| Austrian triathlete Nathalie Birli survives kidnapping after convincing man to free her Posted: 26 Jul 2019 06:55 AM PDT  An Austrian triathlete survived a kidnapping in which she was first hit by a car, tied up with duct tape and then taken to a remote house where she was held for hours before convincing her abductor to release her, police said. A 33-year-old man has been arrested. Nathalie Birli, 27, was training with her bicycle on a road in Kumberg in southern Austria on Tuesday afternoon when she was abducted, Graz police spokesman Fritz Grundnig said. The attacker, whose name wasn't given according to Austrian privacy rules, was arrested on Wednesday. Birli said that she was on her bicycle when a car rammed into her and knocked her over, according to an interview published in local newspaper Krone on Thursday. She said she broke her left arm in the fall and the driver then beat her with a stick and threw her into the back seat. Birli, who has a 14-week-old son, said that she lost consciousness for a while, and when she woke up she was naked and tied to an armchair, Krone reported. "He was full of hatred," she said. "He blindfolded me, forced me to drink wine and schnapps and he always held a knife in his hand." Birli said at some point he held her nose and mouth and she thought he wanted to suffocate her but then stopped and forced her into a bathtub with cold water "to drown me." She said the situation began to change when she saw that there were a lot of orchids in the house and she expressed her admiration for the plants. "All of a sudden the attacker was nice to me," Birli told Krone. He told her that he was a gardener and started talking about his horrible life - "a dead father, a mother addicted to alcohol and girlfriends who betrayed him," Birli said. Birli said that was the moment when she suggested a "deal" to the man. "'Let's pretend it was an accident,' I offered him, 'and you let me go.'" He agreed, took off the duct tape and drove her all the way home, she said. "I went right into the house, locked the door and called my partner," Birli said. Police managed to track down the suspect and he was arrested early Wednesday by Austria's Cobra special forces. Birli, in a Facebook post on Wednesday, said the experience was like a "bad movie" and thanked all who went out looking for her when she was missing. "Thank God I could liberate myself, and other than a fractured arm and a head injury, I'm fine," she said.
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| Judge dismisses Kentucky teen's lawsuit from viral encounter Posted: 26 Jul 2019 03:07 PM PDT ![Judge dismisses Kentucky teen's lawsuit from viral encounter]( "Judge dismisses Kentucky teen's lawsuit from viral encounter") A federal judge has thrown out a Kentucky teen's lawsuit accusing the Washington Post of falsely labeling him a racist following an encounter with a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial. The actions of Sandmann and his classmates were intensely debated after video and photographs emerged of them wearing "Make America Great Again" hats near a Native American man playing a drum. President Donald Trump cheered the lawsuit, posting to Twitter that "Covington student suing WAPO.
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| Giant dinosaur bone found in southwestern France Posted: 25 Jul 2019 12:28 PM PDT  The thigh bone of a giant dinosaur was found this week by French paleontologists at an excavation site in southwestern France where remains of some of the largest animals that ever lived on land have been dug up since 2010. The two-meter long femur at the Angeac-Charente site is thought to have belonged to a sauropod, herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and tails which were widespread in the late Jurassic era, over 140 million years ago. "This is a major discovery," Ronan Allain, a paleontologist at the National History Museum of Paris told Reuters.
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| Ally Kostial murder: Former-neighbor shares dark details about suspect in Ole Miss student's death Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:46 AM PDT  " "I'm not going to sugar coat it, he was pretty much a daddy's boy type,"University of Mississippi student Rex Ravita told KMOV
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| Another 'straight pride' parade plans draw critics: 'That’s all hate crime stuff to me' Posted: 26 Jul 2019 02:54 AM PDT  Modesto, California, officials are weighing whether to approve a "straight pride" parade to "celebrate" heterosexuality and western civilization.
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| US teenager detained at border lost 26 pounds in a month: 'It was inhumane how they treated us' Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:38 AM PDT  A US teenager who was detained by border agents for nearly a month, has detailed bleak conditions during his stay, saying: "They were not treating us humanely."Francisco Galicia, who was born in Texas, was detained at a customs and border agency (CBP) checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas on June 27 while travelling with his brother Marlon, a 17-year-old who was born in Mexico, who was also detained. After two days of detention, Marlon signed a voluntary deportation form and was released to his grandmother. Francisco, who was finally released this week, said he almost did the same thing. "It was inhumane how they treated us," he told the Dallas Morning News. "It got to the point where I was ready to sign a deportation paper just to not be suffering there anymore. I just needed to get out of there."Francisco, 18, lost 26 pounds during the 23 days he was detained at the CBP facility due to lack of food. He was not allowed to shower for the duration of his stay, but was given a shower once he was moved to an immigration enforcement agency (ICE) facility. "It was to clean up but the dirt, but you couldn't get rid of it because so much time had passed since we showered," he said.He and 60 other men were held in an overcrowded holding area where they slept on the floor; some were forced to sleep on the restroom area's floor. They were given only aluminium foil blankets.Francisco said ticks bit some of the men. Some were also "very sick", he said, but afraid to ask for a doctor, since CBP officers told them their stay would start over if they did."It's one thing to see these conditions on TV and in the news," he said. "It's another to go through them."The horrifying saga began when officers at the Falfurrias checkpoint questioned his citizenship status. The teenager also had a Mexican tourist visa his mother had obtained for him when he was a minor and she feared she would not be able to legally travel across the border with him.But Francisco says the officers sounded the validity of his identification documents even before knowing that. "I told them we had rights and asked to make a phone call. But they told us, 'You don't have rights to anything,'" he told CNN. "They didn't believe me. I kept telling them over and over, and they kept saying my documents were fake, and they were going to deport me.They threatened me with charges – charges about falsifying documents. Felonies. They kept asking how it was possible for me to not know where I was from."Powerless. That's how I felt," he continued. "How with all this proof that I was giving them could they hold me?" Now, he wants to use his experience to shed light on the sordid conditions enacted by the Trump administration in the camps. "Right now, I'm in a place where I can help those who are still in there – so people can see how they're treated, and change the way they're treated," he said. "I am the eyes and ears of what's happening in there. I can talk. They can't do what I'm doing."
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| Kellyanne Conway signals the GOP line on Mueller: He 'may be feeble' Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:22 AM PDT  The White House counselor on Thursday endorsed a talking point that has emerged in the aftermath of the former special counsel's testimony before Congress.
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| Russia warns of 'consequences' after Ukraine seizes tanker Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:55 AM PDT  Ukraine on Thursday seized a Russian tanker it said was used in a naval confrontation last November amid sensitive prisoner swap talks between the two countries who have been at loggerheads since 2014. Kiev's SBU security service said it stopped the tanker, the Neyma, as it entered the port of Izmail in the southern Odessa region. Investigators seized documents onboard and questioned crew members, an SBU statement said.
