- WorldAssociated Press
US fears Iran seized UAE-based tanker in Strait of Hormuz
A small oil tanker from the United Arab Emirates traveling through the Strait of Hormuz entered Iranian waters and turned off its tracker three days ago, leading the U.S. to suspect Iran seized the vessel amid heightened tensions in the region. Iranian state media quoted its Foreign Ministry spokesman early Wednesday as saying the Islamic Republic had aided a foreign oil tanker with a malfunction, but the report didn't explain further. Oil tankers previously have been targeted in the wider region amid tensions between the U.S. and Iran over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers.
- NewsUSA TODAY
At least 1 dead, 15 injured — including 3 firefighters — in California house explosion
One person was killed and 15 injured — including three firefighters — after a house exploded in Southern California on Monday, sending a wall of flames and heavy smoke into the air. The Southern California Gas Company posted on Twitter that crews responded to reports of a damaged natural gas line in Murrieta, a city of about 113,000 people in Riverside County, about 65 miles north of San Diego. The explosion happened around noon Monday, shortly after crews arrived, the company said.
- WorldReuters
Ukraine says transport organizer of missile that shot down MH-17 plane in jail
Ukraine said on Wednesday a rebel who organized the trailer carrying the missile that shot down a Malaysian airliner in 2014 had been captured two years ago and was now serving a sentence in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine during a rebellion by Russian-backed separatists, killing all 298 people on board. A Dutch-led team of investigators has blamed Russia for supplying the surface-to-air missile that shot it down.
- U.S.WABC – NY
New Jersey officer charged with murder in death of three-month-old daughter
A New Jersey police officer was arrested on Wednesday and charged with the murder of his three-month-old daughter, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Jon Stewart Eviscerates Rand Paul for Blocking 9/11 Victim Funding: ‘It’s an Abomination’
Stewart went on to condemn Paul for supporting President Trump's $1.5 trillion tax cut that “added hundreds of billions of dollars to our deficit” and now trying to “balance the budget on the backs of the 9/11 first responder community. Bret, this is about what kind of society we have,” a clearly furious Stewart continued. At some point, we have to stand up for the people who have always stood up for us, and at this moment in time maybe cannot stand up for themselves due to their illnesses and their injuries.
WorldAFPAustralia calls on China to let Uighur mother and son leave
Australia's government on Wednesday called on China to allow an Australian child and his Uighur mother to leave the country, days after co-signing a letter denouncing Beijing's treatment of the Muslim minority. China has rounded up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities into re-education camps in tightly controlled Xinjiang region, in the country's northwest. Sadam Abdusalam has campaigned for months for his Uighur wife, Nadila Wumaier, and their son Lutifeier, whom he has never met, to be allowed to come to Australia.
- ScienceThe Independent
Apollo 11: The strange things that happened in the hours as astronauts headed for Moon landing
On this day 50 years ago, the Apollo astronauts who were being hailed as heroes didn't have all that much to do. Now is the anniversary of perhaps the most unusual part of the Moon mission: that intermediate period after astronauts had completed the all-important liftoff, and as they waited, quietly drifting through space, on their way to the Moon. As the three astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins – floated serenely through space, they began to think about what would happen at Earth.
- PoliticsThe National Interest
India Says Russia's Missiles Don't Work (And Wants to Buy Israeli Ones Instead)
Michael Peck Technology, Asia Ouch. After losing one of its fighters to Pakistani jets armed with American-made missiles, India is not happy with its Russian-made missiles. In fact, it wants to replace its Russian air-to-air missiles with Israeli weapons, according to Indian news site NDTV.
- NewsAssociated Press
Man arrested in slaying of 75-year-old community activist
The suspect in the slaying of a community leader who founded Baton Rouge's African American history museum was a tenant who owed her back rent, authorities said Tuesday. Ronn Jermaine Bell, 38, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of first-degree murder, city Police Chief Murphy J. Paul told news reporters. Bell is being held in the East Baton Rouge Parish jail.
- WorldPolitico
Trump’s better deal with Iran looks a lot like Obama’s
Donald Trump has long trashed the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement as “the worst deal ever,” a “disaster” that didn't cover nearly enough of the Islamist-led country's nefarious behavior. Trump has repeatedly urged Iran to engage in negotiations with him, while saying that Tehran's nuclear ambitions are his chief concern — “A lot of progress has been made. At times, analysts and former officials say, it sounds like Trump wants to strike a deal that essentially mirrors the agreement that his White House predecessor inked — even if he'd never be willing to admit it.
- NewsUSA TODAY
'Dangerous': Air Force responds to plans to 'storm Area 51' and 'see them aliens'
As more than 1 million people on Facebook say they're attending a joke event to "storm Area 51," the U.S. military has responded to the plans – just in case they actually do. Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews said in a statement to USA TODAY that military officials were aware of the event that aims to uncover what many people believe are conspiratorial secrets of the military installation in Nevada. McAndrews didn't specify any security plans at the base, but she did warn those thinking of entering the area.
- WorldReuters
Asylum seekers anxiously cross into U.S. as new policy kicks in
As a new Trump administration policy aimed at making almost all migrants ineligible for asylum at the U.S. southern border spread fear this week, those at the front of the line in Mexican border cities found the gates to the United States were still open, though they will face a much higher bar to stay. As the policy went into effect on Tuesday, migrants in Ciudad Juarez and other Mexican border towns were cautiously optimistic: U.S. officials were still moving down the list of asylum seekers, calling migrants to cross the bridge into the United States and apply.
- NewsUSA TODAY Opinion
Teachers union has become an arm of the abortion-rights left. Conservatives should quit.
