| SC murder suspect planned escape with fire, attack on guards Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:02 AM PDT  An inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge planned an escape from a county jail in South Carolina by having fellow prisoners set fire to a mattress and attack guards trying to help them escape the smoke while he scaled a barbed wire topped fence, authorities said. The sheriff said he poured as many deputies and other officers into the search as he could because Stinnette was so dangerous. Stinnette killed a man during an argument in 2018, buried his body and dug it up twice because he feared someone was talking to police before finally dumping the remains in Lake Marion, Dennis said.
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| Water dousing of NY police officers sparks row Posted: 26 Jul 2019 12:29 AM PDT  President Donald Trump waded into a debate about police restraint Thursday, after two videos went viral showing officers being doused in water in New York. The separate incidents occurred during a heat wave that swept large regions of the United States last weekend bringing record temperatures. What took place in NYC with water being tossed on NYPD officers was a total disgrace," Trump tweeted.
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| Ruth Bader Ginsburg praises Brett Kavanaugh as 'very decent' man Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:58 AM PDT  Liberal Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has defended the two most recent additions to America's highest court as "very decent, very smart" individuals, in spite of ongoing controversy surrounding their nomination.Ms Ginsburg defended justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, on Wednesday during a Q&A with a former law clerk of hers, Neil Siegel, at Duke University.The defence came after Mr Siegel suggested to her that "nominees for the Supreme Court are not chosen primarily anymore for independence, legal ability, [and] personal decency, and I wonder if that's a loss for all of us."Ms Ginsburg responded then: "My two newest colleagues are very decent, very smart individuals."Mr Gorsuch and Mr Kavanaugh were both nominated to the court by Donald Trump, and both attracted their fair share of criticism.Mr Gorsuch, who was the president's first Supreme Court nominee, was controversial from the beginning, after Republicans in the Senate held his seat open for months at the end of Barack Obama's presidency, breaking from tradition in nominating new justices.Mr Kavanaugh's controversy stems from his Senate confirmation hearings, when he was accused of sexual misconduct as a high school and college student.Ms Ginsburg had previously praised Mr Kavanaugh for hiring an all-female law clerk team.
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| How North Korea Could Launch a Nuclear War from the Sea Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  North Korea's Kim dynasty has long practiced an unsubtle form of political signaling which can be summed up: when things aren't going its way, launch some missiles.Thus after National Security Advisor John Bolton, who has long advocated forceful "regime change" in North Korea, met with South Korean officials in July 2019, Pyongyang celebrated his arrival by test-firing two new short-range ballistic missiles.And as U.S. troops prepared to embark on their its first major military exercise with South Korea after a long hiatus in August 2019, on July 22 Pyongyang released photos of Kim Jong Un in gray suit visiting a dry dock to inspect what analysts have concluded is an old Romeo-class submarine modified to launch ballistic missiles through its sail (conning tower).A KCNA press release pointedly indicated the submarine's role in "strategic tasks"—a very thinly-veiled reference to its role launching nuclear weapons.
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| Fear, confusion, despair: the everyday cruelty of a border immigration court Posted: 25 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  At a federal immigration court in El Paso, Texas, asylum seekers wait in limbo as a result of Trump's policiesA resident of a migrant shelter watches a soccer match at a nearby park on 9 June. Photograph: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty ImagesJudge Sunita Mahtabfar, presiding over the El Paso immigration court in south-west Texas, kicked off the hearing by asking the 16 asylum seekers a question."Is anyone here afraid to return to Mexico?" she said.There was a chorus of "Sí", at least from the adults. Three of the four children in court dozed, slumped against their parents on the unforgiving wooden benches. They had been up for hours, having been summoned to a meeting point in Juárez at 4.30am. One five-year-old boy was lying on the carpet floor, softly singing as he played with a plastic water bottle."Let me ask it a different way," Mahtabfar said. "If anyone here is not afraid to return to Mexico, please raise your hand."No hands were raised.Most of the 16 people in court had made the long, frequently dangerous, journey from their homes in Central America, hoping to live in the United States.But upon arriving at the US-Mexico border, and attempting to apply for asylum, they had instead been ordered back across the Rio Grande River that forms the border here, to Juárez – one of the most dangerous cities in the world.A migrant from El Salvador shows her documents from Migrant Protection Protocols on 16 June. Photograph: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty ImagesThis was the first hearing in a months-long process to determine whether they will be granted asylum in the US. It got off to an inauspicious start. The court's computer system was experiencing difficulties. After changing out the desktop computer at the judge's desk three times, the hearing was eventually switched to a different room. It was 10.30am, two hours behind schedule, before the session began. While they waited for a working computer, the people in court were kept under heavy security. To use the bathroom, each was escorted by security guards, there and back. They would be returned to Juárez immediately after the hearing.Their exile to wait in limbo in Mexico is the result of the Trump administration's controversial Remain in Mexico, or Migrant Protection Protocols policy, which has turned back tens of thousands of women, men and children since being introduced in March.With little money, these asylum seekers are forced to live in shelters, in abandoned properties or sometimes on the streets just south of the US border, in cities where immigrants have been sexually assaulted, kidnapped and murdered.On 17 July those in the court, a small, windowless room on the seventh floor of an austere building in downtown El Paso, were well aware of the danger in Juárez. Many were terrified of returning.One 24-year-old woman, wearing a grey T-shirt with her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, sobbed as she pleaded with the judge to let her stay in the US. She was living in Juárez on her own, she said, and a group of men had been following her in recent days.She said she was aware that she was not meant to enter the US without permission, and had intended to wait in Juárez until she was allowed to enter."But when I went to work at 8am in the morning there were some people following me," she said."So I turned myself in at the bridge."Another woman, a 26-year-old from Cuba, had tried to enter the US on 4 May, but had been sent back to Juárez. She, too, was in tears as she told the judge she was in danger in Mexico."I just wanted to tell you I have an affidavit from my family, who are American citizens," she said through the court translator."I am over here by myself in Mexico, and it is quite hard for me to be here by myself."Under Remain in Mexico, the judge told her: "Unfortunately that is not possible." Both women were told they could have "credible fear" interviews – essentially where a government official gauges how much danger they would be in if they returned to Mexico – but there were no guarantees. The interviews are not open to the press.The Guardian spent two days attending the El Paso federal immigration court, gaining an insight into the fear, confusion and, in some cases, incompetence, that