COLU @ CONCEPTS

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Competing visions of world trade are set to collide at the Group of 20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg, Germany, this week. U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach faces off against the European Union and its support for broad free trade agreements, with the Europeans touting a new, far-reaching pact it is completing with Japan. The summit takes place with the global economy in fairly good shape; the International Monetary Fund sees growth rising from 3.1 percent last year to 3.5 percent this year and 3.6 percent in 2018. But trade among countries has not recovered to the levels from before the global financial crisis. Increasing trade is credited by economists for raising global growth and prosperity over the past decades. Its benefits, however, have been unevenly distributed among workers and industries. Here’s what’s on the table when the big shots sit down together on Friday. ___ U.S. VERSUS THE WORLD? Trump’s views on ...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed Wednesday his nation will “demonstrate its mettle to the U.S.” and never put its weapons programs up for negotiations, a day after successfully testing its first intercontinental ballistic missile. The hard line suggests that North Korea will conduct more weapons tests until it perfects nuclear-armed missiles capable of striking anywhere in the United States. Analysts say Kim’s government believes nuclear weapons are key to its own survival and could be used to wrest concessions from the United States. North Korean broadcaster KRT on Wednesday aired video of a missile being launched. North Korea launched a missile on Tuesday and announced that it was an intercontinental ballistic missile. US officials confirmed the claim. (July 5) Tuesday’s ICBM launch, confirmed by U.S. and South Korean officials, was a milestone in North Korea’s efforts to develop long-range nuclear-armed missiles. But the North isn’t th...

NEW YORK (AP) — A police officer was shot to death early Wednesday, ambushed inside her command post RV by an ex-convict who once ranted online about his treatment in prison and about police getting away with killing people, authorities said. He was later killed after pulling a gun on police. The officer, a 12-year member of the New York Police Department, was wrapping up her shift when the man fired one round through the passenger-side window and struck her in the head. “PO Miosotis Familia has been assassinated in an unprovoked attack on cops assigned to keep NYers safe,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill tweeted after her death. Police say a New York City officer who was shot while sitting in her patrol car has died in what they’re calling a “clear assassination.” Police Sgt. Brendan Ryan says 48-year-old Officer Miosotis Familia died at a hospital early Wednesday. (July 5) Her partner radioed for help. “Shots fired! 10-85!” the officer is heard frantically shou...

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov says that authorities have avoided a second cyberattack. The announcement suggests that the effort to wreak electronic havoc across Ukraine is ongoing. Ukraine is still trying to find its feet after scores or even hundreds of businesses and government agencies were hit by an explosion of data-scrambling software on June 27. Avakov said in a statement posted to his Facebook page that what he described as the second stage of that malware attack had been timed to hit its peak at 4 p.m. Ukraine time on Tuesday. Avakov said that, like the first attack, Tuesday’s originated from the Ukrainian tax firm M.E. Doc. Wednesday’s announcement adds clarity to Cyberpolice’s midnight announcement that they had raided M.E. Doc and seized the company’s servers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has long warned that Russian organized crime posed a threat to democratic institutions, including “criminally linked oligarchs” who might collude with the Russian government to undermine business competition. Those concerns, ever-present if not necessarily always top priorities, are front and center once more. An ongoing special counsel investigation is drawing attention to Russian efforts to meddle in democratic processes, the type of skullduggery that in the past has relied on hired hackers and outside criminals. It’s not clear how much the investigation by former FBI Director Robert Mueller will center on the criminal underbelly of Moscow, but he’s already picked some lawyers with experience fighting organized crime. And as the team looks for any financial entanglements of Trump associates and relationships with Russian officials, its focus could land again on the intertwining of Russia’s criminal operatives and its intelligence service...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed Wednesday his nation will “demonstrate its mettle to the U.S.” and never put its weapons programs up for negotiations, a day after test-launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile. The hard line suggests more tests are being prepared as the country tries to perfect nuclear-armed missiles capable of striking anywhere in the United States. North Korean broadcaster KRT on Wednesday aired video of a missile being launched. North Korea launched a missile on Tuesday and announced that it was an intercontinental ballistic missile. US and South Korean officials later confirmed the claim. (July 5) Tuesday’s ICBM launch, confirmed by U.S. and South Korean officials, is a milestone in North Korea’s efforts to develop long-range missiles with nuclear warheads. It isn’t there yet — some analysts suggest it will take several more years and many more tests to perfect such an arsenal — but a successful launch of ...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The armed, masked gang members showed up on a motorcycle at the home in northern Honduras last fall with a stark warning for the occupants: Leave town within 24 hours, or else. Laura Maria Cruz Martinez, another single mother and the nine kids in their care hurriedly threw clothing and personal items into bags and made for the border before dawn, their home abandoned with the furniture and appliances left in place. Nine months later they’re together again in two adjacent apartments in a working-class neighborhood of eastern Mexico City. It hasn’t always been easy adjusting to this megalopolis of 20 million-plus, with its crowded subway and unfamiliar, slang-heavy Spanish, but at least they’re safe from the gangs rampaging back home. All eleven were recognized as refugees by Mexico in March and granted asylum, making them part of a growing wave of refugees from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala who are resettling here instead of trying to reach the United...

