| McCain: 'China Is the Key' to Solving North Korea Problem Posted: 15 Apr 2017 11:07 PM PDT  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) tells Chuck Todd that President Trump's shift on calling China a currency manipulator is tied to their role in defusing North Korea's aggressive posture.
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| Over 100 killed during Syria's troubled population transfer Posted: 15 Apr 2017 04:00 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — A stalled population transfer resumed Saturday after a deadly explosion killed at least 100, including children, government supporters and opposition fighters, at an evacuation point — adding new urgency to the widely criticized operation.
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| On Good Friday, Pope speaks of shame for Church and humanity Posted: 15 Apr 2017 02:20 AM PDT ![On Good Friday, Pope speaks of shame for Church and humanity]( "On Good Friday, Pope speaks of shame for Church and humanity") By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis, presiding at a Good Friday service, asked God for forgiveness for scandals in the Catholic Church and for the "shame" of humanity becoming inured to daily scenes of bombed cities and drowning migrants. Francis presided at a traditional candlelight Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) service at Rome's Colosseum attended by some 20,000 people and protected by heavy security following recent attacks in European cities. Francis sat while a large wooden cross was carried in procession, stopping 14 times to mark events in the last hours of Jesus' life from being sentenced to death to his burial.
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| Serial executions take toll on executioners too, critics say Posted: 15 Apr 2017 07:18 PM PDT  Putting a prisoner to death "stays with you for a long time," says Ron McAndrew. The former warden of Florida State Prison says his own mental health had begun to deteriorate by the time he left his position in 1998 after taking part in eight executions. Now, McAndrew is fighting against the death penalty.
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| Family Friends Identify Boy, 5, Killed After Getting Stuck Between Wall And Table At Rotating Restaurant Posted: 16 Apr 2017 09:02 AM PDT  He wandered off from his parents, according to reports.
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| New York's Easter Parade: 5th Ave lined with revelers wearing their holiday best Posted: 16 Apr 2017 12:38 PM PDT ![New York's Easter Parade: 5th Ave lined with revelers wearing their holiday best]( "New York's Easter Parade: 5th Ave lined with revelers wearing their holiday best") New Yorkers showed off their festive chapeaus and garb as they promenaded along Fifth Ave. for the annual Easter Parade and Easter Bonnet Festival.
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| 5 Of Our Solar System’s Most Important Moons Posted: 15 Apr 2017 12:10 PM PDT  If we are going to find aliens in our solar system, we might have a better shot exploring moons rather than other planets.
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| North Korea missile launch 'no surprise, no need to expend resources': U.S. foreign policy adviser Posted: 15 Apr 2017 11:46 PM PDT ![North Korea missile launch 'no surprise, no need to expend resources': U.S. foreign policy adviser]( "North Korea missile launch 'no surprise, no need to expend resources': U.S. foreign policy adviser") North Korea's latest missile launch came as no surprise and there was no need to expend resources against it, a White House foreign policy adviser said on Sunday. "We don't need to expend any resources against that.. We weren't surprised by it, we were anticipating it," the adviser traveling with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told reporters, adding initial reports said it was a medium-range missile and failed four to five seconds into the launch. Pence arrived in South Korea on Sunday to kick off his Asia trip, hours after North Korea launched the missile off its east coast.
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| Dozens of children dead in Syria evacuees bombing Posted: 16 Apr 2017 12:21 PM PDT  Nearly 70 children were among those killed when a suicide car bombing tore through buses carrying evacuees from besieged government-held towns in Syria, a monitor said on Sunday. Saturday's blast hit a convoy carrying residents from the northern towns of Fuaa and Kafraya as they waited at a transit point in rebel-held Rashidin, west of Aleppo. At least 68 children were among the 126 people killed in the attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, updating a previous toll of 112 dead.
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| Death toll in Sri Lanka garbage mound collapse rises to 26 Posted: 16 Apr 2017 11:20 AM PDT  COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The death toll from the collapse of a massive garbage mound near Sri Lanka's capital rose to 26 on Sunday, and activists said 20 more people could still be buried underneath the debris.
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| Trump hits back at tax protests, asks 'who paid' for rallies Posted: 16 Apr 2017 08:38 AM PDT  US President Donald Trump on Sunday hit back at nationwide protests calling for him to release his tax returns, questioning "who paid for" the "small" rallies. "Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over!" the president tweeted Sunday morning.
