A small Pakistani military plane crashed into a residential area near the garrison city of Rawalpindi before dawn Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, including two pilots, officials said. In a statement, the military said five soldiers were among those killed in the plane crash. Rescue officials said the death toll could rise further since there are injured in critical condition.  The military gave no details about the cause of the crash and only said an army aviation aircraft was on a routine training flight when the plane went down in the village of Mora Kalu on outskirts of Rawalpindi. TV footage showed fire erupting in the residential area. Farooq Butt, an official at the state-run emergency service called 1122, said at least 12 people, including soldiers died in the crash and that authorities had declared an emergency in hospitals. He said about 20 people were injured in the plane crash. Butt said a rescue operation was still ongoing.  An AP reporter at scene of the crash saw a burning house and some makeshift homes. Rescue officials say the plane suddenly lost control with the tower and reason for the incident was not known. …

The U.N. human rights chief calls the murder of the leader of Brazil’s indigenous Wajapi tribe “reprehensible” and demands the Brazilian government respect the integrity of indigenous territories. “The Brazilian government’s proposed policy to open up more areas of the Amazon to mining could lead to incidents of violence, intimidation and killings,” Michelle Bachelet said Monday. “When indigenous people are pushed off their lands, it is not just an economic issue. As the U.N Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples makes clear, it affects their entire way of life.” The body of Wajapi chief Emrya Wajapi was found in a river last week. The tribe controls part of Brazil’s northern Amapa state.  The Brazilian government set aside part of the state in the 1980s for the use of 800,000 tribespeople. But Brazil’s new far right president Jair Bolsonaro has called on other nations to exploit what he calls the “absurd quantity of minerals” in the Amazon rainforest, despite the irreversible environmental damage such actions could bring. Bolsonaro is supported by Brazilian logging, mining, and farming industries whose interest in the Amazon could lead to a “new wave of violence aimed at scaring people off their ancestral lands,” Bachelet warns. …

The deadliest time for many surgery patients isn’t when they’re on the operating table, it’s while they’re recovering in the hospital and after they go home, a new study suggests. For the study, researchers examined outcomes for more than 40,000 patients age 45 and older who underwent non-cardiac surgery at 28 hospitals in 14 countries. Researchers monitored patients for complications and deaths within 30 days of surgery. Overall, five people, or less than 1% of patients, died on the operating table, and another 500 patients, or 70%, died in the hospital. Another 210 deaths, or 29%, didn’t happen until after patients were sent home. Nearly half of all the deaths were associated with three complications: major bleeding, heart damage, and bloodstream infections. “Many families anxiously wait to hear from the surgeon whether their loved one survived the operation, but our research demonstrates that very few of the deaths occur in the operating room,” said Dr. P.J. Devereaux, senior author of the study and director of the Division of Perioperative Care at McMaster University in Canada. “Our research now demonstrates that there is a need to focus on postoperative care and transitional care into the home setting to improve outcomes,” Devereaux …

Tom Barrack, a billionaire friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, pursued a plan to buy Westinghouse Electric Corp even as he lobbied Trump to become a special envoy to promote the building by the firm of nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia, said a congressional report released on Monday. While Barrack failed in both efforts, the report provides fresh evidence of the ease with which some corporate and foreign interests have gained access to Trump and other senior members of his administration. Documents obtained by the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee raise “serious questions about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the President’s friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons,” the report said. The report is the second from the panel’s investigation into the plan to construct 40 nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East. The plan was supported by Trump’s first national security adviser Michael Flynn, Barrack, Trump’s inaugural committee chairman, and a consortium of firms led by retired U.S. military commanders and former White House officials called IP3. One company was Westinghouse, …

The unprecedented resignation of Puerto Rico’s governor after days of massive island-wide protests has thrown the U.S. territory into a full-blown political crisis. Less than four days before Gov. Ricardo Rossello steps down, no one knows who will take his place. Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez, his constitutional successor, said Sunday that she didn’t want the job. The next in line would be Education Secretary Eligio Hernandez, a largely unknown bureaucrat with little political experience. Rossello’s party says it wants him to nominate a successor before he steps down, but Rossello has said nothing about his plans, time is running out and some on the island are even talking about the need for more federal control over a territory whose finances are already overseen from Washington. FILE – Demonstrators march on Las Americas highway demanding the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rossello, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 22, 2019. Rossello resigned following nearly two weeks of daily protests in which hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the streets, mounted horses and jet skis, organized a twerkathon and came up with other creative ways to demand his ouster. On Monday, protesters were to gather once again, but this time to …

