| Father chases down thief who stole car with children inside and beats him to death with help of bystanders Posted: 12 Jul 2019 06:10 AM PDT  A father chased down and beat to death a thief who stole a car with his children inside, US police have said.Bystanders also joined in the attack on the 54-year-old man, who later died in hospital of head injuries, said detectives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Three young children – aged seven months, 18 months, and five years old – were in the Hyundai when the carjacker stole it on Thursday evening.Their mother had left the car running as she went into a pizza takeaway where her boyfriend – who is the father of the two younger children – was working at 9pm local time.As the woman was speaking to her partner, the thief climbed into the car and drove off.The parents, both aged 25, ran after the car, which became stuck in traffic nearby."They were able to pull this car thief out of the vehicle," chief inspector Scott Small, of the Philadelphia Police Department, told local television station WPVI."He fled on foot about a half a block. And the boyfriend caught up to him and there was some sort of physical struggle that ensued," Mr Small said."Then other males from the neighbourhood intervened and began punching and kicking the male who took the vehicle."The man was taken to hospital with severe head and facial injuries. He was pronounced dead at 10.05pm local time.The children's parents were both taken into custody for questioning and were said to be co-operating with investigators.The police department's homicide unit and the District Attorney's Office will decide if the father will face charges.The three children were unharmed and stayed with other relatives on Thursday night.
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| Warren's new U.S. immigration policy would end border crossing as a crime Posted: 11 Jul 2019 09:03 AM PDT  Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Thursday announced a broad immigration policy that would decriminalize undocumented border crossing and end the use of privately run detention centers if she is elected president. Warren's 22-point policy also called for creating a pathway to citizenship for current undocumented immigrants and raising the cap on refugees who can seek asylum. "We need expanded legal immigration that will grow our economy, reunite families and meet our labor market demands," Warren wrote in a post on Medium.com announcing the plan.
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| Woman who claimed to be Uber driver charged with smuggling immigrants in New Mexico Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:00 PM PDT  The driver, Evelyn Limas, has been charged with one felony count of smuggling undocumented immigrants.
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| New Orleans already underwater as tropical storm approaches Posted: 11 Jul 2019 11:26 AM PDT  Tropical Storm Barry is expected to strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall, and could bring another 20 inches of rain to the beleaguered Gulf Coast.
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| Why Was an American Scientist Murdered in a Nazi Bunker? Posted: 12 Jul 2019 09:25 AM PDT  Courtesy of Suzanne Eaton FamilySuzanne Eaton was, by every standard, an accomplished woman. The 59-year-old molecular biologist from Oakland, California, held a black belt in Taekwondo and was a globetrotting speaker on the international science circuit. She was married to a British scientist with whom she had two children, and she was an avid runner, racking up several miles on her daily 30-minute run.Eaton, who worked as a research leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, was last seen playing piano at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, in Kolymbari, on July 2, where she was attending a conference. Her family and friends assumed that she had gone for a run and perhaps passed out in the stifling heat wave or fallen on rough terrain during her workout. Her passport, money, phone, cycling shoes and laptop were all found in her hotel room, they say. All that was missing were her running shoes. Her relatives and friends raised nearly $50,000 to aid the search through an online campaign. Then, on July 9, her body was found by two local residents exploring a World War II era Nazi bunker about seven miles from where Eaton had been staying. Her body, which was wrapped in burlap, showed signs of torture, including stab wounds, but her official cause of death, according to the coroner was asphyxiation. The coroner said she likely suffered a "slow and painful death."There was no immediate sign of sexual violence, according to investigators, who said she was still dressed when she was found. A full autopsy is under way. Her body was in such an advanced state of decomposition after a week in the extreme heat that dental records had to be used for a positive identification. On Friday, Crete's police spokesperson Eleni Papathanasiou confirmed to The Daily Beast that they were questioning several suspects, including some with neo-Nazi ties, who may know something about what happened to Eaton. Papathanasiou also said they were looking into whether the location of her body inside a labyrinth of tunnels dug out by Nazis occupying Crete during World War II was connected to the murder. "It is of course part of the investigation," Papathanasiou told The Daily Beast. "It is a curious place to leave a body, especially when the victim was living and working in Germany."Police are also taking into consideration how a woman as fit as Eaton who held a black belt in Taekwondo could be overcome. "The perpetrator or perpetrators may have suffered defensive wounds, and we are looking at that as well."Crete has long been a magnet for neo-Nazi sympathizers who regularly treasure hunt in bunkers like the one where Eaton was found, searching for World War II relics. Several collectors have unofficial museums in small villages where their Nazi regalia is on display. Crete was also a recent base for several leaders of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party who had chosen the Greek island for its historical ties to Nazi occupation. In 2018, an anti-Fascist group was able to raid the Golden Dawn headquarters in the capital Heraklion, which sent the group underground. Konstantinos Beblidakis, the vice mayor of the local Platanias municipality, said the area where Eaton was found was accessible by various backroads but there were no surveillance cameras despite the fact that the area above the bunkers was a popular hiking area for tourists. He said that most people, except those who are well versed in the island's Nazi past, would not have known about the bunker, which was not open to the public or marked in any way. It is yet unclear how the two local residents found her or just why they were inside the secret bunker. Eaton's university-age son, Max, praised his mother in a statement. "She managed to live a life with few regrets, balancing out her personal life with her career," he said. "I think the fact that I did not realize how well she had managed to do so was evident [by the fact] that other mothers around me had taken to caring for their children full time, yet mine was never outdone by any of them."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get 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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| Wanted Louisiana woman comments on mugshot cops posted: 'That picture ugly' Posted: 12 Jul 2019 04:38 AM PDT  A wanted Louisiana woman seemed more concerned about how she looked in her mugshot than about the police.
