Trump to Russia: Uncover, release deleted Clinton emails
Trump to Russia: Uncover, release deleted Clinton emails
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump encouraged Russia on Wednesday to find and make public missing emails deleted by his presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton, setting off an instant debate over hacking and his urging of a foreign government to meddle in American politics.
Shortly after Trump’s extraordinary remarks, his Republican running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, took a different tack and warned of “serious consequences” if Russia interfered in the election.
Democrats — and some Republicans — quickly condemned the remarks by the Republican presidential standard-bearer.
They came as the Democrats met on the third day of their national convention in Philadelphia, where Clinton will accept the presidential nomination Thursday night to face Republican Trump in November.
Trump’s comments raised the question of whether he was condoning foreign government hacking of U.S. computers and the public release of information stolen from political adversaries — actions that are at least publicly frowned upon across the globe. His brief remarks managed to divert attention from an embarrassing leak of other hacked emails that exposed sensitive internal political communications that had divided Democrats.
Church attacker nurtured jihad in quiet French town
SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France (AP) — Adel Kermiche nursed his obsession with jihad in this quiet French town alongside the Seine River, and his twice-thwarted attempt to join Islamic State extremists in Syria ended with an attack on an elderly priest celebrating Mass in its sturdy stone church.
New details emerged Wednesday about the 19-year-old, one of two assailants who took five hostages Tuesday at the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, slitting the throat of the 85-year-old priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, before being shot to death by police.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, which released a video Wednesday allegedly showing Kermiche and his accomplice clasping hands and pledging allegiance to the group.
In it, Kermiche identifies himself by the nom de guerre Abul Jaleel al-Hanafi, and says his compatriot, who has not been identified by French authorities, is called Ibn Omar. Wearing a camouflage jacket and speaking in broken Arabic, Kermiche recites: “We pledge allegiance and obedience to Emir of the faithful Abu Bakr al-Baghdady in hardship and in ease.”
Those who knew him in this Normandy town where he grew up said Kermiche appeared to think of little else other than trying to join the extremist group in Syria after the January 2015 attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.
Prosecutors abandon case against police in Gray’s death
BALTIMORE (AP) — More than a year after a young black man suffered a broken neck in a police van, the effort to hold six officers criminally responsible for his death collapsed Wednesday when the city dropped all charges in the case that tore Baltimore apart and exposed deep fissures between the police, prosecutors and the people.
Just one day before another trial was to begin, prosecutors dismissed the three remaining cases, blaming police for a biased investigation that failed to produce a single conviction in the death of Freddie Gray.
Gray, 25, was fatally injured in April 2015 while he was handcuffed and shackled but left otherwise unrestrained in the back of the van. His death added fuel to the growing Black Lives Matter movement, set off massive protests and led to the city’s worst riots in decades.
But prosecutors suffered blow after crippling blow in the courtroom. A judge acquitted three other officers, including the van driver who prosecutors considered the most responsible and another officer who was the highest-ranking of the group. A mistrial was declared for a fourth officer when a jury deadlocked.
The case took shape soon after the rioting, when Democratic State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby confidently announced the charges atop a sweeping staircase across from City Hall.
Pope says the world’s at war, urges Europe to greet refugees
KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — Pope Francis, deeply saddened by the slaying of an elderly priest during Mass in a church in the French countryside, warned grimly Wednesday that the world is at war, but cautioned against labeling it a war among religions.
At the start of his first ever trip to Eastern Europe, where anti-migrant sentiments have been rising, he also encouraged Europe to welcome refugees from war, hunger and religious persecution and called for “courage” and “compassion.”
Francis is celebrating World Youth Day in Poland, where the conservative government has shut the doors to migrants and many fear that accepting Muslim refugees would threaten the nation’s security and its Catholic identity.
As he started the five-day trip, he told an audience of Poland’s president, diplomats and other dignitaries that what is needed is “a spirit of readiness to welcome those fleeing from wars and hunger, and solidarity with those deprived of their fundamental rights, including the right to profess one’s faith in freedom and safety.”
While the speech had in mind the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing Syria, Iraq and other Mideast countries, as well as impoverished nations in Africa, his reference to practicing one’s faith in safety could also be seen as an allusion to the slaying of the 85-year-old French priest by two extremists in Normandy on Tuesday.