the Trump administration's immigration policies have led to on the US-Mexico border.Despite the well-documented, appalling conditions in some government detention centers north of the border, there was a stream of people pleading to taken into US custody. One woman, María, said she was afraid to return to Juárez. Two men had been killed two blocks away from where she was staying. A Cuban man said five of his countrymen had been kidnapped in recent weeks.Members of the Mexican national guard patrol the banks of the Rio Bravo in Ciudad Juárez. Photograph: Hérika Martínez/AFP/Getty ImagesBut some of the most harrowing stories coming to light were of the people who had not made it to court.On Wednesday, the attorney for a 19-year-old Honduran told Judge Nathan Herbert that the teenager was unable to make her court date because she had gone missing.The woman had attended court for her preliminary hearing on 22 May. She had told the judge she was afraid to return to Juárez, and was granted a credible fear interview. She was deemed not to be in danger, and was sent back to Mexico, with instructions to reappear in court in July.The 19-year-old has not been seen or heard from since."The last contact was 22 May," immigration attorney John Moore said in court.Moore said the day she returned to Mexico was the last day she used WhatsApp, her primary mode of communication, and she never returned to the shelter where she had been staying. Despite hiring a private investigator, Moore had been unable to contact the sponsor the teenager had named in the US, or her family.The judge heard all this on Wednesday afternoon, then tried the 19-year-old's case in absentia anyway. She was refused entry to the US. Her bid for asylum was denied.A view of the Richard C White federal building in El Paso, Texas, where immigration court hearings take place. Photograph: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty ImagesIn El Paso, where thousands of migrants have arrived in the past few months, few are able to find lawyers amid the chaos.Instead, many attempt to represent themselves – an almost impossible task, given that asylum application papers are legal documents that have to be filed in English, with supporting evidence also translated into English by a certified translator.Until recently, immigration advocates were allowed to speak to asylum seekers in court, before their cases are heard. They could explain what the hearing would entail – many migrants believe that on their first day in court they might be admitted to the US immediately, when in reality it is a months-long, arcane process – and advise them of their rights.But in an example of the on-the-hoof policy introduced in courts, that was abruptly stopped on 24 June."All these people are at imminent risk of danger and I could be helping them with that, for free," said Taylor Levy, an immigration lawyer who was in court on Tuesday, and has previously represented immigrants in El Paso pro-bono.Levy said she was given no prior warning by court officials that she would no longer be able to talk to asylum seekers, until the day it happened.A week later, she was told she could no longer give out coloring books and crayons, something she had been doing for months to help occupy children while their parents pleaded their cases during the long hearings in court.> We already spent one month in Mexico. We haven't been able to sleep for two nights> > DarwinAdam Serwer, a staff writer for the Atlantic, coined the phrase "the cruelty is the point" to describe Donald Trump's approach to politics. The term was swiftly picked up and applied, in particular, to the government's approach to immigrants: the children in cages, the people crammed in dirty shelters or border detention. And the asylum seekers who have terrifying stories of violence and exploitation in their home countries, then are turned around and sent to wait in fear in Mexico. It was deliberate, some have argued, designed to stop people seeking asylum in the US.There is evidence that the practice might be working.On the Tuesday afternoon, a 30-year-old Honduran man named Darwin sat at the front of the court with his 10-year-old son, Christopher. They had crossed the Rio Grande, at El Paso, on 7 June. He was hoping for a better life, looking "to work, and for him to study", Darwin said, gesturing towards Christopher.Both looked exhausted, red-eyed and dishevelled. Christopher seemed to be crying as his father spoke, to tell the judge that he had changed his mind about entering the US."We already spent one month in Mexico," Darwin said, through the court interpreter."We haven't been able to sleep for two nights. Look at him, and look at me."The judge told Darwin that he and Christopher would be taken into custody, and flown back to Honduras. Despite the gang violence and unemployment that has caused thousands of people to flee their country, both father and son looked relieved to be returning home – at least to bring their ordeal at the US border to an end.Perhaps the cruelty really is the point.
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| Austrian triathlete Nathalie Birli survives kidnapping after convincing man to free her Posted: 26 Jul 2019 06:59 AM PDT  An Austrian triathlete survived a kidnapping in which she was first hit by a car, tied up with duct tape and then taken to a remote house where she was held for hours before convincing her abductor to release her, police said. A 33-year-old man has been arrested. Nathalie Birli, 27, was training with her bicycle on a road in Kumberg in southern Austria on Tuesday afternoon when she was abducted, Graz police spokesman Fritz Grundnig said. The attacker, whose name wasn't given according to Austrian privacy rules, was arrested on Wednesday. Birli said that she was on her bicycle when a car rammed into her and knocked her over, according to an interview published in local newspaper Krone on Thursday. She said she broke her left arm in the fall and the driver then beat her with a stick and threw her into the back seat. Birli, who has a 14-week-old son, said that she lost consciousness for a while, and when she woke up she was naked and tied to an armchair, Krone reported. "He was full of hatred," she said. "He blindfolded me, forced me to drink wine and schnapps and he always held a knife in his hand." Birli said at some point he held her nose and mouth and she thought he wanted to suffocate her but then stopped and forced her into a bathtub with cold water "to drown me." She said the situation began to change when she saw that there were a lot of orchids in the house and she expressed her admiration for the plants. "All of a sudden the attacker was nice to me," Birli told Krone. He told her that he was a gardener and started talking about his horrible life - "a dead father, a mother addicted to alcohol and girlfriends who betrayed him," Birli said. Birli said that was the moment when she suggested a "deal" to the man. "'Let's pretend it was an accident,' I offered him, 'and you let me go.'" He agreed, took off the duct tape and drove her all the way home, she said. "I went right into the house, locked the door and called my partner," Birli said. Police managed to track down the suspect and he was arrested early Wednesday by Austria's Cobra special forces. Birli, in a Facebook post on Wednesday, said the experience was like a "bad movie" and thanked all who went out looking for her when she was missing. "Thank God I could liberate myself, and other than a fractured arm and a head injury, I'm fine," she said.
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| Syrian girls captured in viral photo fight for survival Posted: 26 Jul 2019 07:41 AM PDT  The picture went viral on social media networks: two dust-covered Syrian girls, trapped in rubble, grab their baby sister from her shirt as she dangles from a bombed-out building. The picture was captured on Wednesday by Bashar al-Sheikh, a photographer working with local news website SY24, moments after warplanes pummelled the town of Ariha in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib. Of the three girls shown in the photo, one is dead and two are fighting to stay alive, after regime airstrikes hit their home, said Dr. Ismail, who treated the victims in a nearby hospital but asked that his last name not be revealed.
