| Police Chief Pens Heartbreaking Letter After Learning Son Allegedly Attacked Sikh Man Posted: 08 Aug 2018 07:11 PM PDT  A 71-year-old Sikh man was violently assaulted in Northern California during
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| Why QAnon has gained traction in Trump’s America Posted: 08 Aug 2018 02:00 AM PDT  Washington Post senior editor Marc Fisher talks about the rise of the fringe conspiracy movement QAnon.
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| Devin Nunes: GOP Can’t Impeach Rosenstein Without Risking Kavanaugh Nomination Posted: 08 Aug 2018 07:44 PM PDT  Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) suggested at a fundraising dinner last week that
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| California just had its hottest month on record, and that means more wildfires Posted: 08 Aug 2018 02:34 PM PDT  It should come as no surprise that California is burning. On Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that July was California's hottest month since record keeping began in 1895. Those scorching temperatures withered the land, creating profoundly parched forests primed to catch fire with just a spark. SEE ALSO: Engineering Earth's climate might quell global warming, but it could come with a cost Major wildfires are propelled by weather, notably strong winds, but they're also enhanced by overall rising global temperatures due to human-caused climate change, say scientists. This is a particularly stark reality in California, where even in early July, fire scientists noted that the state's vegetation reached near-record dryness. On Monday, the Mendocino Complex Fire became the largest blaze in state history, easily outpacing the Thomas Fire, which broke the record just this past winter. Just in: #California had its warmest July on record, as hot, dry weather fueled multiple #wildfires across the state. https://t.co/ggKyL5hS1V — NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) August 8, 2018 Nearly the entire Golden State experienced either record heat or temperatures "much above average" in July, said NOAA. However, California wasn't alone in experiencing scorching temperatures and multiple heat waves. Most of the West was abnormally warm, and in the contiguous U.S., May through July temperatures were also the warmest on record, eclipsing the previous record set in 1934. Image: noaaAs climate and environmental scientists are quick to point out, individual temperature records are not too meaningful — it's the long-term trends that matter. And California's summer heat is certainly a continuation of accelerating warming trends in both the U.S. and around the globe. Heat waves and longer warming spells will certainly happen, regardless of what the climate is doing, as big blobs of warm air can settle over areas, like California or Europe, for extended periods of time. But the climate is simply warmer that it was a half century ago, giving hot temperatures an extra boost — which can mean vast swathes of land are turned to fire-ready tinder. #HolyFire appears to be picking up significantly, making a run to the north, along eastern side of the ridge leading up to Santiago Peak. Current view from HPWREN's camera #CAwx #OrangeCounty #Riverside #SanDiego pic.twitter.com/eqc3gnZ6nR — NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) August 8, 2018 Yet another heat wave continues this week in portions of California, like Los Angeles. As might be expected, this doesn't bode well for the already dry vegetation in the region. Southern California's Holly Fire is now actively growing near suburban neighborhoods. Relieving rains aren't expected in much of the state for months. California, like recently scorched Greece, experiences the dry, warm summers defined by the Mediterranean climate. Historically, fires happen during this time of year. But now — just like heat waves around the world — they're getting worse. And the consequences are plainly visible. WATCH: This "horror" was spotted off the coast of the Carolinas
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| Israeli aircraft strike Gaza after Palestinians fire rockets into Israel Posted: 09 Aug 2018 12:23 PM PDT ![Israeli aircraft strike Gaza after Palestinians fire rockets into Israel]( "Israeli aircraft strike Gaza after Palestinians fire rockets into Israel") Israeli aircraft struck more than 150 targets in Gaza overnight, and Palestinian militants fired scores of rockets, including a long-range missile, deep into Israel, escalating fighting despite talks on a truce to avert an all-out conflict. Israel has fought three wars in the past decade with Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.
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| Rare teeth from ancient mega-shark found on Australia beach Posted: 08 Aug 2018 09:04 PM PDT  A rare set of teeth from a giant prehistoric mega-shark twice the size of the great white have been found on an Australian beach by a keen-eyed amateur enthusiast, scientists said Thursday. Philip Mullaly was strolling along an area known as a fossil hotspot at Jan Juc, on the country's famous Great Ocean Road some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Melbourne, when he made the find. The shark, which stalked Australia's oceans around 25 million years ago, feasting on small whales and penguins, could grow more than nine metres long, almost twice the length of today's great white shark.
