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  • Andrew Brunson’s lawyer filed an appeal to Turkey’s highest court

    Andrew Brunson’s lawyer filed an appeal on Wednesday to Turkey’s highest national court requesting his client be released from house arrest, Reuters reported.

    Andrew Brunson’s lawyer filed an appeal on Wednesday to Turkey’s highest court requesting his client be released from house arrest, Reuters reported.

    Mr. Brunson’s next court date is on October 12th, and he’s been under arrest for over a year.

    The American evangelical pastor’s plight has sparked a tense economic relationship between two NATO allies, with the U.S. slapping sanctions on top Turkish officials in response to the arrest.

    Mr. Brunson was arrested on terrorism charges after the Turkish government accused him of being involved with the attempted coup in 2016, but the U.S. denies the accusation.

    The Trump administration has repeatedly called for Mr. Brunson’s release.

    A total disgrace that Turkey will not release a respected U.S. Pastor, Andrew Brunson, from prison. He has been held hostage far too long. @RT_Erdogan should do something to free this wonderful Christian husband & father. He has done nothing wrong, and his family needs him!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018

  • Donald Trump laughed at by world leaders as he boasted of his accomplishments

    President Donald Trump is highlighting U.S. gains under his watch as he opens his address to the U.N. General Assembly — and is getting a laugh.

    President Donald Trump is highlighting U.S. gains under his watch as he opens his address to the U.N. General Assembly — and is getting a laugh.

    Trump told leaders from around the world Tuesday the American economy is “booming like never before” and his administration has accomplished more in less than two years than almost any other administration. His boast elicited laughter from the scores of heads of state and delegates in the audience for the speech.

    Trump responded by saying, “I didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK.”

    Trump says the U.S. is a “stronger, safer and richer country” than when he took office in January 2017. He says “we are standing up for America and for the American people, and we are also standing up for the world.”

  • Trump teams with U.N. to battle drugs: ‘We commit to fighting the drug epidemic together’

    President Trump on Monday led a United Nation’s panel on combating the world drug crisis, saying a robust international effort could save millions of lives.

    President Trump on Monday led a United Nation’s panel on combating the world drug crisis, saying a robust international effort could save millions of lives.“Today we commit to fighting the drug epidemic together,” Mr. Trump told the panel, part of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York this week.Mr. Trump often clashes with the U.N. but the fight against illegal drug trafficking was an area where he sees eye-to-eye with the international body.The Trump administration pulled out of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council and the UNESCO cultural program.“I’ve always said the United Nations has tremendous potential and that potential is being met. Slowly but surely it is being met,” the president said.The president noted that cocaine and opium production reached an all-time high and the number of drug-related deaths around the world increased 60 percent between 2000 and 2015.He called the death toll “absolutely terrible.”“As we know, illicit drugs are linked to organized crime, illegal financial flows, corruption and terrorism,” he said. “It is vital for public health and national security that we fight drug addiction and stop all forms of trafficking and smuggling that provide the financial lifeblood for vicious transnational cartels.”

  • Moscow floods advanced anti-aircraft systems into Syria, days after shoot down of Russian aircraft

    Russian defense officials have ordered emergency deployments of its advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems into Syria, days after Moscow claimed Israeli forces prompted the shoot down of one of its surv

    Russian defense officials have ordered emergency deployments of its advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems into Syria, days after Moscow claimed Israeli forces prompted the shoot down of one of its surveillance aircraft, conducting intelligence operations in support of the Syrian regime.

    The S-300 air defense systems will be in the hands of Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad within the next two weeks, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement released Monday. The new air defense systems will be directly linked to Russian outposts scattered throughout Syria, to “guarantee that Russian aircraft are identified by Syrian air defenses,” he said.

    In addition, “Russia will jam satellite navigation, on-board radars and communication systems of combat aircraft, which attack targets in the Syrian territory, in the regions over waters of the Mediterranean Sea bordering with Syria,” he added in Monday’s statement. The new S-300 deployments come in addition to the reported S-400 long-range anti-aircraft and missile defense systems already in the field in Syria.

    Defense Secretary James Mattis said Monday that there had been no communication between either the Pentagon or U.S. Central Command and their Russian counterparts on the decision to deploy the S-300 systems, prior to Monday’s announcement by Moscow.

