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(May 20, 2010 2:23 PM CDT) Two Malawian men were given 14-year prison sentences for trying to marry one another, the BBC reports. After telling the men that he wished to protect the public from people like you, the judge gave the maximum sentence possible for unnatural acts and gross indecency. The two men were arrested in December, when they held an engagement ceremony. The US called the ruling a step backwards for Malawian human rights, and advocacy groups such as Amnesty International condemned the action. In Malawi, however, at least some in the crowd outside the courtroom seemed to agree: the couple was greeted after sentencing with shouts of You got what you deserve! and Fourteen years is not enough, they should get 50!
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(Nov 12, 2020 7:45 AM) Up-and-coming rapper Mo3 was killed Wednesday in a midday shooting on a highway in his hometown of Dallas. I don't know a better word to describe it other than 'brazen,' Dallas Police Sgt. Warren Mitchell tells the Dallas Morning News, noting the shooting occurred in broad daylight [with] several cars around. An armed Black male suspect exited a dark sedan on Interstate 35 around 12pm and approached the 28-year-old rapper, who was in his own car, police say, per USA Today. Mo3, real name Melvin Noble, ran from the vehicle but was pursued, police say. The father of three--best known for the 2019 hit Errbody (Remix), a collaboration with Boosie Badazz--was struck multiple times and died from his injuries at a hospital. The suspect, who remains at large, also struck a bystander in a vehicle; that victim was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Mo3 described himself as a gang member turned rapper in an interview with Flaunt magazine earlier this year. He also said you have people looking at you who are less fortunate, so you're automatically a target ...That's how it's always been. He claimed to have survived a shooting last year in a video posted to Instagram that showed bloodstains all over his clothes, per Variety. Manager Brandon Rainwater says he was on the phone with the rapper, who was headed to a film shoot, when Wednesday's shooting occurred, per KTVT. He describes Mo3 as a rapper for all races -- a good speaker, a poet, an artist. But it's not a time to be sad, he adds. If he was here right now he would be here smiling saying, 'I lived my life.' Boosie Badazz tweeted Wednesday that he was lost for words. Mo3 see u when I get there, he added in all caps.
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(Dec 23, 2009 2:46 PM) The impending enactment of new credit card law is poised to rob retailers of $9 billion in holiday sales compared to last year. The law, designed to protect consumers from rates being raised on the sly and sneaky fees, already has led to lower credit limits and more rejected applications than usual. Diminished availability of credit equals diminished spending, a Target exec tells Bloomberg, helpfully. If the credit card companies weren't cleaning house ahead of the new regulations' start date in February, spending would be up 0.8% over last year, instead of the projected drop of 1.2%, one analyst says. We're scared to death of what this law is going to do, adds another retailer. It's definitely going to hurt consumer spending. Cry me a river, replies Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the bill's sponsor. Much of the damage was and is self-inflicted.
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(Aug 18, 2009 6:41 PM CDT) Sony cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by $100 today and introduced a sleeker but more powerful model, reports CNET. The PS3 Slim will sell for $299 when it's available Sept. 1. The new model is 33% smaller and much lighter, though it has a 120GB hard drive, up from the current version's 80GB. Sony is trying to be more competitive with Nintendo's Wii ($250) and Microsoft's Xbox 360 ($200 for a basic console). People were expecting this to happen, an industry analyst tells the Wall Street Journal. (Sony) had to do something. This will bring some new customers to the fold, but they really now have to come out with some good, exclusive games.
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(Sep 11, 2018 7:17 PM CDT) The founder and president of a pharmaceutical company that last month raised the price of an essential antibiotic from $474.75 per bottle to $2,392 per bottle tells the Financial Times the 400% increase was not only justifiable but morally imperative. I think it is a moral requirement to make money when you can . . . to sell the product for the highest price, says Nirmal Mulye, CEO of Nostrum Laboratories, the small Missouri-based drugmaker that makes a liquid version of nitrofurantoin. The World Health Organization lists the antibiotic mixture as an essential drug for lower urinary tract infections, CNN reports. Mulye says his company decided to raise its price after Casper Pharma, which makes another version of the drug, increased its own price 182% between 2015 and 2018. A bottle of that version now sells for $2,800: The point here is the only other choice is the brand at the higher price. It is still a saving regardless of whether it is a big one or not, Mulye says, adding that he's in the pharmaceutical business to make money. As for another former pharma exec who came under fire for a similar move, Mulye also defended Martin Shkreli during the interview. If he's the only one selling it then he can make as much money as he can, said Mulye. The FDA commissioner responded to the interview on Twitter: There's no moral imperative to price gouge and take advantage of patients.
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(Jan 30, 2015 12:30 AM) An Egyptian militant group affiliated with ISIS has claimed responsibility for coordinated and simultaneous attacks that struck more than a dozen army and police targets in three towns in the restive Sinai Peninsula yesterday, killing at least 26 security officers. The wide-ranging attacks required a previously unseen level of coordination. In the deadliest attack, at least one car bomb was set off outside a military base, while mortars were simultaneously fired at the base, toppling some buildings and leaving soldiers buried under the debris, officials say. The other attacks included mortar rounds fired at a hotel, a police club, and more than a dozen checkpoints. A military spokesman immediately accused former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the attack. Hours before the attack, the ISIS affiliate in Egypt posted on its official Twitter account pictures of masked militants dressed in black. They were carrying rocket-propelled grenades in a show of force, while flying the group's black flag. The group, previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has launched several attacks against police and the army in Sinai in recent years. It was initially inspired by al-Qaeda, but last year, it pledged allegiance to ISIS and changed its name to Sinai Province, or Waliyat Sinai, reflecting its loyalty and subordination to the group.
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(Jan 24, 2015 5:21 PM) More potential contenders for the GOP's 2016 presidential nomination are lining up, and they include some very familiar faces. First up: Sarah Palin, who yesterday told the Washington Post that you can absolutely say that I am seriously interested in a run. That followed similar comments on ABC News. When you have a servant's heart, when you know that there is opportunity to do all you can to put yourself forward in the name of offering service, anybody would be interested, she told ABC. But it seems she lacks what Donald Trump sees as an essential qualification: being Donald Trump. I'm the one person who can make this country great again, that's all I know, he said in Iowa today, as CNN reports. Nobody else can. Those who can't apparently include Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney, both of whom, he said, would ultimately fail. You can't have Romney; he choked, he said, as the Los Angeles Times reports. And the last thing we need is another Bush. Trump, however, could have beaten President Obama and could also beat Hillary Clinton, he says.
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(Mar 24, 2015 7:30 PM CDT) As authorities try to figure out why a Germanwings plane went down in the French Alps--there was no distress call before the pilot's eight-minute descent, reports the AP--details are emerging about some of the 150 people aboard who are now presumed dead. That includes 16 kids, all about age 15, who were returning to Germany from a weeklong exchange program in Spain, reports Reuters. They and their two teachers were from the small community of Haltern am See in western Germany, where, as the New York Times notes, many people either knew the victims or were related to them. This is the darkest day in the history of our city, says Mayor Bodo Klimpel, who was fighting back tears at a news conference. A feeling of shock can be felt everywhere. It is about the worst thing imaginable. The mayor of Llinars del Valles, where the teens stayed in Spain, says his whole village is distraught as well. The families knew each other, he says. The parents had been to see them off at 6 this morning. Also on board were two opera singers, Maria Radner and Oleg Bryjak, who were returning from a performance together. Radner was with her husband and baby, and another baby was reportedly killed in the crash.
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(Jul 16, 2010 2:26 PM CDT) The US Senate seat occupied by Robert Byrd, who died last month, will be temporarily filled by a former aide to West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, USA Today reports. Carte Goodwin, 36, will occupy the seat until a special election for a successor to serve out Byrd's term, which ends in 2012. Goodwin will be youngest person in the current Senate; Byrd, 92, was the oldest. After Goodwin is seated, Democrats will once again have 60 votes in the Senate, a total expected to relieve the logjam over extending unemployment benefits.