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| Trump Loses It On Fox News Over Latest 2020 Poll Posted: 26 Jul 2019 08:37 AM PDT  President Donald Trump posted a Twitter rant Friday on Fox News after the news outlet said Thursday that its polls show Trump trailing Biden by 10 points."[Fox News] is at it again. So different from what they used to be during the 2016 Primaries, [and] before — Proud Warriors! Now new Fox Polls, which have always been terrible to me (they had me losing BIG to Crooked Hillary), have me down to Sleepy Joe." Trump wrote Friday on Twitter."Even considering the fact that I have gone through a three year vicious Witch Hunt, perpetrated by the Lamestream Media in Collusion with Crooked and the Democrat Party, there can be NO WAY, with the greatest Economy in U.S. history, that I can be losing to the Sleepy One. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!"Fox News has compared support for former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic frontrunner, and Trump prior to Thursday's post."Democrats best President Trump in hypothetical matchups and keep his support at 41 percent or lower," Fox News reported citing its own polls June 16.Trump is well-positioned for reelection because 52 percent of respondents approve of his job on the economy, reported Fox News Thursday. But 33 percent of respondents think the economy will improve whether or not Trump gets another term.
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| Loose tire rolls down New Jersey highway until crashing into car Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:34 PM PDT  It was a wild scene in New Jersey when a wayward tire rolled down the highway until it went flying into a moving vehicle.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:51 AM PDT |
| North Carolina woman who hurled racial slur at black diners in viral video: 'I would say it again' Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:29 AM PDT  A woman whose profane, racist rant inside a North Carolina restaurant wascaught on camera says she will not apologize for the incident
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| Tennessee inmate declines to choose execution method Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:45 AM PDT ![Tennessee inmate declines to choose execution method]( "Tennessee inmate declines to choose execution method") A Tennessee death row inmate has declined to choose the method of his execution scheduled for mid-August, a non-decision that would result in his death by lethal injection. Tennessee Department of Correction spokeswoman Neysa Taylor confirmed in an email Friday that Stephen West declined to pick his method of execution when given the opportunity. Four inmates have been executed in Tennessee since August 2018.
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| Reuters photo captures Guatemalan mother begging soldier to let her enter U.S. Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:03 AM PDT  Ledy Perez fell to her haunches, a clenched hand covering her face as she wept, an arm clutching her small 6-year-old son, who glared defiantly at the Mexican National Guard soldier blocking them from crossing into the United States. The plight of this mother and son who had traveled some 1,500 miles (2,410 km) from their home country of Guatemala to the border city of Ciudad Juarez, only to be stopped mere feet from the United States, was captured by Reuters photographer Jose Luis Gonzalez as twilight approached on Monday. "The woman begged and pleaded with the National Guard to let them cross ... she wanted to cross to give a better future" to her young son Anthony Diaz, Gonzalez said.
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| Dr. Leana Wen's departure from Planned Parenthood exposes the organization's true identity Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Leana Wen's firing captures what pro-life activists have been arguing for years, that Planned Parenthood cares only about maintaining abortion clinics
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| US border patrol chief says she didn’t realise racist Facebook group was racist Posted: 26 Jul 2019 04:22 AM PDT  The revelations over secret Facebook groups popular with US Border Patrol agents were eye-popping.A constant stream of racist, sexist and violent images persisted for years, reporters revealed. Days later, officials said those responsible for posts were previously investigated, with unclear results.Then, in testimony on Wednesday, Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost acknowledged she herself was a member of one of the groups, and had been active since at least autumn 2018, according to images published by The Intercept.Her reason for involvement in the group was to evaluate "how I am representing my workforce", she told lawmakers in a hearing about oversight within her agency.Ms Provost sighed deeply. "I didn't think anything of it at the time," she told the House appropriations subcommittee, and said she was unaware about the nature of the posts until ProPublica published a report on 1 July.The posts contain caustic remarks about the deaths of migrants, sexually explicit images and xenophobic comments.Her admission raised a question: why did she not use her membership in the group to instead measure cultural sentiment among agents, attitudes about migrants or possible concerns she could address at the top?"She either missed it from failure to effectively do her job or actively avoided thinking about it," Josiah Heyman, director of the Inter-American and Border Studies centre at the University of Texas at El Paso, said on Thursday.Part of Ms Provost's duties is to visit facilities and meet agents, where front-line supervisors may downplay realities of a recruiting and morale crisis.Facebook, then, could provide an unvarnished look at how agents view themselves and their duties – or in this case, watch troubling cultural issues rise to the surface as the agency faces intense scrutiny.Ms Provost looked for candid words about her performance, Mr Heyman noted, "but she manifested no curiosity about candid things being said in other regards".More than 60 active and eight former agents are being investigated for their involvement in the group, Associated Press reported.Some posts questioned the authenticity of a photo of a drowned migrant man and his young daughter.Another showed a crudely doctored photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez performing forced oral sex on Donald Trump.Customs and Border Protection, the agency that includes Border Patrol, did not return a request for comment about why Ms Provost did not use the group in a manner that could have prevented the organisation's latest black eye.In her testimony, Ms Provost said she is "as outraged as everyone else".She "condemned" the posts in a message to the agency, launched investigations into agents who posted or responded to posts and turned over her passwords to agency oversight officials, who told her she had logged on to Facebook nine times over a one-year period, mostly to keep up with friends and family.Yet Ms Provost said the posts at the private group page "I'm 10-15," after the law enforcement code for "aliens in custody", were not indicative of cultural rot within the Border Patrol.She called offenders "a few bad apples" among about 20,000 agents. The group for current and former agents included about 9,500 members, though other groups exist.Mr Heyman suggested the posts indicate cultural and attitude problems that he said officials have been reluctant to address.He led a survey of about 1,100 migrants deported to Mexico, and nearly a quarter of respondents said they were verbally abused by US immigration agents, primarily Border Patrol. 11 per cent reported physical abuse."The posts are very consistent with that we found," he said. It's not just 'this person is out of status, and I need to apply law ... but I hate this person, I want to humiliate this person'."Washington Post
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| India farmers shocked as suspected meteorite crashes into rice field Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:29 AM PDT  A suspected meteorite the size of a football plunged into a rice field in eastern India, startling farmers, authorities said Thursday. "The farmers were working in the paddy field when this heavy rock fell from the sky with a very loud noise," Shirsat Kapil Ashok, the magistrate for Madhubani district in Bihar state, told AFP. The find is being analysed by scientists as a possible meteorite.
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| '45 is a puppet': Can you spot the mistakes in the fake presidential seal behind Trump? Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:24 AM PDT  A doctored presidential seal with a double-headed eagle holding golf clubs was displayed before President Trump gave a speech on Tuesday.
