NEWS SUMMARY AT THIS HOUR

       (EDITING AND ADDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE UNTIL MIDNIGHT EDT TONIGHT)

There's news from the war that Saudi Arabia is conducting in Yemen against the Houthis who heavily populate the northern part of the country and are supported by Iran.

A bomb supplied by the United States was used in an attack on a school bus recently that killed 51 people including 40 children.

It was a laser-guided Mk 82 bomb manufactured by defense contractor Lockheed Martin according to lettering on it.

This news report has political overtones since CNN is behind it noting that former President Barack Obama banned the sale of these kind of bombs to the Saudis after an attack on a funeral in Yemen killed 140 people.   CNN also notes that President Donald Trump overturned the ban in 2017.

The heavy civilian casualty toll and humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Yemen has been largely ignored by the international news media with some saying that Saudi money and power has helped to silence the voices that would normally be incensed by such a brutal conflict.

In Syria some ground fighting reported Saturday in Hama province between government forces and jihadist opposition fighters.   The jihadists were attacked by government troops as they tried to build fortifications.

The fighting comes amid heavy bombing and shelling attacks in three northern provinces by the government ahead of a major offensive to drive the opposition forces in the last major area of the country they control.

In another part of Syria, government troops attacked ISIS in the Al-Suwayda province after ISIS tried to break out of an area they are surrounded in.  Five ISIS fighters were reported captured including two minors.

In Arizona conservative US Senate candidate Dr. Kelli Ward is lining up conservative support ahead of the crucial 3-way Republican primary a week from Tuesday.   It will determine the Republican candidate to replace anti-President Trump Republican Senator Jeff Flake.

Ward is planning a bus tour of the state with supporters including tough on borders Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar,  Congressman Steve King of Iowa, Kentucky US Senator Rand Paul and others.   She has also won the support of conservative host Shawn Hannity.

Her candidacy faces an uphill climb against the well-financed candidacy of US Representative Martha McSally with a massive propaganda campaign that even claims Dr. Ward is a liberal.  On top of that there's the conservative vote split caused by the candidacy of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

On her Twitter page, Ward is reminding voters using video from 2016 about McSally's failure to attend the Republican National Convention that nominated Donald Trump for President and includes McSally saying when Trump won the nomination:  "I haven't decided who I'm voting for".

In bold letters with the tweeted video, Ward reminds voters "DONT BE FOOLED AGAIN, NO MORE FLAKES".

On August 28th its also primary election day in Florida and a former Bill Clinton cabinet member is seeking a seat in Congress.  The ex-Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala is the candidate Democratic insiders are pinning their hopes on to replace retiring Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in an open seat.

Shalala appears to be the favorite of party insiders in a five candidate Democrat primary field but a progressive backed candidate, State Representative David Richardson, is bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in late campaign gifts with the "Miami Herald" saying Shalala is losing momentum.

The Special Counsel Robert Mueller wants a six month sentence for a former adviser to President Trump's 2016 campaign.

George Papadopoulos pled guilty last October to lying to the FBI about Russian contacts he has during the 2016 campaign.   

President Trump decried the Robert Mueller investigation in a tweet this evening saying he has allowed White House Counsel Don McGahn and other members of the White House staff to fully cooperate with Mueller saying:  "No Collusion No Obstruction Witch Hunt".

Mainstream media reports tonight say McGahn has spent 30 hours doing interviews with Mueller's team.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has died at the age of 80.  He was UN Secretary General from 1997 to 2006.   He died after a brief illness at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland.   A statement said he was a "deeply committed internationalist".

Tributes include those of former President Barack Obama who said Annan sought "a better world" and Russian President Vladimir Putin who called him a "remarkable person".

President Putin was part of a more joyous event today as he danced with the bride at a wedding in Austria.  Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl married businessman Wolfgang Meilinger in the southern Austrian town of Gamlitz.  

Putin brought wedding gifts as well including flowers for the bride, a troupe of cossack singers and several items including a painting, an antique oil press and a samovar, a urn to prepare tea.

The presence of Putin as Kneissl's wedding was condemned by opposition politicians who said she was undermining the foreign policy of the European Union.  Kneissl is a political independent picked for her post by the anti-mass immigration Freedom Party, a junior partner in Austria's coalition government.

Its being called "currency reform" by the government in Venezuela set to take effect Monday, but is being ridiculed inside and outside of the country.

"Forbes" magazine says that the actual exchange rate rate between Venezuela's "Bolivar" and the US Dollar is 6,670,079 to 1.  Venezuela now has an inflation rate according to the Forbes report of 48,760 percent a year.

Venezuelan blogger Daniel Duquenal noted in a tweet yesterday that credit cards are meaningless the country saying: "your credit limit is now BELOW minimum wage".

Tonight the BBC is reporting that Ecuador has imposed restrictions on Venezuelan refugees entering the country enroute to relatives who have fled further south to Peru and Chile.  The BBC also says Brazilians attacked a Venezuelan migrant camp and drove its occupants back into Venezuela.

A recent UN report said 2.3 million have fled Venezuela as of June, 7 percent of he country's population.

Three weeks from Sunday voters in Sweden go to the polls with the latest public opinion poll from the "Sentio" organization showing a tight race.     The anti-mass migration, mass immigration Sweden Democrats are at 22 percent with the Social Democrats slighly ahead at 23 percent. 

Sentio's poll two weeks earlier gave the Sweden Democrats a 25.5 percent to 21.1 percent lead over the Social Democrats but it was followed by six public opinion polls in rapid succession claiming 3 to 6 percentage point leads for the Social Democrats, who currently lead the Swedish government.

A church leader says that the word "Mormon" should no longer be used to characterize the faith.

Russell Nelson, who has led the church since the beginning of this year, says "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" should be the name used.

The church's online guidelines say terms like "Mormon Church", "Mormons" and "Mormonism" as well as the abbreviation "LDS" are inappropriate.

Media in the church's home state of Utah including church owned media like KSL Radio-TV and the "Deseret News" newspaper have used the phrase 'LDS Church' in the past.