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(Jan 18, 2014 6:16 AM) Laura Linney became a new mom this week, which is notable because a) everyone likes Laura Linney; b) she and husband Marc Schauer didn't even announce they were expecting; and c) Linney is 49. Linney and son Bennett Armistead Schauer are doing fine, a rep tells People. As for the name, E! Online speculates that it has something to do with Linney's appreciation for author Armistead Maupin. She has starred in a number of TV miniseries based on his Tales of the City.
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(Mar 15, 2011 3:18 PM CDT) Japan has evacuated roughly 170,000 people from a 30-mile radius around the Fukishima Dai-ichi plant and even instituted a no-fly zone around it, but at least 50 people aren't going anywhere. That's how many technicians remain inside the plant, writes Dana Kennedy at AoL News, and it's no exaggeration to say they're risking their lives to try to avert catastrophe. They're like the firefighters who went into the World Trade Center, says an official at London's World Nuclear Association. Explosions and fires have injured seven plant workers so far, and radiation levels far exceed normal safety levels. You can be sure they feel a huge sense of responsibility to fix this, but they are in a tough spot, says a retired nuclear physicist with GE. They're professionals, but they're probably terrified too. Click for more.
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(Jul 31, 2016 10:21 AM CDT) Police in northern India say they have detained 15 suspects after a 35-year-old mother and her teenage daughter were gang-raped off a busy highway, reports the AP. Police say the nearly three-hour attack took place Friday night near the town of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh state after a gang of men threw an iron rod at the car they and four family members were traveling in, reports the Times of India. When the driver got out to check for damage, the men attacked, separating the woman and her daughter from their male relatives. After the attack, the men left the family with their car stranded in a swampy field. They managed to reach help on Saturday morning, per the Times. Senior local police official Daljeet Choudhary said Sunday that several police teams were at work to ensure that the attackers were identified quickly. The family was also robbed of money, jewelry, and their cellphones. The attack is the latest incident of sexual violence to shock India, a still-deeply patriarchal nation of 1.3 billion people.
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(Oct 27, 2009 1:19 PM CDT) The global recession has made bartering hot, but don't go thinking it's all a backrub for a plumbing fix. Big money--though no cash--is changing hands through the world's largest barter service, Bartercard. The worldwide service's transactions are valued at $2 billion this year, up 20% over last year. That makes it the leader in a global trend that saw 400,000 business make trades worth $10 billion last year. Bartercard works because commitments are made to its whole membership and not between any two participants, says the CEO. The restaurant owes $10,000 to the network, not to the printer, he tells Time. Many direct-barter transactions don't succeed outside of our network because businesses have to match one another in timing and interest. And he's not just the CEO--he's a client, too. Bartercard pays the rent on its UK headquarters entirely through bartered credits.
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(Dec 19, 2009 9:03 AM) The last Democratic holdout on health care reform came into the tent this morning, as Ben Nelson said he will vote for the bill. We're there, Sen. Kent Conrad told the Washington Post as he headed into a meeting to announce the deal, and Nelson, asked if he was prepared to support it, said, Yeah. The breakthrough, which gives Harry Reid the 60 votes he needs to block a GOP filibuster, came after many hours of bargaining over restrictions on abortion coverage and goodies for Nelson's home state of Nebraska. The Nelson amendment on abortion does not forbid insurance plans from covering abortion services, the New York Times reports, but it gives states power to prohibit abortion coverage in the insurance exchanges where the plans would be sold. Reid introduced the latest version of the bill this morning, and Republicans immediately forced a reading of the 383-page measure, which the Times estimates will take at least 10 hours.
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(Apr 3, 2008 2:25 PM CDT) The very-late-night caller is back and this time he's raising concerns about the economy. Hillary Clinton has recycled her now-famous TV ad featuring a phone ringing at 3am to hit John McCain--and McCain was quick to strike back with one of his own, USA Today reports. The ads question which party is best prepared to deal with a looming economic crisis. The Clinton ad pictures sleeping children and a ringing phone with a voice-over charging that McCain would let the phone keep ringing if he were faced with the housing market crisis. The rapid response from the McCain camp uses copycat footage and says Clinton or Barack Obama would try to tax their way out of the crisis. No word yet from Obama on how he would deal with the mystery caller.
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(Feb 16, 2018 7:15 PM) A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook south and central Mexico Friday, causing people to flee buildings and office towers in the country's capital, where residents were still jittery after a deadly quake five months ago, the AP reports. Crowds of people gathered on Mexico City's central Reforma Avenue, as well as on streets in Oaxaca state's capital nearer the quake's epicenter. It was awful, said Mercedes Rojas Huerta, 57, who was sitting on a bench outside her home in Mexico City's trendy Condesa district, too frightened to go back inside. It started to shake; the cars were going here and there. What do I do? She said she was still scared thinking of the Sept. 19 earthquake that left 228 people dead in the capital and 369 across the region. Many buildings in Mexico City are still damaged from that quake.
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(Apr 27, 2011 7:37 AM CDT) Apparently, it wasn't enough that it took more than nine years to pass the 9/11 health bill--Congress still needed to deliver one final kick to the nuts of the first responders, one final Congressional 'f*** you very much,' Jon Stewart said last night. That f*** you has arrived, in the form of what Stewart is calling the literal insult to injury amendment, which requires first responders to be screened against the terrorist watch list before receiving any benefits. You want 9/11 first responders to know that before they get their chemo money for the cancer they got sifting through World Trade Center rubble in hopes of helping to identify those we lost in the attack, we have to make sure they're not terrorists? asked an incredulous Stewart. You know who else has to go through that type of check to get their money? Um, nobody. Heck, we'll even give banks billions in bailout money or arm Libyan rebels without checking them against the terrorist watch list. Watch his two-part rant in the gallery or see more of his thoughts on the first responders bill here and here.
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(Nov 1, 2009 11:07 PM) Alex Rodriguez hit a go-ahead, two-out double in the ninth inning off Brad Lidge and the Yankees beat the Phillies, 7-4, tonight in Philadelphia to claim a 3-1 lead in the World Series. Joba Chamberlain opened the door for the Phillies, yielding a homer to Pedro Feliz with two out in the eighth to tie the score at 4, but A-Rod, Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera pulled it out as the Yankees moved within one win of their elusive 27th championship. Seething after again being hit by a pitch in the first--for a Series record-tying third time-- Rodriguez struck back with his potent black bat. In the ninth, he faced Lidge, making his first World Series appearance since striking out Eric Hinske to clinch the title last year, and shook off any lingering doubts about his postseason fortitude. AJ Burnett will try to wrap things up Monday night on short rest, opposed by Cliff Lee, who's been on the shelf since winning Game 1.
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(Sep 8, 2010 11:16 AM CDT) Alissa Torres, who lost her husband on 9/11, learned about the Park51 Islamic center when a reporter emailed her looking for family members who thought the mosque was a bad idea. I always thought journalists were supposed to be objective, and yet, here we were, the 'victims of 9/11,' being prodded for our outrage, she writes on Salon. What did I think about the decision to construct a 'mosque' this close to Ground Zero? I thought it was a no-brainer. Of course it should be built there. Torres' husband, a dark-skinned Latino who came here illegally from Colombia, is a perfect example of the diversity of those who died at Ground Zero, she writes. Do we think no Muslims died in the towers? How did '9/11 victim' become sloppy shorthand for 'white Christian'? Many other victims' families, however, disagreed with her--and jumped at the chance to talk to the press. I can't shake the feeling that the media has duped us. In trying to create a controversy where there is none, in raking over wounds that--nine years later--still hurt.
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(Sep 13, 2008 10:22 AM CDT) Galveston's historic district is under 7 feet of water, and 4 million Houston area residents are without power after Hurricane Ike's rampage through the region. Ike, which hit Galveston as a Category 2 hurricane, has since been downgraded to a Category 1, CNN reports. Officials warned that the storm will retain hurricane force through this afternoon. Local government is now turning toward rescue and recovery efforts, but the evacuated will have to wait before they return home. The last thing we want to do is put our citizens back into a situation where they may be in harm's way, a Galveston County official said. Three deaths in Texas have been attributed to Ike, which will move next into western Arkansas.
