Fears in US of bad peace deal with the Taliban

An Afghanistan peace agreement that the US seems close to reaching with the Taliban has prompted worries that President Donald Trump's desire to quickly withdraw US troops could further plunge the country into civil war. Trump said Friday he was pleased with talks on ending the war, 18 years after the September 11, attacks that prompted the US invasion of Afghanistan in the first place. In recent days several US officials have suggested that an accord could be imminent in discussions with the Taliban in Qatar.

• 
  Islamic State claims bombing at Kabul wedding that killed 63

  Associated Press
• 
  Dozens dead or hurt in wedding party blast in Afghan capital

  USA TODAY

New Orleans reporter Nancy Parker killed in plane crash while shooting story

Fox 8 confirmed Parker's death on Instagram Friday, writing: "Today we mourn the loss of our longtime colleague and friend Nancy Parker." She was 53. "We can confirm she passed away in plane crash while covering a story at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport," the statement said. The New Orleans-based television station also confirmed that the plane's pilot, Franklin J.P. Augustus, was also killed. Parker, a five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist who worked for Fox 8 for over two decades, is survived by her husband, Glyn Boyd, and three children.

• 
  Celebs, Husband of Nancy Parker React After Local News Anchor Dies in a Plane Crash

  TheBlast
• 
  Two dead following plane crash in New Castle County, officials say

  WPVI – Philadelphia

Iranian tanker to leave Gibraltar soon despite US pressure

The shipping agent for an Iranian supertanker caught in a diplomatic standoff says the vessel is ready to depart Gibraltar on Sunday or Monday, as the U.S. made a last-minute effort to seize it again. The head of the company sorting paperwork and procuring for the Grace 1 oil tanker in the British overseas territory said the vessel could be sailing away in the next "24 to 48 hours," once new crews dispatched to the territory take over command of the ship. "The vessel is ongoing some logistical changes and requirements that have delayed the departure," Astralship managing director Richard De la Rosa told The Associated Press.

• 
  Grace 1 tanker raises Iranian flag, changes name to 'Adrian Darya-1'

  Reuters
• 
  Gibraltar rejects US pressure; lets Iranian oil tanker set sail

  USA TODAY

Buttigieg: opposition to gay marriage will 'wash away' among black Americans

Opposition to gay marriage among African Americans will “start to wash away”, Pete Buttigieg said on Sunday, when such voters “struggling to get on to right side of history” see he will work in their interests. The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, spoke to CNN's State of the Union from Georgetown, South Carolina, a crucial early voting state which this weekend played host to a number of candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. A national Fox News poll released this week gave former vice-president Joe Biden a familiar healthy lead among African American Democratic primary voters, over three senators: Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts.

• 
  Only Biden Can Challenge Trump on Trade

  The Atlantic
• Warren Chips Away at Biden's Strength as the One Who Beats Trump

  Bloomberg

The 25 Best Zombie Video Games

Because all the best video games take braaaaains to play. From Popular Mechanics

Sudan's former dictator Omar al-Bashir due in court for corruption trial

Omar al-Bashir, the ousted former president of Sudan, is expected to stand in court on Monday for the first stage of a corruption trial which could see him jailed for many years. Bashir took power in a 1989 coup but was deposed in April after mass protests and security forces deciding to withdraw support for his brutal regime, which was behind an alleged genocidal campaign in the Darfur region. The 75-year-old former dictator is in prison awaiting the trail, where he faces allegations of possessing foreign currency, corruption and receiving gifts illegally.

• 
  Sudanese army and civilians seal interim power-sharing deal

  Reuters
• 
  The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

  The Independent

Argentina Faces Fresh Turmoil From Resignation, Debt Downgrades

The embattled president is suddenly grappling with the resignation of his economy minister and a double downgrade to the nation's debt. Meanwhile, his opponent Alberto Fernandez, now favorite to win the presidency on Oct. 27, is calling on Macri to renegotiate the terms of a record $56 billion credit line with the International Monetary Fund. Argentina's global bonds will be the first to react, while the nation's currency and stock markets remain closed on Monday due to a local holiday.

