Iranian supertanker departing from Venezuela to transport heavy oil

HOUSTON/CARACAS (Reuters) -An Iran-flagged supertanker on Saturday was about to set sail from Venezuelan waters carrying 2 million barrels of heavy crude provided by state-run oil firm PDVSA, according to documents seen by Reuters and vessel tracking services. The shipment is part of a deal agreed by PDVSA and its counterpart National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) that exchanges Iranian condensate for Venezuela's Merey crude. The swaps aim to ease an acute shortage of diluents that has cut Venezuela's oil output and exports, Reuters reported last month https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-under-us-sanctions-iran-venezuela-strike-oil-export-deal-sources-2021-09-25.

A Florida school says students who get vaxxed must stay home for 30 days due to unfounded claim that they'll infect others

Centner Academy in Florida told parents any student who gets vaccinated must quarantine for 30 days. An infectious disease expert who spoke with WSVN characterized that belief as "science fiction." A private school in Miami, Florida, is requiring students who get vaccinated to quarantine at home for 30 days after each dose.

Some Hooters servers on TikTok are saying new shorts are too short

A change to the Hooters uniform at some locations has prompted a handful of the restaurant chain's servers to share their concerns on TikTok. In the videos, which have racked up millions of views since popping up on the platform last week, Hooters servers hold up the new black shorts while sharing their thoughts. The videos have reignited criticisms of Hooters for fostering an outdated concept centered around sexualizing servers' bodies.

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  Hooters amends uniform policy after employees condemn ‘disturbing’ new shorts

  The Independent
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  Hooters employees are pushing back against new revealing uniforms that include shorts so short that they're 'like underwear'

  Business Insider

Now 41, man who killed 4-year-old at age 13 granted parole

Eric M. Smith, who was 13 when he killed a 4-year-old boy with a rock in western New York, has been granted parole, corrections officials said on Saturday. Smith, now 41, appeared for the 11th time before the Board of Parole on October 5 and was granted release as early as Nov. 17, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said in an emailed statement. Smith was convicted of second-degree murder in 1994 for luring Derrick Robie into woods near the younger boy's home and striking his head with a rock.

Brian Laundrie's father was captured removing a yellow protest sign about his daughter from his front yard, report says

The father of Brian Laundrie was captured in photos removing protest signs from his front yard. New York Post obtained images of Chris Laundrie in front of his Florida home on Saturday. The father of 23-year-old Brian Laundrie was captured removing protest signs from his front yard on Saturday, the New York Post reported.

Suze Orman: These 5 moves will keep you out of the poorhouse in retirement

Downsize your home You may have plenty of sentimental reasons to want to stay in your current home, but if it's more space than you need and you can make money off of it, you may want to consider selling now. Not waiting until you have to sell the house makes sense, Orman says, because if you invest the profits now, you'll accrue much more interest than if you waited another 10 or 15 years. I don't want you to wait till you're 60 or 70 to sell this home,” she says.

Woman raped on train as bystanders did nothing, police say

A woman was raped by a stranger on a commuter train in suburban Philadelphia in the presence of other riders who a police official said “should have done something." Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt of the Upper Darby Police Department said officers were called to the 69th Street terminal around 10 p.m. Wednesday after the assault on the westbound train on the Market-Frankford Line. An employee of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority who was in the vicinity as the train went past called police to report that “something wasn't right" with a woman aboard the train, Bernhardt said.

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  Police say bystanders "should've intervened" as woman raped on train

  CBS News
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  Riders watched as a woman was raped on a SEPTA train but no one called 911, police say.

  NBC News

Freed murderer charged in Florida with slaying of single mom

Police have charged a convicted murderer who was released from prison last year with the slaying of a South Florida woman whose body was found in a canal after being missing for three weeks. Eric Pierson, 54, was charged Saturday with first-degree murder for the slaying of Erika Verdecia, 33, hours after her body was found Saturday near Fort Lauderdale. Pierson had been released from prison in September 2020 after serving 27 years of a 40-year sentence for the 1993 beating and strangulation murder of 17-year-old Kristina Whitaker, whose death helped galvanize a push for longer prison sentences.

A California man who twice broke into his dad's former home was fatally shot by the new owners, authorities say

A California man who broke into his old home twice in the same weekend was fatally shot by the new owners, according to a press release from the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office. Authorities identified the man as 28-year-old Lennin Elizalde, the son of the house's former owner, according to the sheriff's office. The new owners recently brought the Valley Springs property through a real estate company, according to authorities.

Democrats mock Donald Trump over Virginia governor race, flying a plane with a banner near Mar-a-Lago

Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin has attempted to distance himself from Donald Trump. The Democratic National Committee has mocked Trump about this by flying a plane with a banner near Mar-a-Lago. The Virginia governor race between Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe is currently neck-in-neck.