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| Indiana teacher fired for same-sex marriage sues archdiocese Posted: 10 Jul 2019 12:42 PM PDT  A Catholic high school teacher who was fired because he's in a same-sex marriage sued the Archdiocese of Indianapolis on Wednesday, accusing it of discrimination and interfering with his teaching contract. Joshua Payne-Elliott is suing the archdiocese in Marion County court and seeking unspecified compensatory, emotional distress and other damages. Payne-Elliott taught at Cathedral High School for 13 years and Cathedral renewed his annual teaching contract on May 21, his attorney, Kathleen DeLaney, said in a news release.
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| This Is Iran's Sad Attempt at Reverse-Engineering an Old F-5F Fighter Posted: 10 Jul 2019 07:00 PM PDT  Rouhani called on the Iranian military to strengthen their readiness in the face of enemy threats in a speech during Tuesday's defense show. Iran says its new Kowsar fighter jet has flown. President Hassan Rouhani was on scene to see the jet – which is a carbon copy of the American F-5F – undergoing flight trials.Test flights of the Kowsar, took place on Aug. 21, 2018 on the eve of the National Day of the Defense Industry, according to semi-official Mehr News Agency. It was unclear whether the jet's first public display flight has yet taken place.The Kowsar can be used for "short aerial support missions" and is equipped with systems that "promote precision targeting," according to state media.Rouhani called on the Iranian military to strengthen their readiness in the face of enemy threats in a speech during Tuesday's defense show."When we say we are ready for defense, it means that we seek the establishment of sustainable peace," Rouhani said.
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| 12,000 Years Ago, a Boy Had His Skull Squashed into a Cone Shape. It's the Oldest Evidence of Such Head-Shaping. Posted: 10 Jul 2019 05:40 PM PDT  Ancient people in China practiced human head-shaping about 12,000 years ago -- meaning they bound some children's maturing skulls, encouraging the heads to grow into elongated ovals -- making them the oldest group on record to purposefully squash their skulls, a new study finds.While excavating a Neolithic site (the last period of the Stone Age) at Houtaomuga, Jilin province, in northeast China, the archaeologists found 11 elongated skulls -- belonging to both males and females and ranging from toddlers to adults -- that showed signs of deliberate skull reshaping, also known as intentional cranial modification (ICM)."This is the earliest discovery of signs of intentional head modification in Eurasia continent, perhaps in the world," said study co-researcher Qian Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Texas A&M University College of Dentistry. "If this practice began in East Asia, it likely spread westward to the Middle East, Russia and Europe through the steppes as well as eastward across the Bering land bridge to the Americas." [In Images: An Ancient Long-headed Woman Reconstructed]The Houtaomuga site is a treasure trove, holding burials and artifacts from 12,000 to 5,000 years ago. During an excavation there between 2011 and 2015, archaeologists found the remains of 25 individuals, 19 of which were preserved enough to be studied for ICM. After putting these skulls in a CT scanner, which produced 3D digital images of each specimen, the researchers confirmed that 11 had indisputable signs of skull shaping, such as flattening and elongation of the frontal bone, or forehead.The oldest ICM skull belonged to an adult male, who lived between 12,027 and 11,747 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating.The M72 skull is between 6,300 and 5,500 years old. Qian Wang Archaeologists have found reshaped human skulls all around the world, from every inhabited continent. But this particular finding, if confirmed, "will [be] the earliest evidence of the intentional head modification, which lasted for 7,000 years at the same site after its first emergence," Wang told Live Science.The 11 ICM individuals died between ages 3 and 40, indicating that skull shaping began at a young age, when human skulls are still malleable, Wang said.It's unclear why this particular culture practiced skull modification, but it's possible that fertility, social status and beauty could be factors, Wang said. The people with ICM buried at Houtaomuga were likely from a privileged class, as these individuals tended to have grave goods and funeral decorations."Apparently, these youth were treated with a decent funeral, which might suggest a high socioeconomic class," Wang said.An excavation at the site during 2010. Lixin WangEven though the Houtaomuga man is the oldest known case of ICM in history, it's a mystery whether other known instances of ICM spread from this group, or whether they rose independently of one another, Wang said."It is still too early to claim intentional cranial modification first emerged in East Asia and spread elsewhere; it may have originated independently in different places," Wang said. More ancient DNA research and skull examinations throughout the world may shed light on this practice's spread, he said.The study was published online June 25 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. * 25 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries * The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth * Back to the Stone Age: 17 Key Milestones in Paleolithic LifeOriginally published on Live Science.
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| U.S. House passes $733 billion defense policy bill after Trump threatens veto Posted: 12 Jul 2019 10:40 AM PDT  The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $733 billion defense policy bill on Friday, defying President Donald Trump's veto threat by including provisions like a clampdown on funding for his planned wall on the border with Mexico. The House passed its version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by a 220 to 197 vote without a single Republican voting in favor of the bill and after some of the most liberal Democrats opposed it as they pushed for a reduction in defense spending. Republican voting against the bill sets the stage for a stiff fight over its provisions later this year that could threaten Congress' record of passing the NDAA annually for nearly six decades.
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| 85+ Low-Carb Dishes That Will Make Your Diet A Breeze Posted: 10 Jul 2019 02:58 PM PDT |
| Miss. candidate stands by his rule: No time alone with a female reporter Posted: 11 Jul 2019 09:03 AM PDT  A Mississippi Republican running for governor and a female reporter seeking to spend a day with him on the campaign trail squared off Thursday morning on CNN over his refusal to be alone with her.
