Trump removes Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director

US President Donald Trump ousted recently hired White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci on Monday over an obscene tirade, sources familiar with the decision said, in the latest staff upheaval for the six-month-old administration.

The move, coming just 10 days after the Republican president named Scaramucci to the post, took place on the first day of work for Trump's new chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, who sources said was seeking to impose order on a White House riven with factions and backbiting.

"There's a new sheriff in town," said Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser.

A Republican close to Trump said the president fretted on the weekend over what to do about Scaramucci, calling his advisers to ask their opinion, all of whom told him the tough-talking aide had to go.

Trump was annoyed about Scaramucci's lewd comments to The New Yorker magazine published last Thursday and at how the abrasive New York financier appeared to inflate the strength of their friendship, since he had started the 2016 presidential election cycle as a fundraiser for two Trump rivals, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush.

Trump decided it was time to cut him loose, the source said.

Kelly, who also wanted him removed, summoned Scaramucci to Kelly's office on Monday morning and fired him on the spot, the official said. It was one of Kelly's first acts as chief of staff.
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US slaps sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

The US has slapped sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after Venezuela held its National Constituent Assembly (ANC) voting on Sunday.

"By sanctioning Maduro, the US makes clear our opposition to the policies of his regime," a statement by the US Treasury Department quoted Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as saying on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The statement also warned that anyone who participates in the ANC could be exposed to future US sanctions.

As a result of the sanctions, "all assets of Nicolas Maduro subject to US jurisdiction are frozen," said the statement, adding that US persons are prohibited from dealing with him.

Venezuela's Vice President Tareck El Aissami said on Sunday that voting was proceeding smoothly, except for an "isolated incident" in Tachira state that authorities brought under control.

He called Sunday's vote "a turning point towards a Venezuela with equality (and) social justice."

Samuel Moncada, Foreign Affairs Minister, said the participation of Venezuelans on Sunday, in the election of a National Constituent Assembly (ANC) is a "vote for peace"
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Sam Shepard, Pulitzer-winning playwright and actor, dies at 73

Sam Shepard 

Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize- winning playwright, Oscar-nominated actor and celebrated author whose plays chronicled the explosive fault lines of family and masculinity in the American West, has died. He was 73.

Family spokesman Chris Boneau said today that Shepard died Thursday at his home in Kentucky from complications related to Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The taciturn Shepard, who grew up on a California ranch, was a man of few words who nevertheless produced 44 plays and numerous books, memoirs and short stories. His 1979 play "Buried Child" won the Pulitzer for drama.

His Western drawl and laconic presence made him a reluctant movie star, too. He appeared in dozens of films, and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in 1983's astronaut drama "The Right Stuff."

Shepard recently starred in the first season of the Netflix series "Bloodline" as the patriarch of a prominent Florida Keys family who try to keep a web of secrets from destroying their lives.
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Olympics: Los Angeles agrees to host 2028 Games; Paris gets 2024

Los Angeles formally announced its bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics on Monday after agreeing on a deal that paves the way for Paris to host in 2024.

"The Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic bid committee in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), today announced its intention for Los Angeles to host the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games 2028 and its agreement with the Host City Contract 2028," the LA bid committee said in a statement, confirming earlier comments from city officials.

Los Angeles had been in a race with Paris to host the 2024 Games, with the winner to be named by the IOC on September 13 in Lima.

But the possibility that Los Angeles would abandon a 2024 bid and instead accept the 2028 Games has been growing since the IOC decided in July that it would attempt to award both Games at its Lima meeting.

LA bid officials said Monday that an agreement had been reached with the IOC on financial considerations that would make waiting an extra four years feasible.
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Donald Trump removes Anthony Scaramucci as communications director

United States President Donald Trump has decided to sack Anthony Scaramucci, the Communications Director.

Trump has relieved him just days after he reportedly launched a verbal tirade against other senior members of the President's senior staff.

The decision to remove Scaramucci has come at the new chief of staff's, John F. Kelly, request, the New York Times reports.

Scaramucci had earlier boasted about reporting directly to the President and not the chief of staff. Following this, Kelly reportedly made clear to members of the White House staff at a meeting on Monday morning that he was the in-charge.

For the uninitiated, Scaramucci's abrupt removal has come just ten days after the wealthy New York financier was brought on to the West Wing staff, in a decision that led to the departures of Sean Spicer, the former press secretary, and Reince Priebus, the president's first chief of staff.
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WikiLeaks posts 21,000 emails hacked from Emmanuel Macron's campaign team

WikiLeaks on Monday released more than 21,000 emails allegedly hacked from French President Emmanuel Macrons campaign team.

The whistleblowing website released the trove of leaked emails as a searchable archive. It came almost three months after the Macron campaign was hacked on the eve of his election, the Telegraph reported.

The organisation said it had confirmed the 21,075 emails were sent or received by addresses associated with the campaign by checking the "domain keys" used to sign emails. It published a further 50,773 emails it could not verify.

In total, the leak included 71,848 emails, 26,506 attachments and details of 4,493 unique senders, the report said.

The Macron campaign announced that it had been hacked on May 5, just days before his run-off victory over Marine Le Pen.

The Macron campaign had previously blamed Russian interests for the hacking and cybersecurity researchers linked the attack to a group known as APT28 or Fancy Bears, the group believed to have hacked the US Democrats last year and which is often linked to the Kremlin.

Assange's network said the emails had been verified through its DKIM system.
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Amazon's big profit miss spooks investors, but analysts stay bullish

A steeper-than-expected drop in quarterly profit rattled some Amazon.com investors, but Wall Street analysts remained largely bullish about the company's aggressive spending plans.

Shares of the e-commerce juggernaut, which have risen 40 per cent this year, were down 4.3 per cent at $1,001 in early trading on Friday, wiping out $21 billion from its market value.

The stock touched a record high on Thursday, helping CEO Jeff Bezos briefly unseat Microsoft Inc co-founder Bill Gates as the world's richest person.