Remember when labor unions used to fight for higher wages and better working conditions? The latest in a series of leftward leaps by unions came last week with the National Education Association's full-throated endorsement of abortion. Delegates to the union's annual conference passed a business item stating that “the NEA vigorously opposes all attacks on the right to choose and stands on the fundamental right to abortion under Roe v. Wade." The union also adopted an official stance on “white fragility” and announced that the current vice president, described in her biography as a “social justice warrior,” will run for president of the union.
- NewsAOL.com
North Carolina father of 7 dies trying to save his drowning children at beach
A North Carolina father drowned Sunday while rescuing two of his young children who were swept away by a wave while walking on a submerged jetty at Wrightsville Beach. Johnny Lee Vann Jr., a 35-year-old father who recently moved to Durham from Detroit, Mich., with his family, did not hesitate to jump into the rough waters after watching two of his seven children go under, his widow, Dawn Vann, told WNCN. Vann Jr. successfully brought one child to shore but struggled to stay afloat after heading back out for the second, Capt. Jason Bishop of the Wrightsville Beach Police Department told ABC News.
- LifestyleDelish
Your Kids Won't Have Any Room For Candy After These Halloween Dinner Ideas
Halloween fun should go way beyond just candy. From Delish
- WorldBusiness Insider
Boris Johnson rejects EU compromise and pushes Britain towards the no-deal Brexit cliff edge
The United Kingdom is hurtling towards a no-deal Brexit in October, after both contenders to replace Theresa May rejected a possible compromise deal with the EU. Boris Johnson, the likely next prime minister, said on Monday that he would not accept compromise on the Northern Irish backstop — a compromise that even hardline pro-Brexit MPs have said they would accept. This creates an even bigger chasm between the UK and the EU and significantly increases the chances of a no-deal Brexit on October 31.
- BusinessThe National Interest
Big Guns: Army Prototypes Range-Doubling New Artillery Weapon to Outgun Russia
The Army is building prototypes of a new artillery cannon that can more than double the range of existing weapons and vastly alter the strategic and tactical landscape shaping land war into the future. “This prototype phase will address capability gaps in the Army's indirect fire systems and improve the rate and range of fire with the development of power distribution software and hardware integration solutions,” a BAE Systems statement said.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Asylum ban may further strain immigrant detention facilities
Photos and video of Vice President Mike Pence's visit Friday to McAllen, Texas, showing men crammed behind chain-link fences offered the latest glimpse into squalid conditions at Customs and Border Protection facilities. The Border Patrol housed 900 people in an area with capacity for 125 in El Paso, Texas, according to a Department of Homeland Security's internal watchdog report on an unannounced visit in May. Inspectors saw detainees standing on toilets to gain breathing space. Agents described detainees being held in standing-room-only cells for weeks.
WorldAFPUK raises alarm after mother held by Iran is taken to mental ward
London demanded the immediate release Wednesday of a jailed British-Iranian aid worker whose husband said she has been transferred to the mental ward of a public hospital in Tehran. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case has roiled Britain's relations with the Islamic republic since her 2016 arrest and conviction on sedition charges over which she has held a series of hunger strikes. "We are extremely concrned about Nazanin's welfare and call for her immediate release," Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Biden says if Trump mocks his age or mental state in a debate he'd challenge him to a push-up contest
When asked what he would do if President Donald Trump challenged him based on his age or mental fitness in a debate, former Vice President Joe Biden said he would challenge the president to a push-up contest. Biden made the comment during an interview with MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski that aired Monday on "Morning Joe." Brzezinski asked Biden about Democratic voters who wondered how he would handle someone like Trump, "who doesn't play fair," after he seemed unprepared for criticism from Sen. Kamala Harris in the Democratic debate in Miami. "I realize that some have concluded that because I didn't respond very tough back to her, that how can I take on Trump?
- WorldReuters
'You must be stupid': Duterte says he won't be tried by international court
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has declared he will never be tried by an international court for mass killings in his war on drugs, and vowed no let up in a crackdown that he said he was winning and would see through "to the very end". In a television interview with a celebrity pastor, the firebrand leader said the Philippine justice system was working fine, so it would be "stupid" to imagine he would let an international court put him on trial. "I will only face, be tried or face a trial, in a Philippine court.
- NewsTime
The Military Has a Warning for Anyone Interested In Raiding Area 51 In An Attempt To Free Aliens
The U.S. Air Force has responded to the 1.3 million people who have signed on to raid Area 51 in search of aliens as part of an internet joke that has gone viral. The fake plan to raid Area 51 started with a Facebook event and has inspired thousands of alien-related memes. “Any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged,” an Air Force spokesperson told NPR in a Monday statement, along with several other media outlets including USA Today and The New York Times.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoGreek man confesses to rape, murder of U.S. biologist, police say
Greek police believe they have found the man who raped and murdered an American biologist whose body was discovered on the island of Crete on July 8, a senior official said on Tuesday.
- LifestyleDelish
Over-the-Top Ice Cream Sandwich Recipes That Are Worth Every Calorie
No basic 'wiches here. From Delish
- WorldBloomberg
Lords Vote to Block Suspension of Parliament: Brexit Update
The U.K.'s House of Lords backed a move designed to make a no-deal Brexit more difficult by stopping the next prime minister from closing down Parliament. The plan won't become law until it has also been passed by members of Parliament in the Commons, where it is likely to face stronger opposition from pro-Brexit politicians. Key Developments: Johnson Warns U.S. Trade Deal Won't be Quick (8:25 p.m.