DAR PAING, Myanmar (AP) — Ever since she was born in a squalid displaced camp for Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya minority that authorities won’t let anyone leave, Rosmaida Bibi has struggled to do something most of the world’s children do effortlessly: grow. Frail and severely malnourished, she looks a lot like every other underfed child here — until you realize she’s not really like any of them at all. A tiny girl with big brown eyes, Rosmaida is 4 — but barely the size of a 1-year-old. She wobbles unsteadily when she walks. Bones protrude through the flimsy skin of her chest. And while other kids her age chatter incessantly, Rosmaida is listless, only able to speak a handful of first words: “Papa.” ″Mama.” ″Rice.” Half a decade after a brutal wave of anti-Muslim violence exploded in this predominantly Buddhist nation in June 2012, forcing more than 120,000 Rohingya Muslims into a series of camps in western Myanmar, this is what the government’s policy of persecution, segregat...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A quartet of Arab nations said early Wednesday they had received Qatar’s response to their demands for ending a diplomatic crisis gripping the Persian Gulf, just ahead of a planned meeting in Cairo. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said in a joint statement they would respond “in a timely manner.” The countries did not elaborate on what steps they could take, though a major credit rating agency warned it had changed Qatar’s economic outlook to negative over the turmoil. The countries cut ties to the FIFA 2022 World Cup host early last month over its alleged support for extremist groups and ties with Iran. Qatar denies supporting extremists and has defended its warm relations with Iran; the two countries share a massive undersea natural gas field. The nations issued a 13-point list of demands on June 22, giving Qatar 10 days to comply. They later extended the deadline by another 48 hours at the request of Kuwait, whi...

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Some 300 Islamic State fighters remain in the small patch of territory still controlled by the group in Mosul’s Old City, a senior Iraqi commander said Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Sami al-Aridi of Iraq’s special forces told The Associated Press that the militants’ hold on Mosul has shrunk to a 500 square meter (600 sq. yard) area. A large number of civilians are believed to be trapped in the IS-run enclave, with around 1,500 fleeing with every 100-meter (yard) advance by Iraqi forces. Iraqi forces moved to besiege the Old City before launching their attack in order to prevent IS fighters from fleeing to neighboring Syria, but al-Aridi said hundreds of militants still managed to escape from the Old City alone. “They just shave their beards and walk out,” al-Aridi said. “Just yesterday we captured two among a group of women and children.” Late Tuesday, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated the armed forces on a “big victory” in Mosul, despite ongoing...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is headed back to Europe hoping to receive a friendly welcome in Poland despite lingering skepticism across the continent over his commitment to NATO, his past praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his decision to pull the U.S. out of a major climate agreement. Trump arrives in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday for a brief visit that will include a speech in Krasinski Square, near the site of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis. He’ll also meet with the leaders of Poland and Croatia and hold a joint news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Before moving on to an international summit in Germany, the president will also hold meetings with the leaders of a dozen countries located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas at a summit of the Three Seas Initiative, which aims to expand and modernize energy and trade. One of the initiative’s goals is to make the region less dependent on Russian energy. “Even if he doe...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A “brilliant victory” and “thrilling” success, North Korea’s grinning leader crowed of his country’s first test of a long-range ballistic missile. The “final phase” in a confrontation with America, Kim Jong Un called it. Part of a coming stream of “‘gift packages’ to the Yankees” in the form of more weapons tests. You can feel the self-satisfied, self-aggrandizing bliss as North Korean state media revels in what it clearly sees as a historic moment — and a golden chance to boost the dictator and his military. In some respects, the accomplishment this week is as big a deal as the breathless descriptions. But, as ever with North Korea, there are some important reasons to be skeptical. People in the North Korean countryside still go without food. It’s still a third-world economy, with massive corruption and rampant human rights abuses. It is hated, feared, mocked and sanctioned by its neighbors. And several years of development and tests still lie ahea...

WASHINGTON (AP) — North Korea’s first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, demonstrating a dangerous new reach for weapons it hopes to top with nuclear warheads one day, is spurring U.S. demands for “global action” to counter the threat. U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday their belief that North Korea’s latest missile launch was indeed an ICBM and joined South Korea and Japan in requesting an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, scheduled Wednesday afternoon. Previously, North Korea had demonstrated missiles of short and medium range but never one able to get to the United States. In a direct response to North Korea’s missile launch, US and South Korean soldiers fired “deep strike” precision missiles into South Korean territorial waters on Tuesday. (July 4) In a show of force directly responding to North Korea’s provocation, U.S. and South Korean soldiers fired “deep strike” precision missiles into South Korean territorial waters on Tuesday, U.S. mil...

TOKYO (AP) — Keeping North Korea from having a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile has long been considered a key U.S. red line, and one the North has thumbed its nose at for years. Its Fourth of July ICBM launch is just the latest step in its long march toward, and maybe over, that line. But while U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to be caught somewhat off guard by the launch, musing on Twitter over why North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doesn’t have better things to do with his life, Kim and his regime have been clearly telegraphing their moves. And they have made one thing crystal clear: they have no intention of backing down. North Korea says it has a sovereign right to develop a credible nuclear deterrent to what it calls the hostile policy of its archenemies in Washington, and has stridently refused any calls to give up the nuclear weapons and long-range missiles that are the “treasured sword” of its national defense. The U.S. isn’t buying that argument. A...