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This is VOA news. I'm David Byrd in Washington.
A jury has ended deliberations for the week in the trial of U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. As AP's Sagar Meghani reports, the judge in the case refused to publish the jurors' names as some media outlets had requested. The AP is among the media organizations that asked Judge T.S. Ellis III to revel the jurors' names after the trial ends. At an afternoon hearing during day two of deliberations, Ellis said he does not intend to make the names public, saying he has received criticism and threats and imagines the jurors would, too. Ellis revealed he is under of U.S. marshals' protection after being threatened. After the hearing, the jury asked to stop work a half-hour early. Sagar Meghani, Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he plans to revoke the security clearance of Bruce Ohr, a Justice Department official whose wife was employed at a company that was involved in producing a dossier on Trump's links to Russia. Ohr is under intense Republican scrutiny for his contacts with Glenn Simpson, who co-founded the opposition research firm, Fusion GPS. Trump's comments following his decision earlier this week to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan have sparked a growing outrage from U.S. intelligence officials. As of late Friday, a group of 60 former CIA officials released a statement rebuking the removal of security clearances. Earlier, at least 15 former senior intelligence officials had signed onto a statement criticizing what they called "the ill-considered and unprecedented remarks and actions by the White House regarding the removal of John Brennan's security clearances." For more on these stories and the rest of the day's news, visit our website voanews.com. This is VOA news. The Trump administration is ending funding for Syria stabilization projects as it moves to extricate the U.S. from that conflict, citing increased contributions from anti-Islamic State coalition partners. The State Department said it had notified Congress on Friday that it would not spend some $230 million that had been planned for Syrian programs and would instead shift that money to other areas. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the cut, which was authorized by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, does not include humanitarian aid funds. Brett McGurk is the special presidential envoy for the defeat of ISIS. "The coalition contributions actually not only offsets what the U.S. government was going to spend but actually increases the amount that we will be able to spend on the ground and make a difference to stabilize these areas going forward." Most of the money, initially pledged by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February, had been on hold and under review since he was fired in March. A small fraction of that amount was released in June. A Turkish court dismissed an appeal Friday to release U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson whose detention has triggered a diplomatic dispute between Turkey and the United States. The high court in the city of Izmir upheld a lower court's decision to keep Brunson under house arrest. The court also rejected an appeal to lift his [travel bra] travel ban. The rulings came just hours after Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said her country will respond if the U.S. imposes new sanctions over the continued detention of Brunson. She said we are witnessing the United States mixing political issues and economic cooperation issues without regard to sensitivity, and this not only is negatively affecting growth of the American economy but also of the global economy. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday the United States is ready to impose more sanctions on Turkey if Brunson is not released. Palestinian health officials say two Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and another 60 were injured at a protest along the Gaza border Friday even as Egyptian mediators worked to broker a cease-fire. Witnesses say the protesters burned tires and threw rocks as well as firebombs while Israeli troops responded with tear gas and sometimes live rounds. Palestinians have been protesting at the Gaza border since the end of March in part for an end to an Israel-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. As many as 170 Palestinians have been killed. And the family of the late Aretha Franklin says her funeral will be held in Detroit August 31. The 76-year-old, 18-time Grammy winner died Thursday from pancreatic cancer. I'm David Byrd, VOA news. |