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| Minnesota residents react to city council ditching Pledge of Allegiance Posted: 10 Jul 2019 07:06 PM PDT  Protesters demand city council reverse pledge ban; reaction from Fox News contributor Lawrence Jones and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw.
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| Florida deputy arrested for planting meth, other drugs in nearly 120 cases: what we know Posted: 11 Jul 2019 11:47 AM PDT  Former Jackson County, Florida deputy Zach Wester was arrested for allegedly planting drugs on unsuspecting motorists before arresting them.
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| The Latest: New evacuation called as Barry approaches Posted: 12 Jul 2019 10:37 AM PDT  A voluntary evacuation has been called for a Louisiana parish near Tropical Storm Barry's expected landfall Saturday. St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff says many people have already left areas below the Intracoastal Waterway, where a voluntary evacuation was called Thursday. As Tropical Storm Barry approaches the state's coast, tourists in New Orleans are being asked to "shelter in place" in their hotels if they don't have confirmed airline reservations for flights out of the city.
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| Vincent Lambert: French quadriplegic at heart of life-support debate Posted: 11 Jul 2019 12:54 AM PDT  Vincent Lambert, the man at the centre of a years-long life-support battle that played out right up until his death on Thursday, was the silent witness to the wrenching public feud between his parents and wife. Lambert was a rebellious teenager who had settled down and was due to become a father when was in a devastating car crash in 2008 that left him in a vegetative state. In the end, his wife Rachel and the medical team at Reims University Hospital prevailed, with doctors taking him off life support on July 2 after France's top court ruled that doctors could remove his feeding tubes.
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| Swedish Government Won’t Sign ‘Problematic’ UN Nuclear Treaty Posted: 12 Jul 2019 05:22 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Sweden has decided not to sign the UN treaty on nuclear arms, calling it problematic and unrealistic.The decision was announced by Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom at a press conference in Stockholm, who said the country will remain a "strong voice" against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.Reality is complicated and the treaty is problematic, but the decision was made as a militarily alliance-free nation, said Wallstrom. Sweden will become an observer nation to the treaty and won't close the door on signing it, she said.Backed by Sweden, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons passed in 2017 in the UN General Assembly by a vote of 122 in favor with just the Netherlands, a NATO member, voting against. The negotiations were boycotted by the world's nine nuclear-armed countries -- the U.S., China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the U.K. as well as most NATO members.Sweden, which has close ties with NATO, has been pressured not to sign the treaty by the U.S., newspaper Svenska Dagbladet has reported.To contact the reporter on this story: Jonas Bergman in Oslo at jbergman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Venezuela seeks extradition of suspect accused of burning man to death Posted: 11 Jul 2019 03:37 PM PDT  Enzo Franchini Oliveros accused over death of Orlando José Figuera, 21, who was set alight during anti-government protestsVenezuela's government has insisted Figuera was the victim of a political hate crime, who was targeted for supporting the government. Photograph: Carlos Eduardo Ramirez/ReutersVenezuela is seeking the extradition from Spain of a man accused of burning another man to death during anti-government protests in Caracas two years ago.Enzo Franchini Oliveros is accused over the death of Orlando José Figuera, 21, who was beaten, stabbed, doused in petrol and set on fire during street clashes on 20 May 2017.Franchini was arrested on Monday in a town near Madrid, according to a Spanish national police spokesperson.Venezuela's top prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, made the arrest public on Wednesday, accusing Franchini of crimes including "attempted murder and terrorism".Protests against Nicolás Maduro rocked Venezuela for several months in 2017, prompting a brutal response from security forces. More than 130 people died in the unrest and thousands were injured – most of them anti-government protesters caught in the crackdown.Venezuela's government has insisted Figuera was the victim of a political hate crime, who was targeted for supporting the government.But the country's top chief prosecutor at the time of the incident, Luisa Ortega Díaz, concluded that Figuera was stabbed after an altercation over a job application. Figuera's assailant then accused him of being a thief; he was beaten, doused with petrol and set alight.Ortega now lives in exile, having broken with Maduro's government in August that year.The conditions that led to the 2017 protests continue today, as Maduro fends off challenges to his power from opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who is recognised as the legitimate leader by the US and most of the world's democracies.The United Nations' refugee agency estimates that 4 million Venezuelans have left the country to escape food shortages, insecurity and economic collapse.Last week, the UN's human rights chief accused Maduro's security forces of committing a series of "gross violations" against Venezuelan dissenters, including more than 5,000 extrajudicial executions.
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| Trump's Pentagon pick says he won't be bullied into making 'stupid decisions' Posted: 11 Jul 2019 08:12 AM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to become his top uniformed military adviser told Congress on Thursday that he would not be "intimidated into making stupid decisions," saying he would always give his best advice, regardless of pressure. The remarks by Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley during a line of questioning about his ability to stand his ground in the Oval Office is likely to reassure Trump's critics in Congress, who worry about the risk of impulsive decisions by the president on Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and beyond. "I'll give my best military advice.
