| 'Mitch, get back to work': Trump knocks McConnell again on health care Posted: 10 Aug 2017 06:13 AM PDT  The president lashed out at the Senate majority leader for the second time in as many days, mocking the Kentucky Republican's failure to pass new health care legislation.
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| Climate scientists continue to sound the alarm: Global warming fueled record temperatures in 2016 Posted: 10 Aug 2017 12:54 PM PDT  The latest international climate report released by the American Meteorological Society confirms 2016 was the third consecutive year of record global heat.
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| The Latest: Detective grilled in Penn St. hazing death case Posted: 10 Aug 2017 02:22 PM PDT  BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — The Latest on the court hearing in the death of a Penn State fraternity pledge following an alcohol hazing ritual (all times local):
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| Norovirus Outbreak On Cruise Ship Sickens 91 Passengers Posted: 10 Aug 2017 10:48 AM PDT  It was the fourth time this year the ship had an outbreak of the highly contagious stomach infection.
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| Colorado man found dead in elevator called for help twice Posted: 11 Aug 2017 08:55 AM PDT ![Colorado man found dead in elevator called for help twice]( "Colorado man found dead in elevator called for help twice") DENVER (AP) — An elderly Colorado man found dead in a parking garage elevator had pushed the emergency button twice but got no response, police said.
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| Nightmare Safari: Grandmother Attacked and Killed by Hippo During Family Vacation Posted: 11 Aug 2017 01:52 PM PDT  Carol Kirken, pictured with her son, died in his arms.
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| Democrats try to co-opt populist rage. Hilarity ensues. Posted: 10 Aug 2017 02:00 AM PDT  The problem with the Democrats' new agenda isn't its language or gauziness. It's the underlying philosophy, which misreads the Trump campaign's core appeal.
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| Trump shares dubious Twitter poll saying he's better than Obama Posted: 10 Aug 2017 07:01 AM PDT  President Trump has shared a dubious Twitter poll that rates him "a better president" than Barack Obama. Mainstream polls have given Trump low ratings.
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| Magnitude 6.2 quake hits Philippine island of Luzon, jolts buildings Posted: 10 Aug 2017 11:20 PM PDT  An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 hit the Philippines' northern island of Luzon on Friday and was felt in the capital Manila, shaking buildings and forcing the evacuation of offices and schools. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries in the quake, which the United States Geological Survey earlier measured at 6.6. No tsunami warning was issued by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, which put the magnitude of the quake at 6.3, and said it expected aftershocks.
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| 12-year-old rape victim told to 'turn the other cheek' as Christian school refused to report sexual abuse, lawsuit alleges Posted: 10 Aug 2017 09:39 AM PDT  A 12-year-old rape victim was told by the headmaster of a Christian school "to turn the other cheek" and that "everything in God's kingdom happens for a reason", lawsuit files alledge. The school is being accused of covering up repeated sexual assaults against the boy, downplaying the attacks and refusing to report a rape in a lawsuit that is seeking at least $30m (£23m) in damages. The mother of the boy, who attends Brentwood Academy, a prestigious private school in Williamson County in Tennessee, filed the lawsuit in which she also accuses four eight-grade students, then 14 and 15-years-old, of having repeatedly sexually abused her son when he was in the sixth grade in 2014/15.
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| Long Beach Settles Lawsuit After Police Forcibly Remove Woman's Hijab Posted: 11 Aug 2017 01:11 PM PDT  The head covering was taken off by police after she was arrested
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| U.S. destroyer challenges China's claims in South China Sea Posted: 10 Aug 2017 02:29 PM PDT  A U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a "freedom of navigation operation" on Thursday, coming within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea, U.S. officials told Reuters.
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| Woman sues hospital in death of 4-day-old son Posted: 11 Aug 2017 03:32 AM PDT ![Woman sues hospital in death of 4-day-old son]( "Woman sues hospital in death of 4-day-old son") PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon woman is suing a hospital where she gave birth to her son over the baby's death after she accidently smothered him at just 4-days old.
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| United Airlines Flight Diverted To New York Due To Cockpit Smoke Posted: 10 Aug 2017 02:12 AM PDT  The flight was carrying 50 passengers and three crew members from Chicago to Montreal, Canada, when it was diverted to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport.
