POPGAZETA

As the world watched another mass protest Sunday in Hong Kong, many — including observers in Beijing — noticed that a billionaire publisher was again at the head of the march. At 70 years old, there is no sign that Jimmy Lai is slowing down. Cameras captured Lai unfolding a banner and holding one end while 30-year-old Sham Tsz Kit, head of Hong Kong’s Civil Human Rights Front, took hold of the other end. Others helped raise the banner as the crowd started down the streets. Hong Kong’s Da Kung Pao, widely known as a media outlet backed by Beijing, reported that Lai was urging others to keep pace during the march. During a visit to Washington earlier this month, Lai traded his protest wear — a T-shirt, baseball cap and backpack — for a business suit to participate in meetings with high-level U.S. officials including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton and key members of Congress. FILE – Hong Kong politician Martin Lee and founder of Next Media Jimmy Lai march during a protest to demand authorities scrap a proposed extradition bill with China, in Hong Kong, March 31, 2019. As …

Director James Cameron on Monday handed over the baton for the biggest box-office movie of all time to the makers of “Avengers: Endgame” after it ended the 10-year record of “Avatar.” The Marvel Studios superhero movie “Avengers: Endgame” at the weekend overtook the $2.789 billion record set by Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi film “Avatar” to bring its global total to $2.790 billion, according to box-office data. “I see you, Marvel,” Cameron tweeted, using a greeting in the Na’vi language featured in “Avatar” over a graphic of Iron Man surrounded by Pandoran woodsprites. “Congratulations to Avengers: Endgame on becoming the new box-office king,” the director added. James Cameron talks with his crew in front of the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER following testing of the submersible in Jervis Bay, south of Sydney, Australia. “Endgame,” released in theaters worldwide in April and featuring more than 20 superheroes, is the culmination of a story told in 22 Marvel films that have drawn crowds to cinemas for a decade. Joe Russo, left, and Anthony Russo participate in a conversation with the Russo Brothers on day two of Comic-Con International, July 19, 2019, in San Diego. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo on Monday returned the compliment to Cameron. “You’re …

A wildfire in the western U.S. state of Arizona grew from 80 hectares to more than 400 hectares overnight, officials said Monday.  Residents of the city of Flagstaff and surrounding communities have been warned to expect heavy smoke to stifle the area. Campers and visitors to the Coconino National Forest have been asked to evacuate. Some 200 firefighters and a dozen aircraft, including four air tankers, have been fighting the blaze, dubbed the Museum Fire.  The cause of the fire, first reported Sunday morning, is under investigation. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said his office was in contact with emergency responders. “My thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters and first responders working to protect Arizonans, their pets and their property,” a statement released by his office said. …

Iceland’s first glacier to be lost to rising temperatures is to be marked with a memorial carrying a grim warning about the impact of climate change if the world fails to act on time. “In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path,” reads a plaque to be installed next month near where Okjokull, also known as Ok Glacier, was until it was lost in 2014. “This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it,” it reads in English and Icelandic, under the words “A letter to the future.” Icelanders call their nation the “Land of Fire and Ice” for its other-worldly landscape of volcanoes and glaciers, immortalized in literature. But the glaciers are melting and scientists say rising global temperatures are to blame. “This will be the first monument to a glacier lost to climate change anywhere in the world,” said Cymene Howe, and anthropologist with Houston-based Rice University who made a 2018 documentary about the glacier’s disappearance. “By marking Ok’s passing, we hope to draw attention to what is being lost as Earth’s glaciers expire.” Grim predictions …

Mexico will not agree to further discussion of safe third country status for asylum seekers, the foreign minister said, adding it was not clear what the Trump administration’s stance was on the issue despite a deadline reached on Monday. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that in weekend talks, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not address an earlier deal that the two countries look at making asylum seekers apply for refuge in Mexico if migration flows were not significantly lower by July 22. Proposal unnecessary However, Ebrard said he told Pompeo in Mexico City on Sunday that Mexico’s view was that the proposal was unnecessary, after it helped reduce apprehensions at the U.S. southern border by a about a third last month. “I can’t anticipate what their stance is but the Mexican position is very clear. We are not going to change our position. We don’t agree, and we have not accepted a negotiation about it,” Ebrard said at a news conference. Mexican soldiers present arms as the country’s Minister of Defense drives by, in Tapachula, Mexico, June 11, 2019. Mexican officials say they are beginning deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops for immigration enforcement. Mexico has long resisted …

