| Russian police arrest over 1,000 in Moscow election protest Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:30 AM PDT  Russian police cracked down fiercely Saturday on demonstrators in central Moscow, beating some people and arresting more than 1,000 who were protesting the exclusion of opposition candidates from the ballot for Moscow city council. Police also stormed into a TV station broadcasting the protest. State news agencies Tass and RIA-Novosti cited police as saying 1,074 were arrested over the course of the protests, which lasted more than seven hours.
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| Romania suspect admits murdering two teenage girls Posted: 28 Jul 2019 10:22 AM PDT  A man in Romania has admitted to killing two teenage girls including a 15-year-old whose disappearance this week shook the country and claimed the scalp of the police chief, the suspect's lawyer said Sunday. The suspect, named as 65-year-old Gheorghe Dinca, "has confessed his crimes", lawyer Alexandru Bogdan was quoted as saying by Agerpres news agency. After initially refusing to answer any questions, Dinca eventually caved and admitted to the murders of Alexandra who vanished on Wednesday and 19-year-old Luiza, missing since April.
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| US man allegedly wanted to kill American soldiers, arrested while trying to join Taliban Posted: 27 Jul 2019 12:12 PM PDT  A 33-year-old man faces terror charges after his arrest at a New York airport while allegedly en route to join the Taliban.
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| Man Who Claims He Started ‘Storm Area 51’ Facebook Page Reveals Identity Posted: 28 Jul 2019 04:14 AM PDT  The reported creator of the viral Facebook page "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" revealed his identity to KLAS-TV of Las Vegas on Thursday.Matty Roberts, a California resident, claimed he created the satirical Facebook page, which calls on people across the nation to raid Area 51, the top-secret Air Force facility in Nevada on Sept. 20, 2019. Roberts said he never expected the page to attract so much attention. Since its launch on June 27, 1.6 million people responded they would attend the public invasion, while another 1.2 million are "interested."The Facebook page invites attendees to meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction in order to coordinate the entry, an area that has been surrounded by secrecy for decades."If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens," the event description reads."I posted it on like June 27th and it was kind of a joke," Roberts said. "And then it waited for like three days, like 40 people and then it just completely took off, out of nowhere. It's pretty wild."Roberts said he initially intended for it to be a "meme" page and got the idea after watching podcaster Joe Rogan interview Bob Lazar, an Area 51 whistleblower, about hidden UFO technology in the Nevada desert, according to the KLAS-TV segment."It's entirely satirical, though, and most people seem to understand that," he said.Roberts was hesitant to come forward as the creator, fearing that the FBI would show up to his house.
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| Basil From Mexico Is Likely Cause of Cyclospora Food Poisoning Outbreak Posted: 26 Jul 2019 12:04 PM PDT  A food poisoning outbreak tied to 132 cyclospora illnesses in 11 states was likely caused by fresh basil imported from Mexico by Siga Logistics de RL de CV, the Food and Drug Administration annou...
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| Duterte Visits Quake-Hit Philippine Area as Tremors Continue Posted: 28 Jul 2019 03:58 AM PDT ![Duterte Visits Quake-Hit Philippine Area as Tremors Continue]( "Duterte Visits Quake-Hit Philippine Area as Tremors Continue") (Bloomberg) -- President Rodrigo Duterte visited the northern Philippine province of Batanes on Sunday, a day after earthquakes struck the region and killed at least eight people including a newborn.Duterte conducted an aerial inspection of the damage and order authorities to ensure supplies are provided to victims, the Manila Bulletin said on its Twitter account. He pledged 40 million pesos ($783,000 million) to the province, after his spokesman Salvador Panelo said early Sunday that the president will initiate "the rebuilding of one of the most treasured destinations in the country."The government's disaster risk-monitoring agency has recorded about 180 aftershocks following early Saturday's 5.4 and 5.9 magnitude temblors in the town of Itbayat that left 63 people injured. One person is missing, while nearly 3,000 are staying at a public market after more than a dozen houses, two health facilities and two schools were damaged, the agency said on its website.Duterte also asked the coast guard to patrol Batanes and proposed expanding its runway, the Manila Bulletin said.Houses in Batanes, at the northern tip of the Philippines and less than 400 kilometers away from Taiwan, are made of meter-thick walls of cobblestone and limestone designed to withstand strong typhoons. There are more than 17,200 people in the province, according to statistics agency's 2015 data, and they rely mostly on agriculture for a living.Located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In 2013, a 7.2 magnitude quake hit Bohol province and areas in central Philippines, killing more than 200 people and affecting 600,000 families.(Updates with details of Duterte's visit from first paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Shikhar BalwaniFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump campaign appoints beauty queen who was ‘stripped of title over offensive tweets about Muslims and black people’ Posted: 28 Jul 2019 08:19 AM PDT  A student who lost her beauty queen title over tweets about Muslims and black people is joining a Trump campaign advisory board.Kathy Zhu said she was crowned Miss Michigan but lost her title after organisers discovered her tweets."It has been brought to the attention of Miss World America (MWA) that your social media accounts contain offensive, insensitive and inappropriate content," MWA appears to have said, in an email Ms Zhu posted online.The organisation stated the removal of the title would be enforced "effective immediately", adding that the Republican supporter must remove any reference to herself being a MWA participant on all social media platforms.But the 20-year-old has now been appointed to a Trump campaign advisory board, despite the controversy."I am so excited to now be part of the Women For Trump Coalition Advisory Board!" Ms Zhu said on Friday."Let's get Trump re-elected for 2020!"The official Trump campaign Twitter account described the University of Michigan student as "a patriot who has continued to stand for American values despite being stripped of her crown"."Thank you for your support of President Trump," the account added.Ms Zhu's controversial tweets have now been deleted.According to screenshots obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, the student had encountered and taken umbrage at a "try a hijab" booth at her university campus."So you're telling me that it's now just a fashion accessory and not a religious thing?" she wrote. "Or are you just trying to get women used to being oppressed under Islam?" In a second post, the student replied to a tweet about police violence against the African American community."Did you know that the majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks? Fix problems within your own community first before blaming others," she wrote.In a statement earlier sent to The Independent the 20-year-old said: "I stand by each and every one of my tweets on my account."She added that in her opinion, "Coming out as a conservative is way harder than coming out as gay in today's society."In 2016, Ms Zhu starred in a YouTube video with TV network Fusion titled: "Why this 18-year-old is voting for Donald Trump."While several social media users have expressed messages of support towards her, others have condemned the student over her comments."Don't get it twisted – Kathy Zhu was stripped of her title for disgusting tweets. Tweets that were racist. Not because she is a conservative," one Twitter user wrote.The Independent has contacted Miss World America for comment.
