European Union foreign ministers on Monday turned up the pressure on Turkey after approving an initial batch of sanctions against the country over its drilling for gas in waters where EU member Cyprus has exclusive economic rights.  The ministers said in a statement that in light of Turkey’s “continued and new illegal drilling activities,” they were suspending talks on an air transport agreement and would call on the European Investment Bank to “review” it’s lending to the country. They also backed a proposal by the EU’s executive branch to reduce financial assistance to Turkey for next year. The ministers warned that additional “targeted measures” were being worked on to penalize Turkey, which started negotiations to join the EU in 2005. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu issued his own warning last week that his country would step up drilling activities off Cyprus if the EU moved ahead with sanctions.  Two Turkish vessels escorted by warships are drilling for gas on either end of ethnically divided Cyprus. The EU ministers repeated the “serious immediate negative impact” that Turkey’s illegal actions are having on EU-Turkey relations and called on Ankara to respect Cyprus’ sovereign rights in line with international law. They also welcomed …

Former Democratic U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke raised a lackluster $3.6 million for his struggling presidential campaign in the second quarter of the year, his campaign said on Monday. The fundraising haul was a warning sign for the Texas politician and a stark drop in campaign cash after he raised more than $9 million in two weeks the previous period. O’Rourke, who entered the race after gaining national prominence in his failed 2018 bid for the U.S. Senate from Texas, has failed to gain traction in opinion polls. Some two dozen Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election. The crowded nominating contest will require candidates to spend millions of dollars to be competitive. U.S. Senator Cory Booker reported on Monday he raised $4.5 million in the three months ended June 30. Booker’s haul, nearly a quarter of it raised in the four days after his strong appearance in the party’s first debate last month, lagged those of other Democratic contenders, including front-runner Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who each raised more than $20 million. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders raised $18 million in the second quarter. U.S. …

Egypt’s parliament on Monday removed jail penalties from a law controlling operations of non-governmental organizations, but rights groups rejected the changes as insufficient. Justified by officials to protect national security from meddling by foreign-funded charities, the 2017 law restricted NGOs’ activity to developmental and social work, with jail terms of up to five years for non-compliance. Activists saw it as an attempt to block humanitarian work and the law contributed to a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to freeze millions of dollars in military aid to Egypt for nearly a year. The new legislation, approved overwhelmingly by parliament on Monday, removes the jail penalty and replaces it with fines between 200,000 and 1 million Egyptian pounds ($12,070-$60,350). As well as ending jail sentences, the changes – which must still be ratified by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi – enable NGOs to receive money from Egypt or abroad as long as it is deposited in a bank account within 30 days. The government has 60 days to challenge payments. Although the new legislation was meant to answer criticisms, 10 Egyptian and international rights groups said last week the impending changes were not enough. They said other laws imposing strict controls …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday he hoped both North Korea and the United States could “be a little more creative” as the two sides push to restart talks aimed at ending Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Pompeo did not say when the negotiations would begin. President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month. During the meeting, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to cross into North Korea and the pair agreed to restart talks. Trump and Kim have met three times and held two summits over the nuclear issue. Talks in Hanoi in February collapsed without agreement between the two leaders, as the United States insisted North Korea completely denuclearize and North Korea pushed for relief from sanctions. “I hope the North Koreans will come to the table with ideas that they didn’t have the first time. We hope we can be a little more creative too,” Pompeo said in a radio interview on “The Sean Hannity Show” “The president’s mission hasn’t changed: to fully and finally denuclearize North Korea in a way that we can verify. That’s the mission set for these negotiations,” Pompeo added. Pompeo’s remarks come after Chinese President …

Protesters blocked a portion of Peru’s main coastal highway on Monday in the start of a new challenge to a billion-dollar copper mining project that has been a lightning rod for conflict. Protesters from the area bordering Southern Copper Corp.’s $1.4 billion Tia Maria copper mine project in the south of Peru carried signs and flags as they occupied a section of the highway, snarling traffic for cargo vehicles and others. The project has long been lamented by residents in the southern region of Arequipa  where farmers say the mine will pollute their fields and affect water supplies. “We are not going to talk. We want the presence of President (Martin) Vizcarra with the cancellation of the project,” Luis Cornejo, mayor of Cocachacra, told Reuters, referencing the construction permit granted by the government on July 9. Demonstrators protest against Tia Maria mine in Arequipa, Peru, July 15, 2019. Southern Copper spent years awaiting the final green light that former governments had declined to give because of fears it would revive deadly protests that previously derailed the project. At least six protesters were killed in clashes with police in 2011 and 2015. The company said it would not begin construction until …