U.S. President Donald Trump predicted Monday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony this week about whether the U.S. leader tried to obstruct his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election will end badly for him and that he shouldn’t even be testifying. Moreover, Trump said, “I am not going to be watching Mueller.” “Highly conflicted Robert Mueller should not be given another bite at the apple,” Trump contended on Twitter. “In the end it will be bad for him and the phony Democrats in Congress who have done nothing but waste time on this ridiculous Witch Hunt. Result of the Mueller Report, NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION!” Highly conflicted Robert Mueller should not be given another bite at the apple. In the end it will be bad for him and the phony Democrats in Congress who have done nothing but waste time on this ridiculous Witch Hunt. Result of the Mueller Report, NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION!… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – Robert Mueller, then-special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a meeting with lawmakers, in Washington, June 21, 2017. Mueller reached no conclusion whether Trump obstructed justice by trying …

A British-Iranian mother jailed in Tehran since 2016 has been returned to prison after being held in the mental ward of a public hospital for nearly a week, her husband said Monday. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was kept chained and under heavy guard for six days which she says left her “broken”, according to her husband Richard Ratcliffe. The 40-year-old detainee, who is serving a five-year term for sedition, was returned to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison — used to hold political prisoners — on Saturday, he said. She was then allowed to see her mother and five-year-old daughter Gabriella the following day, Ratcliffe added. “I am all right, broken, but I survived,” Zaghari-Ratcliffe said, in comments relayed by her husband in a lengthy statement detailing her detention in the psychiatric ward. “I wasn’t allowed to leave the room, as I was chained to the bed. It was proper torture. “I am relieved I am back to prison,” she added. Ratcliffe, who has spent the last three years doggedly campaigning for his wife’s release, said he hoped Iranian medical officials might now consider releasing her on health grounds. “The whole experience was deeply traumatising,” he said of her transfer to the mental unit. …

A sweeping internet shutdown in Myanmar’s conflict-hit Rakhine state went into its fifth week Monday as residents called on the government to end an information blackout that rights groups say could provide cover for rights abuses. Mobile phone operators suspended internet data on June 21 in eight townships across northern Rakhine and one in neighboring Chin state — where soldiers are fighting ethnic Rakhine rebels known as the Arakan Army (AA) who want greater autonomy. Authorities say the internet was being used to coordinate operations while rights groups allege the blackout permits troops to act with impunity. But it has also disrupted daily life and sown fear among residents struggling to receive news on everything from flooding updates to ongoing skirmishes. “It’s like an information blackout,” Saw Oo from Mrauk-U township told AFP, adding that people were unable to share details on weather conditions during the rainy season. Maungdaw township resident Hla Hla said it was also considered risky to use sim cards from neighbouring Bangladesh as it could lead to arrest. “We are really afraid of getting caught,” she said. In recent months the military has cut off whole villages as it tries to flush out AA members and sympathizers. …

The size of a person’s waistline may be linked to mobile phones, tablets and laptops, according to a recent study led by Rice University in Houston. Scientists noticed a trend that correlates with the rise of technology in society. As digital devices became more prevalent, people got fatter. Obesity around the world has tripled since 1975, according to the World Health Organization. While changes in people’s food intake and activity levels have been attributed to the trend, Rice University post doctoral fellow Richard Lopez wondered if there is a link between weight gain and the mindless multitasking on various digital devices, which has nothing to do with a sedentary lifestyle. “When we talk about media multitasking here, we’re not talking about effectively multitasking where you’re monitoring one thing and you’re doing another and you’re able to succeed at both. It’s kind of this mindless switching that we believe is relatively involuntary, like I was looking at Instagram or Twitter. Where did the time go?” Lopez, along with researchers from Dartmouth University and Ohio State University, conducted a study where 132 university-age adults from 18 to 23 years old answered questions such as how often are they were distracted by notifications …

Mexican officials say they have uncovered an industrial-scale migrant smuggling ring using tractor-trailer rigs disguised as freight deliveries for major companies. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday authorities found a tractor-trailer disguised with the logo of a major grocery store chain. But instead of groceries, it was carrying about 150 migrants. And Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said that four or five freight trucks found in June carrying hundreds of migrants belonged to an independent trucking company. Some of those trucks bore the logos of well-known firms. The company based in central Mexico operated trucks equipped with air-conditioning units, but didn’t turn on the ventilation when carrying migrants. That led officials to believe it was just a matter of time before migrants would die aboard the overcrowded vehicles. …

