ScienceReutersOne of world's last two northern white rhinos dropped from race to save the species
One of the world's last two northern white rhinos, a mother and her daughter, is being retired from a breeding programme aimed at saving the species from extinction, scientists said on Thursday. There are no known living males and neither of the two remaining northern white rhinos can carry a calf to term. Northern white rhinos, which are actually grey, used to roam freely in several countries in east and central Africa, but their numbers fell sharply due to widespread poaching for their horns.
U.S.NextShark2 Chinese diners refuse to pay restaurant bill after being allegedly angered by US national anthem
Two Chinese men reportedly left a restaurant in California without paying because a group of Chinese American diners sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” during an event. What happened: The incident occurred inside a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles on Oct. 13, according to World Journal, as translated by Taiwan News. According to the waitress whom one of the men spoke to, they were angered when a group in the restaurant, identified as Chinese Americans, began singing the U.S. national anthem during a fundraising event for Mike Fong.
U.S.The Daily BeastCalifornia Officials Reveal How Hiking Family Mysteriously Dropped Dead
A family of three found dead on a Northern California hiking trail in August died of heat exposure and possible dehydration, the local sheriff's office revealed Thursday. “Heat-related deaths are extremely difficult to investigate,” Mariposa County sheriff Jeremy Briese said at a press conference, citing an official cause of death of hyperthermia. The bodies of John Gerrish, Ellen Chung, and their 1-year-old daughter Muji were found mid-August on the Savage Lundy Trail, a remote area of Sierra National Forest.
U.S.Associated PressSheriff says family on California hike died of extreme heat
A Northern California family found dead on a hiking trail near the Merced River died after they overheated and ran out of drinking water on a sunny August afternoon when temperatures reached 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) in the steep mountain terrain, authorities said Thursday. The deaths of Jonathan Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter, Aurelia “Miju” Chung-Gerrish, and their dog, Oski, had baffled investigators. On Thursday, Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese said investigators concluded the family died from hyperthermia, a condition caused when a person's body temperature is dangerously high after exposure to hot, humid weather.
U.S.Atlanta Black StarA 4-foot-8 Black Woman Was Accosted By Group of Boys, Minutes Later a Louisiana Deputy Was Flinging Her By Her Hair In Shocking Video; Investigation Launched
An investigation has been launched in a New Orleans suburb after a video captured a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputy flinging a 4-foot-8 Black woman just minutes after she had been attacked by a group of boys. It's unclear who captured the graphic footage, but in a clip that has since gone viral, the unidentified deputy could be seen grabbing Shantel Arnold by the wrist and dragging her along the pavement. At times, the deputy could be seen lifting Arnold up and slamming the 100-pound woman to the ground repeatedly.
PoliticsWashington ExaminerCheney dismisses Greene with 'space laser' quip during confrontation on House floor
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Liz Cheney, two Republicans who are miles apart in terms of ideology and political style, got in a heated spat on the House floor Thursday afternoon. The confrontation came as the House voted on whether to hold Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, in criminal contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena from the select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Georgia Rep. Greene approached her Wyoming counterpart and Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, both of whom are on the Jan. 6 committee, on the House floor.
U.S.Associated PressPlane that crashed in Houston had not flown in 10 months
A private jet that ran off a runway and crashed through an fence before bursting into flames at a Texas airport had not been flown since December and investigators are looking into maintenance performed on the plane, federal authorities said Thursday. National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said the plane left 1,200 feet (365 meters) of tire marks on the runway at Houston Executive Airport in Brookshire, Texas, on Tuesday. There was a heavy braking event, which appears to be an aborted takeoff, so we do know that the brakes were effectively working before the aircraft exited the runway,” Graham said at a briefing.
PoliticsBusiness Insider'I've lost my joy': Anti-vax Republican, who worked for the Trump campaign and embraced QAnon, says she has COVID-19
She has suggested COVID-19 vaccines are part of a satanic plot. A Delaware Republican who said coronavirus vaccines were part of a satanic plan to cause "mass death" is recovering from COVID-19, she announced Thursday, saying the illness had caused her to lose "all of my senses." Lauren Witzke, a self-styled "Christian nationalist" who embraced QAnon and support from white supremacists, was the Delaware GOP's candidate for Senate in 2020, receiving 186,000 votes in her failed run against Democratic incumbent Sen. Chris Coons.