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| Canoga Park shooting suspect Gerry Dean Zaragoza could make 1st court appearance Posted: 26 Jul 2019 06:54 AM PDT  A 26-year-old man accused of killing four people and wounding two others in the San Fernando Valley could make his first court appearance Friday.
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| Why the B-21 Stealth Bomber Could Be a the Ultimate Game Changer Posted: 26 Jul 2019 03:52 AM PDT  The Air Force appears to have completed its Critical Design Review of the emerging B-21 bomber, inspiring confidence and optimism that a new-generation of stealth will be ready for war by the mid-2020s, and beyond. The apparent program progress did, at very least, raise the question as to whether to new bomber could be an important element of the service's "faster" acquisition strategy.Now, according to a report in Air Force Magazine \--This faster plan is happening. The B-21's arrival has been accelerated from the mid 2020s to 2021."The new B-21 Raider stealth bomber is making good progress and should fly in December 2021, USAF Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen "Seve" Wilson said July 24. Wilson, speaking at an AFA Mitchell Institute event in Washington, D.C., said the service continues to analyze its capacity for long-range strike," Air Force Magazine writes (John Tirpak)Although acquisition and schedule specifics are typically not discussed regarding the B-21 program, the Air Force's 2018 Acquisition Annual Report does mention "bomber" in the context of its accelerated acquisition strategy. Senior Air Force officials have told Warrior Maven that the Critical Design Review has been underway, and in recent months (former) Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told reporters the aircraft appears to be on track for the 2020s. While the B-21 is certainly not a program on which the Air Force would cut corners or "speed" up prematurely, the broader service emphasis upon a less-bureaucratic prototpying and development, it seems feasible, did impact the new stealth bomber.From the Air Force Acquisition Report:
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| Mob of teens surrounds police station, tries to break out their drunken friend Posted: 26 Jul 2019 08:53 AM PDT  The incident occurred Thursday night in the town of Starnberg after a boy was denied entry to a high school graduation party.
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| Hong Kong protesters take their cause to airport arrivals Posted: 26 Jul 2019 02:34 AM PDT  HONG KONG (AP) â€" Protesters crowded into one of the world's busiest airports, greeting international visitors to Hong Kong with anti-government chants Friday in an effort to raise awareness of their pro-democracy movement. For several weeks, Hong Kong residents have been protesting for democratic reforms and the withdrawal of an extradition bill that has now been suspended. "Hong Kong doesn't look like how it did before," said Ho, 22.
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| View Photos of the 2020 BMW 2-series Gran Coupe Prototype Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:02 AM PDT |
| Looking for a boost, Beto O'Rourke to try new strategy in second debate Posted: 26 Jul 2019 02:36 PM PDT  Beto O'Rourke will try to make up for what some critics saw as an uneven performance in the first round of debates.
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| Ex-Host Krystal Ball: MSNBC’s Russia ‘Conspiracies’ Have Done ‘Immeasurable Harm’ to the Left Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:46 AM PDT  A former longtime MSNBC anchor lashed out this week at her former employer over its coverage of the Russia investigation.In a Thursday segment on The Hill's online streaming service, Krystal Ball, the former host of MSNBC's now-cancelled midday show The Cycle admonished the network for its incessant coverage of the Russia investigation. "MSNBC built segment after segment, show after show on building anticipation for a big reveal when we would learn the true depths of Trump's fealty and direct conspiracy with Putin," she said.She later argued that the network's left-leaning anchors and personalities have wasted their time making Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe the primary focus of MSNBC coverage over the past several years—in effect diverting attention away from policy issues like health care and wages. As Ball spoke, an over-the-shoulder graphic blared "Immeasurable Harm.""Consider this whole setup has done more damage to the Democrats chances at winning the White House than anything that Trump could ever have dreamed up," Ball declared."Trump really is the crook that we said all along," she continued, "but by trying to make this spectacular case, we set the bar unimaginably high and made Trump's actual corruption, broken promises, and casual cruelty seem ordinary by comparison."Elsewhere in the six-minute monologue, Ball accused MSNBC of cynically following the Russia story in pursuit of ratings, making journalistic compromises along the way.She directly criticized hosts like Rachel Maddow ("You've got some explaining to do," Ball said to her) and on-air analysts like Mimi Rocah (a Daily Beast contributor) for leading viewers to believe that there was a strong possibility that Trump and his family would be indicted. Ball also suggested that the "fevered speculation" of guests like New York columnist Jonathan Chait and former British MP Louise Mensch would have been more at home on conspiracy network Infowars."Russia conspiracy was great for ratings among the key demographic of empty nesters on the coasts with too much time on their hands," said Ball, who now hosts an inside-baseball streaming political talk show for The Hill.This is not the first time Ball has knocked her former employer.During a segment on her program last year, Ball criticized the cancellation of former host Ed Schultz's show following his death."I find it really ironic that they took this incredibly pro-working-class voice off the air right before the Trump era when obviously you had a lot of working class voters who didn't feel like they had a home in the Democratic party any more," she said.MSNBC declined to comment. 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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| US Navy Seals platoon sent home from Iraq for drinking alcohol as sexual assault allegations investigated Posted: 26 Jul 2019 04:04 AM PDT  The commander of a US Special Operations task force in Iraq has sent home a platoon of Navy SEALs for drinking while deployed after an alleged sexual assault by one of them, US defence officials said, the latest discipline incident that has emerged for an elite force relied upon heavily by the Pentagon.US Special Operations Command said in a statement on Wednesday night that the platoon was forced out early to San Diego by the commander of the task force, Major General Eric Hill, "due to a perceived deterioration of good order and discipline within the team during non-operational periods" of their deployment."The Commander lost confidence in the team's ability to accomplish the mission," the statement said. "Commanders have worked to mitigate the operational impact as this SEAL platoon follows a deliberate redeployment."The statement did not say what led to the decision, but a defence official with knowledge of the situation said that a female service member working with their platoon reported being sexually assaulted by one of the SEALs during the Fourth of July holiday weekend.The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said the report triggered scrutiny of the platoon, including drinking while deployed.The SEALs declined to cooperate with investigators, prompting Maj Gen Hill to send them home for both that and the alcohol use, the official said. The reported assault was first reported on Thursday by the New York Times.A second person, a senior US Navy official, said on Thursday that he was aware of alleged sexual misconduct being a part of the case, but was not sure if an assault had been reported.The officials said that the SEALs involved violated General Order No. 1, which bans alcohol use while deployed.The SEALs were members of SEAL Team 7, which has headquarters in San Diego when not deployed, one of the defence officials said.The defence official familiar with the sexual assault report said that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is overseeing the sexual assault case, while other military officials investigate administratively the culture and actions in the unit.Commander Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman for Naval Special Warfare Command, said in a statement on Wednesday night that her unit is "actively reinforcing" with the entire force "basic leadership, readiness, responsibility and ethical principles that must form the foundation of special operations"."Leaders at all levels must lead in a way that sustains and sharpens that foundation," she said. "Discipline is a competitive advantage, and enforcing those standards is critical to our success on the battlefield."The disclosure by the military comes two days after the independent Navy Times reported that six members of SEAL Team 10 in Virginia Beach tested positive last year for cocaine use.Some of them had masked their use of it in previous tests, some of the SEALs told investigators, Navy Times reported.The Iraq incident also comes after Navy SEALs were implicated in the death of Army Staff Sergeant Logan Melgar, a Special Forces soldier who was strangled in Mali in June 2017.Two members of SEAL Team 6 – Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam Matthews and Chief Special Warfare Operator Anthony DeDolph – and two Marine Raiders were charged with murder.Mr Matthews and one of the Marines, Staff Sergeant Kevin Maxwell, have pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and testified that Mr Melgar was accidentally killed in what the military has called a hazing incident involving alcohol.Another SEAL, Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Gallagher, recently faced court-martial on war-crimes charges that included murder.He was acquitted of the most serious charges but was convicted of posing for an unlawful photo with the remains of an Isis fighter.The government's case against him fell apart after another SEAL who was offered immunity from prosecution to testify said under oath that he, not Mr Gallagher, had been the one who killed a wounded Isis fighter.Washington Post
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| 2 North Carolina bomb squad agents injured in explosion Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:29 AM PDT |
| Basil From Mexico Is Likely Cause of Cyclospora Food Poisoning Outbreak Posted: 26 Jul 2019 12:04 PM PDT  A food poisoning outbreak tied to 132 cyclospora illnesses in 11 states was likely caused by fresh basil imported from Mexico by Siga Logistics de RL de CV, the Food and Drug Administration annou...