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| Fossil of 99 million-year-old bird with giant toe found in Burma Posted: 11 Jul 2019 10:24 PM PDT  The fossilised remains of an ancient 99-million-year-old bird with a freakishly long toe have been discovered in a chunk of amber from Burma. Researchers found the third digit of the sparrow-like creature's foot was 9.8 millimetres long, about 41 percent longer than its second-longest digit, and 20 percent longer than its entire lower leg, reported Science News. Palaeontologists are unsure what purpose the extra-long toe served, but it may have helped the cretaceous period bird find food in difficult-to-reach places such as holes in trees. The bird may have been a tree-dweller, also using its extended claw to grasp on to branches. The formation of its foot was so unique that a team examining the fossil, led by paleontologist Lida Xing from the China University of Biosciences in Beijing, decided to declare a new species, calling the bird Elektorornis (amber bird) chenguangi. Their findings were published in Current Biology on Thursday. The New York Times reported that the remains had lain undisturbed in hardened tree resin until amber miners found the fossil in Burma's Hukawng Valley in 2014. It was first presented to Chen Guang, a curator at China's Hupoge Amber Museum, and initially suspected to be an extinct lizard. However, Mr Chen decided to consult Ms Xing who specialises in Cretaceous birds and the tiny creature was discovered to be related to an extinct group of toothed, clawed birds called Enantiornithes, which was bountiful during the Cretaceous period of 145.5 million to 66 million years ago. The ancient bird was found fossilized in amber Credit: Lida Xing/PA "I was very surprised at the time," Dr Xing told the Times, recalling that the fossil was "undoubtedly the claw of a bird." Dr Xing's team compared the toe size ratios with other known birds starting from the Mesozoic era, which began 252 million years ago, and found that no other species had such a dramatic difference in toe sizes. The Elektorornis chenguangi died out with other species in its family along with non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period.
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| 'You are asking my client to lie': Flynn lawyers fought with prosecutor Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:49 PM PDT  'No one is asking your client to lie,' ex-Mueller prosecutor Brandon Van Grack shot back, the documents recount. 'Be careful about what you say.'
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| Christian Student Group Claims Anti-Religious Discrimination at Wayne State University Posted: 10 Jul 2019 01:59 PM PDT  REUTERSA Christian student group on Wednesday argued in a federal court hearing in Michigan that public universities must "treat religious student groups equally with other campus groups," in a case that has pitted the 142-year-old InterVarsity Christian Fellowship against Wayne State University. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is an organization with at least 1,000 individual chapters, and, according to its website, the purpose of the Wayne State InterVarsity chapter is to "establish and advance a witnessing community of students and faculty who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord: growing in love for God, God's Word, God's people of every ethnicity and culture, and God's purposes in the world."But the 75-year-old Wayne State chapter of InterVarsity had its student organization status revoked by the university in 2017 "because the Christian student group asks its leaders to embrace its faith," according to lawyers representing the organization. Meanwhile, InterVarsity's lawyer's say, other students groups—including fraternities and the Quidditch Club—are able to select leaders based on the organization's stated mission. Stanford 'Unjustly' Punished Sigma Chi Frat Over Unproven Drugging Claims: Lawsuit"All we ask is that our student leaders keep our Christian faith," Wayne State student and InterVarsity member Deaunai Montgomery said outside the courthouse on Wednesday."To be clear, we want everyone to feel welcome to attend our group," she added. "As a Christian group, we need our leaders to sincerely believe that what they teach us about Jesus is true."Wayne State insisted on treating us differently from everyone else. We asked Wayne State to end the double standard, they refused," she said.The issue first arose in 2017, when Wayne State began using a new online system to register student organizations. InterVarsity uploaded its group's constitution, which asked that student leadership embrace its mission.But the university in October informed the chapter that its recognition would be revoked over that stipulation, claiming that "the constitution's requirement that leaders share the chapter's faith was inconsistent with the school's nondiscrimination code," The Detroit Free Press reported.Florida Principal Removed After Refusing to Call Holocaust 'Factual'As a result, according to the lawsuit filed over the disagreement, InterVarsity could no longer host free tables for interested students, apply for funding, appear on the website for student organizations, reserve free meeting rooms, or use any of the other benefits normally enjoyed by student groups on campus. In order to meet on campus to hold a Bible study, the group had to pay $100 to rent a room in the student center, according to the lawsuit. In response, InterVarsity filed a 53-page, 20-count federal complaint against the university in March 2018, claiming that the school is violating the constitution through anti-religious discrimination."Wayne State rightly allows fraternities to have only male leaders, female athletic clubs to have only female leaders, and African-American clubs to have only African-American leaders. But Wayne State cannot then say it is wrong for a Christian club to have only Christian leaders," the lawsuit states. "Wayne State's attempt to tell InterVarsity how to define its faith and select its leaders is anti-religious discrimination that violates clearly established federal and state law."Within days of the lawsuit, Wayne State had reinstated the student group.But InterVarsity wasn't finished—and has pushed ahead with the lawsuit anyway.Filed in U.S District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan, the case seeks a permanent injunction prohibiting "enforcement of Wayne State's non-discrimination policy against InterVarsity based on InterVarsity's practice of selecting religious leaders who share its faith" and unspecified damages for the group's "loss of rights."Daniel Blomberg, of the non-profit religious liberty law firm Becket Law, argued the case on Wednesday and then spoke outside the federal courthouse in Port Huron, noting that "the argument went very well today, and the judge asked a lot of good questions." Christian School Teacher, Who Lectured Girls on Modesty, Accused of Sexually Assaulting Students"I think that shows he is taking it seriously," Blomberg said. "We're hoping that we will get a good ruling to protect InterVarsity's rights and the rights of all religious groups."Blomberg's firm said it was not clear when the judge would make a ruling but that one would likely come in several weeks.In a statement to The Daily Beast on Wednesday, the university said: "After a review of the situation and communicating with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship organization in March 2018, Wayne State immediately recertified the group as an official student organization. InterVarsity remains a recognized student group that is allowed to select its leaders. Wayne State has taken no action to withdraw recognition from InterVarsity and the group remains welcome on our campus.""Nevertheless, InterVarsity continues to pursue litigation against the university forcing it to spend taxpayer dollars to defend the lawsuit," the statement reads. "This is a case of the national organization trying to set a precedent."Wayne State filed a motion to that effect, asking a judge to dismiss the suit in June 2018. The motion argued that InterVarsity has "failed to make factual allegations sufficient to support their claim of unequal treatment.""In a good faith effort to resolve this dispute, Wayne State granted InterVarsity-Wayne recognized student organization status and refunded the fees it paid when it was unrecognized," the motion states. "Plaintiffs have nevertheless persisted in a case that names unnecessary defendants, that includes claims so frivolous that plaintiffs have abandoned them, and that—despite twenty counts and more than forty pages—fails to advance a single valid cause of action.""Wayne State did not deprive plaintiffs of any of their rights, period," the school wrote.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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| Police: Remains found in Kentucky confirmed as missing woman Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:08 PM PDT  The remains of a Kentucky woman who disappeared six months ago were found buried near a house, Kentucky State Police said Thursday. Trooper Robert Purdy confirmed the remains found Wednesday night were those of Savannah Spurlock, 23, who was last seen in January leaving a Lexington bar with several men. Police did not directly tie Sparks' arrest to Spurlock, but news outlets reported the property had been searched previously in connection with her disappearance.