    “Any additional weapons going in keeps [President Bashar Assad] in a position to threaten the region,” Mr. Mattis told reporters at the Defense Department. “Anything like this puts him in a position as an obstruction to peace” in the war-torn nation, the defense chief added.

    The shoot-down of the Russian I1-20 reconnaissance plane, which kicked off a chain of claims and counterclaims between Moscow, Damascus and Tel Aviv, took place late last week. The Assad regime’s bloody campaign to quash rebel forces in the country has been largely sustained by Russian air power and Iranian-backed paramilitary forces on the ground.

    Israeli commanders sent in four bombers into Syrian airspace to take out a nearby Syrian weapons facility, housing weapons that Israel argued argue would have ultimately been transferred to the terrorist group Hezbollah. During the bombing raid, Syrian forces launched anti-aircraft missiles to take out the Israeli fighters but apparently struck the Russian plane instead, downing it into the sea and killing everyone on board. Moscow immediately laid blame for the attack on Israel.

    “The Israeli pilots were using the Russian aircraft as a shield and pushed it into the line of fire of the Syrian defense,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov in a statement at the time.

    Israel Defense Forces blamed Mr. Assad and expressed “sorrow” for the Russians killed in the incident, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed his regret for the incident, saying the deaths of the 15 crewmen underscored the need to bring the Syrian conflict to a peaceful resolution.

    On Monday, Mr. Mattis placed the blame for the ongoing violence in Syria’s civil war squarely on the shoulders of Moscow, adding the S-300 deployments only add fuel to that fire.

    “This tragedy … would have ended long ago” if not for Russian and Iranian interference in the conflict, he said.

  • Beijing accuses White House of trade bullying as new U.S. tariffs take effect

    In the latest escalation of the U.S.-China trade war, Beijing on Monday accused Washington of “economic bullying” just as trade tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese made goods came into effect.

    In the latest escalation of the U.S.-China trade war, Beijing on Monday accused Washington of “economic bullying” just as trade tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese made goods came into effect.

    The hard-hitting attack on President Trump was delivered in an official white paper released by the Xinhua news agency and features Beijing’s argument that the U.S. is intimidating other countries through economic measures, damaging the global economy and using “trade bullyism practices.”

    Considered Beijing’s most comprehensive public statement in the tariff war thus far, the white paper, which runs 36,000 words, keeps with Beijing’s stance of not personalizing the conflict by never mentioning Mr. Trump by name.

    It does, however, lash out at his administration’s “America first” economic policies, criticizing them for threatening the world’s established multilateral free trade agreements and restating Beijing’s position that the only way to stop the battle is through cooperation.

    “Cooperation is the only right option and only win-win cooperation can lead to a better future,” the white paper said.

    To justify the trade war, Mr. Trump has long accused China of stealing technologies from America and unfairly subsidizing Chinese state-owned enterprises.

    To punish them, Mr. Trump has argued for the U.S. to clamp down on Chinese imports and since July, roughly half of all Chinese good shipped to the U.S. have become subject to new duties.

    The latest round of tariffs, which kicked in at 12 p.m. Monday, Beijing time, target almost 6,000 Chinese imports, including bicycles, furniture, handbags, rice and textiles, with smartwatches and high chairs reportedly exempt.

    China, meanwhile, has responded by slapping tariffs on more than 5,000 U.S. goods, from honey to industrial chemicals, worth an estimated $110 billion.

    Over the weekend, China recalled its naval chief from the U.S. to protest sanctions Washington slapped on Chinese entities for procuring Russian-made military equipment.

    Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, who is leading trade talks with the U.S., also cancelled a trip to Washington in protest of the tariffs.

  • Rebel attack disrupts Ebola response in Africa

    Aid groups on Monday said a rebel attack near a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo has disrupted efforts to respond to an Ebola outbreak that’s now killed 100 people.

    Aid groups on Monday said a rebel attack near a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo has disrupted efforts to respond to an Ebola outbreak that’s now killed 100 people.

    The violence near Beni, in North Kivu province, forced World Health Organization responders into “lockdown, unable to move because of security concerns following violence by armed rebel groups over the weekend when many civilians were killed,” WHO’s emergencies director, Peter Salama, said on Twitter.

    The attack began Saturday afternoon, lasted several hours and resulted in the death of 18 people, including 14 civilians, according to the BBC.

    The Norwegian Refugee Council and other aid groups suspended their field activities, including vaccination, due to the violence.

