| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, spokesman leave her office Posted: 02 Aug 2019 04:24 PM PDT  Saikat Chakrabarti to work for climate change non-profit
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| Police chief: Officer faked shooting, distress call Posted: 01 Aug 2019 04:48 PM PDT  An Alabama police officer staged a shooting last month to make it look like he was under attack, a police chief said Thursday. Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith said that Officer Keith Buchanan made a distress call early July 21 while patrolling an isolated area. Shots could be heard in the background, and an abandoned police car was later found with a bullet hole.
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| Afghanistan peace deal would see US troop numbers slashed: reports Posted: 01 Aug 2019 08:20 PM PDT  A proposed peace deal would see the United States withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in exchange for promises from the Taliban that it would renounce Al-Qaeda, US media reported on Thursday. The US and the Taliban are soon expected to begin their eighth round of talks in Doha to reach a deal that would end America's nearly 18-year involvement in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported that an initial deal to end the war would see US troop numbers in the country fall to as low as 8,000 from their current level of around 14,000.
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| Man opens fire in national park ‘because he thought he saw Bigfoot’ Posted: 01 Aug 2019 01:21 AM PDT  A gun-wielding camper has opened fire in an American national park – because he says he saw Bigfoot.The man, who has not been named, offloaded several rounds at Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, after telling other overnight visitors the half-man-half-ape had lunged at him.Park rangers have since said they had found no evidence Bigfoot was there – but are investigating the fact a firearm was fired.Madelyn Durand and Brad Ginn, who reported the incident, said the shooter had woken them at 11pm on Sunday by shining a flashlight in their tent."We got out and saw a man [and his son] who told us their campsite had been destroyed by someone or something," said Ms Durand, 22. "We heard them coming back about 10 minutes later. We heard them yelling 'I see it'."We saw the flash from his gun, and he shot maybe 20 yards from the side of our tent into the pitch-black darkness."Asked if she was scared, the Western Kentucky University student told CNN: "I was mostly just concerned about him shooting the gun in the middle of the night without him really seeing anything."The couple called 911 and decided to hike the five miles back to their car without staying the night, she added.It is unclear what happened to the shooter but park spokeswoman Molly Schroer said rangers knew who he was and that no threat remained in the area.Although US laws prohibit the discharge of firearms in national parks, she said no charges had been brought as yet.The incident comes just eight months after a Montana man reported being shot at in a forest by a gunman who then told him he had mistaken him for Bigfoot. The legendary creature, also known as Sasquatch, is more commonly associated with America's Pacific Northwest region but sightings have been reported all over the country.
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| Truck driver was on drugs, reaching for drink at time of deadly New Hampshire crash, report says Posted: 02 Aug 2019 09:26 AM PDT  Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, a 23-year-old truck driver employed by Westfield Transport Inc., has been charged with seven counts of negligent homicide.
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| Fox News Stars Go After Tomi Lahren for Sexist Jab at Kamala Harris Posted: 31 Jul 2019 09:29 PM PDT  Rich PolkSeveral of Tomi Lahren's Fox News colleagues were upset with her sexist remarks about Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) on Wednesday evening. And they were not afraid to publicly say so.During the Democratic presidential debate, Lahren, a right-wing firebrand who hosts a Fox Nation show and often appears on Fox News, swiped at Harris for her mid-1990s relationship with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. "Kamala did you fight for ideals or did you sleep your way to the top with Willie Brown?" Lahren wrote.Lahren was swiftly condemned for invoking Harris' personal relationship to dismiss the 2020 candidate's long record in elected office, rising from San Francisco district attorney to California's attorney general before being elected to the U.S. Senate. But while the tweet attracted its share of liberal critics, some of Lahren's own colleagues at Fox News openly expressed disgust at her comments."I am curious to know what you think bringing a woman's personal/sexual life into this accomplishes," Fox News libertarian commentator Kat Timpf replied. "Men do that to us enough as it is. I'm honestly asking."Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov, a liberal pundit who often co-hosts daytime talk show Outnumbered, retweeted Timpf's response to Lahren.Fellow Fox Nation host Britt McHenry—who recently accused her former co-host Tyrus of sexually harassing her—admonished Lahren for attempting to erase Harris' professional career."Do you have any idea how damaging this is to women who've actually been sexually harassed, assaulted or demeaned in the workplace? How much this weakens our own gender, regardless of partisanship," she wrote. "My goodness."In another tweet, an incensed McHenry added: "Slept her way to the top? I'm sorry what law degree do you have? What state bar did you pass?"And early Thursday morning, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean also took Lahren to task, writing: "If a male contributor had tweeted this they would probably be suspended with a trip to HR. Pretty disgusting, Tomi. Are clicks and retweets worth demeaning women? Would you do the same to a 'conservative' female candidate?"Privately, other Fox News employees rebuked Lahren's incendiary remarks. One staffer expressed disgust to The Daily Beast, noting that Lahren has previously gotten in hot water for inflammatory statements but remains a prominent fixture at Fox News. "It makes me sick that I work for the same company as Tomi Lahren," another Fox employee said to CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy.On Thursday morning, Lahren walked back her comments."I apologize for my comment on Kamala's personal relationship. It was the wrong choice of words. There are many other things to take her to task for and I will stick to those," she wrote in a statement.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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| Washington Residents Share Tales of What They Believe Was a Terrifying Encounter with Bigfoot Posted: 02 Aug 2019 09:14 AM PDT  Stories of Bigfoot have been spread across the Pacific Northwest for hundreds of years, and two Washington residents are sharing their possible encounters with Sasquatch.
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| India's top court to hear Ayodhya religious dispute on daily basis Posted: 02 Aug 2019 06:05 AM PDT  India's top court will hear arguments every day in an effort to resolve a decades-old dispute over what should be built on the ruins of a 16th-century mosque, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said on Friday. The move strengthens hopes for eventual resolution of a quarrel at the center of fraught ties between India's majority Hindus and its Muslim community, which accounts for 14% of a population of 1.3 billion. Many devout Hindus believe the site in Ayodhya, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, to be the birthplace of one of their most revered deities, the Lord Ram.
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| Sunk Your Battleship: How Russia's Su-57 Stealth Fighter Is a Navy Killer Posted: 02 Aug 2019 09:49 AM PDT  "Today the enterprise is working on developing an active homing warhead for the promising anti-ship missile that is planned to be carried by the Su-57 fighter as well," Krivoruchko said.Russia is designing an anti-ship missile for its Su-57 stealth fighter.But is hunting ships the best mission for such an advanced aircraft?Deputy Defense Minister Alexey Krivoruchko made the announcement while visiting the Detal Design Bureau, which is developing a new anti-ship missile, according to Russian news agency TASS.(This first appeared in June 2019.)"Today the enterprise is working on developing an active homing warhead for the promising anti-ship missile that is planned to be carried by the Su-57 fighter as well," Krivoruchko said."A working meeting was held on the premises of the Detal Design Bureau to discuss the issue of signing a contract with Tactical Missiles Corporation on acquiring the entire range of air-launched weapons for the Su-57 fighter jets," TASS said.
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| Navy SEAL prosecutors to be stripped of achievement medals Posted: 01 Aug 2019 05:21 AM PDT  Navy officials said Wednesday they are pulling achievement medals from prosecutors who argued the case against a decorated Navy SEAL who was acquitted in the death of a wounded Islamic State captive after President Donald Trump intervened. Trump tweeted earlier Wednesday that he had directed the secretary of the Navy and the chief of naval operations to "immediately withdraw and rescind" the Navy Achievement Medal from prosecutors who argued the case against Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted by military jurors earlier this month.
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| Indonesia lifts tsunami warning after powerful quake off Java Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:14 AM PDT  Indonesian authorities lifted a tsunami warning late Friday after a powerful earthquake earlier struck off the southern coast of heavily populated Java island. The USGS initially put the quake's magnitude at 6.8 and at a shallower depth before raising its intensity. Indonesia's disaster agency pegged the quake at magnitude 7.4 and warned it could spark a tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet).