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| UN hits N. Korea with tough new sanctions - but will they work? Posted: 10 Aug 2017 07:38 AM PDT  In slapping its seventh set of sanctions on North Korea, the United Nations has adopted its toughest measures yet against the regime -- but how effective they will be in changing Pyongyang's behavior is another matter. Days after the UN unanimously approved the US-drafted sanctions, aimed at thwarting the North's nuclear weapons programs, Pyongyang railed against the measures as US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-Un traded fiery threats. Crucial to their success is whether Beijing and Moscow enforce the sanctions -- which could cost North Korea $1 billion a year in revenues.
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| 3 dead in California after SUV fleeing Border Patrol crashes Posted: 11 Aug 2017 05:29 PM PDT ![3 dead in California after SUV fleeing Border Patrol crashes]( "3 dead in California after SUV fleeing Border Patrol crashes") SAN DIEGO (AP) — An SUV fleeing from U.S. Border Patrol agents smashed through a guardrail and hurtled into a ravine off a San Diego freeway, killing three of the vehicle's occupants and seriously injuring a fourth, authorities said Friday.
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| In 'liberated' Mosul, ISIS still imperils the path to city's revival Posted: 11 Aug 2017 11:57 AM PDT ![In 'liberated' Mosul, ISIS still imperils the path to city's revival]( "In 'liberated' Mosul, ISIS still imperils the path to city's revival") The first sign Ghaith Ali had that Islamic State militants were still active in "liberated" western Mosul was a mysterious square object on the floor of a house he entered to make it ready for returning families. "Our mission was to clear houses before civilians come back, to say 'Your house is good,'" says Ali, a short-haired young man with a thin mustache and slight build, speaking in an Erbil hospital for war victims run by the Italian agency Emergency.
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| Scott Peterson Says He Was 'Staggered' by Guilty Verdict in Murder of Wife Laci Posted: 11 Aug 2017 01:55 PM PDT  Peterson is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison.
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| A large wildfire has been burning in Greenland for more than a week, and wait, what?!? Posted: 10 Aug 2017 09:22 AM PDT  If shrubbery and peatlands catch on fire on a sparsely populated island that's synonymous with snow and ice, will anyone notice? The answer, thanks to satellite monitoring, is an unequivocal "yes." During the past several days, scientists have been keeping close tabs on an unusually large wildfire in southwest Greenland, about 90 miles northeast of the town of Sisimiut. This is one of at least two fires currently burning in Greenland. SEE ALSO: Nuclear war with North Korea 'would be suicidal', climate experts warn While fires are not unheard of along the ice-free edges of the island, the large one near Sisimiut is noteworthy for its size and duration, scientists say. Wildfires in Greenland are outpacing past years in terms of the number of satellite-detected incidents. The current fire is the largest wildfire spotted in Greenland since a NASA satellite instrument was turned on in 2002. The Greenland fire evolution since July 29 as captured by @ESA_EO 's #sentinel2 pic.twitter.com/Iuk9blyui9 — Stef Lhermitte (@StefLhermitte) August 9, 2017 While most of Greenland is covered by snow and ice, the edges of the island are covered by grasses, shrubs, mosses, and other vegetation that, when sufficiently dry, can burn. According to NASA, satellites first detected evidence of the fire on July 31, 2017. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument and the Suomi NPP satellite's instruments collected daily images of smoke streaming from the fire over the next week. An analysis from Stef Lhermitte of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands suggests that NASA's MODIS instrument has spotted more wildfire activity in Greenland in 2017 than it has during any other year since the sensor began collecting data in 2000. The fire may be burning through peat, which would make it particularly destructive, since peatlands store large amounts of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane. #DEIMOS2 fresh image depicts unusual #wildfire raging right now in #Greenland #EmergencyServices pic.twitter.com/p200SWhmPn — DEIMOS IMAGING (@deimosimaging) August 9, 2017 It is not clear what triggered the fire, though it may have been human-caused since hunting and fishing are popular at this time of year. Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, said the fire is occurring in an area "popular with hunters." "I spoke to a Greenlandic journalist today who had spoken to the fire service, they have apparently also suggested the two [fires] currently burning are most likely human-caused fires," Mottram said in an email. She also suspects it's a peat fire, saying: "I have not been to this area, but it seems very likely it is a peatland area given other locations I've visited." The area where the large fire is burning has been drier than average this year, with much less precipitation than usual in July, for example. To wrap up: wildfires have occurred in the past over Greenland but 2017 is exceptional in number of active fire detections by MODIS pic.twitter.com/2HGaVieTEe — Stef Lhermitte (@StefLhermitte) August 7, 2017 Mottram hesitated to blame the fire on any climate change trends, though the Arctic is warming rapidly thanks to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. "It's an arid area – and these low rainfall periods happen," she said. "We can say that the mean temperatures in Greenland have been increasing though, based on observations." Jason Box, a climate scientist who also closely studies the Greenland Ice Sheet, said the ongoing fires "are not abnormal," but that the increase in shrubbery in the Arctic is a climate change-related trend that provides more fuel for fires to burn. #Greenland #wildfire on 8 August - 3 #Sentinel2 data combinations: 1. natural colours, 2. highlighting the flames, 3. showing burnt areas. pic.twitter.com/6SepBduxDg — ESA EarthObservation (@ESA_EO) August 10, 2017 Box said that studies have shown that there could be a "sharp increase in fire probability with increasing summer temperature," and that fire frequency is expected to increase as global warming continues. Scientists are currently deployed across the Greenland ice sheet during the field campaign season, trying to get a better handle on how much of the ice sheet is going to melt, and how quickly, since this will help determine the fate of coastal cities worldwide from sea level rise. Interestingly, this summer has been unusually cold for a large part of Greenland. At the Summit Station on top of the ice sheet, a record low temperature for July was set on the 4th, when the temperature dipped to minus-30 degrees Celsius, or minus-22 degrees Fahrenheit. Then on July 28, the temperature climbed to 1.9 degrees Celsius, or 35 degrees Fahrenheit. The wildfire near Sisimiut began during that period of mild weather, illustrating the link between temperatures and wildfire. WATCH: Summer 2017 feels like it's on steroids – and it's only going to get worse
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| Restaurant in China discounts meals according to cup size -- and not the drink kind Posted: 10 Aug 2017 08:59 AM PDT  At Trendy Shrimp restaurant, located inside a mall in Hangzhou, a poster depicting a line-up of anime women with varying breast sizes informed patrons that the bigger the chest, the bigger the discount, reports the BBC. The poster, which first appeared on August 1, has been taken down, following complaints from locals. But women willing to let their cup size net them a cheaper meal can still get their discount.
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| US military plans B-1 Bomber strike on North Korea missile sites Posted: 10 Aug 2017 12:30 PM PDT  The American military is ready with a plan to strike North Korean missile sites in a preemptive attack if Donald Trump decides to do so. The plan involves flying a B-1B heavy bomber from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam accompanied by satellites, drones, higher jets, and aerial refuelling warplanes. "Of the military options … [President Trump] could consider, this would be one of the two or three that would at least have the possibility of not escalating the situation," retired Admiral James Stavridis, the former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told NBC.
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| Yellowstone Park vehicle traffic nearing capacity Posted: 10 Aug 2017 03:44 PM PDT  CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Sometime within the next four to six years, Yellowstone National Park is expected to reach its capacity for being able to handle all the vehicles that tourists drive through the park to see sights like Old Faithful, wild wolves and grizzly bears and spectacular scenery.
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| Israel moves ahead on underground wall around Gaza Posted: 10 Aug 2017 02:22 AM PDT  Israel is pushing ahead with a project to build a giant underground wall around the Gaza Strip to block tunnels that could be used for attacks, the army said on Thursday. The project comes after the government faced heavy criticism over Hamas's use of tunnels in the 2014 Gaza war, with a state inquiry earlier this year accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and army top brass of having been unprepared for the threat. Army radio reported that the wall, comprising concrete planks and sensors, will stretch some 64 kilometres (40 miles).