    “It’s a worst-case scenario for any aid group to have to suspend relief work that helps communities in need,” NRC area manager Stephen Lamin said. “But this weekend’s attack on Beni town has left us in an impossible position.”

    The NRC said the suspension reflects an “increasingly worrisome security situation” in the country, since food aid will also be disrupted.

    “The recent attack has made the situation even worse as families have had to flee from their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” Mr. Lamin said. “Donor countries must open their purse strings as rapidly as possible to help stem a humanitarian situation that is quickly getting out of control.”

    The Ebola outbreak in the region has resulted in nearly 150 cases and had been linked to 100 deaths as of Saturday, Dr. Salama said in a series of Twitter posts Monday.

    The outbreak is the country’s 10th since Ebola was discovered in the 1970s and second this year. A previous outbreak in a remote part of northwestern part of the country near the Congo River was stamped out after a massive response, yet the ongoing outbreak was discovered about a week later, in early August.

    For weeks, the WHO and other responders have openly worried about insecurity in North Kivu — a mineral-rich part of DRC riven by decades of conflict between government forces and militant groups that have multiplied or splintered over the past two decades.

    As a result of the unrest, the population in Ebola-affected towns are highly migratory, sparking fears that deadly virus could spread further or spill into neighboring Uganda.

    Dr. Salama said an infected person, who evaded response teams and refused care, introduced the disease into a previously unaffected area near the Ugandan border. WHO sent a response team to the area on Sunday.

  • The Latest: EU’s Tusk says Brexit compromise still possible

    The Latest on Brexit, the political divorce between Britain and the rest of the European Union (all times local):

    LONDON (AP) – The Latest on Brexit, the political divorce between Britain and the rest of the European Union (all times local):

    6:30 p.m.

    EU Council President Donald Tusk says he remains convinced that a Brexit compromise that is “good for all, is still possible.”

    His comments come a day after a clear lack of progress at an EU leaders summit in the Austrian city of Salzburg and hours after Prime Minister Theresa May rebuked the EU for damning her Brexit proposals. The Brexit talks, she said, have hit at an “impasse.”

    In a statement, Tusk said “the U.K. stance presented just before and during the Salzburg meeting was surprisingly tough and in fact uncompromising.”

    In spite of that viewpoint, he insisted he remained “a close friend of the U.K. and a true admirer of PM May.”

    Ahead of the summit, Tusk said some parts of May’s plan were a step in the right direction, even though the Irish border and the economic cooperation proposals need to be reworked.

    ___

    4:15 p.m.

    British Prime Minister Theresa May’s parliamentary allies welcomed her assurances that Northern Ireland would avoid a hard border – even as they urged her to stand up for the interests of the entire country in talks on leaving the European Union.

    Nigel Dodds, a senior leader in the Democratic Unionist Party, says May’s remarks on Friday show “she is not going to be pushed around by Europe.”

    By contrast, the president of the Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, argued May’s comments were “an exercise in tired rhetoric.”

    Mary Lou McDonald says that rather than accept her plan has failed to resolve fundamental issues, May’s “focus has unfortunately remained on infighting within her own party and her pact with the DUP, instead of coming to an acceptable negotiating position.”

    ___

    3:05 p.m.

    The pound has fallen further after British Prime Minister Theresa May took a tougher line in the Brexit talks.

    The currency was down a sharp 1.5 percent at $1.3066 after May said Brexit negotiations are “at an impasse” after the European Union rejected her proposals for leaving the bloc.

    The proposal was to keep the U.K. in the EU single market for goods, but not services, to ensure free trade with the bloc and an open border between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

    EU officials dismissed the plan, saying Britain can’t “cherry-pick” elements of membership in the bloc.

    The disagreement raises the risk of Britain leaving the EU without any deal on future trade relations after Brexit day on March 29, which would mean tariffs on exports and disruptions to commerce, travel and other activities.

    ___

    2:30 p.m.

    British Prime Minister Theresa May has sought to reassure European Union citizens living in the U.K., saying they will retain their rights in case the country leaves the European Union without a deal.

    May issued an update Friday on the ongoing Brexit negotiations in the wake of the rejection of her plans by EU leaders in Salzburg – a situation she says might cause concern among the 3 million EU citizens who live in Britain.

    May says told those worried about their future that “you are our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues. We want you to stay.”