Spain’s caretaker prime minister acknowledged in his first appeal to parliament Monday to win its backing to form a government that he still lacks key votes to earn its endorsement. The parliamentary debate arrived after a frantic weekend of talks by Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists with the far-left United We Can party to strike a last-minute deal to create a coalition government. “I propose a government that is progressive, that protects the environment, that furthers women’s rights and that strengthens Europe,” Sanchez told the Madrid-based Congress of Deputies, the lower house of parliament. But after outlining a battery of policies aimed primarily at combating unemployment, the impacts of climate change and the new digital economy, and improving education, Sanchez waited to the very end of his two-hour speech to include a short message aimed at United We Can. “We have seen that it is not easy for us to reach an agreement,” Sanchez told United We Can’s parliament members. “[But] it is up to us to keep working and see this through. And then we will have the opportunity to move forward with that which unites us, which are the promises of the left, a society of men and women living …

Thousands of people in New York City were still without power Monday after being disconnected a day earlier to prevent a larger blackout amid high heat and humidity. Con Edison restored power to around 13,000 people in southeast Brooklyn, according to a statement released overnight. Roughly 53,000 customers were without power late Sunday night, but that number had dropped to around 20,000 by early Monday. The utility said in an emailed statement that it was working to restore power to everyone by the afternoon.   The scattered outages primarily affected Brooklyn and Queens. Mayor Bill De Blasio said that New York City emergency management was adding personnel on the ground in southeast Brooklyn, including at nursing homes and adult care facilities, to respond to emergencies and keep people safe. Around 30,000 customers in Brooklyn were taken off power Sunday so the utility could make repairs and prevent a bigger outage, de Blasio had said.   Like much of the East Coast, New York City experienced temperatures in the high 90s over the weekend _ and felt much hotter with the humidity. Temperatures were starting to fall but the low remained in the high 70s, and city emergency management officials warned …

Sen. Kamala Harris is introducing legislation designed to ensure all Americans, particularly those in at-risk communities, have access to safe, affordable drinking water, the latest response to burgeoning water crises across the country. The California Democrat and presidential candidate’s “Water Justice Act” would invest nearly $220 billion in clean and safe drinking water programs, with priority given to high-risk communities and schools. As part of that, Harris’ plan would declare a drinking water infrastructure emergency, devoting $50 billion toward communities and schools where water is contaminated to test for contaminants and to remediate toxic infrastructure. The legislation, being introduced on Monday, also would establish a $10 billion program to allow states to offset the cost of water bills in low-income communities and environmentally at-risk households. Additionally, Harris would invest $20 billion in a variety of sustainable water supply, recycling and conservation programs. Harris is focusing on the issue as she and other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates turn their sights on Michigan, where the city of Flint has faced a major water crisis. Harris, who launched her campaign in January, is among the party’s candidates speaking at the NAACP’s national convention in Michigan this week. And 20 candidates seeking their party’s …

Equifax will pay up to $700 million to settle with the Federal Trade Commission and others over a 2017 data breach that exposed Social Security numbers and other private information of nearly 150 million people. The proposed settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, if approved by the federal district court Northern District of Georgia, will provide up to $425 million in monetary relief to consumers, a $100 million civil money penalty, and other relief. The bureau coordinated its investigation with the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from across the U.S. The announcement Monday confirms a report by The Wall Street Journal that the credit reporting agency had reached a deal with the U.S. …

Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report. WASHINGTON — Iran appears to be further stoking tensions with the West, announcing Monday it has captured 17 U.S. spies and sentenced some of them to death, an allegation the U.S. president denied. The announcement from Iran’s ministry of intelligence claimed the spies had been captured during the past year and had been collecting information from “sensitive sites,” like military and nuclear facilities, for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. An Iranian counterintelligence official further said that despite having received sophisticated training from the United States, none of the alleged spies had been successful in efforts to sabotage the Iranian facilities. Television reports also showed photographs of alleged CIA officers who had been in touch with the spies. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Monday, “The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda (like their shot down drone) put out by a Religious Regime that is Badly Failing and has no idea what to do.” The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda (like their shot down drone) put out by a Religious Regime that is Badly Failing …

