USA

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib sharply criticized Israel on Monday for denying them entry to the Jewish state and called on fellow members of Congress to visit while they cannot.

Omar, of Minnesota, suggested President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were suppressing the lawmakers’ ability to carry out their oversight role.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Twitter said Monday it has suspended more than 200,000 accounts that it believes were part of a Chinese government influence campaign targeting the protest movement in Hong Kong.

The company also said it will ban ads from state-backed media companies, expanding a prohibition it first applied in 2017 to two Russian entities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has conducted a flight test of a type of missile banned for more than 30 years by a treaty that both the United States and Russia abandoned this month, the Pentagon said.

The test off the coast of California on Sunday marked the resumption of an arms competition that some analysts worry could increase U.S.-Russian tensions. The Trump administration has said it remains interested in useful arms control but questions Moscow’s willingness to adhere to its treaty commitments.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein signed a will just two days before he killed himself in jail, new court records show, opening a new legal front in what could be a long battle over the financier’s fortune.

Court papers filed last week in the U.S. Virgin Islands list no details of beneficiaries but valued the estate at more than $577 million, including more than $56 million in cash.

NEW YORK (AP) — After five years of investigations and protests, the New York City Police Department on Monday fired an officer involved in the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner, the black man whose dying gasps of “I can’t breathe” gave voice to a national debate over race and police use of force.

Police Commissioner James O’Neill said he fired Daniel Pantaleo, who is white, based on a recent recommendation of a department disciplinary judge.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The “fundamentals” of the U.S. economy are solid, the White House asserted Monday, invoking an ill-fated political declaration of a decade ago amid mounting concern that a recession could imperil President Donald Trump’s reelection.

Exhibiting no such concern, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway declared to reporters, “The fact is, the fundamentals of our economy are very strong,”

19 August 2019; DW: The US president has said that he'd "like to see Hong Kong worked out in a very humanitarian fashion." Trump warned that a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown would damage talks on a US-China trade deal.

US President Donald Trump has warned that a potential violent crackdown on Hong Kong protesters could damage prospects of a US trade deal with China.

After Hong Kong entered its 11th week of protests on Sunday, Trump called for President Xi Jinping to "sit down" with rally leaders.

19 August 2019; DW: The UN has warned that hostility towards Venezuelan refugees in neighboring countries will grow if aid is not increased. Of the more than $700 million that had been sought, less than $180 million has been received.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi made a plea on Sunday to increase humanitarian aid for Venezuelan refugees, as the new arrivals are overwhelming social services and sparking local tensions in neighboring countries.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Call it the diplomacy of coercion.

The Trump administration is aggressively pursuing economic sanctions as a primary foreign policy tool to an extent unseen in decades, or perhaps ever. Many are questioning the results even as officials insist the penalties are achieving their aims.

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump dismissed concerns of recession on Sunday and offered an optimistic outlook for the economy after last week’s steep drop in the financial markets.

“I don’t think we’re having a recession,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington from his New Jersey golf club. “We’re doing tremendously well. Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut and they’re loaded up with money.”