WorldAFPUS alleges tanker hit by mine resembling Iran's
A Japanese-owned tanker attacked in the Gulf of Oman last week was damaged by a limpet mine resembling those used by Iran, the US military said Wednesday, as the Islamic republic slammed accusations against it. Commander Sean Kido of US Naval Forces Central Command, or NAVCENT, said the mine used in the attack "is distinguishable and it is also strikingly bearing a resemblance to Iranian mines that have already been publicly displayed in Iranian military parades". The Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, loaded with highly flammable methanol, came under attack last Thursday as it passed through the Gulf of Oman along with the Norwegian-operated Front Altair.
- NewsAssociated Press
The Latest: Witness says he saw Navy SEAL stab prisoner
A Navy SEAL has testified that he saw a comrade stab a wounded and captive Islamic State fighter in Iraq in 2017. Then-Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Craig Miller, who has since been promoted to chief, testified Wednesday that Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher plunged his knife twice into the neck of the teenage prisoner after providing medical care. A defense lawyer pointed out inconsistencies between Miller's testimony and previous statements and suggested he pressured other sailors to fabricate statements.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Huge great white shark surprises stunned New Jersey fishermen
NEPTUNE, N.J. – A party of sport fishermen had a rare brush with a huge great white shark Monday off the coast of New Jersey. In an encounter that was very similar to a scene from the 1975 blockbuster "Jaws," the shark came right up to the stern of the boat and grabbed a bag of ground up fish bait called chum. The once-in-a-lifetime experience was caught on video and has shark researchers buzzing.
- NewsReuters
Train derails in Nevada, spilling vegetable oil, closing major highway
A Union Pacific freight train derailed in Nevada on Wednesday, spilling vegetable oil and prompting the closure of an interstate highway. The vegetable oil spilled out of one of the 22 derailed cars after the train went off the tracks shortly before 11 a.m. local time, the Elko County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook, citing Union Pacific Railroad officials.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Trump's 2020 campaign launch: the key takeaways
Donald Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign on 16 June 2015, by descending an escalator in front of a small crowd in Trump Tower. Four years on, he launched his 2020 pitch to be re-elected to the White House to 20,000 people at Orlando's Amway Center on a humid, rainy Florida night. Mike Pence introduced Trump, and the vice-president used his speech to hammer away at the Democrats, repeatedly accusing them of being “socialists”.
- ScienceBGR News
Mars has a brand new crater, and it sure is pretty
That's exactly what seems to have occurred, and a new image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals a brand new impact site that might only be a few months old. The image, which was captured by the HiRISE camera built into the orbiter, shows a bold dark patch of material surrounding a circular crater on the Martian surface. Researchers believe it might have been created as recently as February 2019.
- WorldBloomberg
Echoing Beijing, Duterte’s Government Now Calls Boat Collision an ‘Accident’
The Philippine government has fallen in with Beijing's explanation that a Chinese vessel didn't intentionally hit a Filipino boat in the South China Sea on June 9. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday described the incident as "just an accident," adding the Chinese vessel may have left after hitting and sinking a Philippine boat with 22 fishermen out of fear of being “besieged” by other boats near Reed Bank. Maybe the other side didn't mean to brush against our boat,” Lorenzana said at a televised briefing in Manila on Wednesday.
- BusinessCar and Driver
Photos of the 2020 Ford Explorer
Largely thanks to its new platform, the new Explorer drives far better and has a more pleasant interior. From Car and Driver
- WorldReuters
Has "the sacrificial lamb" arrived?: UN cites new recordings in Khashoggi murder
Moments before Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered last October, two of his suspected murderers laying in wait at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate fretted about the task at hand, according to a U.N. report published on Wednesday. Will it "be possible to put the trunk in a bag?" asked Maher Mutreb, a Saudi intelligence officer who worked for a senior advisor to Saudi crown prince, according to a report from the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions. Mutreb and 10 others are now standing trial in closed hearings in Saudi Arabia for their role in the crime.
- U.S.Meredith Videos
Harvard Rescinds Acceptance of Pro-Gun Parkland Survivor Over Past Racist Comments
Harvard University has rescinded the acceptance for a Parkland shooting survivor and pro-gun advocate after racist messages he sent in high school resurfaced last month.
- NewsAssociated Press
Investigators crack cold case murder of South Dakota woman
The murder of a pharmacist who was raped and strangled in her home in a South Dakota city more than half a century ago has been solved with the use of DNA technology and genealogy databases, police said. Investigators believe Eugene Carroll Field killed 60-year-old Gwen Miller in 1968 when he was a 25-year-old living in Rapid City, Detective Wayne Keefe said at a news conference Monday. It is "a little surreal" to finally identify the killer after 51 years and up to 5,000 hours of work, Keefe said.
- PoliticsPolitico
Senate Appropriations Committee approves $4.6B for border
The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved a $4.6 billion spending bill to respond to an influx of Central American families and children at the southwest border. The measure passed with a 30-1 vote, with only Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) opposed. The bulk of the funds — $2.9 billion — would fund the Health and Human Services Department's program to house and care for unaccompanied children, according to a Republican summary.
BusinessAFPBoeing's troubled 737 MAX gets huge vote of confidence from IAG
US aircraft giant Boeing got a welcome vote of confidence in its beleaguered 737 MAX plane on Tuesday when International Airlines Group, owner of British Airways, said it wanted to buy 200 of the planes. The companies said they had signed a letter of intent for the purchase, the first since the 737 MAXs were grounded in March after two of them crashed within six months of each other, killing 346 people. At list prices the order would be worth $24 billion, but IAG, whose airlines also include Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, noted that it had negotiated "a substantial discount."