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| When is the Perseid Meteor shower and how can I see it? Posted: 11 Aug 2017 05:48 AM PDT  The Perseids meteor shower is an annual event that peaks around mid-August,with this year's peak expected between 11 and 13 August. It's regarded as one of the brightest and most visible meteor showers. Here's everything you need to know about the spectacle, including dates and where to see it. #perseids are coming!! pic.twitter.com/F19pqGL3nO— GaryFildes (@TheGaryFildes) July 9, 2017 A post shared by Anders Nilsson (@fotoandersnilsson) on Aug 9, 2017 at 1:33am PDT Lucky snap! I caught this early bird #perseids #meteor just before packing up. It may look like daytime in this image, but it's only the effect of a bright and just off frame #Moon. The #perseid #meteorshower will peak the night of August 12th so grab a blanket, buds, and some #darksky. #nightsky #astronomy #landscapeastro #nightscape #sonyalpha #sonya7s @weownthenight_az @instagramaz @earthskyscience @visitsedona #sedona #cathedralrock #redrocks #az #arizonasky @joanwood01 @_tzr_ A post shared by jarredpd (@jarredpd) on Aug 7, 2017 at 11:27am PDT What is a meteor shower? Ameteor shower occurs when Earth passes through the debris stream occupying the orbit of a comet, in this case comet Swift-Tuttle. Perspective makes meteor showers appear to emanate from a single point in the sky known as the shower radiant. A typical meteor results from a particle the size of a grain of sand vaporising in Earth's atmosphere when it enters at 134,000mph. Something larger than a grape will produce a fireball and this is often accompanied by a persistent afterglow known as a meteor train. This is a column of ionised gas slowly fading from view as it loses energy. The Perseids appear to originate from within the star constellation Perseus, hence the shower's name. A shooting star, top left, is seen during the Perseid meteor shower in Poland in 2016. Credit: EPA/LUKASZ OGRODOWCZYK When can I see the Perseid meteor shower? The window for this year's meteor shower is from July 17 to August 24. Stargazers stand a chance of seeing the shower at any point in this window, however the peak will occur around August 11, 12 and 13. The best time to take a look at the sky will be from about 1am BST in the Northern Hemisphere until the onset of dawn twilight. Space.com says the moon, which will be three-quarters full at the time of the peak, will rise around 11pm meaning the spectacle will be trickier to see this year. However, sky-watchers should still be able to see the shower, despite the moon's glare. Peak rates of 150-200 meteors per hour were recorded in 2016, but typical rates are about 80 meteors an hour streaking across the night sky, each leaving a trail. Complete list of every full moon in 2017 The worlds best stargazing locations How can I see it? Choose a dark location away from stray lights and give yourself at least 20 minutes in total darkness to properly dark adapt. Look at a height approximately two-thirds up the sky in any direction. If you want a recommendation, east through south offers some great background constellations in the early hours during August. Look for the shower's "radiant" from the north-east corner of Perseus. Here are a few great places to view the shower. Galloway Forest Park: Galloway is a couple of hours from Glasgow and an hour from Carlisle. The park's most popular spot for stargazing is Loch Trool. Exmoor and around: Exmoor was granted International Dark-Sky Reserve status by the International Dark-Sky Association in 2011. Light pollution is managed to make the area more appealing to amateur astronomers. Romney Marsh: Night once provided cover for smugglers known as Owlers, but today Romney Marsh offers celestial bounty, arching over a landscape adorned with the spires of ancient churches. Kielder: Kielder Forest is officially the darkest place in England – 250 square miles of wooded beauty where Northumberland brushes against Scotland. It has its own fabulous, modern, wood-clad observatory on the slopes of Black Fell above Kielder Water. North York Moors: As well as stunning night skies, the North York Moors boast historic market towns such as Helmsley and Pickering, plus appealing coastal spots, including Scarborough and Whitby. Reader sends in beautiful Perseid timelapse 00:15 Tell me more about Comet Swift-Tuttle The wonderfully named Comet Swift-Tuttle, the parents of the Persied meteor shower, is the largest object known to repeatedly pass Earth (it's 16 miles wide). It orbits the sun ever 133 years and each time it passes through the inner solar system, it warms up releasing fresh comet material into its orbital stream, according to earthsky.org. The last time it was closest to the sun was in December 1992. It will be back again in July 2126. Total solar eclipse 2017: explainer
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| Rights groups sue over moving of Virginia white nationalist rally Posted: 10 Aug 2017 04:57 PM PDT ![Rights groups sue over moving of Virginia white nationalist rally]( "Rights groups sue over moving of Virginia white nationalist rally") U.S. civil rights groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday to have a white nationalist rally in Virginia moved back to its original venue, saying that city officials' last-minute decision to shift the event violated organizers' rights. The suit by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties organization based in Charlottesville, Virginia, comes ahead of Saturday's "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, which city officials expect to draw thousands of participants and counter-demonstrators.
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| Bristol International Balloon Fiesta Posted: 10 Aug 2017 12:16 PM PDT ![Bristol International Balloon Fiesta]( "Bristol International Balloon Fiesta") The Fiesta truly is a sight that can only be seen in Bristol. Held over four days in August at Ashton Court Estate, the event is completely free with charges made for parking on the event site. The event was first held in 1979 and is now one of the largest in Europe.
