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 California Construction Worker Asked a Speeding Motorist to Slow Down. He Was Shot Seven Times In Response.

The family of a California Black construction worker wants answers after their loved one was shot several times in what is now being looked at as a potential hate crime. Bobby Gayle is still recovering, KCRA reported this week, after being shot seven times this month in the town in California's Central Valley. Bobby's brother, Marlon Gayle, told the outlet that his brother had just finished the job when the shooting occurred.

Climber's body recovered from mountain after she sent message for help

Rescue personnel and a helicopter successfully completed the highly technical recovery of a 29-year-old Denver woman's body from Kit Carson Peak in Colorado on this weekend. Anna DeBattiste of the Colorado Search And Rescue Association confirmed to CBS Denver that rescue team members safely returned from the operation some time after midnight on Saturday after recovering the body of Madeline Baharlou-Quivey. Kit Carson Peak Climber Madeline Baharlou-Quivey's Body Retrieved By Rescue Crews, Helicopter https://t.co/cp4tHpeXlr pic.twitter.com/efkuciFFH7 Using ropes and climbing harnesses, Alamosa Volunteer Search and Rescue personnel made the climb from the Spanish Creek side of the peak, appro...

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.

Former Secretary Of State Colin Powell Dead After COVID Complications

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell died on Monday from complications of COVID-19, his family said in a Facebook post. Powell, 84, had been receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Medical Center and was fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, his family wrote. Powell had multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that greatly diminishes the body's immune response, NBC News and CNN reported.

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  Report: Ex-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell dies of COVID complications

  Yahoo News Video
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  'Favorite of presidents' Colin Powell dies of COVID-19 complications

  Reuters

Ted Cruz blasted Australia’s COVID rules. A top Australian official didn’t hold back

The chief minister of the Northern Territory of Australia responded Monday to comments made by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz about the country's strict rules to protect against COVID-19. The territory announced last week that workers who interact with the public must receive their first vaccination shot by Nov. 12 or face a $5,000 fine, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The mandate got a harsh response from Cruz, a senator who has often lashed out against COVID-19 polices in the United States.

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 a woman was raped on Pennsylvania train while others sat and did nothing: ‘I have no words’

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

  CBS News

Hooters adjusts policy to make controversial new uniform optional for employees after outcry over skimpy new shorts that are 'like underwear'

Hooters of America announced it will make its new revealing shorts optional for employees. "They can determine which style of shorts best fits their body style and personal image," a Hooters spokesperson told Insider. According to a spokesperson for Hooters of America, staffers will now be permitted to choose between the new shorts - which some have described as so skimpy they're "like underwear" - and the original longer shorts.

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

  The Independent

The Workers Won’t Be Coming Back, Covid or Not. Here Are Theories on Where They Went.

More people are choosing not to work, confounding employers and economists and leading to worrisome labor shortages and supply chain problems. The September jobs report showed the slowest pace of hiring all year, a surprise decline in labor-force participation and a rise in wages. Whatever the explanation for the worsening labor shortage, it goes beyond temporary factors associated with the pandemic.

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.

Stimulus Check Update: Here's Who May Be Getting Another $1,400 Check

Senior citizens are among the most economically vulnerable in the country. A letter sent by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) Chairman Rick Delaney to Congressional leaders illustrates the situation faced by some seniors. The letter reads in part: "We've heard from thousands of them (seniors) who have exhausted their retirement savings, who have started eating just one meal a day, stated cutting their pills in half because they can't afford their prescription drugs, to list just a few of the drastic steps so many have had to take because of what inflation has done to them this year."

Ex-Spy Behind Salacious Trump Dossier Has Damning Theory About Alleged Pee Tape

Christopher Steele, the British former spy behind a salacious and unverified dossier about Donald Trump, said he believes one of the most infamous allegations in the document. Steele told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that the “pee tape” is “probably” real, according to a promo for the upcoming series, “Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind the Steele Dossier.” The dossier claims Trump in 2013 hired prostitutes in Moscow to perform a golden showers show as he watched.

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  Christopher Steele stands by discredited anti-Trump dossier claims about Michael Cohen in Prague and 'pee tape'

  Washington Examiner
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  Ex-British spy Christopher Steele defends Trump dossier and says kompromat tape ‘probably’ exists

  The Independent

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.

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.

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  Brian Laundrie’s father emerges from house to tear down protest sign from lawn

  The Independent
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  Gabby Petito's mom says she wasn't worried about her daughter's road trip because she thought Brian Laundrie would 'take care' of her

  INSIDER

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.

Adrien Brody Felt 'So Stupid' After Rejecting What Became An Iconic Series

Adrien Brody told GQ he was almost in “The Lord of the Rings” franchise, but that he rejected the part because he “didn't grasp it.” The actor said he regretted it when he went to see the first film with an ex-girlfriend. While he missed out on “The Lord of the Rings,” Brody did end up in Jackson's 2005 “King Kong” film ― a role he believes he wouldn't have gotten if he had been a hobbit.

Suspect charged with attempted murder with hate crime enhancement after shooting Black man

Police have arrested a California man who they say shot a Black man seven times while yelling racial epithets at him earlier in October. Michael Hayes, 31, was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with a hate crime enhancement on Friday. In California, a hate crime enhancement is a felony conviction that can add up to three extra years on top of any other sentencing.

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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  Investigators believe cargo ship dragged California oil pipeline in January

  The Week

6 Social Security Changes for 2022

Every October, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announces its annual changes to the Social Security program for the coming year. Below is our summary of the Social Security changes that were announced in October 2021 and are set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022. The big news for 2022 is that nearly 70 million Social Security recipients will see reflected in their monthly benefits the largest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) since Ronald Reagan's first term in office in 1982.

A honeymoon party accidentally triggered a buried WWI bomb in Ukraine, injuring the bride and killing her brother

A buried WWI bomb exploded after a newlywed couple started a bonfire nearby, the Daily Mail reported. The bride suffered serious injuries, and her brother and another person died, the report said. The bomb is thought to be from a 1916 offensive waged by Russia against Austria-Hungary, per the Mail.

Turkey's Erdogan says U.S. proposed F-16 sales in return for its F-35 investment

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the United States had proposed the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in return for its investment in the F-35 programme, from which Ankara was removed after purchasing missile defence systems from Russia. Reuters reported earlier this month that Turkey made a request to the United States to buy 40 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighter jets and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes. Speaking to reporters before departing for a trip to West Africa, Erdogan said Turkey wants a return for its investment in the F-35 programme and that talks on the issue are ongoing.

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.

Japan PM says Fukushima wastewater release can't be delayed

Japan's new prime minister on Sunday said the planned mass disposal of wastewater stored at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant cannot be delayed, despite concerns from local residents. Speaking at his first visit to the facility since taking office, Fumio Kishida said his government would work to reassure residents nearby the plant about the technical safety of the wastewater disposal project. The Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered a triple meltdown in 2011 following a massive earthquake and tsunami.