| EPA chief Pruitt appeals to ‘civility’ but fails to quell environmentalists’ concerns Posted: 21 Feb 2017 12:09 PM PST  Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's first speech to employees of the EPA at midday on Tuesday did little to assuage the concerns of environmentalists over his ties to the fossil fuel industry. At the EPA's headquarters in Washington, D.C., Pruitt called for civility and listening in his highly anticipated, tense inaugural address to the staff of an agency that he sued more than a dozen times as Oklahoma attorney general. President Trump's decision to nominate Pruitt, who has made it clear he has no confidence in mainstream climate science, to lead the EPA immediately incited a backlash from liberals and environmentalists.
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| Tesla Update Allows Drivers to View Supercharger Availability Through Nav System Posted: 20 Feb 2017 12:32 PM PST  Now you don't have to guess if there's room at the inn, erg, supercharger.
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| Meet the 22-year-old fighting Trump’s terror talk about Sweden from the country’s official Twitter feed Posted: 21 Feb 2017 11:40 AM PST  Before President Trump's reference on Saturday to a terror attack in Sweden, the biggest story in Stockholm was this one: a report about the so-called "fake news" industry published by Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish newspaper. "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," the president said to his supporters at a campaign-style rally in Melbourne, Fla., on Saturday. "Sweden, who would believe this?" Trump later explained he was watching a Fox News segment that featured a documentary filmmaker accusing the Swedish government of covering up an immigration-related crime wave there.
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| Bao Bao the panda leaves the National Zoo, flies to new home in China Posted: 21 Feb 2017 03:24 PM PST  Say bye-bye to Bao Bao! The 3-year-old giant panda has left the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and is flying on a special FedEx aircraft to China. As part of an agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, all pandas born in the United States must return to China before they are 4 years old.
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| Malaysia guards morgue as Kim Jong-Nam's body still not claimed Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:49 AM PST  Armed men stood guard Tuesday at the morgue holding the body of the assassinated half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un, with officials denying reports the dead man's son had arrived to claim the remains. The corpse of Kim Jong-Nam -- who was killed last Monday at Kuala Lumpur airport -- has been at the centre of a diplomatic row between Pyongyang and Malaysia, after the North insisted it be returned and objected to an autopsy being performed. Jong-Nam's son Kim Han-Sol had been due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur from Macau on Monday night, local media and intelligence sources said, but AFP was unable to confirm his presence in the city.
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| Azerbaijan’s President Makes His Wife Second in Command Posted: 21 Feb 2017 09:00 AM PST  Autocratic relationship goals.
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| Massachusetts police end visits to schools to greet kids Posted: 21 Feb 2017 08:05 AM PST ![Massachusetts police end visits to schools to greet kids]( "Massachusetts police end visits to schools to greet kids") NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts police department's program that sent officers into elementary schools one day a week to greet and high-five students has been ended because some people complained.
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| Resistance Report: More than 1 million sign White House petition for Trump’s tax returns, breaking record Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:56 AM PST  President Trump has taken to saying that no one cares about his taxes. White House petitions need to draw more than 100,000 signatures within 30 days to be considered for an official response from the White House.
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| First-Grade Teacher Suspended Over 'Illegal Aliens' Post: School District Posted: 20 Feb 2017 05:45 PM PST  The elementary school teacher advocated reporting undocumented immigrants, according to school district officials, who suspended her.
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| 10 fascinating facts about the Washington Monument Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:45 AM PST  The iconic Washington Monument is celebrating its 132nd birthday today. Learn how it took 40 years to complete the project, and the surprising connections it has to the Pope, Abraham Lincoln, and the Constitution.
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| Dozens of headstones toppled at Jewish cemetery in Missouri Posted: 21 Feb 2017 02:25 PM PST  UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. (AP) — Vandals have damaged or tipped over as many as 200 headstones at a Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis, leaving the region's Jewish community shaken and anxious.
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| United Airlines enters basic economy fare wars in the US Posted: 22 Feb 2017 03:36 AM PST  Airfare wars are heating up in the US, with United Airlines the latest carrier to launch a basic economy fare in response to the low-cost competition.
