WorldAssociated PressTaliban official: Strict punishment, executions will return
One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi dismissed outrage over the Taliban's executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium, and he warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan's new rulers. “Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi told The Associated Press, speaking in Kabul.
PoliticsSheKnowsThis Description of Ivanka Trump's Face After Talking With Dad Donald Trump on Jan. 6 Will Stay With You
While much has been written about Jan. 6 and Donald Trump's reaction while it was going down, Bob Woodward's new book, Peril, is giving readers more insight into what happened behind closed doors. The day was fraught with a lot of drama, and as we know, much of the burden of getting through to the president rested on Ivanka Trump's shoulders. When the insurrection took a dangerous turn on Capitol Hill, Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States National Security Council Keith Kellogg reached out to Ivanka to speak to her father to get the rioters to calm down.
ScienceMen's HealthThis Super Rugged Off-Road Camper Has a Surprisingly Luxe Interior
If you're of the opinion that all camping trailers look the same, you've obviously never seen a Bruder. The Australian-based company makes rugged military-like camping vehicles that can take on the toughest terrain in all seasons. In true Bruder fashion, the brand's newest model—the Bruder EXP-8 Off-Road Camper—is tough on the outside, but it's more like a luxury hotel on the inside.
BusinessAssociated PressCalifornia 1st to set quota limits for retailers like Amazon
California on Wednesday became the first state to bar mega-retailers from firing warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that grew from Amazon's drive to speed goods to consumers more quickly. The measure also bars Amazon, the online retail giant, and similar companies from disciplining workers for following health and safety laws and allows employees to sue to suspend unsafe quotas or reverse retaliation. The bill applies to all warehouse distribution centers, though proponents were driven by Amazon's dominance.
U.S.HuffPostBrian Williams' Punchline On Anti-Vaxxers, Anti-Maskers Is A Showstopper
Brian Williams unleashed savage sign-off snark on his MSNBC news show Wednesday. Watch the video below. As he was closing out “The 11th Hour,” the host ran a clip from The Recount of anti-vaccine and anti-mask protesters sounding off at local board meetings.
PoliticsPeopleWhen Biden Found Trump's Letter to Him in Oval Office, He 'Put It in His Pocket and Did Not Share' It: Book
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden had his predecessor on his mind: Some of the historic number of executive actions he took in the hours after being sworn in on Jan. 20 reversed policies put in place by Donald Trump. But when Biden found a letter from Trump in a drawer of the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office — in what appeared to be a rare acknowledgment by Trump of his defeat — the new commander-in-chief tucked it away and went right back to work, according to a new book. "He put it in his pocket and did not share it with his advisers," Bob Woodward and Robert Costa write in Peril, which was released Tuesday.
PoliticsAssociated PressArizona Republican resigns after secret recording released
A Republican official in Arizona resigned Tuesday from the board overseeing Maricopa County after a recording emerged of him criticizing his GOP colleagues for opposing a review of the 2020 election. During the meeting recorded surreptitiously last March, Supervisor Steve Chucri suggested two fellow Republican county supervisors opposed the review by Senate Republicans because they nearly lost their own 2020 races. Chucri apologized in a statement announcing his resignation and said he shouldn't have made the comments, adding “the political landscape has changed for the worst this year.
U.S.INSIDERJohn Walsh, the former host of 'America's Most Wanted,' questions if anyone actually saw Brian Laundrie in his home when his attorney said he was there
John Walsh said he didn't think Brian Laundrie ever went to the Carlton Reserve. Walsh wondered whether anyone had seen Laundrie since he returned to his family home. John Walsh, the host of "In Pursuit," has joined the search for Brian Laundrie and expressed skepticism over whether anyone actually saw Laundrie in his family home after he returned from a road trip with Gabby Petito.
U.S.NBC NewsMichigan man Noah Kerridge missing for five months found dead
A 20-year-old man who left his home in Waterford Township, Michigan, to go for a walk five months ago and never returned has been found dead, investigators with the Waterford Township Police Department said this week. Police located the body of Noah Kerridge in a heavily-wooded embankment of the Rouge River in Southfield on Wednesday, September 22, according to a press release provided to Dateline. The 2019 graduate of Linden High School was last seen just before 5 p.m. on April 19, 2021, leaving the apartment complex in Waterford Township, Michigan, where he had been living with his father, Keith Kerridge.
