USA

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — A former University of Illinois doctoral student was spared the death penalty Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and killing a 26-year-old scholar from China. Her parents, disappointed he was not sentenced to death, publicly begged for the killer to reveal where her remains are so they can be returned home.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will nominate lawyer Eugene Scalia, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to be his new labor secretary.

Trump tweeted the news Thursday evening, less than a week after his previous secretary, Alexander Acosta, resigned amid renewed criticism of his handling of a 2008 secret plea deal with wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was indicted earlier this month for sexually abusing underage girls.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Joe Biden was at a soul food restaurant in Los Angeles on Thursday when he blasted President Donald Trump’s “racist” taunts at a rally the night before.

“This is about dividing the country,” the early Democratic front-runner, who has been criticized for his own handling of race , told reporters. “This is about dividing and raising the issue of racism across the country because that’s his base, that’s what he’s pushing.”

But Michael Fisher, an African American pastor from Compton who attended the event, warned Democrats to ignore Trump.

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 shows otherwise.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. warship on Thursday destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after it threatened the ship, President Donald Trump said. The incident marked a new escalation of tensions between the countries less than one month after Iran downed an American drone in the same waterway and Trump came close to retaliating with a military strike.

WASHINGTON, July 18. /TASS/: Hungary should maintain pragmatic dialogue with Russia based on mutual trust and repsect, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told TASS on Wednesday.

"We are a Central European country, so we should maintain dialogue with Russia, pragmatic dialogue based on mutual trust and respect," Szijjarto said.

WASHINGTON, July 18. /TASS/: The policy of pressure on Russia in the visa issue pursued by the United States will not yield any results, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told reporters.

"In recent weeks, we have been faced with a situation where we issued visas to Americans, while they didn't. That makes us think about our potential steps in the future," he said.

"Media outlets are used to exert pressure on us, twist our arms and make us go ahead without expecting some kind of reciprocity from the United States," the ambassador added.

UNITED NATIONS, July 18. /TASS/: European countries should implement their commitments on ensuring the freedom of trade for Iran to preserve the nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told TASS.

"We expect them to implement their obligations to normalize economic relations between Iran and other countries," Zarif said adding that "we need to sell our oil."

"We are doing business with Russia and China, but that’s not enough. The Europeans - both E3 and the entire EU - are part of it [the deal] and they have to implement their commitments," he added.

18 July 2019; DW: Facebook's plan to introduce its own cryptocurrency has come under sharp criticism from many countries. The social media giant announced in June that it would roll out a new digital currency, called Libra, from 2020.

After US lawmakers grilled Facebook on its ambitious plan to create a financial ecosystem based on a digital currency, the G7 group of world's most developed economies also expressed their concerns about "Libra" on Wednesday.

18 July 2019; DW: In a USAID memo, Donald Trump's administration said that funds would go to paying salaries of Juan Guaido's interim government, local NGO's and the promotion of independent media.

The US is planning to divert nearly $42 million (€37 million) from development funding for Guatemala and Honduras to Venezuela's opposition, according to an internal memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times and other news agencies on Wednesday.