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Saudi king says attacks by Iran-backed groups threaten global oil

Saudi Arabia's King Salman said on Saturday that attacks on Saudi oil assets last month by Iran-backed groups are a threat to global oil supplies and regional security.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2I9JLwu

900 People Found at Border Facility Built for 125: DHS Inspector General - The Daily Beast

900 People Found at Border Facility Built for 125: DHS Inspector General  The Daily Beast

Watchdog found “dangerous overcrowding,” detainees standing on toilets in jammed cells to gain breathing space at El Paso site.



from "news" - Google News http://bit.ly/2HN3XVS

Palestinians say U.S. 'deal of the century' will finish off their state - Reuters

Palestinians say U.S. 'deal of the century' will finish off their state  Reuters

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The U.S. blueprint to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, still in draft form after almost two years, is seen by Palestinians, ...

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from "news" - Google News https://reut.rs/2XjhEBk

Trump backs Boris Johnson; calls Duchess of Sussex 'nasty'

US president backs Tory in leadership run and reacts to criticism by duchess

Donald Trump has backed Boris Johnson to be the next prime minister, in an interview with the Sun in which he also called Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, “nasty”.

The president, speaking to the British newspaper before he visits the UK on Monday, expressed support for the former foreign secretary in his bid to replace Theresa May, saying: “I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.”

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WhU7UY

900 People Found at Border Facility Built for 125: DHS Inspector General - The Daily Beast

900 People Found at Border Facility Built for 125: DHS Inspector General  The Daily Beast

Watchdog found “dangerous overcrowding,” detainees standing on toilets in jammed cells to gain breathing space at El Paso site.



from "news" - Google News http://bit.ly/2HN3XVS

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ted Cruz agree on ban of lawmakers taking paid lobbying positions - CNN

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ted Cruz agree on ban of lawmakers taking paid lobbying positions  CNN

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and GOP Sen. Ted Cruz came together Thursday on Twitter in a professed effort to ban former lawmakers from ...

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from "news" - Google News https://cnn.it/2HKEKvf

Trump administration to send DHS agents, investigators to Guatemala-Mexico border - The Washington Post

Trump administration to send DHS agents, investigators to Guatemala-Mexico border  The Washington Post

Dozens of Homeland Security agents and investigators will deploy to Guatemala as part of the Trump administration's desperate attempt to slow unauthorized ...

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from "news" - Google News https://wapo.st/2HPdEmR

1 climber killed, 2 hurt in rockfall that swept through camp on Mount Rainier - NBC News

1 climber killed, 2 hurt in rockfall that swept through camp on Mount Rainier  NBC News

One climber died and two others were injured after a rockfall swept through the site where they were camping on Washington state's Mount Rainier.

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from Top stories - Google News https://nbcnews.to/2HOtgqN

Women, being married needn’t make you unhappy – if you choose the right man | Hadley Freeman

A happiness expert says wives are more miserable than other women. Is it because they find they’ve married another child?

Tchuh, women. Never bloody happy, are they? Except, it turns out, they are, just not in the way they were told to be, and thought they should be. According to a new book by Paul Dolan, a professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics, marriage and children do not – despite several millennia of literature claiming otherwise – give women the sought after happy ending. In fact, they put them at “higher risk of physical and mental conditions than their single counterparts”. (Dolan does not specify whether those mental conditions include insanity from watching the same Peppa Pig episode 1,174 times.)

Now, I’m going to take some things for granted, the first of which is that Dolan is referring to heterosexual married couples, as is implied by how he has discussed his findings so far. The second is that the people Dolan interviewed are answering honestly, or at least do so eventually. By some measure, my favourite part of these findings is that while married people express greater happiness than other groups, they do so only when their spouse is in the room. “When the spouse is not present: fucking miserable,” Dolan said at the Hay festival last weekend. And yet, while married men reap some benefits from their misery – longer life, better earnings – married women can only look forward to dying sooner than their single, happier counterparts.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2EGBXBs

Forget Boris Johnson. The Tory leader could come from the centre | Martin Kettle

He may be the frontrunner, but the former foreign secretary will surely lose his allure. Look out for the unexpected

Something important and wholly without precedent is happening in plain sight in British politics – but not enough attention is being paid to it. The something is that never before has a new British prime minister been chosen by the grassroots members of the ruling political party. Such a thing might have happened in 2007, when Tony Blair resigned, but Gordon Brown was chosen unopposed. It nearly happened in 2016, after David Cameron stepped down, but in the end the other candidates stood aside in favour of Theresa May.