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| Blast, gunbattle at Afghan VP candidate's office, 2 dead Posted: 28 Jul 2019 09:29 AM PDT  The political office of the Afghan president's running mate was hit by a large explosion and stormed by several gunmen who remained holed up inside, Afghan officials said Sunday. The attack in the capital, Kabul, killed at least two people and came on the first day of campaigning for presidential elections, scheduled for late September. Vice-presidential candidate and former intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh was "evacuated from the building and moved to a safe location," said Nasrat Rahimi, the interior ministry spokesman.
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| Murdered Israelis involved in 'money laundering,' says Mexico government Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:36 AM PDT  Two Israelis shot dead in Mexico City were involved in money laundering and had links to local mafias, Mexico's government said on Friday. Alon Azulay, 41, and Benjamin Yeshurun Sutchi, 44, were gunned down in a restaurant inside a mall in the south of the sprawling capital city on Thursday. "These are a settling of scores between organized criminal gangs with various interests," said Alfonso Durazo, the secretary of security and civilian protection.
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| Cyprus police arrest Briton in rape claim, to free Israelis -sources Posted: 28 Jul 2019 02:08 AM PDT ![Cyprus police arrest Briton in rape claim, to free Israelis -sources]( "Cyprus police arrest Briton in rape claim, to free Israelis -sources") Police in Cyprus arrested a 19-year-old British woman on Sunday on suspicion of filing a false complaint of gang rape for which a dozen Israeli teens had been detained as suspects, two police sources said. The woman is being held on suspicion of public mischief. Israeli Education Minister Rafael Peretz, speaking to reporters outside a cabinet meeting on Sunday, said of the Cyprus case: "We need to check the details.
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| A Tale of Two Jeffreys: How the Virgin Islands Welcomed a Rich Sex Offender—and Punished a Poor One Posted: 28 Jul 2019 03:01 AM PDT  Police HandoutsFrom the Virgin Islands comes a tale of two Jeffreys, and the difference great wealth can make when it comes to sex crimes—until it doesn't. Both Jeffreys were convicted of shameful crimes that required them to register as sex offenders in whatever state or jurisdiction they resided.Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to engaging a minor in prostitution in a 2007 plea deal only a super-rich guy could have swung. He did 18 months locked up, mostly in a private wing of the Palm Beach County jail, where he only stayed at night, returning each morning to "work release." He then proceeded to prove that a registered sex offender with enough money in the Virgin Islands can just continue to come and go from a private island off the coast of St. Thomas, with an ever-changing entourage of girls who appeared to be barely in their teens. He would announce his periodic return by raising the American flag over the opulent hideaway identified on the maps as Little Saint James Island, but known to locals as "pedophile island."Jeffrey No. 2—Jeffery Cole—was convicted in Ohio of a misdemeanor charge of voyeurism in 2009. He was a schlub of modest means, but his offense was relatively minor (if creepy) and he needed neither wealth nor influence to receive just a suspended sentence of 90 days and two years probation."The underlying conviction, which requires Mr. Cole to register as a sex offender, did not involve a minor, physical violence, or physical touching of any kind," his present attorney, Melanie Turnbull, noted in court. We Found Red Flags All Over Jeffrey Epstein's Jail RecordsOnce he successfully completed probation, Cole moved to Georgia, where he registered as a sex offender. He moved to the Virgin Islands in 2018 and has not been charged with engaging in further voyeurism or any other crimes.The problem for this Jeffrey was that he failed to register promptly in his new home as a sex offender. The U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands, Gretchen Shappert, did not miss an opportunity to convey through the media how seriously her office takes such matters."USVI resident indicted for not registering as sex offender," the headline in a local news outlet read.That February 28th article was accompanied by a photo illustration that showed a parked auto with a driver-side front door emblazoned with the words "SEX OFFENDER In This Car." It also pictured a house with a sign out front reading, "SEX OFFENDER LIVES HERE." On April 12, Cole entered into a plea deal where he faces a sentence of no more than a year."St. Thomas Resident Pleaded Guilty to Failing to Register as a Sex Offender," the U.S. Attorney's press release announced. In the meantime, on March 15, the other Jeffrey flew into St. Thomas aboard his private jet. He made his annual check-in at the local sex registry office, a gesture that can now be seen as a kind of mockery, as it's been revealed that he had been seen still bringing young girls to his private island. "Everybody was like, 'Oh, yeah, that's pedophile island,'" remembers a Wall Street numbers cruncher turned pizzeria owner who arrived in the Virgin Islands from New York in 2009.Where were the authorities when it came to this Jeffrey?Epstein's Coney Island Days: From Math Nerd to 'Arrogant' PrickAt least four members of the local legislature accepted significant campaign contributions from Southern Trust Company, Inc., one of a host of business entities Epstein founded in the Virgin Islands. Those companies began with L.S.J, LLC, through which he bought his private island for $7.95 million in 1998. Epstein had hired Cecile de Jongh, wife of former Virgin Islands Gov. John de Jongh, as the office manager for Southern Trust, which was granted income tax breaks of up to 90 percent by the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority. The former first lady also managed the Epstein VI Foundation, which supported everything from brain research at Harvard to the girls' volleyball team at St. Croix Central High School in the Virgin Islands.After Epstein was arrested in Florida for a sex crime involving a minor, a Virgin Islands newspaper called The Avis ran an article suggesting that Cecile de Jongh's connections with Epstein might muddy her husband's political prospects. The Avis also noted that the arrest called into question whether the girls' volleyball team should have jerseys bearing the name Epstein.A