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| Democrats push Trump probe schedule risking campaign clash Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:16 PM PDT  A day after former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's high-profile testimony, House Democrats vowed to push forward with an investigation of President Donald Trump that could delay any move on impeachment into the 2020 election campaign season. The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee is expected to move its obstruction investigation of the president into federal court this week with a lawsuit to compel former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify and a separate legal request for access to the Mueller probe's grand jury evidence. McGahn is key to the committee's obstruction case against Trump, and Democrats contend that obtaining a court order forcing McGahn to comply would break what House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler called a "logjam" of uncooperative witnesses created White House stonewalling.
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| The death of Neil Armstrong and a $6 million secret Posted: 25 Jul 2019 10:43 AM PDT  When Neil Armstrong died in 2012, it was officially put down to complications arising from heart surgery. The Cincinnati Enquirer also received the documents, which were sent anonymously. According to the newspapers, the family had threatened to publicly accuse the hospital of medical malpractice.
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| So Much of the Arctic Is on Fire, You Can See It From Space Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:09 AM PDT  Wildfires burning large swaths of Russia are generating so much smoke, they're visible from space, new images from NASA's Earth Observatory reveal.Since June, more than 100 wildfires have raged across the Arctic, which is especially dry and hot this summer. In Russia alone, wildfires are burning in 11 of the country's 49 regions, meaning that even in fire-free areas, people are choking on smoke that is blowing across the country.The largest fires -- blazes likely ignited by lightning -- are located in the regions of Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Buryatia, according to the Earth Observatory. These conflagrations have burned 320 square miles (829 square kilometers), 150 square miles (388 square km) and 41 square miles (106 square km) in these regions, respectively, as of July 22. [In Photos: Fossil Forest Unearthed in the Arctic]The above natural-color image, taken on July 21, shows plumes rising from fires on the right side of the photo. Winds carry the smoke toward the southwest, where it mixes with a storm system. The image was captured with the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP, a weather satellite operated by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The Russian city of Krasnoyarsk is under a layer of haze, the Earth Observatory reported. And while Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city, doesn't have any fires as of now, smoke carried there by the winds caused the city's air quality to plummet.Wildfires are also burning in Greenland and parts of Alaska, following what was the hottest June in recorded history. It's common for fires to burn during the Arctic's summer months, but the number and extent this year are "unusual and unprecedented," Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), a part of the European Union's Earth observation program, told CNN.These fires are taking a toll on the atmosphere; they've released about 100 megatons of carbon dioxide from June 1 to July 21, which is roughly equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide Belgium released in 2017, according to CAMS, CNN reported.The Arctic is heating up faster than other parts of the world, making it easier for fires to thrive there. In Siberia, for example, the average June temperature this year is nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 degrees Celsius) hotter than the long-term average between 1981 and 2010, Claudia Volosciuk, a scientist with the World Meteorological Organization, told CNN.Many of this summer's fires are burning farther north than usual, and some appear to be burning in peat soils, rather than in forests, Thomas Smith, an assistant professor of environmental geography at the London School of Economics, told USA Today. This is a dangerous situation, because whereas forests might typically burn for a few hours, peat soils can blaze for days or even months, Smith said.Moreover, peat soils are known carbon reservoirs. As they burn, they release carbon, "which will further exacerbate greenhouse warming, leading to more fires," Smith said. * In Photos: The Deadly Carr Fire Blazes Across Northern California * In Photos: Devastating Wildfires in Northern California * In Photos: The Vanishing Ice of Baffin IslandOriginally published on Live Science.
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| Father of slain Mississippi student Ally Kostial shares heartbreaking photo on day of her vigil Posted: 26 Jul 2019 12:35 PM PDT  The father of murdered University of Mississippi student Ally Kostial took to Facebook to share a photo of his daughter taken when she was a small child.
