Temperature records broke in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands today

It's back. After a June heat wave smashed national temperature records in France and broke historic June records across Europe, a mass of hot air has returned to the continent. On Wednesday, the Netherlands Meteorological Institute reported that the nation's all-time temperature record, which stood for the last 75 years, fell as temperatures hit 101.8 degrees Fahrenheit (38.8 C).Belgium broke its national heat record too, as temperatures reached 103.8 F (39.9 C), reported David Dehenauw, the head of forecasting at the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium. And the the German Meteorological Service announced its highest temperature in recorded history, of 104.9 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 C).The Germany weather agency noted that this brand new record might last for one day.That's because there's substantially more heat to come. On Thursday, the UK Met Office expects temperatures to reach over 102 F (39 C), easily toppling the nation's previous temperature record by nearly 1 degree F. Meanwhile, France's weather agency, Meteo-France, predicts temperatures could reach 107.6 F (42 C) in Paris. This would smash the previous Parisian record of 40.4 C, set over 70 years ago. (Paris has temperature records going back to 1658, when Louis the Great reigned over the country.)> WednesdayWisdom > How much hotter are our summers and how has our climate changed? https://t.co/m8SpULkRFQ pic.twitter.com/beZxhXSdfS> > -- Met Office (@metoffice) July 24, 2019While heat waves are natural occurrences -- typically caused by persistent weather patterns that allow big zones of high pressure to settle over a region and bring clear skies and warm air -- Earth's relentlessly rising levels of background warming amplify heat waves, like an athlete pumping performance-enhancing drugs. This means that historic temperatures are expected to fall, have been falling, and will continue to fall. "Global temperatures are increasing due to climate change and this means that Europe can expect more record-breaking heatwaves in the future," Len Shaffrey, a climate scientist at the University of Reading in the UK, told Mashable during June's heat wave.SEE ALSO: Climate change will ruin train tracks and make travel hellBoosted global temperatures have at least doubled the probability of heat extremes in Europe, similar to last summer's scorching events, Shaffrey added.Over the last 100 years, Europe has experienced an increase in heat waves. Since 1500 AD, the region's five hottest summers have occurred in 2018, 2016, 2010, 2003, and 2002. European warming is right in line with the overall warming trend seen around the globe: Since 2001,18 of the last 19 years have been the warmest on record. June 2019 rounded out as the warmest June in 139 years of record keeping. July could soon follow in its footsteps, meaning this July is in the running to be the hottest month ever recorded.UPDATE: July 24, 2019, 3:44 p.m. EDT: This story was updated to include Germany's temperature record.  WATCH: Meet Katie Bouman, one of the scientists who helped capture the first black hole image

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Rep. Tlaib Compares BDS Movement Against Israel To U.S. Boycotting Nazi Germany

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib compared the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel to Americans’ boycott of Nazi Germany during a Tuesday floor speech.The Michigan congresswoman was speaking against a House resolution passed Wednesday that opposes the movement because it “does not favor a two-state solution and that seeks to exclude the State of Israel and the Israeli people from the economic, cultural, and academic life of the rest of the world,” the text of HR 246 states.Tlaib started by saying she would not allow Congress to attack the right to “boycott the racist policies of the government and state of Israel.”“The right to boycott is deeply rooted in the fabric of our country,” Tlaib said. “What was the Boston Tea Party but a boycott? Where would we be now without the boycott led by civil rights activists in the 1950s and ’60s, like the Montgomery bus boycott and the United Farm Workers grape boycott?”She continued that some of the country’s “most important advances in racial equality and equity and workers’ rights” have been achieved through constitutional, collective action.

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China defends air patrol with Russia after S. Korea, Japan fury

China on Wednesday defended a joint air force exercise with Russia that triggered a furious response from regional US allies South Korea and Japan over a perceived airspace violation. The incident erupted on Tuesday when a Russian A-50 early warning and control plane violated airspace over the Dokdo islands, Seoul said. South Korea scrambled fighter jets, which fired nearly 400 warning shots at the alleged intruder.

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Who are the men in white behind Hong Kong's mob attack?

Hong Kong is reeling after a large gang of men in white shirts brutally beat dozens of people inside a train station in a shocking new twist to the city's summer of protest. The sudden attack, which came as a massive protest was winding down Sunday night, has spurred speculation about the men's backgrounds, motivations and possible political ties.

