- NewsUSA TODAY
'A war zone': Propane explosion kills firefighter, injures 8 others, levels building in Maine
A firefighter was killed and eight people were injured Monday when a powerful propane explosion destroyed a new building in Farmington, Maine. Fire crews were responding to a call reporting the smell of gas in the building, which was evacuated, Farmington Town Selectman Scott Landry said. The blast had such force that only debris remained from the two-story building, which housed a nonprofit group called LEAP that serves people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities.
WorldAFPTaliban kill at least 48 in bloody day ahead of Afghan polls
Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens more in two blasts Tuesday -- one at a campaign rally for the president and the other in Kabul -- with the insurgents warning of more violence ahead of elections. The first attack saw a motorcyclist detonate a suicide bomb at a checkpoint leading to a rally where President Ashraf Ghani was addressing supporters in central Parwan province, just north of the capital, killing 26 and wounding 42. Just over an hour later another blast also claimed by the Taliban rocked central Kabul near the US embassy.
- WorldThe National Interest
B-2 Spirit: The Stealth Bomber Trump Could Send to Strike Iran
Key Point: Conventional or nuclear, the B-2 Spirit can handle almost any precision attack mission in any environment imaginable, located at practically any point on Earth The B-2 Spirit is one of three strategic heavy bombers in U.S. Air Force service. Originally conceived to infiltrate the Soviet air-defense network and attack targets with nuclear weapons, over the decades its mission has grown to include conventional precision attack. The B-2 is the most advanced bomber in U.S. service, and the only one of three types that still carries nuclear gravity bombs.
- WorldNational Review
NYC to Allow 1.1 Million Students to Skip Class for Climate Protests
New York City public schools will allow 1.1 million students to skip classes Friday in order to attend the planned “climate strike” ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit. The protests aim to press the Summit for immediate action to stop climate change, and are geared specifically for the participation of young people. Reactions to the decision have been ecstatic in some cases, as protest organizers contemplate what they hope will be the largest climate change protest in the history of the U.S. “This completely changes things, and it's our doing,” Xiye Bastida, 17, a senior at Beacon High School in Manhattan, told the New York Times.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 1-Russia detains two N.Korean vessels after one opens fire - reports
Russian border guards have detained two North Korean boats in Russian territorial waters in the Sea of Japan after one of them attacked a Russian patrol, local media cited the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying on Tuesday. A Russian border patrol discovered two North Korean schooners and 11 motorboats fishing illegally off its far eastern coast and detained the first vessel, prompting the second one to open fire, the FSB was quoted as saying. Three Russian border guards were wounded in the incident.
PoliticsFOX News VideosInvestigation into alleged surveillance abuse and targeting of the Trump campaign is in its final stages
Inspector general Michael E. Horowitz outlined a multi-step review process with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General William Barr; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports from Washington.
- LifestyleDelish
Fall-Flavored Cocktails, From Pecan Pie Martinis to Pumpkin Pie Sangria
For the nights you need something stronger than a latte. From Delish
- WorldAssociated Press
Mediterranean migrant rescues, deaths; French camp emptied
At least two people died and 14 were missing Tuesday after a boat filled with people hoping to reach Europe capsized near Tunisia. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, a rescue ship picked up 109 people from two flimsy boats off the coast of Libya within hours of each other. The number of people seeking international protection in 30 European countries rose by a monthly 26% in July, according to figures Tuesday from the European Union's asylum office.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A flight from Vietnam to South Korea was delayed for 11 hours after the pilot arrived at the airport and realized he had lost his passport
The T'way Air flight from Vietnam to South Korea was supposed to take off at 10:35 p.m. local time Friday but didn't depart until 9:40 a.m. the next day, The Korea Times reported. A flight from Vietnam to South Korea was delayed for 11 hours after the pilot arrived at the airport without his passport. The flight, operated by the South Korean budget airline T'way Air, was supposed to take off at 10:35 p.m. local time on Friday but ended up being delayed until 9:40 a.m. on Saturday, The Korea Times reported.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Democrats are calling for Brett Kavanaugh to be impeached. How would that work?
