| Bernie Sanders denounces 'greed' of American drug companies Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:26 PM PDT  Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders accused American pharmaceutical companies Sunday of letting diabetic patients die out of "greed," after he accompanied a group of Americans to Canada to buy insulin. Sanders joined the group, which took a bus from the US city of Detroit to Windsor, Ontario to restock on insulin, which costs 10 times more in the United States than in its northern neighbor. "How come the same exact medicine, in this case insulin, is sold here in Canada for one-tenth of the price it is sold in the United States?" Sanders demanded after visiting a Windsor pharmacy.
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| 'Stay inside and lock your doors': Tiny Canadian village on lockdown as teenage murder spree suspects spotted scavenging for food Posted: 29 Jul 2019 03:53 AM PDT  A massive police manhunt has been launched in a remote part of northern Canada for a pair of teenager double murder suspects.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been chasing Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, for weeks since the pair were connected to two separate killings in British Columbia earlier this month.The teenagers have been tracked in a series of stolen cars as they have travelled thousands of miles across Canada, from its Pacific coast in the west all to the way east to rural Manitoba.Police helicopters, a plane, drones, dog units and armed officers have flooded the area around York Landing, a small village in remote northern Manitoba, where a local indigenous neighbourhood watch group had spotted the duo.Officers tweeted residents in York Landing should stay inside and lock all their doors and windows while the heavy police presence searched their community.James Favel from the Bear Clan Patrol, the First Nations group which reported the sighting, said some of his volunteers spotted two young men who matched the description of Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky.The pair immediately stood out in the small, close-knit village while scavenging for food near a dump and ran away as soon as they realised they had been seen, he added.RCMP units had already been searching the nearby town of Gillam and believe the pair have been cornered in this region of rural Manitoba.But the intense police presence was leaving its mark on the locals. "Up here, all the towns and communities, they look like ghost towns," said Wade Taylor, another volunteer with the Bear Clan Patrol."Like, everyone's inside. There's a high level of stress, anxiety and fearfulness because they're being kept in their houses."Some of the people, you can tell by their voice that they're almost at the point of breaking down crying. You could say it's traumatic."The manhunt saga began on 12 July when Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky, childhood friends, left their home in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island and travelled 1,500 miles north to Whitehorse, in the Yukon, to look for work.But on 15 July police discovered the bodies of a young couple near Liard Hot Springs, back in British Columbia and the RCMP has said the teenagers are suspects in the case and wanted for questioning.A few days later a burnt-out truck driven by the pair was discovered, along with the body of Leonard Dyck. Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky have been charged with his murder and chased across Canada by the RCMP ever since.The duo are believed to be armed and the public has been warned not to approach them.The father of Mr Schmegelsky has told reporters he believes his son is on a "suicide mission" and expects him to eventually die in a confrontation with the police. "A normal child doesn't travel across the country killing people," he said. "A child in some very serious pain does."
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| Why North Korea Fears the F-35 Stealth Fighter Posted: 28 Jul 2019 11:50 PM PDT  There is no shortage of instantaneous reactions when North Korea conducts a ballistic missile test. That missile launches are relatively common within the North Korea context—Pyongyang has tested dozens of missiles over the last several years, including the intercontinental Hwasong-15—-doesn't overshadow the adrenaline rush that ensues the moment another one is announced. Last week's test of a short-range ballistic missile, supposedly molded on Russia's SS-26 Iskander, was no exception. While military experts were trying to get as much technical information about the missile as possible, North Korea analysts were debating about the message Kim Jong-un was hoping to send to Washington and Seoul. Could it be a warning to President Trump that the North Koreans are losing the last of their patience with diplomacy? Was it a ploy to add more leverage before working-level denuclearization talks resume?
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| After Mueller hearing, Meyers schools Trump on reporters and truth Posted: 29 Jul 2019 09:52 AM PDT  The comics take a look at Mueller's testimony and Trump's response in Best of Late Night.
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| Beijing says China stepping up U.S. soy imports, yet to show up in U.S. data Posted: 29 Jul 2019 02:32 AM PDT  Chinese state media said on Sunday the United States has shipped several million tonnes of soybeans to China since the two countries' leaders met in June, although U.S. government data shows that the volume was much less. The U.S.-China trade war has curbed the export of U.S. crops to China, with soybean sales falling sharply after Beijing slapped tariffs of 25% on American cargoes. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows that just 1.02 million tonnes of soybeans were shipped to China for the period starting from the G20 meeting June 28 to the week ended July 18, the most recent date for which data is available.
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| Vatican bones found to be too old in quest to solve mystery of missing teenager Emanuela Orlandi Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:01 AM PDT  Vatican officials say experts have found no recent bones in their examination of an ossuary as part of a search for a teenager who disappeared 36 years ago - but an expert representing the family of the missing girl has called for more tests on some of the bones. A Vatican spokesman said a team of specialists, who completed their work Sunday, had found no bones recent enough to match those of Emanuela Orlandi, the missing teenager. Forensics specialist Giovanni Arcudi, who led the team, said they had found "no bone structure dating back to a period later than the end of the 19th century," according to a statement. But an expert appointed to represent the Orlandi family's interest has called for more detailed tests on around 70 bones that were not examined because they were judged to be very old. The Vatican police have taken possession of the remains, pending a court ruling on the question. Two tombs were opened at the Teutonic Cemetery in relation to the Orlandi case Credit: VATICAN HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX The experts removed thousands of bone fragments from the basement of the Pontifical Teutonic College on July 20, searching for Orlandi's remains following a mysterious message sent to her family via their lawyer. The message was a picture of an angel-topped grave in the Teutonic cemetery, and a note that simply read: "Look where the angel is pointing." Although no bones were found there - not even those of the two 19th-century princesses who were meant to be buried there - a further search found bones underneath the college. The Vatican has said the bones were likely moved during work on the cemetery and college during the 1970s and 1980s. There have been long-standing claims of a Vatican cover-up over the disappearance of the teenager Credit: Andrew Medichini/AP Emanuela Orlandi was the daughter of a Vatican City employee. She disappeared on June 22, 1983, aged 15, after leaving a music class. According to rival theories widely circulated in Italian media, the teen was snatched by mobsters to put pressure on the Vatican to recover a loan; or was taken to force the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. In 2017, conspiracy specialists were driven into a frenzy by a leaked - but apparently falsified - document, purportedly written by a cardinal and pointing to a Vatican cover-up. Five years earlier, experts exhuming the tomb of a notorious crime boss at a Vatican-owned church uncovered some 400 boxes of bones. Enrico De Pedis, head of the Magliana gang, was suspected of involvement in her kidnapping and some speculated the youngster might be buried alongside him - but DNA tests failed to find a match.
