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.
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.
U.S.Washington ExaminerAuthorities search for Brian Laundrie 500 miles from home following Facebook tip
Florida authorities searching for the boyfriend of Gabby Petito said Tuesday that someone bearing his likeness was caught on a deer camera hiking through the wilderness. The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said it is looking into reports that Brian Laundrie was spotted in the area. The announcement follows a Facebook post on Monday by a user who claimed he saw a man resembling Laundrie carrying a backpack around 6:17 a.m. in Baker, Florida, about 500 miles away from Laundrie's home in North Port.
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.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.
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.
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.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.
BusinessBuzzFeed18 Things Home Depot Employees Absolutely Hate That Customers Do And 5 Things They Absolutely Love
div> 1. span> Home Depot employees hate when you do dangerous stuff like this: THESE CUSTOMERS ARE WILD from HomeDepot 2.
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.E! NewsGabby Petito Confirmed Dead at 22 as Autopsy Determines Her Manner of Death
Authorities have confirmed that the remains found in Bridger-Teton National Forest belong to YouTuber Gabrielle Petito. Additionally, on Tuesday, Sept. 21, the Teton County Coroner's Office announced her manner of death was determined to be homicide. "Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue confirmed the remains are those of Gabrielle Venora Petito, date of birth March 19, 1999," the FBI stated in a press release.
U.S.INSIDERPetito family lawyer sends cease and desist letter to Brian Laundrie's lawyer after a picture of Gabby Petito appeared on his Yelp page
A Petito family attorney sent a cease and desist letter to the attorney representing Brian Laundrie. Richard Stafford demanded that Steven Bertolino not post photos of Petito "to gain business." The letter was sent after a now removed photo of Gabby Petito appeared on a Yelp page for Bertolino.
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.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderFEC threatens Rep. Lauren Boebert with legal action after she made Venmo rent payments from her campaign account
FEC filings detail that Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert used campaign funds to pay rent and utilities via Venmo. The FEC says Boebert could still face "further legal action" and needs to provide more information. Freshman Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado may face further legal action from the Federal Election Commission after she used campaign funds for a series of rent and utility payments totalling $6,250.
U.S.HuffPostBison Charges And Hurls Another Bison In Yellowstone Showdown
Well, blow me down. That's a mighty buffalo. The National Park Service celebrated Talk Like A Pirate Day on Sunday by sharing video of a male bison charging and flinging another male bison.
- 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.
HealthBuzzFeedThis Woman's Story Of How She Gained 50 Pounds In Three Months And Was Told By A Doctor That Her Bloating Was "Psychosomatic" Has Gone Viral On TikTok
Kalista Dwyer is a 22-year-old content creator who recently documented her journey with extreme bloating and weight gain on TikTok. In the video, Kalista explains that she'd inexplicably gained 50 pounds in just three months, experienced intense bloating and pain every time she ate, had swelling in her hands, and was fatigued. BuzzFeed reached out to Kalista, who said that her symptoms began last November, when she spent two weeks visiting Costa Rica.
U.S.The Daily Beast‘Mama, I Don’t Want to Die’: 20-Year-Old’s COVID Death the Latest Among Younger Victims
Health officials in Florida, Texas, and California have also reported seeing a trend in younger and younger people dying from the virus as the Delta variant continues to drive the fourth wave of the pandemic. Shepherd is far from the only twentysomething to have her life cut short by the virus this week. A 26-year-old Wisconsin police officer died from COVID-19 on Wednesday, just hours after his second child was welcomed into the world, according to Fond du Lac Police Chief Aaron Goldstein.
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.
- U.S.NY Daily News
Juvenile hunter fatally shoots suspected thief with arrow: cops
A Missouri boy fatally shot an alleged thief with an arrow after catching the man trying to steal a tractor on a family friend's property, authorities said Tuesday. The unidentified juvenile, whose age has not been released, was walking toward a tree stand where he planned to hunt deer with a bow and arrows when he saw the suspected intruder stealing a lawn tractor and wood splitter from the property Friday afternoon, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. The boy called his father and a confrontation ensued between the two adults, authorities said.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderWatch a legal scholar tell Ted Cruz that Texas has racist voter ID laws
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was schooled by experts on voter ID laws Wednesday. A legal scholar quickly noted that Texas' own voter ID law was deemed racist by a federal court. Cruz went back and forth with other experts at the hearing over different kinds of bills.
- U.S.Associated Press
High school goes remote again, blames student misbehavior
A Connecticut high school that recently resumed full in-person learning for the first time since the onset of the pandemic sent students home temporarily for remote learning — not because of the virus, but rather issues with misbehavior. New Britain High School, in suburban Hartford, is “hitting the refresh button” and will restart the school year, Principal Damon Pearce wrote in a letter late Tuesday to students and families. Pearce initially said instruction would be done remotely through the end of this week, but the district later notified parents that students would be welcome back Thursday for a half-day.
- TechnologyReuters Videos
Apple furious at EU plan for standard chargers
New Android phones already tend to use the EU's favoured port. Apple says the regulation will stifle innovation, and hurt consumers. Industry commissioner Thierry Breton sees it the other way round.
PoliticsHuffPostRuh-Roh! Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘Scooby-Doo’ Stunt Did Not Go Well
Conspiracy theory-endorsing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) turned to the cartoon “Scooby-Doo” to try to trash the Green New Deal on the House floor on Wednesday, and critics couldn't believe the stunt wasn't a parody. “This is a simple meme that you would find on the internet but this meme is very real,” said Greene, pointing to a poster held up by an aide showing character Fred Jones unmasking a baddie who turns out to be the communist emblems of the hammer and sickle. “The Green New Deal, surprise, serves China and China only,” added Greene, who's become something of a celebrity on the right for her peddling of racist and anti-science conspiracy theories and her unswerving devotion to ex-President Donald Trump.
- U.S.Associated Press
Official: Convicted killer starting life sentence found dead
A white man convicted of the apparently random killing of a Black man was found dead early Wednesday shortly after being moved to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola to begin a life sentence, authorities said. Ken Pastorick, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections, said in a statement that the body of Kenneth Gleason was discovered by guards shortly after midnight. “While making routine rounds, correctional officers discovered Gleason unresponsive and hanging in his cell,” Pastorick's statement said.
“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.”