And last year, during a Senate confirmation hearing that focused on allegations of sexual assault against him from the early 1980s, Kavanaugh warned senators that "what goes around comes around." Now the subject of impeachment has come around again, not with President Donald Trump in the crosshairs but with Kavanaugh. Democratic presidential candidates are calling for him to be impeached after The New York Times published an essay containing new allegations of sexual misconduct from his time as a Yale undergraduate.
WorldAFP20 killed as truck plunges down ravine in Philippines
Twenty people, including children, were killed Tuesday in the southern Philippines when the flatbed truck they were riding in plummeted into a ravine, police said. The vehicle was bringing a group of people home from a trip to the beach when the driver lost control near the town of T'boli in the latest deadly crash on the nation's dangerous roads. "Based on eyewitness accounts, the truck lost its brakes.
- TechnologyThe National Interest
The U.S. Army's Next Generation of Super Weapons Are Coming
“We are developing an AI stack regarding how we pull together the sensors, computing layer and analytics to manage the data,” Col. Doug Matty, Army AI Task Force Deputy Director, told Warrior in an interview. New algorithms, AI-enabled computer processing and high-speed networking are all specific elements of work now underway with the Army's AI Task Force, an emerging Army effort to collaborate with industry and academia, find technology breakthroughs and develop new applications for AI, Matty explained. The Task Force is now working on prototyping systems for integration onto UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, Long-Range Precision Fires systems and the Army's emerging fleet of Next-Gen Combat Vehicles, he said.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Judge Refuses to Scrap Plea Deal That Protected Jeffrey Epstein’s Co-Conspirators
A federal judge refused to scrap the controversial plea deal that granted immunity to Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators, seven months after ruling that it had violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act. Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra ruled that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami under Alexander Acosta—who later became President Trump's labor secretary—broke the law in 2007 when it devised Epstein's secret sweetheart deal without notifying victims. The ruling was seen as a huge victory for Jane Does 1 and 2, who sued the government in 2008, alleging the deal violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act by keeping them in the dark on the negotiations with Epstein.
- WorldReuters
Merkel urges return to Iran nuclear deal to defuse Middle East tensions
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday called for a return to an international deal curbing Iran's nuclear activities as the only way to defuse tensions in the Middle East. "We believe that the deal to stop Iran from acquiring military nuclear capabilities is a building block we need to get back to," Merkel said during a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah. "But there is also a long list of other burdens coming from Iran like the ballistic missiles program and its engagement in Syria," she said.
- PoliticsPolitico
Obama’s team lines up to defend Andrew McCabe in court
A cavalcade of Obama-era national security leaders have committed to testify on behalf of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should he face trial over allegations that he misled officials about leaks to the media. The lineup, detailed in a legal analysis from McCabe's legal team, the substance of which was provided to the Justice Department, includes a string of former senior officials. McCabe's ex-boss, however — former FBI Director James Comey — has said he could be a witness against him, based on testimony Comey gave to an internal watchdog that appeared to contradict McCabe's version of events.
- WorldBloomberg
U.S. to Return Ambassador to Belarus as Minsk Seeks New Friends
The U.S. plans to return its ambassador to Belarus, ending a freeze in ties with the authoritarian former Soviet republic which had lasted for more than 11 years. We are happy to see that chapter closing, and we are closing it because of the concrete steps in the direction that you, Mr. President, had taken to improve this relationship,” David Hale, Undersecretary of State for political affairs, told Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting in Minsk. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador from Minsk in 2008 as relations between the two countries spiralled lower over Washington's allegations of human-rights abuses by the Belarusian government.