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| Merkel ally calls for Europe to go it alone in the Gulf Posted: 01 Aug 2019 07:57 AM PDT  A key ally of Angela Merkel has called for Europe to set up its own naval taskforce in the Persian Gulf independent of the US. Amid a widening divide between Western allies over how to deal with Iran, Norbert Röttgen called on Thursday for France and Germany to lead a European mission to protect shipping from Iran. The UK has sought to build consensus for an international taskforce following the seizure of a British-flagged tanker by Iran. But France and Germany have rejected calls to contribute warships to a US-led mission over concerns at Donald Trump's aggressive stance towards Iran. Mr Röttgen, who is chairman of the German parliament's powerful foreign affairs committee, called on Thursday for Europe to go it alone. "The reasons for a European mission in the Gulf remain, even if Britain should decide on a joint mission with the US," he said. "It's about European interests, not specific British ones, so a European mission should be made up of a group of European states, to which France and Germany must belong." Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary, initially called for a European-led taskforce in response to the seizure of the Stena Impero last month. But Boris Johnson's government has shifted the UK position, with Dominic Raab, the new foreign secretary, suggesting a European mission may not be "viable" without US support. Mr Röttgen's comments come amid signs of a rift in Mrs Merkel's coalition government over the issue. Olaf Scholz, the vice-chancellor, appeared to rule out German contributing to a US-led taskforce on Wednesday, only to be contradicted by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the defence minister, who said the proposal was still being considered. But despite Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer's comments, German involvement remains unlikely. Any military deployment needs parliamentary approval in Germany, and with Mr Scholz's centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) opposed, there is no majority in favour. Mohammed Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, faces new US sanctions Credit: Evgenia Novozhenina /REUTERS German and French concerns are understood to centre on the Trump administration's increasingly belligerent tone towards Iran, amid fears any incident could be seized on by US hardliners as a pretext for war. The European Union spoke out yesterday against a decision by the US to impose sanctions on Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. "We regret this decision," a spokesman for Federica Mogherini, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, said. "From our side, we will continue to work with Mr Zarif as Iran's most senior diplomat, and in view of the importance of maintaining diplomatic channels." The decision means Iran's chief negotiator will now have to seek special permission to enter the US to attend the United Nations. Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, accused the US of "resorting to childish behaviour" over the sanctions. "They were claiming every day, 'We want to talk, with no preconditions' and then they sanction the foreign minister," Mr Rouhani said.
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| Idaho girl, 9, clings to life after losing 'half of her skull' in freak accident Posted: 01 Aug 2019 06:14 AM PDT  Shaylyn Bergeson, 9, is clinging to life after falling from a tree and landing on a piece of rebar that punctured the left side of her brain.
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| Iowa newlywed, 22, drowns on honeymoon during first-ever time in ocean, just 3 days after wedding Posted: 01 Aug 2019 08:45 AM PDT  A 22-year-old Iowa man tragically drowned Tuesday during his Floridahoneymoon, just three days after he and his bride said, "I do
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| 1969 Plymouth Road Runner Heads To The Auction Block Posted: 01 Aug 2019 04:07 PM PDT  It will be at the Saratoga Auto Auction this fall. The Saratoga Auto Auction will take place at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center this fall from Friday, September 20, 2019 through Saturday, September 21, 2019. The beautiful red 1969 Plymouth Road Runner convertible you see here will be crossing that auction block. This Road Runner is a numbers-matching classic powered by a 383 cubic-inch V8 engine mated to a four-speed manual transmission. It's just one of 769 models produced in that configuration for 1969. This beauty also has Edelbrock carbs with the factory intake and exhaust. It pushes out a satisfying 335 horses so you can really feel the wind in your hair.The Plymouth Road Runner was a mid-size car that was manufactured between 1968 and 1980; its main focus was on performance. By the year 1968, some of the original muscle cars increased in price as they gained more features. Plymouth decided to counter this trend by developing the Road Runner and marketing it with a lower price; it fell below the upscale GTX model.The 1969 model retained its look for the most part, but with slight changes to the taillights, grille, and side marker lights. Optional bucket seats were offered and the model sported new Road Runner decals. The Road Runner also added a convertible option for 1969 with 2,128 such models produced–all with the 383 cubic-inch motor and just ten with the 426 Hemi. Production numbers were broken down further according to the transmission type.This Plymouth Road Runner convertible was treated to a frame-off restoration and is in excellent condition. Just look at that stunning scorch red exterior with black stripes and the contrasting white top. The interior is also white and gives off added contrast when the top is down. You can register to bid on this classic right here. Read More: Show-Quality Silver Platinum 1969 Plymouth Road Runner 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Will Drive You Plum Crazy
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| Boeing to change 737 MAX flight-control software to address flaw: sources Posted: 01 Aug 2019 08:08 PM PDT  WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co plans further changes to the software architecture of the 737 MAX flight-control system to address a flaw discovered after a test in June, two people briefed on the matter said late on Thursday. The move comes in response to an effort to address a problem discovered in June during a Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) simulator test. Boeing still hopes to complete the software redesign by the end of September to submit to the FAA for approval, the sources said.