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| Harley Looking for a Guide to Come and Take it By the Hand Posted: 09 Aug 2018 07:01 AM PDT ![Harley Looking for a Guide to Come and Take it By the Hand]( "Harley Looking for a Guide to Come and Take it By the Hand") Harley Looking for a Guide to Come and Take it By the Hand The company is willing to learn how to make small bikes, all it needs is someone willing to teach it Harley-Davidson dropped a bomb last week when it announced a series of measures to diversify
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| Senator: Russia has 'penetrated' Florida counties ahead of midterms Posted: 08 Aug 2018 02:54 PM PDT  Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said that Russian "bad actors" may try to alter his state's voter registration rolls in the upcoming midterms.
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| Author Lee Strobel Backs Women Accusing Megachurch Pastor Of Sexual Misconduct Posted: 08 Aug 2018 01:49 PM PDT  A popular evangelical Christian author has chimed in to support several women
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| Kids' travel nightmare Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:07 AM PDT  Two angry Florida parents are asking why an airline neglected to notify them after their unaccompanied children's flight was diverted to different destination. ABC News' Maggie Rulli reports.
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| Trevor Noah: Why Paul Manafort Must Be So Proud Posted: 07 Aug 2018 09:20 PM PDT  This week, Paul Manafort's former right-hand man, Rick Gates, took the witness
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| Supreme Court clears way for Tennessee to execute murderer Posted: 09 Aug 2018 01:51 PM PDT  The decision cleared the path for the lethal injection and came just hours before the state was scheduled to put to death Billy Irick, 59, at 7 p.m. CDT (0000 GMT) at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. The execution would be the first in the state since 2009 and the 15th this year in the United States. Lawyers for Irick, who has been on death row more than three decades, said he has suffered from psychosis for his entire life and putting him to death would violate legal norms barring the execution of people with severe mental disorders or disabilities.
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| Death toll rises to 319 from Lombok earthquake, as 5.9-magnitude aftershock causes panic among evacuees Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:59 AM PDT  The Indonesian island of Lombok was shaken by a third big earthquake in little more than a week Thursday as the official death toll from an earlier quake topped 300. The 5.9-magnitude quake struck at a shallow depth in the northwest of the island, the US Geological Survey said, even as relief agencies raced to find survivors among the wreckage from Sunday's quake. It was the strongest of some 355 aftershocks that have rattled the island since Sunday, national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. Evacuees at a shelter in northern Lombok's Tanjung district ran out onto the road crying and screaming, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Motorcycles parked on the street toppled over and the walls of some nearby buildings collapsed. A woman wearing a motorbike helmet was seen crying with her two daughters in her arms. An Indonesian woman cries next to her children shortly after an aftershock hits the area in Tanjung on Lombok island on August 9 Credit: ADEK BERRY/ AFP "We were stuck in the traffic while delivering aid, suddenly it felt like our car was hit from behind, it was so strong," witness Sri Laksmi told AFP. "People in the street began to panic and got out of their cars, they ran in different directions in the middle of the traffic." The aftershock comes just four days after a devastating 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck Lombok, which relief agencies said had wiped out entire villages in the worst-hit regions in the north and west. An Indonesian man tries to calm a woman shortly after an aftershock hits the area in Tanjung on Lombok island on August 9 Credit: ADEK BERRY/AFP The death toll from the first earthquake rose dramatically on Thursday. "The latest update is that 319 people died," said Indonesia's chief security minister Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. A further 1,400 are seriously injured and more than 150,000 displaced. 'Exceptionally destructive' Local authorities, international relief groups and the central government have begun organising aid, but shattered roads have slowed efforts to reach survivors in the mountainous north of Lombok, which bore the brunt of the quake. Aid begun trickling into some of the most isolated regions, officials said midday Thursday, but many people displaced by the quake still lack basic supplies. In some parts of northern Lombok, survivors can be seen standing on the road with cardboard boxes asking for donations and food. "We are still waiting for assessments from some of the more remote areas in the north of the island, but it is already clear that Sunday's earthquake was exceptionally destructive," Christopher Rassi, the head of a Red Cross assessment team on Lombok, said in a