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| 'Son of Sam' David Berkowitz Reveals Advice to Younger Self: 'Turn Around Before It's Too Late' Posted: 10 Aug 2017 01:05 PM PDT  It's been exactly 40 years since the notorious New York City serial killer was taken into custody.
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| Judge: Parents owe $292,000 for suit in son's gym mat death Posted: 10 Aug 2017 08:32 AM PDT  The parents of a Georgia teenager found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat and their attorney must pay more than $292,000 in legal fees to dozens of people they accused of foul play in a lawsuit that was later dropped, a judge ruled.
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| If North Korea Attacks, Trump Has at Least One Ally Posted: 11 Aug 2017 09:14 AM PDT  The ANZUS Treaty was first invoked in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and could be invoked again.
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| Venezuela's Maduro: 'Mr. Donald Trump, here is my hand' Posted: 10 Aug 2017 10:14 PM PDT  Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro said Thursday he wants a meeting with President Donald Trump — the same man he ridicules as a crass imperial magnate and blasts for U.S. sanctions against officials in ...
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| More Syrians returning home, still outnumbered by fresh displacements: U.N. Posted: 11 Aug 2017 06:53 AM PDT ![More Syrians returning home, still outnumbered by fresh displacements: U.N.]( "More Syrians returning home, still outnumbered by fresh displacements: U.N.") More than 600,000 Syrians returned to their homes in the first seven months of this year, nearly as many as in all of 2016, but they are still outnumbered by those freshly displaced, the U.N. migration agency said on Friday. "The returns are not confirmed as voluntary, safe or sustainable," IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon told a briefing. Most of the 602,759 Syrians who returned to their homes between January and July had been uprooted within their war-torn homeland, with the other 16 percent returning from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, Headon said.
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| A 'conversation' with Google's recently fired Tech-Bro-in-Chief Posted: 11 Aug 2017 04:08 PM PDT  The man behind the infamous Google memo has decided he'd like to further his career in shitty memos by writing an editorial for The Wall Street Journal. On Friday, James Damore published a "Well, Actually" piece for the Journal, technically titled "Why I Was Fired." In it, Damore claims that he was the innocent victim of the leftwing ideological echo chamber that is Google: a company that, it should be noted, remains 69% male and 56% white. As a biological woman, I'm too highly neurotic and cooperative to confront Damore directly. I would, however, still like to have a conversation with him that showcases my evolutionary tendency to be agreeable, cooperative and enthusiastic!!!! SEE ALSO: Google reportedly fires engineer for sexist 'manifesto' Below are portions of Damore's piece and my far inferior rebuttal (it's not sexism, guys, I'm just genetically not as talented as him). Damore: I was fired by Google this past Monday for a document that I wrote and circulated internally raising questions about cultural taboos and how they cloud our thinking about gender diversity at the company and in the wider tech sector. Dockray: Woooow, that's terrible! Small edit: I believe you were technically fired because you don't believe 31% of your coworkers are more than a stereotype. Damore: I suggested that at least some of the male-female disparity in tech could be attributed to biological differences (and, yes, I said that bias against women was a factor too). Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai declared that portions of my statement violated the company's code of conduct and "cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace." Dockray: That's awful! As a woman, I really appreciate it when a male engineer suggests I struggle with neuroticism and anxiety because I don't have a penis. #NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/EaD4tKoH21 — James Damore (@Fired4Truth) August 10, 2017 Damore: ... having these views challenged can be painful, so we tend to avoid people with differing values and to associate with those who share our values . . . [Nowadays] we are more mobile and can sort ourselves into different communities; we wait longer to find and choose just the right mate; and we spend much of our time in a digital world personalized to fit our views. Dockray: YES. Though I'm not 100% sure that if I was less "mobile" I would want to become bffs with someone who wants to " demoralize diversity " and "de-emphasize empathy". Please never run for public office. Damore: Google is a particularly intense echo chamber because it is in the middle of Silicon Valley and is so life-encompassing as a place to work. With free food, internal meme boards and weekly companywide meetings, Google becomes a huge part of its employees' lives. Some even live on campus. Dockray: Sounds like they definitely don't have enough money to fund those diversity programs. Damore: In my document, I committed heresy against the Google creed by stating that not all disparities between