Public prosecutors in Saudi Arabia are seeking the death penalty against prominent Muslim scholar Salman al-Awdah, local media, activists and his family members have said.

Awdah, who UN experts have described as a “reformist,” was imprisoned a year ago, shortly after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a crackdown on dissent and imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the kingdom’s Gulf neighbour, Qatar.

Awdah, who has 14 million followers on Twitter, posted a tweet on September 9, saying: “May God harmonise between their hearts for the good of their people” – an apparent call for reconciliation between the Gulf countries.

Local daily Okaz reported that the public prosecution, which represents the Saudi government, had levelled 37 counts against Awdah and called for the death penalty.

According to London-based Saudi rights group ALQST and other activists, some of the charges included incitement against the ruler and spreading discord.

Awdah’s son, Abdullah, told the Reuters news agency that the accusations against his father included critical tweets and establishing an organisation which worked to defend the honour of the Prophet Muhammad.

Amnesty International’s Saudi Arabia campaigner Dana Ahmed called the reports “a disturbing trend in the Kingdom [that] sends a horrifying message that peaceful dissent and expression may be met with the death penalty”.

Crackdown on dissent

The ruling Al-Saud family has long regarded Islamist groups as the biggest internal threat to its rule.

In the 1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Sahwa (Awakening) movement demanded political reforms that posed a challenge to the ruling family.

Awdah, a Sahwa leader, was imprisoned from 1994-99 for agitating for political change, an act which would earn him praise from Saudi-born late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In 2011, Awdah called for elections and separation of powers, demands considered dangerous provocations in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy where public protests and political parties are banned, has witnessed a massive crackdown on dissent, with dozens of religious leaders, intellectuals and women’s rights activists arrested in the past year.

Among those arrested were prominent Islamic preachers Awad al-Qarni, Farhan al-Malki, Mostafa Hassan and Safar al-Hawali.

Al-Hawali, 68, was detained after he published a 3,000-page book attacking bin Salman and the ruling family over their ties to Israel, calling it a “betrayal”.

Earlier this year, bin Salman softened the kingdom’s stance on Israel, telling the US-based Atlantic magazine that Israelis “have the right to their own land” and “there are a lot of interests we [Saudi Arabia] share with Israel”.

Last month, authorities recommended the death penalty for five human rights activists from the kingdom’s Eastern Province, including Israa al-Ghomgham, the first woman to possibly face that punishment for rights-related work.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Doyle Rice and John Bacon, USA TODAY
Published 3:38 a.m. ET Sept. 5, 2018 | Updated 3:51 a.m. ET Sept. 5, 2018

Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border late Tuesday, bringing with it maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Authorities said that one child was killed after a tree fell on a mobile home near Pensacola as strong winds and heavy rain from Gordon swept through the Florida Panhandle. Escambia County Emergency Communications confirmed the death, but did not release the age and identity of the child.

Schools were closed and states of emergency were declared as the Gulf Coast braced for the heavy rains, high winds and storm surge.

More: Hurricane Florence next storm in the pipeline, and more are expected to follow

More: Airlines waive change fees ahead of Tropical Storm Gordon

“Please make your final preparations today in advance of #Gordon making landfall tonight,” Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant tweeted.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards also declared a state of emergency, saying hundreds of National Guard members would be deployed in coastal areas. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a similar declaration.

“All coastal Alabama residents need to prepare now ahead of tonight’s potential landfall,” she tweeted. “Our state will be ready for whatever Gordon may bring.”

The governors of Florida and Texas said they were monitoring developments.

The National Hurricane Center called the storm “life-threatening” and warned that tornadoes were possible in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. The hurricane warning stretched from the Pearl River that separates Mississippi and Louisiana to the Alabama-Florida border.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency set up locations for residents to pick up sandbags. In Biloxi, Mississippi, Mary Smith stocked up on supplies.

“Cold drinks, bread and, you know, canned foods,” Smith said, listing her purchases.

Gordon is expected to dump 4 to 8 inches of rain over the western Florida Panhandle, southwest Alabama, southern and central Mississippi, eastern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, the National Weather Service said. Isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches could pound the area through late Thursday, and flash flooding is expected for much of the region.