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| Canada raises detained citizens with China Posted: 02 Aug 2019 11:52 AM PDT  Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday she had spoken to her Chinese counterpart in their first public meeting since the countries became embroiled in a diplomatic spat over two Canadians detained in China. Freeland told reporters she brought up the arrests of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor with Wang Yi during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Thailand.
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| Trump plays down latest North Korea missile tests Posted: 02 Aug 2019 11:54 AM PDT  President Donald Trump on Friday downplayed recent missile tests by North Korea and flattered the country's leader as a friend with a "great and beautiful vision for his country," as the U.S. tries to lure Kim Jong Un back to nuclear talks. Trump's series of three tweets — which take great pains to excuse the actions of a man he once dismissed as "Little Rocket Man" — shows just how much the president has riding on North Korea. Despite widespread skepticism that Kim will give up his prized nuclear weapons program, Trump regularly touts his personal diplomacy with Kim as a great success.
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| Princess Haya custody case tests Britain's loyalties to allies Jordan and UAE Posted: 01 Aug 2019 09:46 AM PDT  Hugging her brother who clasps a protective arm tightly around her shoulder, Princess Haya bint Al-Hussein appears eager to ensure the flag of her native Jordan on her jumper is prominent in her latest photograph. The Jordanian princess is locked in an acrimonious legal battle in the British courts with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the multi-millionaire ruler of Dubai, over the welfare of their two children. The picture, probably taken at her £85 million home in Kensington, shows her and Prince Ali bin al-Hussein staring intently at the camera. The caption, posted yesterday alongside the photograph on the prince's Twitter account, reads: "Today with my sister and apple of my eye." اليوم مع أختي و قرة عيني هيا بنت الحسين pic.twitter.com/kWRXx1J1M3— Ali Al Hussein (@AliBinAlHussein) July 31, 2019 Some commentators in the Middle East believe the message she wants to relay is clear - she has returned to the bosom of her Jordanian family. The 45-year-old mother fled with her children from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where she lived with the sheikh, the country's vice-president and prime minister, apparently "in fear for her life" in April. The estranged and sixth wife of Sheikh Matktoum, 70, has asked a judge in the High Court to make an arranged marriage protection order for one of her children, as well as a non-molestation order. The sheikh, who founded the Godolphin stables and is a friend of the Queen, has applied to the courts for the "summary return" of the youngsters to the UAE. Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein ( wearing white), arrives at the High Court in London this week with lawyer Baroness Shackleton Credit: i-Images This latest picture has fueled speculation in the Middle East that the break-up could trigger a diplomatic crisis between the UAE and Jordan. Meanwhile, the fact courts from a third country - Britain - are ruling on what's best for children belonging to the royal families of two different foreign countries is unprecedented. Some experts say it puts Britain in an awkward position because it tests loyalties to two of its most important Middle East allies. "British courts are absolutely independent and impartial, and will consider this case with the same objectivity as they would in any other," Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai, said. "Having said that, I do believe such a sensitive case, with implications that could impact the UK's foreign relations in the region, and the reputations of two royal families, would be better handled privately." While Jordan has made no official mention of the hearing, the case has been widely discussed by nationals of both countries on social media. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent Emirati political scientist, wrote this week on Twitter: "A sensible and respectable princess of strong lineage does not flee, kidnap, disappear or show ingratitude, and certainly does not trouble the spirit of someone who cherished, loved and provided for her and treated her with dignity." The message came after the sheikh himself posted a cryptic poem about deceit on online and another about the UAE's "shining sword" that would protect it from foes. Qusai Zreiqat, a Jordanian, posted: "She is a daughter of a king, a granddaughter of a king and a sister of a king before there was a country called the Emirates."
