- WorldAssociated Press
The Latest: Iran imposes sanctions on US think tank
The Latest on tensions in the Persian Gulf (all times local): 9 p.m. Iran's Foreign Ministry says it has imposed sanctions on the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and its CEO for its role in promoting sanctions and "economic terrorism" against Iran. A Saturday report by Iranian media, including the semi-official Fars news agency, quoted a statement by Iran's Foreign Ministry as saying the foundation and its CEO Mark Dubowitz "intentionally" damaged vital interests of Iran through spreading lies and negative campaigning against Iran.
WorldAFPTear gas fired as Hong Kong police, protesters clash
Hong Kong riot cops fired tear gas and baton-charged protesters who retaliated with a barrage of stones, bottles and bamboo poles on Saturday, as a standoff in a working-class neighbourhood descended into violence, breaking an uneasy peace that had lasted several days. Earlier thousands of demonstrators, many wearing hard hats and gas masks, marched through the industrial Kwun Tong area, where they were blocked by dozens of riot police with shields and batons outside a police station. Frontline protesters -- known as "braves" -- pulled together a barricade of traffic barriers and bamboo construction poles.
- NewsINSIDER
Police are trying to arrest their way out of a mass shooting epidemic, and experts warn that law enforcement can't shoulder the entire burden
Since the El Paso and Dayton shootings left 31 people dead on August 3 and 4, at least 28 people across the US have been arrested and accused of plotting or threatening mass shootings. In the weeks since two gunmen in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, slaughtered 31 people within 24 hours, dozens of people across the US have been accused of threatening deadly shooting sprees. Among them are teenagers accused of posting violent threats on social media, grown men who authorities say possessed massive stockpiles of guns, and even a Florida mom who police say threatened to shoot up an elementary school because her children were being rezoned there.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Joe Biden asks audience to imagine Barack Obama’s assassination
Former US vice president Joe Biden has speculated about how a political assassination of Barack Obama might have affected the country in 2008. After speaking about the health care plan he introduced last month and taking a few questions, Mr Biden grew most animated as he recalled the fraught political era of 1968, when he was a college senior, and two of his political heroes, Martin Luther King Jr and Robert F Kennedy, were assassinated within weeks of each other. “My senior semester they were both shot and killed,” Mr Biden said.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A floating nuclear plant in Russia features a gym, bar, and pool. An expert calls it 'Chernobyl on ice.'
But some environmentalists are concerned that the floating plant could fall victim to a disaster like a tsunami, resulting in a possible nuclear catastrophe. "It's riskier than running an ordinary nuclear-power station, and Russia has a checkered past when it comes to ordinary power stations," Jan Haverkamp, a nuclear-energy expert at the environmental nonprofit Greenpeace, told Business Insider. Last year, Haverkamp published a blog post that referred to the floating plant as "Chernobyl on ice."
- LifestyleThe Telegraph
Metal detectorist finds £10,000 gold ring in garage 40 years after discarding it as worthless
A metal detectorist who discarded a gold ring in his garage for 40 years after a museum told him it was worthless has discovered its real value is £10,000. Tom Clark, 81, dug up the buried treasure while scanning an area of farmland near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979, then put it inside a metal tin and forgot about it. But the retired leather craftsman came across the rare seal ring eight years ago while sorting through items from his mother's house after she passed away.
- U.S.KTRK – Houston
2 women accused of shoplifting strollers and accidentally leaving their baby behind
Two women were arrested for allegedly shoplifting baby strollers and accidentally leaving their own baby behind as they tried to get away.
NewsUSA TODAYA man was training to get a gun permit. The instructor accidentally shot him, police say
A Riverside, California man attending a firearms training class to get his concealed weapons permit was accidentally shot by a Riverside County Sheriff's Department trainer, the department told The Desert Sun. On Aug. 10, the man, identified only as a civilian, was participating in a course at the Ben Clark Training Center's gun range in Riverside. According to a department news release issued in response to questions from The Desert Sun, gun range staff inspect students' firearms during the course and students are instructed to unload their guns.