Gordon took form as a tropical storm near the Florida Keys early Monday, blasting South Florida with high winds and hours of heavy rains. After hitting the Gulf Coast, it is forecast to move inland over the lower Mississippi Valley on Wednesday.

Contributing: The Pensacola News Journal; Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY; Greg Hilburn, Monroe (Louisiana) News Star ;WWLTV.com; Associated Press

 

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More than four decades ago, Bob Woodward’s reporting helped shine light on a scandal that ended a presidency.

Ifhis reporting holds true again, this time in a new 448-page book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” there’s another presidency hanging in the balance.

More: Woodward book ‘Fear’ reflects chaos in White House, says Kelly called Trump an ‘idiot’

Related: Trump calls Woodward’s book ‘a con on the public’; Kelly denies calling president an ‘idiot’

The West Wing is in a state of dysfunction, maybe even disrepair. President Donald Trump’s aides and top members of his administration don’t trust him. Trump is a demeaning and increasingly paranoid tyrant with the maturity level of a grade-schooler. National security is at risk.

Idiot. Liar. Dumb. Little rat. Little baby.

The few excerpts leaked Tuesday ahead of the Sept. 11 release of Woodward’s book were loaded with insults — some allegedly made by Trump and others reportedly made about him.

The White House is simply a mess … if you believe what’s in the book, that is.

“So many lies and phony sources,” Trump wrote Tuesday night on Twitter, labeling the book as “a con on the public.” He also questioned whether Woodward was a Democratic operative who timed the book’s release to influence the coming midterm elections.

Chief of Staff John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders all disputed Woodward’s reporting, with Mattis calling the book “a product of someone’s rich imagination” while questioning the credibility of Woodward’s anonymous sources.

Woodward’s response, via The Washington Post: “I stand by my reporting.”

Here are the five most explosive claims so far from Woodward’s book:

1. ‘I stole it off his desk’

To protect Trump from himself and the world from Trump, Woodward reports that some of the president’s top aides swiped documents from his desk or hid paperwork to stall potential action.

In the book’s opening scene, Woodward writes that former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn stole a draft letter from Trump’s desk that would have withdrawn the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea, a decision that aides feared could jeopardize a national security program with the ability to detect a North Korean missile launch within seconds.

“I stole it off his desk,” Cohn told an associate, according to Woodward’s reporting. “I wouldn’t let him see it. He’s never going to see that document. Got to protect the country.”

Other aides, including former staff secretary Rob Porter, employed similar tactics, Woodward reported.

2. ‘It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit’

In the book, Woodward reports that Trump’s former defense attorney, John Dowd, put Trump through a mock interview to prepare him for possible testimony before Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller.

Why? He didn’t believe the president could tell the truth, according to Woodward’s reporting.

When Trump didn’t perform well, Dowd allegedly told him, “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jump suit.”

“I’ll be a real good witness,” Trump told him, according to the book.

After Dowd disagreed, Trump lost his temper, called the Russian investigation “a goddamn hoax,” and said, “I don’t really want to testify.”

On Tuesday, though, Dowd denied that he questioned Trump’s truthfulness and didn’t make the “orange jumpsuit” comment.

3. ‘He’s an idiot’

For the second time in a year-plus as chief of staff, Kelly is reported to have called Trump an “idiot.” He has denied both accounts.

In his book, Woodward reports Kelly also described the president as “unhinged” and told staffers in his office working for Trump was “the worst job I’ve ever had.”

“He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in crazytown,” Kelly is quoted as saying.

In response to Woodward’s book on Tuesday, Kelly said in a statement, “The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true, in fact it’s exactly the opposite,” and added, “This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes.”

4. ‘The guy is mentally retarded’

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a frequent punching bag for Trump over the past year — and his job is rumored to be in jeopardy following the November midterms — was singled out in the book as one of the president’s targets for humiliation.

“This guy is mentally retarded,” Trump said of Sessions, according to Woodward’s book. In another instance, Trump described him as a “dumb Southerner” and mocked his accent, Woodward reported.

Not true, Trump tweeted Tuesday night.

“I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a Southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide!” the president wrote.

Also in his book, Woodward writes that Trump bad-mouthed Reince Priebus, calling his former chief of staff “a little rat;” insulted the wardrobe of former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, suggesting he dressed “like a beer salesman;” told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that he was “past his prime;” and once questioned the manhood of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now the face of his legal team.

