Mueller testimony on Russia meddling
investigation postponed
AFP, Washington
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s appearance in Congress next week to testify on the Russia election meddling investigation and allegations of obstruction by President Donald Trump has been postponed, the House Judiciary Committee announced Friday.
Mueller was originally scheduled to appear before the committee on July 17.
Committee chairmen Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff released a statement saying the planned sessions would take place on July 24 for an “extended period of time.”
UK PM May says she will leave disappointed after Brexit failure
Reuters, London
British Prime Minister Theresa May said she will leave her job this month with a mixture of pride and disappointment after failing in her central pledge to lead the country out of the European Union and heal its divisions.
May, who endured several crises in her failed effort to find a compromise Brexit deal that parliament could ratify, said she underestimated lawmakers’ opposition. I think it’ll be a mixture of pride at having done the job but also a degree of disappointment because there was more that I wanted to do,” she told the BBC on Friday.
Somalia hotel siege over, 12 dead
AFP, Mogadishu
At least 12 people were killed and 30 others wounded when Al-Shabab militants stormed a popular hotel in the southern Somalia town of Kismayo, security officials and witnesses said.
“The security forces are in control now and the last terrorist was shot and killed”, Mohamed Abdiweli, a security official, said.
US soldier killed in Afghanistan
AFP, Kabul
A US service member was killed in action in Afghanistan on Saturday, NATO said, the latest international casualty that comes as the US tries to forge a peace deal with the Taliban. It is the 10th member of the US military to be killed this year, compared to 12 in all of 2018. “The name of the service member killed in action is being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete,” Resolute Support, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement.
25 injured as quake rocks southern Philippines
AFP, Manila
Twenty-five people were injured and several homes, churches and other buildings damaged on Saturday when an earthquake sent terrified residents of the southern Philippines fleeing their homes before dawn, police said.
The 5.8-magnitude quake struck the northeast coast of Mindanao island at 4:42 am (2042 GMT Friday) at a depth of 11.8 kilometres (7.3 miles), with the Philippine seismology office also recording seven less intense aftershocks.
