Pentagon has known of crime reporting lapses for 20 years
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has known for at least two decades about failures to give military criminal history information to the FBI, including the type of information the Air Force didn’t report about the Texas church gunman who had assaulted his wife and stepson while an airman.
The Air Force lapse in the Devin P. Kelley case, which is now under review by the Pentagon’s inspector general, made it possible for him to buy guns before his attack Sunday at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six people were killed, including multiple members of some families. About 20 other people were wounded.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, the Texas Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he was appalled at the Air Force mistake and unsatisfied by its plans to investigate the matter.
Hong Kong is the world’s top city for international visits
LONDON (AP) — Hong Kong remains the world’s most visited city by international travelers in spite of strained relations with neighboring China, industry experts said Tuesday.
In a report on the top 100 city destinations that highlights the growth in Asian tourism, market research firm Euromonitor International said 25.7 million arrivals are expected in Hong Kong this year.
The figure is down 3.2 percent compared with 2016, largely because tensions with China have grown this year as Beijing has sought to exercise more control on the territory.
Euromonitor expects the downturn to be short-lived and that growth will pick up again from next year and that arrivals to Hong Kong will reach a massive 45 million by 2025.
Unlike Hong Kong, the Thai capital of Bangkok posted further increases in arrivals this year largely linked to tour packages targeted at first-time travelers from China. Its arrivals in 2017 are expected to be 9.5 percent higher at 21.3 million, a rise that’s pushed it further ahead of London, which remains in third spot with 19.8 million arrivals.
Visits to London rose 3.4 percent in 2017, largely due to the 15 percent fall in the value of the pound since the country’s vote last year to leave the European Union. That has helped shift perceptions about Britain being an expensive place to visit.
“The currency depreciation has been a boon for inbound tourism into Britain,” said Caroline Bremner, Euromonitor’s head of travel. “It’s now deemed value for money.”
Schiff to AP: Trump a graver threat than Russian meddling
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House’s top Democrat investigating Russia’s election meddling on Tuesday declared that in many ways President Donald Trump is “far more grave a threat” to American democracy than the Kremlin.
Rep. Adam Schiff cited a litany of actions by Trump, from appointing Cabinet officers with “direct conflicts of interest” and goals of dismantling their agencies to limiting Muslim immigration and discrediting federal judges.
As for the president’s own possible jeopardy, Schiff said Trump is trying to disparage the credibility of special counsel Robert Mueller and the congressional panels that are investigating possible coordination between his campaign and Russia in the election that put him in the White House.
“So no matter what is produced, he can say it’s a fake,” the California congressman said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“I do feel our Democracy is under threat,” Schiff said. Trump’s approach to governing, he said, “is a serious problem and in many respects far more grave a threat than anything coming from outside the country.”
Twitter doubles character limit to 280 for (nearly) everyone
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter says it’s ending its iconic 140-character limit — and giving nearly everyone 280 characters.
Users tweeting in Chinese, Japanese and Korean will still have the original limit. That’s because writing in those languages uses fewer characters.
The company says 9 percent of tweets written in English hit the 140-character limit. People end up spending more time editing tweets or don’t send them out at all. Twitter hopes that the expanded limit will get more people tweeting more, helping its lackluster user growth. Twitter has been testing the new limit for weeks and is starting to roll it out Tuesday.
The company has been slowly easing restrictions to let people cram more characters into a tweet. It stopped counting polls, photos, videos and other things toward the limit. Even before it did so, users found creative ways to get around the limit. This includes multi-part tweets and screenshots of blocks of text.
Twitter’s character limit was created so that tweets could fit into a single text message, back when many people were using texts to receive tweets. But now, most people use Twitter through its mobile app; the 140-character limit is no longer a technical constraint but nostalgia.
Anti-gay-marriage clerk to seek re-election
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples will run for re-election in 2018, facing voters for the first time since her protest against gay marriage in rural Appalachia provoked a national uproar.
Kim Davis could face a familiar foe: A gay man to whom she refused to issue a marriage license said he’s seriously considering running against her.
“I think I could win,” said David Ermold, an English professor at Pikeville University who was among the many who sued Davis in 2015. “I don’t think that she has learned anything from the experience at all. I really, truly think that she feels like she is right. I really don’t think she cares at all about what civil rights are.”
Mat Staver, founder of the Florida-based law firm Liberty Counsel, which represented Davis during the monthslong controversy, confirmed Tuesday that she will seek a second term. He said Davis was unavailable for comment because of a medical procedure.
“She loves her job and she loves the people,” Staver said. “I’m sure (the election) will probably have more attention because of who she is, but you know she doesn’t have any major concerns about it.”