Now it’s the third time it could happen, and this one is almost certain to be different. There are already 11 candidates in the field to succeed May. Five more are said to be weighing whether to join. Many will fall at the first and subsequent hurdles in June, when Tory MPs begin a series of elimination votes in Westminster. But it would be a surprise if this contest does not go all the way to a two-person runoff among the party members in July. If it does, that will be a historic first – a national leader chosen by a party membership, not by parliamentarians or the wider public.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Mfks1i

The Guardian view on German responses to antisemitism: frankness and honesty | Editorial

The rise of anti-Jewish actions in Germany is profoundly worrying, but Angela Merkel’s fightback sets an example of moral seriousness and rigour

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has spoken openly about the spectre of antisemitism in Germany. She told CNN that “We have always had a certain amount of antisemites among us ... Unfortunately there is to this day not a single synagogue, not a single day care centre for Jewish children, not a single school for Jewish children that does not need to be guarded by German policemen.” Her remarks came a week after the country’s ombudsman for antisemitism, Felix Klein, suggested that observant Jews would be wise not to wear kippahs (skullcaps) in public. Taken together, these developments might suggest that Germany is sliding back into its dreadful past. In fact, they are signs of a determination that this must not happen. The crime figures do not suggest there is a crisis under way – though crime statistics do not measure fear.

The Jews of Germany are alarmed. It is not just the success of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in recent elections that contributes to their feeling of unease. A short-lived campaign to ban circumcision in 2012 was the first alarm bell; large demonstrations against the Gaza war in 2014, in which hostility to Israel often seemed indistinguishable from antisemitism, was another. And they are aware of the rising currents of antisemitism around Europe, even if it takes different forms in different countries.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WAoGV0

The Guardian view on defending democracy: honesty over simplicity | Editorial

Beware the MP – and Tory leadership contender – who claims there are easy ways out of Britain’s Brexit crisis

In the aftermath of Sunday’s European election results, and as the ranks of Tory leadership contenders swell, every MP should be in a state of alarm about the condition of British democracy. The problem is not that people are denied a voice – millions of opinions have been freely expressed in polling booths – but that parliament looks incapable of satisfying voters’ conflicting demands.

Brexit, as it was sold to the country in 2016, cannot be delivered. The view asserted by Nigel Farage and much of the Conservative party that pro-Europeans are refusing to deliver it is false. It is true that parliament prevented the UK from leaving the EU without a deal, but that outcome would have betrayed promises made by the leave campaign three years ago. The offer of that campaign was an easy glide into a brighter future where Britain would have “taken back control”. But the reality of unilaterally breaking treaty ties with the EU would be a surrender of control. Within weeks, possibly days, the prime minister, whoever that might be, and regardless of their preferred Brexit outcome, would be seeking emergency agreements in Brussels to avert chaos and restore severed links. The balance of power that favoured the EU during article 50 talks would be weighted even more heavily. The UK would be reduced to a supplicant.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2KaYsC5

Tory leadership rivals are literally running for office | Adrian Chiles

Raab is still on the starting line, Gove is doing OK – but when it comes to jogging for the cameras, Hunt is showing everyone a clean pair of heels

Prospective Conservative party leaders are out for early morning runs. It feels like they’re all at it. What are they trying to prove exactly? Well, I suppose that’s obvious: physical and, by association, metaphorical fitness for office.

I decided to apply some rigorous analysis to these jogging photo ops. You can do this too. All you need is a computer, an internet connection and the knowhow to search “[candidate’s name] running. Images”. Herewith are my conclusions: zero points for Dominic Raab. Not one running shot could I find on Google. And he looks as fit as a butcher’s dog, doesn’t he? There’s also that allegation about him being a karate expert, but I couldn’t see a decent shot of him in his martial arts pyjamas either. He must be keeping his powder dry for a big athletic photo op on the morning of the first vote. James Cleverly looks a fine figure of a man, too – but again, no jogging shots.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/30UevtK

Chelsea win Europa League after Eden Hazard inspires thrashing of Arsenal

At the end, even Maurizio Sarri’s superstitions went out of the window. The Italian normally refuses to step on to the playing surface, though he could not contain himself at the final whistle. Sprinting forward on to the turf, arms raised in triumph, Chelsea’s head coach celebrated the first major trophy of a career that has spanned two decades. It was hard to begrudge him his moment.