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| Northern California town of Paradise lost 90% of its population after Camp Fire, data shows Posted: 11 Jul 2019 08:14 PM PDT  The town of Paradise has lost over 90% of its population since the Camp Fire last year, according to data California released Thursday.
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| Turkey drills off Cyprus in bid for regional influence Posted: 12 Jul 2019 02:28 AM PDT  When Turkey dispatched a second ship to drill for oil and gas in disputed waters off Cyprus last month, it drew fire not just from rival Nicosia but also the rebuke of Western allies and threats of EU sanctions. Turkey's decision may have been a calculated risk, analysts say, as it looks to secure greater influence and energy resources in territory it claims as its own, and to counter what it sees as increasing encroachment by Cyprus and regional rivals. Already tense over divided Cyprus, the eastern Mediterranean has become increasingly sensitive after the discovery of potentially huge oil and gas reserves drew the United States, Greece, Egypt and Israel into an increasingly complex landscape.
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| 61 Cauliflower Recipes To Make The Low-Carb Life Easy Posted: 10 Jul 2019 02:55 PM PDT |
| Jeffrey Epstein, a onetime associate of Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, is in legal trouble: Here's what we know Posted: 10 Jul 2019 01:48 PM PDT  Here are answers to five questions about the case against Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested Saturday on sex-trafficking charges.
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| INTERVIEW-Serbia wants billions in foreign loans to invest in infrastructure - minister Posted: 12 Jul 2019 06:53 AM PDT ![INTERVIEW-Serbia wants billions in foreign loans to invest in infrastructure - minister]( "INTERVIEW-Serbia wants billions in foreign loans to invest in infrastructure - minister") Serbia plans to borrow billions of euros from China and other foreign countries in the coming years to fund investment in regional projects, its infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on Friday. China views Serbia and other Balkan countries as part of its ambitious One Belt, One Road initiative to open trade links for Chinese companies. Serbia wants to join the European Union and to do so it must strengthen economic links with its neighbours including former Yugoslav republics, most of them foes from the bloody wars of the 1990s.
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| Cuba's Dependency on Venezuela Makes it Vulnerable to Economic Turmoil Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:45 PM PDT ![Cuba's Dependency on Venezuela Makes it Vulnerable to Economic Turmoil]( "Cuba's Dependency on Venezuela Makes it Vulnerable to Economic Turmoil") The economic crisis in Venezuela has turned millions of its citizens into refugees who are fleeing the country's hyperinflation and shortages in food and medicine. A plunge in aid from Venezuela, along with a hardened trade embargo by the United States, has brought Cuba to its worst economic crisis since the post-Soviet depression in the 1990s, Carmelo Mesa-Lago, professor emeritus of economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and Pavel Vidal Alejandro, associate professor economics at the Pontifical Xavierian University in Cali, Colombia, write in their report.
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| Spanish-language reporter released from immigration custody Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:26 PM PDT  A Spanish-language reporter who has been facing deportation since his arrest 15 months ago while covering an immigration protest in Tennessee was released Thursday from custody as his case proceeds. Manuel Duran was released from an Alabama detention center on a $2,000 bail set by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Southern Poverty Law Center attorney Gracie Willis said. "I feel like I'm reborn," Duran said in a statement released by the center.
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| Suspect reveals hiding spot to police after farting too loudly Posted: 11 Jul 2019 11:03 AM PDT  A Missouri suspect became his own worst enemy when he revealed his hiding spotby letting out an overly loud fart
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| China police bust bitcoin miners for stealing $3 mn in electricity Posted: 12 Jul 2019 04:40 AM PDT  Police in eastern China have busted a ring of illicit bitcoin miners who stole nearly $3 million worth of electricity to generate the digital currency, prompting a local power company to tip off investigators, authorities said Friday. The mining process can be very expensive on a large scale because it requires cutting-edge technology and vast amounts of electricity. "In value, it is the largest case in the amount of electricity stolen that Jiangsu has cracked since the founding of New China, and a rare sight in the whole country," Zhenjiang police said in an online statement.
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| 20+ Spiked Apple Cider Cocktails That Will Warm Up Those Chilly Fall Nights Posted: 10 Jul 2019 04:59 PM PDT |
| House to vote next week on criminal contempt against Barr and Ross Posted: 11 Jul 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Democrats are battling Trump over whether to add a citizenship question on the census.
