COLU @ CONCEPTS

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new communications director exploded the smoldering tensions at the White House into a full-fledged conflagration Thursday, angrily daring Trump’s chief of staff to deny he’s a “leaker” and exposing West Wing backstabbing in language more suitable to a mobster movie than a seat of presidential stability. In a pull-no-punches, impromptu CNN interview that he said was authorized by the president, Anthony Scaramucci went after chief of staff Reince Priebus in graphic terms. “The fish stinks from the head down,” he said. “I can tell you two fish that don’t stink, and that’s me and the president.” As new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci publicly attacks chief of staff Reince Priebus on Thursday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn’t answer repeated reporter questions about whether Trump has confidence in him. (July 27) Not even a week into his new job, Scaramucci accused unidentified senior officials o...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican finger-pointing commenced after the Senate’s dark-of-night defeat of the GOP’s flagship effort to repeal much of the Obama health care law in a startling vote that dealt a blistering blow to President Donald Trump. “3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down,” Trump tweeted early Friday after GOP leaders failed to patch party divisions and the Senate rejected a last-ditch bill to keep the effort alive. “As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!” The Senate has rejected a measure to repeal parts of former President Barack Obama’s health law, dealing a serious blow to President Donald Trump and the GOP agenda. The final vote was 51-49. (July 28) The “skinny repeal” bill — erasing several parts of President Barack Obama’s law — was rejected just before 2 a.m. EST on a vote of 51-49. All Democrats were joined by GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and the ailing John McCai...

Tesla Inc. is set to deliver the new electric Model 3 compact car to its first 30 customers on Friday evening. The car is half the cost of Tesla’s previous models, so it has the potential to attract many more customers to the brand. Tesla hasn’t revealed many details about the Model 3. Here’s what we know so far. SIZE: Tesla has said the Model 3 will be similar in size to the Audi A4 or the BMW 3 Series, which would put it in the small-car segment. The company says the Model 3 can seat five adults and has more cargo capacity than similar cars of its size, since it has trunks in both the front and rear. PRICE: The starting price of the Model 3 is $35,000. With a $7,500 U.S. tax credit, that falls to $27,500, but that tax credit is likely to begin phasing out next year after Tesla sells more than 200,000 vehicles in the U.S. Many states offer additional tax credits, including California, Colorado and New York. RANGE: 215 miles on a charge. FEATURES: The hardware for Autopilot...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dealing a serious blow to President Donald Trump’s agenda, the Senate early Friday rejected a measure to repeal parts of former President Barack Obama’s health care law after a night of high suspense in the U.S. Capitol. Unable to pass even a so-called “skinny repeal,” it was unclear if Senate Republicans could advance any health bill despite seven years of promises to repeal “Obamacare.” “This is clearly a disappointing moment,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “I regret that our efforts were not enough, this time.” The Senate has rejected a measure to repeal parts of former President Barack Obama’s health law, dealing a serious blow to President Donald Trump and the GOP agenda. The final vote was 51-49. (July 28) “It’s time to move on,” he said. The vote was 49-51 with three Republicans joining all Democrats in voting ‘no.’ McConnell put the health bill on hold and announced that the Senate would move onto other legislation nex...

NEW YORK (AP) — A presidential aide’s explosion of profanity while talking to a reporter about his new White House colleagues tested newsroom leaders Thursday, forcing decisions about whether to use the graphic language or leave much of what he said to the imagination of readers and viewers. Anthony Scaramucci, the incoming White House communications director, aimed his tirade at chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon. An account of his conversation late Wednesday with Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker was published in graphic detail Thursday afternoon on the magazine’s website, complete with expletives and anatomical references. Scaramucci used the language in suggesting to Lizza that Priebus had leaked information about him, and that Bannon was more interested in advancing his own agenda than President Donald Trump’s. Following The New Yorker’s lead, The New York Times printed all of Scaramucci’s words. Times editors, including executive editor Dean Baq...