Related: ‘I think it’s goodbye’: Hazard ready to leave Chelsea after Europa League heroics

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2EHget7

Old failings rear up in Baku to leave Arsenal’s ambitions shipwrecked | Amy Lawrence

Unai Emery’s side capitulated against Chelsea and, with such an important summer ahead, the damage may be severe

There was something almost pitiful about Unai Emery gesturing enthusiastically from his technical area, urging his team forwards, in the 90th minute at 4-1 down. He suddenly looked like a footballing King Canute, trying to stem a tide that washed all over Arsenal and left their present and future ambitions shipwrecked.

The scale of the capitulation left Arsenal in shock. At the end of it all, the shattering despair felled their players. They had been banking on this, hoping that the Europa League final would bring a happy ending to this season and positivity for the next with a return to the Champions League.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2YWVEMO

England hope home World Cup can break down barriers on and off pitch

Eoin Morgan’s side start as favourites to lift their first title but tournament offers once-in-a-generation to revive interest

The last time England hosted the Cricket World Cup 20 years ago they suffered the embarrassment of being knocked out before the official tournament song had even been released. Their record has scarcely improved since. Yet when Eoin Morgan’s side open the 2019 tournament against South Africa on Thursday they will be in the unfamiliar role of favourites.

England’s captain also has his eyes on another prize: a once-in-a-generation chance to revive interest in cricket, which has slipped since it went behind Sky’s paywall after England’s Ashes victory in 2005. As Morgan said yesterday: “The World Cup raises the profile of the game and is a platform for every young kid in this country to have a hero or inspiration to pick up a ball or a bat. If we were to go on and win it, I couldn’t imagine what it would do.”

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2I9mP06

British finance minister says: Kill the specter of a no-deal Brexit

Britain's finance minister on Thursday warned those in his party vying for Prime Minister Theresa May's job that a no-deal Brexit would undermine the economy and threaten the United Kingdom's cohesion.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2WjRAd2

U.S. looks to improve ties with Indonesian special forces, stage exercises

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan met his Indonesian counterpart on Thursday as the United States looks to improve ties with an Indonesian special forces unit that have been limited due to human rights abuses in the 1990s.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2I6zaSV

Seven South Koreans killed, 19 missing after Hungarian boat capsizes on Danube

At least seven people were killed and nearly 20 were missing after a pleasure boat carrying South Korean tourists capsized on the flooding Danube in the Hungarian capital on Wednesday, police and ambulance officials said.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2KdzuSy

Israel faces second election in months as Netanyahu fails to form government

Israeli lawmakers voted to dissolve parliament early on Thursday, paving the way for a new election after veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government before a midnight deadline.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/30Vruf4

Explainer: The main players in Israel's next election, the second this year

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to cobble together a coalition government despite weeks of trying and Israel will vote on Sept. 17 in the second election within months.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2I6jsY8

Taiwan holds military drills, vows to defend against Chinese aggression

Taiwan's air, sea and land forces conducted a drill to repel an invading force on Thursday, as its defense minister pledged to defend the self-ruled island against China's rising military threat.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2MhrnH6

Economy in focus as India PM Modi starts second term without key aide

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take his oath of office on Thursday along with his ministers, though he suffered a setback at the start of his second term when key aide and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley opted out of the next government.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2WzWb9W

Malaysia's Mahathir proposes common East Asia currency pegged to gold

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday mooted the idea of a common trading currency for East Asia that would be pegged to gold, describing the existing currency trading in the region as manipulative.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2YVXHAQ

New Zealand unveils new 'wellbeing' budget with $2.5 billion spending; cuts growth forecast

New Zealand on Thursday unveiled a $2.5-billion-dollar spending package under its 'wellbeing' budget, prioritizing mental health and alleviating child poverty, as it rolled out a new approach to budgeting that goes beyond measuring just economic growth.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2VZghX8

Save coal, lose youth vote? Far-right German party faces climate policy revolt

A youth wing of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has called on the party to rethink its climate scepticism, which includes defending the coal industry, after a poor showing among young voters in last week's European Parliament election.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2WtjlPA

Taking aim at U.S., China says provoking trade disputes is 'naked economic terrorism'

Provoking trade disputes is "naked economic terrorism", a senior Chinese diplomat said on Thursday, ramping up the rhetoric against the United States amid a bitter trade war that is showing no signs of ending soon.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2MeAush

Prosecutors seek sale of two New York condos linked to Malaysian fugitive

U.S. prosecutors are seeking to sell two luxury condominiums in New York City linked to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, court documents showed, the latest effort to recover money allegedly stolen from Malaysia's state fund 1MDB.


from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2YWzF8O