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| MH370 pilot in control ‘until the end’, French investigators suspect Posted: 11 Jul 2019 08:37 AM PDT  The pilot of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was in control of the plane "until the end", French investigators reportedly suspect, after gaining access to "crucial" flight data. The readouts "lend weight" to suspicions that he crashed into the sea in a murder-suicide, they were cited as saying. The revelations based on Boeing data came days after a new account suggesting the pilot may have been clinically depressed, leading him to starve the passengers of oxygen and then crash the Boeing 777 into the sea. MH370 was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board, when it vanished and became one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries. In July last year investigators released a 495-page report, saying the plane's controls were probably deliberately manipulated to take it off course but they were not able to determine who was responsible. The only country still conducting a judicial inquiry into the crash is France, where two investigating magistrates are looking into the deaths of three French passengers, the wife and two children of Ghyslain Wattrelos - an engineer who met the judges on Wednesday. According to Le Parisien, they informed him that Boeing had finally granted them access late May to vital flight data at the plane maker's headquarters in Seattle. This included numerous documents and satellite data from Britain-based company Inmarsat. They were obliged to sign a confidentiality contract, meaning the documents cannot be cited in court. The investigators also visited Inmarsat headquarters in the UK. Investigators say it will take "a year" to scour all the data received from Boeing Credit: Laurent Errera/AP It will take "a year" to sift through all the data and "nothing permits us to say the pilot was involved," according to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Marie Dosé. However, French investigators cited by Le Parisien said the data "lends weight' to the idea that "someone was behind the control stick when the plane broke up in the Indian Ocean". It cited a source close to the inquiry as saying someone was flying the plane "until the end." "Certain abnormal turns made by the 777 can only have been carried out manually. Someone was in control," the source was cited as saying. Asked whether the data pointed to a deliberate crash, the source said: "It's too early to assert it categorically but there is nothing to suggest anyone else entered the cockpit." Mr Wattrelos, who lost family members in the crash, hailed the "incredible" work of the judges, who he said "were able to note that the case was riddled with incoherences". "For example, we know that the data initially provided by Malaysian authorities on the plane's altitude were wrong. And I hope that by analysing all the data collected at Boeing, they will discover a problem that will jump out at them," he told Le Parisien. But he said he remained convinced that the plane was "taken down". "I don't know why or where but I'm convinced of it," he said. Mr Wattrelos said that French investigators could meet FBI agents to discuss the case "over the summer in Paris". More than 30 bits of suspected washed up debris have been collected from various places around the world. A modern mystery | Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Last month, friends of the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, told aviation specialist William Langewiesche that he had become obsessed with two young models he had seen on the internet after his wife left him, and that he "spent a lot of time pacing empty rooms." Mr Langewiesche wrote: "There is a strong suspicion among investigators in the aviation and intelligence communities that he was clinically depressed." An electrical engineer quoted in the account in The Atlantic magazine said that, after depressurising the plane, the pilot probably made a climb which "accelerated the effects of depressurising, causing the rapid incapacitation and death of everyone in the cabin." The oxygen masks in the main cabin were only designed to last 15 minutes in an emergency descent below 13,000ft. The pilot, however, would have had access to oxygen in the cockpit and could have flown for hours. Writing in the Atlantic, Mr Langewiesche said: "The cabin occupants would have become incapacitated within a couple of minutes, lost consciousness, and gently died without any choking or gasping for air." One theory claims the pilot conducted a series of manouveres to "ditch the plane" - but some experts argue it would have been impossible for him to remain conscious during the emergency landing. Pater Foley, the head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), has suggested to the Australian Senate the pilot was unconscious when the plane crashed into the Indian ocean. Mr Foley said: "Today we have an analysis of the flap that tells us it is probably not deployed. "We have an analysis of the final two transmissions that say the aeroplane was in a high rate of descent. "We have 30 pieces of debris, some from inside the fuselage, that says there was significant energy at impact ... We have quite a lot of evidence to support no control at the end." He added: "We haven't ever ruled out someone intervening at the end. It's unlikely."
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| New Orleans is already flooded — and the worst may be yet to come: Forecasters are predicting a hurricane Posted: 11 Jul 2019 06:33 AM PDT  New Orleans was already hit by a storm that left its streets swamped. Now, meteorologists say a hurricane could be on its way
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| Trump ends fight to include citizenship question on census and unveils new plan Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:24 PM PDT  The president announced a new executive order to obtain a "timely count of the noncitizen population."