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| Taliban Says Deal on U.S. Troop Pullout From Afghanistan Is Near Posted: 26 Jul 2019 01:52 AM PDT ![Taliban Says Deal on U.S. Troop Pullout From Afghanistan Is Near]( "Taliban Says Deal on U.S. Troop Pullout From Afghanistan Is Near") (Bloomberg) -- The Taliban said it's nearing a peace deal with the U.S. to bring an end to the foreign military presence in Afghanistan, though it ruled out a halt to hostilities for now."We are getting close," Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's Doha-based political office, said by phone on Thursday. If the U.S. makes "a reasonable and convincing proposal, the peace agreement will be concluded soon."The fundamentalist Islamic movement and the U.S. are due to resume negotiations soon in the Qatari capital after adjourning their seventh round of meetings earlier this month. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani agreed Wednesday in a phone call that "now is the time to accelerate efforts to reach a negotiated end to the war," according to a State Department statement.Pompeo said in a Fox News interview late Thursday that he expects "real progress" in reaching agreement by September on "a complete reduction in the scope of the conflict," allowing for inter-Afghan peace talks to begin followed by the start of a withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces.The Taliban controls or contests about half of territory in Afghanistan. That's more than at any time since it was ousted from power in 2001 by an American-led invasion after the al-Qaeda group based in the country carried out the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. The Taliban refuses to hold talks with the authorities in Kabul until it first reaches a binding deal with the Trump administration on withdrawing foreign forces.While it wants the 14,000 U.S. troops and allied NATO forces to leave Afghanistan, the Taliban is showing some signs of flexibility over the timetable, dropping its previous insistence that the withdrawal happen within months."We hope the Americans come up with a reasonable timeline and that we can agree to," said Shaheen, who declined to say how soon the foreign forces should go.Troop LossesAfter losing more than 2,400 soldiers and spending more than $900 billion in Afghanistan since 2001, critics say the U.S. risks losing hard-won gains. President Donald Trump on Monday called the nearly 18-year campaign "ridiculous" and said he could win the conflict in a week but "I don't want to kill 10 million people." Ghani's office responded that Afghanistan "will never allow any foreign power to determine its fate." U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad described the latest round of talks that paused July 9 as the "most productive" ever. Among U.S. demands is a commitment by the Taliban to stop terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and Islamic State from continuing to use Afghanistan as a base of operations.Despite its conciliatory language, the Taliban insists it won't accept a single foreign soldier remaining on Afghan soil, fanning fears in Kabul that the U.S. will leave the government at the mercy of its armed opponents."The Afghan people see it as occupation, whether it is 1,000 or 100 soldiers," Shaheen said. "So we want this to end."The Taliban won't consider a halt to violence until they thrash out a settlement with other Afghans after the U.S. commits to pull out its forces, Shaheen said. The U.S. maintains that no deal can take effect until the Taliban talks directly with the Afghan government, something the militant group has resisted.The Taliban will join negotiations that involve all of Afghanistan's political forces and not just the administration in Kabul, Shaheen said. It also refuses to recognize the result of the Afghan presidential election planned for Sept. 28, irrespective of the outcome of the talks with the U.S."This election is not a remedy to the problem of Afghanistan," said Shaheen. "It only prolongs the war."To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net;Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul at enajafizada1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| See the McLaren 600LT Pikes Peak Collection Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:10 AM PDT |
| Man charged in water dousing incident against 2 female NYPD officers in Bronx Posted: 26 Jul 2019 01:21 PM PDT  A man is facing charges in connection to two water dousing incidents in the Bronx - including one involving NYPD officers.
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| UPDATE 2-Guatemala avoids Trump threat of sanctions with new migration deal Posted: 26 Jul 2019 01:15 PM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Guatemala avoids Trump threat of sanctions with new migration deal]( "UPDATE 2-Guatemala avoids Trump threat of sanctions with new migration deal") WASHINGTON/GUATEMALA CITY, July 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he agreed to drop the threat of economic sanctions against Guatemala after the country agreed to apply new migration measures to citizens from Honduras and El Salvador. The Trump administration has grappled with a surge of mainly Central American migrants claiming asylum at the United States' southern border with Mexico, an influx that has made it difficult for Trump to restrict immigration as he promised when he was elected. Trump had wanted Guatemala to sign what is known as a safe third country agreement to require asylum seekers to first pursue safe haven in a third country through which they had traveled on the way to the United States.
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| 27 children removed from Montana treatment facility over allegations of 'egregious' abuse Posted: 26 Jul 2019 03:22 PM PDT  The allegations include physical and psychological abuse and assault at the Ranch for Kids in Rexford, Montana health officials said Tuesday.
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| Honduras: Where climate change and mass migration have created a village of women Posted: 26 Jul 2019 05:04 AM PDT  They call it the village of women, but the name is not entirely accurate.There are some young boys and older men, along with a handful in their prime. But officials say women now make up at least 75 per cent of La Cumbre, with dozens of their husbands, brothers and sons having left in search of work in the US. More depart every day, their first stop being the border with Guatemala, marked by the Motagua River, which flashes over the hills like a necklace of jewels.Life amid these coffee plantations has never been easy. But in recent years, a new challenge has beset villagers: climate change. Locals say that for the last decade there has been insufficient rainfall to ensure a decent harvest. This, on top of fungal blight and the low price of beans, has pushed many to the edge. Thousands have borrowed the $5,000 demanded by a coyote, or people smuggler, to mule them to the United States. That fee is said to be good for three attempts.Vincente Madrid Norrriega, deputy mayor of Trascerros, the municipality 60 miles west of San Pedro Sula to which La Cumbre belongs, estimates the area's total population has fallen from 10,000 to 7,000 in the last couple of years. La Cumbre's has been slashed to 450, from 700 in 2012. "The migration always used to happen, but over the last two years it's really increased," he says, sitting in his office in the neat town centre. "We are worried. We can't be without people in this area."The impact of the sudden departure of 30 per cent of the population has been dramatic. Businesses have shut, shops have closed. "This last year, we had 52 school teachers. Now it's down to 22 - this is because there are fewer students."The migration has been felt in other ways. Parents are upset when their children declare they are leaving, fearful about the dangerous, sometimes deadly journey they are about to undertake. People are saddened when they no longer see their friends. Business owners fear they could be next to go under. And a general sense of ill anxiety hangs over town.Of those who left, perhaps 200 have returned to the area around Trascerros, either voluntarily or having been deported. In 2018, the US immigration enforcement agency, known as ICE, deported 28,894 Hondurans – the equivalent of 80 people a day."The government has abandoned the city. For years we have been asking them to build roads, but they don't want to help," says Norrriega.Honduras is at the very nexus of Central America's migration crisis. A series of human caravans that last year made their way towards the southern US border were made up overwhelmingly of citizens of this country of 10m people, along with some from El Salvador and Guatemala.Donald Trump, who has placed a tough anti-immigration policy at the centre of