| Son of 9/11 victim addresses Ilhan Omar during memorial: 'Show respect in honoring them, please' Posted: 11 Sep 2019 08:24 AM PDT  Nicholas Haros Jr., the son of a victim in the World Trade Center, wore a T-shirt with the words "Some people did something" at Wednesday's ceremony
|
| Half of Americans would blame Trump for a recession if the economy tanks under his watch Posted: 11 Sep 2019 06:55 AM PDT  About 51% of respondents in a new Insider poll said they'd hold President Donald Trump responsible if the nation's economy were to enter a recession.
|
| Freed in prisoner swap, Ukraine's Sentsov warns: Don't trust Russia Posted: 10 Sep 2019 10:09 AM PDT  Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov on Tuesday warned against trusting Russian President Vladimir Putin, after Moscow freed him from jail in a historic prisoner swap with Kiev this weekend. Dressed casually in a polo shirt and jeans, the 43-year-old seemed calm and composed at his first news conference since flying to Kiev on Saturday along with 34 other Ukrainian prisoners. "As far as Russia's wishes for peace go, a wolf can put on a lamb's clothing, but his teeth don't disappear.
|
| Former Taliban hostage admits striking wife but says she asked to be hit Posted: 10 Sep 2019 02:59 PM PDT  Joshua Boyle, charged with sexual assault, tells court estranged wife Caitlan Coleman was unfit to parent their four childrenJoshua Boyle outside court in Ottawa in March. Boyle has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Photograph: Lars Hagberg/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Canadian man who spent five years held hostage in Afghanistan with his American wife has admitted striking her with a broom, but told a court in Ottawa that she asked to be hit, as his trial for sexual assault nears its conclusion.Under cross-examination by prosecutors on Tuesday, Joshua Boyle claimed he struck his estranged wife, Caitlan Coleman, several times in December 2017. But he had acted not out of anger, but because she frequently asked to be spanked.Boyle and Coleman, who married in 2011, were kidnapped by Afghan militants during a backpacking trip in 2012 and were transferred to the custody of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.Boyle has pleaded not guilty to assault, sexual assault and unlawful confinement betweenOctober and December 2017, after the couple returned to Ottawa.Since taking the stand last week, Boyle, 36 has worked to counter the prosecution's depiction that he was a manipulative and abusive husband.He is also accused of administering a noxious substance.On Tuesday, he disputed accusations that he drugged Coleman with the anti-depressant trazadone, instead testifying he had offered her the drug because she was prone to "fits".Hygiene routines – in disarray after five years in captivity – were a point of friction between him and Coleman, he said.He told the court that on 5 November – about a month after they were rescued by Pakistan security forces – Coleman flew into a rage when he suggested that she took a shower before meeting his parents."I don't remember if I invoked the fact both my mother and father had complained about Caitlan's hygiene," said Boyle. "Meeting in public was often embarrassing for them."Earlier in the week, Boyle accused Coleman of "incompetence" as a mother, saying that while in captivity, Coleman would "shut down", neglecting to feed their newborn or change diapers, prompting him to ask guards for food for the child.Even after the family was rescued in 2017 and brought to Canada, Boyle claimed Coleman would strike and violently shake their oldest child in their family's Ottawa apartment.In previous testimony from March and April, Coleman claimed Boyle was mercurial and violent, choking, punching and biting her. In addition to cataloguing numerous instances of sexual assault, she also alleged Boyle threatened to kill her – in front of their children.But during-cross examination, Boyle dismissed the accusation that he was manipulative in their relationship, suggesting Coleman's behaviour and accusations could be attributed to mental illness. He also claimed that his demands that Coleman maintain a certain weight and dress in a specific manner were merely "suggestions" that she could have freely disregarded.The trial, which began in March, has been marred by numerous procedural delays over what material – including Coleman's past sexual history – is admissible in court.The proceedings also came to a standstill in July after Coleman gave several interviews to media outlets about her time in captivity, despite an order from the judge not to discuss the case.The defence will question Boyle on Wednesday, with closing arguments scheduled for the end of September.
|
| CIA slams CNN, rejects report on Russian spy extraction Posted: 10 Sep 2019 07:22 AM PDT  CNN reported that the CIA pulled a source from Russia in 2017, in part out of concern that the Trump administration had mishandled classified intelligence; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports from Washington.
