- WorldThe Independent
Trump joked about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland, report says
Donald Trump joked about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland during a year-long private discussion about purchasing the Danish territory, a report has claimed. It comes amid an international row over the president's handling of Denmark's opposition to the deal, during which he has lashed out wildly at the Scandinavian nation despite previously saying it was “not number one on the burner”. The US president risked major diplomatic fall-out this week when he cancelled his planned state visit over Copenhagen's refusal to countenance the sale, calling prime minister Mette Fredericksen “nasty” and snubbing Queen Margrethe II.
- NewsAssociated Press
The Latest: No visits for serial killer set to be executed
A serial killer who preyed on older gay men during a rampage that left six dead a quarter century ago received no visitors in the hours before his planned execution. Officials at Florida State Prison in Starke say 57-year-old Gary Ray Bowles did eat a meal of three cheeseburgers, French fries and bacon as execution preparations were being made. Hinton was Bowles' sixth and final known victim in a spree that began in Daytona Beach with the slaying of John Hardy Roberts.
- WorldReuters
Iran's Zarif says will see if scientist's death sentence can be delayed
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday Tehran "will do its best" to see if the death sentence on Swedish-Iranian scientist Ahmadreza Djalali can be delayed. Djalali, a medical doctor and lecturer at the Karolinska Institute in the Swedish capital, was arrested in Iran in April 2016 and later convicted of espionage, having been accused of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists. Iran's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in December 2017 and Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said Djalali had confessed to meeting agents of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to deliver information on Iran's nuclear and defense...
- NewsBusiness Insider
The northernmost reaches of the Earth are on fire. Here's what this record-breaking hot summer looks like from space.
The link between fires and climate change Individual wildfires and heat waves can't be directly linked to climate change, but accelerated warming increases their likelihood, size, and frequency. July was the hottest month ever recorded, period. The month prior, meanwhile, was the hottest June ever in Earth's history, with temperatures nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit above average.
WorldAFPBeijing hits back after Trudeau vows to stand up to China
Beijing on Thursday accused Ottawa of worsening bilateral relations after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed to stand up to China amid deepening diplomatic and trade disputes. The two countries have been locked in a feud since last December, when Canada detained top Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and -- in apparent retaliation -- China detained two Canadian nationals over espionage-linked accusations. On Wednesday, Trudeau pushed back against Beijing in a speech that promised to "always defend Canadians and Canadian interests" and to not "back down".
- PoliticsPolitico
Former Manafort deputy Rick Gates testifies against Greg Craig
Rick Gates, the former Trump deputy campaign chairman and a central witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, appeared in federal court again on Thursday to testify against former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig at his ongoing trial connected to a Ukraine-related legal project that Craig did involving Gates' former boss Paul Manafort. Gates' turn as a prosecution witness on Thursday morning was his first public court appearance since he took the stand a year ago at the trial of Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, on tax and bank fraud charges brought by Mueller. Gates served as Manafort's right-hand man for about a decade, including the period in 2012 when Manafort oversaw an in-depth review that Craig conducted of the widely criticized trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of Ukraine on abuse-of-power charges.
- NewsINSIDER
Drivers in Idaho keep harassing busloads of immigrants' children on their way to pre-school
Idaho motorists have reportedly been harassing buses carrying children under the age of five. The buses drive low-income children of migrants or agricultural workers to federally funded educational programs during the day. Idaho drivers have reportedly been harassing busloads of young kids, prompting a local nonprofit to remove signs from the buses that identify the riders as children of migrant workers.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
See the 2020 Audi RS6 Avant from Every Angle
The 591-horsepower RS6 wagon is coming to America. From Car and Driver
- NewsThe Guardian
We can't trust police to protect us from racist violence. They contribute to it
As mass violence continues, many of us have become rightly afraid for the people we love. One idea we must reject is the idea of trusting law enforcement to protect us from white nationalist violence, given how much they contribute to it. If people in law enforcement want to be seen as experts on defeating white nationalism, shouldn't they have to get rid of all the white nationalists in their own ranks first?