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| 2 North Carolina bomb squad agents injured in explosion Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:29 AM PDT |
| Sightings confirmed in Canada manhunt after murder of 3, including NC woman, as suspect's father speaks out Posted: 26 Jul 2019 03:35 PM PDT  Two teens are accused of killing a young couple, Chynna Deese of North Carolina and Lucas Fowler of Australia, as well as a third victim from Canada.
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| Trump speech: Staffer responsible for fake US presidential seal with Russian eagles and golf clubs fired Posted: 25 Jul 2019 01:17 PM PDT  A Turning Point USA employee has been fired over their involvement in placing an altered presidential seal behind Donald Trump during a speech earlier in the week.A spokesperson for the conservative group told the Washington Post, that a member of its video team responsible for the seal, which featured a two-headed eagle similar to the one on Russia's seal as well as a pack of golf clubs, had been dismissed."We did let the individual go," the spokesperson said. "I don't think it was malicious intent, but nevertheless."Neither Turning Point nor the White House knows who originally created the seal, but the Post found a similar design on an online store called called Inktale, under a creator named OneTermDonnie.In the store's design, which is sold on t-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, and other accessories, the seal also has a banner that reads " 45 es un titere," which is Spanish for "45 is a puppet."A source told CNN that the fake presidential seal appeared on the screen after the video team was told they needed to find hi-res image of the seal on short notice, leading to a flustered Google search. "One of our video team members did a Google Image search for a high-res png presidential seal," the source said. They added that the team member "did the search and with the pressure of the event, didn't notice that it is a doctored seal."The president addressed a crowd of 1,500 young conservatives in front of the seal as the main speaker at the organisation's Teen Student Action Summit in Washington, DC. His 80-minute speech included praise for newly installed UK prime minister Boris Johnson, as well as a claim that the president has absolute power according to the US constitution, which is not true.
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| Saudi-led forces, Israel among states rapped by U.N. for killing children Posted: 26 Jul 2019 03:43 PM PDT ![Saudi-led forces, Israel among states rapped by U.N. for killing children]( "Saudi-led forces, Israel among states rapped by U.N. for killing children") A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition fighting in Yemen killed or injured 729 children during 2018, accounting for nearly half the total child casualties, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report to the Security Council on Friday that blacklisted the coalition for a third year. Guterres also reported that the highest number of Palestinian children had been killed or injured last year since 2014, mainly by Israeli forces, though no parties were blacklisted in the annex to the annual Children in Armed Conflict report, seen by Reuters. The report, which does not subject those listed to action but rather shames parties to conflicts in the hope of pushing them to implement measures to protect children, has long been controversial with diplomats saying Saudi Arabia and Israel both exerted pressure in recent years in a bid to stay off the list.
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| Indonesia's Mount Tangkuban Perahu volcano erupts as tourists flee 600-foot ash cloud Posted: 26 Jul 2019 08:28 AM PDT  An Indonesian volcano popular with tourists erupted Friday, forcing visitorsto flee the area
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| Photo of mother begging Mexican guard becomes symbol of migrants' struggle Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:15 AM PDT  Viral images show Ledy Pérez sobbing as she pleads with an armed guard to let her and her son aged six cross the US-Mexico borderGuatemalan migrant Ledy Pérez embraces her son, Anthony, while praying to ask a member of the Mexican national guard to let them cross into the US, as seen from Ciudad Juárez. Photograph: José Luis González/ReutersLedy Pérez grasped her six-year-old son and sobbed as she begged a Mexican guard to let her bring him across the US-Mexico border and to, hopefully, a better future than the one she faced at home in Guatemala.The image of Pérez embracing her son, Anthony Díaz, as he stares at guards clad in desert fatigues and armed with assault rifles has made headlines in Mexico and gone viral in the US.Through sobs, Pérez repeatedly asks the officers let her pass in a video posted by Mexico's El Universal newspaper. "Don't let them send me back," she says. "I just want to give my son a better life."Ledy Pérez reacts while holding hands with her son, Anthony, while asking to members of the Mexican national guard to let them cross into the US. Photograph: José Luis González/ReutersFamilies arrived at the US border from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador at record rates in the spring, fleeing a toxic mix of violence, poverty, food insecurity, climate change and corruption.Under pressure from the US to stem the flow, Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, directed nearly a third of the country's militarized national guard police force to patrol the border. He insists the rights of migrants must be upheld, but the image of Pérez's plight garnered criticism in Mexico.On Tuesday, former Mexican president Felipe Calderón retweeted the photo and wrote: "What a pity! The Mexico government should not have accepted this"The national guard deployment, along with the hot summer weather, saw the number of people apprehended at the border fall in June though the factors driving people out of the region, known as the Northern Triangle, have not been resolved.Pérez embraces her son while facing Mexico's national guard. There was no overt aggression in the nine-minute encounter in Ciudad Juárez, the photographer, José Luis González, told Reuters. Photograph: José Luis González/ReutersThe Reuters photographer José Luis González captured the powerful images and said the soldier centered in the photo did not provide his name, but said he was only following orders. There was no overt aggression in the nine-minute encounter in Ciudad Juárez, González told Reuters.Pérez was undaunted by the soldiers' steely response and lunged for the border with her son when the soldier looked away, Gonález said. Sprinting across the riverbank, the pair made it out of the national guard's jurisdiction into US territory, where they were taken into custody by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).From there, they could be brought to a US detention facility, freed until their immigration case is heard by a judge or returned to Mexico while their asylum claim is processed.Pérez embraces her son as she pleads with Mexican armed police. Photograph: José Luis González/ReutersThe crossing Pérez and Anthony eventually made is often characterized as an "illegal" entry, despite the Trump administration making legal crossings for asylum seekers nearly impossible. The difficulty of requesting asylum has driven people to attempt entry at other parts of the border, often with the intent of being apprehended by US border patrol.Under an informal policy known as "metering", asylum seekers must wait months before they are allowed to approach US officials and request asylum. Nearly 20,000 people who have managed to request asylum from a US official have since been returned to Mexico to wait for their case to be processed as part of the Trump administration's opaque Remain in Mexico policy. The returned migrants have told journalists, advocates and courts that they were extorted, assaulted and raped in Mexico.Pérez and Anthony sprinted across the riverbank, made it out of national guard jurisdiction and into US territory, where they were taken into custody by US Customs and Border Protection. Photograph: José Luis González/ReutersIt is unclear what comes next for Pérez and her son, but the photographer said her face in the photos was "a small reflection of all migrants' suffering".González said: "A lot of people judge migrants, ask why don't they stay in their country, why do they come here or why are they crossing into the United States … Every migrant has a story."
