| Virginia Republican Goes Full Willie Horton In New Ad About MS-13 ‘Sex Slaves’ Posted: 04 Oct 2017 03:11 PM PDT  Ed Gillespie, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, is airing a misleading new radio advertisement that ties Democrat Ralph Northam to murders and heinous sex crimes committed by the notorious gang MS-13.
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| Marilou Danley, Las Vegas Shooter's Girlfriend: 'He Never Said Anything To Me' Posted: 04 Oct 2017 04:17 PM PDT  Marilou Danley, the girlfriend of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, said in a statement on Wednesday that she was "devastated" by the tragedy.
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| Congressmen press White House to revoke Jared Kushner's and Ivanka Trump's security clearances Posted: 05 Oct 2017 06:00 AM PDT  Reps. Don Beyer and Ted Lieu sent a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn on Thursday calling on him to revoke the security clearances of two of President Trump's top advisers: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
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| Stephen Paddock: ‘Secret life' of mass murderer has left police struggling to find motive Posted: 05 Oct 2017 01:41 AM PDT  Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock led a secret life which has left police struggling to find a motive for the mass shooting by a man they described simply as "disturbed and dangerous". Hundreds of officers have spent days trying to build a profile of the high-stakes gambler wh, over a period of decades, built up a massive arsenal of weapons before the high-rise massacre.
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| The photographs that tell the full story of the Rohingya refugee crisis Posted: 04 Oct 2017 10:52 PM PDT  They arrive ill and exhausted, having walked for days through jungle, rice paddies and mountains, or having braved dangerous sea and river voyages in ramshackle boats. Some of them are newborn, others in their 80s. Not everyone survives the journey. All that do are desperate. Since 25 August, nearly 450,000 refugees have crossed from Burma (also known as Myanmar) into neighbouring Bangladesh, after long-running tensions between Rohingya Muslims and the predominantly Buddhist Burmese population erupted into violence in the remote western state of Rakhine. By the time you read this, that already staggering figure will have increased. The United Nations, which has described the violence driving the Rohingya from a territory they have lived in for centuries as 'a textbook example of ethnic cleansing', estimates many thousands are still arriving each week. At a glance | Myanmar's Rohingya people 'Every day that I was there,' says American photographer Greg Constantine, who has recently returned from a fortnight in the region, 'I would look across the border into northern Rakhine and see smoke pouring into the sky. [Burmese government leader] Aung San Suu Kyi claims the clearance operations have stopped, but they haven't. Every one of those refugees tells the same story: of mobs and the military torching their homes, killing, raping, terrorising. And the scale of it – I've been here more than a dozen times over the last decade, and every time I think, "It can't get worse than this." And it does.' The three makeshift camps the refugees are headed for – Kutupalong, Nayapara and Balukhali – were established 25 years ago. Even before the most recent exodus they housed around 33,000 people, and many more Rohingya have settled in the wider area too. New arrivals sleep in the open until they can build shelters, which mostly consist of bamboo poles and tarpaulin. 'It's not even a specific place any more,' explains Constantine. 'You drive down the highway from Ukhiya to Teknaf, and it's just mile upon mile upon mile of huts and people sitting on the side of the road.' Refugees continue to stream into Bangladesh from Myanmar 00:40 Violence towards the Rohingya isn't new – it goes back to 1784, when the Burman king Bodawpaya conquered Rakhine and hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forced to flee to Bengal – but the current crisis is rooted in a belief among many Burmese that the Rohingya, who returned to Rakhine in large numbers during the British occupation of Burma between 1824 and 1948, want to turn Rakhine into a Muslim state. Constantine, 47, who grew up in Indiana and taught himself photography in his 30s, first began documenting the Rohingya in 2006, as part of a series exploring the plight of the stateless. Nowhere People documents individuals and communities all over the world who have no official citizenship, no documentation and no rights. Rohingya babies, for instance, are not given birth certificates. As adults, they can't work or go to a doctor or obtain an education. They are regarded as illegal immigrants by the majority of Burma's citizens and were excluded from the country's most recent census (which did not allow people to register their identity as Rohingya). 'The million-dollar question that everyone grapples with is why,' says Constantine, who has been blacklisted by the Burmese government and banned from re-entering the country. I would look across the border into northern Rakhine and see smoke pouring into the sky. Aung San Suu Kyi claims the clearance operations have stopped, but they haven't 'I've always believed that what is at the heart of it is a deep-rooted racism. Is there a solution? Not unless things change inside Myanmar, and not just at a political level. The international community can put all the pressure it wants on the government but change has to happen among the attitudes of the citizenry for things to even begin heading in the right direction.' Until then, Constantine says, he will keep going back to the camps. 