WorldAssociated PressDad of 3 girls killed in New Zealand says he's forgiven wife
The father of three young girls who were killed last week in New Zealand said Thursday his precious angels had been ripped away from him in a loss he would carry for the rest of his life. Dickason wrote his thoughts in a letter that was read aloud by a reverend during a candlelight vigil that was attended by hundreds of people outside the family's home in the South Island town of Timaru. Lauren Dickason, 40, has been charged with murder in the deaths of her twin 2-year-old girls Maya and Karla, and their 6-year-old sister Liane, in a crime that has shocked New Zealand.
U.S.INSIDERNeighbors say they saw Brian Laundrie and his parents leave their Florida home with an attached camper after he returned from his trip with Gabby Petito
A couple said they saw Brian Laundrie and his parents drive off with an attached camper this month. A neighbor said they saw Laundrie leave on September 11, the day Gabby Petito was reported missing. Laundrie's family told the police last week that they had not seen him since September 14.
PoliticsHuffPostMary Trump Pulls No Punches When Naming Her ‘Stupidest’ Relative
Mary Trump was asked “what the hell is going on” with her cousin, Donald Trump Jr., and didn't hold back. In this week's episode of the “UnPresidented” podcast, Donald Trump's niece described her cousin as “weak” and a suck-up who was ultimately “left in the dust” by his father, the former president. Trump Jr. is “like many other people in my family,” said Mary Trump, a psychologist who has become one of the fiercest critics of her uncle and his children.
PoliticsAssociated PressBuckle up: Arizona Republicans to show 2020 recount results
Donald Trump supporters hired by Arizona Senate Republicans to review the 2020 vote count are preparing to deliver their findings on Friday, the climax of a bizarre quest to find evidence supporting the former president's false claim that he lost because of fraud. Election officials in Arizona and around the country expect more of the same Friday from the review team they say is biased, incompetent and chasing absurd or disproven conspiracy theories. “Every time Trump and his supporters have been given a forum to prove this case, they have swung and missed,” said Ben Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election attorney and vocal critic of Trump's push to overturn the election.
WorldFTW OutdoorsLeopard’s ‘stunning’ leap showcased in slow-motion video
A rescue leopard at South Africa's Harnas Wildlife Foundation is an impressive leaper, especially at mealtime. The accompanying footage, which has garnered millions of views over the past month, shows “Hellboy” leaping nearly 10 feet to catch a hunk of meat tossed over a fence by a caretaker. The footage reveals the power and grace exhibited by Hellboy – and possessed by all leopards – while taking flight and upon landing.
U.S.NBC NewsChipotle customer pulls gun after being told location was closing early, police say
A customer became angry that a Philadelphia Chipotle was closing early, pulled a gun and demanded that “somebody better give me my food,” police said Wednesday. The terrifying confrontation unfolded just before 5 p.m. Saturday at the chain's location inside Roosevelt Mall on Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia police said in a statement. The store was closing its in-person service early because of staffing issues, but it told customers it would still take online orders, police said.
WorldAssociated PressWoman with Down syndrome loses UK abortion law challenge
A woman with Down syndrome lost a court challenge against the British government Thursday over a law allowing the abortion up until birth of a fetus with the condition. Heidi Crowter, 26, and two others took the Department of Health and Social Care to court, arguing that part of the Abortion Act is discriminatory and violates the European Convention on Human Rights. Abortions in England, Wales and Scotland are allowed up till 24 weeks of pregnancy.
- ScienceAFP Videographics
Portugal grape pickers do it in the buff
With early autumn temperatures in Portugal hovering around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), a group of nudism enthusiasts don't even sport a vine leaf to cover their modesty as they go about their work in a vineyard 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Lisbon.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramFather of 12 dies of COVID in Texas after struggles finding ECMO machine, family says
A day after a wife's public plea to help find her husband an ECMO machine to save his life, a Texas father died of COVID-19. Reed Hickson, a 49-year-old father of 12 from College Station, died Monday. “My little brother Reed was called home last night, leaving behind a legacy of true love and greatness, his family of 12 beautiful children and his magnificent soul mate,” Samuel Hickson said on Facebook Tuesday of his brother.