|
| Indian police kill militant behind attack on Kashmir trader's family Posted: 10 Sep 2019 10:39 PM PDT ![Indian police kill militant behind attack on Kashmir trader's family]( "Indian police kill militant behind attack on Kashmir trader's family") Security forces in Indian Kashmir shot dead on Wednesday a suspected member of a Pakistan-based militant group who was accused of attacking the family of a fruit trader, the state police chief said. Tension is running high in Jammu and Kashmir since India withdrew the disputed Muslim-majority region's special rights in order to integrate it into the country, prompting protests. Last week, militants attacked the home of a fruit trader in Sopore, the region's main fruit-growing area, for carrying on with his business despite widespread protest boycotts, wounding his son, granddaughter and another family member, Indian authorities said.
|
| Doctor sues US government for seizing abortion drugs she sent to patients Posted: 11 Sep 2019 07:17 AM PDT  A Dutch doctor who has devoted her career to helping women safely terminate pregnancies in countries where it is illegal or difficult to access abortion has sued the US government for allegedly blocking her American patients from getting abortions by seizing their prescriptions.Dr Rebecca Gomperts, who prescribes abortion drugs to patients around the world, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Idaho on Monday.
|
| 60+ Christmas Cookies That You'll Finish Before Santa Arrives Posted: 09 Sep 2019 02:58 PM PDT |
| 10-year-old girl films mom driving drunk, police say Posted: 10 Sep 2019 09:30 AM PDT ![10-year-old girl films mom driving drunk, police say]( "10-year-old girl films mom driving drunk, police say") The girl showed Glendale police officers video in which three children under the age of 15 could be heard yelling at her mother to stop.
|
| BREAKING: U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan Attacked on 9/11 Anniversary Posted: 11 Sep 2019 04:24 AM PDT  On America's darkest day...
|
| Pope says he's 'not afraid of a split' in Catholic church as he accuses critics of stabbing him in the back Posted: 11 Sep 2019 12:23 AM PDT  Pope Francis said he does not fear a schism within the Roman Catholic Church, as criticism grows among conservatives of his liberal views on migrants, the protection of the environment and giving communion to divorcees. Speaking on board the papal plane on his return from a trip to Madagascar, Mauritius and Mozambique, the Pope said he had been unfairly labelled "a Communist" by his critics, with the most vocal being conservative Catholics in the United States. In his strongest remarks yet on the risk of a schism, he said there had been many doctrinal splits during the 2,000-year history of the Church, although he prayed there would not be another. "I am not afraid of schisms. I pray that there will be none, because what is at stake is people's spiritual health," he told journalists on board the plane. The Pope's impassioned defence of migrants and refugees, his opposition to Donald Trump's wall on the US-Mexico border, his sympathy towards homosexuals and his openness to remarried divorcees being allowed to take communion have earned him the ire of conservatives, particularly in the US. Pope Francis answered questions from journalists while travelling back from a trip to Africa Credit: ALESSANDRA TARANTINO/ AFP He said he was open to discussing differences of opinion with his critics, some of whom have accused him of heresy and have called for his resignation. "Let there be dialogue, let there be correction if there is an error, but the schismatic path is not Christian," he said. His critics were putting ideology over Catholic doctrine and deserved sympathy, not hostility. "We need to be gentle with those who are tempted by these attacks, they are going through a tough time, we must accompany them gently," he said. The Catholic Church last suffered a schism in 1988, when Marcel Lefebvre, an ultra-traditionalist French archbishop, ordained bishops without papal permission and started his own movement. Francis insisted that many of his views were similar to those of Pope John Paul II, who is regarded as an icon by conservatives, in part for his role in standing up to the USSR and bringing about the fall of Communism. "The social things that I say are the same things that John Paul II said, the same things. I copy him. But they say: 'the Pope is a communist.'" Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience, at the Vatican on Sept. 11 Credit: AP He said he was happy for critics to address him openly, but condemned those who launched attacks in an underhand way. "At least those who say something have the advantage of honesty in saying so. And I like that," he said. "I don't like criticism when it's under the table, when they smile at you and then then they try to stab you in the back." Echoing remarks that he has made throughout his papacy, he condemned populism and xenophobia, likening populist politicians to Adolf Hitler. "Sometimes, in some places, I hear speeches being given that sound similar to those made by Hitler in 1934. It's as if they want to return to the past in Europe." Xenophobia is "a human disease, like measles," he said. Pope Francis smiles as he arrives for his weekly general audience at St. Peter's square Credit: AFP In an apparent reference to President Trump's plans for a wall along the US border with Mexico, and European countries' efforts to keep out refugees and migrants with razor wire fences, he said: "Xenophobia is a disease that enters a country, enters a continent, and we build walls. But walls leave only those who built them. Yes, they leave out many people, but those who remain inside the walls will be left alone. Xenophobia rides the waves of political populism." Francis criticised Mr Trump's proposals for a border wall three years ago, saying that anyone who wants to build walls rather than bridges is "not Christian". The remark incensed the then Republican candidate, who said it was "disgraceful" that the pontiff should question his faith. To the discomfort of some conservative Catholics, Francis has repeatedly warned that the excesses of capitalism are leaving millions of people behind, fueling social tensions and harming the planet.