- U.S.Meredith Videos
Farmer Behind the U.S.'s Largest Organic Food Fraud Scheme Dies by Suicide
A Missouri farmer blamed for running the largest organic food fraud scheme in U.S. history has died by suicide, weeks before he was to report to federal prison to begin serving a 10-year term, a coroner said Tuesday.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump dismisses criticism of his dual loyalty comments: 'It's only anti-Semitic in your head'
President Trump Wednesday expanded on his views about how Jews who vote for Democrats are “disloyal” and dismissed any criticism of his comments. When asked by a reporter on the White House lawn Wednesday afternoon if his comments were anti-Semitic, Trump dismissed the criticism. “Any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat — I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” Trump said on Tuesday.
- NewsThe Independent
Six people aged 62 to 85 arrested for 'sexual activity' in woods after police surveillance operation
Six people aged 62 to 85 have been arrested after police officers went into the woods to watch them having sex. The group was arrested in a conservation area in Fairfield, Connecticut, which is some 87 acres in size. Police said they had found posts online advertising the Grace Richardson environmental preserve as somewhere to meet and have sex, according to the Associated Press news agency.
- NewsBusiness Insider
Epstein's jail guards warned his cellmate 'there will be a price to pay' if he talks about Epstein's suicide, lawyer claims
Guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where Jeffrey Epstein was detained and died, pressured his former cellmate not to discuss it, the cellmate's lawyer said. The attorney Bruce Barket said his client Nicholas Tartaglione was told to "shut up" and "stop talking" about the Epstein case. When Epstein died by suicide, he was alone.
- WorldUSA TODAY
July was the hottest month ever on Earth. Now massive wildfires are burning across the globe.
DENVER – Wildfires are burning across the globe, clogging the sky with smoke from Alaska to the Amazon, and scientists say it's no coincidence that July was the warmest-ever month recorded on Earth. The fires have forced evacuations worldwide, most recently on Spain's Canary Islands, where more than 8,000 people have been forced to flee. Smoke from some of the fires is so bad satellites can see it from space, blanketing large portions of South America and the Arctic.
- NewsAssociated Press
Suspect in California campus killing was co-worker
A suspect arrested in the stabbing death of a man at the California State University, Fullerton campus was a co-worker of the victim, police said Thursday. Chuyen Vo, 51, was arrested Wednesday night at his home in Huntington Beach, officials announced at a news conference near the killing scene in a campus parking lot. The victim, Steven Shek Keung Chan, 57, worked as the director of budget and finance and student services for university extended education but retired in 2017.
- BusinessNational Review
Overstock.com CEO Resigns after Disclosing Relationship with Russian Agent Maria Butina
Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne stepped down Thursday amid the backlash to his disclosure of a romantic relationship with Russian agent Maria Butina. Byrne caused Overstock's shares to plummet last week after he admitted to carrying on a romantic relationship with Butina from 2015 to 2016. Byrne issued a statement on August 12th confirming a series of articles by Fox News contributor Sara Carter that exposed his relationship with Butina, a Russian national who pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S. earlier this year.
BusinessAFPAlbania bulldozes restaurant after owner attacks tourists
Albanian officials on Wednesday razed a beachfront restaurant whose owner was captured on camera attacking a car rented by Spanish tourists, as the country scrambles to clean up its reputation as a burgeoning holiday destination. The incident, filmed by the victims' tour guide from inside their vehicle, took place at the weekend in Porto-Palermo on the Ionian coast in southern Albania, a popular tourist spot. The restaurant owner, 51-year-old Mihal Kokedhima, was arrested and faces trial for "verbally assaulting a group of Spanish tourists for futile reasons", damaging their car and causing minor injuries, police said.