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(Jul 6, 2010 12:16 PM CDT) A Russian diving enthusiast has developed a scuba-diving dry suit complete with helmet, breathing mask, and oxygen source for his K-9 companion Boniface, the daring diving dachshund. The first experimental dive was declared a success by his owner who gave demonstrations over the weekend, though Boniface whined while underwater. See the video in the gallery, and read the full story here.
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(Feb 6, 2013 12:05 PM) We're just now seeing the results of the nation's grand experiment with 401(k) plans as the first generation of workers to embrace the concept reaches retirement age. The results are truly alarming, writes Duncan Black in USA Today. Many people don't have nearly enough money to pay the bills. One Boston College study shows that the median retirement balance for people ages 55 to 64 is $120,000, a trivial supplement to Social Security benefits. What's more, a third of households have no retirement account. We can try to improve the system--making 401(k) contributions be opt-out instead of opt-in, for example--but tweaks aren't enough, both for workers near retirement age and for their debt-burdened younger counterparts, writes Black. We need an across the board increase in Social Security retirement benefits of 20% or more. We need it to happen right now, even if that means raising taxes on high incomes or removing the salary cap in Social Security taxes. Click for Black's full column.
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(Oct 24, 2009 4:38 PM CDT) A female Saudi journalist has been sentenced to 60 lashes for her involvement in a TV show that featured a man detailing his sexual conquests. The court also banned Rosanna Al-Yami from leaving the country for two years, sources tell CNN. She is believed to be the first Saudi journalist ever sentenced to lashes, though it's not clear she was even involved in the controversial episode. Al-Yama works for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. as a show coordinator, but she apparently had no direct involvement in the episode of A Thick Red Line that caused all the fuss. No matter--the judge sentenced her as a deterrence, she tells the AP. I am too frustrated and upset to appeal the sentence, she adds. As for the man who boasted of his sex life on the show: he's currently serving a 5-year sentence.
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(Jan 15, 2015 7:17 PM) As predicted, this year's flu vaccine is doing a pretty crummy job. It's only 23% effective, primarily because it doesn't include the bug that's making most people sick, according to a government study out today. That's one of the worst performances in the last decade, since US health officials started routinely tracking how well vaccines work. In the best flu seasons, the vaccines were 50% to 60% effective. This is an uncommon year, says Dr. Alicia Fry, a flu vaccine expert at the CDC who was involved in the study. In December, CDC officials warned the vaccine probably wouldn't work very well because it isn't well matched to a strain that's been spreading widely. Each year, the flu vaccine is reformulated based on experts' best guess at which three or four strains will be the biggest problem. Those decisions are usually made in February, months before the flu season, to give companies that make flu shots and nasal spray vaccine enough time to make enough doses. But this year's formula didn't include the strain of H3N2 virus that has caused about two-thirds of illnesses this winter.
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(Jul 24, 2012 9:59 AM CDT) In its ongoing effort to extend the Bush tax cuts for (and only for) the bottom 98% of households, the White House today released a report calculating that the average family making less than $250,000 a year would see their taxes go up $1,600 if a deal isn't reached. So far the only reason the middle-class tax cuts have not been extended is that Republicans in Congress continue to insist on cutting taxes once again for the wealthiest few, the report said, according to the AP. Of course, Republicans say it's the other side being stubborn. Last week Patty Murray indicated that Democrats would let all cuts expire if they had to, and Republicans pounced. They're ready and willing to go right off the fiscal cliff if they don't get their way, Mitch McConnell said. Many families would pay even more than $1,600 if the cuts expire. A family of four making between $50,000 and $80,000 a year, for instance, would pay $2,200.
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(Feb 28, 2010 1:03 PM) President Michelle Bachelet says that Chile's earthquake killed at least 708 people--sharply increasing the known death toll from about 300. The president tells a news conference that the country faces a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort for Chile to recover. The announcement came after a six-hour meeting with aides and emergency officials coping with yesterday's magnitude-8.8 quake.
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(Sep 18, 2011 4:23 PM CDT) Yemeni government forces opened fire with anti-aircraft guns and automatic weapons on tens of thousands of anti-government protesters demanding ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, killing at least 26 and wounding dozens, witnesses said. After nightfall, Sanaa sank into complete darkness after a sudden power outage, as protesters took control of a vital bridge, halting traffic and setting up tents. Thousands of other protesters attacked government buildings and set fires to buildings they said were used by snipers and pro-government thugs. The protest movement has stepped up demonstrations the past week, angered after embattled Saleh deputized Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to negotiate a power-transfer deal. As more than 100,000 protesters massed today around the state radio building and government offices, and began to march toward the nearby Presidential Palace, security forces opened fire and shot tear gas canisters, witnesses said. Snipers fired at the crowd from nearby rooftops, and plainclothes Saleh supporters armed with automatic rifles, swords, and batons attacked the protesters. This peaceful protest was confronted by heavy weapons and anti-aircraft guns, said an opposition spokesman. He vowed that the intensifying protests will not stop and will not retreat.
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(Jan 13, 2018 6:44 AM) That new soda tax in Seattle is working out about as well as Chicago's, proclaims a headline at Hot Air. It's not a compliment. The tax, which went into effect Jan. 1, slaps an additional 1.75 cents on each fluid ounce of sugar-sweetened drinks, a group that includes soda, sports drinks, and kombucha. That's nearly double the one-cent levy the Chicago-encompassing Cook County tried, a tax it repealed after about two months. The Chicago Tribune reported at the time that Costco's nine affected locations saw their sales of beverages impacted by the tax fall 34%, while sales jumped 38% at locations just beyond the county line. And Costco is again at the fore of what's happening: Because bulk purchases contain significantly more ounces than an individual one, the impact is starker, as KIRO discovered when it spotted an updated Costco sign for Gatorade in Seattle. The sign details Costco's price for the 35-pack of 16-ounce bottles--$15.99--and separately lists the city's $10.34 tax, for a new total of $26.33. But that's not all the sign says: It also directs consumers to nearby locations that are outside city limits and exempt from the tax. The tax is meant to fight obesity and raise funds for worthy expenditures, but the blog for Citizens Against Government Waste sees the ends quite differently: Let's be clear. Soda taxes don't make people healthier. They don't raise revenue--they drive it outside city limits. They don't help ease inequality--they make the poor poorer. But some in government seemingly remain hopeful: KXLY reports a bill was reintroduced Monday that would push the tax statewide. (Speaking of Seattle and beverages, the world's largest Starbucks is no longer located there.)
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(Mar 5, 2019 11:00 AM) They were coming home from a party in Veracruz, Mexico, when they had to stop at a police roadblock. Then two things sealed the fate of the four young men and teenage girl in the vehicle: First, police thought they belonged to a drug gang. (They didn't.) Second, the same officers were corrupt and being paid off by the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, reports the BBC. Thinking the five were Jalisco rivals, the officers turned them over to the cartel, which murdered them and dumped their incinerated bodies in a mass grave. The killings happened in 2016, and Mexican authorities have just issued a rare apology in the case. I apologize for the collusion between police and organized crime that wasn't stopped in time, says the new governor of Veracruz, Cuitlahuac Garcia. So far, 21 people have been charged in the deaths of the four men, ages 24 to 27, and the 16-year-old girl. Eight of the accused are police officers, but no senior Veracruz security officials have been charged, notes Reuters. More than anything, we want to reclaim the good name of our kids ... and demand justice for them and for thousands of others who experience the same thing, says the mother of one of the five. The BBC reports that more than 5,000 people have disappeared in Veracruz over the last 10 years.
