| White House officials, Washington Post spar over coverage of Trump Posted: 06 Sep 2019 11:53 AM PDT ![White House officials, Washington Post spar over coverage of Trump]( "White House officials, Washington Post spar over coverage of Trump") White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said on Twitter on Friday the Post had not reported on a Trump measure. Others pointed out that it had.
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| California boat fire: Investigation into tragedy that killed 34 people suggests safety violations Posted: 06 Sep 2019 09:31 AM PDT  A preliminary investigation into the California boat fire that killed 34 people suggests serious safety violations.The Conception caught fire early Labour Day morning off the coast of southern California. Only five crew members survived. None of 33 passengers, who had signed up for a scuba trip on the boat, lived.
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| Hurricane Dorian updates: After making landfall in North Carolina, the storm is moving up the coast. At least 30 people have died in the Bahamas. Posted: 06 Sep 2019 02:45 PM PDT  Hurricane Dorian is moving away from North Carolina and Virginia. The storm passed over North Carolina's Outer Banks at 8:35 a.m. ET on Friday.
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| Gun Used in Texas Shooting Was Illegally Manufactured and Sold: REPORT Posted: 05 Sep 2019 02:19 PM PDT  Authorities believe the gun used in the drive-by shooting in Midland and Odessa, Texas this past weekend was illegally manufactured and sold by a Lubbock, Texas man, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is currently investigating a man who they believe illegally manufactured and sold the AR-15-style rifle that Seth Ator used to kill seven people and injure 22 more on Saturday, before he was shot and killed by police.Ator, 36, had previously attempted to purchase a gun from a licensed seller in January 2014, but failed the requisite background check because he'd been declared mentally unfit by a local court. A nationwide criminal-background check identified the court order and prevented the purchase, according to local authorities.If Ator did in fact purchase the weapon through a private transaction, its seller was under no obligation to conduct a background check, but could be held criminally liable if evidence emerges that he knew his prospective customer came to him due to a previous background-check failure.Authorities intercepted Ator outside of a movie theater, killing him only after he rampaged down a highway that links Midland and Odessa shooting indiscriminately.Partisan tensions over gun-control legislation have escalated in recent weeks following separate mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Congressional Democrats continue to insist on universal-background-check legislation that would apply to private sales, a version of which passed the House earlier this year.Republicans, meanwhile, remain non-committal as Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell refuses to endorse specific legislation.
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| Texas man first person charged nationwide since bump stock ban Posted: 06 Sep 2019 07:48 AM PDT  A 43-year old Texas man has been indicted for possessing a machine gun after police say they found a rifle with a bump stock in his home.
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| Celebrate or cry? Zimbabweans have mixed feelings about Mugabe Posted: 06 Sep 2019 12:00 PM PDT  Zimbabweans on Friday woke up to the death of their founding president Robert Mugabe -- a hero-turned despot whose increasingly tyrannic rule and economic mismanagement prompted millions to leave the country. "To be honest I thought I would celebrate when he died," said Tatenda Musoni, a 39-year old school teacher in Zimbabwe's capital Harare. Mugabe, 95, died overnight in a hospital in Singapore, where he was receiving medical care.
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| Mexico president says El Chapo's drug wealth should go to Mexico Posted: 05 Sep 2019 11:17 AM PDT  Mexico's president on Thursday welcomed a proposal to give the alleged fortune of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the country's indigenous people, and said the wealth of Mexican criminals in the United States should be returned to Mexico. Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza, a lawyer for Guzman, said this week his client had proposed that billions of dollars in revenue that U.S. authorities had attributed to his business operations should be handed to indigenous communities in Mexico. Speaking at his regular morning news conference, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who earlier this year announced the creation of a "Robin Hood" institute to return ill-gotten wealth to the Mexican people, gave his approval to the idea.
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| 'I don’t see any path for Biden to win the nomination without South Carolina' Posted: 06 Sep 2019 02:01 AM PDT  The former vice president is betting it all on the black vote.
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| Florida inmate says beating by guards left her paralyzed Posted: 05 Sep 2019 02:00 PM PDT  A female inmate at a Florida prison is suing the state corrections agency, saying she was left paralyzed after being beaten by four guards. Cheryl Weimar and her husband, Karl, said in their lawsuit that her civil rights were violated when she was nearly beaten to death by guards last month at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, Florida. Weimar was left with a broken neck and is now a paraplegic because of the guards' use of force, according to the lawsuit.
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| Pope Francis says it is ‘an honour that the Americans attack me' Posted: 06 Sep 2019 03:28 AM PDT  In an offhand remark on the papal plane en route to Mozambique, Pope Francis acknowledged the sharp opposition he has faced from conservative Catholic detractors in the United States, calling it an "an honour that the Americans attack me".His remark came at the start of a six-day trip to Africa, as the pope shook hands in the back of the plane with a French reporter who handed him a copy of his new book How America Wanted to Change the Pope.