purported grassroots movement collected 5,000 signatures on a petition accusing The Avis of yellow journalism. Epstein attorney Gerald Lefcourt issued a statement saying, "The grand jury and the prosecutor's office... determined that no serious offense had occurred."Really.Epstein kept partying on Pedophile Island. He is said to have met some resistance when he sought to buy the nearby, larger island of Great St James. The blue-blood Danish family that owned it is said to have been reluctant to sell to someone with Epstein's unsavory reputation. But he appears to have managed to acquire it anyway in 2016 by cloaking the buyer's identity with a company called Great St. Jim LLC. He is said to have paid $18 million.Epstein immediately applied for a permit to erect two 80-foot flag poles, arguing that the 45-foot limit on the books should not apply to his property. No doubt at least one of the poles would be used to fly an American flag and announce for everyone to see when the owner of Pedophile Island was back.But construction of a compound on the bigger island was delayed by environmental concerns that even somebody as well-connected as Epstein could not just circumvent.And there was far greater trouble brewing for Epstein as the result of a determined reporter, Julie Brown of the Miami Herald.Brown revealed and documented the unconscionable plea deal Epstein had been granted. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney launched a new investigation. In reviewing the 2007 Florida case, the FBI noted a court document reporting an incident that when agents served Epstein's personal assistant Lesley Groff with a grand jury subpoena, she excused herself, purportedly to check on her child. She is said by the court document to have used the moment to telephone Epstein, who was headed in his private plane from Palm Beach to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey across the Hudson River from New York. He was in the company of another assistant, Nadia Marcinkova, who has been accused of complicity in his sex trafficking."Mr. Epstein became concerned that the FBI would try to serve his traveling companion, Nadia Marcinkova, with a similar grand jury subpoena," the document reports. "In fact, the agents were preparing to serve Ms. Marcinkova with a target letter when the flight landed in Teterboro. Mr. Epstein then redirected his airplane, making the pilot file a new flight plan to travel to the US Virgin Islands instead."The American flag no doubt again went up over Pedophile Island as the FBI stood thwarted at Teterboro. A dozen years later, the FBI took great care that Epstein received no warning. He flew unsuspecting on July 6 from Paris to Teterboro and a waiting pair of handcuffs. On July 8, Epstein was arraigned in Manhattan federal court on charges of trafficking in underage girls. He was remanded as a flight risk and a danger to the community. He was consigned to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, briefly in general population but within hours assigned to the Special Housing Unit due to threats from inmates who apparently take a dim view of "short eyes," as child molesters are known behind bars.Epstein must have considered the arrest a possibility, for some time ago he commissioned an artist to paint a mural in his Manhattan mansion of him in a prison yard. Neither he nor the artist seem to have foreseen that he would find himself locked up 23 hours a day in an eight-by-eight foot cell infested with cockroaches and rodents. A thickly screened single narrow window faces a brick wall and lets in only enough light to tell night from day. Mold is said to grow on the walls. Water seeps in under the door from a shower to which he has access only once every three days. For two weeks, Epstein's cellmate was an ex-cop named Nicholas Tartaglione, who is accused of a quadruple murder. Tartaglione says the two became "friends," whereby he joined a list that once included two presidents, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. A realtor who asked not to be identified recently told The Daily Beast that Trump exclaimed at a business gathering at Tavern on the Green some years ago that Epstein was "my best friend."Tartaglione has reportedly told authorities that he saved Epstein from a suicide attempt. But Trump may not be the only liar on Epstein's list of pals. Tartaglione ended up in the Special Housing Unit after he was caught with a cellphone that he insisted had just been given to him by another inmate. Tartaglione then moved to keep the government from inspecting the phone's contents on the grounds it may have privileged communications with his lawyer and with his wife. Never mind it was supposedly not his.Epstein is now said to be on suicide watch. He is 66 and, if convicted, he stands a good chance of dying in prison even if he takes the best possible care of himself. He may have finally landed in a situation where all his money cannot save him from suffering the consequences of his actions.Also behind bars is the other Jeffrey, having been remanded when he entered his guilty plea in April. Cole had been free on his own recognizance since his arraignment, the court having deemed him to be neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community. His attorney petitioned for him to remain at liberty pending sentencing, which is set for August 15. The attorney noted that Cole is a 57-year-old graduate of Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in landscape architecture, had been steadily employed for more than 30 years and was presently a fleet manager at a car rental company. He would be able to continue working there until his day of reckoning. The judge remanded Cole nonetheless. Cole was shipped off to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. His attorney has since filed a motion to expedite matters."The current sentencing date inevitably results in a period of incarceration of four months," the petition noted, adding that Cole was eligible to receive probation and no time at all.As of Saturday, the sentencing was still set for August 15. Cole remains behind bars in Guaynabo. But he will almost certainly be free within the next few months.And you can bet that this Jeffrey would not trade places with the other one for all the money in the worldRead 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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| $250 million Sandmann lawsuit against Washington Post dismissed by federal judge Posted: 26 Jul 2019 02:29 PM PDT  Nick Sandmann and Nathan Phillips were captured on videos that went viral in January when they stood across from each other on the National Mall.