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| SpaceX cargo ship aborts rendezvous with space station Posted: 22 Feb 2017 03:16 AM PST  SpaceX aborted a planned rendezvous between an unmanned Dragon cargo ship and the International Space Station Wednesday because of a GPS problem. "Dragon is in good health and will make another rendezvous attempt with the @Space_ Station Thursday morning," the private company said on Twitter. The cargo ship is packed with more than 5,000 pounds (2,267 kilograms) of food, gear and science experiments for the six astronauts living on the orbiting space station.
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| U.S. judge blocks Texas plan to cut Planned Parenthood Medicaid funds Posted: 21 Feb 2017 03:42 PM PST ![U.S. judge blocks Texas plan to cut Planned Parenthood Medicaid funds]( "U.S. judge blocks Texas plan to cut Planned Parenthood Medicaid funds") By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Austin issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday halting Texas' plan to cut Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, saying the state did not present evidence of a program violation that would warrant termination. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said state health officials "likely acted to disenroll qualified health care providers from Medicaid without cause." He said the preliminary injunction will preserve the court's ability to render a meaningful decision on the case's merits.
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| Mass funeral held for 20 Haitians who died in dismal prison Posted: 21 Feb 2017 03:30 PM PST  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Relatives wailed in grief or stared stoically as flowers were placed on 20 caskets at a mass funeral Tuesday for the latest group of inmates who died miserably in Haiti's largest prison, most without ever having been convicted of any crime.
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| Trump’s Sweden gaffe gets ridiculed on late night TV Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:50 AM PST  When President Trump picks up his copy of the New York Times on Tuesday morning, he'll see something he likes for a change: a photo of himself smiling and shaking hands with his new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, a pick that has been widely praised. Below the image, though, Trump will see a story that has continued to dog him for the last three days: the fallout over the president's suggestion during his campaign-style rally in Florida on Saturday that a terror attack had occurred in Sweden the night before. "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Trump told his supporters on Saturday night.
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| Shark kills bodyboarder on Reunion island Posted: 21 Feb 2017 03:32 AM PST  Saint-André (France) (AFP) - A 26-year-old man bodyboarding off of Reunion island was killed by a shark on Tuesday, local officials said, in the latest attack in the waters of the Indian Ocean holiday destination. It was the 20th recorded shark attack on the island since 2011, eight of which have been fatal, despite efforts by local authorities to install nets and warn locals and tourists about the dangers. The man, a former shark spotter from the island once employed by the local surfing association, was pronounced dead after the shark bit through a major artery in his leg off the eastern coast near Saint-Andre.
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| Hillary Clinton Finally Stepped in to Advise President Trump Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:06 PM PST  After months of passive tweets, Hillary Clinton finally called on POTUS speak out against anti-Semitic attacks. President Trump employed Breitbart News chairman, Steven Bannon, as chief Whitehouse strategist, leading some to believe he's encouraging anti-Semitic behavior.
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| Warning on Flu: It's Not Going Away Just Yet, CDC Says Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:59 AM PST  Flu season may have started several months ago, but it isn't going away just yet — U.S. health officials expect flu activity to remain high for at least a few more weeks, according to a new report. The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that flu activity in the U.S. started to increase around mid-December, and remained elevated as of Feb. 4, the most recent date for which flu data is available. And so far, the percentage of doctor's visits for the flu has exceeded the national baseline for eight consecutive weeks, the report said.
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| U.S.-Mexico border shooting case at Supreme Court today Posted: 21 Feb 2017 08:00 AM PST  The Supreme Court hears arguments on Tuesday in a dispute over a Mexican family's ability to sue a U.S. Border Patrol officer who killed their son in a cross-border incident. Both governments filed briefs in the case, on opposite sides of the dispute.
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| Russian space craft lifts off for international space station Posted: 21 Feb 2017 10:39 PM PST ![Russian space craft lifts off for international space station]( "Russian space craft lifts off for international space station") A Russian Progress cargo space craft blasted off for the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the first such mission since a failed launch in December. The space craft, carried by the same Soyuz booster rocket as used for manned launches, took off at 11:58 (0558 GMT) with the launch broadcast live by NASA TV. It is due to dock with the space station on Feb.24.