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| British woman rescued in Bahamas amid fears Dorian's death toll will be 'staggering' Posted: 05 Sep 2019 09:18 PM PDT  A British woman who had been trapped beneath the rubble for days in one of Bahama's worst hit islands has been rescued by the Royal Navy. The unnamed woman was taken on board a ship and stabilised before being airlifted to hospital in Nassau, the capital of the island nation, where they were receiving treatment on Thursday night. She is one of the thousands of people who were awaiting rescue on the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama, which have been largely flattened by Hurricane Dorian. The death toll on Thursday night stood at 30, but it is feared that it will be significantly higher as people search for their missing loved ones. "Let me say that I believe the number (dead) will be staggering," Health Minister Duane Sands was quoted by The Nassau Guardian as telling Guardian radio. "... I have never lived through anything like this and I don't want to live through anything like this again." The RFA Mounts Bay crew, which have been stationed in the Caribbean since June in preparation for hurricane season, have so far delivered shelter kits, ration packs and water. Damaged cars and trucks sit in a field following landfall by Hurricane Dorian, in the Bahamas Credit: Reuters The Royal Navy said its Wildcat helicopter also evacuated an American woman along with her two children and a baby to Nassau. The Wildcat will also be airlifting relief to outlying, cut off communities in liaison with the Royal Bahamian Defence Force and is stationed off Abaco. Distraught survivors described the horror of crossing unattended corpses as they made their way to safety. Hurricane Dorian barrels towards US after battering Bahamas, in pictures Ronnie Archer, 71, told The Telegraph many more of the hurricane's victims lay in the streets of Marsh Harbour, Abaco, while looters raid shops for food and water. "The morgue is full and there are bodies floating in the water," she said after being evacuated. "A friend of mine bumped into the body of a woman which was just floating in the streets. "There is now lots of looting happening. There are people taking rice, juice, everything they can get their hands on. I don't know if they are armed." An aerial view of damage caused by Hurricane Dorian is seen on Great Abaco Island Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images She was at her home of 30 years when the wind started to get stronger and stronger. "I sat in the wheelchair and I watched my house drop to pieces," she told this newspaper. "I heard a bang and I looked around and saw that the windows had blown in from the force. The next time that I looked up I saw the sky and I realised that the roof had gone." Her family, including a seven month old granddaughter, are staying behind to see what they can save as local officials confirmed reports of rampant looting. The United Nations estimates more than 76,000 people were in need of humanitarian relief after the most damaging storm ever to hit the Bahamas. The British Humanitarian and Disaster Relief team removing debris and providing aid assistance to the Islanders of Great Abaco Credit: Paul Halliwell/BRITISH MINISTRY OF DEFENCE Gaylele Laing broke down in tears and embraced her niece after she was rescued from Abaco on Thursday. As a diabetic who had run out of medicine she was given a priority evacuation, but she was barely able to speak as she revealed that she had to leave her family members, including her grandchildren aged 11 and 12 behind. The Treasure Quay resident told The Telegraph through tears: "It was terrible, there is total devastation, there is nothing left. "We hid in the bathroom as the eye of the storm passed and then the water surge came. We never expected it to be that bad. We had to break the window and swim to safety. The whole family, the kids included. At that point I thought we were going to die. "We did as much as we could to prepare and if we had known it was going to be that bad we would have left Abaco, we have been though hurricanes before but nothing like this. Everything is gone." Another survivor on the Abaco Islands, Ramond King, said he watched as swirling winds ripped the roof off his house, then churned to a neighbour's home to pluck the entire structure into the sky. Nothing is here, nothing at all. Everything is gone, just bodies," he said. A perfect storm | How climate change has made Hurricane Dorian worse Dorian continued to cause substantial damage as it hit the US coastal states of South and North Carolina on Thursday leaving 239,000 homes and businesses without power. The US National Hurricane Centre warned it remained a category 2 hurricane with winds reaching 110mph and the risk of life-threatening storm surges, winds and flash flooding. Tornadoes spun off by Dorian's outer bands were also reported along the coast, including Emerald Isle, North Carolina, where several homes were destroyed. The beach town said on its website that the tornado hit at around 9 am on Thursday leaving dozens of mobile homes upturned and power lines down. Charleston, in South Carolina had more than 100 roads closed due to severe flooding, with up to 20 inches of rain forecast to hit the historic port city. The map appeared to have been altered with a black marker to include Alabama Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Meanwhile Donald Trump, the US president, was mocked for showing a map of the storm's projected path that appeared to have been altered with a black marker pen to include the state of Alabama, which was never in harm's way. Mr Trump had incorrectly claimed in a tweet at the weekend that Alabama was one of the US states that could be hit by the hurricane, leading the National Weather Service to deny that in a tweet of its own. "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east," the National Weather Service in Alabama tweeted. When reporters later asked Mr Trump whether the chart had been altered with a pen, the president said: "I don't know; I don't know." But he doubled down on his claims, saying: "I know Alabama was in the original forecast, they thought it would get a piece of it".