statement. "I visited villages yesterday that were completely collapsed." Members of an Indonesian search and rescue team look for victim of the recent quake in Tanjung on Lombok island on August 9 Credit: ADEK BERRY/AFP Tens of thousands of homes, businesses and mosques were levelled by the quake, which struck on Sunday as evening prayers were being said across the Muslim-majority island. There are fears that two collapsed mosques in north Lombok had been filled with worshippers. Rescuers have found three bodies and also managed to pull one man alive from the twisted wreckage of one mosque in Lading Lading village, while at least one body has been spotted under the rubble in Pemenang. Authorities are gathering information from family members with missing relatives to determine how many more people may have been in the buildings when they collapsed, national search and rescue agency spokesman Yusuf Latif told AFP. Waiting for aid Across much of the island, a popular tourist destination, once-bustling villages have been turned into virtual ghost towns. Many frightened villagers are staying under tents or tarpaulins dotted along roads or in parched rice fields, and makeshift medical facilities have been set up to treat the injured. Evacuees in some encampments say they are running out of food, while others are suffering psychological trauma after the powerful quake, which struck just one week after another tremor surged through the island and killed 17. There is a dire need for medical staff and "long-term aid", especially food and medicine in the worst-hit areas, government officials said. Some evacuees have complained of being ignored or experiencing long delays for supplies to arrive at shelters. A man inspects the ruin of his house destroyed by an earthquake in North Lombok, Indonesia Credit: Firdia Lisnawati/ AP "There has been no help at all here," said 36-year-old Multazam, staying with hundreds of others under tarpaulins on a dry paddy field outside West Pemenang village. "We have no clean water, so if we want to go to the toilet we use a small river nearby," he said, adding they needed food, bedding and medicine. The Indonesian Red Cross said it had set up 10 mobile clinics in the north of the island. A field hospital has also been established near an evacuation centre catering to more than 500 people in the village of Tanjung. Kurniawan Eko Wibowo, a doctor at the field hospital, said most patients had broken bones and head injuries. "We lack the infrastructure to perform operations because (they) need to be performed in a sterile place," Wibowo told AFP. Aid groups say children are particularly vulnerable, with many sleeping in open fields and suffering illnesses from lack of warm clothing and blankets.
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| Midterm Mania No. 1: Why Democrats and Republicans should worry about the Ohio results Posted: 08 Aug 2018 03:09 PM PDT  Everything you need to know this week about Election 2018
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| Man who mistakenly knocked on New York car window because he thought it was his Uber dies after driver gets out and punches him Posted: 08 Aug 2018 07:25 AM PDT  A Florida man has died after being punched by a driver whose car window he knocked because he mistakenly thought the vehicle was his Uber. Sandor Szabo, 35, was visiting New York City for a wedding from his home in Boca Raton, Florida. Mr Szabo had reportedly knocked on a number of car windows in Long Island City, a neighbourhood in the Queens borough, at 1am on Sunday, to see which was his Uber ride.
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| BMW 3 Series GT Could Disappear In 2020 Posted: 08 Aug 2018 03:31 PM PDT  It may become a 4 Series model.
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| Saudi official says Canada dispute won't affect oil sales Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:55 AM PDT  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia's diplomatic dispute with Canada over its arrest of women's rights activists will not affect the ultraconservative kingdom's oil sales to Canadian customers, the Saudi energy minister said Thursday.
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| Alex Jones' 'Free Speech' Shouldn't Be Your Primary Concern Posted: 09 Aug 2018 09:23 AM PDT  After Apple, YouTube, Facebook and other companies removed or banned some of
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| Iraq caught in crossfire of US sanctions on Iran Posted: 08 Aug 2018 10:22 AM PDT  Caught in the crossfire between its key allies Tehran and Washington, Iraq's economy could suffer the heaviest collateral damage from the US reimposing sanctions against Iran. Washington slapped unilateral sanctions back on Tehran on Tuesday, after pulling out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May. For Iraq, recently emerged from an expensive war on jihadists, the embargo on its neighbour could hit jobs and cut off a crucial source of cheap imports.
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| As Mollie Tibbetts Search Enters 4th Week, a Look at Other Cases of Women Gone Missing Posted: 09 Aug 2018 08:54 AM PDT  Like Tibbetts' family, many other missing women's loved ones want answers to what happened to their daughters and mothers.
