5 things for July 19: Trump's latest on Putin, Israeli bill, affirmative consent

1. US and Russia

President Donald Trump now says he holds Russian President Vladimir Putin personally responsible for Russia interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Trump told CBS he considers Putin culpable because he is Russia's leader. The President has been cleaning up his remarks on Russia and the election ever since Monday's summit in Helsinki, Finland, where he sided with Putin and publicly accepted the Russian leader's denials over the assessments of US intelligence agencies.

The New York Times reported that Trump knew about Russian interference two weeks before his inauguration in 2017. In a briefing he was "shown highly classified intelligence" that indicated Putin ordered up the cyberattacks. James Clapper, then the director of national intelligence, confirmed some of the details of the briefing during a "CNN Tonight" interview.

Meanwhile, the White House is reportedly considering Putin's proposal to interrogate Americans in exchange for his government's assistance in the Russia investigation. In Helsinki, Trump called it an "interesting idea." But the State Department calls the whole thing "absolutely absurd."

2. Israel

Israel's parliament passed a controversial bill that critics call a "nail in the coffin" for democracy in the country. The "nation-state" law OK'd by the Knesset establishes Israel as the historic home of the Jewish people with a "united" Jerusalem as its capital. But the law fails to mention either equality or minority rights -- both of which were integral parts of Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948. It also downgrades the status of Arabic from an official language to a language with "special status." Despite the criticism, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the bill's passage and called it a "defining moment" in the country's history.

3. Affirmative consent

Spain could become the latest country to criminalize sex without affirmative consent. That means it would make "yes means yes" the legal standard in sexual encounters. Carmen Calvo, Spain's deputy prime minister, said she'd introduce a bill that would require affirmative consent in which both parties agree to sexual conduct, either through clear, verbal communication or nonverbal cues or gestures. Spain said it would review its sex crimes laws after widespread outrage when five men accused of gang raping a teen in a 2016 attack were instead convicted of the lesser crime of sexual abuse. They appealed their cases and were released on bail.

Sweden and Germany have similar laws, which some observers consider more effective than "no means no," which often places the burden on victims and prosecutors to prove unwanted contact. But critics call it an overreach that's hard to enforce. Some US states, such as New York and California, require public colleges and universities to include affirmative consent in conduct policies.

4. California

Not so fast, California voters. Looks like you won't get the chance to vote on splitting the Golden State up into three separate parts in November after all. The California Supreme Court ordered that the controversial initiative be removed from this fall's ballot because "significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition's validity." The initiative, called Proposition 9, would've asked voters whether California should separate into three states: California, Northern California and Southern California.

5. Air pollution

Enjoy going to a national park and deeply breathing in all that fresh air? You might want to rethink that next time. The air in US national parks is almost as polluted as the air in 20 major US cities, a new study from the journal Science Advances says. From 1990 to 2014, the study found national parks had ozone levels similar to that of the 20 largest major cities in America. For example, Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California had on average the same number of unhealthy ozone days as New York City. The polluted air often drifts into the parks from nearby urban and industrial areas, so one of the study's authors said conditions in the parks could be improved by cutting back on emissions of pollutants.

This just in

UK poisoning case

British police say they have ID'd two suspects in the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter. 

TODAY'S QUOTE

"I don't think that they're intentionally getting it wrong."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, explaining why Holocaust deniers and other conspiracy theorists are still allowed to keep content on Facebook. His comments drew immediate condemnation, and he later tried to clarify his remarks.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

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California dreamin'

The dream of cruising scenic Highway 1 at Big Sur is possible again, now that the iconic roadway has reopened there after last year's landslide.

Friendly flyers

The passengers overheard the teacher talk about how her students needed school supplies. So, one by one, they did something about it.

What the ...?

Heavy winds lifted a beach umbrella out of the sand and launched it right through a woman's ankle. Thankfully she's going to be OK.

Model citizen

A Minnesota Twins closer left a game early, but don't worry, he wasn't injured. He left to become a US citizen.

Oh baby

Here we go again. Beyoncé does something cryptic, and the Beyhive goes into overdrive with the pregnancy rumors. They really should give it a rest.

TODAY'S NUMBER

$12 million

The estimated cost of President Donald Trump's upcoming military parade, which is set for November 10 in Washington. Three US defense officials told CNN the parade is likely to cost nearly as much as the now-canceled military exercise with South Korea that Trump called "tremendously expensive."

141

The number of sexual abuse survivors who accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYS. The women had been abused by Larry Nassar, the former team doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.

AND FINALLY

Not giving it up

Koby the German shepherd refuses to give a GoPro camera back to his owner because, hey, it's a GoPro. (Click to view.)