"The overall story coming out of Amazon's second quarter print feels a lot like it did three months ago - accelerating growth, stepped-up investments, lower near-term profitability," JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth said.

"But will anyone care about profit when Amazon is taking bigger chunks of market share?"

The world's largest online retailer reported a better-than-expected rise in revenue, but operating profit came in well short of analysts' estimate as the company continued to pump in money to expand in international markets such as India.
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Panama verdict: Nawaz's brother Shehbaz Sharif tipped to be next Pak PM

Pakistan's Punjab province Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif is likely to be made Prime Minister after his brother Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court over the Panama Papers scandal, sources in the PML-N party said on Friday.

Shehbaz, 65, the current chief minister of Punjab, is the natural choice for the top post, sources in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party said.

"He is an untiring worker, hard task master, loyal to his brother and also in the good books of the powerful establishment," a source said.

However, he cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not a member of the National Assembly. In order to become the Prime Minister, he would first have to be elected to Parliament.

Hence, an interim Prime Minister would have to be chosen from among the confidants of Nawaz. The interim premier will resign once Shehbaz is elected to the National Assembly.

This would not be the first time such an arrangement would be worked out.

During former military ruler Pervez Musharraf's time, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as interim Prime Minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q).
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Air France buys 31% stake in British carrier Virgin Atlantic

Air France has taken a big piece of Britain's second-biggest long-haul airline, Virgin Atlantic.

According to The Independent, the French airline, which also owns KLM of the Netherlands, is to buy a 31 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic for 220m GBP.

It leaves the Virgin Group with just one-fifth of the airline's equity. Delta will keep a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic.

The airline founded by Sir Richard Branson in 1984 will retain its identity and independence as a British carrier with a UK operating certificate.

Talking about the deal, Sir Richard said, "This is a fantastic opportunity to extend our network and create a stronger customer champion, as well as being extremely beneficial to our people and the Virgin Atlantic brand that our customers love dearly."

The Virgin Atlantic president also wrote a letter to his staff, which read, "We've had to endure a consistently uneven playing field with British Airways keeping a stranglehold on Heathrow slots, enabling it to feed its long-haul operation from a myriad of short-haul flights across the UK and Europe."

Adding, "And now we have Brexit, which before it's even happened, has had a negative effect on the financial performance of both our holiday company and the airline, principally due to the collapse in the value of the pound."
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Starbucks shares tumble on fears of slowing US growth

Starbucks Corp's shares were on track for their worst one-day decline in five years on Friday as the coffee chain's latest quarterly report triggered concerns of a slowdown in sales in the United States, its biggest market.

While Starbucks' profit met Wall Street expectations in its first quarter under new CEO Kevin Johnson, the results suggested that growth in the coffee chain's member loyalty program was slowing, a trend that could impact future sales.

Starbucks' U.S. rewards membership rose 8 percent in the quarter ended July 2 — a rate that lags the 18 percent increase seen a year earlier and slower than the previous quarter's 11 percent rise.

"Customers were choosing to spend their money elsewhere, Johnson told CNBC on Friday, calling it a "short-term phenomenon."

But analysts said the slowdown was a direct result of changes Starbucks made to its rewards program, that, while benefiting the company, left many customers unwilling to sign up.

Starbucks last year tweaked the program to award customers points for every dollar spent at its cafes, a departure from its practice of giving points for every purchase, putting customers buying cheaper items at a disadvantage.
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US lawmaker pitches for the removal of country specific quota in Green Card

A top American lawmaker has demanded the removal of country-specific quota for legal permanent residency in the US, arguing that over seven lakh high-skilled immigrant workers from India are stuck on a cycle of temporary work visas due to the "arbitrary" cap on Green Cards.

"More than 700,000 high-skilled immigrant workers from India are in the US today on temporary work visas. These people are working hard every day helping grow our economy, raising their children as Americans right here in our communities," Congressman Kevin Yoder from Kansas said in his remarks on the floor of the US House of Representatives.

"But under our immigration system they are stuck on a cycle of temporary work visas, unable to change jobs or even start their own small business to create more American jobs. They're stuck because of the arbitrary seven per nation cap on employment-based green cards," the Republican lawmaker said.

"Right now, there's a mother in Greenland whose unborn child will be able to obtain permanent residence in America before someone from India who is already here and have been working here for years. That's absurd and it's wrong," he said.
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Unravelling CM Nitish Kumar's myth: Only 17 of 100 Biharis support JD(U)

Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, is a very popular leader in that state, with virtues of probity in public life and governance focus on development, the English press and the larger media narrative would have us believe.

Do actual voters in Bihar think the same? Not according to our analysis. Nitish Kumar’s party has only been above the Congress in electoral popularity, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been the state’s most popular party–its popularity preceding Prime Minister Narendra Modi–and no more than 17 voters chose to vote only for Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), or JD (U), according to our analysis of electoral results over six elections since 2004.

Over the last decade, voters in Bihar have voted in six elections – 2004 Lok Sabha, 2005 Vidhan Sabha, 2009 Lok Sabha, 2010 Vidhan Sabha, 2014 Lok Sabha and 2015 Vidhan Sabha. Over this period, of every 100 Bihari voters, roughly 37 voted only for the BJP, 30 only for Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), no more than 17 only for the JD (U), and 10 only for the Indian National Congress (INC).

In other words, Nitish Kumar’s supposed popularity in Bihar is not borne out in electoral numbers. So, how has Nitish Kumar been chief minister for nearly 13 years since 2005? The answer lies in Nitish Kumar’s manoeuvring of electoral alliances and taking advantage of India’s first-past-the-post electoral system.
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Nitish Kumar is Bihar CM again; former allies call tie-up with BJP betrayal

Nitish Kumar was on Thursday sworn in as the Bihar Chief Minister at the head of a JD-U-BJP government, a day after he dumped the RJD and the Congress, but faced murmurs of protest from senior leaders including Sharad Yadav. The Kerala unit of his party snapped ties with him.

Nitish Kumar also came under attack from former allies who called his decision a "betrayal" of the 2015 mandate.