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| Australia's most populous state now entirely in drought as farmers given authority to shoot kangaroos Posted: 08 Aug 2018 03:55 AM PDT  Australia's most populous state was declared entirely in drought on Wednesday and struggling farmers were given new authority to shoot kangaroos that compete with livestock for sparse pasture during the most intense dry spell in more than 50 years. Much of Australia's southeast is struggling with drought. But the drought conditions in the state of New South Wales this year have been the driest and most widespread since 1965. The state government said Wednesday that 100 percent of New South Wales' land area of more than 800,000 square kilometers (309,000 square miles) was now in drought. Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said farmers were enduring one of the driest Southern Hemisphere winters on record. "This is tough. There isn't a person in the state that isn't hoping to see some rain for our farmers and regional communities," Blair said in a statement. Cattle on a dry paddock in the drought-hit area of Quirindi in New South Wales Credit: GLENN NICHOLLS/AFP Farm reservoirs have dried up and crops are failing. State and federal governments are providing financial help, but not enough for many farmers. With dry conditions forecast to continue for the next three months, farmers had to decide whether to continue the expensive and laborious task of hand-feeding cattle and sheep or sell their livestock. The state government on Wednesday also lifted the number of kangaroos that farmers are allowed to shoot and reduced bureaucratic red tape facing land holders applying for permission to shoot. Farmer Clive Barton walking through the paddocks in the drought-hit area of Duri in New South Wales Credit: SAEED KHAN/ AFP The requirement to tag dead kangaroos to keep a tally of the number shot across the state had been dispensed with. "Many farmers are taking livestock off their paddocks, only to then see kangaroos move in and take whatever is left," Blair said. "If we don't manage this situation, we will start to see tens of thousands of kangaroos starving and suffering, ultimately leading to a major animal welfare crisis," he added. A train makes its way through dry paddocks in the drought-hit area of Quirindi in New South Wales Credit: GLENN NICHOLLS/ AFP But Ray Borda, president of the Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia, which represents commercial shooters who hunt kangaroos for meat and leather, raised animal welfare concerns about the regulation changes. "Anybody on the land that will make a phone call to the Department of Environment can get permission to shoot almost whatever they want to shoot and it's unaudited and unchecked and that's our concern - animal welfare," Borda told Australian Broadcasting Corp. The government would have been better off subsidizing professional shooters to reduce kangaroo numbers more humanely, he said. "We see this as probably the worst possible outcome for the kangaroo, but I've got to emphasize we do understand the plight that farmers are in," Borda said.
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| What Trump doesn’t understand about trade and tariffs Posted: 08 Aug 2018 10:05 AM PDT  Yahoo Finance columnist Rick Newman takes issue with the president's economic prescriptions on trade.
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| Great white shark leaps out of sea and lunges at researcher with teeth bared Posted: 08 Aug 2018 01:59 AM PDT  A great white shark has been caught on camera leaping out of the sea beneath a researcher and lunging at him with its teeth bared. Greg Skomal was standing on the bow of a research boat off Cape Cod, near Boston, when the predator breached the water. Did you see that?" Mr Skomal shouted.
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| New video of missing Iowa jogger the day before she vanished Posted: 07 Aug 2018 06:40 PM PDT  The video, taken by a friend, shows Mollie Tibbetts the day before she was last seen.
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| Ohio Special Election For U.S. House Seat Is Too Close To Call Posted: 07 Aug 2018 08:23 PM PDT  The special election results for Ohio's 12th Congressional District were too
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| Oil tumbles on slowing Chinese demand, U.S.-China trade spat Posted: 08 Aug 2018 12:24 PM PDT  By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices slid about 3 percent on Wednesday as a trade dispute between the United States and China escalated further and after Chinese import data showed a slowdown in energy demand. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $2.23 to settle at $66.94 a barrel, a 3.22 percent loss. China is slapping additional tariffs of 25 percent on $16 billion worth of U.S. imports, from fuel and steel products to autos and medical equipment.