'I realised, somewhere along the way over these last 10 years, that what I was doing had changed from reporting on specific events to creating a timeline of slow violence towards a community. I want to show that what is happening now is something that has a history behind it. That all of this should have been expected. That we knew.' The story behind the photographs By photographer Greg Constantine Credit: Greg Constantine Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have flooded into southern Bangladesh over the past month after violence erupted in the Burmese state of Rakhine. The north-south highway between the Bangladeshi cities of Teknaf and Cox's Bazar is a steady flow of refugees. Credit: Greg Constantine A middle-class Bangladeshi tosses small notes of currency into the air for young Rohingya children. At certain moments I get so incredibly frustrated with human beings. This was one of those situations. I couldn't help but photograph it. He might have had the best intentions, but what he was doing was degrading. He wasn't approaching these people as human beings. You see it happening a lot in the camps: well-intentioned people who aren't thinking clearly about the way they go about things. Credit: Greg Constantine Rohingya women and children sit wherever they can find shelter along the road between Teknaf and Cox's Bazar. They can be here for weeks before they are able to get a space on the back of a flatbed truck and move on to one of the refugee camps. The cramped journey takes about two hours, with only a tarpaulin for protection from the rain. The last time I made the journey with a group of them, it rained the whole way. Credit: Greg Constantine These days there are stations in the camps from which humanitarian assistance can be distributed. At any time of day, you see lines of people waiting to get to rice or some other food ration. There are also a lot of intrepid well-wishers, whether Bangladeshi or foreign donors, who drive in in big trucks. It causes these surges of complete mayhem – that's what you see here. There are maybe 2,000 people swarming around the truck here, and the people distributing the food have to keep order by beating some of them back with sticks. It's very inhumane in that sense. Credit: Greg Constantine There's a huge business in bamboo in the camps – it comes in on trucks almost daily, and this is what people use to build their homes. When I first visited, very little was organised, but things are much more coordinated now. Even when the huts are in the middle of being built, so just skeletons really, people still sleep under them. They have no protection from the elements. When you see the size of the camps, you think, "How many people are actually left in Burma when there are so many people here?"
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| Russia explodes our social media myths Posted: 05 Oct 2017 02:00 AM PDT  It's not too much to demand that the big tech companies slam the door on governments and political infiltrators who would like nothing more than to destroy our faith in a free society.
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| Room Service Receipt of Vegas Gunman From Days Before Shooting Reportedly Surfaces Posted: 04 Oct 2017 02:16 PM PDT  The order was placed four days before the shooting.
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| Congressman Caught In Abortion Hypocrisy To Retire At End Of His Term Posted: 04 Oct 2017 04:34 PM PDT  Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), the professedly pro-life congressman who was revealed to have urged the woman he was having an affair with to have an abortion, will not seek another term in Congress.
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| Momentum Grows In Congress For 'Bump Stock' Ban After Las Vegas Shooting Posted: 04 Oct 2017 11:15 AM PDT  WASHINGTON ― Three days after one of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, lawmakers in Congress are calling for a new, narrowly-tailored regulation aimed at helping prevent such a massacre from occurring in the future.
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| Mexico Plans To Send Aid to Puerto Rico Posted: 04 Oct 2017 11:20 AM PDT  Mexico will send 30 tons of bottled water, mosquito repellent as well as state experts in power generation, transmission and distribution.
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| The Supreme Court's Gerrymandering Case Is A Debate About Threats To American Democracy Posted: 04 Oct 2017 12:26 PM PDT  Underneath the legalistic debate about standing, standards and statistical analysis during oral arguments in a landmark Wisconsin gerrymandering case at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, there was a deeper debate happening among the justices about guaranteeing confidence in the American democratic system.
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| McDonald’s manager 'offered customers side of cocaine with meals' Posted: 05 Oct 2017 03:48 AM PDT  A McDonald's manager working the night shift at a restaurant in New York sold cocaine alongside burgers and fries, police allege. Authorities say Frank Guerrero, 26, was arrested after selling $10,900 (£8,200) worth of the drug to an undercover police officer over the course of eight occasions, at a restaurant in the Soundview area of the Bronx. At least two times, it is alleged Mr Guerrero placed the cocaine into a bag containing a cookie, which he then concealed in a larger bag with cheeseburgers, fries and a drink.
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| This 'Hilarious' Job Posting Fail Reeks Of Employee Burnout Posted: 04 Oct 2017 09:41 AM PDT  Job listings sometimes paint a sugar-coated picture of what a position actually entails.