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| ‘A beautiful soul’: Mourners gather to remember 15-year-old victim of Texas shooting Posted: 06 Sep 2019 03:31 PM PDT  Upwards of 1,000 people gathered in Odessa to mourn15-year-old Leilah Eliana Hernandez, the youngest person to die in Saturday's shooting rampage
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| Kamala Harris Supports Mandatory Buyback of Assault Weapons Posted: 06 Sep 2019 03:18 PM PDT ![Kamala Harris Supports Mandatory Buyback of Assault Weapons]( "Kamala Harris Supports Mandatory Buyback of Assault Weapons") (Bloomberg) -- Kamala Harris said Friday she supports a mandatory buyback of military-style assault weapons, taking a more aggressive position than her main rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination."I think it's a good idea," she told reporters after a campaign event in Londonderry, New Hampshire."We have to work out the details -- there are a lot of details -- but I do" support a forced buyback, Harris said when asked about the policy. "We have to take those guns off the streets."Harris's higher-polling rivals Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren back banning sales of semi-automatic rifles like those used in recent mass shootings but stop short of calling for a forced buyback of guns already owned. Beto O'Rourke has said he would require owners of such weapons to sell them to the government.A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 49% of Americans oppose a mandatory buyback of assault weapons while 46% favor the idea. But among Democrats, 71% support the idea while just 23% are against it.To contact the reporter on this story: Sahil Kapur in Washington at skapur39@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Joe SobczykFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| At destroyed airport, Bahamians tell stories of survival and death Posted: 06 Sep 2019 10:17 AM PDT  After Hurricane Dorian destroyed her home in Central Pines, she needed food for her two-year-old daughter. What she found first, it turned out, was a bloated body by the store's entrance. Later, Smith and a friend went to a trailer park to check on a coworker who lived there.
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| Elon Musk Is Sending a Tesla Model S to the Nurburgring Posted: 06 Sep 2019 10:00 AM PDT  Sure looks like Tesla is taking on the Porsche Taycan in a hot-lap EV grudge match.
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| Ex N.Korea prisoner says he was CIA spy: German media Posted: 06 Sep 2019 08:07 AM PDT  A former prisoner in North Korea has told German media that he used to spy for the CIA, seeking out nuclear secrets and taking pictures with a concealed wristwatch camera. In a TV report by public broadcaster NDR, South Korean-born US citizen Kim Dong-chul, 67, recounts his former espionage operations, arrest and the abuse and torture he suffered behind bars. Kim Dong-chul was one of three American detainees freed by Pyongyang in May 2018, in the lead-up to the first summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
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| Feds decline to charge FBI agent who killed kidnap victim Posted: 04 Sep 2019 06:20 PM PDT  Federal authorities will not charge an FBI agent who fatally shot a hostage during a rescue attempt in Houston last year, a U.S. attorney's spokesman said Wednesday. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement that her office initially deferred the case to federal authorities because it involved an FBI agent. "Now that the U.S. Attorney's Office has declined to file federal charges, the District Attorney's Office has an independent obligation to present this matter to a local grand jury to determine if state criminal charges are warranted," Ogg said Wednesday.
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| Jeffrey Epstein accuser denies Prince Andrew photo is a 'fake' in letter to the Duke of York Posted: 06 Sep 2019 11:47 AM PDT  Lawyers for the Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre have denied claims that a photograph showing the Duke of York with his hand around her waist is a fake. Two attorneys for Ms Roberts wrote to Prince Andrew in a letter dated Tuesday to push back on "troubling" suggestions that the image was doctored. Their letter countered comments from "sources close to" the Duke which circulated in the UK press recently suggesting he is taller and has "much chubbier" fingers than in the photograph. Ms Roberts Giuffre has claimed she was made to have sex with the Duke when she was 17 after being recruited by Epstein, a US financier and multimillionaire. The Duke has always vehemently denied the allegation. Ms Roberts Giuffre's lawyers, Brad Edwards and David Boies, wrote: "While your recent press statements indicate your sincere desire to help the victims of sexual abuse, we are concerned that certain statements attributed to you (which we hope do not reflect your actual views) are quite inconsistent with a desire to deal responsibly with the serious allegations that have been made. "We now see, for instance, a troubling assertion attributed to you that a well-documented photograph depicting you, Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell in each other's company is a 'fake'." Jeffrey Epstein in 2017 Credit: New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File They also request a meeting with the Duke to discuss the photograph and Ms Roberts Giuffre, suggesting a meeting in New York, London or another venue could be arranged. The lawyers noted they had approached the Duke years ago for a meeting about the "long-held photograph", writing: "We were puzzled and, we must admit, disappointed that you did not cooperate at that time. They added: "Nevertheless, given your new attention to the subject and your pledge to cooperate, we renew our request for your cooperation." The photograph first emerged in 2011 when the Mail on Sunday published the image and detailed Ms Roberts Giuffre's account of meeting Prince Andrew. It is said to have been taken at the home of Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell, in London in 2001, when Ms Roberts Giuffre was 17. The allegation against the Duke is facing renewed attention after Epstein, 66, killed himself in prison last month following an arrest over sex trafficking of underage girls. Prince Andrew was one spotted at the door of Jeffrey Epstein's New York home in 2010 Credit: Mail on Sunday/2010 by Mail on Sunday The Duke released a statement last month saying it was "a mistake and an error" to see Epstein after the financier had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution in 2008. The Duke said he did not "see, witness or suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction". He added: "I deplore the exploitation of any human being and would not condone, participate in, or encourage any such behaviour." Epstein's death in prison has triggered an investigation in the US Department of Justice given he had been taken off suicide watch just days before. Guards who were meant to be checking in on him every 30 minutes failed to do so. He was also meant to have another prisoner sharing his cell but was alone. US prosecutors have vowed not to drop the investigation despite Epstein's death, insisting that if there are any co-conspirators in his crimes they will be brought to justice. A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment on the letter. The spokesman reissued a previous statement: "It is emphatically denied that The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation."