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Putin Is Running Out of Options to Extend His Power

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- It may seem a long way off, but whether President Vladimir Putin can retain power after 2024, when his current term ends, is the key question of Russian politics today. Putin, however, appears to be running out of palatable options for prolonging his reign beyond the constitutional limits.Of course, constitutional limits in Russia aren’t what they are in other places. The Kremlin controls the Russian parliament to an extent that makes it possible to change the constitution at any moment, making Putin president for life. That “nuclear option,” however, is anathema to Putin, who, despite persistent election rigging in his favor, insists on democratic legitimacy as the basis for his rule.Putin has repeatedly and publicly rejected the straightforward extension scenario. That makes it difficult to follow the path laid out by Kazakhstan leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. In March, Nazarbayev resigned as president for a new role as “national leader for life” with immunity from prosecution and a supervisory role over policy making. Nazarbayev’s chosen successor as president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, was elected by a landslide in June. Another possibility has been to push for Russia’s merger with neighboring Belarus, using the smaller authoritarian state’s economic dependence on the bigger one. Such a maneuver would make it possible for Putin to head up the unified country. A 20-year-old union treaty between Russia and Belarus, which compels the nations to work toward a federation with a single currency and under a single flag, provides the legal basis for unification, and Belarus’s constant need for cash – whose only source is Moscow while dictator Alexander Lukashenko runs the country – gives the Kremlin the necessary levers.Lukashenko, however, has proved resistant to the merger idea. It may well be that Lukashenko showed he doesn’t lack levers of his own when an abnormally high concentration of organic chlorides was suddenly found in Russian oil flowing to Europe through the Belarus pipeline system in April, and its exports had to be stopped. Russia had to scramble to minimize financial losses and live down the embarrassment. It seems no coincidence that pressure on Lukashenko eased somewhat after that. Last week, Putin took Lukashenko to the ancient Russian monastery of Valaam with the implicit goal of driving home to him the Russian president’s oft-stated conviction that Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians are essentially the same people. Lukashenko, who, unlike Putin, usually makes no pretense of being religious, lit a candle before an icon but didn’t move an inch toward the federation idea. No visible progress was reported after the meeting; Lukashenko continues insisting on securing economic preferences from Russia while keeping the unification discussion open indefinitely.A third scenario for Putin to keep power is watering down the powers of the Russian presidency, strengthening those of the parliament and installing Putin as a powerful prime minister along the lines of most European political systems. Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that such a constitutional reform could be in the works. There are signs, however, that even if a parliamentary reform takes place, it won’t lead to a power transfer from the president to the prime minister. Days after the Bloomberg report, parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who, before he took the job, was domestic policy czar in Putin’s administration, published an article detailing desirable changes to the constitution. Volodin called for strengthening the parliament – but not in a way that would allow Putin to keep his powers in a different job. Instead, Volodin proposed a role for the legislature in appointing cabinet ministers rather than just the prime minister. It’s an idea he already voiced in April, and it would actually weaken the prime minister’s role in forming the cabinet, setting up a consultation process between the strong president and the strengthened parliament. Given Volodin’s status as a veteran Kremlin insider, the article signals that the “parliamentary” scenario for Putin isn’t really being considered. There are good reasons why not. In recent months, the Kremlin has had difficulties in pushing its candidates through regional elections. Candidates not approved by Moscow won three gubernatorial elections late last year. In a fourth, the Kremlin had to replace its candidate and re-run the election after a massive vote-rigging effort caused protests. Affiliation with United Russia, the pro-Kremlin party, now carries a stigma instead of offering an advantage. Even according to pollsters close to the Kremlin, the party’s support hovers around 35%. In the September city council election in Moscow, pro-Kremlin candidates are running as independents: “United Russia” next to a name on the ballot is likely to lead to defeat in Russia’s relatively liberal capital.Turning the parliament into Putin’s power base would require an unlikely revival United Russia’s fortunes or a switch from party list voting to first-past-the-post constituencies for most parliament seats. But the latter option would require the Kremlin to manage hundreds of votes in the increasingly unreliable Russian provinces. This leaves a fourth scenario – a version of what Putin did in 2008, letting a dependable ally, Dmitry Medvedev, run for president and staying on as prime minister to sit out a presidential term as required by the constitution. The difference, though, is that in 2019, an older Putin, weakened by Russia’s lackluster economic performance and mounting problems with an out-of-control law enforcement apparatus, may have difficulty trusting anyone in his close circle to the extent he trusted Medvedev in 2008.With no reliable path to a more or less legitimate extension of his power in five years’ time, Putin may eventually drop his opposition to a Nazarbayev-style transition. If he doesn’t, Russia may, for the first time since 1996, witness real political competition at the highest level. That’s an exciting prospect, if only because popular protest against corruption and injustice – such as, for example, the growing movement against massive landfills close to residential areas – may lead to the emergence of new leaders capable of forcing new rules of engagement on the Kremlin’s old guard.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Therese Raphael at traphael4@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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U.S. warship sails through strategic Taiwan Strait