5. ‘That was the biggest f—ing mistake I’ve made’

Following the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a white nationalist rally that was stained by the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer, Trump faced immediate backlash when said there were “very fine people on both sides.”

In his book, Woodward reports that White House staffers, including then-staff secretary Rob Porter, wrote a second speech for Trump and convinced him to clarify his remarks.

“I don’t know about this. … This doesn’t feel right to me,” Trump is reported as saying in the book.

But, Trump relented and, two days later in a televised speech, denounced racism. Shortly after, according to Woodward’s reporting, Trump became enraged when Fox News questioned his “course correction.”

“That was the biggest f—ing mistake I’ve made,” Trump told Porter, according to the book. “You never make those concessions. You never apologize. I didn’t do anything wrong in the first place. Why look weak?”

He added, “I can’t believe I got forced to do that. That’s the worst speech I’ve ever given. I’m never going to do anything like that again.”

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Serena Williams has praised Nike’s new Colin Kaepernick advertising campaign, calling it a “powerful statement”.

Critics have burned Nike trainers and clothing in protest at the decision to use Kaepernick in the campaign.

Kaepernick was the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem to highlight racial injustice.

“Having a huge company back him could be a controversial reason for this company, but they’re not afraid,” said Williams, who is sponsored by Nike.

“I feel like that was a really powerful statement to a lot of other companies.”

Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam titles, was speaking after beating Karolina Pliskova to reach the US Open semi-finals in New York.

She said of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Kaepernick: “He’s done a lot for the African-American community, and it’s cost him a lot.

“It’s sad. But he continues to do the best that he can to support.”

After Nike unveiled the campaign, Williams tweeted that she was “especially proud to be a part of the Nike family”.

Critics on Twitter used the hashtag #JustBurnIt – a play on Nike’s slogan “Just Do It” – which trended alongside #BoycottNike.

In announcing the deal, Nike said Kaepernick, who has been out of a contract since March 2017, was “one of the most inspirational athletes of this generation”.

The NFL said it “embraces the role and responsibility of everyone involved with this game to promote meaningful, positive change in our communities”.

Kaepernick, who watched Williams’ third round win over sister Venus at Flushing Meadows, sued the NFL in 2017 and accused owners of colluding to blackball him.

Israel has launched more than 200 air strikes against Iranian targets in Syria over the past year and a half , a senior Israel official revealed.

The officer in the Israeli defence force (SDF) said on Tuesday the air raids included the dropping of about 800 bombs and missiles on mostly arm shipments as well as military bases and infrastructure.

Later on Tuesday, Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz confirmed the report, calling Iran‘s military presence in Syria a “red line”.

“Only just now it was published – in the name of military sources, so I can quote it too – that in the last two years Israel has taken military action more than 200 times within Syria itself, Katz said.

“Understanding the significance of this matter in terms of preserving the red line, preventing thing that Iran has done, is doing and trying to do against Israel from Syria.”

In August 2017, the outgoing chief of Israel’s air force told Haaretz newspaper that his corps had carried out “nearly 100 strikes” in Syria.

That left another 100 in the time since, according to the official Israeli accounts issued on Tuesday – roughly two strikes per week.

Israel, which monitors neighbouring Syria intensively, has long alleged that Iran came to assist the Damascus government, in part, to set up a permanent garrison there, effectively forming an extended anti-Israel front with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran, Israel’s arch-foe, has been a core supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout the seven-year-old war, sending military advisers as well as material and regional Shia armed groups that it backs.

Israel’s strikes on Syria have been largely ignored by Russia, Syria’s big-power backer.

On Monday, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman signaled that the country could also attack suspected Iranian military targets in Iraq, where Reuters has reported the deployment of ballistic missiles by Tehran.

Briefing reporters on Tuesday, a senior Israeli military officer who requested anonymity said that Israel believed Iran was using Iraqi territory as a conduit for missile transfers to Syria.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Instead of David Robidoux’s familiar Hard Knocks theme, perhaps the Game of Thrones theme would have been a more appropriate opener for the season finale. 

As what might be the best season yet of the HBO reality show came to a close, each of the bottom-half-of-the-roster characters we’d been following on this five-episode journey were released by the Cleveland Browns.