At least five people were killed and several wounded when a car bomb was detonated Monday outside a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a security officer and witnesses said. The explosion near a checkpoint outside the Afrik Hotel reverberated throughout the city, and sent a massive plume of black smoke into the air. Abdullahi Ahmed, a security officer who witnessed the blast, said at least five people were killed in the attack, which appeared to be targeting the hotel. “I can confirm the death of five people: three civilians and two government security officers at the checkpoint,” he told AFP. “The area was relatively dense with bystanders and some were killed and wounded in the blast, but we don’t have the exact number of casualties.” Other witnesses describing being knocked to the ground by the force of the blast, which damaged nearby buildings. “I was not very far away from where the blast occurred, and I could see several people lying (on the ground), some of them dead with a pool of blood,” said one, Abdikarim Mohamed. “The blast was huge. It did damage to several nearby buildings.” Suado Ali was walking out of a travel agency when the …

India launched a bid to become a leading space power Monday, sending up a rocket to put a craft on the surface of the Moon in what it called a “historic day” for the nation. Chandrayaan-2 — or Moon Chariot 2 — took off on time at 2:43 pm (0913 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on an island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh state. Applause broke out in the mission control room as the rocket blasted off into the grey skies over the Indian Ocean and mission control announced that the orbiter had broken away from the rocket with no problem. “Today is a historic day for space, science and tech in India,” Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief K. Sivan said. The launch came a week after a fuel leak forced a previous attempt to be scrubbed 56 minutes before the scheduled blast-off. The South Asian nation is bidding to follow Russia, the United States and China in landing a spacecraft on the Moon. President Ram Nath Kovind watched the launch alongside 7,000 dignitaries and flag-waving children. The rocket carried an orbiter, a lander and a rover, and has been almost entirely designed and made in India. The …

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that in his meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday he will stress the need for political resolution to the protracted war in Afghanistan. Khan, who is in the U.S. on a three-day official visit in a bid to repair strained bilateral ties, made the remarks to a big gathering of Pakistani diaspora in Washington late on Sunday. He had long campaigned against the use of U.S. military force to resolve the conflict even before he came to power after last year’s elections in Pakistan. “I feel proud that now the whole world is saying Afghanistan has no military solution,” Khan told the cheering crowd, which organizers said was the biggest gathering of Pakistani Americans to date. Earlier, a senior U.S. administration official said Trump will press Khan for assistance in advancing the Afghan peace process and encourage Pakistan to crackdown on militants within its territory.  Pakistan has arranged Washington’s direct peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents who are fighting local and U.S.-led international troops in neighboring Afghanistan.  The months-long U.S.-Taliban dialogue has brought the two adversaries in the 18-year-old Afghan war close to concluding a peace agreement to pave the ground for ending …

The official People’s Daily newspaper, in a front-page commentary headlined “Central Authority Cannot be Challenged,” called the protesters’ actions “intolerable.” One group of protesters targeted China’s liaison office on Sunday night after more than 100,000 people marched through the city to demand democracy and an investigation into the use of force by police to disperse crowds at earlier protests. Police launched tear gas to disperse the protesters. Later, protesters trying to return home were attacked inside a train station by assailants who appeared to target the pro-democracy demonstrators. The attack on the liaison office touched a raw nerve in China. China’s national emblem, which hangs on the front of the building, was splattered with black ink. It was replaced by a new one within hours. Police said on their official social media accounts that protesters threw bricks and petrol bombs at them and attacked the Central police station. “These acts openly challenged the authority of the central government and  touched the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle,” the government’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said in a statement issued Sunday. The “one-country, two systems” framework allows Hong Kong to maintain a fair amount of autonomy in governing …

British Prime Minister Theresa May is meeting Monday with security ministers and security officials for emergency talks about how to handle the Iranian seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Among the potential responses Britain is considering is the prospect of imposing economic sanctions on Iran. May’s government is expected to update members of Britain’s parliament on the situation later Monday. In an audio recording of the incident released by the maritime security risk firm Dryad Global on Sunday, a British warship warns an Iranian patrol boat against interfering with the passage of the Stena Impero oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz.  Iran Revolutionary Guard commandos descending from a helicopter seized the tanker shortly thereafter. A British naval officer can be heard telling the tanker that it was operating in international waters and that its “passage must not be impaired, intruded, obstructed or hampered.” The British officer then tells an Iranian patrol boat: “Please confirm that you are not intending to violate international law by unlawfully attempting to board the MV Stena.” But an Iranian officer told the tanker to change course, saying, “You obey, you will be safe. Alter your course to 360 degrees …