|
| Joshua Wong: Hong Kong's pro-democracy poster child Posted: 11 Sep 2019 01:26 AM PDT  Joshua Wong, the Hong Kong activist soon to visit the United States, was the unlikely hero of the Umbrella Movement that inspired hundreds of thousands to take over Hong Kong's streets for two months in 2014 calling for free elections. Five years later, the 22-year-old is one of the most prominent faces in the city's leaderless pro-democracy movement, often seen on rallies, locked up by police and individually called out by the Chinese government. Scrawny, with gaunt features and a studious frown, Wong has now taken his fight around the globe, recently meeting with politicians in Taiwan, holding talks in Berlin with the German foreign minister, and has speaking engagements scheduled in the United States.
|
| In last words, Khashoggi asked killers not to suffocate him Posted: 10 Sep 2019 11:01 AM PDT  In his final words, slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi urged his killers not to cover his mouth because he suffered from asthma and could suffocate, according to Turkey's Sabah newspaper. Sabah newspaper, which is close to Turkey's government, published new details of a recording of Khashoggi's conversation with members of a Saudi hit squad sent to kill him. The paper says the recording of Khashoggi's grisly Oct. 2, 2018 killing and reported dismemberment at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul was obtained by Turkey's intelligence agency.
|
| North Korea carried out super-large multiple rocket launcher test on Tuesday: KCNA Posted: 10 Sep 2019 02:16 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the testing of a super-large multiple rocket launcher on Tuesday, North Korean state media KCNA said on Wednesday. North Korea fired a new round of short-range projectiles on Tuesday, South Korean officials said, only hours after it signaled a new willingness to resume stalled denuclearization talks with the United States in late September. Kim, who had guided the testing of the same multiple rocket launcher before, said its capabilities have been "finally verified in terms of combat operation," and what remains to be done with the rocket launcher is a "running fire test," KCNA said, without elaborating on what the test would entail.
|
| AOC reveals her student loan balance and makes payment during congressional hearing Posted: 11 Sep 2019 10:41 AM PDT  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a payment towards her student loan debt during a committee meeting and called on Congress to take swift action on the issue."I literally made a student loan payment while I was sitting here at this chair, and I looked at my balance and it was $20,237.16 (£16,410.62)," the New York Democrat said at a meeting of the financial services committee focusing on student debt.