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| Clashes after Argentine lawmakers reject bill to legalize abortion Posted: 09 Aug 2018 06:42 AM PDT ![Clashes after Argentine lawmakers reject bill to legalize abortion]( "Clashes after Argentine lawmakers reject bill to legalize abortion") Argentina's Senate on Thursday rejected a bill to legalize elective abortion, a defeat for a grassroots movement that came closer than ever to achieving the decriminalization of the procedure. After the vote, small groups of protesters clashed with police, throwing firebombs and setting up flaming barricades. Police officers responded with tear gas.
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| US Supreme Court declines to halt execution of child killer Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:53 PM PDT  The high court's rejection of Irick's appeal likely means his execution will move forward Thursday evening in the state of Tennessee. In an appeal to the Supreme Court, Irick's lawyers challenged Tennessee's lethal injection protocol, which included the use of the sedative midazolam. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied the appeal without comment.
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| Parents Charged With Murder After Refusing To Get Medical Help For Sick Baby: Cops Posted: 09 Aug 2018 12:41 PM PDT  A Michigan couple who told cops they declined to get medical help for their
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| New Mexico fugitive 'was training child to carry out school shootings' Posted: 08 Aug 2018 03:17 PM PDT  A man arrested in New Mexico last week on child abuse and abduction charges was training one of the 11 children at his remote desert encampment to carry out a school shooting, prosecutors have claimed. Siraj Wahhaj, 39, appeared before a magistrate in Taos, New Mexico, on Wednesday. He was arrested on Friday after police, searching for his missing four-year-old son Abdul-Ghani, raided the compound and found 11 starving, filthy children with five adults. Wahhaj and the four others – his wife Jany Leveille, 38, his sisters, Subhannah, 35, and Hujrah, 38, and Subhannah's husband Lucas Morten - were charged with 11 counts of child abuse. Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe, who arrested Wahhaj and his associates after a day-long armed standoff, said his men planned "a tactical approach for our own safety, because we had learned the occupants were most likely heavily armed and considered extremist of the Muslim belief." The remote desert camp in New Mexico, which was raided on Friday The remains of a young boy, believed to be Wahhaj's missing son, was found buried on the property, Mr Hogrefe said on Tuesday. On Wednesday it emerged that one of the 11 children taken into care had, according to prosecutors, told their foster parents that Wahhaj trained them to carry out a school shooting. The child was allegedly taught to fire an assault rifle, in readiness for the mission. Tim Hasson, a prosecutor with the district court in Taos, requested that Wahhaj, son of a prominent Brooklyn imam, remain in custody and that his case be moved to the district court. His office has also filed motions to hold the other four defendants. The saga began in December, when Wahhaj told the boy's mother he was taking their severely disabled child, unable to walk, to the park. A poster from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children shows Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, left, and his father Siraj Wahhaj Credit: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children He never returned to their home in Georgia, and the boy's mother reported it to the police, saying Wahhaj intended to perform an "exorcism" on his son because Abdul-Ghani was "possessed by the Devil." She later said that "exorcism" was a mistranslation, and that Wahhaj simply wanted to pray for his son. New Mexico authorities had long suspected the father and son might be at the compound after learning about the abduction in May, said Mr Hogrefe. But there was not enough evidence for a search warrant, and surveillance of the property did not identify the pair there. That changed on Thursday, when they received a note from inside the compound saying they were starving and thirsty. Mr Hogrefe said his men found Wahhaj in a "partly buried camper trailer" with two women and several of the children. Wahhaj refused to come out with his hands up, and when investigators opened the door, they found Wahhaj "was armed with a loaded revolver in his pocket," and was "wearing a belt with five loaded 30-round AR15 magazines in pouches on the belt." Next to Wahhaj was a loaded AR15, according to Mr Hogrefe's affidavit. Wahhaj refused to give his name or identify anyone with him. He declined to say anything about his son Abdul's whereabouts, according to the court document. Investigators found a 100-foot tunnel on the north side of the buried trailer, about three feet in diameter with two dugout "pockets" containing bedding, Mr Hogrefe said. Another enclosure made of straw and tires housed a makeshift toilet. There was no running water. On the compound was a powerful Marlin 30-30 rifle with a scope, other guns, ammunition, a laptop, camcorder, and a Penguin child's nebulizer used to turn medicine into mist. Morten was arrested at the front of the property and initially charged with harbouring a fugitive. The child abuse charges were added later. "The living conditions, health and wellbeing of the children were deemed deplorable," said Mr Hogrefe. "They had no clean water, food or electricity; dirty clothing, poor hygiene, and had not eaten or taken nutrition in what was believed to be days."