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  Delicate GOP dance for Trump, Youngkin in Virginia gov race

  Associated Press
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  Local Matters: Prominent Democrats stump for McAuliffe in Virginia governor's race

  CBS News Videos

Coast Guard: 1,200-foot ship dragged California oil pipeline

Investigators believe a 1,200-foot (366-meter) cargo ship dragging anchor in rough seas caught an underwater oil pipeline and pulled it across the seafloor, months before a leak from the line fouled the Southern California coastline with crude. A team of federal investigators trying to chase down the cause of the spill boarded the Panama-registered MSC DANIT just hours after the massive ship arrived this weekend off the Port of Long Beach, the same area where the leak was discovered in early October. During a prior visit by the ship during a heavy storm in January, investigators believe its anchor dragged for an unknown distance before striking the 16-inch (40-centimeter) steel pipe, Coast Guard Lt. j.g.

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  U.S. Coast Guard boards ship in connection with California oil spill

  Reuters
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  Coast guard: California oil pipeline may have been dragged by cargo ship

  Axios

Galloping bison herd in Yellowstone has tourists running for cover

With a herd of bison galloping toward them in Yellowstone National Park, two tourists caught by surprise made a mad dash over a bridge in search of safety while another tourist captured the moment in video. Kyleen Olson and her family were driving toward the bridge when they noticed the couple walking back over the bridge to their car. At the same time, they also noticed a cloud of dust rising from the trees.

Epstein Bragged About Gift From Woody Allen Before Raping Russian Model, Lawsuit Says

A new accuser has filed a class-action lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein's estate, claiming the late sex-trafficker raped and assaulted her numerous times from 2017 through 2019—including at his homes in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the months leading up to his arrest—after interviewing her on Skype and promising to aid her career. The woman, a Russian national referred to as Jane Doe, also claims Epstein gave her a tour of his Palm Beach mansion and showed off a broken guitar, a gift he claimed was from his longtime friend, the disgraced director Woody Allen. Doe's complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, also names Epstein's veteran executive assistant Lesley Groff as a defendant.

Lake Tahoe waters plummet as drought, climate change plague resort

Lake Tahoe's water level has dropped so low that water is no longer flowing into the Truckee River and salmon aren't expected to spawn in a major tributary this year. Some boat ramps and docks are hundreds of feet from the water line, and clumps of stringy algae have been washing up on beaches, said Geoffrey Schladow, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. It's putting us on warning that things could get a lot worse,” he said.

Texas trucker convicted in fiery, fatal crash in Rocky Mountains

A Texas truck driver who lost control of his semi-trailer along a Colorado mountain highway in 2019, ramming into stopped traffic and killing four people in a fiery crash, was convicted late Friday of vehicular homicide and related charges. Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, 25, was convicted by a Jefferson County, Colorado, jury of four counts of homicide and more than two dozen other charges, including vehicular assault, reckless driving and careless driving resulting in death. Prosecutors said during the trial that Aguilera-Mederos knew his brakes were failing as he descended Interstate 70, west of Denver, on April 15, 2019.

China's new hypersonic missile demonstrated an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise, report says

In August, China tested a hypersonic missile that orbited the Earth before speeding towards its target. The test demonstrated China's advanced space capability, and took US intelligence officials by surprise. The US, Russia and China have been competing to develop hypersonic weapons.

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  China secretly tests first hypersonic missile in move that catches US intelligence 'by surprise'

  The Telegraph
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  China surprised US officials with August missiles test: Report

  Washington Examiner

Louisiana gators thrive, so farmers' return quota may drop

Once-endangered alligators are thriving in the wild, so Louisiana authorities are proposing a deep cut in the percentage that farmers must return to marshes where their eggs were laid. “Over the past 50 years, alligator nest surveys have increased from an estimate of less than 10,000 in the 1970s and 1980s to well over 60,000 nests in recent years," the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission said in a notice published Wednesday. "This increase in nesting has produced a population that can now be sustained with a much lower farm return rate.”

Never Order Seafood Unless You've Asked Your Server This, FDA Warns

Loaded with omega-3 fatty acids and protein, seafood consumption has been linked to increased longevity, better heart health, and weight loss. If you're ordering raw seafood, like sushi, oysters, ceviche, or tuna tartare, at a restaurant, you should always inquire with your server about how it's been stored prior to serving, the FDA recommends. Specifically, the authority says that anyone ordering raw seafood should ask if the food they're ordering has been frozen, thawed, and kept on ice.

How Sarah Baartman's hips went from a symbol of exploitation to a source of empowerment for Black women

The celebration of Sarah Baartman's features marks a departure from her historical image. Saartjie “Sarah” Baartman was an African woman who, in the early 1800s, was something of an international sensation of objectification. With celebrities like Beyoncé recognizing Baartman's contributions to the ideal Black female body – and with the curvaceous posteriors of Black women lauded on TV and celebrated on social media – I wanted to understand how this ideal is viewed by the very people it most directly effects: Black women.

Tesla starts delivering refreshed Model X to customers

Tesla delivered its redesigned Tesla Model S interior in early 2021, and now Model X buyers are finally getting their turn. Electrek and TMC forum member Sunnyvaletree report that Tesla has started delivering the revised Model X to customers, holding at least one event to mark the occasion. As you might guess, this effectively drags the electric crossover into the modern era with a landscape touchscreen display up front, a smaller display in the back and overall interior quality improvements that are more befitting a nearly $94,000 vehicle.