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(Feb 25, 2013 8:25 AM) Two lawmakers are battling against what they deem an unnecessary tool of war: the Selective Service System--the organization that keeps records for any future draft. Reps. Peter DeFazio (a Democrat) and Mike Coffman (a Republican) say the success of the all-volunteer force has rendered the agency moot, and that the $24 million spent annually to maintain the draft is a waste. And DeFazio argues it's only persisted this long because politicians fear they'll look weak on national security if they push for its demise. But the AP calls the men's campaign little noticed. With its eye on the draft, the AP today circles back to the question of whether women should now be required to sign up. Though the Selective Service System itself issued a statement saying the law has not been changed to include this, legal experts say the law won't be on women's side for long. In a 1981 Supreme Court ruling, justices said it was constitutional to exclude women because they weren't allowed to serve in combat roles. Now that that's changed, it'll be tough to argue against women's registration, says a law professor and ex-Air Force officer. They're going to have to show that excluding women from the draft actually improves military readiness, she notes. I just don't see how you can make that argument.
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(Aug 16, 2017 6:03 AM CDT) I cannot wait until that day that I see you again, said Natalie Cole's only child at her funeral fewer than two years ago. The day was not a long time coming: TMZ was the first to report the singer's 39-year-old son, Robert Yancy, was found dead in his San Fernando Valley apartment Monday night in the course of a welfare check; a friend had become concerned after not hearing from Yancy for a few days. The cause of death is currently listed as natural causes, but an autopsy and toxicology tests are pending. TMZ points out a history of heart issues: Cole died from congestive heart failure, and Yancy's own father was killed by a heart attack at age 34. Yancy's aunt, Timolin Cole Augustus, tells the AP, It appears to be a sudden heart attack. The AP provides some background on Yancy, whose father, Marvin, was the first of three husbands Cole had. The drummer toured as part of his mother's band, and had recently started performing again after mourning her death. He had words of praise for Cole at her funeral: What a woman. She taught me how to love. She had my back every time when I needed it. The greatest gift she ever gave me was Jesus. I cannot wait until that day that I see you again. Yancy never married, and is survived by Cole's twin sisters, Timolin and Casey Cole Hooker, and five cousins.
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(Mar 5, 2008 3:29 AM) Widely revered Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, regarded as the father of role-playing games, has died at his home in Wisconsin after years of health problems, AP reports. He was 69. Together with Dave Arneson, Gygax created the massively popular medieval fantasy Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 that struck a chord with teenage boys and young men, and spawned a host of computer game imitations. Fans say that the world of games would be very different had it not been for Gygax' imagination. Gygax, who was also a prolific fantasy writer, wasn't involved in creating later generations of his game after legal wranglings with Arneson and company TSR, but kept on playing and was hosting games as recently as January. He loved to hear from the many fans of his fantasy world, said his wife. She survives him, along with their six children.
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(Feb 20, 2008 4:10 AM) Four young students heading home were killed yesterday when their school bus was broadsided by a van on a rural highway in southwestern Minnesota, the Minneapolis-St.Paul Star-Tribune reports. Some of these kids were so little, said a motorist who helped evacuate children from the rooftop emergency hatch of the toppled bus. And there were just so many. They were screaming and crying. Some were bleeding. Once children were safely on the ground, some called out for siblings still inside. A dozen injured children were rushed to area hospitals. The weather was clear at the time and it was not immediately known why the bus and at least two other vehicles crashed. The bus was carrying children from kindergarten to 12th grade. This is a sad night for Minnesota, said the state's governor. It is especially heartbreaking when young lives are lost.
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(Apr 15, 2008 6:55 AM CDT) Bank repossessions skyrocketed 129% over the 12-month period ending in March, and foreclosure filings rose 57% over the previous year, RealtyTrac announced today. March foreclosure notices rose 5%, after a 4% decline in February. All this is ongoing fallout from people overextending themselves and using highly toxic loan products, said a RealtyTrac VP. And it hasn't peaked yet. We're going to see quite possibly a record amount of foreclosure activity in the third or fourth quarter, he said, after interest rates spike on adjustable mortgages in May and June.
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(Sep 18, 2014 12:34 PM CDT) There was a time when the giveaway of a new U2 album would have been a big deal in a good way, not in the PR-disaster way surrounding this month's Apple stunt. Most people, it seems, responded with a shrug or with annoyance that an album they didn't want suddenly showed up in their iTunes library. This is quite a comedown for a band who, just over a decade ago, could still call itself the biggest band in the world, writes Nico Lang at the Daily Dot. He recounts how U2 seems to have firmly established itself among the ranks of bands that got huge, only to become groups that no one likes --think Coldplay, the Dave Matthews Band, Weezer, and, of course, Nickelback. As someone who likes many U2 records and dislikes many others, their recent output isn't so much an issue of selling your soul to the man as much as deciding to be a certain type of band, one that might not please the Achtung Baby faithful, writes Lang. Take 2009's No Line on the Horizon, for example, filled with hippy-dippy lyrics about world peace that could play while you browse the aisles at Hobby Lobby. Achtung Baby may be brilliant, but that was 1991, and the band is now more about middling commercial jingles. It doesn't help that Bono continues to come off as holier-than-thou and pompous. He has spent the last three and a half decades trying to get everyone to like him, but the greatest PR coup he could ever pull is to finally stop caring. Click to read the full column.
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(May 17, 2008 4:43 PM CDT) No longer just a pretty face, Danica Patrick finally has a win, a winning team, and the fastest car she's ever raced. I really, really like my chances in next weekend's Indy 500, she tells Sports Illustrated. And man, how huge would it be if I could win the thing? Patrick, who nabbed her first win last month Japan, drives for Andretti Green Racing, which has won three of the last four IndyCar Series championships. She is also fifth in points standings and has the fifth-place starting spot at Indy. She hopes to make up for 2005, when she led for 19 laps--but took bad advice from her pit crew and languished in fourth.
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(Sep 13, 2011 1:36 PM CDT) Pablo Escobar has made the transition in death from feared drug lord to Disney-esque tourist attraction. Visitors to Medellin, Colombia, can now shell out $40 for a three-hour tour of Escobar's favorite haunts when he ruled the city in the 1980s, reports the Guardian. The tour includes a stop at the building where police fatally gunned him down in 1993-- You can go inside to see for yourself how he attempted to escape, reads the brochure--and a meeting with his brother, who encourages photos, questions, and donations. The city has made huge strides since the days of Escobar, from murder capital of the world to a place plugged as a potential retirement spot for Americans, writes Vicky Baker, and the tour by See Colombia Travel is not sitting well with officials. I think it's very negative and counterproductive, says Colombia's ambassador to the UK. I hope they fail, and soon. Until then, you can plan your tour here.
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(Apr 19, 2009 11:38 AM CDT) A Department of Justice memo that detailed interrogation techniques used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay notes that in August 2002, suspected al-Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 82 times, while the following March, 9/11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times. But as the blog Emptywheel points out, there's no way to get to those numbers within the CIA's guidelines. If you do the math, the CIA maximum allowance is still less than half of 183 waterboarding sessions. But aside from the arithmetic troubles, Emptywheel points out that the main problem is that a technique that required 183 applications to work is considered an effective means of interrogation.
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(May 25, 2018 2:48 AM CDT) A jury has decided Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for illegally copying some of the iPhone's features to lure people into buying its competing products. The verdict reached Thursday is the latest twist in a legal battle that began in 2011, the AP reports. Apple contends Samsung wouldn't have emerged as the world's leading seller of smartphones if it hadn't ripped off the technology powering the pioneering iPhone in developing a line of similar devices running on Google's Android software. Previous rulings had already determined that Samsung infringed on some of Apple's patents, but the amount of damages owed has been hanging in legal limbo.
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(Aug 26, 2009 3:33 PM CDT) Stocks barely eked out gains today, as positive reports on housing and durable goods orders failed to excite investors, the Wall Street Journal reports. New-home sales rose 9.6% in July, beating expectations, while inventories dropped to the lowest level since April 2007. The Dow closed up 4 points at 9,544. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were flat, closing at their opening values of 2,024 and 1,028, respectively.