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele hailed a new chapter in his country’s relationship with the United States, thanking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for being the first top U.S. diplomat to visit his country in ten years. For his part, Secretary Pompeo praised Bukele’s shift towards the United States. “El Salvador with its new leadership has made a clear choice to fight corruption, promote justice and partner with the United States, and together both of our peoples will reap those benefits.” Pompeo also praised El Salvador for declaring it does not recognize what he termed “the corrupt Maduro regime” as the legitimate government of Venezuela. El Salvador’s Bukele spoke in English and it was clear that he has a warm rapport with Pompeo. “We talk about fighting the gangs together, we talk about interdicting narcotics together, we talk about reducing immigration together.  So I think this was a very, very important meeting.  I think that it’s a game-changer.” Asked about the U.S. freezing its foreign aid for El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to compel their leaders to stem the flow of migration to the U.S. southern border, Bukele had a strong response. “What do we want to do in El …

Paul Krassner, the publisher, author and radical political activist on the front lines of 1960s counterculture who helped tie together his loose-knit prankster group by naming them the Yippies, died Sunday in Southern California, his daughter said.  Krassner died at his home in Desert Hot Springs, Holly Krassner Dawson told The Associated Press. He was 87 and had recently transitioned to hospice care after an illness, Dawson said. She didn’t say what the illness was.  The Yippies, who included Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman and were otherwise known as the Youth International Party, briefly became notorious for such stunts as running a pig for president and throwing dollar bills onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Hoffman and Rubin, but not Krassner, were among the so-called “Chicago 7” charged with inciting riots at 1968’s chaotic Democratic National Convention.  By the end of the decade, most of the group’s members had faded into obscurity. But not Krassner, who constantly reinvented himself, becoming a public speaker, freelance writer, stand-up comedian, celebrity interviewer and author of nearly a dozen books.  “He doesn’t waste time,” longtime friend and fellow counterculture personality Wavy Gravy once said of him. “People who waste time …

The German airline Lufthansa resumed daily direct flights to Cairo on Sunday after a one-day suspension due to unspecified safety concerns. But British Airways still has all its flights to the Egyptian capital grounded and plans to keep them that way for six more days. The two airlines on Saturday abruptly canceled all flights to Cairo after the British government warned of a “heightened risk of terrorism against aviation.” Egypt’s minister of civil aviation, Lt. General Younes Elmasry, on Sunday expressed frustration that the airline suspended flights without consulting Egyptian authorities.  He met with Britain’s Ambassador to Egypt Geoffrey Adams and said the two sides would work to resolve the situation as soon as possible. Passengers scrambled to find alternative flights after receiving a notification from the airline informing them about the decision which came into effect immediately. In a statement, British Airways said the move was “a precaution to allow for further assessment”, without offering further details. The U.S. State Department warned citizens Friday about traveling to Egypt. “A number of terrorist groups, including Islamic State, have committed multiple deadly attacks in Egypt, targeting government officials and security forces, public venues, tourist sites, civil aviation and other modes of …

A series of Islamic State (IS) announcements of new provinces it controls in recent weeks has renewed debate over the group’s possible resurgence after its self-proclaimed caliphate fell, with some analysts warning an increasingly decentralized IS could recover and spread its tentacles to other parts of the world. During his first appearance last April after five years, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a new video was seen handling documents about the group’s global affiliates, including newly found provinces in Turkey and Central Africa. In the 18-minute video by IS’ media wing al-Furqan, al-Baghdadi also welcomed new joiners from Burkina Faso, Mali and Sri Lanka. Since its leader’s reappearance, IS has announced new “wilayats” or provinces, and has rearranged its existing ones ranging from different areas of the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. Last week, IS in a new video claimed a new province in Turkey. The five-minute long video showed a group of militants pledging allegiance to al-Baghdadi and asking potential sympathizers in Turkey to join the group. This file image made from video posted on a militant website July 5, 2014, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon …