July 19, 2019 2:47 pm
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has seized a British oil tanker that was passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC’s website, sepahnews.com, says the tanker “Stena Impero” was seized Friday by IRGC forces for “non-compliance with international maritime laws and regulations” and has transferred the vessel to an Iranian port. The report did not elaborate what port it was transferred to. The operator of oil tanker Stena Impero says it is unable to contact the ship after it was approached by unidentified vessels and a helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz. Northern Marine Management and shipping firm Stena Bulk say in a statement that the vessel was in international waters and is now heading toward Iran. The ship has 23 crew aboard. The British government says it is urgently seeking information after reports Iran has seized the British-flagged ship.
July 19, 2019 2:34 pm
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Instagram is expanding a test to hide how many “likes” people’s posts receive as it tries to combat criticism that such counts hurt mental health and make people feel bad when comparing themselves to others. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing service has been running the test in Canada since May. Now, Facebook says the test has been expanded to Ireland, Italy, Japan, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand. Facebook typically tests new Facebook and Instagram features in smaller markets before bringing them to the U.S., if it ever does. People can still see how many people liked their own photos, but won’t see counts for other people’s posts. Rather, they could tap to see a list of all the accounts that liked the other posts, but would have to count the total manually.
July 19, 2019 9:35 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – More cuts at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – which announced Thursday that it would be reducing the number of days it prints a newspaper. Our news partners at Channel 11 obtained a letter that was sent to all union presidents at the Post-Gazette. It said that the paper intends to move to a digital-only operation and part of that move includes reducing the number of print days by two in 2019. The change will take effect September 30. Last August, the Post-Gazette cut printed newspapers on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
July 19, 2019 9:31 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A federal grand jury is accusing a Syrian refugee of plotting to bomb a Christian church in Pittsburgh to inspire Islamic State of Iraq followers. The jury handed up a three-count indictment Wednesday against 21-year-old Pittsburgh resident Mustafa Mousab Alowemer. He’s charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and two counts of distributing information about an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction. Authorities claim he had detailed plans to bomb the Legacy International Worship Center, a small Christian church. Authorities say Alowemer was born in Syria and came to the United States in 2016. He was arrested last month while meeting with undercover FBI agents, leading to the grand jury indictment. Messages left for his federal public defender weren’t returned.
July 19, 2019 6:59 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Police say a “person of interest” in the fatal shooting of an off-duty Pittsburgh police officer is in custody. A Public Safety Department spokesman on Thursday night said the person is held on charges unrelated to the death of 36-year-old Officer Calvin Hall. The spokesman did not release the charge or the person’s name and would only say the investigation is ongoing. Hall died Wednesday at a hospital after he was shot three times in the back early Sunday during a street dispute as one or more parties were going on. Officials say there was a “strong possibility” that Hall, although off duty, “was in fact acting under the color of the law when he was fatally shot.” His funeral is scheduled for Tuesday.
July 19, 2019 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says he will nominate lawyer Eugene Scalia to be his new labor secretary. Scalia is the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He is a partner in the Washington office of the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm. Trump tweets that Scalia “is highly respected not only as a lawyer, but as a lawyer with great experience working with labor and everyone else.” Trump’s previous labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, resigned last week. Acosta has come under renewed criticism for his handling of a 2008 secret plea deal with wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is accused of sexually abusing underage girls.
July 19, 2019 4:20 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will get a debate rematch in the second round of Democratic presidential primary debates, while Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren will share a stage to argue their progressive visions. CNN randomly assigned 20 candidates to the two stages in a drawing broadcast live Thursday night. The debates are being held over two nights, July 30-31, in Detroit. Sanders and Warren will appear on the first night, along with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; former Maryland Rep. John Delaney; and author Marianne Williamson. Appearing onstage July 31 along with Biden and Harris are New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; entrepreneur Andrew Yang; former Housing Secretary Julian Castro; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
July 19, 2019 4:19 am
TOKYO (AP) – A Japanese fire official says the death toll from the Kyoto Animation studio fire is now 33 and nobody else is believed to be still missing. Kyoto fire department official Kazuhiro Hayashi says 36 others have been injured, 10 of them critically. Hayashi says firefighters found the largest number of victims on the top floor of the three-story building, including some who had collapsed on the stairs leading to the roof. Two of the dead were found on the first floor, 11 on the second and 20 on the third floor. Japanese media reports said the suspect may have set the fire at the front door, forcing people to try to find other exits and slowing their escape. The outcome makes the case the deadliest fire since a 2001 fire that killed 44 in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district. The suspect was injured and is in a hospital.
July 19, 2019 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has chided his supporters who chanted “send her back” when he questioned the loyalty of a Somali-born congresswoman, joining widespread criticism of the campaign crowd’s cry after Republicans warned about political blowback from the angry scene. In a week that has been full of hostile exchanges over race and love of country on both sides, Trump also claimed he had tried to stop the chant at a reelection event Wednesday night in North Carolina – though video suggests otherwise. The target- Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota – responded defiantly Thursday. She told reporters at the Capitol the confrontation is a fight over “what this country truly should be.”
July 19, 2019 4:15 am
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – An Iranian news agency is reporting that the country’s armed forces say all Iranian drones in the Persian Gulf returned safely to their bases. The report comes after President Donald Trump on Thursday said an American warship, the USS Boxer, took defensive action after an Iranian drone came within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored multiple calls to stand down.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted military spokesman Gen. Abolfazl Shekari as saying on Friday that “all Iranian drones that are in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, including the one which the U.S. president mentioned, after carrying out scheduled identification and control missions, have returned to their bases.” Gen. Shekarchi also said there have been no reports of any confrontation between the USS Boxer and an Iranian drone.
