Today In World News: July 17, 2017

Today In World News:

Courtesy of Al-Jazeera

• The UN has condemned an increase in civilian deaths in Afghanistan in the first half of 2017, with 1,662 killed and more than 3,500 injured.

• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is planning to shut down the State Department office that focuses on war crimes.

• Heavy bombardment and fierce fighting continue to shake the Syrian city of Raqqa, as the ISIS group defend their stronghold from advancing US-backed forces. Fatalities have been reported.

• The United States outlined a tough negotiating strategy for revising the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and for the first time in a US trade deal said it would seek to deter currency manipulation by trading partners.

• Egypt has told Kuwait it was committed to keep anti-Qatar sanctions in place until the demands made by Cairo and its three Gulf Arab allies were met.

• New Israeli security measures at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied East Jerusalem have caused a confrontation between Israeli police and dozens of Muslim worshippers.

• The U.S. Senate's healthcare overhaul appeared to be in serious trouble on Monday after 2 more Republicans said they opposed a revised version of the bill.  Senators Mike Lee and Jerry Moran each announced on Twitter that they could not support the bill in its current form, bringing to four the number of Republican senators opposed and effectively killing the revised version of the bill.

• U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to take "strong and swift economic actions" if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro goes ahead with plans to create a super-legislature known as a Constituent Assembly in a July 30 vote.

• The government will allow 15,000 additional visas for temporary seasonal workers, meant to help American businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm because of a shortage of such labor.

• A government watchdog group says it has won a battle with the Trump administration, which will turn over visitor records for the president's Mar-a-Lago residence.