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| View Photos of the 2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:51 AM PDT |
| Indian navy rescues hundreds stranded on train in floods Posted: 26 Jul 2019 05:35 PM PDT  Indian navy helicopters and emergency service boats came to the rescue of more than 800 people stranded on a train in floods near Mumbai on Saturday. The Mahalaxmi Express left Mumbai late Friday for Kolhapur but travelled only 60 kilometres (37 miles) before it became stranded after a river burst its banks in torrential rain, covering the tracks. The train was stuck for about 12 hours in Thane district before authorities called in the Indian navy and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) who deployed helicopters, boats, and divers.
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| US ship sails through Taiwan Strait after threat of force from China against independence Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:20 AM PDT  An American warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the US Navy and Taiwanese authorities said on Thursday, a day after China - which views Taiwan as a renegade province - unveiled a defence white paper threatening to use force to thwart any move towards the self-ruled island's independence, and accusing the United States of undermining global stability. It also followed an unprecedented joint Chinese-Russian air force exercise this week that triggered furious protests of airspace violations from South Korea and Japan. According to the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, a guided-missile cruiser conducted a routine transit through the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. The transit "demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific", the Fleet said in a statement. "The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows." American warships periodically conduct navigation exercises in the waterway, sparking angry responses from China. But Beijing's reaction to the latest sail-by was relatively restrained, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying China had "expressed its concerns to the American side". Hua said China urges the United States to "treat Taiwanese issues with care and diligence so as not to undermine Sino-American relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait". China views any ships passing through the strait as a breach of its sovereignty, while the US and many other nations view the route as international waters open to all. Last month, a Canadian frigate and a support vessel also passed through the strait in a recent string of such transits.
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| Turkey determined to destroy 'terror corridor' in Syria Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:25 AM PDT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday his country is determined to destroy what he called a "terror corridor" in northern Syria — regardless of whether or not Turkey and the United States agree on the establishment of a so-called "safe zone" there. U.S. and Turkish officials have been holding talks on creating a safe zone east of the Euphrates River to address Turkey's security concerns stemming from the presence of Syrian Kurdish fighters in the region. Turkey views the Kurdish fighters — who have battled the Islamic State group alongside U.S. forces — as terrorists, allied with a Kurdish insurgency within Turkey.
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| View Photos of our New Long-Term 2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt Posted: 25 Jul 2019 10:44 AM PDT |
| Trump administration plan for Bears Ears slammed as 'recklessly' weakening protections Posted: 26 Jul 2019 12:05 PM PDT  The Bureau of Land Management posted to the federal register the management plan for the Utah monument, which was created by former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2016 to protect Native American cultural and archaeological sites but reduced in size by 85% by Republican President Donald Trump in 2017 to open up the land to resource extraction, grazing, logging and vehicle use. While U.S. national parks can be created only by an act of Congress, national monuments can be designated unilaterally by presidents and a century-old federal law meant to protect sacred sites, artifacts and historical objects.
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| Honduras: Where climate change and mass migration have created a village of women Posted: 26 Jul 2019 05:04 AM PDT  They call it the village of women, but the name is not entirely accurate.There are some young boys and older men, along with a handful in their prime. But officials say women now make up at least 75 per cent of La Cumbre, with dozens of their husbands, brothers and sons having left in search of work in the US. More depart every day, their first stop being the border with Guatemala, marked by the Motagua River, which flashes over the hills like a necklace of jewels.Life amid these coffee plantations has never been easy. But in recent years, a new challenge has beset villagers: climate change. Locals say that for the last decade there has been insufficient rainfall to ensure a decent harvest. This, on top of fungal blight and the low price of beans, has pushed many to the edge. Thousands have borrowed the $5,000 demanded by a coyote, or people smuggler, to mule them to the United States. That fee is said to be good for three attempts.Vincente Madrid Norrriega, deputy mayor of Trascerros, the municipality 60 miles west of San Pedro Sula to which La Cumbre belongs, estimates the area's total population has fallen from 10,000 to 7,000 in the last couple of years. La Cumbre's has been slashed to 450, from 700 in 2012. "The migration always used to happen, but over the last two years it's really increased," he says, sitting in his office in the neat town centre. "We are worried. We can't be without people in this area."The impact of the sudden departure of 30 per cent of the population has been dramatic. Businesses have shut, shops have closed. "This last year, we had 52 school teachers. Now it's down to 22 - this is because there are fewer students."The migration has been felt in other ways. Parents are upset when their children declare they are leaving, fearful about the dangerous, sometimes deadly journey they are about to undertake. People are saddened when they no longer see their friends. Business owners fear they could be next to go under. And a general sense of ill anxiety hangs over town.Of those who left, perhaps 200 have returned to the area around Trascerros, either voluntarily or having been deported. In 2018, the US immigration enforcement agency, known as ICE, deported 28,894 Hondurans – the equivalent of 80 people a day."The government has abandoned the city. For years we have been asking them to build roads, but they don't want to help," says Norrriega.Honduras is at the very nexus of Central America's migration crisis. A series of human caravans that last year made their way towards the southern US border were made up overwhelmingly of citizens of this country of 10m people, along with some from El Salvador and Guatemala.Donald Trump, who has placed a tough anti-immigration policy at the centre of his race-baiting re-election strategy, termed the caravan "an invasion" and warned the people of Honduras via Twitter "our military is waiting for you".Such words have not deterred people who sense they have nothing to lose in leaving a place beset by economic problems, with a dire lack of opportunities for young people, and endemic gang violence. This part of the country has always depended on coffee for its income, but it can no longer do so. Firstly, six years ago, the coffee was struck by fungal blight, then in 2016 the world price for beans plummeted to its lowest since 2006, the result, according to industry experts, of an over production of lower grade coffee, especially by countries such as Brazil.Now, people are also having to confront extreme weather.Norrriega says for nine years the weather pattern has shifted, and there has not been enough rain for the beans to completely grow, and they can remain hard. Farmers now need double the amount of beans they previously required to fill a sack to take to market. "It's climate change. People are talking about it a lot." On a shaded terrace above the town, Jorge Ardon, a 40-year-old coffee farmer, reveals what the beans look like when they do not get enough water – hard, and tough to the point of being shrivelled.Ardon believes one reason for the drop in rainfall was the logging of trees several decades ago. "Another factor is climate change." One unforeseen impact on the industry on which "100 per cent of people depend on", has been an increase in gang activity in a town that previously had none. "There are groups that try to do extortion. This has only been the last couple of years."A 2017 report by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said the "impacts of climate variability are already significant in Honduras". It said this had triggered "acute food insecurity, malnutrition and mass migration to poorly prepared urban areas". The problem created by climate change and extreme weather is not unique to Trascerros, or indeed, Honduras. In Lempira, a coffee growing area in western Honduras that is part of the "dry corridor" that reaches from southern Mexico to Panama and is the focus of international efforts to counter the lack of rainfall, thousands of farms have reportedly closed. Left with no alternative work, huge numbers have migrated. Last year, a report by the World Bank said the amount of land suitable for growing coffee in Central America could fall by 40 per cent by 2050, and that 1.4m people may be forced to leave their homes. In Honduras, perhaps one million people work in the coffee industry, according to Dutch food security researchers at Wageningen University."Climate migration will not occur in isolation, and the subregion will also see a marked increase in the number of other internal migrants driven by economic, social, or environmental reasons," said the World Bank report.Stephanie Leutert, director of the Mexico Security Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin, has been interviewing migrants who joined the caravans and compiling data on where they come from. She says many spoke of unpredictable weather as the reason they left the land. "They talk about climate change like it's a tax." She says data released by the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) of people apprehended by agents at the US-Mexico border shows that the number of people from Lempira, Honduras' main coffee region, had more than doubled from 2017 to 2018. Others unable to make a living from the land move to cities such as Tegucigalpa.La Cumbre is accessible only by a jarring, rutted track. It feels as hushed as a cathedral. There is little traffic, barely any movement. There is none of the bustle usually associated with a community in this region. Many homes are empty, their doors bolted shut. The small church sees far fewer people at its services than even a few years ago.Since her husband left a year ago, entering the US with the help of a coyote, Marcia Elena Pineta has been taking care of their small shop, and caring for three daughters, aged five, seven and 13. Her husband works in construction and sends money home, but life is not easy. "He left because you can work here and never see the benefits. He said: 'I need to go there and work to help my family'," she says, her youngest daughter Roxanne perched on a knee.She says she speaks to her husband every day using WhatsApp, but it was not the same as having him there. His life in the United States is also difficult."We don't talk about how long he will stay. It's up to God," she says. "It's very hard, but with God's help you carry on. The community feels very different. I don't think people will stop leaving."Another woman, Antonia Reaz, says her husband left two weeks ago with their 14-year-old son. People in the village say they believe having a child with them increases their chances of being permitted to enter the US if they are stopped. The woman's husband and son, Madondo Lopez, were detained almost immediately. She sobs as she holds a photograph of her boy, a bright smile on his face, as he graduated from the school's sixth grade, a couple of years ago. She says she has not heard from them and is gnarled with worry.Somehow, she has to find a way to take care of her three daughters. "Right now, I have all the responsibility because he went away," she says, her eyes locked downwards."At the beginning, I did not want him to go. I said: 'We have no relatives there'. But then some of our relatives reached there, so we took the decision."Asked if she too wishes to go the US, her answer comes back rapid-fire fast. "I don't want to go. That is not my dream."Freddie Vasquez, 56, is among the few men of working age in La Cumbre and he is considering leaving. He is married and has eight children – six sons and two daughters. Some are working in Guatemala."If you go to the US, you can make money to buy land or cattle," he says. "But there are a lot of challenges there; if you lose your focus, you can lose your way."Vasquez and other villagers say La Cumbre has changed dramatically. There are fewer boys in school. Women now in charge of the family's land have to pay men to do work previously carried out by their husbands or relatives.The physical appearance of the village has also changed. It is easy to tell the homes of people whose relatives have made it to the US and send money back. Fresh paint, new doors, even new rooms. These families eat better food.Among the nicest homes is that of Belsis Lopez. Her husband travelled to the US in the summer of 2016 with a brother, and lives in a state where it appears many men from this village ended up. He works building roofs and sends money home regularly – something that has enabled her to improve their house.But she says she had her three children – two daughters aged 12 and 17, and 14-year-old son – would rather their father was back with them."Every day I talk to him. He needs to return," she says quietly, standing outside their brightly painted home."He went because of the economic situation, but I was rather he was here."Additional reporting: Paulo Cerrato in La CumbreRead the first part in the Beyond the Border series, here: Honduras: Inside ground zero of the Central American migrant crisis
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| Loose tire rolls down New Jersey highway until crashing into car Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:34 PM PDT  It was a wild scene in New Jersey when a wayward tire rolled down the highway until it went flying into a moving vehicle.
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| Libya Hit Haftar Forward Airbase After Receiving Turkish Drones Posted: 26 Jul 2019 08:18 AM PDT ![Libya Hit Haftar Forward Airbase After Receiving Turkish Drones]( "Libya Hit Haftar Forward Airbase After Receiving Turkish Drones") (Bloomberg) -- Libya's internationally-recognized government said it conducted airstrikes for the first time against the main forward airbase for eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar, destroying a hangar containing drones and a Russian-made military transport plane.The strike on the airbase in Jufra, Haftar's central Libyan staging ground for a three-month offensive on Tripoli, came days after the strongman's forces announced a renewed attempt to seize the capital in a battle that has stalled at the city's outskirts and drawn in increasing foreign intervention.The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord was not known to have aircraft capable of conducting precision nighttime strikes. It has improved its capabilities with the receipt of armed Turkish Bayraktar drones in recent weeks, according to three senior GNA officials, who asked not to be named because the weapons supplies aren't public. Libya has been under a United Nations arms embargo since 2011.Bayraktar, the drone company, is owned by the family of a son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Officials at the company declined to comment when reached by Bloomberg. Facing opposition criticism in parliament for alleged arms shipments to Libya, Emrullah Isler, Erdogan's envoy to the country, said earlier this month that Turkey supports the legitimate, UN-backed government in Tripoli, without elaborating.On the other side of the battle, Haftar's forces have been supported by U.A.E-owned and Chinese-made Wing Loong drones, according to two Western diplomats.The strike on the Jufra airbase destroyed "a hangar containing drones and an Ilyushin 76 transport plane used to supply the armed groups," the GNA military statement said, referring to Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army.Libya splintered in the aftermath of the NATO-backed overthrow of dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011. Haftar's eastern-based forces swept through the south earlier this year before setting their sights on the capital.To contact the reporter on this story: Samer Khalil Al-Atrush in Cairo at skhalilalatr@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Inmate questioned after Jeffrey Epstein is found nearly unconscious in jail cell Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:45 PM PDT  An inmate was questioned over an incident in which financier and convicted sexoffender Jeffrey Epstein was found nearly unconscious in his New York Cityjail cell, WNBC reports
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| Russia warns of 'consequences' after Ukraine seizes tanker Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:55 AM PDT  Ukraine on Thursday seized a Russian tanker it said was used in a naval confrontation last November amid sensitive prisoner swap talks between the two countries who have been at loggerheads since 2014. Kiev's SBU security service said it stopped the tanker, the Neyma, as it entered the port of Izmail in the southern Odessa region. Investigators seized documents onboard and questioned crew members, an SBU statement said.