his race-baiting re-election strategy, termed the caravan "an invasion" and warned the people of Honduras via Twitter "our military is waiting for you".Such words have not deterred people who sense they have nothing to lose in leaving a place beset by economic problems, with a dire lack of opportunities for young people, and endemic gang violence. This part of the country has always depended on coffee for its income, but it can no longer do so. Firstly, six years ago, the coffee was struck by fungal blight, then in 2016 the world price for beans plummeted to its lowest since 2006, the result, according to industry experts, of an over production of lower grade coffee, especially by countries such as Brazil.Now, people are also having to confront extreme weather.Norrriega says for nine years the weather pattern has shifted, and there has not been enough rain for the beans to completely grow, and they can remain hard. Farmers now need double the amount of beans they previously required to fill a sack to take to market. "It's climate change. People are talking about it a lot." On a shaded terrace above the town, Jorge Ardon, a 40-year-old coffee farmer, reveals what the beans look like when they do not get enough water – hard, and tough to the point of being shrivelled.Ardon believes one reason for the drop in rainfall was the logging of trees several decades ago. "Another factor is climate change." One unforeseen impact on the industry on which "100 per cent of people depend on", has been an increase in gang activity in a town that previously had none. "There are groups that try to do extortion. This has only been the last couple of years."A 2017 report by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said the "impacts of climate variability are already significant in Honduras". It said this had triggered "acute food insecurity, malnutrition and mass migration to poorly prepared urban areas". The problem created by climate change and extreme weather is not unique to Trascerros, or indeed, Honduras. In Lempira, a coffee growing area in western Honduras that is part of the "dry corridor" that reaches from southern Mexico to Panama and is the focus of international efforts to counter the lack of rainfall, thousands of farms have reportedly closed. Left with no alternative work, huge numbers have migrated. Last year, a report by the World Bank said the amount of land suitable for growing coffee in Central America could fall by 40 per cent by 2050, and that 1.4m people may be forced to leave their homes. In Honduras, perhaps one million people work in the coffee industry, according to Dutch food security researchers at Wageningen University."Climate migration will not occur in isolation, and the subregion will also see a marked increase in the number of other internal migrants driven by economic, social, or environmental reasons," said the World Bank report.Stephanie Leutert, director of the Mexico Security Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin, has been interviewing migrants who joined the caravans and compiling data on where they come from. She says many spoke of unpredictable weather as the reason they left the land. "They talk about climate change like it's a tax." She says data released by the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) of people apprehended by agents at the US-Mexico border shows that the number of people from Lempira, Honduras' main coffee region, had more than doubled from 2017 to 2018. Others unable to make a living from the land move to cities such as Tegucigalpa.La Cumbre is accessible only by a jarring, rutted track. It feels as hushed as a cathedral. There is little traffic, barely any movement. There is none of the bustle usually associated with a community in this region. Many homes are empty, their doors bolted shut. The small church sees far fewer people at its services than even a few years ago.Since her husband left a year ago, entering the US with the help of a coyote, Marcia Elena Pineta has been taking care of their small shop, and caring for three daughters, aged five, seven and 13. Her husband works in construction and sends money home, but life is not easy. "He left because you can work here and never see the benefits. He said: 'I need to go there and work to help my family'," she says, her youngest daughter Roxanne perched on a knee.She says she speaks to her husband every day using WhatsApp, but it was not the same as having him there. His life in the United States is also difficult."We don't talk about how long he will stay. It's up to God," she says. "It's very hard, but with God's help you carry on. The community feels very different. I don't think people will stop leaving."Another woman, Antonia Reaz, says her husband left two weeks ago with their 14-year-old son. People in the village say they believe having a child with them increases their chances of being permitted to enter the US if they are stopped. The woman's husband and son, Madondo Lopez, were detained almost immediately. She sobs as she holds a photograph of her boy, a bright smile on his face, as he graduated from the school's sixth grade, a couple of years ago. She says she has not heard from them and is gnarled with worry.Somehow, she has to find a way to take care of her three daughters. "Right now, I have all the responsibility because he went away," she says, her eyes locked downwards."At the beginning, I did not want him to go. I said: 'We have no relatives there'. But then some of our relatives reached there, so we took the decision."Asked if she too wishes to go the US, her answer comes back rapid-fire fast. "I don't want to go. That is not my dream."Freddie Vasquez, 56, is among the few men of working age in La Cumbre and he is considering leaving. He is married and has eight children – six sons and two daughters. Some are working in Guatemala."If you go to the US, you can make money to buy land or cattle," he says. "But there are a lot of challenges there; if you lose your focus, you can lose your way."Vasquez and other villagers say La Cumbre has changed dramatically. There are fewer boys in school. Women now in charge of the family's land have to pay men to do work previously carried out by their husbands or relatives.The physical appearance of the village has also changed. It is easy to tell the homes of people whose relatives have made it to the US and send money back. Fresh paint, new doors, even new rooms. These families eat better food.Among the nicest homes is that of Belsis Lopez. Her husband travelled to the US in the summer of 2016 with a brother, and lives in a state where it appears many men from this village ended up. He works building roofs and sends money home regularly – something that has enabled her to improve their house.But she says she had her three children – two daughters aged 12 and 17, and 14-year-old son – would rather their father was back with them."Every day I talk to him. He needs to return," she says quietly, standing outside their brightly painted home."He went because of the economic situation, but I was rather he was here."Additional reporting: Paulo Cerrato in La CumbreRead the first part in the Beyond the Border series, here: Honduras: Inside ground zero of the Central American migrant crisis
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| Warren Fellowship Applicants: Campaign Program Was a ‘Great Scam’ Posted: 26 Jul 2019 01:34 AM PDT  Stephen Lam/ReutersSen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has built much of her political career as a champion of workers and consumers against the deceptive and exploitative practices of corporations and employers.But as she navigates the latest chapter of that career arc—a run for the Democratic nomination for the presidency—the Massachusetts Democrat faces criticism from several of her own supporters who said the lowest tier of her campaign structure doesn't match the image she projects. Two early converts to Warren described the process for entry into her campaign's volunteer fellowship program as deceptive and at times exploitative in interviews with The Daily Beast. They said they were pushed toward unpaid positions over paid ones, misled over the availability of financial assistance, and asked to sign highly restrictive nondisclosure agreements that worker advocacy groups concede are irregular. Both applicants verified their accounts with emails and text messages from the Warren campaign. The complaints from those offered unpaid fellowships could raise new questions for Warren as she seeks to put her lengthy history of advocating for consumer and worker rights at the center of her rising campaign. "What was sold to me was very different than it actually was," said Jonathan Nendze, a rising senior at Seton Hall University who was offered a volunteer fellowship position on Warren's campaign. "It was kind of a great scam of