U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on Monday pressed major social media companies on how they plan to handle the threat of deepfake images and videos on their platforms ahead of the 2020 elections. The Democratic congressman wrote letters to the chief executives of Facebook, Twitter and Google, which owns YouTube, asking about the companies’ formal policies on deepfakes and their research into technologies to detect the doctored content. Deepfakes use machine learning to manipulate source material and create hyperrealistic content where a person – such as a political candidate – appears to say or do something they did not. Facebook spokesman Andy Stone confirmed the company had received the letter and said it would respond to Schiff accordingly. Twitter did not comment on the letter but pointed to a statement last month by Nick Pickles, its global senior strategist for public policy, that said Twitter’s rules “clearly prohibit coordinated account manipulation, malicious automation, and fake accounts.” Alphabet’s Google also declined to comment on the letter. Major social media platforms have been used to spread disinformation ahead of previous elections. U.S. intelligence agencies say there was an extensive Russian cyber-influence operation during the 2016 presidential election aimed …

Pearson, the world’s biggest education company, will release all its titles for the United States college market in digital form first, in a break from the traditional and more expensive textbook publishing model. The British provider of textbooks, courseware and testing has been hit in recent years by changes in the U.S. market as students sought to save money by buying second-hand books, hammering its sales and profit. However it hailed a tipping point earlier this year when it said its offering of cheaper e-books, designed to appeal to the “Spotify generation,” had enabled it to forecast sales growth in 2020 following more than five years of declines.  “I am increasingly confident and excited about this,” Pearson Chief Executive John Fallon told Reuters. The rapid switch to digital, which is similar to the changes endured by the music, film and newspaper industries, has forced the 175-year-old firm to cut thousands of jobs and sell assets to rebuild. From now on, all future releases of its 1,500 active U.S. titles will be “digital first” and updated on an ongoing basis when there are new developments in the field of study. Previously many textbooks were updated every 3 years. College students already …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the Russian S-400 missile defense system, parts of which have been delivered to Turkey over the past four days, would be fully deployed in April 2020. Turkey’s purchase of the Russian system has raised tensions with its NATO allies, particularly the United States, which has warned Turkey that it will respond with sanctions. Speaking at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on the third anniversary of 2016’s attempted coup, Erdogan said eight planes had already brought parts of the Russian system and more were coming, as he had repeatedly promised. “With God’s permission, they will have been installed in their sites by April 2020,” he told the crowd. “The S-400s are the strongest defense system against those who want to attack our country. God willing, we are doing this as a joint investment with Russia, and will continue to do so.” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves to supporters following a rally to honor the victims of the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt on July 15, 2019. U.S. officials have said that in addition to being hit with legislation aimed at preventing countries from purchasing military equipment from Russia, known as CAATSA, Turkey could …

White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway defied a subpoena and failed to appear on Monday at a congressional hearing about allegations she violated federal law, prompting a Democratic threat to hold her in contempt of Congress. The top White House lawyer directed Conway not to appear at the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearing, arguing that current and former White House officials were “absolutely immune” from being required to testify before Congress, according to a letter released by the committee. Past presidential administrations from both parties have adopted similar arguments, but some legal experts have said such immunity claims would be rejected by a judge if challenged in court. Three weeks ago, Conway declined to appear voluntarily at a similar hearing before the committee, prompting it to vote 25-16 to subpoena her testimony. The committee wants to question her about allegations she violated the Hatch Act, a law that limits federal employees’ political activity. The White House said in a statement that Monday’s hearing was part of a “purely political campaign to harass the President and his close advisers.” President Donald Trump is stonewalling multiple congressional inquiries into him, his policies, family and business holdings. House Oversight Committee Chairman …