|
| Czech Leader Adds to Tension in Balkans Territorial Dispute Posted: 11 Sep 2019 06:33 AM PDT ![Czech Leader Adds to Tension in Balkans Territorial Dispute]( "Czech Leader Adds to Tension in Balkans Territorial Dispute") (Bloomberg) -- The Czech president sparked ire when he said he'd ask his nation's leadership whether the European Union member could undo its recognition of Kosovo, making him an unexpected backer of Serbia in the Balkans' biggest territorial dispute.Like most EU states, the Czech Republic recognized Kosovo following its 2008 unilateral declaration of independence. Serbia refuses to do so and has been trying to persuade nations to not recognize its neighbor or withdraw their endorsement.President Milos Zeman, who was prime minister of the Czech Republic when as a NATO member it supported the alliance's 1999 bombing of Serbia to end its war with Kosovo, doesn't have the power to undo his country's recognition. But his comments, made during an official visit to Belgrade Wednesday won praise from Serb politicians.Kosovo canceled its participation in a meeting of prime ministers from the so-called Visegrad 4 group of central European countries and western Balkan states that is scheduled in Prague for Thursday, the Prague-based CTK news service reported.While the countries have to mend ties in order to join the EU, Serbia is seeking to reduce the number of states recognizing Kosovo to at least half of the members of the United Nations to ensure it isn't accepted into international organizations. The biggest former Yugoslav republic also relies on the backing from Russia, China, India and five EU states that haven't recognized Kosovo.Serbia and Kosovo fought a war that stopped in 1999 only after NATO warplanes bombed Serbia. The Balkan neighbors signed an EU-brokered deal to mend ties in 2013 but the efforts stalled last year when Serbia blocked Kosovo from joining Interpol, triggering a retaliatory 100% tax on Serb imports.Western nations have urged Kosovo to suspend the tariffs and called on Serbia to stop the de-recognition campaign against Kosovo.To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Dudik in Prague at adudik@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Balazs PenzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| U.S. Marshals: Escaped Arizona murder suspect on 15 Most Wanted list Posted: 10 Sep 2019 07:01 AM PDT  U.S. Marshals believe Blane Barksdale and his wife, Susan, could be in remote areas of eastern Arizona. Couple escaped Aug. 26 in Utah.
|
| 'The View' co-hosts trash Trump's children: 'They're not good people' Posted: 10 Sep 2019 12:20 PM PDT  Meghan McCain, Joy Behar and Abby Huntsman had a candid discussion about the power and influence of Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr.
|
| How the U.S. Army 'Replicates' Enemy Drones to Destroy Them Posted: 11 Sep 2019 02:52 AM PDT  Commercially available attack drones now proliferating at alarming rates around the world.
|
| China detains Taiwanese man who reportedly shared troop photos at Hong Kong border Posted: 11 Sep 2019 05:01 AM PDT  China has arrested a Taiwanese man on state security charges after he crossed from Hong Kong into the mainland and reportedly shared pictures of troops, renewing fears about arbitrary detention amid the ongoing political unrest in the financial hub. Lee Meng-chu, a volunteer activity organiser in the small Taiwanese fishing community of Fangliao, went missing on August 20 when he entered Shenzhen, a border city which links Hong Kong to Southeast China. Mr Lee, who studied in the US and is also known by the name Morrison, allegedly shared information about the ongoing Hong Kong protests on social media and sent Chen Ya-lin, the Fangliao mayor, a photo of Chinese troops massing equipment on the city's border. The Shenzhen police had previously told Mr Lee's worried family that they had no record of him arriving in the city, despite local friends reporting that they had dinner together before he disappeared. Last month the Taiwanese government also made official enquiries about his whereabouts but received no reply from China. On Wednesday, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, confirmed that he was being investigated after he "allegedly engaged in illegal activities that endanger state security." Mr Ma did not elaborate further. Lee Meng-chu was detained after crossing from Hong Kong into mainland China in August Credit: Pingtung County Fangliao Township Office Mr Lee's detention comes amid reports of Chinese citizens being arrested or harassed in relation to the protests, and of the Chinese authorities checking the phones of passengers travelling to the mainland from Hong Kong. Last month Simon Cheng, an official at the UK's Hong Kong consulate was held in Shenzhen for 15 days before being released without charge. His supporters believe he was investigated for signs of supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement in an attempt to suppress free speech. The Taiwanese government, which has tense relations with China, said it was "deeply concerned" about Mr Lee's detention and urged the "relevant agencies" to negotiate "in full force" over the issue. Friends of Mr Lee expressed their fears about his well-being and the growing risk of enforced disappearances and China's opaque justice system on his Facebook page. His case has been compared to Taiwanese rights activist Lee Ming-che, who disappeared for weeks in southern China in 2017 before resurfacing to be sentenced to five years in prison for "the subversion of state power."
|
| Sexual assault claim against party tests New Zealand leader Posted: 10 Sep 2019 10:22 PM PDT  New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was facing a difficult test of her leadership Wednesday after her party president resigned over the party's handling of a sexual assault complaint. Labour Party President Nigel Haworth's resignation came after a 19-year-old party volunteer told online site The Spinoff that last year she was pinned down and violently sexually assaulted by a party staffer.