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| Where is Hurricane Dorian now? And where is it headed? Here's the latest storm track Posted: 05 Sep 2019 11:26 PM PDT  Hurricane Dorian was a Category 1 storm moving northeast, about 30 miles south-southwest of Cape Lookout, North Carolina.
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| Nigerian Ruling Party Demands Takeover of South African Firms Posted: 06 Sep 2019 09:01 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria's ruling party urged the government to nationalize South African companies operating in the West African nation in retaliation for xenophobic attacks on its nationals.Relations between Africa's two biggest economies have been tense following attacks on businesses run by migrant Africans in Johannesburg, which sparked reprisal raids by mobs on the offices of the South African mobile-phone company MTN Group Ltd. and stores operated by Shoprite Holdings in the commercial hub of Lagos and the capital, Abuja."Whereas South Africans continue to benefit from the Nigerian business environment and repatriating billions of dollars, the South African authorities appear jealous of the menial jobs which some Nigerians and other black people are involved in," All Progressives Congress party Chairman Adams Oshiomhole said in a video clip broadcast on Friday by Lagos-based Channels Television. "It is worth it for the Nigerian government to take steps to take over the remaining shares of MTN that are owned by South Africans."The APC chairman recommended similar measures for other South African companies, the boycott of their products and the revocation of landing rights for South African Airways.To contact the reporter on this story: Tope Alake in Lagos at talake@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Osae-Brown at aosaebrown2@bloomberg.net, Dulue Mbachu, Paul RichardsonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| NASA Stumped by Weird Green Blobs Posted: 06 Sep 2019 08:25 AM PDT  What are they doing up there?
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| U.S. Treasury warns anyone fueling Iran tanker risks being blacklisted Posted: 05 Sep 2019 01:33 PM PDT  The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday warned that anyone around the world who helps fuel Iranian vessels blacklisted by Washington runs the risk of being designated as well. The Treasury Department blacklisted the Adrian Darya, a tanker at the center of a confrontation between Washington and Tehran, on Aug. 30. Washington has warned that it would regard any assistance given to the ship as support for a terrorist group, namely, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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| Southern US to feel like middle of summer as record heat builds into this weekend Posted: 06 Sep 2019 04:45 AM PDT  Record-challenging heat will make it feel like the middle of summer across the southern United States through the weekend.Dry conditions and plenty of sunshine will stretch from eastern Texas to Georgia on Saturday as an area of high pressure settles over the region.Temperatures across much of this area will climb into the middle to upper 90s F, while farther west in Louisiana and eastern Texas, highs are expected to peak near 100 F."In fact, record highs may be challenged in several locations, such as Dallas, Houston and Shreveport, Louisiana, just to name a few," AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson said.Several cities from Texas to Florida set new record high temperatures for the date on Friday, including New Orleans and Miami. Sweltering heat will spread farther north across the Southeast on Saturday in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.Heat will peak in most places on Saturday with high temperatures ranging from the middle 90s along the Southeast coast to the lower 100s in eastern Texas.Normal highs for the beginning of September across this region range from the middle 80s to lowers 90s.It will feel even hotter across the region as AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures reach above 100 F. It may even feel as hot as 110 F away from the coast. Several record highs were tied or broken across the south on Thursday. In Vero Beach, Florida, which had been at risk from impacts from Dorian earlier in the week, the high temperature of 97 broke the old Sept. 5 record of 96 set back in 1996. New Orleans tied its record of 97; the last time the city hit 97 on Sept. 5 was in 2000.Those along the Southeast coast left without power in the wake of Dorian will need to take extra precautions, such as drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated and taking frequent breaks in the shade during strenuous activity.While Sunday will still be hot, the arrival of some spotty showers and thunderstorms can help to keep temperatures a couple of degrees lower from eastern North Carolina to the panhandle of Florida.Temperatures will remain on the higher side into the beginning of next week, but more widespread showers and thunderstorms will knock temperatures down by a couple degrees in most locations."Temperatures should fall below 100 degrees in most areas by Sunday and Monday," added Adamson, "but it will still likely be above normal for early September, with widespread mid-90s."Download the free AccuWeather app to keep track of temperature trends in your area. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Black market cannabis products linked to US vaping illnesses Posted: 06 Sep 2019 08:15 AM PDT  Health officials said Friday that black market cannabis products could be the cause of a mysterious outbreak of severe lung disease among vapers that has sickened more than 200 people and killed two. New York's health department said laboratory test results showed very high levels of vitamin E oil in cannabis cartridges used by all 34 people in the state who had fallen ill after using e-cigarettes. "As a result, vitamin E acetate is now a key focus of the Department's investigation of potential causes of vaping-associated pulmonary illnesses," the department said in a statement.
