Aug 18 Trump wields sanctions hammer; experts wonder to what end By Matthew Lee, Associated Press The Trump administration is aggressively pursuing economic sanctions as a primary foreign policy tool to an extent unseen in decades, or perhaps ever. Many are questioning the results even as officials insist the penalties are achieving their aims. Continue reading
Aug 18 Funeral for lost ice: Iceland bids farewell to glacier By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press With poetry, moments of silence and political speeches about the urgent need to fight climate change, Icelandic officials, activists and others bade goodbye to what once was a glacier. Continue reading
Aug 18 Leaked UK memos warn of food, drug shortages in Brexit chaos By Associated Press LONDON — Secret British government documents have warned of serious disruptions across the country in the event that the U.K. leaves the European Union without a trade deal on Oct. 31, according to a report. The Sunday Times newspaper published what… Continue reading
Aug 18 Huge wildfires in the Arctic and far North send a planetary warning By Nancy Fresco, The Conversation More than 600 wildfires have consumed more than 2.4 million acres of forest across Alaska this summer, and fires are also raging in northern Canada and Siberia. Continue reading
Aug 18 Rescue workers try to free 2 trapped cavers in Poland By Associated Press Polish media are reporting that more than two dozen rescue experts are trying to free two spelunkers trapped by rising water in a cave in southern Poland. Continue reading
Aug 18 Migrants jump off rescue boat to try to reach Italian island By Frances D'Emilio, Associated Press Several migrants jumped into the sea from a Spanish rescue boat Sunday in a thwarted bid to reach shore in Italy, where the government's hard-line interior minister has refused to let the 107 passengers disembark. Continue reading
Aug 18 Massive turnout at march in latest Hong Kong protest By Kelvin Chan, Yanan Wang, Associated Press Protesters turned Hong Kong streets into rivers of umbrellas Sunday as they marched from a packed park and filled a major road in the Chinese territory, where mass pro-democracy demonstrations have become a regular weekend activity this summer. Continue reading
Aug 18 Islamic State claims bombing at Kabul wedding that killed 63 By Rahim Faiez, Cara Anna, Associated Press The local Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a suicide blast on Saturday at a wedding in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul. It was the deadliest attack in the capital this year, with 63 killed and 182 wounded. Continue reading
Aug 17 Watch 5:49 How a group of Syrian residents assembled a secret library By PBS NewsHour In the midst of Syria's civil war, a group of residents in the war-ravaged town of Daraya risked their lives to assemble a secret library in the basement of a destroyed building. Those actions are now cataloged in a new… Continue watching
Aug 17 Yemen rebel drone attack targets remote Saudi oil field By Jon Gambrell, Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked a massive oil and gas field deep inside Saudi Arabia’s sprawling desert on Saturday, causing what the kingdom described as a “limited fire” in the second such recent… Continue reading