WorldAssociated PressChina sends 24 fighter jets toward Taiwan in show of force
China sent 24 fighter jets toward Taiwan in a large display of force Thursday, after the self-governing island announced its intention to join an 11-nation Pacific trade group that China has also applied to join. China's People's Liberation Army flew fighter jets toward Taiwan twice on Thursday, once in the morning with 19 planes, and once in the afternoon with five more. Taiwan deployed air patrol forces in response to the Chinese jets and tracked them on its air defense systems, the island's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
BusinessMoneyWiseBill Gates is hanging on to these stocks for steady income — you can too
In a world of historically low interest rates, investors would be wise to look out for dividend stocks offering solid — but stable — dividend yields. Today, let's take a look at three dividend plays that represent sizeable positions in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. According to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Gates Foundation owns more than 18.6 million shares of the construction equipment giant representing 9.3% of the portfolio.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderKayleigh McEnany deletes tweet blaming Biden for a 2020 spike in murders that occurred under Trump
Kayleigh McEnany deleted a tweet blaming Biden for a spike in murders that occurred under Trump. Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Kayleigh McEnany deleted a tweet blaming President Joe Biden for a spike in U.S. murders that occurred under her former boss, then-President Donald Trump.
U.S.Associated PressWoman arrested on suspicion of starting California blaze
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of starting a Northern California wildfire that spread rapidly, burning homes and prompting evacuation orders Thursday in a rural community, authorities said. Workers at a nearby quarry reported seeing a woman acting strangely and trespassing in the area in Shasta County where the Fawn Fire was sparked Wednesday afternoon, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statement. Later Wednesday, Alexandra Souverneva walked out of the brush near the fire line and approached firefighters and told them she was dehydrated and needed medical help, Cal Fire said.
HealthPeopleWATCH: Heather Rae Young Holds Tarek El Moussa's Hand as He Finds Out He Has Celiac Disease
Tarek El Moussa has been diagnosed with celiac disease, and his fiancée Heather Rae Young has been there to support him from the start. In an exclusive sneak peek, above, of Thursday night's episode of El Moussa's solo HGTV show Flipping 101, the father of two discovers he has celiac disease after undergoing several blood tests at his doctor's office. "It turns out you have celiac," Internal Medicine Specialist Dr. Ellen Song tells El Moussa, 40, as he holds hands with Young, 34.
U.S.The Daily BeastWas This ‘Commotion’ in a Wyoming Restaurant the Last Time Gabby Petito Was Seen Alive?
One of the final sightings of Gabby Petito before she vanished was so alarming to staff at a Wyoming restaurant that they reported the encounter to the FBI this week. Details on the Aug. 27 incident at The Merry Piglets restaurant in Jackson are scarce, but a witness told CNN there was a “commotion” for all to see as tensions apparently built between Petito and Brian Laundrie, her fiancé who vanished around the same time the 22-year-old Long Island native's body was found. Laundrie, who was declared a person of interest in Petito's disappearance, is now the subject of massive search efforts.
WorldReutersExclusive-Echoes, uncertainty as Afghan pilots await U.S. help in Tajikistan
A U.S.-trained Afghan pilot was talking to Reuters on a smuggled cellphone from Tajikistan, where he is being held, when something strange happened - his voice started looping, repeating everything he had just said, word for word. It also came amid growing feelings of impatience and uncertainty among the Afghan pilots and personnel who have been held by the government in Tajikistan since fleeing there on Aug. 15. There are 143 Afghans detained at a sanatorium in a mountainous, rural area outside of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, waiting and hoping for over a month for transfer by the United States.
“It wouldn’t take much of an annual wealth tax to rescue the retirement system.”
“Privatizing Social Security — or at least letting individuals opt-out so they can escape the sinking ship — would be a huge win.”
“Congress could save hundreds of billions of dollars by modestly paring back the benefit formula for future wealthy retirees.”
“Raising the retirement age reduces the number of beneficiaries, thereby reducing the costs of the program.”
“Social Security as we know it needs to be abolished and replaced with a better system.”