The U.S. military said on Wednesday it sent a Navy warship through the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from China, a move likely to anger China during a period of tense relations between Washington and Beijing. Taiwan is among a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and China's increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols. China on Wednesday warned that it is ready for war if there was any move toward Taiwan's independence, accusing the United States of undermining global stability and denouncing its arms sales to the self-ruled island.

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FBI Chief Says China's Trying to `Steal Their Way' to Dominance

FBI Director Christopher Wray told senators that China is engaging in a sweeping effort to steal its way to economic dominance, with more than 1,000 investigations underway on intellectual property theft “almost all leading back to China.”

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Oklahoma City teens chase, attack family of undocumented immigrants with BB guns

A family of undocumented immigrants was injured Monday after teens wielding BBguns allegedly chased them around an Oklahoma City neighborhood

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Japan defense minister calls North Korean projectile launch 'very regrettable': Jiji

Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said North Korea's launch of a pair of projectiles on Thursday was "very regrettable", Jiji news agency reported.

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Father: nationwide Canada manhunt will end in son's death

The grim prediction came as Canadian police said they were setting up roadblocks around the remote Manitoba town of Gillam, where the two young suspects, 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky, recently left a burnt-out vehicle they had been traveling in. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Julie Courchaine said police "are coming from all over" to Gillam, which is more than 2,000 miles away from a region in northern British Columbia where an initial burnt-out vehicle was found last Friday and the three people were apparently killed.

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NAACP calls for Trump's impeachment saying he's 'unfit to serve as the president'

Leaders at the NAACP convention in Detroit voted Tuesday to call for President Donald Trump's impeachment.

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Yes, the U.S. Exports Oil, but We’re Not Energy Independent

Is the United States really energy independent? Is Iran? As the two nations inch toward confrontation, the complexity of those questions is worth considering.Iran, like many petro-powers, had long maintained a one-horse economy based on extraction. Oil and petroleum-related products account for almost all of its exports — take those away, and you’re down to fruits and nuts.Iran has an awesome abundance of oil but for many years did relatively little to develop its refining capacity, without which crude oil is not very useful. That is partly the result of Iran’s having a feckless and corrupt government and partly the result of sanctions that made building new refineries very difficult. When the expansion of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery at Bandar Abbas came on line in 2018, that doubled Iran’s domestic refining capacity and greatly reduced the country’s gasoline imports. The Iranian regime has declared the country liberated from the need to import gasoline, but it currently disallows most exports, and the CEO of the state refining company only a week ago decried the “prohibitive consumption” of gasoline — which is now at a record level — suggesting that the domestic supply is not quite as abundant as the ayatollahs would like.Iran had been rationing gasoline as recently as 2007. The Iran sanctions act of 2010 poked Iran in the tender spot of its gasoline imports (about 40 percent of Iranian gasoline consumption at the time), with provisions that would prohibit most gasoline and other vehicle fuel sales (aviation gas, etc.) exceeding $5 million in any one-year period along with equipment or services that would enable the domestic production or import of gasoline. One of the criticisms of President Obama’s decision to lift sanctions on Iran in 2016 was that doing so might give Iran an opening to build out its refining capacity, taking away a critical vulnerability.While Iran has been expanding its refining capacity, the U.S. oil industry hasn’t exactly been following suit. U.S. refining capacity is up by about 1 million barrels a day over where it was a decade ago — not nothing, but not a real dramatic line on the graph, either.And that creates a potential vulnerability for the United States.President Trump has a natural affection for the oil business. (That is not what we mean by crude and unrefined, Mr. President!) But in spite of all the chest-thumping you hear from certain politicians about how the country has become “energy independent,” that is not really true. The United States imports billions of barrels of crude a year, about a third of it from OPEC. At the same time, the United States exports a substantial quantity of the stuff. That’s because most of the refineries in the United States were built when the country was still obliged to rely very heavily on imported oil, and so most of them are optimized to handle the “heavy sour” stuff from abroad rather than the “light sweet” stuff from Texas. It is not the case that a barrel of oil is a barrel of oil is a barrel of oil. “Every single molecule from here on out has to be exported,” Cynthia Walker of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum told the Texas Tribune.If all cross-border trade in oil and petroleum products were halted tomorrow, Iran would have some big problems. But so would the United States, which very likely would end up sitting on a surplus of oil but suffering shortages of gasoline and other fuels. The Trump administration deserves credit for encouraging domestic oil production and for pursuing regulatory reforms to help get government out of the way, but the reelection-minded president also is dead set to pucker up and kiss the collective buttocks of the Republican heartland’s politically influential corn farmers and their ethanol bonanza. In fact, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers association is suing the administration over an ethanol expansion that oil producers say exceeds the president’s authority to order.When Hurricane Harvey walloped Houston in 2017, gasoline pumps were dry in Dallas and points north, hundreds of miles away. The Colonial pipeline, which carries gasoline and aviation fuel from Houston to New York City, was shut down, as were several refineries feeding it.Having oil in the ground isn’t enough. Drilling holes isn’t enough. The process of turning crude oil into useful products and getting those products to the people who need them is complicated. They know that in Tehran. They know that in Houston. Let’s hope they know that in Washington.