• 
  Not your father's Peronists: Why Macri flopped with young Argentines

  Reuters
• 
  Argentina Treasury minister resigns, says 'significant renewal' needed amid economic crisis

  Reuters

Shell workers in Pennsylvania say they were told to either attend a recent Trump event, or not get paid

Workers at a new Shell plant in Pennsylvania say were told they had to attend a speech by President Donald Trump in order to get paid, according to a report from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The president's rally-style speech, which a senior administration official described as "not a political event but an official event," included jabs at Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden, calls for union leaders to support him in 2020, a warning that Democrats would take their jobs, and taking credit for the complex, which is still under construction and was first announced in 2012 when former president Barack Obama was still in office.

• 
  Shell Workers Had To Attend Trump Speech To Be Paid, Were Ordered Not To Protest: Report

  HuffPost
• 
  Workers at Trump's Pennsylvania Speech Lost Wages If They Chose Not to Attend

  GQ

Roller coaster malfunction causes cars to collide; multiple kids taken to hospital

Ocean City police say five people, four children and one adult, were transported to Atlantic General Hospital Friday night after a roller coaster incident at Jolly Roger Amusement Park. OCPD Deputy Communications Manager Ashley Miller said at about 8:20 p.m. Friday night, officers responded to Jolly Roger near 30th Street to assist the Ocean City Fire Department.

Sen. Graham: The dream of every leftist is to have a liberal court enacting laws from the bench

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says expanding the court is code for liberals packing the court.

Sen. Markey faces 2 challengers; now some pushing for a 3rd

Some Massachusetts voters see Sen. Edward Markey as potentially vulnerable to a primary challenge, and one group is even trying to persuade U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy to run for his seat. Markey, a Democrat, has represented Massachusetts in Congress for decades — first in the House before winning John Kerry's former Senate seat in 2013 — but the state saw an incumbent lose just last year as Democrats elected more women and minorities. Ayanna Pressley defeated longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in the Democratic primary and went on to become Massachusetts' first black woman elected to the U.S. House.

'A new Hawaiian Renaissance': how a telescope protest became a movement

On Hawaii's Big Island, a protest against a $1.4bn observatory on Mauna Kea, a mountain considered sacred by many Native Hawaiians, is entering a second month. In that time, the protest site has swelled from a few hundred to several thousands, attracted celebrity visitors, and built a community of Native Hawaiians who see it as a pivotal moment. The protest site sits at an elevation of 6,632ft, where the cold wind whips across hardened lava fields.

Grace 1 tanker raises Iranian flag, changes name to 'Adrian Darya-1'

An Iranian tanker caught in a stand-off between Tehran and the West has raised an Iranian flag and has had a new name painted on its side, Reuters images of the stationary vessel filmed off Gibraltar showed on Sunday. British Royal Marines seized the vessel in Gibraltar in July on suspicion that it was carrying oil to Syria, a close ally of Iran, in violation of European Union sanctions. Video footage and photographs showed the tanker flying the red, green and white flag of Iran and bearing the new name of 'Adrian Darya-1' painted in white on its hull.

• 
  Iran tanker in limbo off Gibraltar as US issues warrant

  AFP
• 
  Gibraltar rejects US pressure; lets Iranian oil tanker set sail

  USA TODAY

Toll from Tanzania fuel truck blast rises to 95: hospital

The death toll from a fuel truck explosion in Tanzania has climbed to 95, a hospital spokesman said Sunday. A massive fireball engulfed a crowd thronging to collect petrol from an overturned tanker last Saturday near the town of Morogoro, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Dar es Salaam, the financial capital. The initial explosion killed dozens, with others taken to hospital with burns and serious injuries in one of the deadliest oil tanker blasts in Africa in recent years.

Unprecedented heatwave 'kills thousands of fish' in Alaska

Climate change and warming rivers may have caused the mass death of salmon in parts of Alaska, scientists say. Large numbers of salmon died prematurely in some Alaskan rivers in July according to local reports, and scientists believe the cause could be the unprecedented heatwave that gripped the state last month. “Climate change is here in Alaska.