Nitish Kumar, who took the oath of office and secrecy with his former Deputy Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP, has to prove his majority in the Assembly on Friday.

He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at a hurriedly-organised event at the Raj Bhavan as JD-U supporters raised slogans of "Nitish Kumar Zindabad".

The new JD-U-BJP combine including some other parties has submitted to the Governor a list of 132 MLAs, 10 more than the half-way mark of 122 in the 243 member Assembly.

They include 71 of JD-U, BJP's 53, RLSP's and LJP's two each, HAM's one and three independents. The RJD has 80 MLAs and its ally Congress has 27. The CPI-ML, bitterly opposed to the BJP, has three members.

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Freed from ISIS, Yazidi women return in 'severe shock'

The 16-year-old lies on her side on a mattress on the floor, unable to hold up her head. Her uncle props her up to drink water, but she can barely swallow. Her voice is so weak, he places his ear directly over her mouth to hear her.

The girl, Souhayla, walked out of the most destroyed section of Mosul this month, freed after three years of captivity and serial rape when her Islamic State captor was killed in an airstrike. Her uncle described her condition as “shock.” He had invited reporters to Souhayla’s bedside so they could document what the terror group’s system of sexual abuse had done to his niece.

“This is what they have done to our people,” said Khalid Taalo, her uncle.

Since the operation to take back Mosul began last year, approximately 180 women, girls and children from the Yazidi ethnic minority who were captured in 2014 by the Islamic State, or ISIS, have been liberated, according to Iraq’s Bureau for the Rescue of Abductees.

Women rescued in the first two years after ISIS overran their ancestral homeland came home with infections, broken limbs and suicidal thoughts. But now, after three years of captivity, women like Souhayla and two others seen last week by reporters, are far more damaged, displaying extraordinary signs of psychological injury.

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MasterCard beats estimates with 20% jump in profit

MasterCard Inc, the world's second-biggest payments processor, on Thursday reported a better-than-expected 20 percent jump in quarterly profit as people spent more using credit and debit cards.

Mastercard's shares were up 2 per cent at $133.60 in premarket trading.

Consumer spending in the United States, which accounts for more than two-thirds of nation-wide economic activity, has been on an upswing, supported by a tightening labor market and cooling inflation.

Purchase, New York-based Mastercard, like its bigger rival Visa Inc, generates revenue by facilitating credit- and debit-card transactions and both their revenue streams are closely linked to consumer spending power.

Mastercard also benefited from consumer spending outside the United States, with its cross-border volumes - the value of transactions made by overseas card-holders - rising 14 per cent on a local currency basis in the second quarter ended June 30.

The company's net income rose to $1.18 billion, or $1.10 per share in the quarter, from $983 million, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.04 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

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Paying CEOs with stock options doesn't drive business strategy: Research

The CEO pay of the United States’ biggest corporations is seen as the world benchmark. A large part of the way these executives are remunerated is through receiving stock options in the company they direct.

However our research shows that compensating executives in this way doesn’t necessarily lead to a higher payout of dividends to shareholders.

In dollar terms, average pay of CEOs of the US top 500 firms has increased from US$3 million in 1992 to US$12 million in 2016. A major contributor of this increase has been stock options.

For example, Thomas Rutledge, CEO of US telecommunications company Charter Communications received a US$98 million pay package in 2016. And 80% or US$78 million was in stock options.

A stock option is a financial contract that basically allows someone the right but not the obligation to buy a certain number of company shares in the future, at today’s market price. Thus, stock options allow CEOs to benefit if the company’s stock price rises, but not lose out if the stock price falls. Because in the latter case CEOs simply walk away from the transaction as the contract is not binding.
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Gulf states being stubborn, UN should step in: Qatar amid diplomatic crisis

Qatar's foreign minister on Thursday accused Gulf neighbors and Egypt of "stubbornness" in their ongoing diplomatic dispute and said the United Nations should step in to help resolve the crisis.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York to discuss tensions after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut ties with Qatar on June 5.

The four countries accuse Qatar of backing extremism and have imposed sanctions against Doha in what the foreign minister said was a "serious violation of international law."

"There is a role for the Security Council and for the General Assembly and all the United Nations mechanisms, because of course the violations have continued," the foreign minister told reporters after his meeting with Guterres.

"We are seeing from the other side of the conflict this stubbornness without even taking any forthcoming step to solve this problem," he said.

Last month Al-Thani met with several Security Council members to lobby for support, but the council and Guterres have repeatedly stressed that a solution should be found among regional partners.

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US jobless claims rise from three-month low

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rebounded from a three-month low last week, but remained below a level consistent with a tightening labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 244,000 for the week ended July 22, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 241,000. It was the 125th straight week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a robust labor market. That is the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was smaller. The labor market is near full employment, with the jobless rate at 4.4 percent.

Claims have been volatile in recent weeks as automakers shut assembly plants for annual retooling. Some manufacturers like General Motors are extending their summer shutdowns to manage excess inventory from declining sales.

Economists say this could be throwing off the model used by the government to strip out seasonal fluctuations from the data, causing swings in the weekly numbers.

A Labor Department official said there were no special factors influencing the claims data and that no states had been estimated.
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Twitter reports loss and flat user growth in Q2

Twitter Inc (TWTR) today reported a loss of $116.5 million in its second quarter.

On a per-share basis, the San Francisco-based company said it had a loss of 16 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 8 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. Beginning with the April-June quarter, Twitter changed the way it calculated adjusted earnings.

Under the old method, it would have been 12 cents per share. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 5 cents per share.

The short messaging service posted revenue of $573.9 million in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $536.8 million.

Twitter said its monthly average user base in the April-June quarter grew 5% from the previous year to $328 million, but it was unchanged from the previous quarter.

Twitter's stock fell more than 9% to $17.75 in pre-market trading today after the numbers came out.

Twitter shares have increased 20% since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen slightly more than 6% in the last 12 months.
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Russia signs deal to use Syria air base for 49 years

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a protocol to an agreement with Syria to deploy a Russian Air Force group at a Syrian military base.