|
| Rising star of Israeli right targets breakthrough Posted: 10 Sep 2019 07:09 PM PDT  On a Saturday night, after sundown marked the end of the Jewish Sabbath, rising political star Ayelet Shaked shook hands, posed for selfies and downed shots of arak as she toured Jerusalem bars. The head of the newly minted "Yamina" (Rightward) hard-right alliance does not mask her intentions: She wants one day to succeed her former boss Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister of Israel. To further that aim and perhaps to soften her image, she recently took to the alleyways of Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market, a hub of nightlife after the produce stalls close for the day.
|
| Former FEMA Official Arrested on Bribery, Fraud Charges Relating to Puerto Rico Power Restoration Posted: 10 Sep 2019 01:42 PM PDT  A former Federal Emergency Management Agency official has been arrested on charges that she took bribes from the president of a company that received $1.8 billion from the federal government to repair Puerto Rico's power grid after it was decimated by Hurricane Maria.Federal authorities said they arrested former FEMA deputy administrator Ahsha Tribble and the former president of Cobra Acquisitions, Donald K. Ellison, on Tuesday, accusing them of conspiring to defraud the federal government. Also arrested was Jovanda Patterson, who worked under Tribble at FEMA and was later hired by Cobra."They took advantage of one of the most vulnerable moments in the history of Puerto Rico to enrich themselves," said the U.S. attorney for Puerto Rico, Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez.A federal investigation found that Tribble and Ellison had cultivated a "close personal relationship" and that Ellison had multiplied Tribble's slew of perks in exchange for her influence in securing Cobra's government contracts. The gifts included a helicopter tour over Puerto Rico, a New York apartment, plane tickets, and hotel stays.In one instance, Tribble threatened in February of last year to withhold FEMA aid from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority if it did not hire Cobra to repair damage from an explosion, despite officials' at the public utility saying they could get the work done for a lower price.
|
| Hurricane season 2019: Historic peak for tropical development arrives Posted: 11 Sep 2019 05:01 AM PDT  Historic "peak" of hurricane season, monitoring the tropics for development.
|
| Sheriff's deputies in North Carolina are unsure why a woman tied up her husband and castrated him Posted: 10 Sep 2019 07:25 PM PDT  Victoria Frabutt, 56, is in jail after "severing her husband's penis," according to the Carteret County Sheriff's Office.
|
| Trump administration considers monitoring smartphones of people with mental health problems Posted: 10 Sep 2019 03:30 AM PDT  The Trump administration is considering a proposal to combat mass shootings which suggests phones and smartwatches may be used to track people with mental health problems.The idea began with Bob Wright, a former NBC chairman and longtime Trump confidant, who first proposed creating a government research arm, called the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency (HARPA), to tackle health problems.
|
| Ugandan leader calls for eye-for-an-eye-style sentences after nephew murdered Posted: 10 Sep 2019 10:51 PM PDT  Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has said he wants courts to hand out eye-for-an-eye-style sentences for all murder convicts, to help stem soaring violent crime that claimed the life of his nephew last week. Ugandans complain that most crimes go unsolved because police are corrupt and not interested in investigating cases involving ordinary citizens, although security officials deny this. "We need to work on the courts," Museveni said in a statement posted on his official social media accounts late on Tuesday.
|
| Russia's Su-57 Stealth Fighter Might Get 'Shot Down' By This (Not an F-35) Posted: 11 Sep 2019 05:53 AM PDT  But a Russian Su-35.
|
| Mugabe body arrives in Zimbabwe, burial place not announced Posted: 11 Sep 2019 08:19 AM PDT  The body of Zimbabwe's longtime ruler Robert Mugabe arrived Wednesday in the capital, Harare, where it was met by the country's president and a full military delegation. Widow Grace Mugabe, in a black dress and veil, sat next to President Emmerson Mnangagwa as Mugabe's casket, draped with a Zimbabwe flag, was wheeled by top military generals to the podium. Mugabe, who died at 95 in a hospital in Singapore on Friday, was a guerrilla leader who led the fight to end white-minority rule in what was then Rhodesia, and ruled Zimbabwe from its independence in 1980 until he was deposed in 2017.