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(Mar 26, 2009 9:54 AM CDT) Thanks to the Olympics, you'll have some extra time to see the Best Picture nominees before the 2010 Oscar telecast, the Los Angeles Times reports. The awards ceremony will move to March 7 from late February to avoid competing with the Vancouver Games. Why have two gigantic, spectacular events happen on the same day, particularly these days? said the academy president. The Oscars were traditionally held in March before the 2004 switch to February, an attempt to shorten the costly awards season. The return to March will mean members have more time to see movies, said one consultant, calling the move helpful. The Grammys will also move out of the way of the Olympics, shifting from February to Jan. 31.
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(Apr 14, 2014 1:43 AM CDT) After a nearly unbroken spell in office going back to the Truman administration, Mayor John Land is finally out of office in Apopka, Fla. The 93-year-old was narrowly defeated by a 56-year-old challenger who campaigned on the need for more youthful leadership in the city of 44,000, reports the Los Angeles Times. Land--a keen conservationist who reduced his salary to $0 several years ago--had been in office since 1949 with only a two-year break in the '60s, ABC notes. Land says he is too old to cry about the defeat but he's not going to laugh it off. When addressing supporters after the loss, he spoke of his service in World War II. I think about old Gen. Patton--I served in his Army, he said. He had a saying: 'I wouldn't give two hoots in hell for someone who lost and laughed about it.' That's how I feel. But will he be back to seek another term? Never say never, he says.
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(Sep 12, 2011 1:40 AM CDT) Eighteen months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Spartacus TV star Andy Whitfield has died. He was 39. Spartacus: Blood and Sand was the Starz network's first big hit, thanks in large part to the program's plentiful violence and nudity. Whitfield was almost unknown when he was cast in the series, and starred in the first season's 13-episode run before being diagnosed with cancer, notes TMZ. He passed peacefully surrounded by love, said his wife in a statement. Thank you to all his fans whose love and support have help carry him to this point. He will be remembered as the inspiring, courageous, and gentle man, father, and husband he was. Click for more.
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(Jul 23, 2018 2:52 AM CDT) Mollie Tibbetts, 20, went out for a run on Wednesday night and hasn't been seen since. The University of Iowa student was dogsitting in Brooklyn, Iowa, at the time; her boyfriend was with her at the house, which is in an area largely comprised of farmland and fields. The boyfriend, Dalton Jack, says she sent him a routine Snapchat photo the night of her disappearance; she headed out for her run around 10pm, ABC News reports. She might have a Fitbit on and she might have her cellphone, but obviously we've tried just calling her but it's either off or dead so it would go straight to voicemail, Jack says. A large-scale search is underway, and a Facebook page has been created to share updates. Investigators are currently working to access Tibbetts' laptop and online accounts in an attempt to surface clues, the Des Moines Register reports. Everything's on the table, unfortunately, the Poweshiek County sheriff tells KCCI. We're hoping that she's somewhere with a friend and she'll show up Monday or Tuesday and everything will get back to normal. But this is not like her at all. She's a very responsible and conscientious young woman, her aunt tells WOI, adding, to Mollie, We miss you, we're looking for you and we will never stop. Anyone with information about Tibbetts' whereabouts is asked to get in touch with the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office at 641-623-5679.
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(Apr 12, 2011 1:10 PM CDT) Maybe Glenn Beck has been right about gold all this time--a new report says the precious metal could top $2,100 an ounce by 2014, and could come close to hitting the staggering $5,000 mark by the end of the decade in a possible 'super-bull' scenario, reports the Telegraph. The key is less economic problems in the West and more continuing growth in the East, according to a report by the Standard Chartered Bank. Rising demand for gold in China and India will be the force behind the bull run: Incomes in those two countries are expected to rise to 30% of the US level by 2030. Assuming that the relationship between rising income levels and gold holds, gold prices could reach $4,869 by 2020, the report said. But higher mine production in the coming years should overwhelm demand growth beyond 2014.
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(Jan 20, 2010 9:25 AM) In a bid to boost its ebook business, Amazon is now offering authors and publishers 70% of every sale of a title for the Kindle. The move more than quadruples the standard royalty of 15% or less, to put more in writers' pockets even as the price of their books drops. Amazon's deal only applies to ebooks listed for $9.99 or less, offered at or below the price of offerings on other e-readers, and at least 20% below that of any physical copy. Amazon estimates that the writer of an $8.99 book would make $6.25 compared to $3.15. Henry Blodget calls the move brilliant, using writers to pressure publishers to accept the new format and the lower prices. Any ebook under the deal must also be available in all markets where the author or publisher has rights, he notes in Business Insider, an end-run around regional haggling common in the publishing industry.
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(Nov 2, 2009 2:11 AM) A 14-year-old boy has been arrested after the body of a missing California toddler, 4, was found in a clothes dryer in the teen's home. Police said Alex Christopher Mercado's body was placed in the dryer after he was killed. Alex's parents reported him missing over the weekend, and the body was found within 24 hours in the Mendota home, reports AP.
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(Feb 27, 2015 1:11 AM) Mohammed Emwazi, the British-Kuwaiti man who has been identified as Jihadi John, had long been known to British security services--and according to the advocacy group Cage, the way they treated him may have contributed to his radicalization. According to the group, when he tried to travel to Tanzania for a safari vacation in 2009, he was detained, questioned, and returned to the UK by security officials who accused him of wanting to join militants, and he complained about harassment by security services in the years afterward. Cage says that after Emwazi moved to Kuwait later in 2009, he returned to Britain for a visit the following year and was told he could not return to Kuwait, leaving him feeling trapped and unable to return to his job and fiance.
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(Oct 10, 2013 8:33 AM CDT) If you would have paid a few extra bucks for a couple more hits of Breaking Bad, you weren't the only one. DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg was so nuts for the show that weeks ago he offered to pay $75 million for three more episodes, Variety reports; that's $25 million per episode or $415,000 per minute. Clearly it never came to be, but the last series cost about $3.5 million an episode, Katzenberg told an audience of TV execs in Cannes. So they would make more profit from these three shows than they made from five years of the entire series. I said, 'I'm going to create the greatest pay-per-view television event for scripted programming anybody's ever done,' Katzenberg explained; his crazy idea was to dole out the extra content online in six-minute chunks over 30 days, for 50 to 99 cents per episode. And though that dream ultimately died, the idea is still there. I just think that there is a whole new platform for (short form) entertainment, he said. The higher the quality of the stuff that fills it, the higher people will be paid for the work that they are doing there. Maybe he'll spend the big bucks on this Breaking Bad spinoff instead.
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(Apr 23, 2008 4:50 AM CDT) An 84-year-old engineer has been arrested in New Jersey on charges he passed military secrets to Israel in the '80s, Reuters reports. Ben-Ami Kadish, who holds both US and Israeli citizenship, is accused of giving classified information--including details on fighter jets, missiles, and nuclear weapons--to an Israeli consul when he worked at an Army weapons center in New Jersey. Kadish is believed to have had the same spy handler as American Jonathan Pollard, who is serving life for spying for Israel in the '80s. At the time of the Pollard case, officials noted that espionage was not the kind of behavior we would expect from allies, and that would remain the case today, said a State Department spokesman. Kadish is facing four espionage and conspiracy charges, one of which carries a possible death sentence.
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(Jun 19, 2009 1:30 AM CDT) A work believed to be Michelangelo's first painting has made its American debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Times reports. St. Anthony Tormented by Demons, a customized copy of a German print, is thought to have been painted in 1487 when Michelangelo was a 12-year-old apprentice trying to prove he could make it as an artist. The Met's exhibition puts the work side-by-side with the template young Michelangelo used, noting the personal touches the artist added that would become themes throughout his career. Tests performed at the museum show that the young artist made many revisions to the painting before completion, repeatedly changing shapes and scraping away paint. The finished work left Michelangelo's workshop master unnerved at the display of skill, according to historians.