    She also addressed the other thorny issue in the talks: the border with Northern Ireland. May says that in the event of no deal, “we will do everything in our power to prevent a return to a hard border.”

    ___

    2:15 p.m.

    British Prime Minister Theresa May says Brexit negotiations are “at an impasse” after the European Union rejected her proposals for leaving the bloc.

    Speaking at 10 Downing St. in London, May said it was “not acceptable” that the EU had rejected her plan without offering alternatives.

    EU chief Donald Tusk said at a summit in Salzburg that May’s plan would not work.

    May says both sides want a deal, but remain far apart on key issues of future trade relations and the Irish border. She called for “serious engagement” to solve the problems.

    The pound fell on May’s comments, trading down a sharp 1.2 percent on the day to $1.3104.

    ___

    9:30 p.m.

    The British government on Friday accused the European Union of slamming the handbrake on Brexit negotiations, after the bloc said Prime Minister Theresa May’s blueprint was unworkable.

    European Council President Donald Tusk said bluntly at a meeting in Salzburg, Austria on Thursday that parts of May’s plan simply “will not work,” while French President Emmanuel Macron called pro-Brexit U.K. politicians “liars” who had misled the country about the costs of leaving the 28-nation bloc.

    A rattled May insisted that her plan was the only one on the table – and that Britain was prepared to walk away from the EU without a deal if it was rejected.

    The rebuff sparked British headlines saying May had been “humiliated,” and a strong response from the U.K. government.

    Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab accused the EU of rejecting Britain’s proposals without offering “credible alternatives” and said the bloc had “yanked up the handbrake” on negotiations.

  • Lauren Daigle wants to break down walls to Christian music

    Three years ago, Lauren Daigle took home three Dove Awards for her debut record, “How Can It Be,” and the Louisiana singer-songwriter got her first taste of the weight of genre’s expectations on her s

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Three years ago, Lauren Daigle took home three Dove Awards for her debut record, “How Can It Be,” and the Louisiana singer-songwriter got her first taste of the weight of genre’s expectations on her shoulders. The 2015 album, one of only a few Christian music albums to have been certified platinum in recent years, propelled her to the top of the Christian music charts.

    “You’re sitting there with these awards and it’s a beautiful moment,” Daigle said. “But everything that was happening in my ears was like, ‘Oh my gosh, how do I maintain this responsibility, how do I uphold this level of expectation?’”

    Since then, the 27-year-old has more than risen to the challenge of being an ambassador for contemporary Christian music. She sang a duet with Reba McEntire on the Academy of Country Music Awards, recorded a song for the “Blade Runner 2049” soundtrack, earned two Grammy nominations and toured relentlessly.

    Her follow up, “Look Up Child,” debuted this month at No. 3 on Billboard’s all-genre album chart and had the best first week sales of any Christian album in nearly nine years, according to Billboard. Daigle, who is performing at this year’s Dove Awards on Oct. 16 and is nominated for an American Music Award, talked with The Associated Press about why she likes Chance the Rapper and breaking down the walls to Christian music. The following remarks have been edited for brevity.

    AP: This new record has a lot of strings and orchestration on the songs. What was that like in the studio?

    Daigle: We got to go into the studio and listen to all of the sounds that can be created from an orchestra, from the strings. I remember this moment, they were in a semi-circle and I sat in the middle and I had some friends come in and sit there with me. And tears just started falling down their faces. It was so pure. Just that kind of sound was so pure and rich. I loved the complement to the lyric that strings bring.

    AP: You have a song called “Losing My Religion,” tell me about the meaning of that song.

    Daigle: I had realized there are so many moments where I let that expectation dictate my ability to perform, my perfectionism. And as much as we want to create a white picket fence, it’s not real. It’s a facade. And I think the sooner we realize that people can be messy and people are fragile, the more we actually start to see through the eyes of God, or the God that I know. We experience kindness for humanity. We experience joy for humanity. And we run toward them instead of building all these barriers. And so that’s what “Losing My Religion” is. It’s taking down all the boxes, taking down all the fences, and it’s living as pure and as whole as possible.

    AP: Has it always been your goal to reach people beyond the Christian music genre?

    Daigle: We have this saying in my team that’s called “Extend the tent pegs.” And it’s not to leave behind anybody that has listened to this music so far and that has been along this journey with me because I am 100 percent grateful. So I don’t want to leave anybody behind, but how to do I also make music that people who might not listen to Christian music they can also connect to? They can also relate to? That’s super-important to me to make music that permeates all the walls and just tear all the walls down. People need love, people need hope. People need joy anywhere in life.

