BAGHDAD: Hundreds of angry supporters of an Iraqi Shiite militia smashed security cameras on the wall around the US Embassy in Baghdad, rattled the main gate and set on fire three empty trailers used by the guards on Tuesday. The embassy attack followed deadly US airstrikes this week that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq.
Shouting “Down, Down USA,” the crowd tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water and stones over its walls. They raised yellow militia flags and taunted the embassy’s security staff who remained behind the glass windows in the gates’ reception area. They sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows in red in support of the Kataeb Hezbollah militia: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”
Hundreds of angry protesters, some in militia uniforms, set up tents outside the embassy. As tempers rose, the mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the embassy wall.
No one was immediately reported hurt in the rampage and security staff had withdrawn to inside the embassy earlier, soon after protesters gathered outside.
The US military carried out the strikes on Sunday against the Kataeb Hezbollah militia, calling it retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it blamed on the group.
The US attack — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the subsequent calls by the militia for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the US and Iran playing out in the Middle East.
Tuesday’s attempted embassy storming took place after mourners and supporters held funerals for the militia fighters killed in a Baghdad neighborhood, after which they marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking till they reached the sprawling US Embassy there.
AP journalists then saw the crowd as they tried to scale the walls of the embassy, in what appeared to be an attempt to storm it, shouting “Down, down USA!” and “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday’s strikes send the message that the US will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.
The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia had vowed Monday to retaliate for the US military strikes. The attack and vows for revenge raised concerns of new attacks that could threaten American interests in the region.
The US attack also outraged both the militias and the Iraqi government, which said it will reconsider its relationship with the US-led coalition — the first time it has said it will do so since an agreement was struck to keep some US troops in the country. It called the attack a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.
In a partly televised meeting Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi told Cabinet members that he had tried to stop the US operation “but there was insistence” from American officials.
The US military said “precision defensive strikes” were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria. The group, which is a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.
Iraqi supporters of Iran-backed militia attack US Embassy
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Iraqi supporters of Iran-backed militia attack US Embassy
- The embassy attack follows deadly U.S. airstrikes this week that killed 25 fighters of Iran-backed militia in Iraq
- Hundreds of angry protesters had set up tents outside the embassy in Baghdad
8.7-magnitude earthquake in Russia’s Far East sets off tsunami warnings in Japan, Alaska and Hawaii
- The quake's epicentre was initially reported some 85 miles (136 kilometres) east of Petropavlovsk in the country's Kamchatka peninsula, at a depth of 12 miles (19 kilometres), USGS said
- Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city nearby, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street without shoes or outerwear
TOKYO: A magnitude-8.7 earthquake in Russia’s Far East early Wednesday prompted tsunami warnings in parts of Japan, Alaska and Hawaii.
Damage and evacuations were reported in the Russian regions nearest the epicenter on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Japan’s meteorological agency issued a tsunami alert for Japan’s Pacific coast, saying waves up to 3 meter (yards) could arrive along the northern Japanese coasts less than half an hour after the alert.
In the United States, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami had been generated by the quake that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.
“Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property,” the warning stated. The first waves were expected around 7 p.m. local time.
The quake at 8:25 a.m. Japan time had a preliminary magnitude of 8.0, Japan and US seismologists said. Japan and the US Geological Survey later updated their measurements to 8.7 magnitude and the USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of 19.3 kilometers (12 miles).
The quake was about 250 kilometers (160 miles) away from Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four big islands, and was felt only slightly, according to Japan’s NHK television.
Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city near the epicenter, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street without shoes or outerwear. Cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed in the street and balconies on buildings shook noticeably.
Tass also reported power outages and mobile phone service failures in the capital of the Kamchatka region.
Tass also quoted a local Russian official as saying residents on Sakhalin Island were being evacuated and emergency services were working at full capacity.
The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands, and a watch for portions of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington, and Hawaii.
The advisory also includes a vast swath of Alaska’s coast line, including parts of the panhandle.
Earlier in July, five powerful quakes — the largest with a magnitude of 7.4 — struck in the sea near Kamchatka. The largest quake was at a depth of 20 kilometers and was 144 kilometers (89 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000.
On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1-meter (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.
Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, with 3 set to die over next month
- Eight other executions have taken place in Florida this year, with a ninth scheduled for Thursday and a 10th scheduled for Aug. 19, all by lethal injection
TALLAHASSEE, Florida: There are three executions set to take place in Florida over the next month, including a man convicted of fatally shooting three people and wounding another person, under a death warrant signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Curtis Windom, 59, is set to die by lethal injection Aug. 28 in the state with the highest number of executions this year. Experts say an uptick in executions around the country can be traced to aggressive Republican governors and attorney generals pushing to get through lengthy appeals processes and get executions done.
Also, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order on his first day back in office to urge prosecutors to seek the death penalty, which may have also fueled the increase, according to John Blume, the director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project.
Windom is scheduled to be killed at Florida State Prison near the city of Starke. He was convicted in 1992 and sentenced to death for the murders of Johnnie Lee, Valerie Davis and Mary Lubin.
Eight other executions have taken place in Florida this year, with a ninth scheduled for Thursday and a 10th scheduled for Aug. 19, all by lethal injection. Edward J. Zakrzewski, II, was convicted of killing his wife and two children in 1994 after she sought a divorce, and Kayle Bates was convicted of killing a woman after abducting her from an insurance office in 1982.
According to court documents, Windom bought a .38-caliber revolver and ammunition in the Orlando area on Feb. 7, 1992. He then tracked down Lee and shot him multiple times over what Windom claimed was a $2,000 debt.
Windom then went to the apartment of Davis, with whom he shared a child, and shot her, officials said. Windom shot another man, who survived, while fleeing the apartment. Davis’ mother, Lubin, was driving home when Windom spotted her and shot her at a stop sign.
The Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court will hear final appeals before the execution.
After Florida, Texas and South Carolina are tied for the highest number of executions, with four each this year. Alabama has executed three people, Oklahoma has killed two, and Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee each have killed one person.
Trump says Epstein ‘stole’ young women from Mar-a-Lago spa, including Virginia Giuffre
- The Republican president has faced an outcry over his administration’s refusal to release more records about Epstein after promises of transparency, a rare example of strain within Trump’s tightly controlled political coalition
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein “stole” young women who worked for the spa at Mar-a-Lago, the latest evolution in his description of how their highly scrutinized relationship ended years ago.
One of the women, he acknowledged, was Virginia Giuffre, who was among Epstein’s most well-known sex trafficking accusers.
Trump’s comments expanded on remarks he had made a day earlier, when he said he had banned Epstein from his private club in Florida two decades ago because his one-time friend “stole people that worked for me.” At the time, he did not make clear who those workers were.
The Republican president has faced an outcry over his administration’s refusal to release more records about Epstein after promises of transparency, a rare example of strain within Trump’s tightly controlled political coalition. Trump has attempted to tamp down questions about the case, expressing annoyance that people are still talking about it six years after Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial, even though some of his own allies have promoted conspiracy theories about it.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend, was recently interviewed inside a Florida courthouse by the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, though officials have not publicly disclosed what she said. Her lawyers said Tuesday that she’s willing to answer more questions from Congress if she is granted immunity from future prosecution for her testimony.
Aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland, Trump said he was upset that Epstein was “taking people who worked for me.” The women, he said, were “taken out of the spa, hired by him — in other words, gone.”
“I said, listen, we don’t want you taking our people,” Trump said. When it happened again, Trump said he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.
Asked if Giuffre was one of the employees poached by Epstein, he demurred but then said “he stole her.”
The White House originally said Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he was acting like a “creep.”
Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year. She claimed that Maxwell spotted her working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, when she was a teenager, and hired her as Epstein’s masseuse, which led to sexual abuse.
Although Giuffre’s allegations did not become part of criminal prosecutions against Epstein, she is central to conspiracy theories about the case. She accused Epstein of pressuring her into having sex with powerful men.
Maxwell, who has denied Giuffre’s allegations, is serving a 20-year-prison sentence in a Florida federal prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls.
A spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee, which requested the interview with Maxwell, said the panel would not consider granting the immunity she requested.
The potential interview is part of a frenzied, renewed interest in the Epstein saga following the Justice Department’s July statement that it would not be releasing any additional records from the investigation, an abrupt announcement that stunned online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump’s political base who had been hoping to find proof of a government coverup.
Since then, the Trump administration has sought to present itself as promoting transparency, with the department urging courts to unseal grand jury transcripts from the sex-trafficking investigations. A judge in Florida last week rejected the request, though a similar request for the work of a different grand jury is pending in New York.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewing Maxwell over the course of two days at a Florida courthouse last week.