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| World War III? How Russia, China, Japan and South Korea Nearly Started a War Posted: 27 Jul 2019 02:25 AM PDT  The morning dawned peacefully enough on July 22 as Chinese and Russian warplanes soared towards a rendezvous point over the Sea of Japan for what was to be their first-ever joint patrol.As Russia's defense ministry put it, this was intended to deepen "Russian-Chinese relations within our all-encompassing partnership, of further increasing cooperation between our armed forces, and of perfecting their capabilities to carry out joint actions, and of strengthening global strategic security."Representing the PLA Air Force were two H-6K jet bombers which threaded their away through the international airspace of the Korean Strait to meet over the Eastern Sea with two modernized Russian Tu-95MS "Bear" bombers, each with four turboprop engines with noisy contra-rotating propellers.Accompanying the Bears was a Russian A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning plane with a huge rotating radar dish mounted on a dorsal pylon to helped coordinate the multinational elements.These aircraft repeatedly entered and exited South Korea's air-defense identification zone (ADIZ), so the South Korean air force dispatched eighteen domestically-built F-15K Slam Eagle and KF-16 jet fighters to intercept them.
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| Climate change warning as Arctic Circle burning at record rate Posted: 27 Jul 2019 05:41 AM PDT  An unprecedented outbreak of wildfires in the Arctic has sent smoke across Eurasia and released more carbon dioxide in two months than the Czech Republic or Belgium does in a year. As 44C heatwaves struck Europe, scientists observed more than 100 long-lasting, intense fires in the Arctic in June, the hottest month on record, and are seeing even more in July, according to Mark Parrington of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Mostly in Alaska and Russia, the infernos have collectively released more than 120 million tonnes of CO2, more than the annual output of most countries. It is the most carbon emitted since satellite monitoring began in the early 2000s. This will further exacerbate climate change and has sent smoke pouring toward more populated parts of the world. Pollutants can persist more than a month in the atmosphere and spread thousands of kilometres. "You ask people about the Arctic, they think ice, polar bears, a clean environment, but clearly that's changing and that's no longer the case," Mr Parrington said. "It should be an alarm bell that something isn't right, but the way it could directly affect them is the long-range transfer of smoke pollution. I don't think it's getting as far as western Europe just yet but that could happen." The huge amounts of carbon from the fires will exacerbate climate change Credit: Maxar Technologies via AP While some have estimated that up to half a million kilometres have burned worldwide this year, Russia has been especially hard hit. Already, dangerous levels of smoke pollution have been reported this week in the cities of Chelyabinsk, Tomsk and Novosibirsk, where a curtain of smog turned the daytime sun a deep red. The number of patients in some cardiac wards have reportedly doubled. Fires first erupted in the peatlands of northern Siberia in June and have been joined by blazes in the massive boreal forests south of the Arctic circle. More than 30,000 square kilometres of Russian territory are currently burning, already about as much as in 2018 and twice as much as in 2017. This has created a 4.5 million square kilometre "smoke lid" that reaches as far east as the Pacific Ocean and as far south as Kazakhstan. To the west, thick smoke haze has drifted into more populated parts of the country, obscuring the streets of cities like Yekaterinburg and Perm and being detected all the way in Kazan on the Volga River. "This morning I thought a rubbish bin was burning outside the window, but it hasn't passed, the smoke is staying there," Yekaterinburg resident Yevgenia Panasyuk told local television. Impressive extent of heavy smoke across much of central Russia/Siberia, Alaska & Canada from numerous intense boreal & Arcticwildfires shows up in latest Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service aerosol optical depth forecast https://t.co/N5E33mccshpic.twitter.com/br0kkT02HY— Mark Parrington (@m_parrington) July 24, 2019 Once rare in the cold, wet tundra and forests, fires in the Arctic, which is warming at twice the world average, have been flaring up with increasing frequency. The Copernicus satellite system has observed an average of 50 to 60 Arctic hotspots on summer days since it began monitoring in 2003. This summer it has been seeing about 250 per day. And while in the past Arctic blazes would typically go out in a few days, the duration of this year's fires, many of which of have been burning for nearly two months, is shocking, Mr Parrington said. The long-term effects could be dire. Already in June, fires began to deposit soot known as "black carbon" on Arctic sea ice, accelerating its melt. Russia has mobilised 2,715 personnel and 28 aircraft but they are only fighting fires in about 1,500 square kilometres of territory. A brush fire burns in South Anchorage, Alaska Credit: Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP Like in Alaska and Canada, not all fires here receive a response. Since 2015, Russia has declined to combat blazes in vast, remote "control zones" unless they threaten towns. "The logic is clear, we need to save money," the head of the Krasnoyarsk region said this month. But the policy of leaving fires alone until they spread to populated areas has resulted in an "environmental disaster at a national level," Greenpeace Russia said on Friday. It claimed that hundreds of villages were within the control zones, calling on these boundaries to be redrawn and for the government to send additional firefighting forces to defend villages. Also on Friday, a study published in Science found that some Alaskan glaciers were melting 100 times faster than previously thought. Drawing on data about the terminus of a glacier in LeConte Bay collected by local high students since 1983, scientists scanned the glacier with sonar, radar and time-lapse cameras for two summers to discover that the underwater part of it was melting up to 16 feet per day in August. Their results have demonstrated that glaciers are more sensitive to warming ocean temperatures than researchers had known.