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| Prosecutors to Pursue Death Penalty Against Woman in 'Clown Killer' Case Posted: 04 Oct 2017 03:02 PM PDT  Sheila Keen Warren, the woman arrested in the 'clown killer' case, could face execution.
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| Russia throws North Korea lifeline to stymie regime change Posted: 04 Oct 2017 02:51 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is quietly boosting economic support for North Korea to try to stymie any U.S.-led push to oust Kim Jong Un as Moscow fears his fall would sap its regional clout and allow U.S. troops to deploy on Russia's eastern border. Russia is already angry about a build-up of U.S.-led NATO forces on its western borders in Europe and does not want any replication on its Asian flank, the sources added.
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| Vladimir Putin Reveals his Problem with Electric Cars like Tesla Posted: 04 Oct 2017 03:24 PM PDT  Good news for Elon Musk.
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| 23 Funny Tweets That Will Ring True To Anyone Who's Been Married Posted: 04 Oct 2017 05:14 PM PDT  Just because marriage is one of the most important decisions a person can make, doesn't mean it needs to be taken so, so seriously all the time.
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| Once an obscure device, 'bump stocks' are in the spotlight Posted: 04 Oct 2017 01:23 PM PDT  ATLANTA (AP) — The Las Vegas gunman possessed a little-known device called a "bump stock" that was not widely sold — until now.
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| Why Are U.S. Special Forces in Niger? Posted: 05 Oct 2017 01:50 AM PDT  Surrounded by Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Boko Haram militants, the country will soon be home to a $50 million U.S. drone base.
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| Researchers Claim They've Found The Secret Tomb Of St. Nicholas Posted: 04 Oct 2017 03:07 PM PDT  Researchers believe they may have found the final resting place of St. Nick.
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| EU pauses inquiry into Bayer-Monsanto takeover Posted: 05 Oct 2017 07:41 AM PDT  The EU said Thursday it had "stopped the clock" on its probe into German chemical firm Bayer's proposed mega-takeover of US agri-giant Monsanto while it waits for the companies to provide information. Brussels launched an in-depth investigation in August into the $66 billion (56-billion-euro) deal, which would create the world's largest integrated pesticides and seeds company. The European Commission, which serves as the powerful anti-trust regulator for the 28-nation European Union, cited concerns it could reduce competition in key products for farmers.
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| The most affordable times to travel to bucket list destinations: TripAdvisor Posted: 05 Oct 2017 04:37 AM PDT  Bali has emerged the top bucket list destination among TripAdvisor travelers. And now experts at the online travel site have compiled a guide on the most affordable times to visit some of the most popular bucket list destinations around the world.
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| Catalonia moves to declare independence from Spain on Monday Posted: 04 Oct 2017 01:59 PM PDT  By Angus Berwick and Sonya Dowsett BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Catalonia will move on Monday to declare independence from Spain after holding a banned referendum, pushing the European Union nation toward a rupture that threatens the foundations of its young democracy. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said he favored mediation to find a way out of the crisis but that Spain's central government had rejected this.
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| Boy Killed in Crash as Dad Flees Walmart Where Cops Say He Shoplifted Posted: 04 Oct 2017 11:24 AM PDT  The father allegedly stole $228 worth of merchandise from a Pennsylvania Walmart.
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| Powerful Senate Committee Concludes Russia Tried To Sow Chaos In 2016 Elections Posted: 04 Oct 2017 11:13 AM PDT  WASHINGTON ― The Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed the findings of a January intelligence assessment that accused Russia of interfering in last year's presidential election to help President Donald Trump defeat his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
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| Trump administration says transgender workers are not protected by anti-discrimination law Posted: 05 Oct 2017 08:53 AM PDT  The Justice Department has announced that an anti-discrimination law does not protect transgender workers, potentially opening people up to discrimination in the workplace because of their gender identity. It is the latest announcement by the Trump administration that specifically targets transgender people. Earlier this year, Donald Trump signed a directive reinstating a ban on transgender individuals from serving in the military.
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| 40 Fierce Halloween Ideas If You Hate The 'Girl Costume' Aisle Posted: 04 Oct 2017 01:16 PM PDT  Halloween costume shopping is typically fun, but sometimes, the options for girls are anything but.
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| North Korean workers prepare seafood going to US stores Posted: 04 Oct 2017 05:45 PM PDT  HUNCHUN, China (AP) — Americans buying seafood for dinner may inadvertently have subsidized the North Korean government as it builds its nuclear weapons program, an Associated Press investigation has found. Their purchases may also have supported forced labor.
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| Antikythera Shipwreck Excavation Recovers Bronze Arm Posted: 04 Oct 2017 12:05 PM PDT  The team suspects seven statues may be part of the eventual haul, along with several other precious artifacts.