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| Mexican human rights commission condemns killing of reporter Posted: 15 Apr 2017 02:56 PM PDT ![Mexican human rights commission condemns killing of reporter]( "Mexican human rights commission condemns killing of reporter") Mexico's human rights commission on Saturday condemned the killing of a police beat reporter in western Mexico, the latest in a string of journalists shot down in acts that may be connected to their work. Reporter Maximino Rodriguez was gunned down while in his car in a shopping center parking lot on Friday afternoon in the state capital of La Paz, about 100 miles (160 km) from the beach resort of Cabo San Lucas. A journalist with news and opinion website Colectivo Pericu, Rodriguez was in the car with his wife, but she was not harmed when gunmen opened fire from a white pick-up truck, according to a report of the incident posted on the website.
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| When artists are on the frontlines – of peace Posted: 15 Apr 2017 04:47 PM PDT ![When artists are on the frontlines – of peace]( "When artists are on the frontlines – of peace") After seven decades of separation and frequent conflicts, the people of North and South Korea have grown so far apart that many observers say they can never reunite. Kang Chun-hyok, a well-known hip hop artist, thinks otherwise. A defector from North Korea who now lives in Seoul, he writes songs that show the common bonds of Koreans. His latest rap single, "For the Freedom," is the kind of artistic expression he hopes will prepare Koreans for reunification – despite the current saber-rattling around the divided peninsula.
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| April The Giraffe Is Finally Giving Birth Posted: 15 Apr 2017 06:26 AM PDT  April waited until April.
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| Will Sean Spicer Appear As The Easter Bunny This Year? Posted: 16 Apr 2017 06:10 AM PDT  The White House press secretary dressed as the Easter bunny several times during annual Easter Egg Rolls during the George W. Bush administration.
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| Indian Snapchat Users Launch #UninstallSnapchat Campaign Posted: 16 Apr 2017 04:42 AM PDT  The campaign was in response to disparaging remarks about the country allegedly made by Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel, who reportedly called it "poor."
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| Chinese foreign minister: No winners if Korea war breaks out Posted: 14 Apr 2017 09:18 PM PDT  BEIJING (AP) — There can be no winners in a war between the U.S. and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programs, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, while pledging support for dialogue between the sides.
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| Russia arrests two suspected 'terrorist' recruiters Posted: 15 Apr 2017 11:20 AM PDT  Two suspected recruiters of "terrorists" from Central Asia were arrested in Saint Petersburg, justice authorities said on Saturday, in connection with a deadly bomb attack on the Russian city's metro. One suspect, aged 32, is accused of recruiting for the Islamic State group, while the other, aged 39, faces allegations of being a recruiter for "terrorist organisations in Syria". One of the two is from the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan, an area known for the number of recruits it has provided for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
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| Attorney calls for Georgia officers to be criminally charged Posted: 15 Apr 2017 04:58 PM PDT  ATLANTA (AP) — An attorney is calling for the two Georgia police officers who were fired after being caught on camera having a violent confrontation with a motorist to face criminal charges.
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| Erdogan: Turkey's pugnacious 'chief' wins again Posted: 16 Apr 2017 02:03 PM PDT  If there were a global contest for winning elections, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would see himself as the undisputed -- and undefeated -- heavyweight champion of the world. In the 15 years since his ruling party came to power, Erdogan has taken part in 11 elections -- five legislative polls, two referenda, three local elections and a presidential vote -- and won them all. On Sunday, Erdogan claimed victory in his 12t and arguably biggest ballot-box challenge since his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002: a referendum on expanding his powers.
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| Turkish opposition complains of 'illegal acts' in referendum Posted: 16 Apr 2017 08:54 AM PDT ![Turkish opposition complains of 'illegal acts' in referendum]( "Turkish opposition complains of 'illegal acts' in referendum") The deputy chairman of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) said illegal acts were being carried out in favor of the government in Sunday's referendum on expanding the powers of the presidency. "Many illegal acts are being carried out in favor of the government right now, but 'No' will win in the end," Erdal Aksunger told reporters at his party headquarters, referring to an election board decision to accept unstamped ballots. A statement on the High Electoral Board's (YSK) website hours before polls closed said it would count ballots that had not been stamped by its officials as valid unless they could be proved fraudulent, citing a high number of complaints that YSK officials at polling stations had failed to stamp them.