|
| Serbs Ignore EU Warning Over Plan to Join Russian-Led Trade Bloc Posted: 11 Sep 2019 12:09 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Serbia's plan to join a Russian-led economic union is drawing ire from the European Union, which the Balkan nation says it wants to be part of.The EU's executive commission has made clear that Serbia will have to cancel any bilateral trade agreements with other countries if and when it joins the EU, and leaders said they'd rather see Belgrade aligning its policies more with the bloc's. Serbian officials have ignored the criticism and will sign a deal to join the Eurasian Economic Union on Oct. 25. The Russian-led bloc also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.The plan is "not a hindrance to European integration," Serbian Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic said by email last week. The European Commission's warning isn't going to "affect Serbia's decision to enter into this agreement in Moscow," he said.The EU has no say over which groups Serbia joins while it's not a member, but some of its representatives indicated they would like to see greater commitment to membership, especially after an EU progress report earlier this year showed that Serbia was only partially aligning its foreign and security policies with the EU's.Serb leaders have said that EU membership is a priority, a goal they hope to achieve around the middle of next decade. At the same time, Serbia has historic and religious ties with Russia, which is helping it prevent the further recognition of Kosovo in international bodies. Additionally, Russia has donated fighter jets and tanks to Serbia and Serb leaders, including President Aleksandar Vucic, are frequent visitors to Moscow.'European Orientation'"You can't be marching in several directions at the same time," Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, who spent years working in the Balkans, said last month in Helsinki. "If you're serious about your European orientation then obviously you make political decisions that bring you closer to it. This is not one of them."The Eurasian Economic Union, established by Russian President Vladimir Putin to create a rival to the EU's open market and help rebuild Moscow's sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union, has four other members aside from Russia.Economists in Belgrade have also questioned the benefit of the trade membership for Serbia, whose main export markets are in western Europe, not in the east."Russia accounts for only one quarter of what we export to Germany and Italy," said Ivan Nikolic, an economist and member of central bank's advisory council. "We are accessing a new market but the question is what we can offer. We are exporting food products, and fruit and vegetables, but we are not price competitive."(Updates to add details on trading bloc in second paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade at gfilipovic@bloomberg.net;Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael WinfreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Three-year old rape victim testifies in Myanmar court Posted: 11 Sep 2019 06:37 AM PDT 
A three-year old girl who was allegedly raped at a private nursery in Myanmar spoke out in court Wednesday (September 11). She testified through a video conference. Her lawyer says she was able to identify the real culprit. (SOUNDBITE) (Burmese), COMPLAINANT LAWYER, YWAT NU AUNG, SAYING: "When the court showed the girl the picture of the suspects, she was able to point out the individual on the presented picture, and she was so angry seeing these pictures that she stomped angrily at them with her heel." The girl only nicknamed as "Victoria", was assaulted in May. Authorities had arrested the school's driver, but the evidence presented was inconclusive. The driver's lawyer said the girl's testimony proved his innocence. (SOUNDBITE) (Burmese) DEFENCE LAWYER, KHIN MAUNG ZAW, SAYING: "The girl testified with video conference. She is very intelligent and able to recall her memory. She can answer well to questions of the court. Everything that she said is not against my client." The controversy has sparked outrage in Myanmar. With calls for a speedy trial and justice for the victim.
|
| Donald Trump Jr. made a #MeToo joke during dad's North Carolina rally Posted: 10 Sep 2019 09:43 AM PDT  As Donald Trump Jr. took the stage, he kissed his girlfriend and said, "do you think the media's gonna sue me for harassment?"
|
| Hong Kong protesters hit pause to mark Sept. 11 attacks Posted: 10 Sep 2019 10:09 PM PDT ![Hong Kong protesters hit pause to mark Sept. 11 attacks]( "Hong Kong protesters hit pause to mark Sept. 11 attacks") Hong Kong activists called off protests on Wednesday in remembrance of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and denounced a Chinese state newspaper report that they were planning "massive terror" in the Chinese-ruled city. Hong Kong has been rocked by months of sometimes violent unrest, prompted by anger over planned legislation that would have allowed extraditions to China but broadening into calls for democracy and for Communist Party rulers in Beijing to leave the city alone. "Anti-government fanatics are planning massive terror attacks, including blowing up gas pipes, in Hong Kong on September 11," the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily said on its Facebook page on Tuesday alongside a picture of the attacks on the twin towers in New York.