- NewsThe Guardian
Fast-moving wildfire erupts in California, forcing thousands to evacuate
A fast-moving wildfire that broke out on Thursday in northern California has forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 residents, racing across at least 600 acres within just a few hours, officials say. The Mountain fire, which erupted on the outskirts of a national forest in northern California, has threatened 1,110 homes and structures. Photos of the blaze posted on Twitter by the Shasta county sheriff's office showed thick black and gray smoke billowing into the area over a highway near the Shasta-Trinity national forest.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Rep. Steve King wants to make abortion point in 'softer way'
Backed by supporters at a news conference in Des Moines, the Iowa Republican affirmed his belief that abortion should be outlawed with no exceptions for rape or incest. King faced criticism for his comment Aug. 14 that questioned whether there would be "any population of the world left" if not for births due to rape or incest. The remarks were condemned by numerous groups and individuals, including Republican and Democratic candidates seeking to oust King, Democratic presidential candidates as well as the Iowa Republican Party and Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in House leadership.
WorldAFPFear grips Bangladesh camp as 2 Rohingya refugees killed
Bangladesh police said they had shot dead two Rohingya refugees during a gunfight in a refugee camp on Saturday after the pair were accused of killing a ruling party official. Nearly a million Rohingya live in squalid camps in southeast Bangladesh, 740,000 of whom fled a 2017 military offensive against the Muslim minority in Myanmar. The incident comes two days after a second failed attempt to repatriate the refugees, which saw not a single Rohingya turn up to return across the border to conflict-scarred Rakhine state.
- NewsINSIDER
An innocent man spent months in jail after customs officials thought honey he brought back from Jamaica was liquid meth
Leon Haughton told The Washington Post that he was stopped at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on December 29. Haughton, a Jamaican native and green card holder with no prior convictions, told The Post that this was the first time he had been stopped by customs in the 10 years he had been traveling back and forth to visit his mother. A Maryland man spent nearly three months in jail after US Customs and Border Protection agents at Baltimore's airport thought honey he had brought back from a trip to Jamaica was liquid meth.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 3-Saudi-led coalition says downs Houthi drone fired at airbase
A Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said it downed a drone on Sunday that the Iran-aligned group has said they launched in the direction of a Saudi airbase. "The coalition forces intercepted and downed a drone launched from the city of Sanaa in the direction of Khamis Muchait's residential neighbourhoods," coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki told the official Saudi Press Agency. A Houthi military spokesman cited by the group's Al-Masirah TV earlier said the group had launched drones targeting the control towers of the Abha airport and the Khamis Mushait airbase, both in the southwest of the kingdom.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Antisemitic beliefs spreading among evangelical Christians in America
It's an anti-Semitic viewpoint shared by a number of evangelical Christians across the country. The relationship between Christians and Jews has been fraught for almost 2,000 years since the death of Jesus. Today, with a president who levels accusations about Jews and who encourages his fans to mistrust the mainstream media, a growing number of evangelicals are turning to the Internet for information, and finding anti-Jewish beliefs there.
- WorldThe Telegraph
UK Hong Kong consulate worker Simon Cheng freed after detention in mainland China
A British consulate employee in Hong Kong has been freed by China after being detained for 15 days on the mainland amid rising tensions between the former British colony and Beijing. Simon Cheng, 28, a trade and investment officer at the Hong Kong consulate's Scottish Development International section, went missing on August 8 on his way back from a work trip in Shenzhen, a neighbouring Chinese city. It was not until after the UK expressed “extreme concern” about his disappearance that China's foreign ministry broke its silence, confirming Mr Cheng had been detained without releasing further details.
- WorldBloomberg
Iceland Held Talks With U.S. Ambassador Over Pence Visit
Iceland' prime minister is open to a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence during his trip to the Nordic island, should the visit be extended. The option was discussed during a pre-scheduled meeting on Friday between Katrin Jakobsdottir and ambassador Jeffrey Gunter, a government spokesman told Bloomberg. Jakobsdottir, a left-of-center feminist and LGBT advocate, is due to attend a conference by Nordic trade union leaders in Sweden on Sept.
- U.S.Car and Driver
20 of the Craziest Pickup Trucks Ever
A pickup truck's job is simple, but that didn't stop some makers from turning these basic workhorses into wild machines. From Car and Driver
- NewsBusiness Insider
Democratic presidential candidates have a new approach for tackling gun violence: Treat it as a public-health crisis
Warren and Booker have outlined the need to fund public-health research to inform better policies to address gun violence, saying they will fund and use the tactics of community-based intervention. These programs use data to locate high-risk areas for gun violence. Community members then intervene to mediate and de-escalate violence and refer people to social services.
- WorldAssociated Press
Will the real Mr. No-Deal step forward please?
As world leaders touched down in the French seaside resort of Biarritz for the Group of Seven summit, the long-running tensions over Britain's departure from the EU got a tad personal. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Council president Donald Tusk each suggested that the other is bent on scuttling the chances that the UK will break away from the single market of 500 million with an agreement.
WorldAFPJournalist killed in Mexico
The head of a Mexican news website was found stabbed to death in the center of the country, authorities said Saturday, the 10th such killing this year. The body of Nevith Condes Jaramillo "was found Saturday morning... showing injuries from a sharp object," the state prosecutor said in a statement. Condes Jaramillo, 42, was the head of a local news site in Tejupilco and was also an announcer on a community radio station.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Who are the Koch brothers and how did David Koch help shape conservatism in America?
David and Charles Koch have been patiently reshaping the Republican Party and conservatism in America since at least the 1970s, Leonard told USA TODAY. "To do that, they've built a political influence machine that is unrivaled in America." Koch Industries The Koch brothers took what started as an oil company founded by their father Fred Koch, who himself was anti-Communist right-wing figure, and multiplied its already established wealth and international reach into the multi-billion dollar conglomerate it is today.
- WorldReuters
Exclusive: Sudan needs up to $10 billion in aid to rebuild economy, new PM says
Sudan needs $8 billion in foreign aid over the next two years to cover its import bill and help rebuild its ravaged economy after months of political turmoil, its new prime minister said on Saturday. Abdalla Hamdok, sworn in three days earlier to head a transitional government after the ousting of veteran leader Omar al-Bashir, said up to another $2 billion of foreign reserves deposits were needed in the next three months to halt a fall in the currency. The 61-year-old economist, who has worked for the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, said he had started talks with the IMF and the World Bank to discuss restructuring Sudan's crippling debt, and had approached friendly nations and funding bodies about the aid.
- WorldThe Independent
Revered as a saint by online extremists, how Christchurch shooter inspired copycat terrorists around the world
The shooting was the first deadly attack linked to the massacres at two mosques in Christchurch – but not the last. On 3 August, a man who declared himself a “supporter of the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto” murdered 22 people in El Paso. And a week later, a gunman who hailed Tarrant as a “saint” launched a failed attack on a mosque in Norway.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Pompeo says Huawei CEO is not a bargaining chip in Trump-China trade war
Mike Pompeo has rejected claims that detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is being used for leverage in the US-China trade war. Speaking with his Canadian counterpart, Chrystia Freeland, in Ottawa on Thursday, the US secretary of state appeared to rule out dropping the extradition request for Ms Meng to ease tensions with Beijing, insisting it is a legal matter. In December, US president Donald Trump implied he might intervene in the case to help secure a trade deal with China.
- NewsINSIDER
A man with schizophrenia was found guilty of murdering a Saint Augustine's University student in 1979. 40 years later, a panel of judges decided he's innocent after all.
Police could not find a suspect until 1983 when they arrested James Blackmon based on information from a confidential informant. There was no physical evidence linking Blackmon to the murder, yet, he still confessed to it. In November, almost 40 years after the student's death, The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission announced they would re-evaluate the case.
