North Korea says missile test was ‘solemn warning’ to South

File photo, 2017: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the launch of a Hwasong-12 missile in a photo released in September.

TOKYO (AP) — A day after two North Korean missile launches rattled Asia, the nation announced Friday that it had tested a “new-type tactical guided weapon” that was meant to be a “solemn warning” about South Korean weapons development and its rival’s plans to hold military exercises.

The message in the country’s state media quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and was directed at “South Korean military warmongers.” It comes as U.S. and North Korean officials struggle to set up talks after a recent meeting on the Korean border between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to provide a step forward in stalled nuclear negotiations.

Although the North had harsh words for South Korea, the statement stayed away from the kind of belligerent attacks on the United States that have marked past announcements, a possible signal that it’s interested in keeping diplomacy alive.

It made clear, however, that North Korea is infuriated over U.S.-South Korean plans to hold military drills this summer that the North says are rehearsals for an invasion and proof of the allies’ hostility to Pyongyang.

The message was gloating at times, saying the test “must have given uneasiness and agony to some targeted forces enough as it intended.”

South Korean Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo on Thursday urged the North to stop acts that are “not helpful to efforts to ease military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”

The North’s firing of what the South called a new type of short-range ballistic missile in two launches into the sea Thursday was its first weapons launches in more than two months.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from near the eastern coastal town of Wonsan and flew about 430 kilometers (270 miles) and 690 kilometers (430 miles), respectively, before landing off the country’s east coast.

A South Korean defense official, requesting anonymity because of department rules, said an initial analysis showed both missiles were fired from mobile launchers and flew at a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (30 miles).

The North’s statement Friday said the weapons had “rapid anti-firepower capability” and “low-altitude gliding and leaping flight orbit … which would be hard to intercept.”

Kim was paraphrased as saying that the North “cannot but develop nonstop super powerful weapon systems to remove the potential and direct threats to the security of our country that exist in the south.”

North Korea is banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions from engaging in any launch using ballistic technology. While the North could face international condemnation over the latest launches, it’s unlikely that the nation, already under 11 rounds of U.N. sanctions, will be hit with fresh punitive measures. The U.N. council has typically imposed new sanctions only when the North conducted long-range ballistic launches, not short-range ballistic launches.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the swift resumption of talks between the United States and North Korea following the new missile launches.

North Korea has been urging the U.S. and South Korea to scrap their military drills. Last week, the North said it may lift its 20-month suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests in response.

Seoul said Wednesday that North Korea was protesting the drills by refusing to accept its offer to send 50,000 tons of rice through an international agency.

North Korea also may be trying to get an upper hand ahead of a possible resumption of nuclear talks. Pyongyang wants widespread sanctions relief so it can revive its dilapidated economy.

U.S. officials demand North Korea first take significant steps toward disarmament before they will relinquish the leverage provided by the sanctions.

“North Korea appears to be thinking its diplomacy with the U.S. isn’t proceeding in a way that they want. So they’ve fired missiles to get the table to turn in their favor,” said analyst Kim Dae-young at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

A senior U.S. official said the Trump administration knew about the launches. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide a response, said the administration had no further comment.

“If they were ballistic missiles, they violate the U.N. resolutions, and I find it extremely regrettable,” Japan’s Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters in Tokyo.

China, the North’s last major ally and biggest aid provider, said both Washington and Pyongyang should restart their nuclear diplomacy as soon as possible.

It was the first missile launch since Seoul said North Korea fired three short-range missiles off its east coast in early May. At the time, many experts said those missiles strongly resembled the Russian-designed Iskander, a short-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile that has been in the Russian arsenal for more than a decade.

Analyst Kim Dong-yub at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies said the latest missiles could be Scud-C ballistic missiles or KN-23 surface-to-surface missiles, a North Korean version of the Iskander.

Nigeria at Risk of Losing $15 Billion of Crisis-Era Bad Loans

Nigeria is facing the risk of never recovering about 5.5 trillion naira ($15 billion) of bad loans taken over during a banking crisis more than a decade ago.