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| ‘Suicide Mission’: Democratic Candidates Warned Against Attacking Obama Posted: 01 Aug 2019 12:42 PM PDT  Former Attorney General Eric Holder and Rev. Al Sharpton warned Democratic presidential candidates against attacking former President Barack Obama, whose record came under fire during Wednesday night's CNN debate."To my fellow Democrats. Be wary of attacking the Obama record. Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained – for you or the party – by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President," Holder warned on Twitter late Wednesday night."This whole suicide mission of going after Barack Obama smells like desperation, and I think it certainly shows that some of them are just not ready for where they are, and that is where you can take incoming fire and also shoot fire out," Sharpton said in a Thursday morning appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe.""You and I, Joe, have built our careers taking shots at people, but we also know how to take a shot without throwing our mama in front of the bus," Sharpton told host Joe Scarborough.Democratic candidates took shots at Obama's record Wednesday while clashing with former Vice President Joe Biden, the current front runner.Julian Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under Obama, claimed Biden hadn't learned from "the lessons of the past," because Biden opposes decriminalizing unauthorized border crossings.
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| 'It was terrible': 1 dead, up to 7 missing after natural gas line explosion in Kentucky Posted: 01 Aug 2019 08:05 PM PDT  A natural gas explosion happened after a pipeline ruptured in Kentucky near the Moreland community by Junction City and Hustonville.
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| Alaska boaters likely killed by falling glacier ice, officials say Posted: 01 Aug 2019 05:25 PM PDT  The bodies of three boaters from Europe who died in an Alaska lake were surrounded by frozen debris, a sign that the victims were killed by ice that fell from the melting glacier that feeds the lake, officials in the city of Valdez said on Thursday. The victims were identified by the city as two Germans and an Austrian and were found dead on Tuesday morning in Valdez Glacier Lake, about 120 miles (193 km) east of Anchorage. The victims were found in an area that "was littered with floating icebergs, glacial slush and challenging terrain for recovery," said a statement released by Valdez city officials.
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| Money row sparks deadly Nigeria jihadist infighting: sources Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:57 AM PDT  A dispute over money within a Nigerian jihadist faction affiliated to the Islamic State group has spiralled into clashes that has killed "scores" of fighters, sources said. The infighting -- which erupted into gun battles on July 26 -- has exposed divisions inside the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group, three sources with deep knowledge of the faction's internal workings told AFP. The disagreement centred on sharing income mainly generated by taxing cattle herders and fishermen in areas the jihadists control around Lake Chad, said the sources, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons.
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| Dear President Donald Trump, let me tell you about my ex-boss Elijah Cummings Posted: 01 Aug 2019 03:03 AM PDT  He goes home to Baltimore every night. He is the same person on camera and off. And everyone knows his cellphone number, you should call him and talk.
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| Prosecutors challenge Barr's bid to change immigration rules Posted: 02 Aug 2019 09:02 AM PDT  More than 40 elected state and local prosecutors on Friday challenged Attorney General William Barr's bid to give himself more authority in deciding whether to deport immigrants with criminal convictions. Barr wants to change immigration rules that defer to state and local decisions on criminal cases that may affect whether an immigrant is deported. It's one of several efforts Barr is making to gain greater authority in deportation cases.
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| Pilot died in F/A-18E fighter jet crash in Death Valley National Park, Navy confirms Posted: 01 Aug 2019 05:33 PM PDT  The pilot of an F/A-18E Super Hornet died when the fighter jet crashed Wednesday morning in Inyo County, the U.S. Navy confirmed Thursday.
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| New Details Emerge From Trump’s Asylum Deal With Guatemala Posted: 02 Aug 2019 05:22 AM PDT  The chief of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) visited Guatemala on Wednesday and Thursday in a bid to persuade the country's leaders to remain in a recently signed asylum agreement.Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of Homeland Security, held a series of meetings with Guatemalan government leaders, and discussed the merits of President Donald Trump's widely touted "safe third country" deal that was reached in late July. Details of the meetings emerge as Guatemala will soon elect a new president, and the small country's public stands heavily against the deal's guidelines.Under the terms of the agreement, migrants claiming asylum at the southern border will be screened to determine whether they crossed Guatemala during their route to the U.S. If so, migrants would be given a choice to either return to Guatemala or their home country. Asylum seekers claiming fear of persecution or torture in Guatemala would be additionally screened to determine if their claims are legitimate.The safe third country agreement largely affects illegal immigrants coming from El Salvador and Honduras — two countries where most migrants pass through Guatemala on their route to the U.S. Illegal immigrants from the country of Guatemala itself are not affected by the agreement.In the beginning phase, a smaller number of migrants will be returned, according to an internal document reported by the New York Times. Single men will be deported first, then single women, and then family units.
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| Woman caught throwing puppy in bin Posted: 01 Aug 2019 02:50 AM PDT  A woman caught on CCTV throwing a puppy into a waste skip is being hunted by animal cruelty investigators.The woman is seen holding the dog by the scruff of the neck before she launches it into the bin and walks off.Officers were called to the scene, at an apartment complex in Oklahoma City, after the manager of the property saw the incident while reviewing security footage.Manager CR Head said: "It's very disturbing, you know. They left it [the dog] there for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, crawled back in the dumpster, threw the dog back on the ground."That people would be here doing that, not only to an animal, what if they treat another human being like that? It's not a good combination."He added: "I don`t want anything like that going on here. We want a safe environment."He suggested the woman involved was related to a someone who lived at the complex.Ion Gary, animal welfare superintendent with Oklahoma Animal Welfare, said it was clear case of animal cruelty."This is something our officers will be investigating," he told local news network WCSC-TV. "There is potential for even felony level cruelty."Police said they would not make an official report as the woman had removed the dog by the time they were called.
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| Ukrainian president's staff chief tries to quit after two months Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:46 AM PDT  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff sent in a letter of resignation, after two months in his job, but Zelenskiy has not signed it, according to a statement on the presidential website on Friday. Mystery has surrounded the status of Andriy Bogdan, the head of the presidential administration, since Thursday evening. The local news agency Interfax Ukraine had reported Bogdan's resignation but later retracted the story.
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| Dallas police pinned down and mocked a man, bodycam footage shows. Minutes later, he was dead Posted: 01 Aug 2019 06:09 PM PDT  Dallas police pinned Tony Timpa to the ground and mocked him as he became unresponsive, newly released body camera footage shows. Minutes later, he died.
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| Taiwan president's bodyguard smuggling scam implicates 76: spy agency Posted: 01 Aug 2019 05:34 PM PDT  More than 70 members of Taiwan's presidential security detail have been swept up in a cigarette smuggling scandal, the island's spy agency announced Friday, as its chief took the unusual step of appearing in public to vow a crackdown. The scandal first erupted last month when the customs administration said that an agent within President Tsai Ing-wen's entourage tried to bring in 9,800 cigarette cartons as he returned from an official trip accompanying the island's leader to the Caribbean. The agent pre-ordered the cigarettes online in Taiwan, stored them at an airport warehouse, and then planned to smuggle them past customs onto government vehicles as Tsai's motorcade left, authorities said.
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| View Photos of the 1987 Porsche 962 IMSA GTP Posted: 02 Aug 2019 12:00 PM PDT |
| Jesse Jackson pays homage to Roma at Auschwitz ceremony Posted: 02 Aug 2019 12:11 PM PDT  American civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed and mourned at Auschwitz-Birkenau on Friday as he joined survivors paying homage to an often-forgotten genocide — that of the Roma people — on a key 75th anniversary. In addition to the 6 million Jews killed in death camps such as Auschwitz, the Nazis killed other minorities during World War II, including between 250,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti. Broadly speaking, Sinti are people who arrived from India and settled in Western and Central Europe many centuries ago, while Roma are centered largely in Eastern Europe.
