North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration signed an agreement with Guatemala Friday that will restrict asylum applications to the U.S. from Central America.

The so-called “safe third country” agreement would require migrants, including Salvadorans and Hondurans, who cross into Guatemala on their way to the U.S. to apply for protections in Guatemala instead of at the U.S. border. It could potentially ease the crush of migrants overwhelming the U.S. immigration system, although many questions remain about how the agreement will be executed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The death of a bill in Congress this week that would have bolstered election security systems puts more pressure on states to prevent cyberattacks from Russia that former special counsel Robert Mueller warned against this week. But many states are paralyzed by their own inaction.

State and local election officials want to replace aging or outdated equipment before the 2020 election, but many have said they lack the money to do so. In some states, recent legislative sessions produced little progress.

CHICAGO (AP) — A sweeping expansion of deportation powers unveiled this week by the Trump administration has sent chills through immigrant communities and prompted some lawyers to advise migrants to gather up as much documentation as possible — pay stubs, apartment leases or even gym key tags — to prove they’ve been in the U.S.

But the uncertainty about how the policy might play out has created confusion and made it harder to give clear guidance to immigrants. Attorneys and immigrant rights groups gave conflicting advice about whether to carry these documents.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the Trump administration to tap billions of dollars in Pentagon funds to build sections of a border wall with Mexico.

The court’s five conservative justices gave the administration the greenlight to begin work on four contracts it has awarded using Defense Department money. Funding for the projects had been frozen by lower courts while a lawsuit over the money proceeded. The court’s four liberal justices wouldn’t have allowed construction to start.

Jul 26, 2019; Democracy Now: Three white students at the University of Mississippi face possible federal civil rights charges after a photograph emerged showing the fraternity brothers posing with guns next to a bullet-riddled sign honoring Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African-American boy whose killing 64 years ago remains one of the most horrific examples of racial terror in the Jim Crow South.

26 July 2019; Democracy Now: A 46-year-old graphic designer and registered Republican has been identified as the creator of an altered presidential seal mocking Donald Trump that briefly appeared behind the president at an event in Washington, D.C., this week.

26 July 2019; MEMO: US lawmakers say they are unhappy about Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile defence system but are unsure what President Donald Trump – or Congress – should do next, suggesting efforts to impose sanctions were on the back burner for now, Reuters reports.

UNITED NATIONS, July 26 (APP): The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the economic arm of the United Nations, unanimously elected Pakistan’s Ambassador to UN, Maleeha Lodhi, as one of its four vice presidents at an election held on Thursday.

Ambassador Lodhi’s election was by acclamation after her candidature was endorsed by the 54-member body.

She will now assume the Asia Pacific seat in the Bureau of ECOSOC, a principal organ of the UN mandated to deliberate on socio-economic and development agenda of the world body.

NEW YORK, July 26. /TASS/: The US SpaceX carrier rocket Falcon 9 with Dragon resupply spacecraft blasted off on Thursday from Cape Canaveral (the US state of Florida) to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch was broadcast live on SpaceX’s website.

The spacecraft was launched at 18:01 local time Thursday (1:01 Moscow time Friday) and is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Saturday. The Dragon resupply ship is carrying about 2.5 tonnes of cargo to the orbital station, including food and equipment for carrying out scientific experiments.

NEW YORK, July 26. /TASS/: Iran has test fired a medium-range ballistic missile on Friday, Fox News television channel reported citing an unnamed senior official in the US administration.

According to Fox News, Shahab-3 ballistic missile was launched in the early hours on July 25 from the southern part of Iran and, after covering a distance of about 960 kilometers (600 miles) to the north of Iran, it landed in a desert not far from Tehran.