|
| Bolton's rootin', tootin' exit: Today's Toon Posted: 10 Sep 2019 01:34 PM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
|
| Hundreds of Nigerians board plane to leave South Africa Posted: 11 Sep 2019 08:22 AM PDT  A group of Nigerians boarded a free flight from Johannesburg to Lagos on Wednesday, following a week of violence targeting foreigners in South Africa that has stoked tensions between Africa's two largest economies. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the flight, operated by the private Nigerian airline Air Peace, but Nigeria's government said it estimated 313 people would board. In total, 640 Nigerians living in South Africa had registered at Nigerian missions to take the flights offered by the airline last week after bands of South Africans launched violent attacks against foreign-owned shops and stalls, looting and burning the small businesses and attacking some of the shopkeepers.
|
| Largest flying animal in history identified: study Posted: 10 Sep 2019 10:43 AM PDT  Scientists on Tuesday unveiled a new species pterosaur, the plane-sized reptiles that lorded over primeval skies above T-rex, Triceratops and other dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous. With a wingspan of ten metres and weighing 250 kilos, Cryodrakon boreas rivals another pterosaur as the largest flying animal of all time, researchers reported in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. "This is a cool discovery," said David Hone, lead author of the study and a researcher at Queen Mary University in London.
|
| 2019 Toyota Yaris vs. 2020 Nissan Versa in Photos Posted: 11 Sep 2019 05:08 AM PDT |
| Elizabeth Warren’s Daft Fracking Scheme Posted: 09 Sep 2019 02:58 PM PDT  Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts promises that if she is elected president, she will issue an immediate unilateral prohibition — based on some presidential power that she'll invent as soon as she gets around to it — on the method of natural-gas production known colloquially as "fracking." Other Democratic contenders, including Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris of California, have made similar promises.Another way of saying this is that the Democrats promise to induce artificial scarcity in the energy market. Yet another way of saying this is that the Democrats promise to create effective subsidies for such relatively high-pollution energy sources as coal and diesel at the expense of a relatively low-pollution energy source in the form of natural gas. And yet another way of saying this is that the Democrats propose to subsidize petroleum producers from Russia to Iran at the expense of small to midsize businesses in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Mexico, Texas, and other energy-producing states.Why?What we call "fracking" relies on two relatively old technologies: hydraulic fracturing, which is used to break up underground shale formations to release oil and gas trapped therein, and horizontal drilling, which allows for the efficient recovery of that released oil and/or gas. Combining those two technologies with recent advances in everything from materials development to seismic imaging has revolutionized energy production in the United States — and that gets up the noses of certain people, prominent among them so-called environmentalists who are categorically opposed to all new development of conventional energy sources — even when that development comes with important environmental benefits. Their opposition is ideological and quasi-religious. It is based only very loosely on genuine environmental concerns.Which is not to say that there aren't any. Unconventional gas production, like any other kind of energy production, brings with it environmental challenges. These are mostly unsexy problems involving things such as wastewater management — there's a lot of poisonous and occasionally radioactive stuff deep underground, and the water used in hydraulic fracturing brings some of that up with it. In the early days of fracking, that wastewater would be turned over to municipal water-management authorities, who often just diluted it and dumped it into the nearest river; thankfully, better techniques (including recycling fracking water) have since been developed. Other, more dramatic environmental problems associated with fracking range from the fictitious to the exaggerated. Fracking can contribute to "induced seismicity," meaning little earthquakes that are generally but not always too small to be felt at the surface. Fracking can also lead to drinking-water contamination through "methane migration," meaning the leakage of natural gas from wells into groundwater — but it is worth keeping in mind that such methane migration also happens both naturally ("burning springs" were documented in North America as far back as the early 1700s) and through other activity such as digging water wells. Studies have suggested that fracking is in fact less likely to produce this kind of contamination than is conventional drilling, in part because fracking typically happens at a depth far removed from accessible groundwater.Those are the environmental challenges. The environmental benefit is this: In the first two decades of this century, the United States substantially reduced its greenhouse-gas emissions, more so than in many Western European countries pursuing active national programs of carbon-dioxide reduction. This happened because the abundant production of natural gas drove down prices and made it attractive to substitute that relatively clean-burning fuel for such relatively high-emissions sources as coal and heating oil for purposes such as generating electricity