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| A New Alzheimer's Blood Test Proved 94% Accurate in Finding Brain Changes Related to the Disease Posted: 01 Aug 2019 01:00 PM PDT  A blood-based test could identify Alzheimer's disease earlier, which could give patients a better chance of slowing or eventually preventing the brain disease
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| A Battered Professor Leads Moscow’s Growing Grassroots Protests Against Put Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:22 AM PDT  HandoutMOSCOW—Yulia Galyamina's unraveling life illustrates all too well the risks of opposition politics in Russia, even on a local level. Police broke her teeth and jaw and gave her a serious concussion in 2017 when she was caught in a violent street protest. She has suffered from pain in her jaw ever since. Undaunted, Galyamina struggled this summer to take part in a Moscow City Council election scheduled for September. On Tuesday she called The Daily Beast on the phone from a police van driving her away from the Russian capital to jail in the provincial town of Mozhaisk. Galyamina is a 46-year-old linguistics professor at a prestigious university here and on the phone she sounded almost as if she were lecturing students about the dying Ketsky language. But clearly she had a message she wanted to get out.Go Inside Moscow's Poisonous History of Covert Assassinations"I have a few minutes left before they take my phone away and cut me off from all communication with my supporters," she said.Earlier in the day, a court arrested her and eight other key opposition leaders for calling on protesters to stage a rally in downtown Moscow without government authorization. To support the verdict, the judge read aloud a dozen or so of Galyamina's Facebook posts about opposition demands to allow independent candidates, including herself, to run in September. Now from the van she told The Daily Beast, "Putin and [Moscow Mayor Sergey] Sobyanin must be afraid of responsible citizens and I am not surprised to get arrested—I always knew that criminal prosecution would be the price for my opposition activity."Putin's Russia has seen many courageous women fighting against injustice. But instead of embracing their constructive criticism, the Kremlin chose to silence them with police clubs and prison bars. There have also been several brilliant women, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya and activist Natalia Estemirova, who fell victim to assassins. But more women join the demonstrations. Last weekend, for instance, a 17-year-old protester named Olga Misik sat cross-legged in the street and read articles from the Russian Constitution to riot cops arrayed around her about "the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, hold rallies, meetings, demonstrations and marches." The image already is an icon of protest.Alexei Navalny 'Poisoning' Comes at a Critical Moment in Moscow ProtestsTwo years ago I visited Galyamina at the Botkin Hospital in Moscow, where she was recovering from a concussion. She had severe headaches after a Moscow OMON (Special Police) cop smashed her face. Then, too, it was striking to see pale Galyamina on the phone from her hospital bed, calling for her supporters to come out to the next rally. At the time, crowds of demonstrators had turned out in the center of Moscow's to fight against the city hall's renovation plan for the displacement of residents from hundreds of apartment blocks slated for demolition. People did not want to move from the central districts to the outskirts of the capital.Handout"Factories closed, leaving millions without jobs—but at least people had their apartments, their property," Galyamina told me at the hospital in 2017. "The new law allows the state to deprive thousands of Moscow families of their beloved apartments and move them to wherever officials want."Last year Galyamina won a seat in the Moscow municipal elections. Residents of Temiryazevsky region, where she sat on the district council, know their candidate well. She led her electorate in battles about fundamental causes in local politics like saving Dubki Park from development and demanding garbage recycling. She was building her political platform on that public support to run for the Moscow City Duma, a regional parliament, in September this year. "We spent last month collecting almost 4,000 signatures from Yulia's supporters but authorities rejected hundreds of real voters to ban her from running for the election," Nikolay Kosyan, one of Galyamina's supporters, said. Kosyan was angry, as are many young activists protesting in the streets in support of the arrested leaders. "When the mayoral office realized that we had actually collected real signatures and not fake ones, they still decided to shut her up in fear of her powerful spirit."On Saturday Galyamina became a hero for thousands of protesters. Facing rows of National Guard riot police, she said: "You are working for a fascist power, for those who rule for money, not for your sake," she told men covered in body armor. "The men in power grow fat, while you work for kopecks [pennies]. You beat women, you beat sick people. Do you realize what you are doing?" Galyamina continued in a lecturing tone while the police looked like mischievous, slightly terrified students. (Video here in Russian.)Galyamina was wearing her usual red dress and a white jacket and was holding a little Russian flag in her hands. "I am a woman, I feel ashamed of you, strong men, who beat ordinary people—these people came out to the streets, because they strive to have independent institutes of power, which would not rob people like you," the deputy continued. Ten minutes later two policemen grabbed her, twisted her arms behind her back, and dragged her away from the rally. Back in 2013, the Russian opposition leader Aleksey Navalny won 27 percent in a mayoral election in Moscow, even without access to state television channels, coming in second after the incumbent from the ruling United Russia party, Sergei Sobyanin. This time, apparently, Sobyanin wants to avoid the mistake of allowing a strong opposition showing. Nine key candidates for September election are currently behind bars. So is Navalny.Galyamina had been playing by the rules. She collected the necessary number of signatures in her support but authorities turned her candidacy down, claiming signatures were falsified. Police detained up to 1,400 protesters on Saturday, Russian courts opened 200 legal cases against the opposition."She is stubborn and she is good at creating responsible communities in Moscow," her friend Denis Bilunov, a political scientist, told The Daily Beast. "The Kremlin is scared of Galyamina."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| 10-Year-Old Girl Crashes Mom's SUV While Driving Herself to McDonald's Posted: 01 Aug 2019 02:36 PM PDT  Kansas City police say a 10-year-old girl went to the hospital Wednesday morning after she crashed her mom`s SUV into a minivan and electrical box while trying to go to McDonald's.