• 
  Scientists say heat wave is killing large numbers of salmon in Alaska

  KGO – San Francisco
• 
  Alaska records its warmest month ever; future records likely

  Associated Press

The man who stole a firetruck during the Camp Fire was just sentenced to probation

Nine months after he was arrested in Butte County on charges of stealing a firetruck during the Camp Fire, Robert Christopher DePalma, 60, of Concow, was sentenced to three years of felony probation and ordered to pay $6,180 in victim restitution, officials said. DePalma's arrest was one of several arrests in the week of Nov. 11 following the Camp Fire. DePalma and William Michael Erlbacher, also of Concow, were arrested on Nov. 8 in connection with the burglary of a Cal Fire fire station in Butte County, The Bee previously reported.

The Bogus Story That Launched a ‘Collusion’ Probe

The George Papadopoulos Origin Story has never added up. It has been portrayed as the Big Bang, the Magic Moment that started the FBI's investigation of “collusion” — a suspected election-theft conspiracy between Donald Trump's campaign and Vladimir Putin's regime. You would probably also think Papadopoulos, Suspect One in The Great Cyber Espionage Attack on Our Democracy, might have rated a tad more than the whopping 14-day jail sentence a federal judge eventually imposed on him.

Days away from moving for a dream job, Miami doctor is killed in fall from cliff on vacation

A man living in Miami fell over 82 feet to his death while on vacation with his fiance in Ibiza, friends and relatives reported in a crowd funding page. Daniel Sirovich, who was completing his medical residency at Kendall Regional Medical Center, was sightseeing on Aug. 14 with his fiance Kristi Kelly in Sa Pedrera de Cala d'Hort, also known as Atlantis, when the fatal accident happened. ABC's Local 10 News reported Sirovich was 34 and his coworkers at the Kendall Regional Medical Center are planning a vigil Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the KRMC.

Yemen rebel drone attack targets remote Saudi oil field

Drones launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked a massive oil and gas field deep inside Saudi Arabia's sprawling desert on Saturday, causing what the kingdom described as a "limited fire" in the second such recent attack on its crucial energy industry. The attack on the Shaybah oil field, which produces some 1 million barrels of crude oil a day near the kingdom's border with the United Arab Emirates, again shows the reach of the Houthis' drone program. Shaybah sits some 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from Houthi-controlled territory, underscoring the rebels' ability to now strike at both nations, which are mired in Yemen's yearslong war.

• 
  Yemeni separatists quit some Aden posts; Houthis attack Saudi oil plant

  Reuters
• 
  Oil rises after Saudi oilfield attack, but recession worries cap gains

  Reuters

Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Permit Employment Discrimination Against Transgender Workers

The Trump administration's Department of Justice is asking the Supreme Court to set a legal precedent that would enable employers to fire employees because they are transgender.

Facial recognition scanners are already at some US airports. Here's what to know

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been working with airlines to implement biometric face scanners in domestic airports to better streamline security. It's a fancy way of saying that the government is using facial recognition technology at the airport. Here's how the process of facial scanning at the airports works: Cameras take your photo, and then the CBP's Traveler Verification Service matches it to a photo the Department of Homeland Security has of you already.

• 
  ‘It's techno-racism’: Detroit is quietly using facial recognition to make arrests

  The Guardian
• 
  American summer camps using facial recognition technology to send updates of 'happy kids' to parents

  The Telegraph

Suspected online dope-dealer back in Israel after extradition

A man accused of operating a large drug-dealing ring on a popular messaging app appeared in an Israeli court Sunday after his extradition from Ukraine, where he had previously sought to escape. Amos Dov Silver, an Israeli-American, was taken to court in Rishon Lezion near Tel Aviv after his arrival from Ukraine, police said. Authorities in Ukraine said Saturday they had captured Silver a day after he escaped from the airport while he was being extradited.