and heating buildings. The United States achieved these reductions while emissions were climbing in most of Asia and Europe. And it did so without any heavy-handed regulation or federal bullying.The fundamental issue here isn't methane or carbon dioxide or climate modeling: It is gullibility. On the one hand, the Democrats offer a pie-in-the-sky "Green New Deal" through which greenhouse-gas emissions might be radically reduced at no real cost to anybody and no meaningful economic disturbance . . . at some point in the future . . . by giving today's Democrats a great deal of money and power and by implementing a bunch of things that look for all the world like the longstanding Democratic policy wish-list, many of them only remotely connected to energy or climate change. On the other hand, we have the opportunity to substitute — right here and right now — relatively clean sources of energy for relatively dirty ones, and to do so mainly by relying on the fact that producers and industry will do so on their own simply by responding to ordinary economic incentives — incentives rooted in abundance and in the emergence of a world-beating U.S energy industry that creates millions of good jobs in the process.This offers a rare opportunity for agreement between intellectually honest parties worried about climate change and those who think that the climate threat is exaggerated but welcome the abundant domestic production of natural gas for other reasons. But the Democrats are having none of that.A more responsible "green" agenda would consist of helping to enable gas production with a minimum of environmental trouble by regulating and managing the real and undeniable environmental challenges involved in energy production in an intelligent and productive way — as, indeed, many state environmental agencies have shown themselves more than able to do when it comes to fracking. Making absurd, fanciful promises — and inducing environmental terror — is a fine way to run a presidential campaign but a poor way to run a country.Despite the Lenten, renunciatory attitude of the environmentalists, cutting off that plentiful and affordable supply of natural gas would not mean simply forgoing a certain amount of energy consumption and the emissions that go along with it. Rather, it would mean paying higher prices for the same energy, possibly switching in some cases from natural gas to coal or diesel or other relatively high-emissions fossil fuels, or relying more heavily on imports instead of enjoying our current position as the world's largest petroleum producer and a major energy exporter. In exchange for what? Some vague promise that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is going to train newly unemployed oilfield workers in Pennsylvania to install energy-efficient windows in Brooklyn?We have high hopes for other parts of the energy industry: Solar panels, for example, have proved valuable for powering fracked gas wells, which tend not to be located next to power outlets. The success of fracking is one of those prototypical great American entrepreneurial success stories, a very fine example of the magic that can happen when the profit motive brings together capital, expertise, and commitment. If the same process means that one day we can power spaceships with chopped kale and good wishes, then no one will be better pleased than we. But, at the moment, the best thing the federal government can do is to let prosperity emerge on its own, without the clumsy attentions of Senator Warren or one of the other clever lawyers who believe that we can talk our way into abundance.The American gas industry is one of the best things our country has going for it economically. That the Democrats propose to sacrifice it to ideology and political convenience is one of the better arguments for keeping them far away from the levers of power.
|
| Oregon Babysitter Who Tortured and Sexually Abused 3 Sisters Is Sentenced to 270 Years in Prison Posted: 10 Sep 2019 09:58 PM PDT  Babysitter Sentenced to 270 Years for Sexually Abusing 3 Sisters
|
| President Trump rips Fed as 'boneheads,' calls for zero or negative interest rates Posted: 11 Sep 2019 08:19 AM PDT  President Donald Trump on Wednesday blasted the Federal Reserve, exhorting the board to lower interest rates to zero or possibly even below zero.
|
| Iran denounces 'U.S.-Israeli plot' over nuclear programme Posted: 11 Sep 2019 05:37 AM PDT ![Iran denounces 'U.S.-Israeli plot' over nuclear programme]( "Iran denounces 'U.S.-Israeli plot' over nuclear programme") Iran has denounced a "U.S.-Israeli plot" to put pressure on the U.N. nuclear watchdog, after the IAEA called in recent days for more cooperation from Tehran following what diplomats say was the detection of uranium particles at an undeclared site. The International Atomic Energy Agency has broad powers to inspect Iran under its 2015 nuclear agreement with major powers. The IAEA has issued its calls in recent days for Iran to cooperate, without saying specifically what prompted them, saying this is confidential.
|
| Why the B-1 Become May Become a Hypersonic Missile Carrier Posted: 11 Sep 2019 12:51 AM PDT  And you thought this old bomber was done.
|
| Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, and Marissa Mayer reportedly attended an elite private dinner with Jeffrey Epstein just 2 years after he served a prison sentence for soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl (AMZN, GOOGL, TSLA, MSFT) Posted: 10 Sep 2019 07:52 AM PDT  The private dinners, known informally as the "billionaires' dinners," are held by the New York literary agent John Brockman.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment