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...