In a letter Tuesday, Maxwell’s attorneys said that though their initial instinct was for Maxwell to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, they are open to having her cooperate provided that lawmakers satisfy their request for immunity and other conditions.
But the Oversight Committee seemed to reject that offer outright.
“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,” a spokesperson said.
Separately, Maxwell’s attorneys have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she did not receive a fair trial. They also say that one way she would testify “openly and honestly, in public,” is in the event of a pardon by Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been not asked to make it.
“She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,” they said.
US citizen child repatriated from Syrian camp: State Dept
- “Approximately 30,000 individuals from more than 70 countries remain in two displaced person camps in northeast Syria, the majority of whom are children under the age of 12; they deserve a chance at life outside the camps,” the statement said
WASHINGTON: An American citizen child has been repatriated from a camp in northeast Syria for “unification” with family, the US State Department said Tuesday.
The child was described as “unaccompanied” in a State Department statement, which did not identify the camp the minor had been retrieved from, their age, or what family they would be unified with.
Since the defeat of the Daesh militant group, Kurdish forces have controlled several camps and prisons in northeastern Syria, where tens of thousands of people displaced by conflict or suspected of links to the terrorist organization live.
The release has “given this child, who has known nothing of life outside of the camps, a future free from the influence and dangers of Daesh terrorism,” the State Department said.
“Approximately 30,000 individuals from more than 70 countries remain in two displaced person camps in northeast Syria, the majority of whom are children under the age of 12; they deserve a chance at life outside the camps,” the statement said.
The State Department called on other countries to “repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for their nationals. The same goes for former Daesh fighters held in detention centers in northeast Syria.”
For years, the Kurds have called for countries to repatriate their nationals, but most have only allowed limited returns, citing security concerns.
Kurdish leaders announced in February that they would work to empty the camps of displaced Syrians and Iraqis by the end of 2025, in coordination with the United Nations.
Syria is led by a coalition of Islamists who overthrew President Bashar Assad in December, taking power after more than 13 years of devastating civil war.
Israel accuses UK of turning ‘blind eye’ to terrorism over possible recognition of Palestinian state
Israel accuses UK of turning ‘blind eye’ to terrorism over possible recognition of Palestinian state
- No ‘token recognition’ will change the fact ‘there are those in the world who fight terrorists and extremist forces, and then there are those who turn a blind eye,’ says Israeli envoy
- British PM Keir Starmer says UK will recognize Palestinian statehood unless Israel ends war and ‘appalling situation’ in Gaza, and commits to achieving a 2-state solution
DUBAI: In response to a three-day international conference at the UN headquarters in New York on a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and an announcement earlier in the day by UK authorities that they are considering official recognition of Palestinian statehood, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said on Tuesday: “Israel has already agreed many times to a ceasefire.”
In a message posted on social media platform X, he added that no “token recognition” or UN resolution would “change the basic fact that there are those in the world who fight terrorists and extremist forces, and then there are those who turn a blind eye to them” or pursue appeasement.
He added that Israel would not waver after the “Hamas atrocities” of Oct. 7, 2023, and would do “whatever is necessary to bring home the hostages and defeat Hamas.”
His comments came hours after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the UK would officially recognize the State of Palestine during the UN’s General Assembly in September, unless Israel takes action.
He said: “So today, as part of this process towards peace, I can confirm the UK will recognize the State of Palestine, by the United Nations General Assembly in September, unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.”
Starmer also demanded that Hamas release all hostages, agree to a ceasefire, accept that it will play no part in governing Gaza, and commit to disarmament.
Speaking on the second day of the conference in New York, which was co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, the UK’s foreign minister, David Lammy, said that it was “with the hand of history on our shoulders” that the British government “intends to recognize the State of Palestine when the UN General Assembly gathers in September … unless the Israeli government acts to end the appalling situation in Gaza, ends its military campaign, and commits to a long, sustainable peace based on a two-state solution.”
French President Emmanuel Macron previously stated that France will officially recognize the State of Palestine during the upcoming General Assembly.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it rejected Starmer’s demands. It accused the UK of rewarding Hamas and harming “efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages” by “following the French move and internal political pressures.”
Israeli authorities continue to reject any form of Palestinian statehood. On Monday, Danon said the UN conference “does not promote a solution but rather deepens the illusion.”