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| Trump signs ‘cruel and illegal’ deal with Guatemala to stop asylum seekers getting to US Posted: 27 Jul 2019 11:31 AM PDT  The Trump administration has struck a highly controversial deal with Guatemala, which will prevent some migrants fleeing their home countries from submitting asylum applications to the US.Refugees travelling to the US who enter Guatemala, including Salvadorans and Hondurans, will now be required to apply for asylum protection from the Central American nation instead of at the US border.Under the deal Guatemala has been declared a so-called "safe third country".The Central American nation and the US have been negotiating the deal for months.Donald Trump earlier threatened to place trade tariffs on Guatemala if an agreement wasn't reached."We'll either do tariffs or we'll do something. We're looking at something very severe with respect to Guatemala," the US president said on Wednesday.Jimmy Morales, Guatemala's president, said the agreement would allow the country to avoid "drastic sanctions ... many of them designed to strongly punish our economy, such as taxes on remittances that our brothers send daily, as well as the imposition of tariffs on our export goods and migratory restrictions." As part of the agreement the US will increase access to the the H-2A visa program for temporary agricultural workers from Guatemala. The country's government said its labour ministry would, in the coming days, "start issuing work visas in the agriculture industry, which will allow Guatemalans to travel legally to the United States, to avoid being victims of criminal organisations, to work temporarily and then return to Guatemala, which will strengthen family unity.""We have long been working with Guatemala and now we can do it the right way." Mr Trump said."This landmark agreement will put the coyotes and smugglers out of business."Despite the president's optimism it remains unclear how the agreement will take effect. Guatemala's constitutional court has granted three injunctions preventing its government from entering into a deal without approval of the country's congress and Mr Morales himself has questioned the concept of a "safe third country", which forms the basis of the agreement."Where does that term exist?" he asked reporters on Friday, hours before the deal was struck."It does not exist, it is a colloquial term. No agreement exists that is called 'safe third country."Rights groups have condemned the deal, with multiple experts questioning its legality.Jordan Rodas, a human rights prosecutor, said his team was studying the agreement and whether Enrique Degenhart, Guatemala's interior minister, had the authority to sign it.Amnesty International condemned the deal, saying "any attempts to force families and individuals fleeing their home countries to seek safety in Guatemala are outrageous."Rights groups and student organisations rallied against the agreement in Guatemala City, gathering in front of the constitutional court.Many believe the nation, which is mired in poverty and unemployment, has no capacity to take in refugees.The problems of homelessness, severe drought, gang violence and unemployment which are endemic in El Salvador and Honduras are also present in Guatemala.Eliot Engel, a Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs said Mr Trump's decision to sign the agreement was "cruel and immoral."''It is also illegal," he added. "Simply put, Guatemala is not a safe country for refugees and asylum seekers, as the law requires."The president was asked on Friday if he expected to reach similar agreements with Honduras and El Salvador.He replied, "I do indeed." Additional reporting by agencies
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| Boko Haram kills 23 mourners after Nigeria funeral Posted: 27 Jul 2019 01:28 PM PDT  Boko Haram gunmen on Saturday killed 23 mourners in Borno state in Nigeria's restive northeast after they attended a funeral, local militia and residents said. At around 1030 GMT, the attackers on three motorbikes opened fire on a group of men as they walked back from a funeral in Nganzai district near the state capital Maiduguri, local militia leader Bunu Bukar Mustapha said.
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| U.S. student confesses to killing Italian policeman: media Posted: 26 Jul 2019 04:07 PM PDT ![U.S. student confesses to killing Italian policeman: media]( "U.S. student confesses to killing Italian policeman: media") A 19-year-old U.S. student has confessed to killing a policeman in central Rome, in a crime that has shaken Italy, national news agency ANSA reported on Friday. Mario Cerciello Rega, an officer with the Carabinieri military police, was repeatedly stabbed early on Friday after trying to arrest two people suspected of stealing a bag from a man in a popular tourist district. ANSA reported that one of the two had confessed to the killing.
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| The Second 2020 Democratic Debate Is Almost Here. Here’s Everything You Need to Know Posted: 28 Jul 2019 07:19 AM PDT  20 presidential candidates will face off in Detroit
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| Father of slain Mississippi student Ally Kostial shares heartbreaking photo on day of her vigil Posted: 26 Jul 2019 12:35 PM PDT  Louis, Mo
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| National Chicken Wing Day: Get free wings Monday at Buffalo Wild Wings, Wingstop and more Posted: 28 Jul 2019 09:44 AM PDT ![National Chicken Wing Day: Get free wings Monday at Buffalo Wild Wings, Wingstop and more]( "National Chicken Wing Day: Get free wings Monday at Buffalo Wild Wings, Wingstop and more") July 29 is National Lasagna Day and National Chicken Wing Day. We've rounded up deals and freebies at Buffalo Wild Wings, Hooters, Wingstop and more.
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| 'Armed and dangerous' pair wanted by New Jersey State Police Posted: 26 Jul 2019 02:28 PM PDT  New Jersey State Police are looking for a Mount Holly couple wanted for possession of weapons, homemade explosives and drugs, after their home was searched earlier this week.
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| Two dogs escape animal shelter and kill 29 cats in Alabama Posted: 27 Jul 2019 04:11 AM PDT  Two pitbull dogs broke free from their cages at an Alabama animal shelter and mauled 29 cats to death. Workers at the Dothan Animal Shelter found the dead cats on Thursday morning, local media reported.Shelter director Bill Banks told television outlet WTVY that it appeared the two dogs had forced their way out of their cages and pushed against the fence of the cat area to get inside. City mayor Mark Saliba told CNN the incident would be investigated."Unfortunately, tragic events sometimes fuel us to push things forward a little bit faster," he said. "I'm thinking this will do just that.""We are all saddened and surprised by the event that took place," Mr Saliba said. "The safety of our animals is the top priority at the shelter."Officials told local media the dogs were subsequently captured, but did not say whether the dogs would be killed.Members of the public have taken to social media to express their anger at what happened, with many calling for an investigation into the shelter.
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| Economist: New Trump farm aid may be distributed more fairly Posted: 26 Jul 2019 02:52 PM PDT ![Economist: New Trump farm aid may be distributed more fairly]( "Economist: New Trump farm aid may be distributed more fairly") The Trump administration's decision to base new handouts to farmers hit by the trade war with China on how many acres they've planted might be a fairer way to distribute the cash than the previous system of payments per bushel heavily skewed toward soybean growers, an agricultural economist said Friday. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Thursday that the administration will pay another $16 billion more in aid to farmers affected by the president's trade war with China.