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| Congressional Republicans eye 'bump stocks' after Las Vegas massacre Posted: 05 Oct 2017 12:04 PM PDT  Republican lawmakers on Thursday said they would look into "bump stock" gun accessories after a retiree used rifles equipped with them to rain gunfire onto a Las Vegas concert, killing 58 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The influential National Rifle Association, which has opposed efforts to pass federal gun legislation following past mass shootings, said it would not oppose the move. It said the devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to behave as fully automatic weapons should be subject to additional regulations.
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| Iraqi army announces liberation of last-remaining Isil territory in north of country Posted: 05 Oct 2017 12:35 AM PDT  Iraqi forces have declared northern Iraq clear of Islamic State after retaking the city of Hawija, one of the jihadist group's last remaining strongholds in the country. Announcing the liberation, Haider al-Abadi, Iraq's prime minister, called it a "victory not just for Iraq but for the whole world." Iraqi forces have driven Isil from nearly all the cities and towns it seized in the summer of 2014, including the country's second largest city, Mosul, which was liberated in July. The extremists now control just a wedge of territory straddling the Iraq-Syria border and a cluster of towns further south in Anbar province. Civilians make their way through endangered areas filled with mines and bomb traps to get to safety in Peshmerga controlled areas in Kirkuk, Iraq Credit: Anadolu "We should chase this terrorist organisation everywhere," Mr Abadi said. "This is a very dangerous organisation that works for spreading instability." Iraqi officials often declare victory before the fighting has completely ended, and the troops in and around Hawija were likely still clearing mines and booby traps, and flushing out remaining militants. Iraq launched an offensive on September 21 to dislodge Isil from Hawija, where up to 78,000 people were estimated to had been trapped. Fighters from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation units), backing the Iraqi forces, stand in front of a mural depicting the emblem of the Islamic State (Isil) group as troops advance through Hawija Credit: AFP Unlike the battle for Mosul, Isil's defence melted away quickly in the face of an Iraqi army advance. Hundreds of fighters surrendered to Kurdish forces in recent weeks after being pushed out of the city by Iraqi troops and allied militias. Footage showed groups of unkempt, dishevelled men handcuffed and kneeling on the ground. Hawija has long been a bastion for jihadist groups. Dozens of suspected Isil fighters surrender after the northern Iraqi city of Hawija is stormed yb Iraqi forces US troops nicknamed the city the "Kandahar in Iraq" after it put up fierce resistance to the 2003 US invasion, similar to that in the Taliban's bastion in Afghanistan. The capture of Hawija brings Iraqi forces into direct contact with Kurdish Peshmerga militia whichs controls Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic region claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Kirkuk shaped up as a flashpoint last month when the KRG included the oil-rich city in a referendum on Kurdish independence which he called unlawful. "We don't want any aggression or confrontations but the federal authority must be imposed in the disputed areas," Mr Abadi told a news conference in Paris, held with French President Emmanuel Macron. The prime minister renewed an offer to jointly administer Kirkuk with the Peshmerga, but under the authority of the central government. The Kurds took control of Kirkuk in 2014, when the Iraqi army fled in the face of Isil's advance. His latest comments suggests he is trying to bring Baghdad back from the brink of a fresh conflict with the Kurds, after threatening the minority with flight bans and punitive sanctions if they did not call off the referendum.
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| New Google earbuds offer real-time translation feature Posted: 04 Oct 2017 03:35 PM PDT  Google on Wednesday introduced new Pixel ear buds that the company says are capable of real-time translation of conversations in different languages. Pixel Buds, synched to freshly-introduced second-generation Pixel smartphones, promised real-time translations of conversations involving any of 40 languages.
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| He Urged His Mistress To Have An Abortion, Then Voted To Ban Other Women From Getting One Posted: 04 Oct 2017 09:52 AM PDT  On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), had urged the woman he was having an affair with to abort her pregnancy during what turned out to be an "unfounded pregnancy scare" in January.
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| GM's self-driving cars involved in six accidents in September Posted: 04 Oct 2017 01:47 PM PDT  By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors Co's self-driving unit, Cruise Automation, told California regulators its vehicles were involved in six crashes in the state in September, but said none of automated vehicles were responsible. The accidents did not result in any injuries or serious damage, according to the GM reports, but did demonstrate the challenges for developers of self-driving cars confronted by crowded urban streets. A U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow auto makers to greatly expand testing of self-driving cars.
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| Declassified documents say US knew Sputnik was soon to orbit Posted: 04 Oct 2017 03:35 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — News bulletin in 1957: Sputnik stuns the world. CIA in 2017: Not really.