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| The head of the Navy SEALs sacked 3 SEAL Team 7 leaders after team members were kicked out of Iraq Posted: 06 Sep 2019 05:00 PM PDT  Rear Adm. Collin Green removed three senior SEAL Team 7 leaders "due to a loss of confidence that resulted from leadership failures."
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| California says tax return law doesn't bar ballot access Posted: 06 Sep 2019 01:54 PM PDT ![California says tax return law doesn't bar ballot access]( "California says tax return law doesn't bar ballot access") California's attorney general is urging a federal judge not to halt a state law requiring presidential candidates release their tax returns, arguing it doesn't bar anyone from accessing the ballot or deprive voters of their rights. Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, made his arguments in a Thursday filing in response to a Trump campaign request for an injunction, which would stall the law from taking effect as lawsuits proceeds. The new California law says candidates for president and governor must release five years-worth of tax returns to appear on the state's primary ballot.
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| Cheerleader accused of killing newborn told her dad 'I tried to cremate the baby' Posted: 06 Sep 2019 01:27 PM PDT  Skylar Richardson is charged with aggravated murder and involuntary manslaughter. She's accused of deliberately killing her baby and burying her.
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| Bill de Blasio: We've got to end the availability of assault weapons in this country Posted: 05 Sep 2019 06:04 PM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes on gun control, discusses his campaign plans on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
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| UPDATE 1-Lebanon's Aoun warns Israel would bear results of any attack Posted: 06 Sep 2019 03:51 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Lebanon's Aoun warns Israel would bear results of any attack]( "UPDATE 1-Lebanon's Aoun warns Israel would bear results of any attack") Lebanon's President Michel Aoun warned on Friday that Israel would bear the consequences of any attack, days after a flare-up at the border between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. The frontier between the two countries has remained calm since Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah traded fire on Sunday. Israel's military said it had responded with fire into south Lebanon after anti-tank missiles targeted an army base and vehicles.
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| Business class passenger racially abuses Asian crew member and demands to be served by 'white girl', court hears Posted: 06 Sep 2019 09:47 AM PDT  An IT consultant racially abused a female British Airways cabin crew member and demanded he be served only by a "white girl," a court has heard.Peter Nelson, 46, became irate after being woken up by Sima Patel-Pryke while flying business class from London's Heathrow to Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, jurors were told.
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| A US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt accidentally fired off a rocket over Arizona Posted: 06 Sep 2019 07:08 AM PDT  It happened again. This is the second time this year an A-10 has unintentionally released munitions in an area where it shouldn't have.
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| China slams Canada after Trudeau criticizes detentions Posted: 06 Sep 2019 05:18 AM PDT  China accused Canada of not abiding by international norms Friday in response to comments from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who accused Beijing of arbitrarily detaining two Canadians. Trudeau's remarks are "purely unfounded countercharges that confound black and white," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou — Chinese telecom giant Huawei's chief financial officer and the daughter of its founder — on Dec. 1 at the request of the U.S, where she is wanted on fraud charges.
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| 2019 Honda Civic Type R vs. 1991 Acura NSX in Photos Posted: 06 Sep 2019 04:59 AM PDT |
| Trial opens of US cop who killed neighbor in his own apartment Posted: 06 Sep 2019 09:14 AM PDT  A white policewoman went on trial in Dallas Friday for shooting and killing a black man in his own apartment, having mistaken it for hers. Exactly one year after Amber Guyger, 31, killed Botham Shem Jean, 26, jury selection in the racially charged murder case began in the Texas city. Guyger's attorneys have sought to move the case to another jurisdiction, on grounds that potential jurors in Dallas may already have strong views on the case, given the heavy media coverage it has fuelled.
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| Alabamans are relieved Trump's Sharpie was wrong about Dorian, just like the National Weather Service said he was Posted: 06 Sep 2019 08:05 AM PDT  Alabamans have largely ignored Trump's storm claims. "Dorian never had plans on visiting us or the Gulf Coast," noted one resident.