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he would to help relaunch talks to normalize ties between Serbia and Kosovo in the next few weeks. After meeting his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic, Macron said he would invite delegations from the two countries to Paris along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. An EU-sponsored dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina has been stalled since Kosovo introduced a 100 percent tax on all goods imported from Serbia to put pressure on Belgrade to recognize its sovereignty. Kosovo declared independence with Western backing in 2008, but Serbia still considers it an integral part of its territory. Together with its traditional ally Russia, Serbia is blocking Kosovo from joining international organizations including the United Nations, UNICEF and Interpol. “We are seeing rising tension and sometimes these tensions are fueled here and there by external powers that have an interest in making sure no deal is found,” Macron said. “Reaching an agreement implies that each party abstains from unilateral and non-constructive gestures and, in that respect, developments over the last few weeks have been a concern, and decisions that were against past commitments must be abrogated.” Vucic said he had asked Macron to help Serbia in its …

In a court case that could further strain U.S. relations with Turkey and weigh on the sentencing of former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn, a criminal trial began on Monday involving a former Iranian-American business partner of Flynn. Bijan Rafiekian’s trial in the Eastern District of Virginia turns on whether he conspired with Flynn and others to lobby on Turkey’s behalf to try to persuade the U.S. government to extradite Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Turkey for a failed coup. Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general whose brief tenure in 2017 as part of President Donald Trump’s inner circle is still causing legal aftershocks, is not charged as a co-conspirator with Rafiekian. But the case could influence how U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan sentences Flynn later this year in Washington. FILE – Then-National security adviser General Michael Flynn delivers a statement at the White House in Washington, Feb. 1, 2017. Flynn had previously agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors and testify against Rafiekian, known as “Kian,” in hopes of getting a lighter sentence after he pleaded guilty in December 2017 to having lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators about his contacts with Russian officials. In …

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Monday at the base of Hawaii’s tallest mountain to protest the construction of a giant telescope on land that some Native Hawaiians consider sacred. At about daybreak, a group of kupuna, or elders, tied themselves together with rope at the road to the summit of Mauna Kea. Another group of protesters were on the ground, attached to a cattle grate.  Around them, protesters sang and chanted.  The road was later officially closed, hours after it was essentially blocked by protesters. The prone elders tied together were expecting to be arrested.  After two protest leaders spoke with police, they addressed the crowd and told them anyone who didn’t move would be arrested. The group would move aside, but the elders were expected to remain, protest leaders Kaho’okahi Kanuha and Andre Perez said.  Demonstrators gather to block a road at the base of Hawaii’s tallest mountain, July 15, 2019, in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to protest the construction of a giant telescope on land that some Native Hawaiians consider sacred. Officials said anyone breaking the law will be prosecuted. Protesters who blocked the roadway during previous attempts to begin construction have been arrested. No arrests were immediately reported Monday …

The United Nations told the United States it is concerned by tight travel restrictions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during his visit to New York this week, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said on Monday. Zarif arrived in New York on Sunday after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed off on the visit amid heightened tensions between the two countries. But Zarif is only allowed to travel between the United Nations, the Iranian U.N. mission, the Iranian U.N. ambassador’s residence and New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, a U.S. State Department official said. Threat of blacklist Late last month Washington threatened to blacklist Zarif, a move that could impede any U.S. effort to use diplomacy to resolve disagreements with Tehran. However, sources have told Reuters that Washington had decided to hold off for now. Longtime U.S.-Iran strains have worsened since U.S. President Donald Trump last year quit a 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Haq told reporters that the U.N. secretariat is “in close contact with the permanent missions of the United States and Iran to the U.N. and has conveyed its concerns to the host country.” U.S. special envoy for …

The European Union says talks are under way on whether a barter mechanism aimed at salvaging some trade with Iran might include oil, as Europeans scramble to ease tensions between Iran and the United States. Following a meeting among European foreign ministers in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the special barter mechanism with Iran known as INSTEX would be open to third-party countries. The mechanism is aimed at working around U.S. sanctions, and for now, it narrowly targets humanitarian goods. “The issue of whether INSTEX will deal with oil or not is a discussion that is ongoing among the shareholders,” Mogherini said. “We have around 10 member states and some are considering actively dong that.” Europeans are increasingly alarmed the four-year-old Iran nuclear deal, known in shorthand as JCPOA, is on the verge of collapse — a message delivered by France, Britain and Germany as they urged nations to resume talks. Earlier Monday, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt offered a sliver of hope. “Iran is still a good year away from developing a nuclear bomb,” he said. “There is still some closing, but small window to keep the deal alive.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said …

