The Slatest

Slatest PM: Backlash in Egypt   

Egyptian supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi sit in front of barbed wire fencing that blocks the access to the headquarters of the Republican Guard in Cairo on July 8, 2013.

Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

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Bloodshed in Cairo: Associated Press: “Egyptian soldiers and police clashed with Islamists protesting the military’s ouster of the president in bloodshed that left at least 51 protesters and three members of the security forces dead, officials and witnesses said, and plunged the divided country deeper into crisis. … The carnage outside the Republican Guard building in Cairo – where toppled President Mohammed Morsi was first held last week – marked the single biggest death toll since massive protests forced Morsi’s government from power and brought in caretaker rule overseen by Egypt’s powerful armed forces. … Egypt’s top Muslim cleric warned of ‘civil war’ and said he was going into seclusion as a show of protest to both sides until the violence ends.”

Islamists Call for Uprising: Los Angeles Times: “The political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood called for a national uprising in retaliation for an attack by Egyptian security forces Monday. … The Freedom and Justice Party ‘calls on the great Egyptian people to rise up against those who want to steal their revolution with tanks and armored vehicles, even over the dead bodies of the people,’ it said in a statement. The announcement was a chilling indication of how polarized and dangerous the nation has become in a power struggle between the armed forces and the supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member who last week was deposed in a military coup.”

U.S. Won’t Cut Off Egypt Aid: Reuters: “The White House said on Monday it is not in the best interests of the United States to immediately change its aid program to Egypt…. The U.S. government is not yet prepared to label the Egyptian military’s overthrow of the government as a coup, a decision that would determine whether U.S. aid to the country would continue, White House spokesman Jay Carney said. ‘There are significant consequences that go along with this determination and it is a highly charged issue for millions of Egyptians who have differing views about what happened,’ Carney told reporters at a briefing.”

Happy Monday. Welcome to the Slatest PM, where we’re rounding up the day’s top stories and figuring out when our next long weekend is (spoiler: it’s not for a while). Follow me, your afternoon news guide, on Twitter at @s_brodez and the whole team at @slatest.

Asiana Flight 214 Crash Investigation: NBC News:Federal investigators said Monday they hope to learn more in interviews with the four pilots who were on board the jetliner that crash-landed on the runway at San Francisco International Board. ‘We want to understand what was happening’ in the cockpit, National Transportation Safety Board chief Deborah Hersman told reporters. She said investigators will also look for signs of fatigue, illness and health issues. For the first time, investigators revealed the speed of the plane just before it hit the seawall adjacent to the tarmac — 103 knots or about 119 mph, roughly 40 mph slower than its target speed. Meanwhile, the airline said that the pilot was still training on the Boeing 777 and had never landed one at that airport.”

Rick Perry Won’t Seek Re-Election: Politico: “Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said Monday he will not run for reelection in 2014 and left open the possibility of making a second run for president. Citing Ecclesiastes, the 63-year-old and Texas’s longest-serving governor said he would leave office at the end of this term and decide what to do next. ‘The time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership. Today, I am announcing I will not seek reelection as governor of Texas,’ said Perry, speaking before supporters at a Caterpillar dealership in San Antonio. ‘I will spend the next 18 months working to create more jobs, opportunity and innovation. I will actively lead this great state. I’ll also pray and reflect and work to determine my own future path.’”

Weigel: Rick Perry Exits, Wendy Davis Still Trails in Race For Texas Governor

Defense Witnesses Back Up Zimmerman: NBC News: “A 911 call made just before Trayvon Martin was killed was played repeatedly in court Monday as defense witnesses took the witness stand to say they recognize George Zimmerman yelling for help in the background. Martin’s mother and brother testified on Friday, just before the prosecution rested, that it’s the slain teen who was screaming on the tape. Later that day, when the defense began its case, Zimmerman’s mother and uncle testified that the screams came from the former neighborhood watch volunteer. Friends and co-workers said the same as they were called on Monday.”

The Slatest: More Than 70 People Were Shot in Chicago Over the Holiday Weekend

Pentagon Mishandles MIA Troops: Associated Press: “The Pentagon’s effort to account for tens of thousands of Americans missing in action from foreign wars is so inept, mismanaged and wasteful that it risks descending from ‘dysfunction to total failure,’ according to an internal study suppressed by military officials. Largely beyond the public spotlight, the decades-old pursuit of bones and other MIA evidence is sluggish, often duplicative and subjected to too little scientific rigor, the report says.”

The Slatest: Osama Bin Laden Wore a Cowboy Hat and Other Revelations from the Abbottabad Commission

Spitzer’s First Day on the Campaign Trail: New York Times: “Eliot Spitzer hit the campaign trail Monday, navigating a crush of cameras and wiping sweat onto his pinstriped blue suit as he began a four-day effort to gather enough signatures to qualify as a candidate for city comptroller. Mr. Spitzer, who resigned as governor in 2008 after acknowledging that he had patronized prostitutes, spent nearly an hour fielding questions from journalists and voters, enduring hecklers and unsolicited compliments as he made an awkward return to retail politics after a five-year hiatus.”

Teresa Heinz Kerry Recovering: Boston.com: “The health of philanthropist Teresa Heinz Kerry has improved at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where the wife of Secretary of State John F. Kerry is now considered to be in fair condition, an improvement from the critical condition she was in on Sunday. Kerry spokesman Glen Johnson released a statement shortly before noon today providing a brief update of the status of the 74-year-old Heinz Kerry, who was rushed from Nantucket to Boston Sunday after suffering a still-unexplained medical event in her home.”

Bolivia Sounds Off Over Plane Debacle: Reuters: “Bolivia on Monday demanded France, Portugal, Spain and Italy reveal who told them that former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard President Evo Morales’ flight from Moscow last week. Bolivia said it was an act of ‘state terrorism’ by the United States and its European allies that the four countries banned Morales’ plane from their airspace on suspicions it was carrying the U.S. fugitive to Bolivia in defiance of Washington. The government in La Paz told the European ambassadors to provide formal explanations on Monday to the Foreign Ministry.”

BP Fights “Fictitious” Spill Claims: Associated Press: “BP PLC is being forced to pay inflated and even ‘fictitious’ claims to businesses because of the way a court-appointed administrator is making payments from a legal settlement following the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an attorney for the oil giant said Monday. Ted Olson made the arguments in a packed courtroom before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A lower court already refused to block payments to businesses that claim the spill cost them money. At stake are billions of dollars in settlement payments.

A Few More Quick Hits from Slate:

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