COLU @ CONCEPTS

CAIRO (AP) — Cairo’s subway is perhaps the cheapest in the world. For a fare equivalent to 11 U.S. cents, you can ride as far as you want across the overcrowded, traffic-choked Egyptian capital. But even that feels like a burden for many of the millions who ride it each day, at a time when Egyptians are scraping to get by, their purchasing power gutted amid painful economic reforms being implemented by the government. The 30-year-old Cairo Metro typifies Egypt’s deep economic inequalities and the large distances between classes. Unlike subways in New York, Washington, Paris and elsewhere in the world where the well-off and the poor mingle to at least some extent, the passengers who push and shove in and out of Cairo’s metro cars each day are overwhelmingly poor or from the lower middle classes. Vital for those who take it, the subway is scorned by the upper crust that doesn’t need it. Its stations and cars are almost bare of billboards because advertisers dismiss the passe...

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Hamburg police are gearing up for a major protest by anti-globalization activists as Germany’s second-biggest city prepares to welcome leaders of the Group of 20 economic powers. Organizers of Thursday’s demonstration have titled the event “G-20: Welcome to Hell.” While protests so far have been largely calm, city police chief Ralf Martin Meyer told ZDF television: “We are skeptical as to whether this evening and tonight will remain peaceful.” Hamburg is boosting its police force with reinforcements from around the country for the summit, which takes place Friday and Saturday, and will have 20,000 officers on hand to patrol the city’s streets, skies and waterways. Leaders of the participating countries, among them U.S. President Donald Trump, are expected to arrive in Hamburg Thursday. Source: www.apnews.com 

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Pro-government militias wielding wooden sticks and metal bars stormed congress on Wednesday, attacking opposition lawmakers during a special session coinciding with Venezuela’s independence day. Four lawmakers were injured and blood was splattered on the neoclassical legislature’s white walls. One of them, Americo de Grazia, had to be removed in a stretcher while suffering from convulsions. “This doesn’t hurt as much as watching how every day how we lose a little bit more of our country,” Armando Arias said from inside an ambulance as he was being treated for head wounds that spilled blood across his clothes. Pro-government militias wielding wooden sticks and metal bars stormed Venezuela’s congress on Wednesday, attacking opposition lawmakers. The attack led to several injuries. Warning: Graphic video. (July 5) The unprecedented attack, in plain view of national guardsmen assigned to protect the legislature, comes amid three months of often-...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington hospital where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise is recuperating from a gunshot wound says he has been readmitted to the intensive care unit. MedStar Washington Hospital Center says the Louisiana congressman is back in intensive care because of new concerns for infection. Scalise was in serious condition Wednesday night. Scalise and four other people were injured last month when a gunman opened fire on a Republican baseball practice in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. U.S. Capitol Police and other officers returned fire and killed the gunman. The congressman was struck in the hip and the bullet tore into blood vessels, bones and internal organs. He has undergone several surgeries and had been upgraded to fair condition. The shooting in the Virginia suburb that critically wounded Scalise and injured several others has forced members of Congress to examine their security arrangements to determine if they are sufficient. House Democratic leader ...

NEW YORK (AP) — At the start of her midnight shift, Officer Miosotis Familia was in a New York Police Department mobile command post, writing in her notebook, when a gunman strode toward her. She never saw Alexander Bonds coming before he shot her in the head through the passenger-side window, killing her before officers ultimately killed him, police said. Police are investigating what may have prompted Wednesday’s shooting, which Police Commissioner James O’Neill described as an officer being “assassinated in an unprovoked attack on cops.” An NYPD officer is heard frantically shouting for help after his partner was fatally shot Wednesday. Officer Miosotis Familia was in a police truck when Alexander Bonds walked up and fired one shot, striking her in the head. Bonds was killed by police. (July 5) “Officer Familia was murdered for her uniform and for the responsibility she embraced,” O’Neill said in a message to officers Wednesday night. “For the NYPD, regularly achi...

TOKYO (AP) — Despite North Korea’s claim its intercontinental ballistic missile launch shows it can attack targets anywhere it wants, experts say it will probably be years before it could use such a weapon in a real-world scenario. The test on Tuesday demonstrated the North is closer than ever before to reaching its final goal of developing a credible nuclear deterrent to what it sees as the hostile policy of its archenemies in Washington. But even for an experienced superpower, getting an ICBM to work reliably can take a decade. Launching a missile under test conditions is relatively easy. It can be planned and prepared for and carried out whenever everything is ready, which makes success more likely. The real game-changer would come when the missile is considered operational under any conditions — in other words, when it is credible for use as a weapon. For sure, the North’s Fourth of July fireworks were a major success. Initial analyses indicate its new “Hwasong 14”...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States warned Wednesday that North Korea was “quickly closing off” the prospect of a diplomatic resolution to its provocations, as the Trump administration launched a government-wide effort to identify options for confronting Pyongyang following its unprecedented intercontinental ballistic missile launch. President Donald Trump and other senior officials dangled the prospect of punishing countries that trade with North Korea — a threat aimed directly at China, Pyongyang’s biggest benefactor. In a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump questioned why the U.S. should continue what he sees as bad trade deals “with countries that do not help us.” North Korea’s first launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) threatens to put U.S. President Donald Trump’s skills as a diplomat to the test, as he starts his second international trip as president. (July 5) His message was bolstered at the United Nations, where U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told a...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Donald Trump will call on Poland and all of America’s European allies to stand united against extremism and other “shared enemies” that pose a threat to freedom and sovereignty — whether “from the South or the East” — in a speech Thursday in Warsaw’s historic Krasinski Square. Trump opened his second visit to Europe at a Polish castle, welcomed by President Andrzej Duda and a vigorous handshake. Trump and Duda shook hands at the Royal Castle in front of a white marble bust of Stanislaw August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, who reigned in the 18th century. The leaders then retreated to a room decorated with red walls for their private talks. President Donald Trump met on Thursday with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. Trump is on his second foreign trip as President. (July 6) Asked how he felt about the trip, Trump said “Great.” Trump arrived in the Polish capital of Warsaw late Wednesday for a ...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s second official visit to Europe (all times local): 10:53 a.m. President Donald Trump says he’s considering some “very severe things” to respond to North Korea’s test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. But he adds that that doesn’t mean he’s going to follow through on them. Trump says he wants to look at what happens over the coming weeks and months and calls North Korea’s behavior “a shame.” Trump says the North is behaving in a “very, very dangerous manner” and that something will have to be done about it. North Korea launched the missile earlier this week. The issue will be a topic of discussion when Trump meets with world leaders in Germany later this week. President Donald Trump met on Thursday with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. Trump is on his second foreign trip as President. (July 6) ___ 10:50 a.m. President Donald Trump is calling on nat...