- WorldAssociated Press
Half of the 147 tigers rescued from Thai temple have died
More than half the tigers rescued three years ago from a Buddhist temple in Thailand where they served as a popular tourist attraction have died of disease, wildlife officials said Monday. The tigers were vulnerable to illness because of inbreeding, leading to laryngeal paralysis causing respiratory failure, said national parks official Patarapol Maneeorn. Eighty-six of 147 rescued tigers kept at government-run wildlife sanctuaries have died.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
A US strike on Iran would be disastrous for the region — and likely for the US
The US is claiming that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for attacks on Saudi state-owned oil giant Saudia Aramco ahead of its IPO. Houthi rebels supported by Iran in Yemen's civil war claimed responsibility for the attack. The Saturday attack on the Aramco facility showed widespread damage by as many as 17 strikes, which affected the production of roughly 5% of the world's oil supply.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke spar over gun control comment at Democratic debate
All the Democratic presidential hopefuls have expressed support for stricter gun control measures, but two of them are in a back-and-forth on how to handle Republican anxieties. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg have disagreed in public statements over a comment O'Rourke made at last week's debate. "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47," O'Rourke said last Thursday about his policy proposal to buy back certain assault weapons.
WorldAFPPolice clear major migrant camp in northern France
Grande-Synthe (France) (AFP) - French police began clearing around 1,000 migrants from a gymnasium near the northern port of Dunkirk on Tuesday after a court ruled it was a health and security hazard. The mayor of Grande-Synthe in December 2018 opened up the sports hall to migrant families seeking shelter from the cold. Since then, it has grown into a makeshift camp with around 800 people sleeping in tents pitched around the crammed gymnasium where some 170 people, mostly Iraqi Kurds hoping to reach Britain, had been sheltering.
- WorldThe National Interest
Locked and Loaded: Could Iran Sink the U.S. Navy If War Breaks Out?
Key Point: Given the volume of valuable commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf, Tehran is investing in improving its ASBMs—and publicizing that effort to the world—as a means to build conventional military deterrence in a context of rising tensions with Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States. In 2009, it became clear that China had developed a mobile medium-range ballistic missile called the DF-21D designed to sink ships over 900 miles away. This then-nascent technical achievement gave rise to a still-ongoing debate over the survivability of the U.S.'s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, as the DF-21D outranged the strike planes serving on carrier decks.
- NewsThe Independent
Vaping Bad: Were two brothers from Wisconsin the Walter Whites of THC oils?
State and federal health investigators have not yet determined a cause, but authorities are focusing on whether noxious chemicals have found their way into vaping supplies, perhaps from a flourishing nationwide black market of vaping products fuelled by online sales and lax regulation. The bust this month in Wisconsin, where THC is illegal, offers an intimate look at the shadowy operations serving large numbers of teenagers and adults around the country who are using black-market vaping products, sometimes unknowingly because it is difficult to tell them apart from legitimate ones. When we walked in there, we were like: 'Oh boy',” said Captain Dan Baumann of the Waukesha Police Department.
U.S.FOX News VideosThousands expected to flood rural Nevada town for Storm Area 51 event
The small town of Rachel, Nevada located in the middle of the desert and home to only about 50 people could soon be flooded with thousands after a joke Facebook post to storm Area 51 went viral.
- BusinessReuters
Divided Fed set to cut interest rates this week, but then what?
Deep disagreements within the Federal Reserve over the economic outlook and how the U.S. central bank should respond will not stop policymakers from cutting interest rates at a two-day meeting that began on Tuesday. An oil price spike after attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities over the weekend added to the list of risks facing an economy already slowed by ongoing trade tensions and global weakness. At one end of the Fed's large boardroom table sit St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who are expected to argue for a steep reduction in borrowing costs to counter low inflation and an inverted Treasury yield curve.
- NewsNational Review
California Bans State-Sponsored Travel to Iowa over Refusal to Provide Medicaid Coverage for Gender-Reassignment Surgeries
California added an eleventh state to its travel blacklist on Friday, banning state-sponsored travel to Iowa over that state's refusal to cover gender-transition surgeries under its Medicaid program. California attorney general Xavier Becerra announced the decision to add Iowa to the travel-ban list, which takes effect October 4 and means public employees and college students will not be able to travel to Iowa on the taxpayer's dime. In May, Iowa governor Kim Reynolds signed a law blocking Medicaid from paying for gender-reassignment surgeries despite the state Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year in favor of charging taxpayers for the procedures.
What to Read Next
PHOTOS: Rescued busts of former U.S. presidents from the closed Presidents Park
Yahoo News Photo Staff