The protocol was signed into law on Wednesday and ratifies the agreement signed by Russia and Syria which allows the Russian air group to use Syria's Hmeymim air base free of charge for 49 years with possible extension for another 25-year period, Xinhua news agency reported.

The document was posted on the Russian government's legal information portal.

The protocol to the 2015 Russian-Syrian agreement "aimed at establishing the international legal framework governing the conditions for the location of the Russian air force group" was signed in Damascus on January 18, 2017.

Prior to being signed into law by Putin, the protocol was ratified by both chambers of the Russian Parliament.

The Russian air group was deployed at Hmeymim from the end of September 2015 to help Syria fight the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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Wall Street adds to record rally on strong earnings

Wall Street continued its record run on Thursday, powered by a barrage of strong quarterly earnings, particularly from Facebook and Verizon.

Facebook jumped 5.49 percent, lifting both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite indexes, after the social network's results topped Wall Street estimates.

Verizon surged 6.37 percent after the company reported quarterly subscriber additions that topped estimates. The stock was the second-biggest gainer on both the S&P and the Dow, and put the S&P telecommunications index on track to post its biggest one-day percentage gain in nearly six years.

Earnings of S&P 500 companies are now expected to have climbed 9.9 percent in the second quarter, up from an 8 percent rise estimated at the start of the month, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

With equity markets at record levels, investors have been counting on strong earnings to justify the relatively expensive stock valuations.

"While multiples are not cheap and are expected to grow further, strong earnings are justifying these levels," said Aaron Clark, portfolio manager at GW&K Investment Management.
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Chief Justice of Pakistan takes suo motu notice of teenage girl's rape

Pakistan Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar today took suo motu notice of the rape of a teenage girl in front of her family on the orders of the village council as a punishment, even as police arrested 25 people in the case.

The 16-year-old girl was raped by a man as a punishment on July 18 after her brother was accused of raping the man's sister in Rajpur village in Muzaffarabad in Punjab province.

Chief Justice Nisar ordered the inspector general of Punjab police to submit a report.

Meanwhile, police have arrested 25 members of the village council, including its chief. The panchayat comprising 20 members, including four women, had ordered Ashfaq to rape the girl in revenge for the earlier rape of his sister.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, visited Rajpur village and met both the victims and assured that they would get justice.

He sacked all police officials of the Muzaffarabad police station for their 'criminal role' in the incident.
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Foxconn to set up $10-bn manufacturing unit in US to create 3k jobs: Trump

United States (US) President Donald Trump has said that Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn will setup a manufacturing unit in Wisconsin with an investment of $10 billion, which will create over 3,000 jobs for Americans.

The company is the largest manufacturer of iPhones for Apple.

"I'm pleased to announce that Foxconn, a world leader in manufacturing for computers, communications and consumer electronics... Will build a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for the production of LCD panel products in Wisconsin, investing many, many billions of dollars right here in America and creating thousands of jobs, and I mean American jobs," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

He was accompanied by Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou, Vice-President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

He called Gou "one of the great businessmen anywhere in the world".

"I would see Terry, and I would say Terry, you have to give us one of these massive places you do great work with," he added.

The president said that Foxconn's initial investment of more than $10 billion will create 3,000 jobs at a minimum, with the potential for up to 13,000 jobs in the very near future.
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Senate GOP opens health care debate. Now what?

On July 25, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell narrowly managed to keep a Republican effort to reform health care alive. We asked our experts to consider the importance of this procedural vote and what happens next.

Which bill will it be?

Senate Republicans have voted to start debate on a health care bill. The “motion to proceed” – which marks the start of debate on bills in the Senate – reached a majority on the strength of “yes” votes from senators who previously voted “no,” including Rand Paul, Dean Heller and Shelley Moore Capito; John McCain’s quick return to Washington after a brain cancer diagnosis; and a rare tie-breaking vote from Vice President Pence.

While this is a major step in the legislative process in the Senate, it’s important to remember that today’s vote is procedural, not substantive. No bill has passed. All that has happened is that the Senate will begin formal debate.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell depended on a couple of factors to help get the motion passed. First, members are more likely to support their parties on procedural votes than votes directly attached to whether a bill should pass. Second, this particular procedural vote has almost no substance; nobody knows what the Senate bill will look like, so it’s unclear what exactly the Senate just agreed to debate. Since the health care bill is massively unpopular, this lack of substance probably helped get marginal senators on board.
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Donald Trump bars transgenders from serving US military

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that transgenders, in any capacity, won't be allowed to serve the military saying that their inclusion would entail "disruption" in the military affairs.

Trump, in a series of tweets, said that he arrived at this decision after holding consultations with military Generals and experts.

"After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US Military," he said.

"Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you," he added.

Last year, former Defence Secretary Ash Carter had said that those transgender, who are already in the military can serve openly, and directed the officials to come up with a policy to allow transgender recruitment by July 1.

But Defence Secretary Jim Mattis announced a delay in the implementation on June 30.

According to an estimate by American think tank Rand Corporation, there were 2,450 out of the 1.2 million transgenders who are on active-duty service.
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Self-driving cars are coming, but are we ready?

It’s been 60 years since the cover of Popular Mechanics magazine gave us the promise of flying cars. But our personal mobility options remain, today and for the foreseeable future, earthbound. Will the promise of self-driving cars be as elusive? In short, no. The dream of taking a road trip in which we pay more attention to a new book or movie than we do to the driving task is well within reach.

Still, we’re not there yet. And people are just beginning to ask a very important question: How might our nation’s roads and highways, and the driving done by we humans ourselves, need to change as autonomous vehicles become more ubiquitous? As researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute who study many of the implications of self-driving cars, we find the answer in two important sets of realities – those we know, and those we don’t know.