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(Jul 9, 2012 1:23 PM CDT) It just keeps going, and going, and going, and no, it's not a battery: It's Irvin Gordon's 1966 Volvo P1800S. Gordon's small, red two-door has well more than 2 million miles on the odometer, the equivalent of nearly 1,176 times around the globe. The retired schoolteacher from Long Island hopes to reach the 3 million-mile mark by next year--and he only has 34,000 miles to go. The 72-year-old bought the car in 1966 for $4,150, when he was 25, and has been taking it on road trips ever since. It took him 21 years to reach the first million miles and 15 more years to reach 2 million. He averages 85,000 to 100,000 miles per year. Most of his trips are for auto shows, but he also takes trips across the country just for a good cup of coffee. The engine has been rebuilt twice, but is still original, and Gordon has held the Guinness World Records mark for High Mileage Vehicle since 2002 (he was the first person to hold that record). He thinks that his Volvo will last way longer than 3 million miles: I have a feeling I'll be dead long before the car, he says.
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(Apr 5, 2014 5:40 PM CDT) Trying to appease angry parishioners, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Atlanta said today that he will sell a $2.2 million mansion just three months after he moved in. Archbishop Wilton Gregory announced the decision following a closed-door meeting with members of several church councils at his headquarters north of Atlanta. He will move out of the Tudor-style residence in early May. I have decided to sell the Habersham property and invest the proceeds from that sale into the needs of the Catholic community, Gregory told the AP after the meeting. The mansion was made possible by a multimillion dollar gift to the archdiocese. Laura Mullins, one of several Catholics who asked Gregory to sell, praised the archbishop for making a quick decision and ending the controversy. He is the person we follow locally, she said. He sets the example for all of us to follow. If he is choosing to use a gift so personally, what does that tell the people sitting in the pews?
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(Aug 4, 2011 7:53 AM CDT) In its first meaningful action since the Syria uprising began five months ago, the UN Security Council issued a statement yesterday condemning the government's use of force against civilians. The statement, finally agreed upon after three days of talks, condemn[s] widespread violations of human rights and calls on both sides to stop the violence. Western powers wanted a stronger statement or even a resolution, but Russia and China were among the nations insisting against such a move. In a rare move, Syria's neighboring nation Lebanon disassociated itself from the statement, al-Jazeera reports. Meanwhile, violence continued, particularly in Hama, where an activist says 45 more civilians have been killed since yesterday. Reuters offers terrifying accounts, though not independently verified: Five people, including two children, killed as they tried to flee; tanks advancing into central Hama; snipers appearing on rooftops. The US and Turkey have hardened their stances, with a White House spokesman stating that Syria would be a better place without President Assad and the Turkish deputy PM stating that Syria is making a big mistake. A London-based human rights observatory says 1,629 civilians and 374 security force members have been killed since March.
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(Mar 24, 2020 9:00 AM CDT) Colorado has become the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty, which it hasn't used since 1997. Forty-four years after capital punishment was reinstated in the Centennial State, Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Monday banning its use-- consistent with the recognition that the death penalty cannot be, and never has been, administered equitably in the State of Colorado --while at the same time commuting the sentences of three men on death row. Robert Ray, Sir Mario Owens, and Nathan Dunlap, all despicable and guilty, according to Polis, will now spend life in prison without the possibility of parole. While I understand that some victims agree with my decision and others disagree, I hope this decision provides clarity and certainty for them moving forward, Polis said, per NBC News. Apparently not for State Sen. Rhonda Fields. Ray was convicted of orchestrating the murders of Fields' 22-year-old son and his fiancee, who were witnesses to another murder. In a stroke of a pen Gov. Polis hijacks justice and undermines our criminal justice system, said Fields. George Brauchler, who heads the largest district attorney's office in the state, said Polis had opted to bury this horrendous decision amid a pandemic, reports the Colorado Sun. Yet a Gallup poll from October showed 56% of respondents favored the death penalty while 42% were opposed. NBC notes it was the highest level of opposition since the death penalty was re-established in 1976. Here's hoping for more compassion in the weeks & months to come, tweeted ACLU deputy national political director Udi Ofer.
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(Sep 11, 2013 1:52 PM CDT) On the 12th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Internet is remembering one of its own: Danny Lewin, an Internet genius who was also likely the very first victim of the day, and whose story is just now fully coming to light. Slate and Salon are featuring excerpts from a new biography of Lewin by Molly Knight Raskin. He was born in Denver, but moved to Israel with his family at age 14, where he attended a technology school and later signed up for the Israeli Defense Force, serving as a commando in an elite counterterrorism unit. He eventually ended up at MIT on a full scholarship, and while there he wrote algorithms to make web content delivery quicker and more efficient. MIT has a lot of really smart people, and Danny stood out even among that rarified environment, one of his professors tells CNN. Based on those algorithms, Lewin and that professor founded software company Akamai; he was taking American Airlines Flight 11 to a business meeting on September 11. After the hijacking began, Lewin, 31--who Raskin suggests could have suspected something was amiss before anyone else, because of his IDF training and knowledge of conversational Arabic--got up and struggled with one of the terrorists. Per a 9/11 Commission report issued four years after the attack and based largely on the info two flight attendants relayed to authorities, Satam al-Suqami most likely killed Lewin from behind, by slashing his throat. He died between 8:15am and 8:20am, and the plane slammed into the World Trade Center at 8:46am. He was the first victim of the first war of the 21st century, says Lewin's best friend. Akamai, now a multibillion-dollar business, was struggling on September 11--but, Raskin notes, most major news sites managed to stay up and running amid the avalanche of traffic that day because of it. Click for more on Lewin.
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(Jun 9, 2015 12:15 AM CDT) The world should move away from using fossil fuels by the end of this century, G7 leaders said after their annual huddle yesterday, setting an ambitious but distant goal ahead of a global conference on climate change this year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose turn it was to host the annual summit, pressed for a commitment to decarbonize the global economy--that is, to eliminate most carbon dioxide emissions from burning oil, gas, and coal. The leaders agreed to press for a reduction, by 2050, of 40% to 70% in the 2010 global emission levels of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The leaders of seven wealthy democracies also warned Russia--which was kicked out of the group last year--that sanctions imposed for its actions against Ukraine would remain until a ceasefire is fully observed--and those sanctions could be made tougher if the situation requires. At the close of the summit, President Obama delivered what the Guardian deems his strongest criticism yet of Vladimir Putin. Does he continue to wreck his country's economy and continue Russia's isolation in pursuit of a wrong-headed desire to re-create the glories of the Soviet empire? Obama asked. Or does he recognize that Russia's greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries?
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(Feb 17, 2017 12:16 AM) An ISIS suicide bomber struck inside a famed shrine in southern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 75 people in the deadliest attack in the country in more than two years. The bomber entered the main hall of the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan and detonated his payload amid dozens of worshippers, according to three security officials, who said at least 20 women and nine children were among the dead. ISIS claimed the attack in a statement circulated by its Aamaq news agency, saying it had targeted a Shiite gathering, the AP reports. The Sunni extremist group views Shiites as apostates and sees Sufi shrines like the one targeted Thursday as a form of idolatry. A witness to the attack told a local TV network that hundreds of people were performing a spiritual dance known as the Dhamal when the bomber struck. I saw bodies everywhere. I saw bodies of women and children, he said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that security forces would track down the perpetrators of the attack, according to Pakistani state TV. Each drop of the nation's blood shall be avenged, and avenged immediately, Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, said in a statement. No more restraint for anyone. The attack was the deadliest in Pakistan since Dec. 16, 2014, when militants assaulted an army-run school in Peshawar, killing 154 people, mostly schoolchildren.
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(Dec 3, 2009 2:00 AM) Aaron Patzer recently joined the ranks of America's under-30 tech multi-millionaires when rival firm Intuit snapped up his Mint.com online personal finance tool for $170 million. It was a jaw-dropping moment when Intuit--which is transferring its 43 million Quicken users to Mint--made the offer, Patzer tells the New York Times. Patzer, who has now joined Intuit as a vice-president, says he's sure another young person is already working on a tool to replace Mint. In a technology company, if you let up just a couple of years in your innovation, that's all the gap a competitor needs. That's what happened with Intuit. They ignored and neglected Quicken from about 2002 to 2008, and that was enough of a gap to give rise to Mint. If I back off even for a second, someone is going to come along with something better.
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(Jan 4, 2019 12:29 PM) Another longtime Republican senator will call it quits in 2020. Pat Roberts of Kansas said Friday that he won't run for re-election when his term is up, reports Politico. The 82-year-old's decision comes about two weeks after Tennessee's Lamar Alexander announced the same, and the Washington Post notes that both were known for their bipartisanship. Roberts, for example, recently achieved the rare feat of getting an $867 billion agriculture bill passed with the support of all Senate Democrats. He serves as chair of the chamber's agriculture committee, and he is the only lawmaker to have done so in both the Senate and the House, reports the Kansas City Star. One interesting bit of speculation: Among those seen as possible GOP replacements is Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Post notes that Pompeo is a former Kansas congressman as well as a strong ally of President Trump, factors that would serve him well in the red state and possibly avoid a nasty primary. Pompeo has not made any public statements about wanting a Senate seat, but the newspaper says Senate leaders are interested in the possibility. Also in the mix are Rep. Roger Marshall and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. As for Roberts, he will retire with a 24-0 record in lifetime elections. I'm damned proud of that undefeated record, said Roberts, now in his fourth term as a senator. The GOP will likely be favored to hold onto his seat in 2020, though Democrats have new hope: Democrat Laura Kelly won the governor's race in November.
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(Dec 4, 2016 9:51 AM) After railing against his comedic portrayal on Saturday Night, Donald Trump on Sunday morning turned his Twitter account on corporate tax dodgers, announcing that while he intended to push for a lower overall corporate tax rate, any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, [or] builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and ... sell[s] its product back into the U.S. would face a sizable 35% tariff, reports the New York Times. That's equal to the current corporate tax rate, which Trump has said that he wants to lower to 15%, reports CNN Money, which notes that many economists are concerned that protectionist policies could harm the economy. Trump continued: Please be forewarned prior to making a very expensive mistake! THE UNITED STATES IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS.
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(Jun 12, 2017 12:07 AM CDT) Going by votes cast, statehood was the overwhelming winner in a referendum Puerto Rico held Sunday. But going by the actions of most Puerto Ricans, staying home or going to the beach was the runaway winner. The island, a US territory since 1898, held a non-binding referendum on statehood Sunday, and becoming the 51st state won with 97% of the votes, NBC reports, with 1.3% opting for the status quo and 1.5% choosing independence. But with opposition parties boycotting the vote, turnout was extremely low: Only 23% of voters cast a ballot in a territory where turnout is usually closer to 80%. In a similar referendum in 2012, before the island's financial troubles deepened, 61% voted for statehood. The White House declined to comment on the vote. Statehood supporters including Gov. Ricardo Rossello say it is absurd for the US to encourage democracy abroad and reject it for the American citizens of Puerto Rico, though some Puerto Ricans doubt the administration will welcome a new state that would be the poorest in the US by far, the New York Times reports. Puerto Ricans can't vote in presidential elections and their only representative in Congress has limited powers, but the Hill reports that the island will now implement the statehood plan that worked for Tennessee in 1796. The governor will appoint two senators and five representatives who will go to Washington, DC, and demand to be seated.
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(Dec 12, 2017 6:49 AM) It was a most unexpected and unwelcome middle-of-the-night email. It is with profound sadness and terrible grief that we confirm that Mayor Edwin M. Lee passed away on Tuesday, December 12, at 1:11am at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, read the email sent from the mayor's office at 2:23am local time, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Family, friends, and colleagues were at his side. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Anita, his two daughters, Brianna and Tania, and his family, it added. Lee was 65, and had been shopping at a Safeway grocery store around 10pm Monday when he suffered a heart attack and collapsed. Lee, the city's first Asian-American mayor, was chosen to take Mayor Gavin Newsom's place in January 2011 when Newsom became the state's lieutenant governor. Lee was city administrator at the time. The Chronicle describes Lee as a reluctant mayor, only running for a full term after months of prodding. He won in November 2011 and again four years later. The Chronicle has more on his life of public service, first as a law student who went up against the San Francisco Housing Authority on behalf of public housing tenants upset with subpar living conditions; he became a civil rights attorney, working on behalf of similar tenants and in cases of discrimination. Board of Supervisors President London Breed is now acting mayor.
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(Nov 1, 2015 6:02 AM) A street full of trick-or-treaters turned into a Halloween horror scene when an out-of-control car jumped a curb and careened into a group of costumed revelers, killing three people, including a 10-year-old girl and her grandfather. The crash injured three other trick-or-treaters, along with the driver, police said. Witnesses described hearing a loud boom, followed by screaming and crying, then seeing a trail of mangled bodies in crumpled, bloodied costumes. I saw a torso on the sidewalk. I didn't know if it was a Halloween dummy or a real person, a neighbor told the New York Post. I just grabbed a whole bunch of towels and ran outside. A 52-year-old man driving the black Dodge Charger plowed into the pedestrians and smashed through a fence in front of a home, police said. The car was left teetering on a brick wall. Moments before, the driver had crossed a double yellow line after bumping into a Toyota Camry, police said. I heard the boom, and the car like literally jumped over a parked car and flew into the gate, hitting a bunch of people, a witness told WABC-TV. Sixty-five-year-old Louis Perez suffered severe head trauma and died at the scene. His granddaughter, 10-year-old Nyanna Aquil, and 24-year-old Kristian Leka, were taken to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Authorities said a 3-year-old girl was critically injured. A 21-year-old woman, a 9-year-old girl, and the driver of the car also were taken to the hospital. The little girl in the cat costume, she was hurt, she was screaming, the neighbor told WNBC-TV. It just didn't look real ... like this is a Halloween joke. No charges have been filed.
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(Oct 5, 2018 12:20 AM CDT) A South Korean court has sentenced former President Lee Myung-bak to 15 years in prison over a slew of corruption charges. The Seoul Central District Court issued the sentence on Friday after convicting Lee of bribery, embezzlement, and other charges, the AP reports. Lee, who has denied most of the charges leveled on him, has one week to appeal. The president from 2008-2013 has been held at a detention center in Seoul since his arrest in March. His conviction is yet another blow to conservatives in South Korea. His conservative successor Park Geun-hye is serving a 33-year prison term over a separate corruption scandal.
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(Jul 29, 2016 5:03 PM CDT) Jeremy Green apparently has good foresight: The 28-year-old DC-area man purchased the domain name ClintonKaine.com back in 2011 (price: $8). Five years later, with Hillary Clinton having chosen Tim Kaine as her runningmate in her bid for the White House, Green would like to sell it (price: $90,000). He plans to contact potential buyers--including not just the Clinton-Kaine campaign, but the Trump-Pence campaign--soon, he tells the New York Daily News. And no, he didn't just so happen to peg Clinton's runningmate with no other guesses; he also bought ClintonBiden.com, ClintonBooker.com, BidenWarren.com, and others. As for what's currently up on ClintonKaine.com: Fan fiction about Hillary Potter, Timotonous Kaine, and Don Marvolo Trump. Yes, really. Green tells the News he bought up more than 200 domain names back in 2010 and 2011, spending a total of $5,000, so he's glad his gamble paid off: Even if I had a 25% chance of getting the right combination, the payoff would justify the other 75%, he says. He's already sold a couple others he bought (including Cruz2016.com), and he says he's turned down a $30,000 offer for ClintonKaine.com. As for Donald Trump, TrumpPence.com is also owned by someone other than the candidate himself, and that website states it's currently for sale for $475,000 and no, we are not considering any 5-figure offers.