The money is almost 80% of the West African nation’s revenue target for 2019 and 62% of planned spending by President Muhammadu Buhari, amounting to 8.9 trillion naira.

That is how much the state-owned Asset Management Corp., or Amcon, still has to collect from Nigerian companies that have failed to repay the debts they once owed lenders, Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Kuru said at a conference in Lagos on Wednesday. Delays in litigation are slowing the process, while tepid economic growth is weighing on the ability of businesses to survive, he said.

Modeled on organizations including Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency Ltd. and Korea Asset Management Corp., Amcon used bonds to bail out 10 lenders and buy more than 12,000 loans from industries including aviation, gasoline marketing and manufacturing after the 2008-09 oil price crash. It’s so far recovered 1 trillion naira, Kuru said.

Amcon needs to recover the outstanding debts to enable it to meet its obligations to the Central Bank of Nigeria, which provided the cash it used to repay holders of bonds that were issued to acquire the loans, he said.

The CEO said extending the operations of Amcon beyond its 2023 deadline would do more harm than good, because that could encourage bad behavior in the financial industry and among borrowers.

“The federal government should be appropriating the money yearly” required to meet its obligations should the bad debts not be recovered, Kuru said.

The money is almost 80% of the West African nation’s revenue target for 2019 and 62% of planned spending by President Muhammadu Buhari (pictured), amounting to 8.9 trillion naira.

Amcon plans to appoint advisers this year for the sale of Polaris Bank, a lender it took over last year after it breached central bank’s capital and liquidity thresholds, the CEO said. Amcon recapitalized Polaris Bank with 786 billion naira and has no plans to rescue other lenders, he said.

Rudy Giuliani, Estranged Wife Argue in Court Over His Free Trump Legal Work

Judith Nathan (l) and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (r) are seen inside State Supreme Court at 60 Centre St on July 25, 2019 in New York.The former couple were attending a hearing in their divorce case.

Rudy Giuliani is providing gratis legal work for President Donald Trump to shortchange estranged wife Judith Nathan Giuliani, her lawyer said Thursday during a proceeding in their increasingly acrimonious divorce.

“Not only is he working pro bono for the president, for this individual, but it’s costing him money,” said Bernard Clair, who represents Judith. “Not only does he work for free, but all of his expenses, every time he goes down to Washington, D.C., every time he travels for the president… it comes out of his own pocket.”

“When he’s going to work for the president, he bundles, for lack of a better word, clients from his other businesses” to defray these costs, including a recent trip to Warsaw, Poland, Clair said.

Clair said Giuliani’s work for Trump is meant to lead the court to “believe he somehow doesn’t have money.”

The lawyer added that Giuliani spent “over one million on credit cards” but “says ‘woe is me’ financially… ‘I don’t have any money left.’”

Giuliani borrowed $100,000 from Marc Mukasey, another one of Trump’s lawyers, Clair said.

Judith filed for divorce from the former New York City mayor in April 2018, after 15 years of marriage. Allegations that Giuliani has been holding out on her have been an ongoing theme of the divorce proceedings.

Clair alleged in court in November that Giuliani cried poor after she served him divorce papers. Not only did he leave a cushy white-shoe law firm gig and start no-fee legal work for Trump, he spent $286,000 on his rumored girlfriend, a New Hampshire hospital administrator named Maria Rosa Ryan, Clair had said.

“Mr. Giuliani has taken it upon himself to radically change the financial status quo that existed prior to this action,” Clair had told Justice Michael Katz, calling it “conduct that can only be characterized as SIDS… sudden income deficit syndrome.”

In the proceeding last fall, Clair claimed that Giuliani earned $7.9 million in 2016 and $9.5 million in 2017. Giuliani and Judith’s monthly expenses were about $232,000 and $238,000, respectively, Clair had also said.

Faith Miller, a lawyer representing Giuliani, insisted the ex-mayor has been trying to find other sources of income, including a podcast.

He has taken in more than $800,000 this year but it’s not enough to support their lifestyle, Miller said in this morning’s proceedings. Miller said that Giuliani was paying Judith monthly support payments of $42,000.