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| New video from Iran shows Guard warning away UK warship Posted: 29 Jul 2019 10:06 AM PDT |
| Putin Reminds Russians He Can Do Suppression Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:22 AM PDT ![Putin Reminds Russians He Can Do Suppression]( "Putin Reminds Russians He Can Do Suppression") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- July 27 saw a new post-Soviet era record set in Moscow: 1,373 people were taken into custody following a day of protests. Meanwhile, jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny suffered a strange "allergic reaction" after calling for the demonstrations. These developments were set in motion by something seemingly trivial: An election to Moscow's city council. One of Russia's weakest regional legislatures, it can't even hold the capital's mayor responsible for doing whatever he wants with the city budget.The disproportionate violence unleashed on the protesters – dozens were severely beaten – shows how deep the Kremlin's paranoia runs. With the patriotic fervor inspired by the annexation of Crimea and other foreign adventures exhausted, President Vladimir Putin and his entourage have little to offer voters and clearly fear the largely directionless anger prevalent in Russian society. The city election is scheduled for September 8. Normally, it would be a tame affair. Five years ago, candidates backed by the pro-Putin United Russia party won 38 out of the 45 seats on a turnout of just 21%. This time, though, a number of candidates hostile to the Kremlin attempted to stand, among them some of Navalny's close associates. (The corruption-fighter can't run himself because of a previous conviction on what were, in my view, trumped-up charges of theft.)To run, an independent candidate needs to collect thousands of supporters' signatures, which are then reviewed by the electoral commission. All the opposition candidates were denied a place on the ballot after their backers were deemed to be fake. This was despite the fact many hundreds of signatories were willing to testify that they had signed.This illegal act by the authorities was insulting in its jeering openness. Still, not too many Muscovites got excited about another rigged election. In July, the city empties for the vacation season. Last week, the rejected candidates managed to rally more than 20,000 people, a small crowd for a metropolis the size of Moscow.It was enough, though, to make the authorities lose their cool when Navalny took the floor at that rally and called on Muscovites to gather in front of the mayor's office on July 27. This earned the opposition leader 30 days in jail for inciting an unsanctioned protest. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin cautioned residents against showing up, promising to put down any protests with force – a pledge kept by an unusually large contingent of riot police outside the mayor's control. (They were part of the National Guard, commanded by former Putin bodyguard Viktor Zolotov.)Still, some 15,000 protesters roamed central Moscow for most of the day, shouting anti-Putin slogans and running intermittently into determined groups of riot police, who had clearly been ordered to take no pity on the mostly young crowd. Though the protest was peaceful, the record number of detentions filled every police station in town to overflowing, and rubber sticks were used without mercy.The crisis could have been resolved by allowing a few opposition activists to run for the city council. Perhaps that would have been Sobyanin's instinct. In 2013, he went out of his way to make sure Navalny could run against him. The corruption fighter won 27% of the vote to the mayor's 51%, a result Navalny unsuccessfully contested. This time, however, the decision to shut out the opposition at any cost appears to have been made in the Kremlin, which looks to have taken over the political management of the Moscow election.The violence and arrests were also likely to have been ordered by the Kremlin. Moscow police, who were also out in force, were visibly less eager than the National Guard. After a few attempts to pacify angry citizens in recent weeks, Putin seems determined to show the opposition the limits of what he will allow. Navalny, in particular, appears to have received a chilling warning. The day after the protest, he was hospitalized after suffering an apparent allergic reaction. In in a Facebook post, his doctor, Anastasia Vasilyeva, herself an opposition activist, voiced her suspicion that he had been poisoned.Obviously, the election of a few Kremlin opponents to the Moscow city council would have been no threat to Putin's rule. Nor, for that matter, were the thousands of young people demanding their right to vote in fair elections. Moscow has seen bigger protests that have failed to displace Putin.The president, however, appears worried that a random spark could ignite a bigger fire. The country's economy is projected to grow by just 1.2% this year, according to the Bloomberg consensus forecast. In June, Russians' disposable incomes were down 0.2% on a year ago.There are clear indications that voters are angry. In June, Levada Center, the country's last big independent pollster, reported that 27% would be willing to participate in protests against falling living standards – about twice the normal level – and 22% would join protests with political demands.Since Putin has no rosy vision to offer and no means to speed up growth in an economy dominated by corrupt, inefficient state-run companies, he has focused on showing Russians that protest won't work and that his regime commands overwhelming force.With that goal in mind, provoking the relatively weak protests in Moscow may even benefit the Kremlin: Muscovites aren't well-liked in the rest of the country, and the harsh police action got a lot of attention on the social networks. It's a relatively low-cost way to show off the regime's suppression potential. The flip side of such action, of course, is that it can also fuel the vague irritation many Russians feel. Even if they don't rise up at the sight of some young people being beaten up – as Ukrainians did in 2013 – the Kremlin's message that protesting is pointless is a dangerous one in Russia, too. There won't a revolution over a rigged city council election, but Putin is playing with fire. Suppression is never a long-term answer.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Harris Releases ‘Medicare for All’ Plan That Allows for Limited Private Insurance Posted: 29 Jul 2019 05:43 AM PDT  Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) released a health-care proposal on Monday that preserves a limited, tightly regulated, private-insurance market, finally articulating her position on the role of the private market after struggling to do so throughout her early primary campaign.Harris's plan, which comes days ahead of the second round of Democratic primary debates in Detroit, represents a more moderate approach than that championed by Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who has called for the total elimination of the private health-insurance market. Like Sanders, Harris would allow every American access to an expanded Medicare program, but she would also seek to preserve a supplementary private-insurance option called Medicare Advantage."We will allow private insurers to offer Medicare plans as part of this system that adhere to strict Medicare requirements on costs and benefits," Harris wrote in a Medium post laying out the plan. "Medicare will set the rules of the road for these plans, including price and quality, and private insurance companies will play by those rules, not the other way around."While Sanders's plan calls for reaching universal Medicare coverage in four years, Harris allows for a ten-year timeline. Her plan also differs dramatically from Sanders's in that it would not raise taxes on the middle class.Harris's plan does place her to the left of the relatively moderate frontrunner Joe Biden by entirely eliminating the employer-based system that more than 150 million Americans currently rely on for coverage.Throughout the early primary season, the former California attorney general has struggled to articulate her position with respect to the future utility of the private insurance market.After initially telling CNN's Jake Tapper that she would eliminate the private market during a January town hall, Harris backtracked during a subsequent interview, insisting that there would still be a role for "supplemental" private insurance under her plan. She then confused voters further during the first Democratic primary debate, raising her hand when asked if she would eliminate private insurance, only to later say that she misheard the question and would not, in fact, eliminate it entirely.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Subaru Outback Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| 2 separate shark attacks in Florida this weekend Posted: 29 Jul 2019 03:35 AM PDT  Two separate shark attacks injured beachgoers on Florida's eastern shore, just an hour apart this weekend.