getting people to show up and work in the capacity of volunteer, but to function as a paid intern in the amount of work they're doing," he said.Like other Democrats running for the White House, Warren's campaign offers paid internships. But unlike many others, the campaign also offers volunteer fellowships and volunteer fellowships for academic credit. Earlier this month, The Daily Beast reported that some workers' rights groups and activists worried that having an unpaid option could lead to a loophole for campaigns to exploit free labor. In the aftermath of that report, two applicants who were offered positions in Warren's volunteer fellowship program in early-voting states came forward to say that they felt their experiences illustrated those fears. Nendze told The Daily Beast that he drove about five hours from Little Falls, New Jersey, to Manchester, New Hampshire, for what he hoped would be an exciting entryway into the field of political campaigns. Prior to arriving in Manchester, he said, he had multiple communications with Warren campaign workers over the fellowship program. But as those talks continued, it became increasingly unclear what the difference between volunteer fellow and paid intern was."The way they always communicated it was always fellow/intern, like they were synonymous," he said. "Their application kind of took advantage of people who were really eager to get experience."Prior to orientation, Nendze said he was told multiple times that an organizer would get back to him about possible payment. "I was getting super-concerned," Nendzes said. "I had no information about where to go, if I was being paid. If they had told me upfront that I was unpaid, maybe I would have been able to prepare better."Ultimately, Nendze was offered a position as a volunteer fellow. As part of the on-boarding process, he was sent a mandatory non-disclosure agreement—to sign upon accepting the offer and passing the campaign's vetting process—stating that volunteer fellows would "not communicate with any member of the press" or "make any statement that may impair or otherwise adversely affect the goodwill or reputation" of Warren for President, Inc., among other provisions. The Campaign Workers Guild, a group focused on improving working conditions on campaigns, said providing NDAs to unpaid volunteers on campaigns is not a common practice, though it occasionally happens in large-scale races. Former Vice President Joe Biden, one of the only Democratic 2020 campaigns to offer a similar unpaid fellowship program, does not require volunteer fellows to sign NDAs, a campaign official confirmed. Nendze said he did not sign the agreement. The emails sent to Nendze were reviewed by The Daily Beast. Warren's campaign, which brought in $19.1 million in fundraising during the second quarter of 2019, declined to comment specifically on the use of NDAs for volunteer fellowship positions. Additionally, it has defended the use of unpaid volunteer fellowships on grounds that many fellows "receive stipends from educational institutions or other third-parties" and that those in the intern and fellowship programs have "access to cost-free supporter housing while they're working in-state." But according to internal campaign emails obtained by The Daily Beast, the campaign has not always clearly conveyed this to the fellows themselves. In one email to Nendze and other incoming fellows, Eleanor Wood, the campaign's New Hampshire's deputy organizing director, wrote that the team would "do our best" to provide housing, rather than guarantee it."If you are moving to NH, we will do our best to provide summer supporter housing," Wood wrote in an email dated on May 31, describing "a cohort of 50+ volunteer fellows and paid interns" in New Hampshire. The Warren campaign reiterated that all fellows and interns receive free housing. The promise of free housing was the biggest draw for Cole, a political science major who recently graduated from the University of Chicago and initially agreed to a volunteer fellowship position with the Warren campaign in Des Moines, Iowa. Cole, who asked that his last name not be used, recalled telling Grace Smith—a Polk County field organizer with the Warren campaign—that he didn't believe he could cover living expenses without being paid. "She said it's totally understandable," he said, describing their conversation. "There's this great housing program," Cole said Smith stressed.Cole was offered the position by Smith over the phone on May 24. The following night, she sent a text message saying she was "hoping to hear back" from Cole about a decision that day. It was just a few hours before midnight, according to records reviewed by The Daily Beast."She was really, really selling me on it in a way that she just wanted me to say yes to add another person," Cole said. He ultimately texted back that would commit to joining the campaign for the summer.Cole's initial excitement over the post—Warren was his first choice in the Democratic field of nearly two dozen contenders—soon dissipated, as he became increasingly concerned about the demands and benefits of the fellowship program.In one email exchange, Cole asked Smith about the ease of getting around Des Moines without a car, which he made clear he would not have for the program. He was told that it was not necessary but "may require a fair amount of Ubers" and that he could "probably snag a good amount of rides from other fellows and/or staff here and there," according to internal emails. Cole said he immediately became concerned with the potential costs associated with taking frequent Uber rides when he was not being paid. Like Nendze, Cole was also concerned about the availability of housing while he volunteered for the Warren campaign. Those fears were assuaged somewhat when Anna Kucher, the campaign's regional organizing director based in Iowa, sent an email sent to interns and fellows introducing herself on May 26. About two weeks later, she sent a follow-up note. "I know you are all anxious to receive your housing details, and I will be sending out emails on a rolling basis based on when you submitted your request from Today - Thursday," she wrote on June 10. "Don't worry about not having a bed to sleep in, we have enough hosts confirmed and are just putting together the puzzle pieces of folks timeline here in IA, allergies, etc. Once you receive your host contact info, it's very important that you reach out to the immediately within 24 hours to confirm logistics and details of your arrival!"But six days before the fellowship was slated to begin, Cole said he had still not yet heard anything about his free supporter housing assignment. He said he ultimately felt relieved that he was offered a paid position at a firm elsewhere, which he decided to accept, after not hearing about the housing arrangements days before he was expected to relocate."Before you start a campaign you should have these basic processes done," he said. "To be treated the way I was is disheartening." Just under a week after The Daily Beast contacted Warren's campaign to detail multiple specific complaints from applicants offered volunteer fellowship positions, it appears someone decided the campaign's most junior members could use rallying. On July 24, Warren hosted a call featuring campaign manager Roger Lau to thank interns and fellows in her program. After the call, an outpouring of praise surfaced on social media, with about a dozen people tweeting their gratitude for the candidate's outreach. "HI @ewarren CALLED ALL OF THE FELLOWS AND INTERNS ON HER CAMPAIGN TODAY AND I ONLY CRIED A LITTLE!!! FEELING SO SO SO BLESSED TO WORK FOR OUR NEXT PRESIDENT AND FEELING SO LUCKY THAT SHE'S SO WONDERFUL AND SMART AND CARES SO MUCH ABOUT EVERY PERSON ON HER TEAM!!! BRB CRYING AGAIN," one person tweeted. "REAL PIC OF ME LISTENING TO @ewarren AS SHE CALLS EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF HER CAMPAIGN FELLOWS AND INTERNS TO THANK US FOR OUR WORK IN THE FIELD!!!!!!!!! ������������������" another tweeted. 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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| EU partners warn Johnson against Brexit 'provocations' Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:29 AM PDT  Britain's European partners Friday warned Boris Johnson that his hardline Brexit stance was putting the UK on a "collision course" with the EU and called on the new premier to avoid "provocations". Johnson is planning meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the next few weeks, officials said Friday, as the British premier insists he will renegotiate the UK's divorce accord with the European Union. Macron extended the invitation to Johnson in a call late Thursday from his official summer vacation residence in the south of France, where he is expected to stay for the next three weeks, said an aide.
