WorldReutersLow water levels on Danube reveal sunken WW2 German warships
PRAHOVO, Serbia (Reuters) - Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo. The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels. However, this year's drought - viewed by scientists as a consequence of global warming - has exposed more than 20 hulks on a stretch of the Danube near Prahovo in eastern Serbia, many of which still contain tonnes of ammunition and explosives and pose a danger to shipping.
U.S.NextSharkOverworked elephant rips Thai owner in half
An annoyed elephant has reportedly ripped his owner in half using his tusks in the Thai province of Phang Nga after being forced to work under hot weather. Upon their arrival, authorities were informed that Pom Pam, a 20-year-old male elephant, had ripped apart his owner, 32-year-old Supachai Wongfaed. Rescue workers, officers and the village chief went to the scene of the incident and saw Wongfaed's body in the middle of a rubber plantation.
PoliticsThe RootMitch McConnell Is Shook About Not Getting the Senate Majority Title Back
Previously The Root wrote about how Senate Republicans have no plan to present to the American people as to why they should take control after the midterm elections. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell isn't helping matters by thinking people still have stimulus money to spend as inflation remains high. With 21 Republican seats up for election, McConnell is facing the hard realization that he may not be getting the Majority title anytime soon.
U.S.Associated PressHusband sentenced to 65 years in Fitbit murder case
A Connecticut man was sentenced Thursday to 65 years in prison for the 2015 killing of his wife, who prosecutors say was wearing a Fitbit exercise activity tracker with data that contradicted his statements to police. Richard Dabate, 46, of Ellington, was convicted by a jury in May of murder and other charges. The fatal shooting of Connie Dabate, 39, at the couple's home two days before Christmas in 2015 while their two young sons were in school drew national attention, with the unusual Fitbit evidence and details of Richard Dabate's affair with a woman who was pregnant at the time of the killing and later gave birth to their child.
U.S.Chicago TribuneR. Kelly’s former goddaughter breaks down at his federal trial in Chicago, telling jury he filmed them having sex while she was a minor
For the first time after two decades of swirling allegations, R. Kelly's former goddaughter has taken the stand as a prosecution witness in a case against the disgraced singer. Dressed in a white blazer with her hair in long braids, the woman, now 37 and testifying at Kelly's federal trial in Chicago under the pseudonym “Jane,” told the jury she had sexual contact with Kelly for the first time at 14. After testifying calmly for nearly two hours, Jane's voice grew quieter and began to break as she was asked to describe sexual encounters that Kelly recorded, including the now-infamous tape at the center of Kelly's 2008 child pornography trial.
U.S.OxygenWife Of Florida Oncologist Missing At Sea Filed For Divorce The Day He Vanished
The wife of a renowned Florida oncologist who vanished in the Gulf of Mexico over a week ago filed for divorce the day her husband went missing, according to court records. Dr. Chaundre Cross, 49, vanished on Aug. 10 after setting sail in the Gulf of Mexico aboard his 34-foot Crownline, named “Vitamin Sea,” according to the U.S Coast Guard. Cross' ship, the Vitamin Sea, was found abandoned and adrift roughly 16 miles south of Sanibel Island on Thursday afternoon — approximate 25 miles north of where he started his sail.
U.S.Associated PressColorado homeowner emptied pistol to kill bear that broke in
Ken Mauldin was jolted awake last weekend with his wife screaming incessantly in their split level home in Colorado's mountain town of Steamboat Springs where their three children were sleeping one floor below. Kelly Mauldin had just been awakened by the couple's barking dogs that didn't wake up her husband before dawn on Saturday. In an interview, Ken Mauldin said he grabbed his 40-caliber pistol, took his wife's place at the door and shot once, aiming for the center of the bear's body.
U.S.INSIDERA man who hadn't had sex in months caught monkeypox after going to a crowded outdoor event. Experts say being intimate is still the most common way the virus spreads.
A man was diagnosed with monkeypox after attending an outdoor event, according to a report. Most people in the current outbreak have caught monkeypox from sexual activity with an infected person. A man who hadn't had sex for months was diagnosed with monkeypox after attending a crowded outdoor event, in what a researcher described as a "rare" case.