Starting slowly, and in cities
For starters, we know that self-driving cars won’t become commonplace overnight. The vast majority of cars on the road now have no automation features or only very limited automation, like cruise control. You can find a few self-driving cars being tested on public roads now if you know where to look. But you won’t likely find many in a dealer showroom for at least 10 years.

Another factor that will further delay the widespread use of autonomous cars is that many people hang on to their cars as long as possible. The number of highly automated cars as a share of everything on the road will grow over time, but only relatively slowly.
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Ford recals 1,17,000 vehicles as defective seats, belts pose safety threat

Ford Motor Co. Is recalling nearly 1,17,000 vehicles because the bolts in the seat, seat belt or seat belt buckle may fracture.

The recall involves the 2014 F-Series pickup, 2014 E- Series van, 2014-2015 Ford Escape and the 2015 Lincoln MKC SUV. Most of the affected vehicles are in the US, but there are 20,681 in Canada and 1,510 in Mexico.

Ford says if the bolt fractures, the seat or the seat belt's performance could be compromised in a sudden stop or crash.

The company says it's not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the defect.

Customers will be notified and dealers will replace the affected bolts for free.

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IMF to launch new aid with no money to support govts in financial trouble

The International Monetary Fund announced it will launch a new tool to support governments in financial trouble -- but one that involves no money -- formalising a step it took last week for Greece.

Instead of providing cheap loans to member countries, the new IMF tool will serve as a good housekeeping seal of approval for a government's reform program.

With that approval in hand governments would be more likely to be able to access other forms of financing from banks and bond markets, the IMF said in a statement.

"The new instrument is designed to help countries unlock financing from official and private donors and creditors," the IMF said.

"It enables them to signal commitment to reforms and catalyze financing from other sources."

The IMF last week revived a rarely-used mechanism under which it approved a one-year loan to Greece but withheld the disbursement of funds until the country receives significant debt relief from its eurozone partners.

That had a similar effect as the new tool: allowing Greece to return to markets this week to issue three billion euros (USD 3.5 billion) worth of five-year bonds, and removing a major roadblock in the negotiations with the euro area.

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Whole Foods profits dip as same-store sales fall for 8th straight quarter

Whole Foods Market Inc, which has agreed to be bought by Amazon.com Inc for $13.7 billion, on Wednesday reported a quarterly profit decline after same-store sales fell for the eighth quarter in a row.

Shares in the upscale grocer, which released the financial report more than two hours earlier than expected, were largely unchanged at $41.80 in midday trading.

Net income fell to $106 million, or 33 cents per share, from $120 million, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier.

The Austin, Texas-based upscale grocer reported a 1.9 percent drop in same-store sales for the third quarter that ended July 2.

Whole Foods said it expects to close its deal with Amazon during the second half of this year, and said it would not update its earnings forecasts and would not hold a conference call.
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How electric vehicles could take a bite out of the oil market

When will cars powered by gas-guzzling internal combustion engines become obsolete? Not as soon as it seems, even with the latest automotive news out of Europe.
First, Volvo announced it would begin to phase out the production of cars that run solely on gasoline or diesel by 2019 by only releasing new models that are electric or plug-in hybrids. Then, France and the U.K. declared they would ban sales of gas and diesel-powered cars by 2040. Underscoring this trend is data from Norway, as electric models amounted to 42 percent of Norwegian new car sales in June.

European demand for oil to propel its passenger vehicles has been falling for years. Many experts expect a sharper decline in the years ahead as the shift toward electric vehicles spreads across the world. And that raises questions about whether surging electric vehicle sales will ultimately cause the global oil market, which has grown on average by 1 to 2 percent a year for decades and now totals 96 million barrels per day, to decline after hitting a ceiling.

Energy experts call this concept “peak oil demand.” We are debating when and if this will occur.

A forecast with caveats

The International Energy Agency (IEA), which represents 29 oil-importing industrial countries, produces bellwether forecasts that foresee electric cars phasing in slowly. Its baseline projection envisions 150 million electric vehicles on the world’s roads by 2030, or about 10 percent of all passenger vehicles at that point. In comparison, only two million electric vehicles are operating today – 0.2 percent of the 1.2 billion on the road. The IEA estimates this shift will save nearly two million barrels per day of oil, relative to its business-as-usual projection of the world using at least 70 million barrels of oil per day for transportation by 2040. That consumption level would mark a 30 percent increase from roughly 54 million barrels now.
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Donald Trump's tweets expose his creative, albeit neurotic side: Study

The Twitter messages of US President Donald Trump show that he is creative, competitive and a rule-breaker, but also has neurotic tendencies, a study has found.

Since joining the social media platform Twitter in 2009 to May 2017, Trump has issued more than 35,000 messages.

This amounts to about twelve tweets a day. With 30 million followers, he is the second most followed politician on Twitter after his predecessor, Barack Obama, who on average tweeted about four times a day.

The researchers, Martin Obschonka from Queensland University of Technology in Australia, and Christian Fisch from Trier University in Germany analysed how aspects of Trump's personality are revealed in the language he used in 3,200 tweets issued by October 2016, before he became president.

They used established software for assessment of language and text for psychological purposes.

Trump's language use and online personality were also compared with that of 105 other famous business managers and entrepreneurs including Apple's Tim Cook and Tesla's Elon Musk who are not on the political stage.
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Russia slams fresh US sanctions, says move is a blow to normalising ties

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Wednesday slammed the US move to impose fresh sanctions on Moscow, calling it "destruction of prospects for normalising relations between the two countries".

Ryabkov's comments came after the US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a package of further punitive measures for Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US elections and its 2014 annexation of the Crimea.

"What is happening is beyond common sense," Ryabkov told Russia's official TASS news agency. "The authors and sponsors of this bill are making a very serious step towards destruction of prospects for normalising relations with Russia."

He said the approval of the law "would be the work of the enemies of Russia and the US".

Ryabkov also said that Washington's move had complicated negotiations between the two countries about the reutrn of seized Russian diplomatic property in the US.