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| Scientists monitoring new marine heat wave off West Coast Posted: 05 Sep 2019 02:48 PM PDT  Federal scientists said Thursday they are monitoring a new ocean heat wave off the U.S. West Coast, a development that could badly disrupt marine life including salmon, whales and sea lions. The expanse of unusually warm water stretches from Alaska to California, researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday . It resembles a similar heat wave about five years ago that was blamed for poorer survival rates for young salmon, more humpback whales becoming entangled in fishing gear as they hunted closer to shore, and an algae bloom that shut down crabbing and clamming.
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| U.S. Interior Department illegally used fees to keep national parks open during shutdown: GAO Posted: 05 Sep 2019 03:16 PM PDT  The Trump administration illegally used national park fees to keep parks open during the 35-day government shutdown in December and January, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said on Thursday. The GAO said the Interior Department violated federal appropriations law by using entrance fees paid by visitors to national parks, which are supposed to go toward their maintenance and enhancement. During the shutdown between Dec. 22, 2018, and Jan. 25, 2019, which was the longest in U.S. history, the Interior Department directed National Park Service staff to keep national parks accessible, keeping minimal staff on site.
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| Unregulated vaping spawns new teenage nicotine addicts. And now adult vapers are dying. Posted: 05 Sep 2019 02:59 PM PDT  Lung illnesses have emerged among at least 215 people who used e-cigarettes. THC could be a common factor. Where's the oversight?: Our view
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| Son of founder of Italy's Five Star Movement under investigation for gang rape Posted: 06 Sep 2019 08:56 AM PDT  The son of Beppe Grillo, comedian and co-founder of Italy's Five Star Movement, is under investigation by police and prosecutors after being accused of gang rape with three of his friends. Ciro Grillo, 19, is facing allegations that he and the other men raped a Scandinavian model at the comedian's villa at Porto Cervo on Sardinia's exclusive Costa Smeralda during their summer vacation. Five Star is a partner in Italy's new governing coalition, which took office on Thursday. The rape inquiry coincides with the re-emergence of Beppe Grillo who urged the party leader, Luigi Di Maio, to join the centre-left Democratic Party and avoid snap elections. According to Italian media, Ciro Grillo and the three others met the woman, who has not been named, at a nightclub in Porto Cervo and after a night of heavy drinking they returned to the Grillo family's luxury villa where the alleged rape took place on July 16. Lawyers for Grillo and the other accused say the defendants have not denied having sex with the 19-year-old woman but claim the sex was consensual. The four accused, who come from the northern city of Genoa, were interrogated for several hours on Thursday by public prosecutor Gregorio Capasso in the Sardinian town of Tempio Pausania. Mr Capasso told the media on Friday that the investigation would be completed soon. "Given the sensitivity of the case, we will maintain the utmost confidentiality," the prosecutor told the ANSA news agency on Friday. Prosecutors are looking for evidence of drugs and alcohol and police have seized the cellphones of the accused for video of the incident. Lawyers representing Grillo and the others declined to comment but reportedly told the prosecutor the woman's case was weak because she had waited 10 days to report the rape and had continued her vacation. Grillo is the second of Beppe Grillo's four children. In 2017 he was a national champion of savate, which combines boxing and kick boxing. An avid user of social media, the young Grillo loved to post photos and comments of his sporting prowess and partying.