Aid workers in Uganda say armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has doubled the flow of refugees in past weeks, straining humanitarian funding.  Many DRC refugees brave cold nights and risk big waves on Lake Albert to reach the Ugandan border. In the pitch-black hours of the early morning, a boatload of refugees from the DRC arrives on Uganda’s side of Lake Albert.  Some of the babies are hysterical. Aid workers say the number of Congolese refugees fleeing armed conflict to Uganda has more than doubled since June to about 300 per day. Refugee Gipato Margaret says there has been intensive fighting in the last two weeks in the DRC town of Chomya. “There are so many soldiers, yet the enemy rebel groups are in the surrounding forests.  If they find a person in the garden, they kill you.  They completely finish you.  And when they see government soldiers, they follow and kill and fight them.  We saw it was too much, there is a lot of gunshots nearby and staying there got difficult.  So, we had to find a way out,” Margaret said. Refugee Joshua Oshaki lost contact with his wife during fighting in the DRC’s …

Aid workers in Uganda say armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has doubled the flow of refugees since June, straining humanitarian funding. Many of the DRC refugees brave the harsh waters of Lake Albert on the Uganda border to make the crossing to safety. Halima Athumani reports from Sebagoro Landing Site in southwestern Uganda. …

Financier Jeffrey Epstein will remain behind bars for now as a federal judge mulls whether to grant bail on charges he sexually abused underage girls. The judge said he needed more time to make a decision during a hearing Monday in New York. Federal prosecutors maintained the well-connected Epstein, 66, is a flight risk and danger to the community _ saying he should remain incarcerated until he is tried on charges that he recruited and abused dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida in the early 2000s. Prosecutors said their case is getting “stronger by the day” after several more women contacted them in recent days to say he abused them when they were underage. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller also revealed Monday that authorities found “piles of cash,” “dozens of diamonds” and an expired passport with Epstein’s picture and a fake name during a raid of his Manhattan mansion following his July 6 arrest . Epstein’s lawyers said he has not committed crimes since pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution charges in Florida in 2008 and that the federal government is reneging on a 12-year-old plea deal not to prosecute him. They said they planned …

Palestinians on Monday denounced President Donald Trump’s attack on U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, accusing him of racism and saying it once again proves his bias against the Palestinian people.   Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and daughter of Palestinian immigrants, was one of four congresswomen of color who were targeted in a Trump Twitter barrage over the weekend.   Trump said the women should go back to the “broken and crime infested” places they came from, ignoring the fact that all are American citizens and three, including Tlaib, were born in the U.S. Trump also accused them of saying “terrible things” about the U.S. and said they “hate Israel.”   Although Tlaib has never lived in the West Bank, she still has relatives in the area and is widely seen as a local hero for making her way to the highest levels of American government.   Bassam Tlaib, an uncle of the congresswoman who lives in the West Bank, called the president’s comments “a racist statement meant to target Rashida because she has Palestinian roots.”   “This statement proves that Trump is anti-Palestinian, anti-Islam and completely biased toward Israel,” he added.   Ibrahim Milhim, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, said Trump’s …

The head of the World Health Organization warns the spread of Ebola to a large city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo could have dire consequences.  The WHO chief spoke Monday at a high-level meeting that examined current efforts to contain the growing Ebola epidemic in Congo.  The Ebola outbreak in Congo’s conflict-ridden North Kivu and Ituri provinces is the second largest after the historic 2014 epidemic that killed 11,300 people in West Africa.   As the first anniversary of the DRC epidemic draws near, the WHO reports nearly 2,500 people have been infected with the virus and 1,665 people have died.   World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (R) listens to a delegate at the end of a meeting organised the United Nations on the Ebola disease in DRC, on July 15, 2019, in Geneva. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the effort to stop the spread of the disease has received another blow with the news that the first case of Ebola had been detected in the eastern Congolese city of Goma.   He says WHO was informed Sunday that a pastor who had traveled from Butembo was infected with the deadly virus. “The identification …

