North America

SAN DIEGO (AP) — It was called the “The Sewing Circle,” an unlikely name for a secret subsect of Navy SEALs. Its purpose was even more improbable: A chat forum to discuss alleged war crimes they said their chief, a decorated sniper and medic, committed on a recent tour of duty in Iraq.

The WhatsApp group would eventually lead to formal allegations that Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher fatally stabbed a wounded Islamic State captive in his care and shot civilians in Iraq in 2017.

MIAMI (AP) — The largest presidential field in modern Democratic politics could quickly shrink as more than half of the contenders are in real danger of failing to meet tougher requirements to participate in the fall round of debates.

DALLAS (AP) — All ten people on board a small plane were killed in a fiery crash Sunday morning when the aircraft struggled to gain altitude after taking off from a suburban Dallas airport, veered to one side and plunged into a hangar, local authorities and witnesses said.

Federal officials said two crew members and eight passengers were killed when the twin-engine plane, scheduled to fly to St. Petersburg, Florida, crashed at the Addison Municipal Airport at 9:11 a.m. The identities of those killed were not immediately released.

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the United Nations, who either attended the 14th Group of 20 (G20) summit in Osaka of Japan, or stayed at the UN headquarters in New York, seized the opportunity when leaders of major world economies got together, trying hard to bring their attention to climate change.

The annual G20 summit of leaders from the largest and fastest-growing economies, which concluded Saturday, was held against the backdrop of what the UN chief described as "a moment of high political tension."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday dismissed Jimmy Carter’s swipe at the legitimacy of his election and said the charge was nothing more than a “Democrat talking point,” while offering his own digs at the 94-year-old former commander in chief.

Trump said he was surprised by Carter’s comments alleging that Russian interference in the 2016 election was responsible for putting Trump in the White House. The Republican punched back, though with a somewhat muted response, at least for him.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday prohibited President Donald Trump from tapping $2.5 billion in military funding to build high-priority segments of his prized border wall in California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. in Oakland acted in two lawsuits filed by California and by activists who contended that the money transfer was unlawful and that building the wall would pose environmental threats.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A 43-year-old El Salvadoran man who crossed into the U.S. with his daughter collapsed at a border station and later died at a hospital, officials said Saturday.

The man had been held about a week at the Rio Grande Valley central processing center in McAllen, Texas, according to a law enforcement official. The official said the man, who had health issues, had been medically checked.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Once again, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have hit the reset button in trade talks between the world’s two biggest economies, at least delaying an escalation in tension between the U.S. and China that had financial markets on edge and cast a cloud over the global economy.

But when U.S. and Chinese negotiators sit down to work out details, the same difficult task remains: getting China to convince the United States that it will curb its aggressive push to challenge American technological dominance — and then to live up to its promises.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is heading to Mexico on Sunday to meet with immigrants seeking U.S. asylum but “turned away” at the border.

In the former congressman’s first international trip as a White House hopeful, his campaign says O’Rourke will visit Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from his native El Paso, Texas, to meet with what it calls “individuals and families directly impacted by Donald Trump’s cruel and inhumane policies.”

LA CRESCENTA, Calif. (AP) — A hiker who was missing in the mountains north of Los Angeles for a week was found Saturday and has apparently survived in the wilderness by drinking water from a creek, authorities said.

A helicopter crew found Eugene Jo, 73, in a canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains and hoisted him to safety, Sgt. Greg Taylor with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department said.

The crew flew him to a hospital to be examined.