However, the episode opens with the news of linebacker Mychal Kendricks, who isn’t shown but discussed by both coaches and teammates. Kendricks admitted to participating in insider trading, and quickly was released by the team.

“I don’t know all the details, obviously, but is he going to jail?” offensive coordinator Todd Haley asks general manager John Dorsey.

Then, the four fringe players who have been followed closely throughout the series — rookie quarterback Brogan Roback, tight end Devon Cajuste, and defensive ends Carl Nassib and Nate Orchard — all are highlighted through the team’s final preseason game against the Detroit Lions before each gets released as the Browns trim their roster to 53 players. 

For Roback — who played college ball at Eastern Michigan — the game at Ford Field was a homecoming. Roback also is from Toledo, and Hard Knocks narrator Liev Schreiber sets up Roback’s entry into the game, “it’s not just a love story. It’s a throwback to old-fashioned dreams.” The rookie free agent gets significant playing time in relief of No. 1 overall draft pick Baker Mayfield, and makes the most of his opportunity. Roback has a hose, and he puts it on display on a 22-yard touchdown pass to fellow undrafted rookie Blake Jackson. Roback quickly gathers the ball, “hey, I want this!” Roback’s Instagram girlfriend, Ally Goff, is very emotional.

Roback is also the first player to be shown getting cut. Browns assistant general manager Eliot Wolf, the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Ron Wolf, makes the call. Undrafted rookie free-agent quarterbacks rarely ever make the final roster. Roback’s best hope was to make the team’s practice squad, which didn’t happen. 

 #BRObie will be missed.

Nassib and Orchard were expected to be competing for the same roster spot. Instead, each was let go; Orchard during the initial cuts and Nassib a couple days later when the Browns got active on the waiver wire. Nassib, part-time financial advisor/alien truther, was claimed off waivers by the Buccaneers on Monday. Despite a pick-six against the Lions, Orchard was let go. However, like Nassib, it appears as if Orchard might be able to find another team. He will visit with the Jets on Wednesday after meeting with the Bills on Tuesday.

MORE:

The most devastating cut was Cajuste, who has never played a down in a regular-season game. Cajuste was signed as an undrafted rookie in 2016 by the San Francisco 49ers, only to be released during the final cuts. He then was picked up by the Green Bay Packers for their practice squad for the 2016 season. In January, he was signed by the Browns and appeared to have a legitimate shot at making the Browns’ final roster. 

Cajuste’s story on Hard Knocks pulled on the heartstrings of viewers when we were introduced to his father, Gregory, who has endured three heart attacks, a stroke and a tracheotomy. Devon learned of the third heart attack during that interview with his father in the second episode of Hard Knocks. Gregory, we learn in the season finale, isn’t able to travel the Browns’ preseason finale due to being “heart sick.” He’d recently visited the hospital, where he was told that he needed open-heart surgery.

Devon played through a shoulder injury in the preseason opener against the New York Giants, and screamed in agony from the pain between plays. Against the Lions, he rolled both ankles on the same play. Before that, he caught two passes from Mayfield. Later, he’s shown dropping a pass and being called for holding. 

Moments later on Hard Knocks, we see Cajuste being informed that his lifelong dream of playing in the NFL might be over. Cajuste’s personal story was as good as Hard Knocks has ever had, and his struggle gave the viewer valuable insight into what a player on the roster bubble goes through to make an NFL roster. There are NFL players who are compensated handsomely to play the game, but there are many others who endure this annual roster cutdown tradition as August gives way to September. Players’ lives and their hopes and dreams play out each NFL preseason on Hard Knocks. It’s that month-long human drama that makes this show so profoundly compelling. 

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jim Reineking on Twitter @jimreineking.

If you love talking football, we have the perfect spot for you. Join our new Facebook Group, The Ruling Off the Field, to engage in friendly debate and conversation with fellow football fans and our NFL insiders.

A bullied teenager on “America’s Got Talent” is sending a message to kids facing similar situations: “You guys will get through it, it does get better.”

Singer Amanda Mena brought down the house with a soulful rendition of Pharell’s hit song “Happy,” during the first semifinals round Tuesday. Judges Melanie Brown and Heidi Klum praised the 15-year-old for her “brave choice” in song, but to Mena the lyrics mean so much more. 