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| Warren, Biden Campaigns Appear to Find Loophole Around Paid Internships Posted: 12 Jul 2019 02:19 AM PDT  Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via GettyUnpaid interns are practically non-existent among Democratic presidential campaigns in 2019. But some top-tier candidates appear to be finding a creative way to tap unpaid talent: offering vague "fellowship" opportunities as volunteer positions. There's no singular definition for a "fellow" among 2020 candidates and most this cycle don't offer the option. But two leading contenders, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), give applicants who are selected a chance to participate in the campaign as volunteer fellows, without requiring compensation or academic credit. "Volunteers are asked to do something, workers are told," Renée Hagerty, an executive council member for the Campaign Workers Guild, said. "Everyone who's performing work on a campaign should be paid."For Biden's campaign, the "Team Joe Organizing Fellowship" consists of an eight-week program that includes weekly online trainings in grassroots and digital organizing, according to the listing, which closed this week. Unlike the internship program, which is paid $15 per hour, the fellowship program makes no mention of wages, academic credit, or time commitments. Warren's campaign features one joint application with three options: paid internship, volunteer fellowship, or volunteer fellowship for academic credit. Applicants are allowed to select more than one when applying. Warren's deputy communications director Chris Hayden told The Daily Beast their internship program "offers a limited number of paid, full-time campaign experiences on a competitive basis" and that "interns commit to working 30 hours a week, and have access to paid health insurance in addition to their weekly salary.""The campaign also offers a volunteer fellowship program, which provides similar training and work experiences with a smaller time commitment," Hayden added. "Many of our campaign fellows receive stipends from educational institutions or other third-parties, and everyone in our intern and fellowship programs has access to cost-free supporter housing while they're working in-state."Still, Guillermo Creamer, co-founder of the non-profit group Pay Our Interns, said there's a "gray area" that emerges from having both paid and unpaid options, creating a "fine line" between the roles. "It is interesting that some campaigns can still think about having both," Creamer said. "The question now is: is fellowship the scapegoat for not paying individuals?"Multiple activists who spoke to The Daily Beast declined to call out individual campaigns, saying they're generally pleased with the progress this cycle on the paid internship front, what some see as the first hurdle to overcome. But the separate volunteer fellowship option has led several activists to question the program's cost-benefit analysis. "What's actually the difference?" Creamer said when asked about paid internships versus unpaid fellowships. "Campaigns have to be the ones who identify that."Coming off the heels of a strong second quarter of fundraising, Biden and Warren each crystallized their spots in the top of the Democratic pack both in polls and in money raised. Biden brought in $21.5 million, while Warren reported $19.1 million. The large sums are even stronger reasons to pay fellows for work, rather than doling out fancy titles in exchange, some activists pointed out."At Biden for President, interns are employees who are paid by the hour (capped at 30 hours a week)," a campaign spokesperson wrote in an email. "Whereas fellows are part of an educational experience which we hope will equip them to be effective organizers in the future, and are not employees of the campaign.""Bosses have been coming up with reasons and excuses and caveats for not paying people since the dawn of time," Hagerty said, without commenting on any campaign specifically. "This is another version that fits into a middle-class narrative of prestige."Legally, there's no definition in the campaign finance world that would distinguish internships from fellowships, an official from the Campaign Legal Center said. "Campaigns are given pretty broad leeway for how they spend their money. They can provide any title they want," the official added. In a field of nearly two dozen contenders, other candidates offer several different fellowship models. Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) offer paid fellowships, while Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) requires unpaid fellows to receive academic credit in order to participate in the program. The majority of other candidates offer paid internships. While some activists view the practice as a delicate balance between opening a door to those who seek the experience and a loophole for campaigns to use free labor, not everyone agrees the practice is problematic."There's utilitarian reasons for campaigns and there's utilitarian reasons for the workforce," Janice Fine, an assistant professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University, said. For some, fellowships can be a vital way to gain experience with a specific candidate or area of expertise, without having to commit to a set number of hours or responsibilities, she added. "A lot of these jobs are just for the experience," Alan Seals, a labor economist and professor of economics at Auburn University, agreed. "The worst thing [campaigns] can do is say 'no they're all employees now and you've got to pay them minimum wage.' It would be an absolute disaster."But that argument is what some activists say is part of the problem, and that there needs to be a clear pay-for-work metric that mirrors the fair wage platforms campaigns are pushing on the trail."It smacks of hypocrisy," Hagerty said. "No candidate wants to be a hypocrite." Updated to include comment from the Biden campaign.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get 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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| Here's a fact: We went to the moon in 1969 Posted: 11 Jul 2019 08:07 AM PDT  Fifty years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, some people insist it never happened and was all a big hoax by the U.S. government. The suspicions arose even as the lunar landing was taking place in 1969, said Roger Launius, NASA's former chief historian.
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| Video: Family members attack woman's murderer in Ohio courthouse Posted: 12 Jul 2019 07:34 AM PDT  Two family members were supposed to give victim impact statements when they lunged at Dale Williams. Both family members were subdued, one with a Taser, and arrested.
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| Four Britons held in China, two days after drugs bust Posted: 11 Jul 2019 09:01 PM PDT  Four Britons have been arrested in an eastern China province, the British embassy said Friday, two days after Chinese police announced a drug bust there involving 16 foreigners. Police in the city of Xuzhou in Jiangsu province said on Wednesday that a total of 19 people were arrested in a drugs case centring on a local branch of a language school. "We are in contact with the Chinese authorities following the arrest of four British people in Jiangsu province, and are providing consular assistance," a spokeswoman with the British embassy in Beijing told AFP.
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| Macron to unveil France's nuclear-powered 'Barracuda' submarine Posted: 11 Jul 2019 08:00 AM PDT  President Emmanuel Macron will unveil on Friday France's latest nuclear-powered 'Barracuda' class submarine, a 9 billion euro ($10.13 billion) stealth vessel program Paris says is key to maintaining its naval presence for decades to come. The French government has placed an order for six of the 5,000-tonne submarines made by Naval Group, in which defense company Thales has a 35 percent stake. The French navy expects to take delivery of the first, named "Suffren", for sea trials in 2020 and the remainder will enter service over the following decade, replacing France's ageing 'Ruby' class submarines.