“Mrs. Giuliani would have Mr. Giuliani work forever to support her lifestyle,” Miller said, noting that Judith is a registered nurse but refuses to work. “There’s absolutely no reason he should feel financial pressure at this stage of his life.”

Clair alleged that Giuliani spent $50,000 for membership to a private plane service 10 days after Judith hit him with divorce papers.

Miller, meanwhile, accused Judith of taking “everything that she in her own personal opinion was hers” from one of their homes, including “the china, silverware, the pictures off the walls.”

“He walked in, the place was denuded, the place was a mess,” Miller said.

“I did not! I did not,” Judith cried out, slapping her hand against the table.

“I’m not going to tolerate an outburst,” Judge Katz warned.

Miller also claimed that Judith had neglected to pay $77,000 in co-op fees at one of their homes, resulting in a “termination notice” by Giuliani’s return in May.

The furniture and co-op fee allegations are among many petty squabbles in their made-for-tabloid split.

In March, Katz told them not to be in the same room if they ran into each other at country clubs.

“There was an issue at one of the clubs last week,” Lisa Zeiderman, one of Giuliani’s attorneys, previously told Katz. “We’re going to ask that Ms. Giuliani just keep her distance from Mr. Giuliani when they’re at clubs together and their children, as well, and not take photographs, because that’s what was happening last weekend, I’m advised, at one of the clubs.”

“He just wants to be left alone,” Zeiderman had said.

One of Judith’s lawyers had responded that Giuliani was just embarrassed to be spotted spending money on his purported girlfriend’s daughter. (Giuliani denied this after that hearing.)

Clair had told Katz that “she went into the gift shop at the club. She saw Mr. Giuliani. He got anxious and yelled at her.”

“I am tired of hearing about Mr. Giuliani’s personal life,” Katz had remarked, later saying, “Whoever is in the room first is allowed to stay in the room.”

The second person who enters the room can go to another room “and vice versa,” Katz had instructed.

Based on comments outside court, it does not appear that the drama will end prior to their scheduled divorce trial in Jan. 2020.

Giuliani, whose hair appeared darker than in the recent past, was affable as he left court, chatting with a photographer about the ins-and-outs of high-end cameras.

When asked about the loan to Mukasey, he said it was to cover taxes and that he had paid back $90,000.

He told a reporter that while Trump’s tax cuts worked out “really well” for him, but that “my wife has tied up all my money” in a joint account with $5 million.

Judith, who sported a blue blouse with roses on it and white pants, denied allegations that she cleaned out their decor.

“I was entitled to my family antiques,” she told reporters, claiming Rudy had kept her heirloom Christmas decorations.

Trump vetoes Senate to push through $8B in Saudi arms sales

President Donald Trump has vetoed a trio of resolutions aimed at blocking his deal with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The action is the third time Trump has vetoed a congressional measure.

“This resolution would weaken America’s global competitiveness and damage the important relationships we share with our allies and partners,” Trump said in his veto messages Wednesday.

Last month, the Senate passed 22 resolutions designed to halt the administration’s pending sale of $8.1 billion in arms. Senators cited Saudi Arabia’s role in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the war in Yemen and the administration not seeking congressional approval for the transaction as their reasons. RELATED U.S. Air Force expands operating base in Saudi Arabia

The sales would include mortar bombs, missiles, drones, repair and maintenance services, and precision-guided munitions. Trump approved the sales under the Arms Export Control Act, which typically requires congressional review.

“The United States is very concerned about the conflict’s toll on innocent civilians and is working to bring the conflict in Yemen to an end,” Trump added.

“But we cannot end it through ill-conceived and time-consuming resolutions that fail to address its root causes. Rather than expend time and resources on such resolutions, I encourage the Congress to direct its efforts toward supporting our work to achieve peace through a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Yemen.” RELATED Lockheed awarded $1.4B contract for Saudi THAAD system

The Senate would need 67 votes to override Trump’s veto.

“I condemn the president’s decision and I’ll continue using every tool at my disposal to bring accountability to his foreign policy, including closing the loopholes that led to this arms sale fiasco in the first place,” Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., tweeted.