men and women that we see in the world are the result of discriminatory treatment. Dockray: That is correct, you did. Damore: When I first circulated the document about a month ago to our diversity groups and individuals at Google, there was no outcry or charge of misogyny. I engaged in reasoned discussion with some of my peers on these issues, but mostly I was ignored. Dockray: Good job, most of your peers. Damore: Everything changed when the document went viral within the company and the wider tech world. Those most zealously committed to the diversity creed — that all differences in outcome are due to differential treatment and all people are inherently the same — could not let this public offense go unpunished. Dockray: Yo liberals: can you please show a little more respect for "de-emphasize empathy" conservatives? #BothSides Damore: When the whole episode finally became a giant media controversy, thanks to external leaks, Google had to solve the problem caused by my supposedly sexist, anti-diversity manifesto, and the whole company came under heated and sometimes threatening scrutiny. Dockray: I think you typed "supposedly" when you meant to say "definitely" — but maybe your agreeable woman editor just didn't want to say anything. Damore: It saddens me to leave Google and to see the company silence open and honest discussion. If Google continues to ignore the very real issues raised by its diversity policies and corporate culture, it will be walking blind into the future — unable to meet the needs of its remarkable employees and sure to disappoint its billions of users. Dockray: Who the fuck knows what will happen? In the meantime, consider this one user satisfied. WATCH: Good Day Westeros: The 'Game of Thrones' battle we've all been waiting for
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| 13 Million-Year-Old Skull May Reveal What Our Ancestors Looked Like Posted: 10 Aug 2017 08:09 AM PDT  It's been nicknamed Alesi
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| Why Isn't Seoul More Worried About North Korea? Posted: 11 Aug 2017 01:15 PM PDT  On September 15, 1996, 26 North Korean commandoes slipped ashore near the South Korean town of Gangneung after their submarine foundered off the coast. The impromptu mini-invasion made international headlines, and tensions rose sharply for several weeks between the two countries as the South Korean military hunted down the infiltrators. Two dozen were killed.
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| San Clamante Beach Closed After Great White Shark Sighting Posted: 10 Aug 2017 02:16 AM PDT  Shark attacks are on the rise along the West Coast and frequent shark sightings are causing fear among regular beachgoers. Recently, a great white shark sighting in San Clemente pier in California prompted the closure of a beach.
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| Chloe Ayling: Who is the British model who was drugged and kidnapped in Italy? Posted: 10 Aug 2017 07:41 AM PDT  Chloe Ayling, 20, is the glamour model who was drugged and abducted in Italy after reportedly being duped into attending a bogus photoshoot. Italian police say she was snatched last month by at least two men who claim to be part of dark web group Black Death, who say they sell women as sex slaves online. The kidnapping The place where a man identified as Lukasz Pawel Herba, a Polish citizen with British residency, held a young British model Credit: ITALIAN POLICE PRESS OFFICE / HANDOUT Miss Ayling was snatched last month by a group calling itself Black Death and is believed to have been drugged and transported in a bag to an isolated village near Turin, where she was held for six days as her captors tried to auction her online. She described how she was drugged, handcuffed, gagged and put in a bag in the boot of a car by kidnappers before being driven off to the farmhouse where she was held captive. "A person wearing black gloves came from behind and put one hand on my neck and one on my mouth to stop me from screaming," she said in her statement. "A second person wearing a black balaclava gave me an injection in my right forearm. I think I lost consciousness. When I woke up I was wearing a pink bodysuit and the socks I am wearing now. "I realised I was in the boot of a car with my wrists and ankles handcuffed, adhesive tape on my mouth. I was inside a bag and was only able to breathe through a small hole." What is the dark web? 01:33 As she screamed for help she was driven 120 miles to the tiny hamlet of Borgial near the French border where they forced her to lie on the floor next to a chest of drawers and handcuffed her hands and feet to the legs, leaving her " totally immobilised". She was kept handcuffed to furniture in the village of Borgial but was freed after six days and taken to the British Consulate in Milan, despite the ransom not being paid, police said. They had taken photographs of her whilst she was unconscious which were posted on the dark web with the view to auctioning her off. Why was she released? According to Ms Ayling, one of her kidnappers confessed to her that they had made a mistake seizing her because she was the mother of a young child. He said it was against the "rules" of his organisation and his superiors were angry. Afterwards they removed the cuffs from her feet and allowed her to move around the farmhouse, she said. The captors demanded £270,000 