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Biden Fires Back at Booker on Crime Record: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Joe Biden parried criticism of his criminal justice record from Cory Booker, saying that his Democratic presidential rival had been responsible for controversial law-and-order policies while mayor of Newark, New Jersey.“His police department was stopping and frisking people, mostly African American men,” Biden told reporters in Dearborn, Michigan, on Wednesday. “If he wants to go back and talk about records I’m happy to do that but I’d rather talk about the future.”Earlier Wednesday, Booker repeated a charge that Biden had been “an architect of mass incarceration” because of his role in crafting a 1994 tough-on-crime bill as a senator. Booker, who is African American, served as mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.Biden said he was eager to take on Booker when the two candidates share the stage for the first time at the second Democratic debate next week. “I’m happy to debate with anybody the effects of the things that I did as a United States senator, as I did as a vice president in terms of dealing with the criminal justice system and dealing fairly with people across the board.”Weld Warns GOP Could Become ‘Party of Racism’Bill Weld, who is mounting a long-shot effort to wrest the 2020 Republican nomination from President Donald Trump, said the GOP could soon be seen as “the party of racism.”“Unless the national Republican Party in Washington expressly, expressly rejects the racism of Donald Trump, it will become universally viewed as the party of racism in America,” Weld said at a presidential town hall hosted by the NAACP in Detroit.Trump has overwhelming support among Republican voters and is likely to coast to renomination. In an average of polls by RealClearPolitics, the president beats Weld by about 72 percentage points.Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts, said it was “not a political choice” for the party but rather “a moral choice.” -- Sahil KapurTrump Fundraising Email Cites Mueller TestimonyPresident Donald Trump’s re-election effort is using former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s appearance before Congress to try to raise $2 million in 24 hours.The Trump Make America Great Committee sent a fundraising email as Mueller was testifying Wednesday, asking for contributions to “CRUSH our goal and send a powerful message to the entire nation that this WITCH HUNT must end.”Mueller is testifying “right now, and the Democrats and Corrupt Media are going to pull out all the stops to try and TRICK the American People into believing their LIES,” the email, signed by Trump, said. “How many times do I have to be exonerated before they stop?”Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Mueller at the beginning of the hearing about Trump’s repeated assertions that the special counsel’s report exonerated him. “That is not what the report said,” Mueller said. -- Mark NiquetteBooker Takes Another Swipe at Biden’s Crime PlanCory Booker on Wednesday took another swipe at Joe Biden, saying his presidential rival had been “an architect of mass incarceration” while serving in the Senate two decades ago.“I’m disappointed that it’s taken Joe Biden years and years until he was running for president to actually say that he made a mistake, that there were things in that bill that were extraordinarily bad,” Booker told reporters during the NAACP National Convention in Detroit, where 11 presidential candidates, including front-runner Biden, were scheduled to speak.Booker, an African American senator from New Jersey, made the comments one day after Biden released a criminal justice proposal that would reverse several key elements of a tough-on-crime bill that he helped pass in 1994. That measure has been criticized by Booker and other candidates for contributing to the disproportionate imprisonment of minorities.Biden has recently lost some ground with black voters, though he retains a strong lead. Booker and other contenders are eager to further cut into his support from a constituency that is crucial to winning the presidential nomination. -- Misyrlena EgkolfopoulouO’Rourke Education Plan Aims at Racial GapsDemocratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourkereleased a $500 billion plan Wednesday he said would close racial and income-based funding gaps in the U.S. education system.The former Texas representative said in a statement the proposal would also ban corporal punishment in schools, invest in “restorative justice” and educate teachers to address bias.