For weeks, Turkey has been amassing its troops near its border with Syria for what appears to be an imminent attack against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces that Ankara views as terrorists. In this border town in northern Syria, locals say such an attack could throw the already-volatile region into further instability. While the situation may seem calm at the moment, residents in Amude say they have been living in constant fear since the Turkish military has recently increased its threats to carry out an offensive against this Kurdish enclave that is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his ruling party members, in Ankara, Turkey, July 26, 2019. “Terror corridor” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that his country is determined to destroy “to pieces” what he called a “terror corridor” in northern Syria. Turkey views the SDF and its political wing, the PYD, as an extension of the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is a U.S. and EU-designated terrorist organization. Kurdish fighters affiliated with the SDF, however, have played an effective role in the ongoing U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants in Syria. FILE – In this April1 14, 2018, file …

Ethiopians planted more than 350 million trees in one day, officials say, in what they believe is a world record. Ethiopia’s minister of innovation and technology, Getahun Mekuria, tweeted estimates of the number of trees being planted throughout the day Monday. By early evening, he said 353,633,660 tree seedlings were planted in 12 hours. 353,633,660 Tree Seedlings Planted in 12 Hours. This is in #Ethiopians Regional Shares of Trees Planted today.#PMOEthiopia#GreenLegacyEthiopiapic.twitter.com/2BkTDtYedC — Dr.-Ing. Getahun Mekuria (@DrGetahun) July 29, 2019 The massive effort is part of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Green Legacy Initiative, which aims to plant more than 4 billion trees between May and October, or 40 trees per person.  The campaign aims to reverse the effects of deforestation and climate change in the drought-prone country. According to the United Nations, Ethiopia’s forest coverage was just 4% in the 2000s, down from 35% a century earlier. Besides ordinary Ethiopians, various international organizations and the business community also joined the exercise, which aims to surpass India’s record planting of 66 million trees in 12 hours in 2017. …

Two U.S. service members have been killed in action in Afghanistan in what appears to be an insider attack. The NATO-led Resolute Support Mission said Monday that two Americans are dead, withholding additional information pending notification of their families. A U.S. official later confirmed the deaths were the result of a so-called “green on blue” attack, during which an Afghan service member or an attacker wearing an Afghan uniform, fires on U.S. or allied forces.  The initial U.S. assessment followed claims by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Twitter that the Americans died when an Afghan soldier turned his gun on them in a military camp in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province. FILE – The Twitter page of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid is pictured on a computer monitor in the newsroom at Maiwand TV station in Kabul, Feb. 6, 2019. Taliban negotiators have insisted any peace deal include the withdrawal of U.S. forces, and those of U.S. allies, from Afghanistan. The Taliban have also refused to hold direct talks with the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, saying such talks can only take place once the U.S. leaves. For its part, Washington is seeking assurances from the Taliban that Afghanistan will never …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice for the next director of national intelligence is an ardent supporter of the president who was harshly critical of former special counsel Robert Mueller during his congressional hearing last week. John Ratcliffe, a third-term congressman from Texas, wrote on Twitter that he was “deeply grateful” to the president for the nomination to replace Dan Coats, adding, “President Trump’s call to serve in this role was not one I could ignore.”  I am deeply grateful to President Trump for the opportunity to lead our Nation’s intelligence community and work on behalf of all the public servants who are tirelessly devoted to defending the security and safety of the United States. — John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) Director of National Security James Clapper testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 2, 2012. James R. Clapper, an Obama pick, had previously directed two different U.S. intelligence agencies prior to his unanimous Senate confirmation in 2010. James McConnell, a Bush nomination, had already headed the National Security Agency, while John Negroponte, the first director, had 15 years as an ambassador and two as deputy National Security Adviser under his belt. Even Dan …

