Trump heads to hurricane-hit Puerto Rico
AP, Washington
President Donald Trump is heading to San Juan on Tuesday to meet with some of the 3.4 million Puerto Ricans struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria, as criticism that the federal government’s response has been sluggish continues.
The president is expected to spend more than five hours on the island, meeting with first responders, local officials and some of the residents struggling to recover from a hurricane that, in Trump’s words, left the island U.S. territory “flattened.”
Palestinian PM convenes first govt meeting in Gaza
AP, Gaza City
The Palestinian prime minister held his first Cabinet meeting in Gaza on Tuesday as part of a major reconciliation effort to end the 10-year rift between his Fatah group and Gaza’s ruling Hamas Islamic militants. The session was made possible after Hamas, in a significant concession, agreed last month to turn over all governing responsibilities to Rami Hamdallah, the premier of the West Bank-based Palestinian government.
French MPs to vote on tough anti-terror law
AFP, Paris
French lawmakers are expected Tuesday to pass a tough new counter-terrorism law designed to end the country’s two-year state of emergency, with critics saying it will expand police powers at a cost to civil liberties. The vote follows a string of attacks in France since 2015 and comes just two days after more bloodshed, in the southern port city of Marseille when a suspected Islamist knifeman killed two women.
KSA carries out 100th execution
AFP, Dubai
A Saudi was executed Monday in Riyadh, the official SPA news agency reported, taking to 100 the number of people put to death in the kingdom so far this year. The man was sentenced to death for murdering another Saudi man and an appeals court upheld the ruling, SPA said without elaborating.