"The US executive authority's capabilities to make the only correct decision to return to us the diplomatic property without any conditions are significantly narrowed... Therefore, of course our dialogue on this topic becomes even more difficult," Sputnik news agency quoted Ryabkov as telling RIA Novosti.
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Oil prices plunge as drop in US inventories encourage more production

Oil prices rose to near eight-week highs on Wednesday, as a fall in US inventories bolstered expectations that the long-oversupplied market was moving toward balance.

Brent crude futures rose 40 cents to $50.60 a barrel by 1213 GMT, after rallying more than 3 percent on Tuesday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 50 cents to $48.39 a barrel.

U.S. crude stockpiles fell sharply last week as refineries boosted output, while gasoline inventories increased and distillate stocks decreased, the industry group the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday.

Crude inventories fell 10.2 million barrels in the week ending July 21 to 487 million, more than the expected decrease of 2.6 million barrels. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday could provide more support, with forecasts of a drop for a fourth week in a row.

Tuesday's stock draw added to hopes the long-awaited oil market rebalancing was underway. Saudi Arabia said on Monday it would limit oil exports to 6.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, down nearly 1 million bpd from a year earlier.
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ArcelorMittal denies French pollution charge, says 97% residue recycled

Facing allegations of pollution, steel giant ArcelorMittal has said 97 per cent of residues from the Florange site in France are recycled or recovered and its internal probe has concluded that there is no wrong-doing.

The statement comes amid reports by French newspaper The Repulicain Lorrain that the public prosecutor's office in Thionville has opened an investigation into the alleged acid pollution of ArcelorMittal's crassier in Florange of France.

"ArcelorMittal and all of Florange's staff work are in full compliance with our authorisations to operate and store our residues. For the past 10 years, the Florange site has considerably reduced the volume of residues deposited in the storage area and today, 97 per cent of the residues from the site are recycled or recovered," said Eric Niedziela, CEO of ArcelorMittal Atlantique and Lorraine, in a statement.

"Our internal investigation concludes that there is neither fraud nor pollution," Niedziela said.

Announcing the conclusion of the internal investigation, Niedziela stressed: "We take our responsibilities very seriously and continue to work intensively to improve treatment and recovery of our residues to reduce our environmental footprint."

The steelmaker said: "No dumping of pure acid has been done... The acid used for the pickling process is systematically regenerated and reused."

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Ford Motor Q2 profit rises to $2.04 bn on lower tax rate

Ford Motor Co on Wednesday reported a higher quarterly net profit that beat expectations because of a lower effective tax rate than the same period a year earlier and increased sales of more profitable pickup trucks in the US market.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company reported second-quarter net income of $2.04 billion, or 51 cents per share, up from just under $2 billion, or 49 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, the No. 2 U.S. automaker reported earnings per share of 56 cents, and on that basis analysts, on average, looked for 43 cents.
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Three big problems with Trump's new Nafta plan

The Trump administration has outlined its plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It says the US will seek a “much better” agreement that reduces the trade deficit between the US and its partners, Canada and Mexico. In response, the two countries released brief statements welcoming the proposal. They say they consider a possible renegotiation as a step towards modernising NAFTA to address the new realities and challenges of the 21st century.

Despite these good intentions and purported goodwill, the US objectives for a revised NAFTA are unachievable. Three problems with the US negotiating position reveal the limited understanding of Donald Trump, the US trade representative, Robert Lighthizer (who will lead the negotiations), and their advisers about NAFTA and its side agreements.

1. A mistaken view of job losses

The US case for renegotiating the agreement is based on the claim that NAFTA is to blame for various (and unspecified) “problems for many American workers”. Allegedly, these problems have led to the explosion of US trade deficits since 1994, when the agreement entered into force, and the closure of “thousands of factories”. According to the US trade office, this situation left millions of American workers “stranded” and unable to use the skills in which they had been trained.

As candidate and president, Trump has repeatedly claimed that “disastrous trade deals”, including NAFTA, resulted in the loss of manufacturing jobs in the US. But US manufacturing jobs were not lost to Mexico, they were lost to China and technological change.
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Has the moment for environmental justice been lost?

Given how President Donald Trump has taken aim at the Environmental Protection Agency with regulatory rollbacks and deep proposed budget cuts, it may come as no surprise that the Office of Environmental Justice is on the chopping block.

This tiny corner of the EPA was established 24 years ago to advocate for minorities and the poor, populations most likely to face the consequences of pollution and least able to advocate for themselves.

It does so by acting as a middleman, connecting vulnerable communities with those who can help them. It heads a group that advises EPA officials about injustices and another that brings together representatives from other federal agencies and the White House to swap proposals.

When it works, all the talk leads to grants, policies and programs that change lives.

In the Arkwright and Forest Park communities in Spartanburg, South Carolina, residents were living near contaminated industrial sites and a landfill — and dying of respiratory illnesses and cancer at extraordinary rates. They used a $20,000 environmental justice grant from the EPA as seed money to form partnerships with local businesses and government agencies. Those alliances, in turn, helped bring more than $250 million in infrastructure, community health centers, affordable housing, environmental cleanups and job training to the area.

Trump's budget proposal would effectively eliminate the office and the $2 million it takes to operate it. An EPA spokesperson suggested in a statement that the agency doesn't need a special arm devoted to environmental justice to continue this work.
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Sqautting against oppression: How refugees are dealing with border controls

After surviving the perilous journey to Europe, migrants are met with two seemingly opposite responses. Increasingly, European governments are criminalising migration, militarising borders and expanding detention centres. Meanwhile, non-government organisations (NGOs) are reaching out to migrants offering food, clothes and temporary accommodation.

These very different approaches can, in fact, have similar effects. Talking of a “refugee crisis” and a “state of emergency” – whether it’s to drum up support for government policies, or encourage wealthy Europeans to donate to the cause – ultimately creates a climate of urgency, where migration is portrayed as a problem that needs to be solved using emergency measures.

These days, the borders of European countries aren’t simply marked by walls, fences and camps. Rather, a growing variety of actors and institutions are becoming informal border guards: from landlords and doctors, to employers and even teachers working in schools and universities.