U.S. loses 100,000 dairy cows in last year as more dairy farms close

EVANSVILLE, Ind., July 24 (UPI) — The number of dairy cows in the United States dropped by roughly 100,000 animals in the last year, as low milk prices continue to drive American dairy farms out of business.

Between July 2018 and July 2019, the U.S. dairy herd shrank to 9.3 million animals from 9.4 million, according to the latest count by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2018, some 2,500 dairies went out of business, according to the agency.

“A lot of my friends and neighbors have exited the business,” said Jim Burdett, the owner of a small, family-owned dairy farm near Mercersburg, Pa. “We’re a dying breed, the small, family run operation.”

Burdette’s farm is struggling to stay afloat, he said.

Milk prices have been low since 2015 — so low that the average U.S. dairyman has been losing money every year for the last four years, said Jackie Boerman, an assistant professor of animal sciences at Purdue University, who specializes in the dairy industry.

“What happened was that 2014 was a record year for dairy,” said Alan Bjerga, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation. “And, whenever you have a really good year and prices increase, farmers respond by increasing production.”

In dairy farming, one of the ways that is accomplished is by adding cows, and that is exactly what farmers did, Bjerga said. Between 2014 and 2017, the number of dairy cows in the United States increased by about 150,000 animals, according to the USDA. (The agency did not survey the herd in 2016 because of budget constraints.)

Farmers during that time also found ways to increase the productivity of their existing animals by improving their health of the herds, Boerman said.

The result was a flood of milk hitting the market, and that sent prices crashing.

“We just had too much milk on the market,” Boerman said. “We had more milk production than we had demand for it. We needed to reduce our cow numbers to get the supply in line with the current demand.”

The dairy farm closures contributed to the decline. When a farm ceases operations, it sells the herd. Some of the animals are purchased by other farms to continue producing milk, but many of them end up sold for beef, Boerman said.

But dairy farm closures is not the only factor. Many farms that continue operations also are reducing their number of cows.

The farms routinely sell — or cull — dairy cows from their herds once the animals stop reliably producing milk, either due to age or some kind of health issue.

Farmers keep dairy cow lives about five years. The cows produce milk for the last three of them. The retired cows are either sent to slaughter houses to be butchered into ground beef, or rendering facilities to become pet food, depending on their age and condition.

But with milk prices so low, farmers had some incentive to cull more of their animals, especially when beef prices were high, Boerman said. They have also stopped replacing as many of their animals after culling, Bjerga said.

As the herd size continues to decline, milk prices are inching back up. In January, farmers were receiving a little more than $15 per 100 pounds of milk, according to the USDA. By July, the price rose to over $17.

Consumer prices are following suit, with the average price per gallon of whole milk topping $3 for the first time since 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We’re seeing the first signs of genuine improvement for dairy farm’s finances,” Bjerga said. “It’s taken a long time for the market to move in the right direction, but there is hope.”

UK gets a “Trump” as Boris Johnson becomes the new Prime Minister

LONDON (AP) — Boris Johnson, Britain’s blustering Brexit campaigner, was chosen as the U.K.’s next prime minister on Tuesday, with a resounding mandate from the Conservative Party but conflicting demands from a politically divided country.

Johnson is set to become prime minister on Wednesday after winning an election to lead the governing Conservatives. He will have just over three months to make good on his promise to lead the U.K. out of the European Union by Oct. 31.

Famed for his bravado, quips in Latin and blond mop of hair , Johnson easily defeated Conservative rival Jeremy Hunt, winning two-thirds of the votes of about 160,000 party members across the U.K. He will become prime minister once Queen Elizabeth II formally asks him to form a government, replacing Theresa May.

The embattled May announced her resignation last month after Parliament repeatedly rejected the withdrawal agreement she struck with the 28-nation bloc, leaving Britain stranded in Brexit limbo. The U.K.’s departure from the EU was delayed from its long scheduled exit in March.

Johnson radiated optimism in a brief victory speech to hundreds of party members and lawmakers, pledging to “deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn,” leader of the opposition Labour Party.