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| India accuses Pakistan-backed militants of targeting Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir Posted: 02 Aug 2019 05:25 AM PDT  SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian security officials on Friday said they had found evidence of attacks planned by Pakistani military-backed militants on a major Hindu pilgrimage in the disputed Muslim-dominated region of Kashmir. Tension has run high in the mountainous region since a vehicle laden with explosive rammed into an Indian police convoy on Feb. 14, killing 40 paramilitary policemen, and leading to aerial clashes between the two nations. Indian officials said a mine with Pakistan ordinance marking was among caches of ammunition, explosives and weapons retrieved following intelligence reports of likely attacks on routes used by hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus who trek to the region's holy Amarnath cave every year.
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| Why Did Two Chinese SU-30 Fighters Fly Within 150 Feet of a Nuclear 'Sniffer' Plane in 2017? Posted: 01 Aug 2019 07:00 PM PDT  A U.S. official told CNN the two Chinese jets came within 150 feet of the U.S. plane, with one flying upside-down directly above it.As reported by CNN a U.S. Air Force (USAF) WC-135 was intercepted by two Chinese Sukhoi Su-30 fighters on May 17, 2017 while flying in international airspace over the East China Sea.According to the statement from Air Force Lt. Col. Hodge, the American flight crew described the encounter as "unprofessional.""While we are still investigating the incident, initial reports from the U.S. aircrew characterized the intercept as unprofessional. The issue is being addressed with China through appropriate diplomatic and military channels," He explained.(This first appeared in 2017.)A U.S. official told CNN the two Chinese jets came within 150 feet of the U.S. plane, with one flying upside-down directly above it.The WC-135 Constant Phoenix, whose mission is looking for distinctive elements a nuclear test of any type would emit into the air, has been regularly deployed on routine missions in Northeast Asia where it has been used to gather evidence of possible nuclear tests by North Korea.
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| One person dead after beach cliff collapses in Southern California Posted: 02 Aug 2019 05:33 PM PDT ![One person dead after beach cliff collapses in Southern California]( "One person dead after beach cliff collapses in Southern California") One person died and others were injured when a beach cliff collapsed in Southern California Friday afternoon.
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| Chief apologizes over hiring of officer who shot black man Posted: 01 Aug 2019 03:35 PM PDT  A Louisiana police chief apologized Thursday to his city and to the family of a black man shot and killed by a former police officer in 2016, saying the officer never should have been hired, at the same time his office announced a settlement reversing the officer's 2018 firing and allowing him to resign instead. At a news conference in Baton Rouge, Police Chief Murphy Paul and a police lawyer detailed repeated problems with Officer Blane Salamoni that they said should have raised red flags long before Alton Sterling was shot and killed. In particular, the lawyer, Leo Hamilton, said Salamoni had been arrested for a physical altercation prior to joining the police department, which normally would have prevented him from being hired.
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| Japan hangs two for murder, first executions in 2019 Posted: 01 Aug 2019 09:47 PM PDT  Japan on Friday hanged two men convicted of murder, the justice ministry said, the first executions this year after 15 death row inmates were executed in 2018. With more than 100 inmates on death row, Japan is one of the few developed nations to retain the death penalty, and public support for it remains high despite international criticism, including from rights groups. "I ordered the executions after very careful consideration," Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita told reporters.
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