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| The Latest: Manafort lawyer press Gates on 'lies' Posted: 07 Aug 2018 08:01 PM PDT  ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Latest on the fraud trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort (all times local):
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| Orca mother grieving for dead calf inspires push to save dying pods Posted: 08 Aug 2018 12:18 PM PDT  Headlines on mother who carried baby for days fuel concern over Seattle population that is stressed and starving A baby orca whale being pushed by her mother after being born on 24 July. The new orca died soon after. Photograph: David Ellifrit/AP
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| Mollie Tibbetts latest: New video shows Iowa student laughing the day before she went missing Posted: 08 Aug 2018 05:45 AM PDT  New video shows missing Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts the day before she went missing.
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| Rashida Tlaib Wins Democratic Primary For Congress In Michigan Posted: 07 Aug 2018 11:03 PM PDT  Former Michigan state legislator Rashida Tlaib won the Democratic primary on
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| Laura Ingraham Has Been Peddling White Nationalism For Years: A Reminder Posted: 09 Aug 2018 11:34 AM PDT  From her perch on a prime-time national television show, conservative
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| Court rejects appeal of ex-Stanford swimmer against sexual assault conviction Posted: 08 Aug 2018 10:07 PM PDT  By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - A California court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by a former Stanford University swimmer who was found guilty of sexual assault and served a sentence that many say was too lenient. Brock Turner, then 19, was arrested in 2015 after two fellow students at the Northern California university saw him outside a fraternity house on top of an unconscious woman. The Sixth District Court of Appeal in California ruled that the "argument lacks merit" and that there was "substantial evidence" to convict Turner, a court document showed.
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| Alaska ranger recounts hanging from rope above crashed plane Posted: 08 Aug 2018 06:25 PM PDT  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A National Park Service mountain ranger didn't dare unhook a rope connecting him to a hovering helicopter as he stood on the nose of a wrecked airplane on a mountainside in Alaska's Denali National Park.
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| Nasa probe will still be circling Sun at end of Solar System say scientists Posted: 09 Aug 2018 11:15 AM PDT  Nasa's new solar spacecraft is so indestructable that parts of it will be circling the Sun until the Solar System ends, eight billion years from now, scientists have said. The US space agency launches its Parker Solar Probe on Saturday, which will travel closer to the Sun than any mission before, to unlock the secrets of fierce radioactive storms which threaten Earth. Earth, and all the other objects in the Solar System are constantly plowing through what is known as the solar wind - a constant stream of high-energy particles, mostly protons and electrons, hurled into space by The Sun. These radioactive storms are so powerful they are able to knock out satellites, disrupt services such as communications and GPS, threaten aircraft and in even interfere with electricity supplies. The mission Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, the closest any man-made instrument has ever got to a star. For seven years it will orbit at around 3.38 million miles from the star's surface, where temperatures reach 1,400C. The probe is relying on a 4.5 inch carbon heat shield which has taken 10 years to develop and which is so strong it will survive for billions of years even when the rest of the spacecraft has disintegrated. Speaking at a briefing ahead of the launch, Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe Programme Manager from Johns Hopkins University said: "At four million miles the Sun is very hot, so we need to bring an umbrella with us. "It's a carbon heat shield. It took 18 months to fabricate it and a decade to develop it. "Eventually the spacecraft will run out of propellant and will leave altitude control and parts of it will transition into the Sun. But hopefully in 10 to 20 years there is going to be this carbon disc and that will be around to the end of the Solar System." The Parker Solar Probe Credit: Ed Whitman Johns Hopkins APL/NASA The spacecraft also holds a memory card containing the names of more than 1.1 million members of the public who were asked to write in to support the mission. London-born professor Nicky Fox, project scientist from Johns Hopkins University, said: "I think the spacecraft will break up into parts and form dust, and then those names will orbit the Sun forever." The nearest a spacecraft has previously come to the Sun was the Helios 2 mission in 1976, which flew to within 27 million miles. Once inside the corona, sensory equipment will attempt to 'taste' and 'smell' electronic particles while they are still moving slowly enough to be measured. Professor Mathew Owens, space scientist