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| The 91 Issues of Car and Driver with a Corvette on the Cover Posted: 28 Jul 2019 09:01 AM PDT |
| Canadian air force joins hunt for teen murder suspects Posted: 27 Jul 2019 08:39 PM PDT  The Royal Canadian Air Force has joined the hunt for two fugitive teens suspected of triple murder, officials said Saturday, backing up a vast search operation unfolding in Manitoba's remote northeast. The suspects, identified as Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, have been on the run for more than a week. Authorities say they believe the two are behind the killings of 23-year-old Australian Lucas Fowler and his 24-year-old American girlfriend, Chynna Deese, as well as of Leonard Dyck, a 64-year-old Canadian.
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| UPDATE 1-Iran intends to restart activities at Arak heavy water nuclear reactor - ISNA news agency Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:11 AM PDT |
| No, McConnell Isn’t ‘Moscow Mitch’ Posted: 26 Jul 2019 01:17 PM PDT  As an act of political theater, the Democrats' recent attempt to cast Mitch McConnell in a bad light has been quite successful. The Internet is awash in headlines contending that he blocked election-security reforms despite warnings about ongoing Russian interference from Robert Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee.The reactions are overwrought and unfair. McConnell was right to stop the two bills at the center of the controversy, and the Democrats knew full well ahead of time that he would do so. And "Cocaine Mitch" is a far better nickname than "Moscow Mitch" anyway.The Democrats tried to push these bills by unanimous consent. One of them, a bill giving states hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade their voting systems and requiring the use of paper ballots, had already passed the House — and won only a single Republican vote, meaning its support is far from unanimous. The other would require candidates to report foreign offers of assistance; this would encounter numerous practical difficulties and at minimum cannot simply sail through the Senate unimpeded.Senate Democrats asked for unanimous consent to these bills knowing they would not receive it and pretended to be shocked when they didn't get it. The media then gobbled up a narrative about McConnell stopping action on an issue right after being warned about how serious a problem it was.To be clear, foreign election interference is, indeed, a serious threat. According to the recent Intelligence Committee report, while there's no sign that vote totals have been manipulated, there have been successful efforts to access sensitive information such as voter registration.Less well known, however, is that there's already been immense progress on this issue. The Department of Homeland Security and the states have gotten far better at addressing it since the 2016 election; Congress provided the states $380 million for election security just last year; under McConnell, the Senate has passed bills to further deter and punish those who interfere in elections. Still, additional efforts are warranted, and some of those efforts could require legislation.We share McConnell's hesitance toward federalizing election policy. This is an area traditionally handled by the states, and on those grounds McConnell has held up several efforts, some with bipartisan support, in recent months. But we encourage him to be open to narrow, bipartisan legislation to tackle problems that only the federal government can tackle, and have every reason to believe he will be.These bills were not that.
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| 27 children removed from Montana treatment facility over allegations of 'egregious' abuse Posted: 26 Jul 2019 03:22 PM PDT  The allegations include physical and psychological abuse and assault at the Ranch for Kids in Rexford, Montana health officials said Tuesday.
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| The Navy Reportedly booted SEAL Team 7 out of Iraq Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:00 PM PDT  When the commander of Special Operations Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve unceremoniously booted SEAL Team 7 out of Iraq this week, the U.S. Special Operations Command justified it "due to a perceived deterioration of good order and discipline within the team during non-operational periods."But according to an alarming new report in the New York Times, "deterioration of good order and discipline" seemed to be an understatement.While the Navy initially indicated that an alcohol-soaked July 4th party was the core driver of the decision, a senior Navy official revealed to the New York Times' David Philipps that a senior enlisted platoon member had allegedly raped a female service member assigned to the SEAL platoon.In addition, "when commanders began investigating the allegations, the entire platoon invoked their right to remain silent" under the Fifth Amendment, Philipps reports. "At that point, the official said, commanders decided to send the whole platoon home, including the lieutenant in command."When reached for comment by Task & Purpose, SOCOM spokesman Ken McGraw said the command was "unable to confirm the nature of any allegations that are currently under investigation."
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| Irish PM says no-deal Brexit could lead to united Ireland Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:54 PM PDT  A no-deal Brexit could lead to a united Ireland as more people in Northern Ireland would "come to question the union" with Britain, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said. Tension around the withdrawal deal centres on the so-called Irish backstop -- a mechanism designed to preserve the bloc's single market and prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
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| Man accidentally shot dead by own passenger in ‘failed drive-by attempt’ Posted: 27 Jul 2019 01:06 PM PDT  A man has died after being accidentally shot by his own passenger as he attempted to fire out of a car window, police say.Matthew Gibson, 26, was pronounced dead on 22 July after being shot in the head during the incident which prosecutors portrayed as a drive-by shooting gone bad in Park Manor, Chicago.Video footage from 21 July showed Gibson pulling alongside a white SUV that was waiting to make a left turn at around 5:40am, according to reports from the Chicago Sun-Times.As the car slowed his passenger, Jake Lee, opened fire on the vehicle with a .40-caliber handgun.However Lee, 27, accidentally shot his driver in the head during the incident. Despite his injuries Gibson was able to drive two miles from the scene.A 22-year-old man was also wounded during the shooting. Prosecutors for Cook County added that there did not appear to be any sign of shots being fired from the white SUV.Gibson was found to be brain dead on Monday, and was kept alive only to have his organs harvested. His death was ruled as a homicide.His death was the 271st recorded homicide in Chicago this year, a figure that has risen to 277 since the incident. Of those deaths, 243 were killed in shootings.Lee, from the city's Englewood area, now faces a charge of aggravated battery with a firearm, and is expected to face a count of murder.He was placed on parole in April 2017 after having served an eight-year sentence for aggravated battery with a handgun, a period that was set to end in 2020.Lee was denied bail at a hearing on 23 July.