This creates a hostile environment, where the migration status of every person is constantly monitored and reported to the authorities. In this way, border controls and surveillance become invisible yet all pervasive, embedded in everyday social life. As a result, those labelled as “illegal migrants” feel pressured to stay silent and invisible, living in constant fear of arrest, detention and deportation.

Spectacle of suffering

While many European governments are treating migration as a security threat, NGOs and charities have responded by framing it as a humanitarian emergency. In charity appeals, migrants are often portrayed as victims, who need to be saved and protected. This paternalistic approach is supported by a “spectacle of suffering”, which turns migrants into objects of compassion and piety.
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Amid the blaring headlines, routine reports of hate-fueled violence

Last Wednesday, July 19, was something of a busy news day. There was word North Korea was making preparations for yet another provocative missile test. The Supreme Court, in its latest ruling in the controversial travel ban case, said that people from the six largely Muslim countries covered by the immigration enforcement action could enter the U.S. if they had a grandparent here, refusing to overturn a ruling that grandparents qualified as "bona fide relatives." And then, late in the day, President Donald Trump gave a remarkable interview to The New York Times, one that, among other things, laid into Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The day also produced its share of what, sadly, has come to qualify as routine news: A Muslim organization in Sacramento, California, received a package in the mail that included a Koran in a tub of lard; police in Boise, Idaho, identified a teenage boy as the person likely responsible for scratching racist words on a car; in Lansing, Michigan, police launched a search for a suspect in the case of an assault against a Hispanic man. The victim had been found with a note indicating his attacker had been motivated by racial animus.

The specter of hate incidents and crimes — some of them fueled by the nastiness of the 2016 presidential campaign — felt white hot months ago. The issue remained high-profile as several horrific murders — a South Asian immigrant slain in Kansas City, a homeless black man butchered near Times Square in New York — generated outrage and national news coverage.
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Luxury fashion brand Michael Kors to buy shoemaker Jimmy Choo for $1.2 bn

US retailer Michael Kors has agreed to buy luxury shoemaker Jimmy Choo for $1.2 billion, snapping up a British company whose towering stilettos have been made famous by celebrity customers from Princess Diana to Kendall Jenner.

The move comes two months after rival handbag maker Coach struck a deal to buy quirky fashion brand Kate Spade & Co, as so-called affordable luxury companies look to go into new markets to try to boost flagging sales.

"Jimmy Choo is an iconic premier luxury brand that offers distinctive footwear, handbags and other accessories," said Michael Kors, honorary chairman and chief creative officer.

"We admire the glamorous style and trend-setting nature of Jimmy Choo designs."

Founded by bespoke shoemaker Jimmy Choo in the east end of London in the 1990s, Jimmy Choo Plc listed at 140 pence in 2014 and will sell out at 230 pence.

Its strong performance stands in contrast to Michael Kors which has lost 65 per cent of its market value since 2014 due to fierce competition at the more affordable end of the luxury market and a drop in customers at department stores.
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We don't care about US travel ban, says North Korea officials

Washington's ban on US citizens travelling to North Korea will have no effect on the country's tourism industry and Pyongyang does not care about it "at all", a senior development official insisted today.

The measure is due to be enacted this week and once it goes into force US passports will no longer be valid for travel to the isolated country, which is subject to multiple sets of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes.

Around 5,000 Western tourists visit the North each year, tour companies say, with about 20 percent of them Americans. Standard one-week trips cost about USD 2,000.

But Han Chol-Su, vice-director of the Wonsan Zone Development Corporation, denied the loss of business would have any impact.

"If the US government says Americans cannot come to this country, we don't care a bit," he told AFP in Pyongyang.

Washington announced the move after the death of Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who was sentenced to 15 years' hard labour in the North for trying to steal a propaganda poster.

Warmbier was sent home in a mysterious coma last month -- Pyongyang said he had contracted botulism -- and died soon afterwards, prompting US President Donald Trump to denounce the "brutal regime".

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McDonald's US same-restaurant sales beat estimates

McDonald's Corp on Tuesday reported a higher-than-expected rise in quarterly sales at established US restaurants, helped by promotions on beverages as well as the launch of signature crafted sandwiches.

Sales at the company's U.S. restaurants open at least 13 months rose 3.9 percent in the second quarter, beating the 3.2 percent increase analysts on average had expected, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

Global same-restaurant sales climbed 6.6 percent, the biggest increase in more than 5 years, helped by higher traffic across all segments, beating the 4 percent growth estimated by analysts.

Two years into a turnaround under Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook, the fast-food giant is trying to reverse traffic declines at its U.S. restaurants - its biggest profit generator - through a slew of measures, including making cooked-to-order Quarter Pounders with fresh beef and higher-end signature crafted sandwiches.

McDonald's has been selling soft drinks of all sizes for $1 since April and also launched a limited-time offer of McCafe beverages, which include frappes, smoothies and espresso drinks, for $2.

Net income rose to $1.40 billion, or $1.70 per share, in the quarter ended June 30, from $1.09 billion, or $1.25 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 3.4 percent to $6.05 billion from $6.27 billion, but beat the average analyst estimate of $5.96 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

McDonald's shares were up 3.1 percent at $156.60 in premarket trading.
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ECB should maintain stimulus, calls for end are 'premature', says IMF

The European Central Bank (ECB) should maintain a "firmly accommodative" monetary policy for an "extended period", the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday, as it forecast inflation remaining below target.

As the ECB prepares for a decision in autumn on whether to claw back its stimulus programme, the IMF said calls for an exit from easy-money policy were "premature" because consumer prices were not increasing enough.

In its annual report on the euro zone, the IMF estimated euro zone inflation will reach 1.6 percent this year before slowing to 1.5 percent in 2018, below the ECB target of below but close to 2 percent.

The forecasts were actually stronger than the ECB's latest one, released in June, which predicted the bloc's inflation rate at 1.5 percent this year and 1.3 percent in 2018.