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| 'Abortion is freedom': Pro-choice billboard adverts protest all-male council declaring city ‘sanctuary for the unborn’ Posted: 28 Jul 2019 08:56 AM PDT  Almost overnight, a small town nestled in the heart of the Southern Bible Belt has become a battleground for America's deeply divisive debate over women's reproductive rights.There are no abortion clinics in Waskom, located near the Louisiana border, but last month an all-male city council passed an ordinance largely written by an anti-abortion group declaring it a "sanctuary city for the unborn".Officials insisted it was a preventive measure, designed to allay the council's fears that the signing of strict abortion bans in the neighbouring state could prompt clinics to move across the border and into their town of about 2,200 residents.Responding to the proclamation, abortion rights activists from Austin, around 300 miles away, erected two billboards on the edge of town that asserted "abortion is freedom" and directed women needing care to a website with information on local services.That small act of external resistance has galvanised many of the of men and women who live in the town.Heated disagreements have broken out on local Facebook groups since the billboards appeared, and a small number of women have reached out to the billboard sponsors to thank them for their visible protest.Others in town said they were considering volunteering to collect signatures from those who oppose the ban and setting up a support network for those who need it.The majority of local residents of Waskom interviewed by The Washington Post said they supported the ordinance and resent more liberal parts of the state plastering their views on billboards in a largely conservative community."I think they did it to take a dig at Waskom," said Jayna Lay, 37, who owns a local garage. "They send the wrong message in my opinion. 'Abortion is freedom', that's a messed up phrase. That's pretty much saying, 'Kill your children and you're free'. That's crazy to me."Ms Lay said she knew the council's action would cause controversy. "The day before the meeting, Facebook exploded. But I would never see Waskom having an abortion clinic anyway; it's such a small town full of churches."Corey Gossens, 31, who works in the railroad industry, was one of the few Waskom residents willing to speak out publicly against the ban."It baffles me how a group of all white middle-class men adopted an ordinance making abortion illegal within the city limits of Waskom," he said."It's been my personal experience that some people of this calibre in these small towns are in support of a pro-life stance only when it doesn't directly involve their lives and their perfect little white-picket-fence world."Mr Gossens asserted that men who agreed with the ordinance "would likely drive hours away from home with their pregnant teen daughter in tow for an appointment with Planned Parenthood, if they thought the birth of this hypothetical child would compromise their position in society, or their seat on the church pew".He added: "I have seen this myself, and many who remain silent beside me will attest. This is why I feel the billboard is a beautifully and perfectly timed juxtaposition to the absolute insanity taking place in a town that is barely on the map."Women living in Waskom who oppose the ordinance and support the message of the billboards would only speak on the condition of anonymity. They said they feared being "shunned" by their churches and, in some cases, even their own husbands."A woman should be able to have the right to have an abortion," said one woman, who spoke with unconcealed fury about the council's move. "You can't just take people's rights away. There is a reason why you get an abortion – we don't know what happens behind closed doors."There are young ladies around here I've spoken to whose family don't believe that an uncle has been raping them. So they've been forced to get an abortion. Things get swept under the rug here."There are women here who agree with me and a lot who have had abortions but are too afraid to say anything," she added. She offered no further details.Delma Catalina Limones, the communications manager for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, which helped pay for the billboards, said they had no contact with anyone in Waskom until the billboards were erected. "People reached out to thank us for them," she said.The city ordinance declared her organisation, along with other reproductive rights allies, "criminal," despite the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalising abortion. "Organisations that perform abortions and assist others in obtaining abortions are declared to be criminal organisations," the ordinance states.It adds that it "shall be unlawful" for any of these organisations to offer "services of any type," rent office space, purchase real property or establish a "physical presence of any sort" within Waskom."We refuse to be intimidated, and we will continue to work to expand and protect abortion access in Texas," Ms Limones said.Cristina Parker, communications director for the Austin-based Lilith Fund, an organisation that also helped fund and erect the billboards, said her group wanted local women to know abortion was still legal and available to them.When abortion bans are voted on, "it does create a lot of confusion," she said.Jesse Moore, the local mayor, insisted the matter was closed. "We have no intentions whatsoever to go [head] to head with anybody who opposes it," he said in an interview in his Waskom office. "As far as I am concerned, we are done with the abortion clinic issue."Texas has historically been at the forefront of the abortion rights battle. Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision, originated here.As the state-by-state battle over abortion rights has intensified this year, Republican lawmakers have increasingly pushed strict bans on the procedure as part of a strategy designed to give the Supreme Court the opportunity to overturn the landmark ruling.Neither side indicated they expect the Waskom ordinance to advance that far.Mr Moore insisted the move in Waskom was solely about stopping a clinic from ever opening in the city.He said he "didn't hear a word" of opposition from anyone who attended the packed meeting when the ordinance was passed, and that the meeting prompted "the largest crowd I have seen"."I want to make clear that we passed that ordinance to keep abortion clinics out of Waskom," he said. "I don't like what they [the billboards] say, but they have got that right."The abortion clinic closest to Waskom is Hope Medical Group for Women, just over 20 miles across the border in Shreveport, Louisiana.Mr Moore said the council "got wind" that this clinic was planning on relocating, or putting a satellite office in Waskom.The clinic's administrator, Kathaleen Pittman, said there was never a plan to move."Hope Medical Group for Women never had any intention of moving there," Ms Pittman said. "Information provided to the city of Waskom was absolutely incorrect."Townspeople point to external groups as stirring up confusion and using the town as a front for both sides of the debate to promote their agendas.Lobbying for the ordinance was led by Right to Life of East Texas, whose director, Mark Lee Dickson, applauded the move on Facebook."Mark approached us and we talked to him about it," Mr Moore said. "He and his group came up with an ordinance and a resolution."There were some little changes made to it, and we decided that was the one we were going to go with; we felt like it fit us better than anything we'd seen."It is not hard to find residents who are willing to speak in support of their council's new ordinance. Erin Grable, 47, rejected the idea that an abortion is acceptable in any circumstance.As she served customers settling down for lunch at Jim's Bar-B-Que, she described herself as a Christian."So of course I don't believe in abortion," she said. She said she believed there are a "million other options that nobody wants to talk about," including adoption.Asked whether she supported the right of a woman to seek an abortion in cases of rape or incest, she replied: "In my heart, no. I'm a full-on Christian, and I think there are always different things you can do."I pray for people who are lost, in my mind. People who believe in abortion ... need prayer."She also rejected criticisms levied at the male council members who passed the ordinance. "The thing they don't want to tell you is that 90 per cent of the people at that meeting were female," she said."They want to say we are letting men make our decisions. I think that's ridiculous. We are strong women in Texas; we know what we think and believe all by ourselves, and we will tell you."Suzan Maxwell, 58, owns an embroidery printing business, added she, too, is "very proud" of what has happened in the town.A recent Washington Post-ABC poll found support for legal abortion stands at its highest level in more than two decades, with a 60 per cent majority nationwide who say abortion should be legal in most or all cases.Even in Waskom, some uncertainty surfaced. Speaking on the outskirts of the town, Damon Anderson, 60, a father to one daughter, said he struggles to justify the right to abortion when women have access to birth control. However, he said, in the instance of rape or incest, it was "different."He said: "If you got raped or beaten, I think you should have a choice as to whether you want to be a mother or not."I wouldn't necessarily want an abortion clinic in this town," he added. "I would hate to know that there are babies being killed across the street, but people have got to go somewhere."Washington Post