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| Emily McGuire thought her husband ordered a box from Amazon for her birthday. Then she took a closer look Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:49 PM PDT  Emily McGuire's husband surprised her with a birthday cake decorated like an Amazon package, much to the delight of avid shoppers on Facebook.
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| Why Democrats Are Further Away From Impeachment Than Ever Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:55 AM PDT  On Friday afternoon House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) filed a petition to obtain secret grand jury information currently redacted from the Mueller Report. With articles of impeachment under consideration, this informational probe is "in effect" the same as an impeachment inquiry, according to Nadler, who also called the information "critically important." Next week Nadler is also expected to file a lawsuit to attempt to enforce a subpoena against former White House counsel Donald McGahn. But how significant are Nadler's moves now that special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony on Capitol Hill is widely acknowledged to have fizzled, left-wing activists such as billionaire and Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer are turning their attention back to climate change—and Congress is heading toward a six-week-long recess?Fred Wertheimer, a veteran ethics activist and president of Democracy 21, believes Nadler's move is only a cosmetic change to reflect changing party sentiments. "That's what they've been doing since March. When they announced they would investigate three areas regarding the president: obstruction of justice, public corruption, and abuses of power. They have had articles of impeachment pending referred to the committee months and months ago . . . the investigation they have been conducting since March is the equivalent of an inquiry into whether they should consider impeachment," he told the National Interest.
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| Taliban vows future Afghanistan won't be terrorists' hotbed Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:28 PM PDT  America's longest war has come full circle. The United States began bombing Afghanistan after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to root out al-Qaida fighters harbored by the Taliban. Now, more than 18 years later, preventing Afghanistan from being a launching pad for more attacks on America is at the heart of ongoing U.S. talks with the Taliban.
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| UPDATE 1-Eight killed in quake, aftershocks in Philippines, 60 injured - agency Posted: 26 Jul 2019 07:56 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Eight killed in quake, aftershocks in Philippines, 60 injured - agency]( "UPDATE 1-Eight killed in quake, aftershocks in Philippines, 60 injured - agency") An earthquake and aftershocks struck islands off the north of the Philippines on Saturday killing eight people and injuring 60, disaster officials said. An initial quake of magnitude 5.4 that struck the Batanes islands was followed shortly by an aftershock of magnitude 5.9, according to Philippine government data. Another big aftershock struck a little later.
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| US Navy Seals platoon sent home from Iraq for drinking alcohol as sexual assault allegations investigated Posted: 26 Jul 2019 04:04 AM PDT  The commander of a US Special Operations task force in Iraq has sent home a platoon of Navy SEALs for drinking while deployed after an alleged sexual assault by one of them, US defence officials said, the latest discipline incident that has emerged for an elite force relied upon heavily by the Pentagon.US Special Operations Command said in a statement on Wednesday night that the platoon was forced out early to San Diego by the commander of the task force, Major General Eric Hill, "due to a perceived deterioration of good order and discipline within the team during non-operational periods" of their deployment."The Commander lost confidence in the team's ability to accomplish the mission," the statement said. "Commanders have worked to mitigate the operational impact as this SEAL platoon follows a deliberate redeployment."The statement did not say what led to the decision, but a defence official with knowledge of the situation said that a female service member working with their platoon reported being sexually assaulted by one of the SEALs during the Fourth of July holiday weekend.The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said the report triggered scrutiny of the platoon, including drinking while deployed.The SEALs declined to cooperate with investigators, prompting Maj Gen Hill to send them home for both that and the alcohol use, the official said. The reported assault was first reported on Thursday by the New York Times.A second person, a senior US Navy official, said on Thursday that he was aware of alleged sexual misconduct being a part of the case, but was not sure if an assault had been reported.The officials said that the SEALs involved violated General Order No. 1, which bans alcohol use while deployed.The SEALs were members of SEAL Team 7, which has headquarters in San Diego when not deployed, one of the defence officials said.The defence official familiar with the sexual assault report said that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is overseeing the sexual assault case, while other military officials investigate administratively the culture and actions in the unit.Commander Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman for Naval Special Warfare Command, said in a statement on Wednesday night that her unit is "actively reinforcing" with the entire force "basic leadership, readiness, responsibility and ethical principles that must form the foundation of special operations"."Leaders at all levels must lead in a way that sustains and sharpens that foundation," she said. "Discipline is a competitive advantage, and enforcing those standards is critical to our success on the battlefield."The disclosure by the military comes two days after the independent Navy Times reported that six members of SEAL Team 10 in Virginia Beach tested positive last year for cocaine use.Some of them had masked their use of it in previous tests, some of the SEALs told investigators, Navy Times reported.The Iraq incident also comes after Navy SEALs were implicated in the death of Army Staff Sergeant Logan Melgar, a Special Forces soldier who was strangled in Mali in June 2017.Two members of SEAL Team 6 – Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam Matthews and Chief Special Warfare Operator Anthony DeDolph – and two Marine Raiders were charged with murder.Mr Matthews and one of the Marines, Staff Sergeant Kevin Maxwell, have pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and testified that Mr Melgar was accidentally killed in what the military has called a hazing incident involving alcohol.Another SEAL, Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Gallagher, recently faced court-martial on war-crimes charges that included murder.He was acquitted of the most serious charges but was convicted of posing for an unlawful photo with the remains of an Isis fighter.The government's case against him fell apart after another SEAL who was offered immunity from prosecution to testify said under oath that he, not Mr Gallagher, had been the one who killed a wounded Isis fighter.Washington Post
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| 2020 Vision: Trump blasts Fox News over poll showing him losing to Biden Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:25 AM PDT  A month after he was attacked by Sen. Kamala Harris over his record on race at the first Democratic presidential debate, the former vice president appears to have steadied himself.
