PoliticsAFPAttack on Saudi Arabia came from Iran: US official
The United States has concluded that the weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities was launched from Iranian soil and cruise missiles were involved, a US official told AFP on Tuesday. The official, who declined to be identified, said the United States was gathering evidence about the attack to present to the international community, notably European allies, at the UN General Assembly next week. The weekend strikes on Abqaiq –- the world's largest oil processing facility –- and the Khurais oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia have roiled global energy markets.
- 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.
- 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.
- WorldAssociated Press
20 dead as truck falls off cliff in southern Philippines
Twenty villagers were killed and 14 others were injured when the truck they were riding in lost control and fell off a cliff Tuesday in a remote mountain village in the southern Philippines, police and the Red Cross said. Provincial police chief Joel Limson said the truck was negotiating a downhill road in Tboli town in South Cotabato province when its brakes apparently failed and plummeted down a ravine, pinning 15 people to death. Police, Red Cross volunteers and villagers retrieved the 15 bodies from the wreckage at the bottom of the ravine.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A flight in India was delayed when a swarm of angry bees covered the cockpit window and attacked staff who tried to remove them
A domestic flight in India was delayed by two hours after a swarm of bees settled on the cockpit window, obscuring pilots' vision and attacking staff who tried to remove them. The Air India flight was about to take off when the bees landed on the window. Staff tried fruitlessly to shoo them away and disperse them with the aircraft's windscreen wipers before calling the fire brigade.
- WorldBloomberg
Into the Unknown for Israel as Netanyahu’s Election Gamble Fails
Israel's election do-over looked set to produce a dramatic deadlock between legally embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political opponents, with no clear sign who will form the country's next government. The lack of a decisive victory would be a setback for Israel's longest-serving leader, who gambled on a revote to strengthen his political hand -- and possibly keep himself out of jail -- after a disappointing result in April. It would also thrust Israel into further political turmoil and drag out policy paralysis at a time when diplomatic and regional security challenges are mounting.
- NewsThe Telegraph
Couple reveal they are raising child 'gender neutral' and haven't even told close family their baby's sex
A couple have decided to keep their baby's sex a secret from close relatives in a bid to avoid gender bias. Hobbit Humphrey, 38, and Jake England-Johns, 35, refer to their 17-month-old child, Anoush, with the pronoun, "they", and dress them in both girls' and boys' clothing. The married couple, who are members of the climate action group, Extinction Rebellion, have been accused of “virtue signalling”.
- PoliticsNational 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.
- WorldThe National Interest
China Might Not Actually Be Able to Hold Its South China Sea Bases but That's Not the Point
Key point: China is going for a land-grab and will use those bases for power projection and intimidation, even if it can't defeat them all in a war. China has built some islands in the South China Sea. The islands of the SCS are conveniently located for China, but do they really represent an asset to China's military?
WorldAFPIran charges three detained Australians with spying
Iran has charged three detained Australians with spying, a judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday, after the reported arrest of a travel-blogging couple and an academic. Two of the Australians were alleged to have used a drone to take pictures of military sites, while a third was accused of spying for another country, spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told reporters. It was the first official confirmation that Australians have been detained in Iran after the families of three of them said last week they had been arrested in the Islamic republic.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Conservative group known for hardball tactics leads charge in Kavanaugh defense
A conservative group that has aided the confirmation of President Trump's judicial nominees is now leading the Republican Party's charge against the most recent allegation of sexual assault against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. On Sunday afternoon, the Article III Project, led by Mike Davis, a key attorney in shepherding Kavanaugh's confirmation, sent talking points to the White House. He also sent the memo to key congressional offices and a number of outside GOP groups in an effort to discredit reporting from the New York Times alleging that, while at Yale, classmate Max Stier witnessed Kavanaugh “push his penis into the hand of” a female student.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Wisconsin brothers charged with operating counterfeit vaping cartridge operation
According to the criminal complaint: Tyler Huffhines admitted starting his THC vape cartridge business on Jan. 28, 2018, the same day he took a picture of his business to post on Instagram. He told detectives that he didn't smoke marijuana but saw a good business opportunity by purchasing THC vape cartridges in California for $2.50 each where they are legal and bringing them back to Wisconsin to sell for $15 apiece. Tyler Huffhines admitted he figured out he could boost profits by buying empty vape cartridges and jars of liquid THC and paying 10 workers to fill them.
- NewsAssociated Press
Wisconsin man accused of making THC cartridges charged
A Wisconsin man suspected of running an illegal operation to manufacture vaping cartridges flew to California last month to get THC oil in bulk to fill thousands of cartridges to sell, prosecutors said Monday in charging documents. Authorities in Kenosha, Wisconsin, arrested 20-year-old Tyler Huffhines on Sept. 5 after parents tipped off police when they saw their teenage son with one of the cartridges. Prosecutors say Huffhines employed 10 people to fill the cartridges with THC oil at a condo he rented with a stolen identity.
- 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.
U.S.FOX News Videos20 arrested, 18 charged in Minneapolis beatings
Minneapolis police chief, assault victim talk to Fox News about arrests in downtown beatings; Matt Finn reports.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
Best Bar Tools for Your Home Bar
Be sure to stock up. From Popular Mechanics
- PoliticsPolitico
Illinois congressman unfazed by AOC’s endorsement of his rival
Rep. Dan Lipinski is shrugging off the endorsement of his liberal challenger by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, telling POLITICO the progressive star's backing of his “extremist” opponent won't help knock him out of the Chicago-area seat. “I think it's always a bad idea for Democrats to go after Democrats, especially incumbent members of Congress.
- WorldThe National Interest
Is Russia's Crazy Status-6 Nuclear Weapon a Great Idea or a Really Bad One?
Key point: Russia's is working on a nuclear torpedo, but the idea may not be practical. According to the latest Nuclear Posture Review, Russia is developing a new nuclear torpedo/drone, the Status 6. While the torpedo (also covered here by Dave Majumdar) offers some alarming new capabilities, it's not the first such weapon that the Russians have worked on.
WorldAFPFrench boy, 10, dies 8 years after supermarket burger poisoning
A French boy aged 10, who fell gravely ill in 2011 after consuming a beef burger from supermarket discounter Lidl that was infected with E.coli bacteria, has died of complications stemming from his poisoning, the family's lawyer said. The boy, Nolan, died on Saturday "as a consequence of his poisoning", the family's lawyer Florence Rault told AFP on Sunday. Lidl's French arm said in a tweet on Monday: "We share the pain of Nolan's family and will seek to assure our support during their suffering."
- WorldReuters
WRAPUP 10-Saudi oil attacks came from southwest Iran, U.S. official says, raising tensions
WASHINGTON/DUBAI, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The United States believes the attacks that crippled Saudi Arabian oil facilities last weekend originated in southwestern Iran, a U.S. official told Reuters, an assessment that further increases tension in the Middle East. Three officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the attacks involved cruise missiles and drones, indicating that they involved a higher degree of complexity and sophistication than initially thought.
- 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.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Sheriff indicted for plotting to kill deputy who had tape of his 'racially offensive' remarks
A North Carolina sheriff has been indicted for allegedly plotting to kill one of his deputies after learning the man had a tape of him making "racially offensive" comments. Granville County Sheriff Brindell Wilkins was indicted Monday on two counts of felony obstruction of justice for withholding knowledge of a credible threat made against Joshua Freeman and failing to take appropriate law enforcement action. The indictment came after a ten month investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, according to a release from Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Belgian F-16s scrambled to intercept 2 Russian nuclear-capable supersonic bombers over the Baltic Sea
The Belgian Air Force is policing Baltic airspace as of September 3; on Tuesday, it intercepted two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack supersonic, nuclear-capable bombers. Belgium took over the Baltic policing mission from Hungary which, along with Spain and the UK, was policing Baltic airspace when Russian Su-30 Flanker fighters flew near Baltic airspace twice over two days in June. US and UK aircraft have been sending clear messages to Russia — US B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flew their first missions in the Arctic earlier in September, and the B-2s flew with non-US F-35s for the first time in August.
- WorldAssociated Press
House of Ukraine's former top central banker set on fire
The home of Ukraine's former central bank chief has been burned to the ground, the third chilling incident involving the banker over the past few weeks. Police said in a statement Tuesday that they are investigating a suspected arson attack late Monday on the house of Valeria Gontareva outside the capital, Kyiv. Gontareva has said she has received threats from Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who lost his PrivatBank to a government nationalization that was carried out while Gontareva was at the helm of the central bank in 2016.
- WorldBloomberg
Putin Loses Legendary Approval-Rating Crown to His New Neighbor
Vladimir Putin takes great pride in his sky-high approval rating. While pushing a raft of popular reforms, Zelenskiy, 41, remains in his honeymoon period, while cries he's too close to a local billionaire grow louder. The 66-year-old Putin, meanwhile, is approaching two decades as Russia's leader.
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