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| The Latest: Hong Kong rally protests police use of force Posted: 28 Jul 2019 12:40 AM PDT  A large crowd has gathered in a park in downtown Hong Kong for the latest anti-government protest in what has become a summer of discontent. Organizers called Sunday's rally to protest the police use of tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a demonstration one week ago. Protesters and police are preparing for a likely showdown in central Hong Kong, one day after clashes led to 11 arrests and left at least two dozen injured in an outlying district toward the border with mainland China.
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| 9 campus officers fired for sexist, racist posts, historically black university says Posted: 26 Jul 2019 01:14 PM PDT  Hampton University said in a statement that it fired the officers over "egregious violations" of the university's code of conduct.
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| Blame culture of violence, not the internet, for Instagram star Bianca Devins' viral murder Posted: 28 Jul 2019 03:00 AM PDT  The murder of teen Bianca Devins isn't an example of the internet encouraging violence, but of male rage and a culture of violence toward women.
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| Polish rights campaigners gather in Warsaw to condemn homophobic violence Posted: 27 Jul 2019 07:02 AM PDT |
| Trump Supports Labeling Antifa A ‘Major Organization Of Terror’ Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:13 AM PDT  President Donald Trump lent support to labeling Antifa a terrorist organization Saturday, calling the group a collection of "gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs.""Consideration is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 & others)," Trump wrote. "Would make it easier for police to do their job!"It is unclear what prompted Trump's remarks, but he appeared to refer to a resolution proposed earlier this month by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy to label Antifa a terrorist group."Antifa is a terrorist organization composed of hateful, intolerant radicals who pursue their extreme agenda through aggressive violence," Cruz said when announcing the resolution July 19.Cruz and Cassidy were responding to the Antifa attack on journalist Andy Ngo at a protest in Portland June 29. Ngo, an editor for Quillette who has tracked the Antifa movement, had his camera equipment stolen and was bloodied and bruised in the attack, which was caught on film. Ngo also said he suffered a head injury.Cruz was assailed by members of the Washington, D.C., chapter of Antifa at a restaurant last September. After chasing him and his wife out of the restaurant, the group's Twitter account sent the Republican a message warning that he was "not safe."
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| Europeans stall on mission to protect tankers in Gulf after Raab calls for joint patrols with US Posted: 27 Jul 2019 08:49 AM PDT  Divisions have emerged over plans for a European naval mission in the Persian Gulf, with Britain suggesting the operation would need US support while France and Germany insist it stay independent of America. In a first sign that the UK may move closer to the US position on Iran under Boris Johnson, the new foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said a European mission was probably not "viable" without American help. "I think we do want to see a European-led approach, but that doesn't seem to me to be viable without American support as well," Mr Raab told The Times. That marks a shift from Jeremy Hunt, Mr Raab's predecessor, who proposed a European naval mission separate from America's Operation Sentinel. Both missions are intended to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian threats but the US-led operation is widely seen in Europe as part of Donald Trump's "maximum pressure campaign" to force Iranian capitulation on nuclear and regional issues. Dominic Raab at the Foreign Office Credit: Dan Kitwood/PA Wire/ Dan Kitwood/PA Wire Mr Raab's comments are likely to unsettle Germany and France, both of which have stated that any European effort must be independent from the US. "We have made clear that we do not subscribe to the United States' policy of maximum pressure. Our efforts in the region must be recognisably European," said Heiko Maas, Germany's foreign minister. He added that Germany would not decide whether to join the naval effort until there was "a clear idea of what such a mission would look like". France said the European mission would be "the opposite of the American initiative" and was not intended to provoke Iran. It remains unclear whether the three European states would have the naval strength for a mission independent of the US. The HMS Duncan, a destroyer, is due to join and then replace the HMS Montrose, a frigate, in Strait of Hormuz and will be responsible for escorting British ships through the strategic waterway. A boat of Iranian Revolutionary Guard sails next to Stena Impero Credit: Mizan News Agency/WANA Handout via REUTERS Up to three British-flagged ships pass through the Strait on any given day and the government is encouraging shipping firms to alert the Royal Navy ahead of time so they can be escorted. US officials said they were prepared to share intelligence with Western allies but would not provide escorts to other nations' ships. Meanwhile, Iran released Indian nine crew members from the MT Riah, a ship seized a week before the British-flagged Stena Impero. Three Indian crew remain in Iranian custody. It was not clear why some were freed and others were not. Their release is a potentially hopeful sign for the 23 crew members of the Stena Impero, 18 of whom are Indian. There are also three Russians, a Latvian, and a Filipino. The ship's operator said the crew were in good health and staying aboard the ship.