WorldHuffPostElephant Makes Rare Fatal Attack To Protect Her Baby
Nadav Ossendryver, founder of Latest Sightings, which posted the footage, told HuffPost that in his 10 years of sharing wildlife moments, he had never seen an elephant pounce on a croc. Elephants can lift up to 770 pounds with their trunks, according to FactAnimal.com, so the croc proved to be no problem. The tons of crushing pressure from the elephant “resulted in the inevitable death” of the crocodile, Latest Sightings wrote in the video description.
U.S.Associated PressRestaurateur whose business was raided by sheriff gets $5M
Maricopa County officials approved a settlement Wednesday with a restaurant owner in metro Phoenix who claimed in a lawsuit that then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office had defamed him and violated his rights about seven years ago when investigating whether employees at his restaurants used fraudulent IDs to get jobs. The $5 million settlement with Uncle Sam's owner Bret Frimmel came weeks after officials signed off on a separate $400,000 settlement to resolve similar claims brought by Uncle Sam's manager Lisa Norton. Frimmel and Norton were arrested by Arpaio's office in January 2014 on employment-related identity theft charges that were dismissed after a judge ruled one of Arpaio's detective recklessly disregarded the truth in affidavits used to get search warrants and ultimately found that there was no probable cause to back up the warrants.
PoliticsAtlanta Black Star‘Sunny Is Just As Smart’: Condoleezza Rice’s ‘Brazenly Condescending’ Back and Forth with ‘The View’ Co-Host Sunny Hostin Called Out by Viewers
Sunny Hostin and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have different views regarding the Capitol riots that took place on Jan. 6. On Wednesday, Oct. 20, during an appearance on the daytime television talk show, Rice, while referencing Mitch McConnell's recent statements regarding the attacks, suggested that Americans have moved on from the incident and are more focused on “kitchen table issues — the price of gasoline, inflation, what's happening to their kids in school.” “Our institutions have to be upheld,” but before Hostin could utter another word, Rice added, “Let me finish, Sunny.”
U.S.USA TODAYViral video shows man who served in the Marine Corps shutting down an armed robbery
A video of a man who served in the U.S. Marine Corps shutting down a would-be armed robbery went viral this week. According to a press release from the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to a report of an armed robbery at a Chevron in the city of Yuma, Arizona, on Wednesday. When they arrived, deputies were told that multiple suspects entered the store, and one was armed with a handgun.
- ScienceINSIDER Video
How solar panels are professionally cleaned
When solar panels are dirty, their efficiency can be reduced by up to 42%. Marcos Delgado is the owner of South Bay Solar Cleaning. His process involves inspecting the panels as well as the area underneath them and cleaning them with a specialized water-fed brush.
PoliticsINSIDERTwitter users took just 2 hours to get into TRUTH Social and create dummy accounts for Donald Trump and Mike Pence, exposing the beta site's vulnerabilities
Hours after Trump announced his new social media platform, TRUTH Social, some Twitter users had already found their way onto the beta site. At press time, the beta testing site for TRUTH Social had been taken offline. It took just two hours for Twitter users to find their way onto the beta site for Trump's newly-announced social media platform, TRUTH Social, and create mock accounts of the former president and Vice President Mike Pence.
PoliticsAxios“How about zero?” Manchin, Sanders get heated behind closed doors
Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) squabbled behind closed doors Wednesday, with Manchin using a raised-fist goose egg to tell his colleague he can live without any of President Biden's social spending plan, Axios has learned. Why it matters: The disagreement, recounted to Axios by two senators in the room, underscores how far apart two key members remain as the Democratic Party tries to meet its deadline for reaching an agreement on a budget reconciliation framework by Friday. It also shows that despite the "kumbaya meeting" between Manchin and Sanders on Monday — after which they posed together for photos — the two remain sharply divided.
WorldReutersRussia scrambles fighter jets to escort U.S. strategic bombers over Black Sea
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia scrambled two Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets to escort a pair of U.S. B-1B strategic bombers over the Black Sea, Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday, an incident that coincided with a visit to the region by the U.S. secretary of defense. The supersonic U.S. Cold war-era planes were originally designed to carry nuclear bombs and missiles but now carry conventional payloads. "Russian fighter crews identified the aerial targets as two U.S. Air Force supersonic strategic B-1B bombers, accompanied by two KC-135 refuelling planes, and escorted them over the waters of the Black Sea," the defence ministry said in a statement accompanied by video footage of the U.S. aircraft in flight.