at the University of Reading, said: "It's an incredibly hostile environment in which to do science, so the spacecraft has faced enormous engineering challenges. But everything is looking positive for Saturday. "The thing we really don't understand about the Sun, and therefore stars in general, is why its atmosphere gets hotter further away from the heat source. "We've been trying to solve this mystery for more than 50 years, by taking measurements from a nice, safe distance, and it's left us in an unusual position. We've got a bunch of theories that seem to work, but don't know which ones actually explain the Sun." Currently, solar activity is monitored by a network of satellites, but scientists still have a poo understanding of how radiation builds up in the star's outer atmosphere and then accelerates towards Earth. A better understanding of "space weather" is also considered crucial for protecting astronauts and their equipment for any future endeavours to colonise the Moon or Mars. The Parker Solar Probe will go closer to a star than any mission has ever gone Credit: Nasa The Parker Solar Probe, which weights 1,400lbs, will travel faster than any craft ever before at 430,000 mph, and during its a seven-year mission will make 24 orbits of the Sun. The spacecraft will carry instruments to measure bulk plasma, described as the 'bread and butter' of solar waves, as well as a full package of magnetic measuring equipment. Eugene Parker, who the mission is named after Credit: AFP It will also carry a white light imager, dubbed 'Whisper' which can photograph solar waves. "Where does the solar wind come from? What causes flares and coronal mass ejections? We still don't understand these processes," said Justin Kasper, professor of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan, mission principal investigator on the Parker Solar Probe. "The Parker Solar Probe will help us do a much better job of predicting when a disturbance in the solar wind could hit Earth." The mission was named after Eugene Parker, the solar astrophysicist who first discovered the solar wind, and has been in the works for more than half a century. The memory card on board also contains a copy of his first scientific paper outlining his work. It was conceived before a space program, or even Nasa, existed.
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| Manafort had $16.5 million in unreported income, court told Posted: 08 Aug 2018 04:16 PM PDT  By Sarah N. Lynch, Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is on trial on tax and bank fraud charges, had $16.5 million in unreported taxable business income between 2010 and 2014, a U.S. Internal Revenue Service agent testified on Wednesday. IRS agent Michael Welch told a jury that Manafort's unreported income includes foreign wire transfers to U.S. vendors like landscapers and clothiers, wire transfers to buy property, and income improperly reclassified as loans.
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| Kris Kobach's Lead In Kansas Governor's Race Shrinks After Vote Count Discrepancy Posted: 09 Aug 2018 02:13 PM PDT  Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach saw his lead in the Republican
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| Pawtraits! Husband and wife capture diverse personalities of a wide variety of dog breeds Posted: 09 Aug 2018 12:30 PM PDT ![Pawtraits! Husband and wife capture diverse personalities of a wide variety of dog breeds]( "Pawtraits! Husband and wife capture diverse personalities of a wide variety of dog breeds") These adorable pawtraits seem to show the personalities of a variety of canines, capturing their incredible diverseness in their expressions and fine details.Whether it be Chika the miniature schnauzer's shy wave or Fiji the basenji's cheeky side-eye, Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova allow the personalities of their subjects to really come out in their series, "The Dog Show."Khokhlov and Ershova, who are from Moscow, have taken portraits of about 50 breeds of pooches — earning much critical acclaim. (Caters News)
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| At least 29 children killed in strike on Yemen bus Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:00 PM PDT  An attack on a bus at a market in rebel-held northern Yemen killed at least 29 children Thursday, the Red Cross said, as the Saudi-led coalition faced a growing outcry over the strike. The coalition said it had carried out a "legitimate military action", targeting a bus in response to a deadly missile attack on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday by Huthi rebels. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki told AFP that claims by aid organisations that children were inside the bus were "misleading", adding that the bus carried "Huthi combatants".
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Asks Why U.S. Funds 'Unlimited War' But Not 'Medicare For All' Posted: 09 Aug 2018 08:03 AM PDT  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued Wednesday that Congress seems to have no money
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| VW Tanoak Pickup Truck "Carefully" Being Considered For The U.S.
Posted: 08 Aug 2018 01:35 PM PDT  The U.S. loves its domestic pickup trucks.
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