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| Julian Castro Is ‘Hypercritical’ Of Trump Immigration Policies He Once Praised Under Obama Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:01 PM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro, a fervent opponent of the Trump administration's immigration agenda, was called out for his past praise of former President Barack Obama's immigration enforcement policies."I want to ask you about immigration which you have made a part of your campaign focus," said "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan Sunday. "When you were mayor of San Antonio, you testified before Congress and you called for increased border security measures and you praised the Obama administration's actions."Brennan then played a clip of Castro speaking before a congressional hearing in February 2013. In the clip, then-San Antonio Mayor Castro is seen lauding the Obama administration's success at removing "dangerous individuals" after beefing up security along the U.S.-Mexico border."In Texas, we know firsthand that this administration has put more boots on the ground along the border than at any other time in our history which has led to unprecedented success in removing dangerous individuals with criminal records," he said during a 2013 House Judiciary committee hearing."Why did you praise that policy then but when the Trump administration adopt similar language and policies you're hypercritical of them?" Brennan asked.Castro, who went on to serve as secretary of Housing and Urban Development under the Obama administration, maintained that his position has not changed, and that he's always been in favor of removing criminal illegal aliens from the U.S."I talked about people who committed serious crimes, dangerous criminals. I haven't changed at all. If there are people who have committed serious felonies in the United States who are immigrants or who come to the border … they should be deported," he said in response.
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| UPDATE 1-Modi versus Wild: Indian PM to join Bear Grylls in wilderness Posted: 29 Jul 2019 03:41 AM PDT |
| Gunman who killed 3 at Gilroy Garlic Festival identified as Santino William Legan, 19 Posted: 29 Jul 2019 10:48 AM PDT  A manhunt is underway for a possible accomplice after Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting in California. Three died, including a 6-year-old boy.
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| Nadler: Mueller’s testimony ‘broke the lie’ Trump has been telling Americans Posted: 28 Jul 2019 09:17 AM PDT  * House judiciary chair says it could clear path to impeachment * Adam Shiff: 'We are now in preliminary to a judicial proceeding'Democrats Adam Schiff, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Jerrold Nadler, and Elijah Cummings, at a news conference after Robert Mueller's testimony on 24 July. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/APRobert Mueller's testimony to Congress "broke the lie" Donald Trump has been telling and potentially cleared the path to impeachment, House judiciary chair Jerrold Nadler said on Sunday.That does not mean, however, that an attempt to remove Trump from office is set to begin.Adam Schiff, chair of the intelligence committee, said that "for the purposes of the law and constitution, where we are now is most accurately described as preliminary to a judicial proceeding".Nadler, a New York Democrat, was defending the decision to call former special counsel Mueller before Congress, amid controversy over the impact and value of his appearances before the judiciary and intelligence panels."I think it was very important that he testified," Nadler told ABC's This Week, "because he … broke the lie that the president and the attorney general have been saying to the American people."Since his report was issued the attorney general and the president have misrepresented that report, lied to the American people about it, said the report found no collusion, no obstruction and totally exonerated the president.> I wish Mueller had testified in more narrative fashion, that the words didn't need to be coaxed from him as much> > Adam Schiff"All those three statements are lies. It was very important for Mueller to get up there and say just that."In his testimony, Mueller did not go beyond the contents of his 448-page report into Russian election interference, links between Trump and Moscow and possible obstruction of justice by the president.Mueller had resisted the call to testify and observers noted the 74-year-old former FBI director's halting and reluctant demeanour. On Saturday the Washington Post went so far as to report that "some lawmakers are privately wondering whether there was some truth to … rumours" that Mueller "might not be as sharp as he once was".A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment but Trump did not hesitate to crow about "the greatest display of ineptitude [and] incompetence that the Halls of Congress have ever seen".Schiff told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday he wished Mueller "had testified in more narrative fashion, that the words didn't need to be coaxed from him as much as they did".Mueller submitted his report in March and it was published in redacted form in April, after attorney general William Barr issued a summary of its contents which Democrats said was misleading. He did not find evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump and Moscow but did lay out 11 instances of possible obstruction of justice by the president or his campaign.Trump has claimed complete exoneration – as he did in tweets on Saturday in which he urged equal focus on supposed misdeeds by Democrats and FBI agents.Mueller stated both on paper and in person on Capitol Hill that he did not exonerate the president on questions of obstruction of justice.The White House has blocked attempts to call witnesses to testify, moves House Democrats say are unconstitutional, given their mandated oversight role.The result is a rolling battle for public opinion.Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney fired his own shot on Sunday, telling CBS's Face the Nation that part of the president's motivation for a controversial attack on the House oversight chairman was that Elijah Cummings "is spending all of his time on this impeachment inquiry which we all know is going nowhere".> The president lied repeatedly to the American people and to investigators and conducted a corrupt cover-up> > Jerrold NadlerIn turn, Nadler made clear Democrats believe Mueller's testimony had PR value."The hearing was an inflection point," he told CNN's State of the Union. "It showed quite clearly that the report did not exonerate the president, that it found that the Russian government interfered in the campaign, they tried to interfere in our election and the Trump campaign welcomed that assistance and co-operated."And then the president lied repeatedly to the American people and to investigators and conducted a corrupt cover-up with at least five criminally indictable acts of obstruction of justice."As Mueller repeatedly pointed out, a Department of Justice opinion holds that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The special counsel also stressed that he was not saying he would have indicted Trump but for the opinion's existence.Nonetheless, Nadler told CNN, "these are very serious offences against the rule of law and we now have to get further evidence and put it before the American people as we consider articles of impeachment in the committee."Nadler repeated his view that Trump "utterly deserves" to be removed.On Friday, in a suit that mentioned the word impeachment 76 times, the judiciary committee petitioned in court for access to evidence collected by Mueller.Nadler said such evidence might include material on possible wrongdoing by Trump outside the Russia inquiry, for example under the emoluments clause of the constitution which is meant to guard against personal gain from public office.Schiff told NBC: "Right now the most important thing is to obtain the grand jury material, to see the evidence."Around 100 Democrats in the House, less than half the caucus, have come out in support of impeachment.Nadler rejected a claim by California Democrat Jackie Speier that if impeachment has not begun by September it will be too late, given the proximity of the 2020 election.As well as the near-guarantee that impeachment would fail in the Republican-held Senate, Democratic leaders are wary of galvanising Trump supporters.Schiff said he worried "about the message of taking an impeachment case to trial, losing that case, having the president acquitted, and then having an adjudication that this conduct is not impeachable."But the jury that I'm most worried about, not the Senate because I think that's a preordained conclusion, is the American people. Can we make the case to the American people? And I want to make sure that that's true before we go down this path because it's going to occupy a year of the nation's time. I want to make sure that's the right decision."