from her agent but eventually dropped agreed to accept £50,000 and Herba took her to the British Consulate in Milan on July 17 where he was arrested. Her captor Photo released by police of a man identified as identified as Lukasz Pawel Herba, a Polish citizen with British residency Credit: Italian Police Photo via AP Lukasz Pawel Herba is accused of being part of a Black Death gang which drugged and kidnapped Chloe Ayling, who had been lured to Milan on the promise of a fashion shoot. Herba, 30, a Polish national who was living in Oldbury, in the West Midlands, told the 20-year-old glamour model as she was held prisoner in a remote farmhouse that unless her agent paid a ransom of $300,000, she would be sold as a sex slave in the Middle East. His home in Oldbury, in the West Midlands, has been raided by British officers. Under questioning by Italian police, he claimed he became part of the kidnapping gang because he was suffering from leukemia and desperately needed to raise half a million pounds for treatment. He could provide no medical proof of having the illness. He was arrested as he dropped the model off at the British Consulate in Milan on July 17. Who are the Black Death group? The Black Death group operates on the Dark Web and allegedly sells kidnapped women as sex slaves in online auctions. The group was investigated in 2016 amid fears that they were selling a 15-year-old British girl in an online auction. Europol had monitored the group's Dark Web site of as they advertised two teenagers for auction, one of whom was under the age of consent and described as "pure". A screenshot of a "Black Death Group" document on a laptop belonging to Lukasz Pawel Herba, Credit: REUTERS The auction of the 15-year-old, whose name was given as Laura, started at $750,000 and was due to take place at the end of May 2016, with the Black Death website warning that it was "fully booked". A second auction for a 17-year-old girl born in the UK named only as Gemma had been scheduled to take place just days earlier with a starting bid of $120,000. The age, hair colour and measurements of both teenagers were posted alongside their auction adverts. It is unknown whether these auctions went ahead. Questions over shoe shopping incident The Italian media has raised questions over the kidnapping after it was revealed the model went shoe shopping with her captor. Newspaper La Repubblica claimed Ms Ayling burst into tears when police investigators asked her about the trip. The newspaper reported: "That the kidnapping was real or that she was doped with ketamine is not put into question by the investigators. "But it is also tremendously true that many details do not add up. "Starting with a question that the police investigators suddenly asked Chloe, causing her to cry, 'But don't you think it is strange to go and buy shoes with your kidnapper? "Because that also happened and, of course, the shop assistant, identified by the cops, recognized her, and recognized the person she calls MD [Herba]." Her lawyer has called people who raised these questions "evil", defending his client's shoe shopping trip. He told Radio 4's Today programme: "She was told that she was going to be sold to somebody in the Middle East for sex. "She was told that people were there watching her and ready to kill her if she tried anything. "So she thought that the best idea was to go along with it and to be nice in a way to her captor because he told her that he wanted to release her somehow and sometime and she thought that the best thing to do was not to go in conflict with him. "So she abided to his request, 'let's go and buy groceries' and 'you need shoes, let's go buy shoes' and she didn't try to flee. "But I believe she was terrified at the moment and even if she could've asked for help she didn't because she was subjugated to this person, or people as she was given to understand." She told police she had developed a trusting relationship and even shared a bed with her kidnapper, who gave her chocolate and underwear, but she said he had not sexually assaulted her.
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| 6 dead, 13 missing as smugglers throw 180 migrants into Yemen sea Posted: 10 Aug 2017 07:39 AM PDT  Six migrants drowned and 13 went missing Thursday when smugglers forced 180 Ethiopian migrants off a boat bound for Yemen, a day after a similar incident left 50 dead, the International Organization for Migration said. Survivors managed to make their way to Shabwa province, along Yemen's Arabian Sea coastline, which is now under the control of Yemeni troops backed by the United States. An IOM spokesperson in Yemen told AFP the majority of the Ethiopian migrants appeared to be teenagers and young adults.
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| 13 Crazy Good, Quick Dinners For Kids Posted: 11 Aug 2017 03:31 PM PDT |
| Danish inventor charged with murder after submarine is wrecked Posted: 11 Aug 2017 10:42 AM PDT  A Danish inventor has been charged with the murder of a Swedish journalist who police said had been on his submarine before it was wrecked on Friday. Peter Madsen, 46, was rescued on Friday morning in a navy operation and taken ashore after the 17-metre homemade submarine sank, police said in a statement. The police later said Madsen had been charged with the murder of the female journalist.
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