WorldBusiness InsiderExplosions at a Russian base knocked out over half the Black Sea fleet's combat jets, crippling its warfighting ability, Western officials and intelligence say
Recent explosions at a Russian base in occupied Crimea damaged multiple combat aircraft. Over half Russia's Black Sea fleet's combat jets are knocked out, Western intel and officials said. Ukraine did not immediately claim public responsibility for the apparent attack, but it has celebrated it.
WorldReutersNorth Korea tells South Korean president to 'shut his mouth' after offer of aid
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Friday South Korea's president should "shut his mouth" after he reiterated that his country was willing to provide economic aid in return for nuclear disarmament. Her comments mark the first time a senior North Korean official has commented directly on what South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has called an "audacious" plan - first proposed in May and which he talked about again on Wednesday at a news conference to mark his first 100 days in office. "It would have been more favourable for his image to shut his mouth, rather than talking nonsense as he had nothing better to say," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement released by state news agency KCNA, calling Yoon "really simple and still childish" to think that he could trade economic cooperation for the North's honour and nuclear weapons.
U.S.USA TODAYHe kidnapped a school bus of children and buried them alive. This week, he was granted parole.
Frederick Woods kidnapped a school bus full of children in 1976 and buried them alive. This week, at age 70, he was officially granted parole, Terry Thornton of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed to USA TODAY. In March, Woods was approved for parole during a hearing at California Men's Colony, a state prison, after previously being denied 17 times.
U.S.Columbus Ledger-EnquirerHusband runs over wife and drags her down hill as she tries to escape him, GA cops say
A west Georgia man is accused of running his wife over with a vehicle before dragging her down an embankment in a violent encounter that ended with him being shot by police, state investigators said. The 32-year-old man is expected to face attempted murder and kidnapping charges in the Aug. 17 incident in LaGrange, according to a police news release. LaGrange police contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation following the incident.
U.S.Associated PressJudge won't let Graham delay testimony in election probe
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May ordered Graham to honor his subpoena for the special grand jury. Graham's attorneys appealed that order to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked May to stay her ruling and prohibit the special grand jury from questioning him while that appeal plays out. “Under the circumstances, further delay of Senator Graham's testimony would greatly compound the overall delay in carrying out the grand jury's investigation,” May wrote.
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LAPD seek suspects after 7-Eleven gets ransacked
Los Angeles police are asking for the public's help in identifying suspects who ransacked a 7-Eleven and threw merchandise at the store's clerk after motorists staged a street takeover outside earlier this week. Aug.
PoliticsINSIDERAlan Dershowitz says every reputable attorney he's spoken with has told him their firms 'won't let them go anywhere near' Trump
Alan Dershowitz says most reputable firms won't let their lawyers go anywhere near Trump right now. "I'm not going near this with a 10-foot pole," Dershowitz said a lawyer told him recently of Trump. Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who defended former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, told Insider that most reputable law firms weren't letting their attorneys go anywhere near Trump as his legal issues snowballed.
WorldReutersHalf of Russia's Black Sea fleet's combat jets out of operation - Western official
Blasts at the Saky air base in the annexed Crimean peninsula earlier this month have put more than half of the Russian Black Sea fleet's naval aviation combat jets out of use, a Western official said on Friday. The air base near Novofedorivka on the west coast of the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, suffered multiple explosions on Aug. 9. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine was now consistently achieving "kinetic effects" deep behind Russia's lines which was having a material impact on Russia's logistics support and "a significant psychological effect on the Russian leadership".
U.S.The RecountGov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announces FL has “charged and is in the process of arresting 20 individuals … for voter fraud.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a presser in a courthouse to announce that the state's new Office of Election Crimes and Security, which began on July 1, has discovered 20 instance of voter fraud. DeSantis says the 20 individuals will be charged and arrested for their crimes. The state of Florida will continue to monitor voter fraud in the upcoming election as well as review the 2020 election results.