Scientists warn the most effective drug used to treat malaria is becoming ineffective in parts of Southeast Asia — and unless rapid action is taken, it could lead to a global health emergency. Writing in the Lancet journal, researchers from Thailand’s Mahidol University and Britain’s Oxford University say parasites that carry malaria are developing resistance to a key drug combination across multiple regions of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The report warns that the parasite Plasmodium falciparum — which causes the most lethal form of human malaria — is becoming resistant to the first-choice drug, DHA-piperaquine, in parts of Southeast Asia, with patients seeing a failure rate of 50 percent or more. The situation is so critical that scientists say the treatment should not be used in Cambodia, Vietnam and northeast Thailand, because it is ineffective and contributes to increased malaria transmission. New treatments must be considered, says Sterghios Moschos of the University of Northumbria. “It might be opportune at this point in time to explore whether or not we should bring together different new classes of medications so that when the problem starts becoming more substantial, there is a solution potentially that works at the multi-drug level,” said Moschos. The report …

Authorities in California are trying to figure out why a teenager killed three people, including two children, at a popular food festival south of San Francisco before being shot dead by police.  The shooter, identified as 19-year-old Santino William Legan, appeared to randomly target people with an “assault-type rifle” on the last day of the Gilroy Garlic festival Sunday, according to Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee. The dead included a six-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. Twelve other festival-goers were wounded in the attack. Smithee told reporters Monday that police responded in less than a minute of the shooter opening fire.  “It could have gone so much worse so fast,” he said. People run as an active shooter was reported at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, south of San Jose, California. Authorities said they were searching Monday for a possible second suspect, following unconfirmed reports by eyewitnesses that Legan may have had an accomplice. The food festival, in the agricultural city of Gilroy about 170 kilometers (106 miles) southeast of San Francisco, had security that required people to go through screening with metal detectors and bag checks. Police say the shooter cut through a fence to …

The Russian-financed Sputnik language service in Turkey canceled a radio program after the show’s three Turkish journalists interviewed a prominent critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The July 19 interview with former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu covered his effort to launch a new party to challenge Erdogan’s AK Party, among other topics. Twice a week on Sputnik Turkish, journalists Yavuz Oghan, Akif Beki and Ismail Saymaz hosted a call-in program titled “Soylemesi Bizden.” They first pitched the interview for their show but didn’t get approval. Then, Oghan  posted it on his YouTube channel, and Sputnik Turkish canceled their contracts. “Good work never goes unpunished in Turkey,” Oghan later said on Twitter. Mahir Boztepe, chief editor of Sputnik Turkish, dismissed concerns about censorship. “We informed Yavuz Oghan that the interview could not be conducted under our broadcast guidelines, but they went ahead with the interview,” he said. “We, under our editorial policy, do not attach importance to a political figure like Davutoglu, and we don’t want to provide a platform for his views. We don’t believe that he is newsworthy,” Boztepe said. Purported bias Erdogan’s grip on the media has tightened in the wake of a failed 2016 coup attempt and …

The International Monetary Fund says the cumulative decline of the Venezuelan economy since 2013 will surpass 60% and is among the deepest five-year contractions the world has seen over the last half century. Alejandro Werner is director of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department. He describes the Venezuelan decline as a “historical case” because it is unprecedented in the hemisphere and also because it is the only one of the top global five-year contractions that is unrelated to armed conflicts or natural disasters.     The IMF on Monday also adjusted its 2019 forecast for the South American country to a contraction of 35% — up from the 25% decline expected back in April — due to a sharp fall in the oil production, which has already plunged to its lowest level in seven decades.  …

Syrian troops made advances on the ground in northern Syria on Monday, seizing a hilltop village and a nearby town from insurgents in the first breakthrough for President Bashar Assad’s forces following weeks of intensive air and artillery bombardment.   The area has been repeatedly targeted in recent days as Syria’s government looks to regain momentum in its stalled offensive against the last opposition-controlled stronghold in Syria. The rebel area encompasses Idlib province and the surrounding rural areas of Hama province. At least 450 civilians have been confirmed killed in the three-month offensive, including more than 100 in the last 10 days alone, according to the U.N. human rights chief. Over the last three years, the government has regained control of most of the territories that were initially seized by the opposition in the early days of the civil conflict _ now in its 9th year. Those military victories, supported by Russian airpower and Iranian-backed militias on the ground, followed intense military campaigns and tight sieges that forced rebels to surrender and move north. The Idlib region is dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants and other jihadi groups, and is home to an estimated 3 million people, many of them displaced by …

A large crowd bid a final tearful farewell to an Italian police officer who was stabbed to death in Rome last Friday. Two American teenagers are in custody in connection with the killing. Relatives, friends, colleagues and top political leaders attended the service in the officer’s hometown of Somma Vesuviana, near Naples. The solemn service was held in the same church of Santa Croce where the 35-year-old officer was married a month-and-a-half ago. Those who did not make it inside the church for the service stood outside in the square. A minute of silence Monday preceded the funeral. Carabinieri officers carry the coffin of slain Carabinieri military police officer Mario Cerciello Rega during his funeral in his hometown Somma Vesuviana, Italy, July 29, 2019. Applause broke out when the coffin, wrapped in the Italian tricolor, arrived and was carried inside the church by his widow, Maria Rosaria, and six police officers. Atop the coffin were wedding pictures, Mario’s officer cap and a shirt of soccer club Naples, his favorite team. Top political leaders, including Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and top Carabinieri officials, attended the ceremony. In his homily, Monsignor Santo Marciano said, “We would not have liked to be in …

U.S. President Donald Trump Monday signed a bipartisan bill to ensure that a Victim Compensation Fund related to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 never runs out of money. “Our nation owes each of you a profound debt that no words or deeds will ever repay. But we can and we will keep our nation’s promise to you,” the president said in the White House Rose Garden, flanked by first responders. The president called the first responders “true American warriors.” The $7.4 billion fund had been running low, with benefits slashed severely. The legislation signed Monday extends the fund through 2092, essentially providing for first responders for the rest of their lives. Comedian and former host of The Daily Show, John Stewart, had lobbied Congress for the bill’s passage, publicly feuding with Senator Rand Paul in the process. On Tuesday, the vote passed the Senate 97-2.  Paul and Senator Mike Lee from Utah voted against the bill. Since 9/11, more than 40,000 people have applied to the fund. …

The roughly 2,000 state and local governments suing the drug industry over the deadly opioid crisis have yet to see any verdicts or reach any big national settlements but are already tussling with each other over how to divide any money they collect. The reason: Some of them want to avoid what happened 20 years ago, when states agreed to a giant settlement with the tobacco industry and used most of the cash on projects that had little to do with smoking’s toll. “If we don’t use dollars recovered from these opioid lawsuits to end the opioid epidemic, shame on us,” Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear said. Overdoses from opioids, which include prescription painkillers and illegal drugs like heroin, have surpassed automobile crashes in recent years as the biggest cause of accidental deaths in the U.S., accounting for the loss of more than 400,000 lives since 2000. An Associated Press analysis found that by 2011 and 2012, the industry was shipping enough prescription opioids to give every man, woman and child in the U.S. nearly a 20-day supply each year. In their lawsuits, the governments contend the brand-name manufacturers fraudulently downplayed the addiction risks of the powerful painkillers while encouraging …

In new video released Monday, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer is heard telling a British warship not to interfere or put their “life in danger” as the paramilitary force, using speedboats and a helicopter, seized a U.K.-flagged commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month. The video includes a shot apparently filmed on the day of the July 19 incident from above the British warship Foxtrot 236 that was in the vicinity of the U.K.-flagged Stena Impero, showing the British navy unable to prevent Iran’s seizure of the ship in the critical waterway.   It also offers additional audio to that released by maritime security risk firm Dryad Global, which last week made public a portion of the exchange between the Foxtrot and the Iranian Guard during the incident.   The seizure of the Stena Impero further heightened tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and Oman. The narrow waterway is of critical importance to the world’s energy supplies because one-fifth of all global crude exports passes through the strait.   Tensions there have soared following President Donald Trump’s decision last year to withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and impose sanctions on …

Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed Britain closer to a no-deal exit from the European Union on Monday, insisting he will not hold Brexit talks with EU leaders unless the bloc lifts its refusal to reopen the existing divorce deal. Johnson is trying to pressure the EU to give ground by intensifying preparations for the U.K. to leave the bloc in three months without a deal. But the pound fell to a two-year low as business groups warned that neither Britain nor the bloc is ready for a no-deal Brexit, and that no amount of preparation can eliminate the economic damage if Britain crashes out of the 28-nation trading bloc without agreement on the terms.   Johnson became prime minister last week after winning a Conservative Party leadership contest by promising the strongly pro-Brexit party membership that the U.K. will leave the EU on the scheduled date of Oct. 31, with or without a divorce deal. The EU struck a withdrawal agreement with Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, but it was rejected three times by Britain’s Parliament. Johnson is insisting the bloc make major changes to May’s spurned deal, including scrapping an insurance policy for the Irish border that has been rejected …

Germany on Monday extradited to Belgium a Bosnian man wanted in connection with the 2015 jihadist attacks in Paris, prosecutors said. The unnamed 39-year-old suspected of having procured weapons for the attackers “was extradited this morning,” Naumburg prosecution service spokesman Klaus Tewes told AFP. The synchronized shooting and suicide attacks by Islamic State gunmen in Paris on the Bataclan concert hall, national stadium and several cafes killed a total of 130 people. German authorities had last month announced the man’s arrest on the night of June 19-20 on a European arrest warrant issued by the Belgian authorities. He was accused “of abetting a terrorist organization linked to the terror attacks, including on the Bataclan concert hall, on November 13, 2015 in Paris”. The German authorities said then that he had been targeted in a separate investigation against two Bosnian citizens on suspicion of violating military weapons control laws. The Islamic State group, which then controlled vast territory across Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attacks in the French capital, which were allegedly coordinated from Brussels. IS also claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings that killed 32 people and wounded hundreds of others in the Belgian capital in March 2016. …

Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed Britain closer to a no-deal exit from the European Union on Monday, insisting he will not hold Brexit talks with EU leaders unless the bloc lifts its refusal to reopen the existing divorce deal. Johnson is trying to pressure the EU to give ground by intensifying preparations for the U.K. to leave the bloc in three months without a deal. But the pound fell to a two-year low as business groups warned that neither Britain nor the bloc is ready for a no-deal Brexit, and that no amount of preparation can eliminate the economic damage if Britain crashes out of the 28-nation trading bloc without agreement on the terms.   Johnson became prime minister last week after winning a Conservative Party leadership contest by promising the strongly pro-Brexit party membership that the U.K. will leave the EU on the scheduled date of Oct. 31, with or without a divorce deal. The EU struck a withdrawal agreement with Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, but it was rejected three times by Britain’s Parliament. Johnson is insisting the bloc make major changes to May’s spurned deal, including scrapping an insurance policy for the Irish border that has been rejected …

China blamed Western forces and defended police conduct in remarks Monday about Hong Kong after the city endured another weekend of violent clashes between protesters and police. Yang Guang, spokesman for the Chinese Cabinet’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, said at a news briefing that some “irresponsible people” in the West have applied “strange logic” that prompted them to be sympathetic and tolerant to “violent crimes” while criticizing the police force’s “due diligence.” “At the end of the day, their intention is to create trouble in Hong Kong, make Hong Kong a problem to China, in order to contain China’s development,” Yang said, without mentioning any specific individuals or countries. He added that such attempts will come to nothing because Beijing will tolerate no outside interference in the affairs of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The protests in Hong Kong began in early June as a call to withdraw an extradition bill that would have allowed people in the former British colony to be sent to stand trial in mainland China, where critics say their legal rights would be threatened. Since the government indefinitely suspended the legislation, demonstrators have broadened their scope to demand greater democracy and government accountability. Police …

Australia passed a legislation that sets down maritime boundaries with East Timor on Monday, providing a framework for the two countries to split revenue from the offshore Greater Sunrise natural gas field. Both sides signed the historic treaty in March 2018 to sort out a long-running dispute over the Timor Sea border, which had delayed the development of the Greater Sunrise, which was found in 1974 and holds around 5.1 trillion cubic feet of gas. “With the passage of the treaty’s implementing legislation today, Australia is now ready to partner with Timor-Leste to jointly develop the Greater Sunrise gas fields for the benefit of both countries,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement. “Greater Sunrise will provide new opportunities for income, and commercial and industrial development in Timor-Leste, and is an important part of Timor-Leste’s economic future.” Under the deal, East Timor is entitled to 70% of the revenue if the gas is piped to the island or 80% if the gas is piped to Australia for processing. Australia had sought a boundary aligned with its continental shelf, but East Timor argued the border should lie half way between it and Australia – placing much of the Greater …

Iranians sending images to a U.S.-based activist over an anti-headscarf campaign could face up to 10 years in prison.    The activist, Masih Alinejad, founded the “White Wednesdays” campaign in Iran to encourage women to post photographs of themselves without headscarves online as a way of opposing the compulsory hijab.   The semi-official Fars news agency on Monday quoted the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, as saying that “those who film themselves or others while removing the hijab and send photos to this woman … will be sentenced to between one and 10 years in prison.”   The Islamic headscarf is mandatory in public for all women in Iran. Those who violate the rule are usually sentenced to two months in prison or less, and fined around $25. …