PoliticsRolling StoneParis Hilton Recounts Being ‘Strangled,’ ‘Slapped,’ and ‘Watched in the Shower’ While Calling for Troubled Teen Industry Reform
The entrepreneur and reality star was in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to advocate for accountability alongside survivors, advocates, and group of Democratic lawmakers including Senator Jeff Merkely (D-Ore.) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Merkely and Khanna are co-sponsoring the new Accountability for Congregate Care Act, which will soon be introduced in both houses of Congress. “I'm confident that this bill will create a world where all youth have the support and opportunity to heal, thrive, and not just survive,” Hilton said Wednesday of the ACCA.
U.S.The Daily BeastIndiana Cops Find People Chained Up in ‘Gruesome’ House of Horrors
A 36-year-old Indiana woman is behind bars after police discovered two people tied up and shackled in her home—one of them “deceased and beyond help.” The woman, identified by Evansville authorities as Heidi Carter, faces a string of charges in connection with the Tuesday night incident, which police say took even them by surprise. It all began after a woman flagged down an Indiana state trooper late Tuesday night, saying she'd stopped by Carter's home only to find “a dead body” inside, Evansville Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Gray told reporters late Wednesday.
PoliticsAssociated PressLas Vegas man charged with voting twice in November 2020
A Las Vegas businessman is facing criminal charges of voting twice in the November 2020 election, including with his dead wife's ballot, Nevada state Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Thursday. Donald “Kirk” Hartle, 55, faces two felony charges in a criminal complaint filed Oct. 6 and made public Thursday, three days after Hartle's initial appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court, according to court records. He is due again in court Nov. 18.
U.S.USA TODAYA 'monster' coming this weekend: Bomb cyclone, atmospheric river to blast western US
A series of potent storms is poised to deliver torrents of rain and feet of snow across the West over the next few days, including one on Sunday that's being called a "bomb cyclone" because of its ferocity. Supercharged by a classic atmospheric river pattern, the storms could lead to flash floods and dangerous debris flows in a wide swath of the region already devastated by wildfires, CNN said. California has been hit especially hard by the drought.
U.S.INSIDERThe ACE Family lost ownership of their $10 million mansion and could face eviction
YouTube stars Austin and Catherine McBroom may face eviction from their $10 million home. Videos on their ACE Family channel often take place in the LA mega-mansion. The property was returned to its lenders after a foreclosure sale failed to attract buyers.
WorldAssociated PressRetired pope hopes to soon join friends in 'the afterlife'
Retired Pope Benedict XVI has said he hopes to soon join a beloved professor friend in “the afterlife,” in a sign that the 94-year-old pontiff is not only accepting his eventual death but welcoming it. Benedict penned an Oct. 2 letter to a German priest, thanking him for letting him know of the passing of the Rev. Gerhard Winkler, a Cistercian priest and academic colleague of the former Joseph Ratzinger. “Of all my colleagues and friends he was the closest to me,” Benedict wrote, according to the letter reproduced in German media.
PoliticsHuffPostJim Jordan Struggles To Answer House Panel's Questions About Jan. 6 Trump Calls
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) confirmed on Wednesday to a House panel that he had spoken with then-President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol but contradicted a previous answer about the timeline of calls that day. The House Rules Committee grilled Jordan, a potential witness in the House investigation of the attack, about his communications with Trump while he was testifying against a resolution to hold former Trump aide Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress. House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D- Mass.) asked Jordan about interviews he gave over the summer admitting he had spoken with Trump on Jan. 6.
BusinessBusiness InsiderBitcoin briefly crashed 87% to about $8,000 on Binance's US crypto-trading platform
Bitcoin plummeted to $8,200 on Binance's US platform, Cointelegraph first reported. The brief decline in the cryptocurrency was an 87% fall from $65,815. Binance's CEO tweeted: "Expect very high volatility in #crypto over the next few months."
WorldReutersThailand to allow quarantine-free travel from 46 countries, PM says
Thailand will let vaccinated visitors from 46 countries forgo COVID-19 quarantine from next month, up from 10 previously announced, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Thursday. The Southeast Asian country is poised to introduce the new quarantine-free travel arrangements on Nov. 1 as it seeks to revive its vital tourism industry. Prayuth said the visitors could skip mandatory quarantine as long as they arrive via air, have been fully vaccinated and have a document to show they are virus-free.
“Like tobacco, Facebook is a dangerous product one uses at one’s own risk.”
“A key reason why this latest scandal feels more significant is that politicians on both sides of the aisle feel deceived.”
“These are clearly problems of scale, which Facebook has had many years to deal with and has been fundamentally unable to.”
“We need to recognize the danger we’re in. We need to shake the notion that Facebook is a normal company.”
“Facebook is in trouble … It’s a cloud of existential dread that hangs over an organization whose best days are behind it.”