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| Some Questions for the Democratic Candidates Posted: 28 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  The Democratic presidential circus pitches its tent in Detroit this week. It will be especially entertaining if the presidential aspirants are asked some questions like these:For Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders especially, but others, too: Three of Barack Obama's few large achievements were the twelve-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Affordable Care Act — the most significant expansion of the social safety net since 1965 (Medicare and Medicaid) — and Dodd-Frank, the most consequential financial-sector regulation since the 1930s. You opposed ratification of the first. By advocating "Medicare for All" you are implicitly saying that the second was not much. And by railing against the ongoing "corruption" of Wall Street, banks, capitalism, etc., you imply that the third was not much. Does it not follow that you think Obama's presidency was not much?For Joe Biden: Care to defend it, including its deportation of five million illegal immigrants?For Warren: You paused in your denunciations of crony capitalism, government favors for the well-connected, etc., long enough to vote to revive the Export-Import Bank, which funnels capital to government-favored corporations. Explain.For Sanders: Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, a liberal in the New Deal–Great Society tradition, notes that you have advocated a top capital gains tax rate of 64.2 percent, which is "substantially higher than in Europe." And more than double that in Sweden, of which you are famously fond. And you advocate the sort of financial transaction tax that Sweden abandoned as a failure in 1991. Wilentz says that progressives like you "seem to think that economic inequality can be conquered only by confiscating as much as possible from the evil rich. The model they implicitly adopt is the reactionary Malthusian one of zero-sum economics." How is Wilentz wrong?For Senator Kamala Harris and others considering reparations for slavery: Are the 1.9 million immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who have chosen to live in America today eligible for payments? Will you share your formula for assigning degrees of eligibility? Is the first African-American president eligible? Is his opposition to reparations yet another reason to judge him a disappointment?For mayor Pete Buttigieg: You propose a $10 billion fund reserved for racial-minority entrepreneurs. Do you have a limiting principle for your policy of distributing federal funds to government-favored racial groups?For Harris: You decry Donald Trump's shredding of constitutional norms, authoritarian tendencies, etc. He has indeed used executive orders to marginalize Congress. But you promise to give Congress just 100 days to pass gun-control legislation pleasing to you, and then you will resort to executive "action." If you become president, must the nation get used to your situational ethics?For all of you who have demonstrated the obligatory apoplexy (have any of you not done so?) about the U.S. women's national soccer team being paid less than the men's team: Is it pertinent that in 2018 the men's World Cup in Russia generated $6 billion in revenue, 46 times this year's women's World Cup projected revenues of $131 million? Or that women players receive a higher percentage of their World Cup revenues than the men receive from theirs? Or that, as Christine Rosen writes, "the path to qualifying for the men's World Cup is much more arduous and competitive than it is for the women's World Cup. The men have to win more games over a longer period of time to qualify than do the women"? Are you also indignant — if not, why not — that the Rolling Stones make more than comparable women's groups? And if there aren't such comparable groups, do you, Senator ("I have a plan for that") Warren, have a plan for government to right this wrong? Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, you say: "If you win 13–0 — the most goals for a single game in World Cup history — you should be paid at least equally to the men's team." At least. So, were the men ever to beat Thailand even more lopsidedly, would your dollars-for-goals metric remain gender-neutral?For Gillibrand: When Nike, buckling beneath the disapproval of a former NFL quarterback, withdrew its line of sneakers adorned with the 13-star Betsy Ross flag, you said that Nike was right to "admit when they are wrong." Presumably, then, you agree with the quarterback, who said why Nike was wrong: because of the flag's connection to an era of slavery. So, Senator, should Americans "admit when they are wrong" when they sing the National Anthem, which was written in 1814?© 2019, Washington Post Writers Group
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| Eight killed as quakes hit far northern Philippines Posted: 27 Jul 2019 12:45 AM PDT  Eight people were killed and dozens injured when a series of earthquakes struck islands in the far northern Philippines early Saturday, toppling historic buildings and sending terrified locals fleeing their homes. The tremors hit the province of Batanes, a group of sparsely populated islets north of the nation's largest Luzon island, tearing deep cracks in roads and forcing the evacuation of a hospital.
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| School will accept donations to cover student lunch debt after threatening child with foster care Posted: 26 Jul 2019 02:17 PM PDT  A school district in Pennsylvania will accept a donation to cover debts owed to pay for students' school lunches, instead of sending parents in debt to court.Wyoming Valley West School District sparked outrage when it threatened parents who did not send their children to school with either food or money for a provided lunch with a summons to a so-called dependency court. "This is a failure to provide your child with proper nutrition and you can be sent to dependency court for neglecting your child's right to food," a letter from the school read. "If you are taken to Dependency court, the result may be your child being removed from your home and placed in foster care."At least five donors offered to pay the students' debt, according to county officials. Todd Carmichael, the Philadelphia-based CEO of the coffee company La Colombe, offered to clear the district's district's entire delinquent meal tab, which came in at around $22,000.The school district apparently ignored these offers. But in a statement released on Wednesday, the president of the school district's board, Joseph Mazur, relented."The Wyoming Valley West School District Board of Directors sincerely apologises for the tone of the letter that was sent regarding lunch debt," the letter read. "It wasn't the intention of the district to harm or inconvenience any of the families of our school district. "We want to thank everyone for their concern and generous donation offers to help pay for the unpaid lunch bills," it continued, saying that the school would accept the offers after all. The fiasco garnered attention from a number of high profile figures, including Bernie Sanders, who is running for president. In a tweet sent earlier this week, the Vermont senator criticised the school's letter, writing that school lunch debts "should not exist in the wealthiest country in the history of the world".
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| US citizen says he lost 26 pounds under 'inhumane' conditions at border facility in Texas Posted: 27 Jul 2019 09:31 AM PDT  An 18-year-old U.S. citizen from Dallas says he lost 26 pounds while being held for more than three weeks at a U.S. border detention center.
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| House Democrats are divided over impeachment decision Posted: 27 Jul 2019 10:36 AM PDT ![House Democrats are divided over impeachment decision]( "House Democrats are divided over impeachment decision") New Jersey Democrat Rep. Jeff Van Drew says impeachment is not a tool to be used because you have an intense dislike for a particular president.
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| Girl's murder sparks outcry and protests in Romania Posted: 27 Jul 2019 04:25 PM PDT Several thousand protesters rallied in Bucharest on Saturday after Romania's police chief was fired over the murder of a 15-year-old girl who had made three emergency calls to report her own kidnapping and given clues to her whereabouts. Centre-right President Klaus Iohannis said earlier the "resignations of all those who mishandled this case which had such dramatic consequences are obligatory".
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| View Spy Photos of the 2021 Mercedes-Benz EQS Posted: 26 Jul 2019 11:15 AM PDT |
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