WorldUkrayinska PravdaRussian media: nearly 700 Russian contractors from the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade want to desert from battlefield
Illustrative photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine STANISLAV POHORILOV – FRIDAY, 19 AUGUST 2022, 14:22 Nearly 700 contractors from the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, which is responsible for war crimes in the Kyiv region, are trying to get fired and leave Ukraine but don't manage to. Source: media Vazhnie Istorii (Important Stories) Details: Media cites the servicemen from this brigade who say that the Russian command refuses to withdraw them from the territory of Ukraine – even those soldiers whose contract with the army expired back in May.
PoliticsAssociated PressRussia probe memo wrongly withheld under Barr, court rules
The Justice Department under Attorney General William Barr improperly withheld portions of an internal memo Barr cited in announcing that then-President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice in the Russia investigation, a federal appeals panel said Friday. The department had argued that the 2019 memo represented private deliberations of its lawyers before any decision was formalized, and was thus exempt from disclosure. A federal judge previously disagreed, ordering the Justice Department to provide it to a government transparency group that had sued for it.
U.S.Idaho StatesmanThis monster Idaho fish was more than just a record. It was an unexpected species
I've said it a hundred times — one of my favorite things about fishing is that you never know what could happen on any given trip. Fruitland angler Paul Newman can attest, thanks to his state-record blue catfish that has to rank as one of the most unusual catches in Idaho history. Newman was fishing for sturgeon in C.J. Strike Reservoir on a guided trip with my friend Captain Tim Parrish, owner of Hammett Valley Fishing Adventures.
- ScienceReuters Videos
German warships resurface as water level drops in Serbia
STORY: Strewn across the riverbed, some of the ships still boast turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while others lie mostly submerged under sand banks. The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels. However, this year's drought - viewed by scientists as a consequence of global warming - has exposed more than 20 hulks on a stretch of the Danube near Prahovo in eastern Serbia, many of which still contain tons of ammunition and explosives and pose a danger to shipping.
U.S.Yahoo MoneyStudent loans: Biden administration 'terminates' status of troubled college accrediting agency
The Education Department (ED) revoked the accreditation status of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) after years of scandals related to for-profit schools and the student loans provided to students across the country. "ACICS is no longer a nationally recognized accrediting agency and can no longer serve as a 'gatekeeper' of institutional eligibility for federal student aid programs," the ED stated in an announcement titled: "U.S. Department of Education Terminates Federal Recognition of ACICS." The non-profit education corporation accredited now defunct for-profit schools ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges.
U.S.Miami HeraldA cottonmouth ate a Burmese python in Florida, Zoo Miami says. See X-ray of the meal
This being Florida, the saying may have to be tinkered with a bit. A python became another snake's meal, according to Zoo Miami, which has the receipts to prove it. According to a Thursday Facebook post, the zoo explains that a python it was tracking was found in the digestive tract of a native cottonmouth, also known as an often deadly water moccasin.
U.S.The RecountFox News’ Steve Doocy explains the real-world consequences of Republicans' FBI-bashing to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
Fox News host Steve Doocey took Senator Rand Paul to task over his accusations that the FBI search was illegitimate, pointing out that the attacks on the agency are putting agents there at risk. DOOCEY: Well, and Senator absolutely Congress has oversight over the FBI and the Department of Justice and everything else. The problem is over the last week or so there's been so much violent rhetoric directed at the FBI and I heard somebody printed FBI stands for Fascist Bureauof Investigation or something like that.
WorldReutersChina risks miscalculation with pressure on Taiwan, U.S. says
TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) -China's efforts to coerce and undermine Taiwan risk miscalculation and its pressure campaign will most likely continue, Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, said. China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, has been carrying out war games and military drills around the island this month to show its anger at a visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Speaking on a conference call on Wednesday Washington D.C. time, Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said China had used Pelosi's trip as an excuse to change the status quo, jeopardising peace.
“Like it or not, inside American politics, you’re on one side or the other. There is no in between.”
“Were a centrist coalition to arise in service of ‘bipartisan’ policy objectives, it would shift the political center of gravity.”
“Purported constituents for a centrist third party aren’t as large a group as is often imagined and aren’t really centrists, either.”
“A successful third party is one that integrates itself or its program into one of the two major parties.”
“Favoritism for party candidates is a tough mountain to climb … Americans prefer to vote for a candidate they believe can win.”