“The effects of a system where students of color are disciplined at alarmingly higher rates than white students, where funding favors white school districts over nonwhite districts, or where white teachers far outnumber black teachers live on well beyond students leaving the classroom,” he said in the statement.O’Rourke is among the 11 Democratic candidates who will speak Wednesday at NAACP’s Presidential Candidates Forum in Detroit, as they compete for the support of African Americans, who account for 20% of the party’s voters and are crucial to winning the presidential nomination. -- Terrence DoppCandidates Vie for Black Vote at NAACP ForumThe leading Democratic candidates will make their case to the NAACP National Convention on Wednesday, as they compete for a voting bloc that accounts for 20% of the party’s voters and is crucial to winning the presidential nomination.The event in Detroit will feature 11 of the two dozen contenders, including the race’s top tier: former Vice President Joe Biden, along with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris. Biden, the front-runner, has recently lost some ground with black voters, though he retains a strong lead. The other candidates are likely to use the forum to try to further cut into that support.Several candidates have recently released policy proposals on issues of particular concern to African Americans. On Tuesday, Biden unveiled a criminal justice proposal that reversed several key elements of a tough-on-crime bill that he helped pass in 1994 as a senator from Delaware. The measure has been criticized for contributing to the mass incarceration of minorities.Biden’s backing among black voters dropped sharply after a heated exchange in the first candidate debate in Miami last month when Harris grabbed the spotlight by criticizing his past positions on racial issues, including his stance on busing and his comments about working with segregationist senators earlier in his career.The NAACP forum could be a warm-up for a more direct confrontation for Biden at the second round of debates in Detroit next week, when he will be on stage with Harris and Senator Cory Booker, who are both black.The NAACP event Wednesday will also include Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, John Delaney and Bill Weld. -- Misyrlena EgkolfopoulouHere’s What Happened on Tuesday:Warren introduced her student loan relief plan as a bill in the Senate, proposing to eliminate as much as $50,000 of student loan debt for borrowers making less than $100,000 a year. Higher-income borrowers would also get some benefit, with those making $100,000 to $250,000 getting one-third of their loans canceled. Warren said 95% of student loan borrowers would get at least some of their loans forgiven. Warren has proposed a wealth tax to pay for the measure.Coming Up This Week:Biden, Booker, Delaney, Klobuchar and Tim Ryan appear at a forum at the National Urban League Conference in Indianapolis on Thursday.Kirsten Gillibrand and Harris appear on Friday.\--With assistance from Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou, Terrence Dopp, Mark Niquette and Sahil Kapur.To contact the reporter on this story: Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou in Washington at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max BerleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Justice Department will not pursue criminal contempt charges in Census dispute with Congress