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| Fear, confusion, despair: the everyday cruelty of a border immigration court Posted: 25 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  At a federal immigration court in El Paso, Texas, asylum seekers wait in limbo as a result of Trump's policiesA resident of a migrant shelter watches a soccer match at a nearby park on 9 June. Photograph: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty ImagesJudge Sunita Mahtabfar, presiding over the El Paso immigration court in south-west Texas, kicked off the hearing by asking the 16 asylum seekers a question."Is anyone here afraid to return to Mexico?" she said.There was a chorus of "Sí", at least from the adults. Three of the four children in court dozed, slumped against their parents on the unforgiving wooden benches. They had been up for hours, having been summoned to a meeting point in Juárez at 4.30am. One five-year-old boy was lying on the carpet floor, softly singing as he played with a plastic water bottle."Let me ask it a different way," Mahtabfar said. "If anyone here is not afraid to return to Mexico, please raise your hand."No hands were raised.Most of the 16 people in court had made the long, frequently dangerous, journey from their homes in Central America, hoping to live in the United States.But upon arriving at the US-Mexico border, and attempting to apply for asylum, they had instead been ordered back across the Rio Grande River that forms the border here, to Juárez – one of the most dangerous cities in the world.A migrant from El Salvador shows her documents from Migrant Protection Protocols on 16 June. Photograph: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty ImagesThis was the first hearing in a months-long process to determine whether they will be granted asylum in the US. It got off to an inauspicious start. The court's computer system was experiencing difficulties. After changing out the desktop computer at the judge's desk three times, the hearing was eventually switched to a different room. It was 10.30am, two hours behind schedule, before the session began. While they waited for a working computer, the people in court were kept under heavy security. To use the bathroom, each was escorted by security guards, there and back. They would be returned to Juárez immediately after the hearing.Their exile to wait in limbo in Mexico is the result of the Trump administration's controversial Remain in Mexico, or Migrant Protection Protocols policy, which has turned back tens of thousands of women, men and children since being introduced in March.With little money, these asylum seekers are forced to live in shelters, in abandoned properties or sometimes on the streets just south of the US border, in cities where immigrants have been sexually assaulted, kidnapped and murdered.On 17 July those in the court, a small, windowless room on the seventh floor of an austere building in downtown El Paso, were well aware of the danger in Juárez. Many were terrified of returning.One 24-year-old woman, wearing a grey T-shirt with her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, sobbed as she pleaded with the judge to let her stay in the US. She was living in Juárez on her own, she said, and a group of men had been following her in recent days.She said she was aware that she was not meant to enter the US without permission, and had intended to wait in Juárez until she was allowed to enter."But when I went to work at 8am in the morning there were some people following me," she said."So I turned myself in at the bridge."Another woman, a 26-year-old from Cuba, had tried to enter the US on 4 May, but had been sent back to Juárez. She, too, was in tears as she told the judge she was in danger in Mexico."I just wanted to tell you I have an affidavit from my family, who are American citizens," she said through the court translator."I am over here by myself in Mexico, and it is quite hard for me to be here by myself."Under Remain in Mexico, the judge told her: "Unfortunately that is not possible." Both women were told they could have "credible fear" interviews – essentially where a government official gauges how much danger they would be in if they returned to Mexico – but there were no guarantees. The interviews are not open to the press.The Guardian spent two days attending the El Paso federal immigration court, gaining an insight into the fear, confusion and, in some cases, incompetence, that the Trump administration's immigration policies have led to on the US-Mexico border.Despite the well-documented, appalling conditions in some government detention centers north of the border, there was a stream of people pleading to taken into US custody. One woman, María, said she was afraid to return to Juárez. Two men had been killed two blocks away from where she was staying. A Cuban man said five of his countrymen had been kidnapped in recent weeks.Members of the Mexican national guard patrol the banks of the Rio Bravo in Ciudad Juárez. Photograph: Hérika Martínez/AFP/Getty ImagesBut some of the most harrowing stories coming to light were of the people who had not made it to court.On Wednesday, the attorney for a 19-year-old Honduran told Judge Nathan Herbert that the teenager was unable to make her court date because she had gone missing.The woman had attended court for her preliminary hearing on 22 May. She had told the judge she was afraid to return to Juárez, and was granted a credible fear interview. She was deemed not to be in danger, and was sent back to Mexico, with instructions to reappear in court in July.The 19-year-old has not been seen or heard from since."The last contact was 22 May," immigration attorney John Moore said in court.Moore said the day she returned to Mexico was the last day she used WhatsApp, her primary mode of communication, and she never returned to the shelter where she had been staying. Despite hiring a private investigator, Moore had been unable to contact the sponsor the teenager had named in the US, or her family.The judge heard all this on Wednesday afternoon, then tried the 19-year-old's case in absentia anyway. She was refused entry to the US. Her bid for asylum was denied.A view of the Richard C White federal building in El Paso, Texas, where immigration court hearings take place. Photograph: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty ImagesIn El Paso, where thousands of migrants have arrived in the past few months, few are able to find lawyers amid the chaos.Instead, many attempt to represent themselves – an almost impossible task, given that asylum application papers are legal documents that have to be filed in English, with supporting evidence also translated into English by a certified translator.Until recently, immigration advocates were allowed to speak to asylum seekers in court, before their cases are heard. They could explain what the hearing would entail – many migrants believe that on their first day in court they might be admitted to the US immediately, when in reality it is a months-long, arcane process – and advise them of their rights.But in an example of the on-the-hoof policy introduced in courts, that was abruptly stopped on 24 June."All these people are at imminent risk of danger and I could be helping them with that, for free," said Taylor Levy, an immigration lawyer who was in court on Tuesday, and has previously represented immigrants in El Paso pro-bono.Levy said she was given no prior warning by court officials that she would no longer be able to talk to asylum seekers, until the day it happened.A week later, she was told she could no longer give out coloring books and crayons, something she had been doing for months to help occupy children while their parents pleaded their cases during the long hearings in court.> We already spent one month in Mexico. We haven't been able to sleep for two nights> > DarwinAdam Serwer, a staff writer for the Atlantic, coined the phrase "the cruelty is the point" to describe Donald Trump's approach to politics. The term was swiftly picked up and applied, in particular, to the government's approach to immigrants: the children in cages, the people crammed in dirty shelters or border detention. And the asylum seekers who have terrifying stories of violence and exploitation in their home countries, then are turned around and sent to wait in fear in Mexico. It was deliberate, some have argued, designed to stop people seeking asylum in the US.There is evidence that the practice might be working.On the Tuesday afternoon, a 30-year-old Honduran man named Darwin sat at the front of the court with his 10-year-old son, Christopher. They had crossed the Rio Grande, at El Paso, on 7 June. He was hoping for a better life, looking "to work, and for him to study", Darwin said, gesturing towards Christopher.Both looked exhausted, red-eyed and dishevelled. Christopher seemed to be crying as his father spoke, to tell the judge that he had changed his mind about entering the US."We already spent one month in Mexico," Darwin said, through the court interpreter."We haven't been able to sleep for two nights. Look at him, and look at me."The judge told Darwin that he and Christopher would be taken into custody, and flown back to Honduras. Despite the gang violence and unemployment that has caused thousands of people to flee their country, both father and son looked relieved to be returning home – at least to bring their ordeal at the US border to an end.Perhaps the cruelty really is the point.
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