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| Remains of Napoleon's One-Legged General Found Under Russian Dance Floor Posted: 12 Jul 2019 05:52 AM PDT  An excavation in a peculiar place -- under the foundation of a dance floor in Russia -- has uncovered the remains of one of Napoleon Bonaparte's favorite generals: a one-legged man who was killed by a cannonball more than 200 years ago, news sources report.Gen. Charles Etienne Gudin fought with Napoleon during the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812. On July 6 of this year, an international team of French and Russian archaeologists discovered what are believed to be his remains, in Smolensk, a city about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Moscow, according to Reuters.After his death at age 44 on Aug. 22, 1812, Gudin got star treatment. His name was inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, his bust was placed at the Palace of Versailles, a Paris street was named after him and, as a sentimental gesture, his heart was removed from his body and placed in a chapel at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. [Photos: Archaeologists Excavate Battlefield from Napoleonic Wars]The researchers said that several clues suggested that the skeleton they found under the dance floor belongs to Gudin, who had known Napoleon since childhood. Both men attended the Military School in Brienne, in France's Champagne region. Upon hearing of Gudin's death, Napoleon reportedly cried and ordered that his friend's name be engraved on the Arc de Triomphe, according to Euronews.A portrait of Charles Etienne Gudin, who fought in Napoleon's Grande Armée. Photo12/UIG/Getty ImagesRecords from the 1812 Russian invasion note that Gudin's battlefield injuries required him to have his left leg amputated below the knee, Euronews reported. Indeed, the skeleton in the coffin was missing its left leg and showed evidence of injury to the right leg -- details that were also mentioned in those records, the archaeologists said, according to Reuters.Moreover, it was "with a high degree of probability" that the remains the team uncovered belonged to an aristocrat and a military veteran of both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, they said, according to Reuters."It's a historic moment not only for me, but for I think for our two countries," French historian and archaeologist Pierre Malinovsky, who helped find the remains, told the Smolensk newspaper Rabochiy Put (Worker's Journey), according to Reuters. "Napoleon was one of the last people to see him alive, which is very important, and he's the first general from the Napoleonic period that we have found."The general has known living descendants, so researchers plan to test the skeleton for DNA. That way, they'll be able to say for sure whether the remains are those of Gudin.Gudin, however, is hardly the only French fatality recently found in Russia. Earlier this year, scientists did a virtual facial reconstruction of a man in his 20s who was slashed in the face with a saber and died during the invasion of Russia. * 19 of the World's Oldest Photos Reveal a Rare Side of History * Photos: Mass Graves Hold 17th-Century Prisoners of War * Photos: A 400-Year-Old War Grave RevealedOriginally published on Live Science.
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| Saudi Arabia to 'ease' male guardianship law restricting women's travel Posted: 11 Jul 2019 10:18 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning to relax its strict male guardianship laws to allow women to travel without requiring permission, in what would be the biggest reform yet to women's rights in the ultra-conservative kingdom. The move would end guardianship laws pertaining to travel for men and women over 18 years old, allowing them to leave the country without the consent of a designated male family member, according to the Wall Street Journal. It was not clear exactly when it would come into force, but it was reported it could happen as early as this year. There was no immediate comment from the Saudi government. The decision, which has not been officially announced but is reported to have been made "at the top", comes after several high-profile cases of Saudi women requesting asylum abroad having fled their families. Saudi women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul was arrested last year after campaigning for the abolishment of male guardianship laws Credit: Reuters Male guardianship laws related to women's right to marry, work, leave prison and a number of other rights, however, would still be in place. The issue of male guardianship is extremely sensitive in the kingdom, where traditional, tribal families view what they consider to be the protection of women as a man's duty. Women, even as adults, can be prevented from doing anything from travelling, marrying, renting, and working without permission. There is even a government app that helps alert male guardians if female relatives try to check in at any of the kingdom's airports. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's had promised a tranche of reforms aimed at liberalising and opening up the country to the world. The royal court announced a decision to allow women to drive after a decades-long ban in late 2017. But before the new law came into force the following June, more than a dozen women's rights activists who had campaigned for the right to drive and against the guardianship system were arrested. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a plenary session on the second day of the G20 Leader's Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Credit: Handout A number are still being held more than a year on, raising questions as to the seriousness of Prince Mohammed's vision for the kingdom. Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, drew worldwide attention when she barricaded herself in an airport hotel room in Bangkok in January after fleeing her family during a trip to Kuwait. Her social media pleas on Twitter prompted quick action by the UNHCR and she was granted asylum in Canada. Miss Qunun's successful escape inspired others to copy her and a number of other women fled abroad to seek asylum, including Maha al-Subaie, 28, and Wafa al-Subaie, 25, who claimed from Georgia that they were being badly treated by their father. Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun arrives at Toronto Pearson International Airport Credit: Reuters Saudi observers say that dismantling the law and customs will not be easy, particularly in more rural, conservative areas outside cosmopolitan cities such as Riyadh and Jeddah. Even loosening the rules on foreign travel could fuel disapproval if it leads to many women leaving the country. "Saudi has promised to end the guardianship system over the past decade at least a few times at the UN Human Rights Council sessions," tweeted Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "But it has only done it in dribs and drabs. But this will be a big deal if promise is kept. "Keep in mind, the women who have struggled and sacrificed for years to end the male guardianship system remain jailed and face long prison sentences for no reason than having demanded what the government has now promised to do."
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| Mike Pence heads to border to defend migrant facilities as Democrats decry 'unconscionable' conditions Posted: 12 Jul 2019 09:57 AM PDT  Mike Pence will tour a migrant detention center while House Democrats host a hearing about the centers featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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| Colin Kaepernick's skin appears darkened in Republican campaign fundraiser ad Posted: 11 Jul 2019 06:45 AM PDT  A fundraising email sent by the National Republican Congressional Committee included a picture of Colin Kaepernick that appeared noticeably altered to make his skin darker, an attack ad tactic that is considered by many as racist.
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