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| The Latest: Crowd holds vigil for slain Whittier officer Posted: 20 Feb 2017 10:09 PM PST  WHITTIER, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on the shooting of two California police officers as they responded to a traffic accident (all times local):
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| UPS has a functioning drone delivery concept, and it makes more sense than Amazon’s Posted: 21 Feb 2017 03:32 PM PST 
Companies like Amazon are going all-in on drone deliveries and have already shown off warehouses that send packages out to customers exclusively via drone. For delivery companies like UPS, the idea of converting operations to rely exclusively on drones is laughable, but that doesn't mean they won't find a way to utilize the new technology to streamline the delivery process. This week, UPS tested out a delivery drone concept that doesn't so much do away with its iconic brown box trucks as augment them.
The test was conducted using a specially equipped UPS delivery truck which has a drone compartment built right into its roof. When the driver stops to deliver a package, the drone can be sent out to deliver one to a nearby location as well. UPS used the example of a rural delivery where sending a driver and truck down a long, winding road would be less efficient than sending the drone to deliver the package instead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9_6OyjJrQ Once the drone has completed its delivery it automatically docks with the truck once again, and long arms grab and situate the device so that it can be recharged for the next stop. The drone is capable of carrying packages as heavy as ten pounds, which is double the five pound weight limit of Amazon's initial drone delivery tests. Due to current FAA regulations which require drones to remain within visual of its operator — and avoid flying over buildings or people — even UPS's modest drone ambitions have some serious limitations. However, there's hope that those restrictions will be made a bit more workable in the future.
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| Trump’s Top Officials Seek to Sell Mexico on New Immigration Crackdown Posted: 21 Feb 2017 04:14 PM PST  Despite the president's threats, Mexico City also has leverage when it comes to immigration and border security.
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| Women's life expectancy on track to hit 90 in some nations Posted: 21 Feb 2017 03:47 PM PST  By 2030 life expectancy for South Korean women could top nine decades, an average lifespan long thought to be out of reach, researchers said Wednesday. South Korea is not only the first country in the world where women may live past 90 on average, it is also the one on track to log the biggest jump in longevity, they reported in The Lancet medical journal. Other developed countries are not far behind: the longevity of French and Japanese women are more likely than not to stretch past 88 years.
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| Thousands flee, freeway shut in flooding near San Francisco Posted: 22 Feb 2017 06:31 AM PST  SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Rising floodwaters sent at least 14,000 residents fleeing inundated homes in San Jose, California, and forced the shutdown of a major freeway Wednesday.
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| Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State set to storm airport, clear way to western Mosul Posted: 21 Feb 2017 11:31 AM PST ![Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State set to storm airport, clear way to western Mosul]( "Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State set to storm airport, clear way to western Mosul") By Isabel Coles and Maher Chmaytelli SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Iraqi forces closing in on the Islamic State-held western half of Mosul prepared on Tuesday to storm the airport and a nearby military base on its southern outskirts to create a bridgehead for a thrust into the city. Since ousting the militant group from eastern Mosul last month, Iraqi forces have advanced in sparsely populated outlying areas but fighting will intensify as they near the teeming inner city of western Mosul and the risk to roughly 750,000 civilians there will rise. The U.S. military commander in Iraq has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will retake both of IS's urban bastions - Mosul and Raqqa in neighboring Syria - within the next six months, which would end the jihadists' ambitions to territorial rule three years after they declared a "caliphate".
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| S. Africa budget throws light on fractured ANC Posted: 22 Feb 2017 02:04 AM PST  South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivers the annual budget in parliament Wednesday as he battles to revive the economy and head off loyalists of the president who seek to oust him. Gordhan, a popular figure in South Africa and among international investors, is widely seen as being at loggerheads with President Jacob Zuma, who has shrugged off a series of recent corruption scandals. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been engulfed by friction between Zuma's plans for funding "radical economic transformation" and Gordhan's stand against graft and uncontrolled expenditure.
