North America

NEW YORK (AP) — In a reckoning five years in the making, an administrative judge on Friday recommended firing a New York City police officer over the 2014 chokehold death of an unarmed black man whose dying cries of “I can’t breathe” fueled a national debate over policing, race and the use of force.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than half of House Democrats support launching an impeachment inquiry, according to a tally by The Associated Press — a strong signal of ongoing liberal frustration with President Donald Trump but a milestone that seems unlikely to move House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Rep. Salud Carbajal of California said Friday that he would support such an inquiry — the beginning of proceedings that could lead up to an impeachment vote — tipping the tally to 118, or a majority of the 235 House Democrats.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The gunman who opened fire on a California food festival killed himself after officers shot him multiple times, officials said Friday, correcting previous police accounts that the officers fired the fatal bullet.

Police gave the update soon after the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said 19-year-old Santino William Legan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned Friday as promised, clearing the way for veteran politician Pedro Pierluisi to be sworn in as his replacement, a move that threw the U.S. territory into a period of fresh political uncertainty.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Elijah Cummings says he scared off an intruder at his Baltimore home last weekend, providing details for the first time after President Donald Trump tweeted Friday about the break-in.

In a statement Friday, the Maryland Democrat said someone “attempted to gain entry into my residence at approximately 3:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 27.”

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nineteen Democrats hoping to be the next president are in Nevada Saturday to win support from labor unions that hold sway in the state that will cast the first votes in the West in next year’s primary.

Candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris will speak Saturday at a labor forum hosted by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a public employees union that has 1.6 million members nationally.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Freshman Democratic Rep. Andy Kim came face to face with impeachment fervor at a town hall in New Jersey. “Do your job!” shouted one voter.

Several states away, a woman held up a copy of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and told freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin at a Michigan town hall she hoped she would “be the person that puts us over the top to start an impeachment inquiry.”

And in semi-rural Virginia, newcomer Rep. Abigail Spanberger encountered voters with questions, if not resolve, about impeaching President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pick for national intelligence director, Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, withdrew from consideration Friday after just five days as he faced growing questions about his experience and qualifications. 

The move underscored the uncertainty over his confirmation prospects. Democrats openly dismissed the Republican congressman as an unqualified partisan and Republicans offered only lukewarm and tentative expressions of support.

2 Aug 2019; MEMO: Israel secretly lobbied the US to block Turkey from purchasing its F-35 fighter jets in an effort to maintain its military edge in the region, according to Israeli media reports.

Tel Aviv began urging the White House to drop Ankara from its F-35 program soon after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved the purchase of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia, Israeli Channel 12 reported yesterday.

PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) — A jail breakout ended without violence as authorities scooped up a white supremacist gang leader and another fugitive more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from their Arkansas lockup .

Wesley Gullett, 30, surrendered while walking alone down a highway in Dover, northwest of the Jefferson County jail in Pine Bluff from which he escaped, authorities said. He was taken to the Pope County jail.