Speaking to bullied kids across the nation, the sympathetic singer said: “I just want to tell you guys that you are special. Don’t listen to what anybody else says about you, you can do anything if you just believe in yourself and have your family behind you.”

She tweeted shortly after: “Feeling so happy right now.”

More: The enduring appeal of ‘America’s Got Talent,’ explained

In a package played before the performance, Mena’s parents said they moved to the United States  to give her a shot at the American Dream. 

“I’d wake her up in the morning and she would say, ’Mommy, I don’t want to go to school, because the kids bully me,” Miosotis Mena Heredia said while getting emotional. “‘They say I don’t know English and I should go back to Santo Domingo.’”

Mena Heredia said the experience was difficult to witness and hopes no mother in the world has to “live through what I did with my daughter.” However, she said the kids that taunted Mena taught her to believe in herself. 

“I want to thank those people, because maybe the things they put Amanda through, she overcame and she became stronger,” her mother said. 

The judges took notice. Simon Cowell praised Amanda’s “confidence” while Howie Mandel added: “You had a tough start and it made you tougher, and I think that’s what brought you to the level that you’re able to perform to now.”

Mena’s future is now up to the fans — viewers can vote until early Wednesday (7 a.m. ET). 

“America’s Got Talent” will reveal which five acts will advance to the finals Wednesday night.

Also: ‘America’s Got Talent’: Married couple Us The Duo dedicate touching song to unborn daughter

Related: ‘America’s Got Talent’: Makayla Phillips, 15, dedicates emotional performance to ‘hero’ dad

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Defending champion Rafael Nadal dug deep to win the longest match of this year’s US Open in a classic five-set quarter-final against Dominic Thiem – which finished at 2:03am local time.

World number one Nadal lost the opening set 6-0 after being outpowered by the Austrian ninth seed in New York.

However, the 32-year-old Spanish top seed recovered to lead two sets to one before Thiem levelled in a tie-break.

Nadal edged a tense fifth-set tie-break to win 0-6 6-4 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-5).

The 17-time Grand Slam champion clinched victory when Thiem hit an overhead smash long on the first match point, the drama continuing until the last shot in an epic encounter lasting four hours and 49 minutes.

Nadal jumped over the net to console his Austrian opponent at the end, the pair embracing as those left inside Arthur Ashe Stadium rose to their feet to give them a thunderous ovation.

“I said to Dominic: ‘I’m very sorry and keep going.’ He has plenty of time to win. He will have his chances in the future without a doubt,” Nadal said.

Asked about how got through the tense moments, Nadal added: “Suffering is the right word. It was a great battle.”

He will play Argentine third seed Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 champion, in Friday’s semi-finals.

Thiem fails to gain revenge

Thiem was aiming to earn a measure of revenge over Nadal, who dismantled his game for a straightforward victory in the French Open final in June – the Austrian’s only appearance in a Grand Slam showpiece.

Ultimately, he faced more disappointment against one of the sport’s all-time great fighters.

Eventually Nadal’s endurance came out on top in this match, which was his 17th at a Grand Slam to go past the four-hour mark.

In contrast, 25-year-old Thiem had never previously gone past the four-hour mark in his whole career.

Neither player outwardly showed signs of fatigue as they continued to trade blows deep into a high-octane match.

Stylish and powerful winners continued to flow from the racquets of both players until the end, despite the match entering an energy-sapping fifth hour in hot and humid conditions at Flushing Meadows.

Despite the drama, the 24,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium was only about a third full when the match concluded under the lights, with many fans needing to leave early to get home.

Those who were left were treated to a tense final-set tie-break, which proved to be a fitting end to a great match.

Nadal ultimately digests rare ‘bagel’

Thiem has gained a reputation as one of the most powerful players on the men’s tour, with Nadal identifying his thunderous groundstrokes as the danger before their last-eight tie.

And Thiem came out swinging against Nadal in a 24-minute opening set which left the packed crowd inside Ashe stunned.

Nadal had faced two gruelling matches against Karen Khachanov and Nikoloz Basilashvili coming into the quarter-final, and Thiem was keen to test his energy levels from the start.

Potent off both flanks, Thiem hit 13 winners and fired down five aces to comprehensively win the first set.

Nadal won just seven points as he was ‘bagelled’ for the first time at the US Open since a second-round defeat by American second seed Andy Roddick in 2004.