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| Facebook shareholders propose reports on 'fake news', pay equality Posted: 14 Apr 2017 08:30 PM PDT  Shareholders have proposed that Facebook Inc prepare a report on the threat to democracy and free speech from so-called fake news spread on the social media forum, and the dangers it may pose to the company itself, according to a proxy filing made on Friday. The proposal, which said Facebook had provided "a financial mechanism supporting fabricated content" on the internet, suggests the company review the issue broadly, including the extent to which it blocks fake posts, how its strategies impact free speech and how it evaluates claims in posts. "Facebook is highly vulnerable, as fake news promoters are spamming their way to visibility for fake news through strategically gaming Facebook's algorithms and publishing platform," the proposal states.
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| Man Arrested After Allegedly Breaking Into Home and Cooking Fried Chicken Posted: 16 Apr 2017 11:17 AM PDT  He also drank some of the homeowner's vodka.
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| Science proves that training AI to be ‘human’ makes it sexist and racist, too Posted: 15 Apr 2017 12:00 PM PDT 
As we get closer and closer to create artificial intelligence that can think and reason in ways that mimic a human brain it's becoming increasingly clear that allowing a machine mind to learn from humans is a very bad idea. We've seen examples of it in the past, but a new study on AI biases reveals that not only does training an artificial brain create biases, but those leanings reinforce many societal issues regarding race and gender that plague humanity today. The study, which was conducted by scientists at Princeton University and published in the journal Science, sought to determine not just if the behavior of an AI exhibited specific biases, but whether the machine learning systems that determine the outcome inherently lean one way or the other. To do this, the team trained an AI using standard datasets that are popular choices for machine learning. These kinds of sets include millions of words and are often gathered from many sources, including the internet. The AI studies the words, how their used, and what words they're used in association with, in order to provide natural language responses and answers in a way that we can understand. It also, as it turns out, learns some of our more unfortunate quirks. After training the AI, scientists tested how it associates various words with others. For example, "flower" is more likely to be associated with "pleasant" than "weapon" is. That, of course, makes perfect sense. However, the trained AI also had a habit of associating typically caucasian-sounding names with other things that it considered to be "pleasant," rather than African-American names. The AI also shied away from pairing female pronouns with mathematics, and instead often associated them with artistic terms. This is obviously a huge issue since, in the name of creating AI that sound and behave more human, some of the standard training materials being used carry with them some of the worst parts of us. It's a very interesting problem, and one that you can bet will get a lot of attention now that evidence seems to be mounting.
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| 3 Things To Know About Easter Posted: 16 Apr 2017 03:00 AM PDT  Easter is similar to other major holidays that have blended Christian and non-Christian (pagan) elements over the last 200 years or so.
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| 'New weapons' on display at North Korean military parade Posted: 15 Apr 2017 12:24 AM PDT  North Korea shows off what are thought to be new ballistic missiles, and issues a grave warning to the United States, as it celebrates the 105th anniversary of the birth of state founder Kim Il Sung.
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| Syria's Assad is an 'arch-terrorist': British FM Posted: 15 Apr 2017 06:52 PM PDT  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an "arch-terrorist" and it is time Russia realised he is "literally and metaphorically toxic", British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Sunday. Johnson said Assad's ally Moscow still had time to be on the "right side of the argument", in a Sunday Telegraph newspaper article. "Assad uses chemical weapons because they are not only horrible and indiscriminate.
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| El Faro's tragic ending 'burned' in investigator's mind Posted: 15 Apr 2017 05:38 AM PDT  JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — It was just a fleeting moment, hardly noticeable amid the tumult: As the crew of the freighter El Faro fought their futile battle with a hurricane , the second mate asked the captain if she could leave the bridge to retrieve her life jacket.
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| Confrontation, laughter in exchanges at town hall meetings Posted: 15 Apr 2017 06:09 AM PDT  A sampling of moments during town halls meetings that U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., held last week in Hood River and Prineville, Oregon:
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| Hackers release files indicating NSA monitored global bank transfers Posted: 14 Apr 2017 07:54 PM PDT  Hackers released documents and files on Friday that cybersecurity experts said indicated the U.S. National Security Agency had accessed the SWIFT interbank messaging system, allowing it to monitor money flows among some Middle Eastern and Latin American banks. The documents and files were released by a group calling themselves The Shadow Brokers. Some of the records bear NSA seals, but Reuters could not confirm their authenticity.