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| Kamala Harris Uses Her New Medicare For All Plan To Go After Bernie Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:18 AM PDT  Democratic presidential contender and California Sen. Kamala Harris released her Medicare for all plan Monday ahead of the second round of Democratic debates scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.Harris seemingly walked back her support for eliminating the entire private health insurance market after saying she misinterpreted a question at the first round of Democratic debates in June.Her Medicare for all plan is less extreme than that of her presidential rival, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Harris is signed onto Sanders' Medicare for all plan in the Senate but used her new plan to take aim at how Sanders plans to pay for a government-run health care system."[O]ne of Senator Sanders' options is to tax households making above $29,000 an additional 4% income-based premium. I believe this hits the middle class too hard. That's why I propose that we exempt households making below $100,000, along with a higher income threshold for middle-class families living in high-cost areas. To pay for this specific change, I would tax Wall Street stock trades," Harris wrote in her plan.Harris said she could raise "well over $2 trillion over 10 years" by taxing Wall Street stock trades at 0.2 percent, bond trades at 0.1 percent and derivative transactions at 0.002 percent. She would also seek to tax offshore corporate income at the same rate as domestic corporate income.Harris' plan also includes:
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| Brazil miners kill tribal leader in Amazon land invasion Posted: 28 Jul 2019 11:33 AM PDT  Armed miners have reportedly invaded a village in a remote part of Brazil and killed a tribal leader. Villagers fled but were planning to return, sparking fears of a "bloodbath," according to local reports. The violence began last week when the indigenous leader was reportedly stabbed to death in an area belonging to the Waiapi tribe in Amapa state, in the north of the country. It came as around 50 miners, known as "garimpeiros," were said to have overrun the Waiapi village of Mariry. The leader's body was reportedly found with stab wounds in a river. The village is 186 miles from the state capital and a team of police departed to investigate. Randolfe Rodrigues, an opposition senator from Amapa, writing on his Facebook page, said: "The situation is urgent." He warned of a "bloodbath" and added: "This is the first violent invasion in 30 years since the demarcation of the indigenous reserves in Amapa." Jawaruwa Waiapi, a Wajãpi leader, said the government should send soldiers because the miners were armed with rifles. He said: "We're in danger." There are more than 1,000 Waiapi living in remote villages near the Brazilian border with French Guiana. Brazil's tribal peoples have long faced pressure from miners, ranchers and loggers. Activists say the threats have intensified since Jair Bolsonaro, the pro-business president, took power in January vowing to increase development in the Amazon rainforest. The Waiapi live deep inside the Amazon in an area rich in gold, manganese, iron and copper. Their territory is one of hundreds Brazil's government demarcated in the 1980s for the exclusive use of indigenous inhabitants, and access by outsiders is strictly regulated. Reports of the attack emerged as Mr Bolsonaro once again defended mining in the Amazon, highlighting the "absurd quantity of minerals" there. Mr Bolsonaro said he was looking for the "first world" to help Brazil exploit the areas.
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| Death toll in Nigeria Boko Haram attack up to 65: official Posted: 28 Jul 2019 11:22 AM PDT  An attack this weekend by Boko Haram fighters on a funeral in northeast Nigeria has left 65 people dead, almost triple the initial toll, a local official said Sunday. "It is 65 people dead and 10 injured," local government chairman Muhammed Bulama said. Bulama said more than 20 people died in the initial attack on a funeral gathering.
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| Boy, 8, dies in Germany after being pushed onto train tracks Posted: 29 Jul 2019 08:17 AM PDT |
| Police officer accuses McDonald's workers of taking bite out of sandwich then admits he ‘forgot he ate it’ Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:12 AM PDT  A police officer wrongly accused McDonald's workers of taking a bite out of his sandwich after he forgot he did it himself.The officer, known only as "DJ", ordered a McChicken before starting work at Marion County Jail in Indianapolis and put it in a fridge for safekeeping during his shift.When he opened it up seven hours later he discovered the missing chunk and became convinced he had been targeted by the restaurant staff because of his job."I know I didn't eat it," he told the WTHR local TV station. "No one else was around."I said, 'You know what? I am going to the McDonald's to see if they can get that taken care of.'"I just wanted to find out who the person was and they deal with that person in an appropriate way."Managers at the branch on Morris Street checked the schedule to see who was preparing the food when he placed his order but found no evidence to back up the officer's claims.The truth was revealed more than a week later when Marion County Sheriff's Office announced that the mystery biter was its own officer, "DJ"."The investigation has determined that McDonald's restaurant staff in no way tampered with the employee's food," the agency said in a statement on Friday."The employee took a bite out of the sandwich upon starting his shift at the Marion County Jail, then placed it in the refrigerator in a break room."He returned nearly seven hours later having forgotten that he had previously bitten the sandwich."He wrongly concluded that a McDonald's restaurant employee had tampered with his food because he is a law enforcement officer." The officer formally apologised to McDonald's for his error.
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| Todd Starnes: Trump is 'absolutely right' about Democrat-controlled Baltimore Posted: 29 Jul 2019 05:31 AM PDT ![Todd Starnes: Trump is 'absolutely right' about Democrat-controlled Baltimore]( "Todd Starnes: Trump is 'absolutely right' about Democrat-controlled Baltimore") Fox Nation host Todd Starnes says Democrats have betrayed Baltimore voters and turned the city into a dystopian scene.
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| Spy Photos of the Volkswagen I.D. Crozz Posted: 29 Jul 2019 10:00 AM PDT |
| UPDATE 1-Israel says Arrow-3 missile shield passes U.S. trials, warns Iran Posted: 28 Jul 2019 02:31 AM PDT |
| Trump doubles down on Cummings attacks, shares vulgar comment about Baltimore on Twitter Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:54 PM PDT  President Trump doubled down on his attacks against House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, whose district he called a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess," by retweeting a comment from a British columnist who referred to Baltimore as a "proper sh*thole."
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| Turkey Stockpiled F-16 Parts Ahead of Getting the Russian S-400 Anti-Air System Posted: 27 Jul 2019 08:30 PM PDT  NATO member Turkey is determined to acquire ballistic missile technology, and aims to co-produce the next generation of the S-400, the officials added, citing discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Erdogan said his country will take delivery of the S-400 within days.A Bloomberg report says Turkey has been stockpiling parts for F-16s and other military equipment in anticipation of a U.S. sanction for acquiring the Russian S-400 air defense system.Two anonymous officials from Turkey who spoke to the news outlet refused to clarify on what types of spares were accumulated, how much was acquired and how long they can last.Relations between the two countries deteriorated over the course of the Syrian civil war, when the U.S. armed a Kurdish militia that Turkey views as a terrorist group, and in the aftermath of a 2016 coup attempt against Erdogan that his government blames on a Turkish imam residing in the U.S.(This first appeared earlier in July 2019.)NATO member Turkey is determined to acquire ballistic missile technology, and aims to co-produce the next generation of the S-400, the officials added, citing discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Erdogan said his country will take delivery of the S-400 within days."The first batch of S-400s will be delivered in a week or 10 days," Haberturk newspaper cited him as saying in a report Monday. "I've clearly told this to Trump, Mr. Putin also said it."
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| Indian villagers beat tiger to death after attacks Posted: 28 Jul 2019 09:46 AM PDT  An investigation has been launched in India after a tigress blamed for injuring a number of villagers was clubbed to death in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The killing was compared to a "lynching" by Indian media and online commentators after news channels aired footage of over 40 villagers beating the tiger to death with sticks and clubs. Forestry Department officials said they tried to intervene and remove the animal from the game reserve that bordered the village in Uttar Pradesh but rangers were also set upon by the mob and had to flee for their lives. Villagers said the tiger had attacked people working in the fields - a claim disputed by forestry officials. The incident took place last week after a child "suddenly went near the tigress without any reason," said Naveen Khandelwal, Divisional Forest Officer at the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. When the youth raised a cry, villagers rushed to save him. Around 40 people entered the jungle and assaulted the tigress, leaving it seriously injured, said Mr Khandelwal. A post-mortem conducted by wildlife experts concluded that the tigress died "due to shock" as a result of blood hemorrhage, broken bones and numerous injuries with sharp and blunt objects, according to local media. Mr Khandelwal said locals also attacked the forest officials monitoring the tigress and created obstacles in their work. Four people have been arrested and an investigation has been ordered into the incident. Around 30 people were killed by tigers in India in 2018, and more than 60 tigers have died or been killed so far this year across the country. Tigers were close to extinction in India a few years ago due to poaching. But the country is now home to more than half the world's tiger population with more than 2,220 found in special reserves in a 2014 census. The Indian government is expected to announce a further increase in tiger numbers in the 2018 census.
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| IS threat hovers over Syria camp, rattling authorities Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:13 AM PDT  AL-HOL CAMP (Syria) (AFP) - Stabbing guards, stoning aid workers and flying the Islamic State group's black flag in plain sight: the wives and children of the 'caliphate' are sticking by the jihadists in a desperate Syrian camp. Months after the defeat of the jihadist proto-state, families of IS fighters are among 70,000 people crammed into the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria. Umm Suhaib, the widowed wife of a jihadist, admits that IS supporters have attacked Kurdish security forces guarding the camp.
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| South Carolina deputy shoots homeowner through window, body camera shows Posted: 29 Jul 2019 08:56 AM PDT  The Greenville County Sheriff's Office initially said the South Carolina homeowner was shot after he opened the door and pointed his gun at deputy.
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| 12-year sentence for China dissident on state secrets charge Posted: 29 Jul 2019 03:00 AM PDT |
| Greta Thunberg to sail across Atlantic for climate summits because she refuses to fly on planes Posted: 29 Jul 2019 07:40 AM PDT  Greta Thunberg is to sail across the Atlantic in a high-tech racing yacht to attend UN climate summits in New York and Chile as she refuses to fly on planes.The 16-year-old Swedish climate activist said she spent months deciding how to travel to the US without travelling by plane, which she shuns because of their high greenhouse gas emissions.Ms Thunbeg will set sail on her trans-Atlantic voyage in August in a boat fitted with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate zero-carbon electricity on board. The journey will take two weeks."Good news! I'll be joining the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, COP25 in Santiago and other events along the way," she tweeted on Monday."I've been offered a ride on the 60ft racing boat Malizia II. We'll be sailing across the Atlantic Ocean from the UK to NYC in mid August. UniteBehindTheScience".Ms Thunberg will be accompanied on the voyage by Malizia II's skipper Boris Hermann, her father Svante and filmmaker Nathan Grossman.The teenage climate activist told AP that she wanted to avoid travelling to the US by cruise ship because of their notoriously high emissions and she had been wary of sailing across the Atlantic in August due to the risk of hurricanes."Taking a boat to North America is basically impossible," she said. "I have had countless people helping me, trying to contact different boats."The founder of the "School Strike 4 Climate" movement said she is taking a year off school to raise awareness of the climate crisis and pressure world leaders to step up efforts to cut greenhouse emissions.Setting sail from London, Ms Thunberg will attend the UN Climate summits in New York on 23 September and in Sanitago, Chile, on 13 December.She also plans to join large-scale climate demonstrations in New York on 20 September.Ms Thunberg rose to prominence last year after she started started skipping classes to protest outside the Swedish parliament.Her protest inspired millions of other children around the world to walk out school on Fridays to demand greater action on climate change. Since emerging as the leader the school strike for climate movement, Ms Thunberg has spoken to policymakers at last year's UN climate conference in Poland she has attended the World Economic Forum in Davos and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos.In April, the climate activist met party leaders in Westminster and delivered a speech to parliament.But Ms Thunberg says she was unsure how her message would be received in the US, where Donald Trump has dismissed the need to tackle climate changeMr Trump announced that the country would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and his administration has removed a quarter of all references to climate change from federal government websites since 2016.Ms Thunberg said that meeting the US president would be "just a waste of time"."He obviously doesn't listen to the science and the scientists," she said. "So why should I, a child with no proper education, be able to convince him?" Last week, The 1975 released a song featuring a speech by Ms Thunberg, with all proceeds from the song's sales going to Extinction Rebellion at her request.The teenage climate activist is also to appear on the front cover of Vogue as one of 15 women describes as "trailblazing changemakers" in a special issue of the magazine guest edited by Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.Additional reporting by AP
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| India boosts Hindu pilgrimage to holy cave in conflict-torn Kashmir Posted: 27 Jul 2019 10:34 PM PDT  India is hailing a Hindu pilgrimage to a holy cave high in the snow-capped mountains of contested Kashmir as an example of communal harmony, in a region where the Muslim-majority population is overwhelmingly hostile to its rule. India and arch-rival Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, and came close to a third in February after a suicide-bomb attack by Pakistan-based militants on Indian paramilitary police near the pilgrimage route. India's Hindu-nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made "pilgrimage tourism" a focus, spending huge sums on January's Kumbh Mela festival, where more than a hundred million Indians came to bathe in the holy Ganges river.
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| Baltimore paper blasts Trump after his attacks on city: 'Better to have a few rats than to be one' Posted: 28 Jul 2019 05:32 AM PDT  The Baltimore Sun editorial board lit up President Trump Saturday night for his Twitter tirade against its city and Rep. Elijah Cummings, the powerful Democrat who represents Maryland's Seventh District.
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| DHS Chief Praises Supreme Court Decision: ‘Big Victory’ For Border Wall Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:07 AM PDT  Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan lauded the Supreme Court decision allowing the administration to use military funds to build additional border wall."It was a big victory at the Supreme Court to allow Department of Defense to move forward with that $2.5 billion dollars to really accelerate the progress on the wall, and kind've double what we're doing with the congressionally appropriated funding, which is going well," McAleenan said Sunday on Fox Business."We're up to 54 miles [of new border wall] since we talked — building every day down there on the border. That's already providing significant new operational capability and helping us control high-traffic areas of the border," he continued.McAleenan's comments came two days after the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could reprogram $2.5 billion in Department of Defense funds for border wall construction. Because of the decision, President Donald Trump can move forward with plans to build 100 miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as it continues to fight challenges in the lower courts.The White House in February declared a national emergency for the southern border, a move that allowed the administration to reallocate billions from the military. However, a coalition of environmentalist and progressive groups sued in an attempt to block construction. A 9th Circuit court panel in July sided with a federal judge's decision to block the funds, putting up a roadblock to construction.
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| Vietnam seizes 125 kg of rhino horn worth £6m concealed in plaster shipment Posted: 29 Jul 2019 01:22 AM PDT  Fifty-five pieces of rhino horn were found encased inside shipments of plaster at Hanoi international airport, the Vietnamese authorities reported on Sunday, in the latest bust against sophisticated global wildlife traffickers. The Southeast Asian nation is both an end destination and transit point for multibillion-dollar smuggling operations of animal parts, including many endangered species. The 125-kilogram haul was discovered in a suspicious shipment of plaster casts on Thursday but it took half a day to smash the blocks apart, the police told AFP. Images released to the media showed large and small pieces of rhino horns displayed on a table while police used rods to break them free. The blocks had been shipped from United Arab Emirates, in carefully disguised cargo that had that arrived on an Etihad Airways flight, the customs department said in a statement. It was not immediately clear where the shipment had originated from. Rhino horn is especially prized in China and Vietnam, the two top consumer markets, where one kilogram can fetch up to $60,000. That would make the entire haul worth $7,500,000 (£6m). According to TRAFFIC, a campaign group against wildlife trafficking, the last decade has seen an explosion of demand for rhino horns, driving unprecedented levels of poaching that has sent rhino populations into crisis despite a ban on the trade since the 1970s. Only about 29,000 rhinos are now left in the wild, down from half a million at the start of the 20th century, report conservationists. The trade has been fuelled by beliefs that when ground into a powder, the horn can cure cancer, relieve hangovers or enhance male virility. The Vietnamese operation is the latest large-scale wildlife trafficking case in Southeast Asia. Earlier this month, three men caught trying to smuggle rhino horn from Vietnam into China were sentenced to a combined total sentence of 27 years in prison. Meanwhile, Singapore recorded a record bust last week of nearly nine tonnes of elephant ivory and almost 11.9 tonnes of pangolin scales from up to 33,000 pangolins. The contraband was found in three containers disguised as timber and travelling from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Vietnam.
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| Iran says reporter once detained in US could interview Pompeo Posted: 28 Jul 2019 11:05 PM PDT  Iran said on Sunday that a state television anchor who was once detained in America could interview Mike Pompeo, after the top US diplomat said he was willing to talk to its people. Pompeo said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg that he would "happily" go to Tehran and willingly appear on Iranian television to explain US reasoning behind its sanctions against the Islamic republic. "Our reporter Ms. Marzieh Hashemi can go and interview (Pompeo) so that he can say what he intends to say," government spokesman Ali Rabiei said, quoted by official news agency IRNA.
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| Mobster 'Whitey' Bulger buried 3 bodies at Boston home now on sale for $3.5M Posted: 27 Jul 2019 11:31 AM PDT  A house where James "Whitey" Bulger killed and buried three people is located in a South Boston neighborhood that's experiencing a real estate boom.
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| Brazil president raises jail as possibility for Greenwald Posted: 27 Jul 2019 03:24 PM PDT  Brazil's president renewed his attacks on journalist Glenn Greenwald on Saturday, raising the possibility of jail a few days after members of his party said the American's Brazil-based internet publication was "aligned with criminal hackers" for reporting the contents of hacked phone conversations involving the current justice minister. The reports in The Intercept Brazil have led to questions about whether Justice Minister Sergio Moro improperly consulted with prosecutors when he was a judge overseeing the mammoth "Operation Car Wash" corruption investigation. Moro, whose work in that probe has made him a hero for many Brazilians, is a key member of President Jair Bolsonaro's Cabinet.
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| Chaser: ‘World’s smartest dog’, which knew over 1,000 words, dies aged 15 Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:44 PM PDT  Many owners struggle to teach their dogs to sit, fetch or even bark on command, but John Pilley, a retired psychiatrist, taught his border collie to understand more than 1,000 nouns, a feat that earned them both worldwide recognition.In 2004, Mr Pilley bought a black-and-white border collie he named Chaser.For three years, Mr Pilley trained her for four to five hours a day. He showed her an object, said its name up to 40 times, then hid it and asked her to find it.He used 800 cloth animal toys, 116 balls, 26 Frisbees and an assortment of plastic items to ultimately teach Chaser 1,022 nouns.Chaser died on Tuesday at 15. She had been living with Mr Pilley's wife, Sally, and their daughter Robin in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Mr Pilley died last year at 89.Another daughter, Pilley Bianchi, said on Saturday that Chaser had been in declining health in recent weeks."The vet really determined that she died of natural causes," Ms Bianchi said. "She went down very quickly."Ms Bianchi, who helped her father train Chaser, said the dog was buried in the backyard with the family's other beloved dogs and with some of her father's ashes."What we would really like people to understand about Chaser is that she is not unique," Ms Bianchi said."It's the way she was taught that is unique. We believed that my father tapped into something that was very simple: he taught Chaser a concept which he believed worked infinitely greater than learning a hundred behaviours."Ms Bianchi said her father's experiment was "uncharted territory" in animal cognition research, pointing to news media coverage calling Chaser "the world's smartest dog"."Her language learning is very high-level, powerful science," she said.Chaser understood that words have independent meaning and understood common nouns as well as proper nouns, Ms Bianchi said.Greg Nelson, a veterinarian at Central Veterinary Associates in Valley Stream, New York, said humans were learning that animals have a deeper understanding of the world around them."People have always been under the belief that animals respond to commands based on a rewards system," he said."Learn limited commands and tricks, then get a treat." But "they do have a language among themselves, spoken and unspoken," he added.New York Times
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| How some of the world's rarest fish dodged a California earthquake Posted: 28 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  There are fewer than 200 Devils Hole pupfish on Earth, so it's a good thing they employed some survival tacticsDevils Hole pupfish – among the rarest fish on earth – know a thing or two about earthquake safety. After all, they managed to ride out a huge wave triggered by the recent tremors in California.Found only inside an inconceivably deep, sweltering geothermal pool called Devils Hole near Death Valley, and numbering fewer than 200, Devils Hole pupfish are endangered, but not helpless.As the 7.1-magnitude Ridgecrest earthquake ripped through southern California, it trigged a 10ft wave inside Devils Hole. A video released by the US National Park Service shows the wily pupfish swimming deeper and deeper into the water to avoid getting swept up and smashed."And if you study the fish, you can see that they seem to know that something's going to hit maybe five, six seconds before it happens," said Kevin Wilson, an aquatic ecologist at Death Valley national park. "It's wild."So named because they reminded a biologist of overexcited puppies at play, Devils Hole pupfish are not unused to earthquakes. Possibly because of its depth – divers have ventured more than 400ft down and not been able to see a bottom – Devils Hole responds to quakes as far away as China. But the Ridgecrest earthquake, which was the largest to hit the state in decades and was centered about 70 miles away, caused an especially violent reaction."We can't see it in the video, but we think the fish are probably seeking safety inside some of the larger rooms and shelves deep inside Devils Hole," said Jennifer Gumm, a biologist at the Ash Meadows wildlife refuge, where Devils Hole is located.The violent wave probably killed off some eggs and baby fish who weren't strong enough to swim deeper into the geothermal pool. "But most of the adults probably survived," she said, adding that this species of pupfish had evolved to cope with earthquakes, and in the long run, a periodic tremble benefited the fish, by clearing away built-up dead vegetation and resetting the ecosystem.Other species of pupfish live across the south-western US, but Devils Hole pupfish are physiologically unique: they're smaller and lack the pelvic fin that their cousins use to swim faster. They also have the smallest known geographic range of any vertebrate in the wild.But the tiny, iridescent blue pupfish that live in Devils Hole have faced numerous threats over the decades, Wilson said. Aggressive groundwater pumping in the 1960s drained their habitat and decimated populations. Still, after environmental activists rallied in support of the pupfish and won a landmark 1976 US supreme court case to ban the pumping, the fish persisted.In the past few years, their populations began to plummet again. "In 2013, we counted a scary-low number of 38 adult pupfish," said Wilson, who embarks on bi-annual scuba dives into the depths to count the population. Per the latest tallies, there are an estimated 136 adult pupfish. "But we still don't know why there's been such a decline from populations of more than 200 or 250 in the 1990s," Wilson says.One theory is that warming climate conditions have tipped the surface water temperatures above what is tolerable for pupfish eggs and babies. While the depths of Devils Hole maintain a temperature of 93F, the shallows of the pool – where pupfish lay their eggs – warm and cool with the weather. And as the hottest place on the planet – where temperatures can surpass 120F in the summer – becomes even hotter with the climate crisis, it's possible that delicate pupfish eggs are getting poached.Wilson is also investigating whether invasive diving beetles, which in recent years flew into Devils Hole from another part of the wildlife reserve, are feeding on pupfish eggs and larvae."It's still a mystery, Wilson says. "But we're hoping to figure it out because once you've lost a species, they're gone forever."
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| South African land reform panel recommends seizures without pay in certain circumstances Posted: 28 Jul 2019 05:26 AM PDT |
| Barack and Michelle Obama offer rare rebukes of Trump over attacks on Baltimore Posted: 28 Jul 2019 08:01 AM PDT  Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama offered rare rebukes of President Trump after he lashed out at an African-American congressman and called the lawmaker's majority-black district "a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess."
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| Almost a War?: Russian and Chinese Planes Violated South Korean Airspace Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:02 AM PDT  Intrusions into East China Sea airspace claimed by both China and Japan are fairly common — even sometimes involving South Korea. What HappenedAn odd set of confrontations unfolded July 23 around the Korean Peninsula involving South Korea, Russia, China and Japan. According to an official South Korean account of the events, early on July 23, two Chinese H-6 bombers entered South Korea's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) near Ieodo, a submerged rock claimed by both South Korea and China in the Yellow Sea. They later entered the ADIZ once again at Ulleung island off South Korea's east coast in the Sea of Japan before being joined by Russian TU-50 bombers and re-entering the ADIZ for a third time. After this, a Russian A-50 early warning aircraft and two Tu-95 bombers entered the ADIZ around Dokdo Island — a maritime space that Japan also claims as the Takeshima Islands — before the A-50 passed into South Korean-claimed airspace, leaving it and then reentering it again. South Korea scrambled jets to respond to both alleged entries by the A-50, firing both warning shots and flares.
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| Afghan presidential candidates fear for safety after attack Posted: 29 Jul 2019 04:05 AM PDT  Candidates jockeying to become Afghanistan's next president lashed out at the incumbent Ashraf Ghani on Monday after deadly violence cast a shadow over the first official day of campaigning. At least 20 people -- most of them civilians -- were killed and 50 others wounded Sunday when a suicide attacker and gunmen targeted the Kabul office of Ghani's running mate, Amrullah Saleh. The violence served as a grim reminder of Afghanistan's woeful security situation and the sort of mayhem and murder that have beset previous polls.
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| Pennsylvania man accused of killing wife apologizes to victim's family Posted: 28 Jul 2019 01:09 PM PDT  A man charged in the death of his wife at their eastern Pennsylvania home on the Fourth of July has apologized to her family, but declined to say anything to the rest of the community.
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| Emmett Till memorial will be made bulletproof after photo of gun-toting students surfaces Posted: 28 Jul 2019 10:39 AM PDT  Emmett Till's memorial will be bulletproof after outrage over a photo of three gun-toting Ole Miss students posing in front of the sign.
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