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| These Scientists Want Pluto — And Our Moon — To Become Planets Posted: 21 Feb 2017 02:53 AM PST  A team of NASA researchers led by Alan Stern, the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission, has called for a drastic change in the way planets are currently defined.
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| Ex-Hong Kong leader gets 20 months in jail for misconduct Posted: 21 Feb 2017 09:06 PM PST  HONG KONG (AP) — A former leader of Hong Kong was sentenced Wednesday to 20 months in prison for misconduct after failing to disclose plans to rent a luxury apartment for his retirement from a businessman applying for a broadcasting license.
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| For over three years, Kim murder suspect lived mystery life in Malaysia Posted: 21 Feb 2017 09:24 AM PST ![For over three years, Kim murder suspect lived mystery life in Malaysia]( "For over three years, Kim murder suspect lived mystery life in Malaysia") Chong Ah Kow said he facilitated Ri's working visa by stating in supporting documents that he was a product development manager in the company's IT department earning 5,500 ringgit ($1,230) per month. "It was just a formality, just documents, I never paid him," Chong, a Malaysian, said in an interview.
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| Europe Needs a Hearts and Minds Campaign for Russia Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:28 AM PST  Forget about dealing with Trump or Putin. Europe's Russia strategy should focus on winning over the Russian people.
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| 10 Universities Where TAs Teach the Most Classes Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:00 AM PST ![10 Universities Where TAs Teach the Most Classes]( "10 Universities Where TAs Teach the Most Classes") The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search. At some research universities, a teaching assistant -- usually a graduate student -- might either serve as the main instructor for an undergraduate course or provide support to the professor.
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| 'The Blob' in Pacific Ocean Linked to Spike in Ozone Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:21 AM PST  A warm blob of water lurking in the Pacific Ocean in 2014 and 2015 led to a spike in ozone levels across the western U.S., new research suggests. The blob of warm water, which sat about 310 miles (500 kilometers) off the Oregon coast, was linked to a high-pressure system in the atmosphere that resulted in warm, calm air and sunny skies across nearly a quarter of the country, said study co-author Dan Jaffe, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington Bothell. Those atmospheric conditions sped up the formation of ozone in the atmosphere, Jaffe added.
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| Top US envoys to meet Mexico president to calm tension Posted: 21 Feb 2017 10:31 PM PST  The US secretaries of state and homeland security meet with Mexico's president on Thursday, seeking to ease diplomatic tensions over President Donald Trump's trade and immigration policies. With the countries' relations at their most strained in years, President Enrique Pena Nieto will host US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security chief John Kelly.
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| 'Making a Murderer' prosecutor Ken Kratz tells his side of the story Posted: 21 Feb 2017 01:32 PM PST  Ken Kratz, the former special prosecutor in the murder trials of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, spoke to Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga about his new book, "Avery: The Case Against Steven Avery and What 'Making a Murderer' Gets Wrong.' He describes being portrayed as "the chief villain" in the piece. When asked if he regrets having local investigators' involved in the case while they were also being sued by Avery, he said, "You can look back, and would I have rather now had somebody else? Sure." He noted that the resources available at the time made that very difficult and that they were not the only officers involved.
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| Le Pen in Lebanon controversy over headscarf refusal Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:53 AM PST  France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen capped her visit to Lebanon with controversy on Tuesday when she refused to wear a headscarf to meet the country's top Sunni Muslim cleric. On her last day in the Mediterranean country, Le Pen arrived at Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan's office in Beirut and was offered a white shawl to cover her blonde hair. "The highest Sunni authority in the world had not had this requirement, so I have no reason to," Le Pen said, referring to her 2015 visit to Al-Azhar, the prestigious Egyptian institution of Sunni Islamic learning.
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| Pair Killed Their Landlord, 68, Then Lived With Her Body for 2 Weeks: Cops Posted: 21 Feb 2017 10:26 AM PST  42-year-old Lawrence Cannon and 44-year-old Jennifer Elam have been implicated in the fatal shooting of 68-year-old Mary Ring.