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| Dad Kidnaps and Kills Daughters, 8 and 11, Before Setting Car on Fire and Turning Gun on Himself Posted: 16 Apr 2017 06:57 AM PDT  He disappeared with them earlier that morning.
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| Target Recalls Easter Toys Over Safety Concerns Posted: 15 Apr 2017 02:02 AM PDT  The products have been recalled over concerns that they may expand inside a child's body if ingested, causing serious health issues.
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| Manifesto-writing fugitive found camping on Wisconsin farm Posted: 14 Apr 2017 11:16 PM PDT  MILWAUKEE (AP) — Fearing a mass shooting, authorities chased nearly 800 leads in search of a Wisconsin man they believed had a cache of stolen firearms and had written of his desire to commit violent acts against the government.
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| Peace along the border despite N. Korean threats Posted: 16 Apr 2017 01:11 AM PDT  One soldier enjoys a cigarette, another sits reading quietly on the riverbank: seen from the Chinese side of the border, North Korea's army does not appear to be on a war footing despite all the bellicose language. Dandong city is the main crossing point to North Korea, and every day hundreds of tourists embark on small boats for a cruise on the Yalu border river and a fleeting glimpse of another world. Further south, the border between North and South Korea is one of the world's most heavily fortified.
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| NASA photos capture a strange new crack in a massive Greenland glacier and we're all probably doomed Posted: 16 Apr 2017 06:52 AM PDT  A mysterious crack has been spreading across a giant Greenland glacier, and it's raising concerns that part of the floating ice shelf could splinter off into the ocean. That's bad. Scientists with the NASA field campaign Operation IceBridge recently captured the first photographs of the growing rift while flying over Petermann Glacier, a structure that connects the Greenland ice sheet to the Arctic Ocean. SEE ALSO: NASA photo reveals a startling 300-foot-wide rift in Antarctic Ice Shelf The new chasm appears in the center of the glacier's floating ice shelf — the tongue of ice that extends into the water from the grounded glacier on land. In the photos, the crack appears relatively close to a larger rift spreading toward the shelf's center. Should the two intersect, part of the ice shelf in northwest Greenland could potentially break off. A portion of the new rift on Petermann Glacier's floating ice shelf is shown near the bottom center. The older rift appears near top center. The shaded feature, near the bottom center, is the "medial flowline."Image: NASA/Kelly BruntThere may be a savior for the shelf. A "medial flowline" in the ice could have a "stagnating effect" on the newer rift, helping to slow or halt its advance toward the older chasm, scientists with Operation IceBridge said on Facebook. Stef Lhermitte, a professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, first alerted the NASA team to the crack's coordinates after spotting it in satellite images, Washington Post reported. Polar-orbiting satellites showed the chasm for the first time in July 2016, and "it has been growing since then," Lhermitte said on Twitter. .@Petermann_Ice @AndreasMuenchow @glacier_doc @CopernicusEU @ESA_EO The internal crack growth is clearly visible in this Sentinel-1 time series, also during polar night. 3/5 pic.twitter.com/AKY2czWFtR — Stef Lhermitte (@StefLhermitte) April 12, 2017 While scientists still aren't sure what caused the crack to form, Lhermitte said a possible culprit might be "ocean forcing," a phenomenon that happens when warm ocean waters melt the ice from underneath. Ocean forcing might have been a culprit in creating cracks in another part of the world. Researchers believe it caused deep subsurface cracks to form in Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier, a recent study found. There a 20-mile-long rift eventually split the ice from the inside out and cleaved off a 225-square-mile iceberg in July 2015. Many of the glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica that end in floating ice shelves have been shrinking due to warming ocean and air temperatures. Petermann Glacier's east wall near the terminus of the floating ice shelf.Image: NASA/John SonntagWhen ice shelves break off into icebergs it doesn't directly increase sea levels, because the ice is already floating in the ocean, like an ice cube in a glass. However, because the ice shelves act like doorstops to the land-based ice behind them, if the shelves disappear, the glaciers can start moving into the sea. This would add new water to the ocean and therefore raise sea levels. In the case of Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier, researchers said that warming waters causing cracks to form beneath "provides another mechanism for rapid retreat of these glaciers, adding to the probability that we may see significant collapse of West Antarctica in our lifetimes." Greenland, Antarctica, the message is we're all probably doomed. WATCH: Watch how global warming heats up the world from 1880-2016
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| Philippines: Foiled attack staged by IS-linked extremists Posted: 15 Apr 2017 01:28 AM PDT  MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A foiled attack on a central Philippine resort island this week was a kidnapping and bombing mission by at least three extremist groups affiliated with the Islamic State group in one of their most daring terror plots, security officials said Saturday.