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| The U.S. in Afghanistan, Talking Peace and Waging War, Doesn’t Count All The Civilians It Slaughters Posted: 05 Sep 2019 01:22 PM PDT  WAKIL KOHSARLOY MANDA, Afghanistan–Bloodied and broken, 13 members of an extended family were lifted, one by one, from a minibus and placed in wheelchairs and on hospital beds with clean white sheets. The out patient department at Emergency Hospital in Helmand's capital Lashkar Gah was soon beyond capacity. Nurses from throughout the building rushed to assist. The victims ranged in age from four to fifty. They'd been at home on the afternoon of November 24, 2018, when two Taliban fighters entered their compound in the village of Loy Manda, in Helmand's Nad-i Ali District. Obaidullah, the patriarch of the family, pleaded with the fighters to leave, but before they did, they fired over a wall at a passing Afghan and American military convoy. In response, an American warplane—an A-10 "Warthog"—made two strafing runs over the house. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition—bullets the size of large carrots—fired by a weapon designed to disable armoured tanks, poured out of the plane's Gatling gun. The two Taliban fighters had fled. Instead, Obaidullah and his 15-year-old son Esmatullah were killed; 13 others suffered broken bones and shrapnel injuries from head to toe. One boy, 14-year-old Ehsanullah, lost both his eyes. In May this year, The U.S. Department of Defense released its Annual Report on Civilian Casualties. In table format, an entry for Helmand on the same date states: "Operation Type: Air. Killed: 0. Injured: 4." * * *DEATH BY THE NUMBERS* * *The war in Afghanistan will soon enter its 19th year. In Qatar, U.S. and Taliban representatives have been hashing out a preliminary agreement that would see a withdrawal timeline for international troops in return for a Taliban guarantee that it would disavow terrorist groups with transnational aspirations seeking to use Afghanistan as a base.The Taliban Scoff at Trump's Afghan Peace Talks BluffIn contrast, on the battlefield, both sides are ramping up their military campaigns in an effort to strengthen their negotiating positions. As a result, the number of civilians caught in the crossfire is increasing, too. In its latest report on civilian casualties, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) found that this year, for the first time since it began counting, pro-government forces, including international forces, were responsible for more civilian deaths than the Taliban and the so-called Islamic State's Afghanistan branch combined. The primary reason for this is an escalation of the U.S. air war in Afghanistan.In a conflict that has been unpopular with the American public—and now its president—for years now, the downplaying of the number of Afghan civilians killed in the crossfire is one way the U.S. military—which one senses is more committed to Afghanistan than its political leaders—can mitigate opposition at home. Today, the rented house Obaidullah's family was in when it was struck by the warplane last November, is empty. During the day, columns of sunlight pour through a dozen watermelon-sized holes in the roof: evidence of the missile-like bullets that also tore holes through its inhabitants. After they were discharged from hospital, Obaidullah's two wives and their surviving children moved to the village of Shawal, which is under Taliban control, further north in the same district, with Obaidullah's brothers. Day to day security in most rural parts of Afghanistan isn't so much dictated by who controls the area as by how far it is from the front line. Nor does the side of a front line one chooses to live on necessarily indicate sympathy for one faction or the other.Loy Manda, where the family lived when their house was struck, was the front line. They hoped moving farther from it, even though that meant going deep into Taliban territory, would be safer. The escalation of the air war, however, means that calculation is no longer a reliable measure of safety.* * *'TENDENTIOUS PRONOUNCEMENTS'* * *Ehsanullah was 14 when he was brought into the emergency hospital last November. His face was a mess of raw flesh and dried, rusty blood. He had already lost one eye; the other was ruptured and would later be removed by surgeons. The rest of his body was bruised, broken, burned and punctured by debris thrown out as the rounds impacted around him.Without sight, his hearing has become increasingly sensitized, and the sound of aircraft terrifies him. Air strikes are even more common in Shawal now than they were in Loy Manda. "I'm always scared of the aircraft now," he says. "I'm scared they're going to target us again."Ehsanullah, 14, has two ruptured eyes and several leg and abdominal injuries. His uncle, Sardar Wali, sits with him in the garden at Emergency hospital for the war wounded in Lashkar Gah, Helmand. Sardar Wali wept at times while crouching beside his nephew. 13 members from two families, including his, were admitted on November 24, 2018 at around 4:30PM.\n\n13 in total were admitted to Emergency hospital for the war wounded in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, on the evening of November 24, 2018, after an airstrike on their home in the village of Loy Manda in Nad-i Ali District. Obaidullah, the patriarch of the family, and another of his sons, Esmatullah, were killed in the strike. In total, 12 women and children were injured and brought to Emergency, including a pregnant mother, Qarara, and an elderly man, all of whom had suffered shrapnel injuries to various parts of their bodies. \n\nFamily members explained that Taliban fighters had sought shelter from military aircraft in their home despite the residents pleading for them to leave. The next thing they knew their compound, home to two families, was being \"bombed\" by an aircraft which they identified, after I showed some family members video footage of one, an American A-10 \"Warthog\" warplane. \n\nA spokesperson for the International Resolute Support military mission in Kabul, SFC Debra Richardson provided me with a statement in response to my enquiries that read as follows: \"We are still looking into the details. We know U.S. forces, accompanying their Afghan security partners, called in self-defense air support against a building from which the Taliban were shooting. Too often the Taliban use civilians as hostages and human shields. It is often difficult to discern the presence of non-combatants inside structures when the Taliban are shooting from those locations. Enough violence, the Taliban should seriously engage in talks for a political solution instead of engaging in more pointless fighting. We have the duty to be precise. We own every munition we fire--the bullets from our rifles as well as the rockets on each strike. We are the most precise force in the history of warfare, ever, but this is not enough for us--we seek to improve and match higher standards every day.Andrew QuiltyOn top of this, Ehsanullah requires help with even the simplest of tasks. "Now I can't do anything; I can't even find my way," he says. "Even when I want to move I need the help of someone." That job has fallen to his younger brother, Rahmatullah, who never leaves his brother's side. Rahmatullah himself arrived in the emergency room that day with his intestines resting on his stomach.The U.S.