“I say to all the doubters: ‘Dude, we are going to energize the country, we are going to get Brexit done,’” said Johnson, a former London mayor and British foreign secretary.

In a sign he hopes to move beyond the largely white, male and affluent Conservative Party members who chose him as their leader, Johnson’s office said he will put together a “Cabinet for modern Britain,” with a record number of ethnic-minority lawmakers.

Hunt, a stolid politician compared to the flamboyant Johnson , said he was sure his rival would “do a great job.”

“He’s got optimism, enthusiasm, he puts a smile on people’s face and he has total, unshakable confidence in our amazing country,” said Hunt, who is likely to be removed as foreign secretary by the new prime minister.

Johnson wooed Conservatives by promising to succeed where May had failed and lead the U.K. out of the EU — with or without a divorce deal.

Johnson insists he can get the EU to renegotiate, something the bloc insists it won’t do. If not, he says Britain must leave the EU by the Oct. 31 deadline, “come what may.”

The EU is adamant that the deal with May will stand, saying Britain has to take it or leave it.

Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, said he looked forward “to working constructively” with the new Conservative leader “to facilitate the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement.”

Economists warn that a no-deal Brexit would disrupt trade and plunge the U.K. into recession . Fears that Britain is inching closer to crashing out of the bloc weighed on the pound once again Tuesday. The currency was down another 0.3 percent at $1.2450, nearly a two-year low.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director of the Confederation of British Industry, said businesses needed a withdrawal agreement with the EU to restore confidence that has been badly shaken by uncertainty about the terms of Brexit.

“On Brexit, the new prime minister must not underestimate the benefits of a good deal,” she said.

Johnson faces a host of other challenges, from dealing with Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker to forging a relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, but Brexit is his overriding problem.

Trump was scathing about May’s inability to achieve a Brexit deal and has said Johnson will do a better job.

On Tuesday he said Johnson “is going to do a good job” and “will get it done.”

“We have a really good man is going to be prime minister of the U.K. now, Boris Johnson,” Trump told a youth conference. “Good man. He’s tough and he’s smart. They say ‘Britain Trump,’ they call him Britain Trump, and people say that’s a good thing.”

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow described Johnson as “a breath of fresh air. I think he’ll complete the Brexit process.”

More than three years after Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU, the country remains divided over whether to leave, and on what terms.

Johnson won the leadership contest by persuading Conservative members, who are strongly pro-Brexit, that Britain will leave the bloc “do or die.”

Opponents say Johnson is reckless on Brexit and unrepentant about offensive and racist comments, such as calling Papua New Guineans cannibals and comparing Muslim women who wear face-covering veils to “letter boxes.”

Opposition Liberal Democrat lawmaker Chuka Umunna tweeted: “I cannot think of a Tory leadership candidate more unfit to become the Prime Minister of this country than Boris Johnson,” adding that his election was “a dark and depressing time for the U.K.”

Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said Johnson might moderate his Brexit stance now that he has secured the premiership.

“I would expect once he’s in government to begin to nuance his position somewhat, because he’ll now be appealing to a different set of voters: that’s the U.K. electorate as a whole, not just the Conservative members, who are much more pro-Brexit.”

The first clues to Johnson’s plans are likely to come when he begins appointing his Cabinet on Wednesday and Thursday.

British lawmakers are due to start a six-week summer break on Friday. When they return in September, Johnson looks set for a fight with Parliament, where most members oppose leaving the EU without a deal, and where the Conservative Party lacks an overall majority.

Several government ministers have already announced they will quit so they can resist any push for a no-deal Brexit.

“We’ll have to see what Boris can muster,” said Conservative lawmaker Margot James, who resigned last week as digital minister. “The default position is leaving without a deal, and there is a significant majority in Parliament who will work very hard to be sure that doesn’t happen. And I will be among that number.”

Outside the London conference center where the Conservative result was announced, pro-Brexit and pro-EU demonstrators waved rival Union Jacks and EU flags — and both sides had their doubts about Johnson.

“In the referendum, we were told that our vote would be honored, and (politicians) have spent three years trying to thwart Brexit,” said retiree Sally Wright, who was not confident Johnson would deliver where others had failed.

