.4 tons. The Voice of America
DOJ orders Mueller to limit congressional testimony
A Justice Department official told former Special Counsel Robert Mueller that his upcoming testimony to House lawmakers “must remain within the boundaries” of the public, redacted version of his report, in a letter obtained by Fox News on Monday evening.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Nadler, the Judiciary Committee chair, told host Chris Wallace that he doesn’t believe the public has moved on from the investigation. He also provided a very brief sneak peek about what type of questions to expect from the Democrats during the hearings. Spoiler: They’re going to be very specific. Fox News, The Week
2 US cops fired over post suggesting Ocasio-Cortez be shot
The police chief of Grenta, Louisiana, announced Monday that he had fired two police officers for violating the department’s social media policy. One of the fired officers, Charlie Rispoli, posted on Facebook a parody news story about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) with the comment: “This vile idiot needs a round … and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve.”
The second officer, Angelo Varisco, “liked” Rispoli’s post. Ripoli posted his perceived threat on Ocasio-Cortez amid President Trump’s repeated attacks on her and three fellow Democratic freshmen congresswomen. On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that the Grenta incident “is Trump’s goal when he uses targeted language & threatens elected officials who don’t agree w/ his political agenda. It’s authoritarian behavior.” The New Orleans Advocate, The Washington Post via The Week