5: THE RUSSIANS HACKED HILLARY CLINTON AND THE DNC ON THE VERY DAY TRUMP ASKED THEM TO
On July 27, 2016, at the height of a heated campaign season, then-candidate Donald Trump jokingly took a jab at his rival Hillary Clinton: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
Apparently, not everyone thought it was a laughing matter. Late that same day, Russian hackers working for Moscow’s elite military intelligence agency, the GRU, attempted “to spearphish, for the first time, email accounts” used by Clinton’s personal office.
Vice News
4: Afghanistan: Civilian deaths hit record high, says UN
The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan hit a record high in the first half of the year, despite last month’s ceasefire, according to the United Nations.
In the latest figures released on Sunday by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 1,692 civilians were killed during the first six months of 2018 – the most recorded in the period over the last decade since the agency began documentation.
However, with a total of 5,122 casualties, including 3,430 injuries, UNAMA recorded a three percent overall decrease in the number of those affected by the violence in the war-torn country.
Aljazeera
3: TRUMP FINDS A NEW WEAPON FOR HIS WAR ON JOURNALISM — LEAK INDICTMENTS AIMED AT SMEARING REPORTERS
LAST MONTH, James Wolfe was indicted for lying to the FBI about his contacts with four reporters while he worked for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. His indictment, and the media coverage of it, focused to a lopsided extent on just one of the reporters: Ali Watkins, who the indictment revealed to have been Wolfe’s girlfriend for several years.
While the 11-page indictment provided no information about the other reporters, there was an abundance on Watkins, who is 26 years old and was referred to as “Reporter #2.” It noted that she started her career in Washington, D.C. as “an intern with a news service” (McClatchy Newspapers), and went on to work for “several different news organizations covering national security” (the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed News, and Politico). The indictment stated that her relationship with the middle-aged Wolfe began in December 2013 and lasted until December 2017. During that time, Watkins published dozens of articles about the intelligence committee, of which Wolfe was the director of security.
The Intercept
President Trump is meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May today, just hours after warning that a “soft Brexit” will kill Britain’s chances of a future trade deal with the United States. In an explosive interview with the Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid The Sun in which Trump claimed that Britain is losing its culture due to immigration, Trump said Theresa May had ignored his advice on Brexit negotiations. We speak with Gary Younge, editor-at-large for The Guardian and a columnist at The Nation.
Democracy Now
1: Israel in turmoil over bill allowing Jews and Arabs to be segregated
Israel is in the throes of political upheaval as the country’s ruling party seeks to pass legislation that could allow for Jewish-only communities, which critics have condemned as the end of a democratic state.
For the past half-decade, politicians have been wrangling over the details of the bill that holds constitution-like status and that Benjamin Netanyahuwants passed this month.
The proposed legislation would allow the state to “authorise a community composed of people having the same faith and nationality to maintain the exclusive character of that community”.
In its current state, the draft would also permit Jewish religious law to be implemented in certain cases and remove Arabic as an official language.
