POPGAZETA

Three Palestinian men were killed by Israeli forces, the Palestinian health ministry said Sunday, adding that another Palestinian man was wounded in the shooting.  An Israeli military statement said a military “attack helicopter and tank” opened fire on a group of armed men spotted “adjacent to the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip” that separates Israel from Gaza. The incident happened just hours after three rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel.  There were no immediate reports of casualties in that incident. …

This story was first reported in VOA Learning English.  As tuition and fees have increased sharply in the U.S. over the past 30 years, schools are looking for ways to make college and university more affordable.  Between 1990 and 2012 while college enrollment increased 62 percent, the volume of borrowing for school increased 352 percent, according to the Heritage Foundation. By the end of 2017, according to the Federal Reserve Bank, national student loan debt in the United States was $1.48 trillion.  One popular option is community college. These schools offer a two-year study program that awards an associate’s degree at a cost vastly less expensive than four-year schools. Those credits are typically transferrable to a four-year college or university where a student can achieve a bachelor’s degree.  Some four-year colleges and universities, often public institutions, offer free tuition but ask students to pay for room and board, like housing and food. Books and other school supplies may also be the responsibility of the students, which may add up to an unaffordable package of schools costs from some students. Some colleges exchange part-time work on campus for lowered tuition and fees. Berea College in rural Kentucky, does not charge tuition. …

For many, blindness or poor vision can keep them from activities like cycling. But a NYC non-profit called InTandem works to make cycling accessible to everyone. The organization unites sighted New Yorkers with the visually impaired so that everyone can enjoy a ride. Anna Nelson has the story narrated by Anna Rice. …

Authorities in Afghanistan say the death toll has risen to more than 63 and injured to 183 in the overnight suicide bombing at a packed wedding hall in the capital, Kabul. The victims were mostly members of the minority Shi’ite Hazara community.  Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi confirmed the casualty toll in a statement issued early Sunday, saying women and children were among the victims. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the carnage, one of the worst attacks against Afghan civilians in recent years. The Taliban denied its involvement and condemned the bombing. A spokesman for the insurgent group said “such barbaric deliberate attacks against civilians including women and children are forbidden and unjustifiable.” Afghan police men stand guard outside the wedding hall after an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug.18, 2019. Almost all recent bombings in the city, particularly against the Hazara community, have been claimed by Islamic State’s Afghan branch, known as Khorasan Province.  Rahimi in a statement he issued shortly after the attack said the blast occurred just before midnight on Saturday and police and ambulances quickly reached the site to transport victims to Kabul hospitals. Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the …

As back to back mass shootings in the U.S. prompt more difficult debates on gun laws, researchers at University of Southern California (USC) are working on a different, perhaps less controversial method of keeping people inside buildings safe and deterring people who want to commit acts of mass violence.   Design and Behavior Engineers and computer scientists are exploring building design and technology seeking ways to protect people. Recent innovations offer many possibilities, from placement of exits to the number of hiding spots and even walls that move.  But before designs can be put in place, researchers must first observe the behavior of the building’s occupants. How do the people inside a building respond when an active shooter is present? Will their behavior change if the building is designed in a different way? Virtual reality (VR) is the first step to answering these questions and helping engineers create a safer building according to USC assistant professor Gale Lucas, who conducts research in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Computer Science Department and Institute for Creative Technologies.   “We’re interested in looking at how different building attributes affect responses to incidents of extreme violence, and that’s something that we can’t manipulate easily …

Britain will face shortages of fuel, food and medicine if it leaves the European Union without a transition deal, jamming ports and requiring a hard border in Ireland, official government documents leaked to the Sunday Times show. The Times said the forecasts compiled by the Cabinet Office set out the most likely aftershocks of a no-deal Brexit rather than the worst case scenarios. They said up to 85% of lorries using the main channel crossings “may not be ready” for French customs, meaning disruption at ports would potentially last up to three months before the flow of traffic improves. The government believes a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic will be likely as current plans to avoid widespread checks will prove unsustainable, the Times said. …

Workers erected a wooden wall around Mexico City’s iconic Angel of Independence monument Saturday after feminists defaced it with graffiti during a raucous and violent protest over a string of alleged rapes by police. The disorder Friday night erupted as part of protests that arose this week over a perception that city officials were not adequately investigating the rape accusations. Both victims were teenagers. The demonstrations have become known as the “glitter protests” after marchers doused the city’s police chief in pink glitter. Hundreds of city workers spent the wee hours of the morning pressure-cleaning and painting over graffiti. The deputy director of artistic patrimony at the National Fine Arts Institute, Dolores Martinez, said at the base of the statue that officials were assessing the damage to the Angel and other points in the capital that protesters attacked.  At the same time, Martinez added, the fine arts institute “respects freedom of speech and offers support for actions to eradicate all forms of violence against women.” Protesters wrote phrases like “They don’t take care of us” and “rape state” in lime green, purple and black spray paint across the base of the Angel monument, which commemorates Mexico’s independence from Spain and …

LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO – Officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory have plans for $13 billion worth of construction projects over the next decade at the northern New Mexico complex as it prepares to ramp up production of plutonium cores for the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal.    They outlined their plans at a recent meeting attended by hundreds of representatives of construction firms from around the country.    Beyond the new infrastructure related to plutonium assignment, other work most likely will be aimed at serving a growing workforce — from planned housing projects and parking garages to a potential new highway that would reduce commute times from Albuquerque and Santa Fe for the 60% of employees who live outside Los Alamos County.  2,600 jobs   Lab Director Thomas Mason told the Albuquerque Journal the lab has 1,400 openings and plans to add another 1,200 jobs to its workforce of 12,000 by 2026.      “It’s a busy time at the lab,” he said. “We’re probably busier than we have been since the height of the Cold War.”    Mason said $3 billion in spending is planned for improvements to the lab’s existing plutonium facility for the core work. An accelerator project …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s treasury minister, Nicolas Dujovne, resigned Saturday and will be replaced by the economy minister of the country’s most populous state, a senior official in the presidential office said.    The resignation came three days after President Mauricio Macri announced his conservative administration was temporarily increasing the minimum wage, reducing payroll taxes and implementing other steps to help Argentine workers as the country struggles to overcome sizzling inflation, high unemployment and other economic problems.    Macri acted after a leftist presidential slate that includes his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez, turned in a powerful showing last Sunday in primary voting for candidates going into October general elections. Macri’s slate did poorly, and the already weak Argentine peso slumped and stock prices fell sharply as investors worried about the vote results.    In his resignation letter, Dujovne reportedly said the government needed to make “a significant overhaul in the economic area.” He said the administration had made strides in reducing the government’s deficit and reducing taxes, but added that “we undoubtedly made mistakes.”    The presidency official, who agreed to confirm the resignation only if not quoted by name, said Dujovne would be replaced by Hernan Lacunza, the economy minister for Buenos Aires province. Lacunza previously was general manager of the Central Bank.  …

LONDON – Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that his nation’s Parliament cannot stop Brexit and a new deal must be agreed if Britain is to avoid leaving the EU without one.  In his first trip abroad as leader, Johnson is due to meet his European counterparts ahead of a G-7 summit on Aug. 24-26 in Biarritz, France.  He will say that Britain is leaving the European Union on Oct. 31, with or without a deal, and that Parliament cannot block that, according to a Downing Street source.  The United Kingdom is heading toward a constitutional crisis at home and a showdown with the EU as Johnson has repeatedly vowed to leave the bloc on Oct. 31 without a deal unless it agrees to renegotiate the Brexit divorce.  Refusing to reconsider After more than three years of Brexit dominating EU affairs, the bloc has repeatedly refused to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, which includes an Irish border insurance policy that Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, agreed to in November.  The prime minister is coming under pressure from politicians across the political spectrum to prevent a disorderly departure, with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn vowing to bring down Johnson’s government in early September to delay Brexit.  It is, however, unclear if lawmakers …

TEJEDA, SPAIN – A wildfire in the Canary Islands led to the evacuation of a small town in Gran Canaria island on Saturday, and officials said the blaze had a “great potential” to spread.  The wildfire started in the town of Valleseco, and an emergency area was also declared for the municipalities of Moya and Tejeda. In the latter, most parts of the town of 1,900 inhabitants were evacuated for precautionary reasons and roads were closed, the regional government said.  Seven helicopters, as well as firefighters on the ground, were battling the blaze.  Tejeda had been evacuated last week when another wildfire affected the area.  …

Updated at 5:52 p.m. Aug. 17. ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – Authorities in Afghanistan said a massive bomb blast late Saturday inside a packed wedding hall in Kabul “killed and injured dozens of civilians.”  There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombing in a western part of the Afghan capital. The victims were mostly members of the minority Shiite Hazara community.  Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi confirmed the blast and blamed “enemies of Afghanistan” for plotting the carnage. He did not explain further.  Rahimi said police and ambulances quickly reached the site, and victims were transported to city hospitals. He said the nature of the blast was being determined, and he promised to issue soon an exact casualty toll and other details.  Local journalists quoted survivors as saying they saw dozens of bodies all around the hall following the powerful explosion.  Taliban insurgents routinely carry out attacks against government security forces in Kabul. But almost all recent bombings against the Hazara community in the city have been claimed by Islamic State’s Afghan branch, known as Khorasan Province.  Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict in Afghanistan, where more than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in July alone, according to …