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| Kazuo Ishiguro Wins the 2017 Nobel Prize For Literature Posted: 05 Oct 2017 04:58 AM PDT  British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro has won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature
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| How high is air pollution in your city and how does it compare to the most polluted cities in the world? Posted: 05 Oct 2017 03:28 AM PDT  Pollution is a greater global threat than Ebola and HIV, according to warnings by the World Health Organisation. According to its recent report, one in four deaths among children aged under five are now due to environmental hazards such as air pollution and contaminated water. Previously this year, air pollution levels in London were worse than those in Beijing for a brief period - with the UK capital's pollutants frequently breaking UK limits. Now, the UK Government plans to tackle such dangers by banning diesel and petrol cars by 2040. But how bad is air pollution in other areas of the UK? Search for your postcode to see how bad air pollution is in your area How high is air pollution in your area? How does the UK compare to the world? According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), London is just a mid-table city when it comes to the international league table of polluted places. London only ranked 1,389th out of the nearly 3,000 cities and towns around the world monitored in the WHO's database of annual air pollution readings. Which cities have the worst air pollution levels? WHO guidelines state that cities should aim to have an annual average of no more than 10 micrograms of PM2.5 (very fine particulate matter) for every cubic metre of air. London had an annual PM2.5 average of 15 μg/m3 in 2013, far lower than Beijing's average of 85.2 μg/m3. These particles are very small in diameter and are classed as carcinogenic by leading health organisations. Thousands of deaths a year are attributable to air pollution in the UK. London pollution - what causes it and how can you stay safe? 01:33 Which cities have the highest air pollution levels worldwide? According to the WHO, the most polluted city in the world is Zabol in Iran. Zabol's PM2.5 measurements were found to average a massive 217 μg/m3 for the latest available year - more than 20 times higher than the recommended level. The next two entries on the list are both located in India (Gwalior and Allahabad) while the first non-Asian city on the list is Bamenda in Cameroon which came in eighth place. Tetovo in Macedonia was the most polluted European city in the database, followed by Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The most polluted city in the UK isn't actually London. Glasgow topped that list, followed by Scunthorpe and Leeds with London in sixth place. However, given that these rankings are based on figures taken in 2013, the situation may have changed since. London may also experience greater peaks in air pollution but these figures are all annual averages. Table - The 100 most air polluted cities in the world Asian cities tend to be more polluted The WHO's database is by no means a comprehensive list of every city in the world - many places will simply not be able to provide air pollution figures of sufficient quality to be included. However, from the figures available, Asian cities were the likeliest to exceed the 10 μg/m3 guideline for PM2.5. Just four of the 632 Asian locations included in the data were found to be below this level, meaning that the equivalent of 99.4 per cent of Asian cities exceeded it. African cities were the next most likely to annually exceed their recommended levels of air pollution while towns and cities in Oceania were the least likely.
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| Donald Trump Apparently Thinks Meeting Mass Shooting Victims Is 'Wonderful' Posted: 05 Oct 2017 04:42 AM PDT  President Donald Trump totally chose the wrong word to describe his meeting with victims of the Las Vegas massacre.
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| Erdogan, Iran close ranks after Iraq Kurd referendum Posted: 04 Oct 2017 12:19 PM PDT  Turkey and Iran presented a united front in their opposition to Iraqi Kurdish aspirations of independence, during a visit Wednesday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that signals a warming of ties. "Some leaders of Iraq's Kurdistan region have made erroneous decisions which must be corrected," Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said after talks with Erdogan, visiting Tehran for the first time since 2015. "Iran, Turkey and Iraq are obliged to take serious and necessary measures," he said in reference to retaliatory measures adopted since Iraqi Kurdistan's disputed September 25 independence referendum.
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| Lawsuit by Subway pitchman Fogle's ex-wife thrown out by judge Posted: 04 Oct 2017 12:35 PM PDT  Judge Matthew Kincaid of the Boone County Superior Court said in an order dated Tuesday that he lacked jurisdiction to hear Kathleen McLaughlin's claims against Subway and its parent company, Doctor's Associates Inc. Kincaid said this was because Indiana had not been a "focal point" of the alleged misconduct by the defendants, which operated mainly outside the state. Subway is based in Milford, Connecticut.
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| Republicans Make A Political Calculus On State And Local Tax Deduction Posted: 04 Oct 2017 08:17 PM PDT  WASHINGTON ― Republicans from some blue states want their constituents to believe they've extracted major tax reform concessions from GOP leadership on the state and local tax deduction, a write-off that mostly benefits highly taxed areas.
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