USA

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nineteen Democrats hoping to be the next president are in Nevada Saturday to win support from labor unions that hold sway in the state that will cast the first votes in the West in next year’s primary.

Candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris will speak Saturday at a labor forum hosted by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a public employees union that has 1.6 million members nationally.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Freshman Democratic Rep. Andy Kim came face to face with impeachment fervor at a town hall in New Jersey. “Do your job!” shouted one voter.

Several states away, a woman held up a copy of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and told freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin at a Michigan town hall she hoped she would “be the person that puts us over the top to start an impeachment inquiry.”

And in semi-rural Virginia, newcomer Rep. Abigail Spanberger encountered voters with questions, if not resolve, about impeaching President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pick for national intelligence director, Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, withdrew from consideration Friday after just five days as he faced growing questions about his experience and qualifications. 

The move underscored the uncertainty over his confirmation prospects. Democrats openly dismissed the Republican congressman as an unqualified partisan and Republicans offered only lukewarm and tentative expressions of support.

2 Aug 2019; MEMO: Israel secretly lobbied the US to block Turkey from purchasing its F-35 fighter jets in an effort to maintain its military edge in the region, according to Israeli media reports.

Tel Aviv began urging the White House to drop Ankara from its F-35 program soon after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved the purchase of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia, Israeli Channel 12 reported yesterday.

PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) — A jail breakout ended without violence as authorities scooped up a white supremacist gang leader and another fugitive more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from their Arkansas lockup .

Wesley Gullett, 30, surrendered while walking alone down a highway in Dover, northwest of the Jefferson County jail in Pine Bluff from which he escaped, authorities said. He was taken to the Pope County jail.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A hard-won budget and debt deal easily cleared the Senate on Thursday, powered by President Donald Trump’s endorsement and a bipartisan drive to cement recent spending increases for the Pentagon and domestic agencies.

The legislation passed by a 67-28 vote as Trump and his GOP allies relied on lots of Democratic votes to propel it over the finish line.

NEW YORK (AP) — Many religious leaders have strongly condemned President Donald Trump’s disparaging remarks about minority members of Congress. Prominent figures on the religious right have not joined in, instead maintaining public silence or insisting that Trump’s tactics reflect hard-nosed politics rather than racism.

“He does not judge people by the color of their skin,” said the Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of the Southern Baptist megachurch First Baptist Dallas and a frequent guest at the White House.

SEATTLE (AP) — A theft ring in Washington state sold millions of dollars’ worth of stolen goods on Amazon.com in the past six years, and a pair of contract Amazon delivery drivers was involved, recently unsealed federal court documents show.

According to a search warrant affidavit unsealed in U.S. District Court in Seattle and reviewed by The Associated Press, two storefront businesses posing as pawn shops bought the goods from shoplifters, then had the items shipped to Amazon warehouses, where they were stored until sold online.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs beginning Sept. 1 on the $300 billion in Chinese imports he hasn’t already hit with taxes (all times local):

7:30 p.m.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he’s worried about tensions between the world’s two largest global economies — the United States and China.

The U.N. chief told reporters Thursday: “We need to learn the lessons of the Cold War and avoid a new one.”

Washington, Aug 2 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has said the issue of Kashmir is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan but he would be happy to mediate if they want him to do so.

Last week, Trump had made a stunning claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to mediate on the vexed issue during their meeting in Japan, evoking a sharp reaction from India which denied Modi making any such request.