- PoliticsThe National Interest
Do Trump's Polls Matter?
This evening President Donald Trump will officially launch his reelection campaign at a rally in Orlando, Florida. Not every state poll was leaked, and all of the polls show President Trump facing former Vice President Joe Biden, who's been the frontrunner since his announcement in late April. The numbers show Biden leading Trump by seven points in Florida, the state where the president has spent the most time outside the beltway since his inauguration.
NewsUSA TODAYHigh school graduates fall ill during trip to Dominican Republic
A group of high school graduates are the latest group to fall victim to illness in the Dominican Republic, according to local CBS-affiliate KOTV and local ABC-affiliate KOCO. A group of 40 graduating seniors and their parents from Deer Creek High School in Edmond, Oklahoma, were on a trip to the Caribbean vacation destination when at least five members became ill, the news sites report. One of the parents, Liz McLaughlin told KOTV that her daughter was one of the students to get sick on June 11 after eating at a Japanese restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, where the group was staying.
- PoliticsTime
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates Criticized Mitch McConnell for Saying Slavery's Effects Were in the Past
The Kentucky Senator spoke to reporters Tuesday on the eve of the House Judiciary hearing, saying he didn't think “reparations for something that happened 150 years ago, for whom none of us currently living are responsible, is a good idea.” He added that the U.S. has tried to deal with its “original sin” of slavery by fighting the Civil War, passing civil rights legislation and electing its first African American President, Barack Obama. “We're always a work in progress in this country, but no one currently alive was responsible for that,” McConnell said. Coates, a former national correspondent for The Atlantic and the author of the 2014 cover article “A Case for Reparations,” used his five-minute opening statement at the House hearing to strongly disagree.
- NewsAssociated Press
The Latest: Indiana AG's office plans vigorous defense
The Latest on the allegations of groping made against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill (all times local): 3:45 p.m. The Indiana attorney general's office says it will vigorously defend him against a federal lawsuit by four women who say he drunkenly groped them during a party last year. The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges sexual harassment by Republican state Attorney General Curtis Hill on a state lawmaker and three legislative staffers in March 2018 at an Indianapolis bar.
- NewsReuters
Cards' Nkemdiche arrested after traffic stop
Police in Scottsdale, Ariz., arrested Arizona Cardinals defensive end Robert Nkemdiche for alleged speeding and driving without a license earlier this month, ABC 15 Arizona reported Wednesday. The incident occurred June 6 at 6:30 a.m., according to police documents obtained by the TV station. Police allege that Nkemdiche was driving 75 mph in a 45 mph zone.
- BusinessBloomberg
Xiaomi Eyes $725 Million Expansion to Stave Off Huawei in China
Xiaomi Corp. aims to spend an additional 5 billion yuan ($725 million) expanding its Chinese retail network over the next three years, anticipating a re-doubled effort by Huawei Technologies Co. to grow its domestic market share. The smartphone maker will spend the money on expanding distribution channels and on reward programs for its partners and sales employees, a person familiar with the matter said, citing an internal meeting convened by billionaire co-founder Lei Jun Tuesday.
U.S.FOX News VideosAlaskan teens murder friend after being offered $9 million
The group of teens are facing child pornography charges in addition murder charges; Dan Springer reports.
- BusinessBGR News
Popular new $46 true wireless earbuds are only $30 with this special coupon
Before you go and spend $159 on Apple's new AirPods 2 earbuds, there's a great new pair from a rival company that you should know about. The TaoTronics Bluetooth 5.0 True Wireless Earbuds offer a better design than AirPods, with silicone tips that isolate sound as well as better water-resistance thanks to the IPX7 rating. They're a bargain at $46, but the special coupon code WSCZS4YF slashes the price all the way down to $29.99!
WorldAFPPompeo ups pressure on Russia over four MH17 accused
Moscow must ensure that those charged with murder over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 face justice, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, after international investigators accused three Russians and a Ukrainian over the disaster. The trial of the four men with military and intelligence links will start in the Netherlands in March next year, although they are likely to be tried in absentia as neither Russia nor Ukraine extradites their nationals. The Dutch-led inquiry team on Wednesday said international arrest warrants had been issued for Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, all of whom are suspected of roles in the separatist Donetsk People's Republic.
- BusinessThe National Interest
The F-14 Tomcat: The Carrier Jet the Navy Secretly Misses?
Grumman F-14 Tomcat in 2006. But even the Tomcat was adapted into a strike aircraft during its last years in service after the Soviet threat evaporated. Now, as new threats to the carrier emerge and adversaries start to field new fighters that can challenge the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), attention is starting to shift back to this oft-neglected Navy mission—especially in the Western Pacific.
BusinessUSA TODAYAs the trade war with China heats up this summer, who is feeling the chill?
The U.S. trade war with China is chilling tourism from that country, dampening a major revenue stream for hotels, restaurants and retailers just as the summer season gets in full swing. Last year, when the trade war began, the number of visitors to the U.S. from China fell 5.7% to 3 million, the first decline in 15 years, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office. “Based on current trends, we expect no growth from China in 2019 if the trade war is resolved soon," says Adams Sacks, president of Tourism Economics.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump's pick for defense secretary withdraws as past domestic incidents surface
President Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday that acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has withdrawn from consideration to be his permanent defense chief “so that he can devote more time to his family. Trump thanked Shanahan “for his outstanding service” and named Mark Esper, current secretary of the U.S. Army, to be the new acting secretary of defense. Yahoo News reported Monday that Shanahan's official nomination had been delayed over the FBI investigation into his personal life, including a messy divorce that involved an accusation of domestic violence from his ex-wife, who was arrested as part of the dispute.