The U.S. Justice Department will not pursue criminal charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, after Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to hold them in contempt in a dispute over documents concerning whether to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. "Accordingly, the department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General or the Secretary," he added.

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Infernal affairs: how triads embraced communist China

The savage beating of Hong Kong protesters by a mob of triad gangsters has deepened fears about the city's notorious criminal gangs and the use of shadowy hired muscle to defend China's interests. At least 45 people were hospitalised after Sunday's attack when men armed with poles and rods assaulted anti-government protesters in the rural town of Yuen Long as they returned from another huge rally. For seasoned watchers of Hong Kong and its shadowy nexus of organised crime, the brazen beatings came as little surprise.

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Ole Miss student from Fort Worth arrested for murder after classmate was found dead near campus

Brandon Theesfeld, 22, is charged with the murder of 21-year-old Alexandria Kostial. Her body was found 30 miles from the University of Mississippi.

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ICE releases US citizen, 18, wrongfully detained near border

Francisco Erwin Galicia left a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pearsall, Texas, on Tuesday. Galicia lives in the border city of Edinburg, Texas, and was traveling north with a group of friends when they were stopped at a Border Patrol inland checkpoint. According to Galan and the Morning News, agents apprehended Galicia on suspicion that he was in the U.S. illegally even though he had a Texas state ID.

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Beto O’Rourke Battles Meghan McCain Over Trump-Nazi Analogy

The ViewBeto O’Rourke tried to ingratiate himself to Meghan McCain at the top of his latest appearance on The View. It didn’t work. “Congressman, not too long ago you were a huge rising star,” McCain told O’Rourke on Tuesday morning before painting a dire picture of his fledgling presidential campaign. “You’re polling at zero percent. [He’s actually averaging about 3 percent in recent polls.] You’re trailing Marianne Williamson in the important state of New Hampshire. Your fundraising numbers have gone down by a third. This isn’t great for momentum. Why do you think it’s cooled?” “You know what? That’s not what I feel when on the ground,” O’Rourke replied before McCain cut him off to say, “Facts are stubborn things.” Kamala Harris Shuts Down Meghan McCain for Siding With Joe Biden“But I think you know that at this time in many presidential races you have folks who are down in the polls, counted out, left for dead, who, through their persistence and courage and tenacity and the amazing people who comprise their campaign, rose to help lead their party and ultimately the country,” he said, citing the co-host’s late father Senator John McCain, who he referred to as one of his “heroes.” Unimpressed, McCain replied, “Yeah, his campaign full-on imploded, it’s true.” Things became even more tense later in the segment when McCain brought up recent comments O’Rourke made to ABC News comparing President Trump’s recent North Carolina event—where supporters chanted “Send her back!” in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)—to an “impromptu Nuremberg rally.” In response to O’Rourke’s denunciation of right-wing “extremism,” McCain said, “You’re talking about Trump supporters, comparing them to Nazis in Nuremberg, that sounds extreme to me as well. When Democrats come on here and wax poetic about extremism—I’m not saying Trump isn’t doing it, but you’re calling everybody who was in that North Carolina rally a Nazi. From my standpoint, it seems like the left is pretty extreme as well.” Insisting that he was not calling “everyone” who was at that rally a Nazi, O’Rourke said, “We all have accountability for our actions and everyone who shouted to send them back is responsible as well.” Trump May Not Be Coming for the Jews, but the Next Trump WillAs The View’s audience cheered forcefully in response to that line, McCain glared at them and said, “I agree, but there were people in that rally that didn’t and you’re going to have to win over some of these people that voted for Obama and voted for Trump again.” “You have to understand how it looks for people in the middle,” she added, “thinking that maybe I don’t agree with everything that the left is saying so automatically you’re Nazis?” “I do’'t care who you voted for last time,” O’Rourke told her in response. “I don’t care if you’re a Trump supporter or a Republican. You’re an American first before you are anything else and I call you to this country’s greatness.” Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Iran is ready to negotiate but not if negotiations mean surrender: Iran president

Iran is ready for "just" negotiations but not if they mean surrender, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, without saying what talks he had in mind. Rouhani seemed to be referring to possible negotiations with the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran last year but has said he is willing to hold talks with the Islamic Republic.

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Top Khamenei aide says no talks with U.S. under any circumstances

GENEVA/DUBAI (Reuters) - The top military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran would not negotiate with the United States under any circumstances, an apparent hardening of its position as the Gulf tanker crisis escalates. The Swedish operator of a British-flagged oil tanker seized by Iran in the Gulf last week said it had been able to speak to crew members and all 23 of them were safe. The company said it had no evidence that the ship had been involved in a collision, one of the reasons Iran has cited for sending commandos to capture it last Friday.

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North Korea fires suspected missiles into ocean, nuclear talks in doubt

North Korea fired at least two projectiles early on Thursday from its eastern coast, which Japanese government sources confirmed were short-range ballistic missiles, said Kyodo news.

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U.S. warship sails through strategic Taiwan Strait

The U.S. military said on Wednesday it sent a Navy warship through the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from China, a move likely to anger China during a period of tense relations between Washington and Beijing.

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Japan says North Korea launched short-range ballistic missiles: Kyodo

The two projectiles launched by North Korea early on Thursday were short-range ballistic missiles, a Kyodo report citing a Japanese government source said.

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