July 29th, 2019

A few months ago, two of the highest-profile black women in America and Britain sat down over a chicken taco lunch and discussed a "secret project." The result: an interview between The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and former first lady Michelle Obama in British Vogue, conveying a rarely seen sense of intimacy and friendship between the two women. The Duchess of Sussex served as Vogue's guest editor for its famed September issue, which she has titled "Forces for Change," featuring a range of influential women leaders... The Obamas have been close with Prince Harry for some time through their support for the Invictus Games, and they have since developed a bond with Markle... While Prince Harry, who is obliged as a royal to be politically neutral, has never spoken publicly about Donald Trump, Markle strongly criticized the now-US President in 2016.

She was a student at Royal Palm High School when she herself was recruited to give Epstein a massage, but when he started to molest her she objected to being touched by the pedophile, who worked out another deal with the teenager. Epstein informed Robson that she would be paid $200 for every girl she brought in, an offer the student could not refuse. It is unclear if she even knew what she was doing was illegal, with the 19-year-old college student wrapping up one police interview by boasting: 'I'm like Heidi Fleiss'... Robson told police she had provided Epstein with at least six girls over a two-year period, with the youngest being 14 and the oldest a 23-year-old woman. She said that she was chided for the latter, with Epstein informing her the woman was too old... She was set to be charged with Lewd and Lascivious Act on a victim under 16 in the second degree, but ultimately avoided charges.

Incident reports from the Palm Beach Police Department's 2005 investigation that were obtained by DailyMail.com claim that Epstein told at least one underage victim that Nada Marcinkova was his 'Yugoslavian sex slave.' Multiple girls also state that Epstein made them engage in sexual acts with Marcinkova, which eventually turned into threesomes with both himself and the model. 'Epstein had purchased her from her family in Yugoslavia,' wrote Detective Joseph Recarey after his interview with one victim.

A Missouri man who was 11 when he shot and killed four students and a teacher in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in 1998, was killed in a car crash Saturday night in Independence County, Ark., according to state police. The two-vehicle crash unfolded near Cave City, about 100 miles northeast of Little Rock. Drew Grant, 33, who had changed his name from Andrew Golden, had been released from prison in 2007.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the No. 3 Senate Democrat, called for House Democrats to begin impeachment inquiries on Sunday.

"I agree with my fellow members of the Washington delegation that, as we have learned about the gravity of the potential threats to our democracy identified in special counsel Mueller's report, it has become clear that the House should begin proceedings to determine whether the president's action necessitate impeachment," Murray said in a statement...

Arrow-3 missiles successfully took out target missiles in high-altitude, hit-to-kill test engagements conducted at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska in Kodiak. The tests were a joint effort between the Israel Missile Defense Organization of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Israel Aerospace Industries and Boeing co-developed Arrow. The Arrow system became operational in 2017 and has been deployed to counter Syrian missiles.

Police believe a second person was involved in a mass shooting at a California festival and a manhunt is on, Gilroy California Police Chief Scot Smithee said late on Sunday. A second person, “was involved in some way, we just don’t know in what way,” Smithee said. “We have no idea of a motive,” he also said.

Three Indian nationals seeking asylum in the U.S. have been forced to receive IV drips at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas as they approach their third week of a hunger strike, according to their attorney. The U.S. Department of Justice filed orders with federal judges last week that relate to non-consensual hydration or feeding for four men, according to a court official. Linda Corchado, the lawyer for three of the four men named in the court orders, said the fourth man is also Indian and is represented by another attorney. It’s unclear if that man was also forced to accept an IV.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry said in a statement it decided to let the North Koreans return home in line with their wishes. It said the North Koreans were to sail across the sea border back to North Korea aboard the same boat later Monday. Fishing boats drift across the Koreas’ eastern sea border in both directions. South Korea typically returns North Korean fishermen unless they are suspected of espionage.

"It does appear that there were crimes committed during the Obama administration..."

In July 1980, Epstein was featured as the magazine’s “Bachelor of the Month,” a tiny section advertising successful single men across the country. At the time, the future sex-offender was a Bear Stearns trader and asked potential dates to write him at the investment bank's former headquarters in Lower Manhattan... The personals ad, which included a photo of Epstein in a suit, portrayed him as a “New York dynamo” seeking “a cute Texas girl.”

"Communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by laws governing marijuana for far too long, and today we are ending this injustice once and for all," Cuomo said.

"It's not legalization," he said on public radio previously. "But it is decriminalization and it's a major, major accomplishment."

The law will take effect 30 days from Monday.

Details about Navalny's condition were scarce after Navalny was rushed to a hospital Sunday from a detention facility where he was serving a 30-day sentence for calling an unsanctioned protest. He was arrested several days before a major opposition rally on Saturday that ended with nearly 1,400 people detained... The source of the allergic reaction or poisoning wasn't immediately clear. But Navalny ally Leonid Volkov on Sunday complained about "anti-sanitary conditions" at the detention facility where he had also been detained before. Navalny has been the Kremlin's most formidable foe since 2011 when he led a massive wave of protests against President Vladimir Putin and his party.

Senators have a long to-do list and only days to go until they leave for the five-week August recess. Though the House left Washington until September last week, senators are scheduled to be in town through Thursday...

Negotiators for the U.S. and China will face off in Shanghai this week in another attempt to piece together a trade accord amid much lowered expectations for the kind of sweeping deal that appeared within reach this spring. People close to the talks said a major breakthrough is unlikely on points that led to negotiations breaking down in early May, but that modest wins might be obtainable. That includes the U.S. insistence that China commit to legal changes to protect intellectual property and abandon state subsidies to business, and Beijing’s demands that the U.S. drop all tariffs as a condition for a deal.

The activist, Masih Alinejad, founded the "White Wednesdays" campaign in Iran to encourage women to post photographs of themselves without headscarves online as a way of opposing the compulsory hijab. The semi-official Fars news agency on Monday quoted the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, as saying that "those who film themselves or others while removing the hijab and send photos to this woman ... will be sentenced to between one and 10 years in prison." The Islamic headscarf is mandatory in public for all women in Iran. Those who violate the rule are usually sentenced to two months in prison or less, and fined around $25.

We've been following Masih for a while, she has been an inspiration to many women.

Over the weekend, GitHub CEO Nat Friedman wrote on Twitter that like any other “company that does business in the US,” GitHub is required to comply with the U.S. export law. The confirmation comes months after work collaboration service Slack, too, enforced similar restrictions on its platform... As part of the push, Friedman said GitHub has enforced new restrictions to prevent users in sanctioned countries from accessing private repositories and GitHub Marketplace, as well as maintaining private paid organization accounts. A selection of GitHub services such as access to public repositories will remain available to everyone, the company said in a statement on its website.

The ABC/Ipsos poll found 47 percent of Americans who had read, saw or heard about Mueller's testimony saying the former FBI chief's appearance in Congress made no difference to their support or opposition to impeachment. Twenty-seven percent of that group said the testimony made them more likely to support impeachment, while 26 percent said it made them less likely to.