    AP: Do you want to change people’s understanding of what Christian music can be?

    Daigle: Chance the Rapper got to do stuff with all these gospel artists. So profound. I love that, right? And that was something I wanted to bring in as well. Like elements where people who weren’t necessarily church people, or Christians, or whatever the title is, who don’t really dive into that kind of music can hear something and it be compelling enough and it be strong enough to where they are drawn in and feel welcomed and invited.

    __

    Online:

    http://laurendaigle.com/

    __

    Follow Kristin M. Hall at Twitter.com/kmhall

  • Russia plotted sneaking Julian Assange out of Ecuadorian Embassy in London: Report

    Russian diplomats have secretly discussed extracting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and escorting him out of the U.K. and beyond the reach of a potential U.S. e

    Russian diplomats have secretly discussed extracting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and escorting him out of the U.K. and beyond the reach of a potential U.S. extradition request, The Guardian reported Friday.

    Citing four sources, The Guardian said Russians held secret talks in London last year with people close to the Australian-born WikiLeaks publisher on the subject of potentially facilitating his safe exit from the embassy, his residence since 2012.

    One tentative plan involved smuggling Mr. Assange out of the embassy in a diplomatic vehicle on Christmas Eve and transporting him to another country, possibly Russia, where he stood a lesser risk of being extradited to the U.S. and tried on charges related to his WikiLeaks website, The Guardian reported.

    Another plan considered involved shipping Mr. Assange on a boat to Ecuador, the newspaper reported.

    “It is false that giving Julian Assange diplomatic status is news,” WikiLeaks responded through its Twitter account Friday. “It has been widely discussed for almost a year by Ecuador and the international bar and has nothing, whatsover [sic], to do with Russia.”

    Mr. Assange, 47, was granted asylum by Ecuador within weeks of seeking refuge in its London embassy more than six years ago, though an outstanding arrest warrant issued by U.K. authorities and the related risk of being extradited abroad have kept him from exiting ever since.

    Ecuador naturalized Mr. Assange in late 2017, but a subsequent attempt to grant him diplomatic status days later was quickly quashed by U.K. authorities.

    According to The Guardian, the aborted Christmas Eve escape plan involved utilizing the diplomatic protection Mr. Assange would have been granted had the request been accepted. Ecuador could have given Mr. Assange diplomatic documents, and he could have then been picked up from the embassy by Russians and taken away in diplomatic vehicle, the report said.

    The plan was ultimately deemed “too risky” and aborted, the report said.

    Reacting to the report through its Twitter account, the Russian embassy in London called the story “another example of disinformation and fake news from the British media.”

    Mr. Assange sought refuge from Ecuador amid being sought for questioning by Swedish prosecutors investigating allegations of sexual assault. Sweden dropped the probe in 2017, but a U.K. judge subsequently ruled that Mr. Assange breached related bail conditions by entering the embassy and should be arrested upon exiting.

    WikiLeaks has published throngs of classified U.S. military, diplomatic and intelligence community documents during the past decade, including Democratic Party documents in 2016 allegedly sourced by Russian state-sponsored hackers, according to U.S. federal intelligence and law enforcement officials.

    Mr. Assange has not been charged publicly by U.S. prosecutors, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously called his arrest a “priority.”

  • Theresa May ‘humiliated’ after EU trashes her Brexit plan: U.K. media

    British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit blueprint is in tatters after it was rejected by the European Union at a summit the U.K. media branded a “humiliation.”

    LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit blueprint is in tatters after it was rejected by the European Union at a summit the U.K. media branded a “humiliation.”

    European Council President Donald Tusk said bluntly at a meeting in Salzburg, Austria, Thursday that parts of May’s plan simply “will not work,” while French President Emmanuel Macron called pro-Brexit U.K. politicians “liars.”

    A rattled May told reporters that Britain was prepared to walk away from the EU without a deal.

    The rocky summit dashed British hopes of a breakthrough in stalled divorce talks, with just six months to go until Britain leaves the bloc on March 29.

    The judgment of British newspapers on Friday was brutal. The left-leaning Guardian said “May humiliated,” while the right-of-center Sun branded bloc leaders “EU dirty rats.”