Anti-Brexit demonstrator Kasia Verissimo was equally skeptical.

“I think Boris Johnson is a person who will always say whatever gives him better career choices,” she said. “He tells you what you want to hear.”

___

Associated Press writers Renata Brito in London and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed.

Trump expands fast-track deportation authority across US – Agents now authorized to bypass immigration judges

“Expedited removal” gives enforcement agencies broad authority to deport people without allowing them to appear before an immigration judge with limited exceptions, including if they express fear of returning home and pass an initial screening interview for asylum.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Trump administration announced Monday that it will vastly extend the authority of immigration officers to deport migrants without allowing them to appear before judges, its second major policy shift on immigration in eight days.

Starting Tuesday, fast-track deportations can apply to anyone in the country illegally for less than two years. Previously, those deportations were largely limited to people arrested almost immediately after crossing the Mexican border.

Kevin McAleenan, the acting Homeland Security secretary, portrayed the nationwide extension of “expedited removal” authority as another Trump administration effort to address an “ongoing crisis on the southern border” by freeing up beds in detention facilities and reducing a backlog of more than 900,000 cases in immigration courts.

U.S. authorities do not have space to detain “the vast majority” of people arrested on the Mexican border, leading to the release of hundreds of thousands with notices to appear in court, McAleenan said in the policy directive to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register. He said Homeland Security officials with the new deportation power will deport migrants in the country illegally more quickly than the Justice Department’s immigration courts, where cases can take years to resolve.

The agency “expects that the full use of expedited removal statutory authority will strengthen national security, diminish the number of illegal entries, and otherwise ensure the prompt removal of aliens apprehended in the United States,” McAleenan said.

The American Civil Liberties Union and American Immigration Council said they would sue to block the policy.

“Under this unlawful plan, immigrants who have lived here for years would be deported with less due process than people get in traffic court,” said Omar Jawdat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

“Expedited removal” gives enforcement agencies broad authority to deport people without allowing them to appear before an immigration judge with limited exceptions, including if they express fear of returning home and pass an initial screening interview for asylum.

The powers were created under a 1996 law but went largely unnoticed until 2004, when Homeland Security said it would be enforced for people who are arrested within two weeks of entering the U.S. by land and caught within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the border.

The fast-track deportations have become a major piece of U.S. immigration enforcement over the last decade. Critics have said it grants too much power to immigration agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

The potential impact of the new measure is difficult to predict. McAleenan said 20,570 people arrested in the nation’s interior from October 2017 through September 2018 year had been in the U.S. less than two years, which would make them eligible for fast-track deportation under the new rule. Critics said the new measure’s impact could be more far-reaching because many in the U.S for longer than two years may be unable to prove they have been in the country for so long.

“Expanding the fast-track procedure to apply anywhere in the U.S. is a recipe for ripping thousands more families apart and devastating communities,” said Grace Meng, Human Rights Watch’s U.S. program acting deputy director. “This is a massive and dangerous change.”

The administration said the expanded authority will likely mean less time for migrants in detention while cases wind their way through immigration court. The average stay in immigration detention for people in fast-track removal was 11.4 days from October 2017 through September 2018, compared to 51.5 days for people arrested in the nation’s interior.

The announcement was the second major policy shift in eight days following an unprecedented surge of families from Central America’s Northern Triangle of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Last week, the administration said it will deny asylum to anyone who passes through other countries en route to the U.S. without seeking protection in at least one of those countries. Two lawsuits were filed challenging the move. A judge in Washington, D.C., heard arguments Monday on whether to block the policy. Judge Timothy Kelly said he would “endeavor to rule on this as quickly as I can.”

A judge in San Francisco has set a hearing for Wednesday in a similar lawsuit.

Also Monday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision by a federal judge in Seattle that blocked a policy to indefinitely detain asylum seekers without a chance to be released on bond. The policy to deny bond hearings had been set to take effect July 15.

The White House issued a statement Monday night saying, “We strongly disagree with that decision and expect to prevail on the merits of the appeal and to see the law upheld.”

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