-led Resolute Support military mission in Afghanistan refused to respond to several recent enquiries about the incident and the DOD's accounting of civilian victims. The U.S. military maintains that it makes condolence payments to civilian victims of its operations, but a Resolute Support spokesperson was unable to confirm whether such a payment had been made to Obaidullah's family. The family says they received nothing. The DoD report states its "assessments seek to incorporate all available information... DoD updates existing assessments if new information becomes available, including new information received from NGOs or other outside organizations." The details of this and The Daily Beast's January report were both supplied to Resolute Support's public affairs office, which again refused to address the issue. How U.S. Bombs Tore One Family to Shreds in AfghanistanUNAMA, which has sparred with both Resolute Support and the Taliban over methodologies concerning the assessment of civilian casualty figures, issued an unusually biting statement in an August 3 press release: "... all parties to the conflict have a poor track record on investigating, publicly reporting their findings and taking appropriate follow-up measures to address incidents in which civilians are killed or injured." The statement continued: "UNAMA recognizes that in the context of the war in Afghanistan, all parties are prone to issue tendentious pronouncements." Andrew J. Bacevich, professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University told The Daily Beast, "The U.S. military is deeply invested in a self-image that is undermined by evidence that it has caused civilian casualties. U.S. forces want to be seen as using violence with great precision–killing only those they intend to kill. Evidence to the contrary damages the prestige of the armed services and can undercut their standing in the eyes of the American people. In that sense, the issues here go well beyond Afghanistan per se."This isn't an isolated case.When Obaidullah's family moved to Shawal after leaving the hospital, in the very same village was another family who had also been bombed. On October 10 last year, six weeks before the Loy Manda strike, Abdul Ahad was at home with his family in the farming village of Shawal when the sounds of fighting began nearby. Shawal was on the northern—Taliban-controlled—side of a wide irrigation canal that still marks the front line in Nad-i Ali district today, so while airstrikes were common, ground engagements like this were rare. He told the story under the shade of a tree outside Shawal recently; it was so hot that steam didn't rise from his cup of boiling green tea. The jet engines of American bombers could be heard wavering on the wind miles above. L to R: Qarara and her son Hedayat 94) recover in the female and children's ward at Emergency Hospital for the war wounded in Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province. They were admitted on November 24, 2018, after Taliban fighters had used their house to fire on a passing American and Afghan Army convoy in Loy Manda, Nad-i Ali District, Helmand Province and the Americans called in an airstrike. Two family members were killed, the husband and father, Obaidullah, and his son Esmatullah, while 13 in total were injured. The soldiers provided first aid for the wounded before they were brought by Loy Manda locals to Emergency in Lashkar Gah.\n\nIn a statement by a spokesperson for the International Resolute Support military mission provided to me after alerting them to the incident, said:\n\n\"We are still looking into the details. We know U.S. forces, accompanying their Afghan security partners, called in self-defense air support against a building from which the Taliban were shooting. Too often the Taliban use civilians as hostages and human shields. It is often difficult to discern the presence of non-combatants inside structures when the Taliban are shooting from those locations. Enough violence, the Taliban should seriously engage in talks for a political solution instead of engaging in more pointless fighting. We have the duty to be precise. We own every munition we fire--the bullets from our rifles as well as the rockets on each strike. We are the most precise force in the history of warfare, ever, but this is not enough for us--we seek to improve and match higher standards every day.Andrew QuiltyAhad's house was one point of a triangle, with American and Afghan special forces on a second point and Taliban fighters on a third. Both groups were shooting across, but not toward his house. The soldiers were a quarter mile away, the Taliban, he said, about twice that distance. Some 70-80 yards away was another large compound, inside which four families lived in separate houses. Haji Salaam was in one of them with two of his brothers and their wives and children. When he sensed the fighting getting close he told everyone to stay inside. Out of nowhere, Abdul Ahad felt the thump of two almost simultaneous explosions. But the airstrikes hadn't hit the compound from which the Taliban were firing. They'd struck Haji Salaam's house, where he and his family had been sheltering, and it was now engulfed in a cloud of smoke and dust. Ahad waited until the fighting finished and then made his way quickly across the field to his neighbor's compound. The outer walls were still intact but once inside he saw that at least one of the houses had been completely levelled. Afghan and American soldiers arrived in more than a dozen armoured vehicles within minutes, as did other neighbors. Haji Salaam had survived. "When they came to the house," he says, "they claimed there was Taliban in the house firing at us. I told them we are not Taliban, we are all civilians."The Americans and their Afghan counterparts stayed for almost an hour. Some helped while others stood guard in case of a Taliban ambush. By the time they'd left, 11 dead bodies had been pulled from the rubble. Seven of them were less than nine years of age. Five under the age of 15 were injured but survived. According to the DOD report, no one was injured in the strike, and only one civilian was killed. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| The scientists who photographed a supermassive black hole for the first time just won a $3 million prize. Here's their groundbreaking image. Posted: 05 Sep 2019 04:31 PM PDT  Because black holes devour light, getting one on camera proved nearly impossible until April, when scientists released this image.
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