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| British PM Johnson tells EU: ditch the backstop or there will be no-deal Brexit Posted: 27 Jul 2019 03:54 AM PDT ![British PM Johnson tells EU: ditch the backstop or there will be no-deal Brexit]( "British PM Johnson tells EU: ditch the backstop or there will be no-deal Brexit") British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cautioned the European Union on Saturday that the Irish backstop, which he said was undemocratic and divisive, needed to be ditched if they were to strike a Brexit divorce deal. "If we get rid of the backstop whole and entire then we are making a lot of progress," Johnson said, when asked if it is was only the Irish border backstop that he wanted changed. "But we can't do it as long as that anti-democratic backstop, that backstop that seeks to divide our country, divide the UK, remains in place," he said.
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| Gunmen dressed as police steal £24 million of gold destined for New York and Zurich from Sao Paulo airport Posted: 26 Jul 2019 01:29 AM PDT  Eight armed men carried out a sophisticated heist at Sao Paulo's main international airport and managed to escape with some 750 kilos of precious metals, airport authorities said Thursday. GRU Airport, which holds the Guarulhos operation concession, said the thieves hauled away gold destined for Zurich and New York by using two cars that looked like police patrol vehicles. They also dressed as officers, covered their faces and carried long weapons before making their getaway, according to security camera footage shown on Globo TV. The television outlet said the vehicles were later abandoned in Jardim Pantanal, a neighborhood located 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the airport. The operator said there were no shootings or injuries during the assault. But a police officer said an airport official and eight members of his extended family, including four minors, had been kidnapped for 12 hours. They were expected to give testimony in the next few hours, he added. The officer requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. Sao Paulo police said they had reinforced surveillance around the area and were searching for the stolen cargo. GRU Airport said flights continue to operate normally.
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| The death of Neil Armstrong and a $6 million secret Posted: 25 Jul 2019 10:43 AM PDT  When Neil Armstrong died in 2012, it was officially put down to complications arising from heart surgery. The Cincinnati Enquirer also received the documents, which were sent anonymously. According to the newspapers, the family had threatened to publicly accuse the hospital of medical malpractice.
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| 'Mind-blowing': Stranded for 4 days, 73-year-old man and his two dogs survive in remote Oregon desert Posted: 26 Jul 2019 03:18 PM PDT  In a stunning tale of survival, Oregon police say Gregory Randolph, 73, and his dogs miraculously survived after being stranded in an Oregon desert.
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| Ex-Host Krystal Ball: MSNBC’s Russia ‘Conspiracies’ Have Done ‘Immeasurable Harm’ to the Left Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:46 AM PDT  A former longtime MSNBC anchor lashed out this week at her former employer over its coverage of the Russia investigation.In a Thursday segment on The Hill's online streaming service, Krystal Ball, the former host of MSNBC's now-cancelled midday show The Cycle, admonished the network for its incessant coverage of the Russia investigation. "MSNBC built segment after segment, show after show on building anticipation for a big reveal when we would learn the true depths of Trump's fealty and direct conspiracy with Putin," she said.She later argued that the network's left-leaning anchors and personalities have wasted their time making Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe the primary focus of MSNBC coverage over the past several years—in effect diverting attention away from policy issues like health care and wages. As Ball spoke, an over-the-shoulder graphic blared "Immeasurable Harm.""Consider this whole setup has done more damage to the Democrats chances at winning the White House than anything that Trump could ever have dreamed up," Ball declared."Trump really is the crook that we said all along," she continued, "but by trying to make this spectacular case, we set the bar unimaginably high and made Trump's actual corruption, broken promises, and casual cruelty seem ordinary by comparison."Elsewhere in the six-minute monologue, Ball accused MSNBC of cynically following the Russia story in pursuit of ratings, making journalistic compromises along the way.She directly criticized hosts like Rachel Maddow ("You've got some explaining to do," Ball said to her) and on-air analysts like Mimi Rocah (a Daily Beast contributor) for leading viewers to believe that there was a strong possibility that Trump and his family would be indicted. Ball also suggested that the "fevered speculation" of guests like New York columnist Jonathan Chait and former British MP Louise Mensch would have been more at home on conspiracy network Infowars."Russia conspiracy was great for ratings among the key demographic of empty nesters on the coasts with too much time on their hands," said Ball, who now hosts an inside-baseball streaming political talk show for The Hill.This is not the first time Ball has knocked her former employer.During a segment on her program last year, Ball criticized the cancellation of former host Ed Schultz's show following his death."I find it really ironic that they took this incredibly pro-working-class voice off the air right before the Trump era when obviously you had a lot of working class voters who didn't feel like they had a home in the Democratic party any more," she said.MSNBC declined to comment. 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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| AP Explains: How big a threat is an electromagnetic attack? Posted: 27 Jul 2019 07:29 AM PDT |
| North Carolina woman who hurled racial slur at black diners in viral video: 'I would say it again' Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:29 AM PDT  A woman whose profane, racist rant inside a North Carolina restaurant wascaught on camera says she will not apologize for the incident
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| Airline asks two strangers to share hotel room with one bed after missing flight Posted: 27 Jul 2019 02:45 AM PDT  An airline has been asked to apologise after offering two strangers who had missed their flights an overnight stay in a room with a single bed.Elizabeth Coffi Tabu, 71, had been due to return to Paris on 19 July after spending a month with her family in Canada.However, when she missed the second leg of her journey from Montreal after her first flight was delayed, she was offered an overnight stay with another passenger - a 35-year-old man she had never met before.Speaking to CNN, Coffi Tabu's daughter Jerryne Mahele Nyota said: "My mother told the Air Canada agent, 'I don't know this man. We are not a couple,' - but they said there was only one room."She added that her mother, who makes the trip out to North America every year, struggled to make her connection as she was currently a wheelchair user following a run of cancer treatment.Upon discovering the room only had a single bed for them to sleep in, the man offered to spend the night on the sofa.Ms Mahele Nyota added: "He was a perfect gentleman but I obviously felt uncomfortable with my mom spending a night with a man half her age, a man that's a total stranger."After several hours Ms Mahele Nyota was able to arrange for another hotel room for her mother, who received two $10 (£8) food vouchers for her flight and a seat with additional leg room from the airline after explaining her ordeal.She was returned to Paris almost 24 hours after her scheduled arrival time.Mahele Nyota has since called on the airline to apologise, and expressed concern that vulnerable people unable to ask for help could be left in the same situation as her mother.She told Canadian broadcaster CBC: "Now [my mother is] realising, how is it possible? You know? And she said, 'It's not fair, it's not fair, they never gave me another option.'"In a statement an Air Canada spokesperson said: "It is not our policy to have passengers who are not travelling together share a room. In this case an error was initially made allocating rooms."