"The costs of a long period of inflation undershooting continue to exceed those of a temporary overshoot," the IMF said.

"The calls from some quarters for an exit from monetary accommodation are therefore premature," it added. Germany has been the biggest critic of ECB's 2.3 trillion euro ($2.7 trillion) money-printing programme.

To help a sustained recovery of inflation, the IMF encouraged Germany and other euro zone's countries with high growth to push for "robust" wage and price rises, even if this could bring domestic inflation beyond the 2 percent limit for a limited period.
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Strong show by Caterpillar, McDonald's has S&P at record high, Nasdaq drags

A set of strong earnings from companies, including Caterpillar and McDonald's, lifted the Dow and drove the S&P 500 to a record high, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was dragged lower by losses in Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Shares of McDonald's surged 5 percent after the fast-food giant posted the biggest rise in sales at established restaurants globally in five years.

Caterpillar's shares rose 4.1 percent after the company reported quarterly results that smashed expectations and raised its full-year outlook for the second time this year.

However, Alphabet fell 2.6 percent, after the tech giant warned that expenses would remain high as more searches shift to mobile devices.

The S&P tech index has been the best performing sector this year and earnings from big tech companies will be closely watched to see if the rally has legs.

Amazon and Facebook, part of the high-flying "FANG" stocks, report results later this week, while Apple is due to report next week.

Earnings are expected to have climbed 8.8 percent in the second quarter, compared with an 8 percent rise estimated at the start of the month, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
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Gold retreats from one-month high ahead of Fed meeting

Gold prices retreated from a one-month high on Tuesday as equities gained ahead of a US Federal Reserve meeting that is expected to provide more clues about monetary policy.

The market is not expecting an interest rate increase at the Fed's two-day meeting starting on Tuesday but it is looking for hints on the timing and extent of future moves.

Spot gold was 0.2 per cent lower at $1,252.59 an ounce by 1326 GMT, not far from the previous session's peak of $1,258.79, its highest since June 23.

US gold futures fell 0.2 per cent to $1,252.

"The market is looking for clarity on the Fed's tightening cycle and when they are going to start with the tapering (of monetary stimulus)," said ETF Securities analyst Martin Arnold.

Taking the shine off gold slightly, investors climbed into European equities after a string of solid corporate updates. The US dollar hovered near a 13-month low against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, with traders not expecting the Fed meeting to alter the currency's recent weakness.

Markets give a less than 50 per cent probability of a US interest rate increase before the end of the year, according to CME's Fedwatch tool.

Also supporting gold were hurdles standing in the way of US President Donald Trump's economic stimulus and tax reform agenda.
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Why aren't investigators looking into 'crooked' Hillary's crimes: Trump

US President Donald Trump took to social media to ask why congressional committees and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are not investigating the links between the Russian government and "dishonest" Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump on Monday resorted once again to Twitter to lambaste Clinton and lash out at the investigations being pursued by several congressional committees to determine if his election campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to influence the result of the election and hurt Clinton's chances at the polls, Efe news reported.

"So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes and Russia relations?" tweeted Trump.


So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2017
 The President's comment comes a few hours after his son-in-law Jared Kushner denied having "improper contacts" with Russian officials.
Kushner released a statement outlining the testimony he intends to provide on Monday behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the congressional bodies pursuing the Russia investigation.
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Alphabet beats Wall Street estimates; revenue up 21%

Google parent Alphabet has reported a quarterly profit of $3.5 billion, with a massive fine by the European Commission biting into earnings.

The technology giant yesterday reported that revenue grew to $26 billion in the recently ended quarter, and that profit would have tallied nearly $6.3 billion if it weren't for a $2.74 billion antitrust fine levied on search engine Google by the European Commission.

Revenue was up 21 percent from the same quarter last year, according to earnings figures.

"We're delivering strong growth with great underlying momentum, while continuing to make focused investments in new revenue streams," said Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat.

Alphabet shares slid about 2.9 percent to $969.03 in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures.

Investors have been concerned about what the regulatory trouble in Europe means for Alphabet, which gets most of its money from Google advertising while investing in "other bets" such as self-driving cars.

Alphabet took in $248 million in revenue and posted a narrowed loss of $772 million in its "other bets" category in the recently ended quarter.
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Human trafficking tragedy: 10 found dead in Walmart parking lot in US

One more person has died after more than 30 persons were found in a tractor-trailer parked outside a Walmart in San Antonio in the US state of Texas, making the death toll to 10, officials said.

Nine undocumented immigrants died after being trapped inside a tractor-trailer at a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio, officials confirmed Sunday afternoon.

The crime came to light when a man in the truck asked a Walmart employee for water. The employee brought water for the man and called the police, Xinhua news agency reported.

Police were then called to the parking lot and found eight dead and 31 injured inside the trailer. A ninth victim died in the hospital and several people are still in critical condition at local hospitals.

San Antonio fire chief Charles Hood said the people were in the trailer without any type of liquid. In the midsummer heat of Texas, the trailer did not have a working air conditioning system, said Hood.

These kinds of horrific tragedies are occurring with shocking frequency in San Antonio, which has become a center of human smuggling and trafficking.

On July 7, agents found 72 persons from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador inside a locked trailer in the same part of town. The next day, they found 33 persons from Mexico and Guatemala inside a trailer that had stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint. In another incident last week, border patrol agents found 16 persons inside a locked trailer.
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Amid tensions with North Korea, US to test anti-missile system in Alaska

The US military is preparing to conduct another test of a missile-intercept system in Alaska, the Pentagon said today, amid continued tensions with North Korea over its ballistic missile program.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said a routine test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system had been scheduled to go ahead "soon".

"These tests are done as a routine measure to make sure that the system is ready," he said.

"They are scheduled well in advance of any other real world geopolitical events going on."

A notice to mariners put out by the US Coast Guard said the test could occur as soon as Saturday.

THAAD is designed to intercept and destroy short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their final phase of flight.

THAAD is not designed to stop an ICBM -- that job is left primarily to the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) interceptor system.
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