A roadside bomb in Afghanistan killed at least 11 people riding in a truck in the southern Kandahar province, provincial officials said Monday. Ahmad Sadeq Essa, a deputy army spokesman in Kandahar, said that around 35 other civilians were wounded in the explosion in Khakrez district.      Yousof Younosi, a provincial council member in Kandahar, said that women and children were among those killed, but couldn’t provide an exact breakdown. He said some of the wounded were in critical condition. All the victims were members of the same family and their close relatives who were on their way to a shrine, he said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Younosi blamed the Taliban, who often use roadside bombs to target Afghan security forces in the province. Essa, the army spokesman, said, “The army only has a mobile clinic in Khakrez, and right now they are trying to transfer the wounded people to the regional hospital in Kandahar city for further treatment.” The violence comes despite stepped-up efforts by the United States to find a negotiated end to the country’s current 18-year war. All-Afghan talks that brought together the country’s warring sides ended last week in Qatar’s …

The Trump administration is moving to end asylum protections for most Central American migrants.   A rule published Monday bars migrants from seeking asylum in the United States if they’ve traveled through another country first.   Tens of thousands of migrant families from Central America travel through Mexico to the U.S. each month, many claiming asylum. The Trump administration claims families are taking advantage of legal loopholes it says allow migrants a free pass to the country while they wait out phony asylum requests.   The rule is almost certain to face a legal challenge.   U.S. law allows refugees to request asylum when they arrive at the U.S. regardless of how they did so. But there’s an exception for those who have come through a country considered “safe.” Immigrant rights groups say the Republican administration’s policies are a cruel effort to keep immigrants out.   …

Federal prosecutors, preparing for a bail fight Monday, say evidence against financier Jeffrey Epstein is growing “stronger by the day” after several more women contacted them in recent days to say he abused them when they were underage. Prosecutors say Epstein, 66, is a flight risk and danger to the community and should remain incarcerated until he is tried on charges that he recruited and abused dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida in the early 2000s. His lawyers counter that their client has not committed crimes since pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution charges in Florida in 2008 and that the federal government is reneging on a 12-year-old deal not to prosecute him. They say he should be allowed to await trial under house arrest in his $77 million Manhattan mansion, with electronic monitoring. In a written submission Friday to U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman, prosecutors revealed new information about their investigation and why they perceive Epstein as dangerous. They said several additional women in multiple jurisdictions had identified themselves to the government, claiming Epstein abused them when they were minors. Also, dozens of individuals have called the government to report information about Epstein …

Abdikarim Olol contributed to this story from Las Anod. WASHINGTON / LAS ANOD, SOMALIA – Among the 26 people killed at a hotel following a terrorist attack in southern Somalia Friday was Hodan Nalayeh, a television journalist who returned from the diaspora to help locals build a better life. She was achieving her goals until al-Shabab militants gunned her down. FILE – Soldiers patrol the seaport in Somalia’s southern port city of Kismayo, November 29, 2012. Nalayeh was trying to change the narrative of reporting about Somalia, which she considered “mostly negative,” according to Siad Ali, the director of outreach for Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and a relative of Nalayeh. “She was not a fan of promoting politicians or talking about the politics,” Ali told VOA. “Her uniqueness was reporting the positivity of Somalia and the people of Somalia, from Somalia to diaspora. So that has attracted thousands of youth throughout Somalia, and to see the good side of Somalia and the prosperity side of Somalia.” Nalayeh also thought she could impact the lives of the young Somalis who were not receiving an education. Late last month, she visited her home town, Las Anod, where her family opened a school …

Two leading UN agencies report nearly 20 million children worldwide—more than one in 10—were not vaccinated against killer diseases, such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus in 2018.  Global life-saving vaccine coverage remains at 86 percent.  This is high, but the World Health Organization says it is not high enough.  It says 95 percent coverage is needed to protect against outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.   The worldwide measles outbreak is the starkest and most alarming example of what can happen when vaccine coverage across countries and communities falls below 95 percent.  Last year, nearly 350,000 measles cases were reported globally, more than double that of 2017. WHO’s director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, Kate O’Brien warns measles outbreaks are not just persisting, but are increasing.  She agrees some of the problem is due to misinformation and false information regarding the safety of the measles vaccine.  But she says low coverage is mainly linked to sharp inequalities in both low-income and high-income countries. “Even in high-income countries, access to vaccines, inequality and quality of care are often the greatest obstacles for parents to get vaccines for their children.  So, we want to emphasize both of these things that barriers …