- BusinessReuters
Farmer's threat prompts U.S. Agriculture Department to pull staff from crop tour
CORALVILLE, Iowa/CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday it had pulled all staff from an annual crop tour after an employee was threatened, and three sources said the threat of violence was made during a phone call from an angry farmer. U.S. farmers have complained this month that a government crop report did not reflect damage from historic flooding this spring. Lance Honig, crops chief at the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, was among the USDA staffers who had to leave the privately-run Pro Farmer tour, three sources with knowledge of the situation said.
- Businessmotorious
2016 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 Is A Wild Pony
The 2016 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 is a perfect example of how far the modern Mustang can be pushed, and this gorgeous, one-owner Roush Mustang will be auctioned off at no reserve by GAA Classic Cars. The highest of the Roush tuning levels, the Stage 3 transforms the Mustang into a track car. This starts by bolting a Roush supercharger atop the Mustang's 5.0-liter Coyote V8 resulting in 670 horsepower – a significant improvement over the 435 -horsepower Mustang GT.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump again says he is 'very seriously' looking to end birthright citizenship
Eight months after first raising the idea, President Trump on Wednesday said his administration is again “very seriously” looking into ending the practice of conferring U.S. citizenship on anyone born in the United States. “We're looking at that very seriously, birthright citizenship, where you have a baby on our land, you walk over the border, have a baby — congratulations, the baby is now a U.S. citizen,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. In October, on the eve of the 2018 midterm elections, Trump said he believed he could end birthright citizenship by executive order, claiming it was not part of the U.S. Constitution, and predicting the question would ultimately be settled by the Supreme Court.
- U.S.KFOR - Oklahoma City
Worker Accused of Installing Secret Cameras in Oklahoma City Homes Given Life Sentence
A man who plead guilty to secretly recording video of a "staggering" number of victims in their homes and in public places was sentenced to life in prison.
- WorldThe Independent
Brexit: Boris Johnson warned US trade deal 'highly unlikely' if Ireland has hard border
A post-Brexit trade deal with the US would be "highly unlikely" if there is a hard border on the island of Ireland, Boris Johnson has been warned. The Congressional Friends of Ireland, a group in the US Congress which supports and promotes peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, has written to the prime minister warning that it will oppose any US-UK trade deal if it risks undermining the Good Friday Agreement. Any trade deal that put that in jeopardy would be "highly unlikely", it said.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Newt Gingrich says slavery needs to be put 'in context,' calls 1619 project a 'lie'
WASHINGTON – Appearing on "Fox and Friends" on Monday morning, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that The New York Times' 1619 Project was "a lie." The 1619 Project is an effort by the Times to commemorate the 400th anniversary of slavery's beginning in America. The 1619 Project aims to "reframe the country's history, [understand] 1619 as our true founding, and [place] the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are."
- NewsBusiness Insider
Jeffrey Epstein was accused of sex trafficking young girls on his mysterious private island. Over 40 years ago, a different millionaire escaped justice in a stunningly similar case.
But a review of Michigan State Police reports from the 1970s on the case of North Fox Island point to an operation built on manipulation, deception, and coercion. The story of the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing and trafficking minors, erupted in the news this year, and internet sleuths say the case of Shelden and Lake Michigan's North Fox Island bears an uncanny resemblance to today's scandal. Both center on allegations that secretive millionaires weaponized their philanthropic giving, cliques of connected friends, and private island paradises to prey on young victims and escape justice.
- NewsTime
Parkland Shooting Survivors Just Proposed Aggressive New Gun Restrictions. Here's What's in Their Plan
March For Our Lives, the group founded by Parkland school shooting survivors, introduced an aggressive plan on Wednesday that calls for of sweeping gun restriction across the country. The proposals include raising the minimum age to buy a gun to 21, strengthening background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Parkland school shooting survivor and co-founder of March for Our Lives, David Hogg, tweeted about the “Peace Plan for a Safer America” plan on Wednesday, saying that America has to “seismically shift how we respond to gun violence.