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| Reliance Jio racks up 100 million subscribers but ends freebies Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:06 AM PST ![Reliance Jio racks up 100 million subscribers but ends freebies]( "Reliance Jio racks up 100 million subscribers but ends freebies") By Sankalp Phartiyal and Devidutta Tripathy MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries' Jio telecoms unit will charge for its services from April, ending an almost seven month spree of free calls and data that shook up India's telecoms sector and helped the new arrival rack up more than 100 million users. The shift to paid services, even at a sharp discount to established players, will test the appeal of Jio and the fundamentals behind a $20 billion investment in telecoms by Reliance - one of the world's largest energy groups. In a speech broadcast live on company social media accounts, Reliance owner and India's richest man Mukesh Ambani announced Jio had passed the 100 million subscriber mark and its service would cover most of the country's billion-plus population by the end of the year.
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| Russia military acknowledges new branch: info warfare troops Posted: 22 Feb 2017 08:23 AM PST  MOSCOW (AP) — Along with a steady flow of new missiles, planes and tanks, Russia's defense minister said Wednesday his nation also has built up its muscle by forming a new branch of the military — information warfare troops.
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| The Great Cheese Scare Posted: 21 Feb 2017 04:14 AM PST  "We deeply regret any inconvenience or concern this issue has caused," Sargento Foods Chief Executive Officer Louie Gentine said in a statement.
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| It looks like Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 is coming back from the dead Posted: 21 Feb 2017 05:49 AM PST 
A few weeks ago, Samsung finally explained what caused the Galaxy Note 7 fires and explosions that killed the highly praised phablet soon after it started selling in stores. But the company never said what it planned to do with the huge pile of brand new and briefly used Galaxy Note 7 units that it collected from all over the world when it recalled the failed phone. Unconfirmed reports said that Korean giant might consider reselling a refurbished Galaxy Note 7 after it fixes whatever caused the batteries to catch fire. Now, a fresh rumor out of Asia claims the same thing, potentially revealing more details about Samsung's intentions.
According to Hankyung, Samsung will replace the original 3,500 mAh battery with either a 3,000 mAh or a 3,200 mAh battery. The refurbished Galaxy Note 7 units will then be sold in certain markets, including India and Vietnam. Samsung has recovered 98% of the more than 3 million Galaxy Note 7 units it shipped worldwide, but the company is yet to make any announcements regarding the future of the phablet. The report doesn't mention actual pricing information for the refurbished phablet, but it does say that Samsung plans to relaunch the phone by June. It's unclear at this time whether the phone will be available in any markets outside of India and Vietnam. Either way, Samsung still has a major problem on its hands. The company has to find a way to dispose of the large number of Galaxy Note 7 batteries it's been collecting and storing for the past couple of months, and the entire process has to be environmentally friendly. Reselling a refurbished version of the phone to consumers might the handsets themselves, but all of those old batteries still need to be disposed of.
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| Possible 'Hidden Chamber' in King Tut's Tomb Invites More Secretive Scans Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:20 AM PST  A group of archaeologists has said the tomb of Tutankhamun may hold a hidden chamber containing the tomb of Queen Nefertiti. Now, a physicist plans to lead a team conducting another series of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) scans as a last-ditch effort to find Nefertiti's burial site. In this method, high-frequency radio waves bounce off the ground and off of walls, and the reflected signals can reveal hidden treasures, or empty chambers.This is the third time that this method has been used in Tutankhamun's tomb and it is unclear how the new scans will be different than the others.
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| March of National Dignity in Kiev Posted: 22 Feb 2017 08:46 AM PST ![March of National Dignity in Kiev]( "March of National Dignity in Kiev") Thousands of activists have marched in Kiev to honor protesters who were killed during the pro-European Maidan demonstrations in 2013-14 and to challenge the government. The March of National Dignity was organized by three nationalist parties — Svoboda (Freedom), the National Corps and Right Sector. Activists gathered on Kiev's central Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) early on February 22 and began marching toward Parliament, where they planned to announce their demands to lawmakers, the cabinet, and President Petro Poroshenko.
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