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| Never-released photos of James Dean's fatal crash up for auction Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:05 PM PDT  RR auction says there are about 30 photos and they expect them to bring in $20,000.
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| RPT-No 'day in court': U.S. deportation orders blindside some families Posted: 26 Jul 2019 06:13 AM PDT ![RPT-No 'day in court': U.S. deportation orders blindside some families]( "RPT-No 'day in court': U.S. deportation orders blindside some families") SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - Carin, a 39-year-old subsistence farmer from Honduras, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her two sons late last year. Carin said she made sure to check the mailbox regularly at the apartment in Colorado where they were living. It was a deportation order.
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| Tennessee inmate declines to choose execution method Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:45 AM PDT ![Tennessee inmate declines to choose execution method]( "Tennessee inmate declines to choose execution method") A Tennessee death row inmate has declined to choose the method of his execution scheduled for mid-August, a non-decision that would result in his death by lethal injection. Tennessee Department of Correction spokeswoman Neysa Taylor confirmed in an email Friday that Stephen West declined to pick his method of execution when given the opportunity. Four inmates have been executed in Tennessee since August 2018.
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| Iran tells Oman neighbours have made talks impossible Posted: 27 Jul 2019 08:30 AM PDT  Iran's neighbours have made talks impossible through their "hasty and arrogant moves", a top security official told Oman's foreign minister in Tehran on Saturday amid a tanker crisis. Oman, a past mediator between Iran and its foes, sent its top diplomat to the Islamic republic amid amplified tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies, including in the Gulf.
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| U.S. tax collectors urge owners of virtual currencies to pay back taxes, file amended returns Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:06 AM PDT  The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Friday said it was sending thousands of letters to taxpayers who failed to report virtual currency transactions, saying they may owe taxes. The IRS said it planned to send over 10,000 letters to taxpayers in an effort that began earlier in July and will continue through August. "Taxpayers who do not properly report the income tax consequences of virtual currency transactions are, when appropriate, liable for tax, penalties and interest," the agency said in a statement.
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| Ultimate Showdown: America's F-15C Eagle vs Russia's Su-57 Posted: 26 Jul 2019 10:00 AM PDT  The Su-57—especially once it receives its new second stage engines—will be a handful for any fourth generation fighter given its combination of speed, maneuverability, stealth and electronic warfare capability. However, the U.S. Air Force does have a plan to defeat enemy stealth aircraft and a counter is already in the works.The venerable Boeing F-15C Eagle has long been hailed as the world's greatest air superiority fighter given its lopsided combat record of 104 kills to zero losses, however, the aging jet is likely near the end of its operational life. Nonetheless, it remains a potent fighter even as it likely heads toward retirement.(This first appeared last year.)The U.S. Air Force is deferring planned upgrades to the Eagle—such as the addition of new electronic warfare systems—until it decides if it wants to keep the increasingly aged airframe. Indeed, as the Air Force has discovered, the F-15C will need an extensive airframe overhaul and structural modifications to remain in service past the mid-2020s. In all likelihood, given that the Congress has refused to allow the service to retire the A-10 Warthog, the Air Force will have little choice but to divest itself of the F-15C to free up funding for more pressing projects. The F-15E Strike Eagle interdictor aircraft, though, will remain in service indefinitely.Recommended: The World's Most Secretive Nuclear Weapons Program.Recommended: The Fatal Flaw That Could Take Down an F-22 or F-35.
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| Parkland parents deliver message to Congress: 'We know the next school mass murderer is already out there' Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:06 PM PDT  Two parents of Parkland shooting victims testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Thursday.
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| Photos of the 2020 Lotus Evora GT Posted: 26 Jul 2019 07:55 AM PDT |
| US teenager detained at border lost 26 pounds in a month: 'It was inhumane how they treated us' Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:38 AM PDT  A US teenager who was detained by border agents for nearly a month, has detailed bleak conditions during his stay, saying: "They were not treating us humanely."Francisco Galicia, who was born in Texas, was detained at a customs and border agency (CBP) checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas on June 27 while travelling with his brother Marlon, a 17-year-old who was born in Mexico, who was also detained. After two days of detention, Marlon signed a voluntary deportation form and was released to his grandmother. Francisco, who was finally released this week, said he almost did the same thing. "It was inhumane how they treated us," he told the Dallas Morning News. "It got to the point where I was ready to sign a deportation paper just to not be suffering there anymore. I just needed to get out of there."Francisco, 18, lost 26 pounds during the 23 days he was detained at the CBP facility due to lack of food. He was not allowed to shower for the duration of his stay, but was given a shower once he was moved to an immigration enforcement agency (ICE) facility. "It was to clean up but the dirt, but you couldn't get rid of it because so much time had passed since we showered," he said.He and 60 other men were held in an overcrowded holding area where they slept on the floor; some were forced to sleep on the restroom area's floor. They were given only aluminium foil blankets.Francisco said ticks bit some of the men. Some were also "very sick", he said, but afraid to ask for a doctor, since CBP officers told them their stay would start over if they did."It's one thing to see these conditions on TV and in the news," he said. "It's another to go through them."The horrifying saga began when officers at the Falfurrias checkpoint questioned his citizenship status. The teenager also had a Mexican tourist visa his mother had obtained for him when he was a minor and she feared she would not be able to legally travel across the border with him.But Francisco says the officers sounded the validity of his identification documents even before knowing that. "I told them we had rights and asked to make a phone call. But they told us, 'You don't have rights to anything,'" he told CNN. "They didn't believe me. I kept telling them over and over, and they kept saying my documents were fake, and they were going to deport me.They threatened me with charges – charges about falsifying documents. Felonies. They kept asking how it was possible for me to not know where I was from."Powerless. That's how I felt," he continued. "How with all this proof that I was giving them could they hold me?" Now, he wants to use his experience to shed light on the sordid conditions enacted by the Trump administration in the camps. "Right now, I'm in a place where I can help those who are still in there – so people can see how they're treated, and change the way they're treated," he said. "I am the eyes and ears of what's happening in there. I can talk. They can't do what I'm doing."
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