FREMONT, Calif. (AP) — For Tesla, everything is riding on the Model 3. The electric car company’s newest vehicle is set to go to its first 30 customers Friday evening. Its $35,000 starting price — half the cost of Tesla’s previous models — and 215-mile range could bring hundreds of thousands of customers into the automaker’s fold, taking it from a niche luxury brand to the mainstream. Those higher sales could finally make Tesla profitable and accelerate its plans for future products like SUVs and pickup trucks. Or the Model 3 could dash Tesla’s dreams. Potential customers could lose faith if Tesla doesn’t meet its aggressive production schedule, or if the cars have quality problems that strain Tesla’s small service network. The compact Model 3 may not entice a global market that’s increasingly shifting to SUVs, including all-electric SUVs from Audi and others that are going on sale soon. Limits on the $7,500 U.S. tax credit for electric cars could also hurt demand. Once ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A high school student who dreamed for years of joining the military and had just enlisted in the Marines was killed when a spinning and swinging thrill ride broke apart and sent several of its passengers tumbling onto the midway at the Ohio State Fair. The 18-year-old’s girlfriend was among seven who were badly injured when the Fire Ball flung riders — some still strapped in their seats — through the air. A few people on the midway were hit by debris. The ride’s Dutch manufacturer on Thursday told operators of the same attraction at fairs and festivals worldwide to stop using it until more is learned about what caused the malfunction. Officials say a ride that broke apart at the Ohio State Fair, killing one man and injuring seven other people passed its inspections. (July 27) Federal and state investigators have begun working to find what caused the wreck on Wednesday, the fair’s opening day. Video taken by a bystander of the swinging, spinn...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police were on high alert Friday ahead of Muslim prayers at a major Jerusalem shrine at the center of recent tensions. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said men under 50 would be barred from the site Friday following security assessments indicting Palestinians plan protests there. There are no restrictions on women. Rosenfeld said some Palestinians barricaded themselves inside Al-Aqsa Mosque overnight in order to join protests later. Police removed them after they refused to leave, he said. Friday prayers are the highlight of the Muslim religious week. Thousands of Muslims from around Israel and Palestinian areas typically worship at the holy compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. Tensions have been running high at the site Arab gunmen killed two police officers on July 14, prompting Israel to install metal detectors and other security devices. The move outraged Muslims who claimed Israel was trying to expand its control over the site. Israel emphatic...

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Latest on developments in Pakistan (all times local): 1:30 p.m. A spokesman for Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says the premier has stepped down despite having reservations about the court order that disqualified him from serving. In a brief statement, Sharif’s office said Sharif relinquished his charge as prime minister after learning that the Supreme Court disqualified him because of corruption allegations. The statement claims that justice has not been done with Sharif, but the prime minister stepped down to show his respect for the judiciary and rule of law. ___ 12:35 p.m. Pakistan’s Supreme Court in a unanimous decision has asked the country’s anti-corruption body to file corruption charges against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his two sons and daughter for concealing their assets. The request to the National Accountability Bureau comes after a five-judge panel ruled Sharif “disqualified” to continue as prime minister and removing him...

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has provoked international criticism and enraged his political opponents by pushing for a special assembly to rewrite the troubled South American nation’s constitution. Sunday’s election of delegates to the assembly comes after nearly four months of political upheaval that have resulted in more than 100 deaths and left thousands injured and detained. Few specifics have been disclosed on what constitutional changes might be in store. But allies of the socialist president say the assembly will target opposition leaders, stirring warnings Maduro will use the assembly to install an autocratic regime. Maduro’s mentor, the late President Hugo Chavez, similarly called for a constitution rewrite shortly after taking office in 1999, but unlike Maduro he held a referendum first to get Venezuelans’ blessing. Even some “Chavistas” have rejected the drive to change the constitution, which has further polarized an already deeply divided country. Ven...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As pressure on North Korea grows over its nuclear weapons program, America’s most valued Arab allies host thousands of its laborers whose wages help Pyongyang evade sanctions and build the missiles now threatening the U.S. and its Asian partners, officials and analysts say. From state-run restaurants to construction sites, North Korean workers in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates face conditions akin to forced labor while being spied on by planted intelligence officers, eating little food and suffering physical abuse, authorities say. Hundreds more North Korean workers may be coming to the UAE, home to a crucial military base, while laborers remain in the other countries. North Korean laborers even have worked on an expansion of a military base in the UAE home to U.S. forces fighting the Islamic State group, two officials familiar with Pyongyang’s tactics told The Associated Press. A UAE company also was accused by the U.S. of ...

MOSCOW (AP) — Pyotr Levashov appeared to be just another comfortable member of Russia’s rising middle-class — an IT entrepreneur with a taste for upmarket restaurants, Thai massages and foreign travel. Then police raided his vacation rental in Barcelona, marching him out in handcuffs to face charges of being one of the world’s most notorious spam lords. Levashov’s April 7 arrest was one in a series of American-initiated operations over the past year to seize alleged Russian cybercriminals outside their homeland, which has no extradition agreement with the United States. American-led operations have seized several Russian hackers outside their homeland in the past nine months. The arrests come at a fraught moment in US-Russian relations, amid the allegation of a Kremlin hacking campaign in the 2016 US election. (July 28) They come at a fraught moment in relations between Moscow and Washington, where politicians are grappling with the allegation that Kremlin hackers in...