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| Iraqi Christians celebrate Easter, dream of returning home Posted: 16 Apr 2017 05:51 AM PDT  "God willing, the celebration of the resurrection of Christ will also mark the return and rising-up of the Christians in Iraq," said Kyriacos Isho, 75, who was accompanied by his 12 children and grandchildren at Mar Gewargis (St George) Chaldean Catholic church in Tel Esqof. Tel Esqof, or Bishop's Hill in Arabic, did not sustain the same amount of damage as other Christian towns overrun by the militants three years ago in the plain of Nineveh.
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| Bay Area cities fighting Trump's sanctuary city order get surprise in court Posted: 14 Apr 2017 05:57 PM PDT  Protesters sounded off in San Francisco as a federal judge heard arguments for the first time on local lawsuits over President Donald Trump's executive order on sanctuary cities Friday morning.
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| Terrorism jokes no laughing matter for Spain's judges Posted: 15 Apr 2017 10:14 PM PDT  When she posted jokes on Twitter about a 1973 assassination committed by Spain's Basque separatist group ETA, Cassandra Vera never for one moment thought they would land her a one-year jail sentence. "They ruined my life," Vera tweeted about the 13 posts about the 1973 murder of Luis Carrero Blanco, the prime minister and heir-apparent of dictator Francisco Franco who was killed in an ETA bomb attack that sent his car hurtling into the air. "ETA combined a policy against the use of official vehicles with a space programme," read one of her posts.
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| Retired NFL Star Todd Heap Accidentally Hits and Kills 3-Year-Old Daughter In Driveway Posted: 15 Apr 2017 12:32 PM PDT  She died at the hospital.
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| Roaming alligator walks right up to doorstep in *drumroll* ... Florida Posted: 15 Apr 2017 02:23 PM PDT  Today's hopefully unnecessary PSA: do not answer the door for an alligator. Police in Sarasota County, Florida, shared photos Wednesday of a rogue alligator that, while wandering a neighborhood, trudged right up to the front door of a house. It later tried its luck at the garage door, too, but no one let it in. Imagine! SEE ALSO: Fisherman finds a terrifying surprise at the end of his line We do not think it was invited. Perhaps it had the wrong address. "Let this be a reminder that not all reptiles show courtesy during mating season. Stay safe out there, Floridians," the post from the sheriff's office read. While non-Floridian commenters were largely horrified, others — including Florida residents — didn't seem too surprised by the photos. "I'd rather open my door and see this out as opposed to a [water moccasin]!" one commenter wrote. Still, if this gator was going to stop by uninvited, it could have at least brought flowers. [H/T: UPI ] WATCH: Wild horse attacks alligator because nature is brutal. Also, Florida.
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| Iran election sign-up closes with mayor's last-minute entry Posted: 15 Apr 2017 08:54 AM PDT  The 55-year-old conservative mayor had given mixed signals about whether he would make a third bid for the presidency, but showed up at the interior ministry just before the deadline for registration. There was also a surprise last-minute entry from first vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri, a close confidante of President Hassan Rouhani who registered on Friday. It is assumed Jahangiri, a 60-year-old reformist, is running to offer an alternative in case Rouhani is disqualified by the Guardian Council, which vets the candidates.
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| Alaska oil well leaking gas in northern part of state Posted: 15 Apr 2017 08:11 PM PDT ![Alaska oil well leaking gas in northern part of state]( "Alaska oil well leaking gas in northern part of state") ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A federal official says crews in Alaska are ready to shut down an oil well that is misting natural gas on the frozen North Slope, but officials say it's too unstable for responders to get close.
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