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, PAKISTAN – Pakistani intelligence officials said a roadside bomb attack killed two army soldiers Saturday in the country’s northwest.    The officials said the planted bomb exploded when a security forces vehicle was patrolling in the Ladha area of South Waziristan.      The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.      No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but past such attacks have been claimed by Pakistani Taliban.      South Waziristan was a stronghold of Mahsud militants until the army carried out multiple offensives against them in recent years.    The army claims to have cleared the area near the Afghan border of Islamic militants.  …

BEIRUT – Airstrikes have killed more than two dozen civilians in northwestern Syria in the last two days in an escalation of a Russian-backed offensive against the last major rebel stronghold, a war monitor and local activists said Saturday.  An airstrike in the village of Deir Sharki killed seven members of one family, most of them children, on Saturday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Another seven people were killed by bombardments in other areas, it said.  On Friday, airstrikes in the village of al-Haas killed 13 people. The dead included a pregnant woman and her unborn baby, local activists and the observatory said. They had been seeking shelter after fleeing another area.  Rami Abdulrahman, director of the observatory, said the government’s aim was apparently to force civilians to flee from areas that had been relatively unscathed in the military escalation that began in late April.  “They are bombing the towns and their outskirts to push people to flee,” he said, adding that hundreds of families were moving northward, away from the targeted areas.  No military positions  Ahmad al-Dbis, safety and security manager for the U.S.-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), which supports medical facilities in the northwest, said the bombardment had widened into populated areas where there were no military positions.  “They are being targeted to drive …

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military said Saturday that three rockets had been fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip into southern Israel.    Israeli aerial defense batteries intercepted two of the missiles, the military said.    Israeli media reported that shrapnel from the Iron Dome defense system landed on the patio of a house. There were no immediate reports of injuries.    It was the second incident of rocket fire from Gaza in the past 24 hours.    Early on Saturday, Israeli aircraft hit two underground Hamas targets.    Israel blames the Islamic militant group for any attack originating from the Palestinian enclave.  …

The U.N. human rights office is condemning a crackdown Friday in Zimbabwe by riot police on peaceful protesters in the capital, Harare.  The agency is calling for an investigation into excessive use of force by security forces. U.N. Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville says there are better ways to deal with the population’s legitimate grievances on the economic situation in the country than by cracking down on peaceful protestors. “We are deeply concerned by the socio-economic crisis that continues to unfold in Zimbabwe.  While acknowledging efforts made by the government, the international community and the U.N. in Zimbabwe to mitigate the effects of the crisis and reform process, the dire economic situation is now impacting negatively on the realization of economic and social rights of millions of Zimbabweans,” Colville said. Zimbabwe’s citizens are struggling with hyperinflation, which has sent prices soaring for essential commodities such as fuel, food, transportation and health care.  Compounding the problems is the ongoing impact of cyclone Idai that hit Zimbabwe in March and a severe drought. The United Nations says one third of Zimbabwe’s population of 16 million people is in need of humanitarian aid.   The fallout in terms of casualties and possible arrests from …

Italy’s hard-line interior minister appeared to buckle under pressure Saturday to ease the political standoff over a migrant rescue ship with 134 people aboard, saying he would allow minors to disembark after being at sea for two weeks. Premier Giuseppe Conte had written a second letter to Interior Minister Matteo Salvini demanding that minors be allowed off the boat. Salvini wrote back Saturday with a three-page missive of his own saying he would do so but made clear it was Conte’s choice and that it didn’t set a precedent. It wasn’t clear how many youngsters were aboard, or when the disembarkation might begin. The standoff laid bare the split between Salvini’s anti-migrant League and the 5-Star Movement, which together govern Italy. Salvini is seeking to end Conte’s populist coalition with a no-confidence vote and early election that Salvini hopes will give him the premiership. Spanish aid group Open Arms had rescued the migrants in the Mediterranean near Libya two weeks ago, and won a legal battle to enter Italy’s territorial waters despite a ban by Salvini preventing humanitarian aid groups from docking. The ship has been off Italy’s coast waiting to disembark after Spain and five other European Union nations …

Conflicting demonstrations were expected to draw hundreds of protesters Saturday to the city of Portland, Oregon, where police were positioning in the downtown area to keep the peace. Far-right protesters are expected to march in the same part of town where local anti-fascist groups intend to conduct a counter-demonstration. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler joined leaders of the city’s religious, and business to warn those “who plan on using Portland on August 17th as a platform to spread your hate. Those groups are not welcome here.” community FILE – Joey Gibson, left, founder of the Patriot Prayer group, argues with a bystander at right as Gibson’s group marched following a rally supporting gun rights, Aug. 18, 2018, at City Hall in Seattle. Friday police arrested Joey Gibson, the leader of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer’s, prompting him to urge his followers on social media to “show up ten-fold, one hundred-fold” for Saturday’s protests. Gibson, who was not involved in organizing this weekend’s event but has planned similar rallies in the past, surrendered Friday on an outstanding warrant for a fight that broke out in May between his right-wing supporters and left-wing adversaries. Mayor Wheeler said all of Portland’s nearly 1,000 police …

New York City police say they’ve apprehended a man suspected of placing two devices that looked like pressure cookers in a subway station.   Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea tweeted Saturday morning that a man seen holding one of the rice cookers in surveillance video was taken into custody.   The discovery of the cookers Friday led to an evacuation and roiled the morning commute.   Police said cameras near the World Trade Center captured a man with a cart putting cookers in two locations in the subway station.   A third cooker of the same type was later discovered 2 miles (3 kilometers) away on a sidewalk.   Authorities determined they were not explosives. Pressure cookers can be turned into bombs.   Police say they didn’t have details on the man’s apprehension. No charges have been announced. …

About 4,000 people have held a rally in Moscow to demand fairness in upcoming city council elections, and solo pickets protesting the exclusion of some opposition and independent candidates are taking place at prominent monuments. The actions Saturday have been much smaller and less heated than recent weekend protests over the issue. Two unauthorized demonstrations were previously harshly broken up by police, with more than 2,000 people detained altogether; a sanctioned demonstration last week attracted as many as 60,000 people, the largest protest in several years.   The authorized rally on Saturday was organized by the Communist Party. The solo pickets are following a law that demonstrations by a single person do not require official permission.   No detentions have been reported. …

Saudi state TV says a fire has been controlled at a massive oil and gas field after a drone attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. State TV said the fire struck the Shaybah oil field, which produces some 1 million barrels of crude oil a day.   Aramco and Saudi officials did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.   The oil field at Shaybah is in the Arabian Peninsula’s Empty Quarter, a sea of sand where temperatures routinely hit 50 degrees Celsius (122 degree Fahrenheit).   The site is also just a few kilometers (miles) from the border of the United Arab Emirates and some 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from rebel-held territory in Yemen, demonstrating the range of the Houthis’ drones.   …

Officials in India-controlled Kashmir began restoring telephone service Saturday to the Himalayan region. The Indian-controlled section of disputed Kashmir has been under lockdown since early August, when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of additional troops to the region as it cut off landlines, mobile phones and the internet and stripped the Muslim-majority region of its autonomy. The U.N. Security Council held a private meeting Friday to discuss India’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s special status which has escalated tensions with neighboring Pakistan.   Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but is claimed in full by both.   Kashmir has been a regional flashpoint for decades.  Nuclear powers India and Pakistan have fought several wars over Kashmir since they both gained independence from Britain in 1947. …

Thousands of schoolteachers in Hong Kong marched to the official residence of the city’s leader Saturday as another weekend of protests got underway in the Chinese territory. An overflow crowd rallied at a nearby public square before setting off on streets that had been closed to traffic, carrying signs that read “Protect the next generation” and umbrellas to ward off intermittent downpours. The teachers tied white ribbons to a metal fence near Government House to show their support for the protesters, who have taken to the streets since early June and include many students. They said the government of leader Carrie Lam should answer the protesters’ demands and stop using what they called police violence to disperse demonstrators who have taken over streets and besieged and defaced government buildings. “We want to protect our students, our youngsters, so teachers are willing to come out and speak for the youngsters, and also, to stand by them so they are not alone,” said Fung Wai-wah, president of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union, which organized the march. People take part in the “Reclaim Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan, Restore Tranquility to Our Homeland” demonstration against the extradition bill in To Kwa …

DENALI NATIONAL PARK, Alaska  – Road crews have cleared one lane in Alaska’s Denali National Park and Preserve, and buses are beginning to return about 300 stranded tourists back to the park entrance. The tourists became stranded Friday after heavy rains triggered mudslides and caused excess water from a culvert to damage a road. A shuttle bus carrying tourists makes its way along the park road with North America’s tallest peak, Denali, in the background, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, Aug. 26, 2016. Park spokesman Paul Ollig told The Associated Press that all the stranded passengers are expected back at the park entrance Friday night, but he didn’t have an exact time of when they would arrive. “Our team did an outstanding job responding to multiple debris slides along a pretty remote section of road,’’ said Erika Jostad, Denali’s chief ranger. “The geohazard team monitored conditions while the road crew was clearing debris. It was a great example of teamwork.’’ Earlier Friday, Denali’s superintendent closed Denali Park Road to all traffic at mile 30. The road is the only one inside the vast park. Similar debris flows led to daylong traffic restrictions last week. Continued heavy rains since …