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(Apr 2, 2015 12:37 PM CDT) More than 750 plaintiffs are suing the Johns Hopkins Hospital System Corp. over its role in a series of medical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s and 1950s during which subjects were infected with venereal diseases. The lawsuit in Baltimore seeks $1 billion in damages for individuals infected with syphilis, gonorrhea, and other sexually transmitted diseases through a US government program between 1945 and 1956, plus spouses and children of people infected. Johns Hopkins welcomes bioethical inquiry into the US Government's Guatemala study and its legacy, a Hopkins rep tells the Baltimore Sun. This lawsuit, however, is an attempt by plaintiffs' counsel to exploit a historic tragedy for monetary gain. The suit claims Johns Hopkins officials had substantial influence over the studies, controlling some advisory panels, and were involved in planning and authorizing the experiments. An attorney for Hopkins calls the suit baseless. It's the latest in a series of lawsuits over the studies. A federal judge in 2012 dismissed a lawsuit against the US government involving the same study.
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(Apr 18, 2017 3:57 PM CDT) Three people were shot and killed Tuesday in California, by a man police say hates white people, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to the AP, all three victims were white. Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer is calling it a random act of violence. The shooter--who police have identified as 39-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad--walked up to a Pacific Gas & Electric truck in downtown Fresno and shot a man in the passenger seat multiple times, the Fresno Bee reports. Muhammad then allegedly shot and killed two people near a Catholic Charities building, pausing to reload in between. A fourth person was shot at but not hit. Police say Muhammad surrendered after yelling Allahu Akbar. He was already wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of a motel security guard Thursday. Dyer says it's too early to say if the shooting was an act of terrorism. While the suspect had posted about not liking white people or the government on Facebook, police say he didn't make any statements indicative of terrorism during the motel shooting on Thursday. The imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno says Muhammad is not a member and faith leaders are currently trying to identify him.
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(Apr 19, 2012 3:58 PM CDT) With songs like The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, The Weight and Up on Cripple Creek, The Band fused rock, blues, folk, and gospel to create a sound that seemed as authentically American as a Mathew Brady photograph or a Mark Twain short story. In truth, the group had only one American--Levon Helm. Helm, the drummer and singer who brought an urgent beat and a genuine Arkansas twang to some of The Band's best-known songs and helped turn a bunch of musicians known mostly as Bob Dylan's backup group into one of rock's legendary acts, has died at 71. Helm, who was found to have throat cancer in 1998, died this afternoon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. On Tuesday, a message on his website said he was in the final stages of cancer. The son of an Arkansas cotton farmer, Helm was just out of high school when he joined rocker Ronnie Hawkins for a tour of Canada in 1957 as the drummer for the Hawks. That band eventually recruited a group of Canadian musicians who, along with Helm, spent grueling years touring rough bars in Canada and the South. They would split from Hawkins, hook up with Dylan, and eventually call themselves The Band--because, as they explained many times, that's what everyone called them anyway.
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(Mar 18, 2010 4:59 PM CDT) A former boyfriend of Lady Gaga has sued her for $30 million, alleging that the pop star cut him out of a deal that gave him a 20% stake in her earnings. Songwriter Rob Fusari claims he met the unknown Stefani Germanotta in 2006 and radically reshaped her image--even coming up with her stage name. (He sent her a text addressing her as Radio Ga Ga, from the Queen song, and his cell phone's spell check distorted it. She loved the result. The pair became romantically involved and also formed a company to handle the business side of Gaga's music, the suit says. They ended their romance when Gaga became verbally abusive after an abortive deal with Def Jam records, after which Fusari says he got her a lucrative deal with Interscope. The suit claims that Gaga has stopped sending Fusari checks, reports the New York Post.
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(Nov 26, 2012 6:16 AM) The perfect gift for that person who seems to have everything? How about 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords a-leaping, and, well, you get the idea. This year, if you tried to buy all 364 items from the 12 Days of Christmas song, including that partridge in a pear tree, it would set you back $107,300, according to PNC Wealth Management's annual Christmas Price Index. That's a 6.1% increase over last year, which was the first year the gifts topped $100,000. The rise is larger than expected considering the modest economic growth we've had, says a PNC exec. That's partially because last year's drought caused some bird prices to rise: geese are now 29.6% more expensive, and swans are 11% more, though a partridge--the cheapest item on the list--is still just $15. And, despite the fact that it is Cyber Monday, we don't recommend buying these gifts online. You'll pay quite a bit more, thanks to the cost of shipping live birds, the AP reports. Click to see a breakdown of the costs from each verse.
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(Jan 20, 2011 12:14 PM) Sorry, 2012 enthusiasts, but it turns out George Lucas does not actually believe the world will end next year. He was not serious when he talked about the end of the world in 2012, with Seth Rogen, a Lucasfilm rep tells Wired. However, he is an adamant believer that the world is flat, that Stonehenge was built by aliens, and that the sun revolves around the Earth. These are among the many subjects he commonly discusses at length with Elvis, who he's going to digitally insert into Indy 5 along with a roster of famous dead actors. So how did Lucas feel about Rogen's highly publicized misinterpretation? Seth Rogen is a funny guy, says the rep, but if the apocalypse really does hit, George and Steven are taking Chris Rock with them on the Millennium Falcon!
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(Feb 13, 2020 12:56 PM) A prosecutor in Atlanta will decide whether to open a formal investigation after meeting with a woman who says she has evidence legendary singer James Brown's death was caused by another person, his spokesman said. Brown, known as the Godfather of Soul, was 73 when he died of heart failure on Christmas day in 2006 in Atlanta, less than two days after being hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia. A woman named Jacque Hollander contacted Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard's office to request a meeting, claiming Brown's death was caused by another person, according to the prosecutor's spokesman Chris Hopper, per the AP.
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(Jul 5, 2008 8:39 AM CDT) The Chinese call them liaobaixing, or old 100 names, and they are so partial to those 100 traditional surnames, Radio Free Netherlands tells us, that over 90% of the country's population of 1.3 billion share them. The profusion of Wangs, Chen, Lis and Wus creates powerful feelings of kinship, but also wreaks bureaucratic havoc. In one hospital, 9-year-old Wang Lan was given medicine meant for another Wang Lan and the mistake was not corrected until staff could check through all 227 Wang Lans in the system. Parents often try to give their offspring inventive surnames to help them stand out from the crowds of Chens. Auyun, meaning Olympic Games, has been big this year and many were christened Hope for Sichuan after May's devastating earthquake.
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(Apr 19, 2009 11:38 AM CDT) A Department of Justice memo that detailed interrogation techniques used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay notes that in August 2002, suspected al-Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 82 times, while the following March, 9/11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times. But as the blog Emptywheel points out, there's no way to get to those numbers within the CIA's guidelines. If you do the math, the CIA maximum allowance is still less than half of 183 waterboarding sessions. But aside from the arithmetic troubles, Emptywheel points out that the main problem is that a technique that required 183 applications to work is considered an effective means of interrogation.
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(Jun 6, 2019 2:06 AM CDT) A convicted pedophile who ran an international child pornography ring was charged with the 1993 abduction, rape, and killing of a 9-year-old Missouri girl after previously undetected DNA found on her underwear implicated him in the crime, authorities announced Wednesday. Earl Webster Cox, who has been in custody for years because the state deemed him a sexually dangerous person likely to re-offend if set free, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, and sodomy in the death of Angie Housman, St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar said at a news conference. Angie disappeared after getting off her school bus on Nov. 18, 1993, less than a block from her home in St. Ann, a St. Louis suburb. Her body was found nine days later in the August A. Busch Wildlife area, which is about 20 miles west of St. Ann.
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(May 13, 2016 2:03 PM CDT) Mark Lane, one of the most important experts on the Kennedy assassination, died Tuesday at his his home in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the age of 89, the New York Times reports. Lane came to national prominence with his best-selling 1966 book Rush to Judgment, which questioned the findings of the Warren Commission and concluded a second gunman helped Lee Harvey Oswald assassinate Kennedy. He was the first to use the now well-known phrase grassy knoll. He went on to publish multiple books--and write a number of films--on the Kennedy assassination. While I don't agree with his conspiracy theories about President Kennedy's assassination, he deserves credit for raising important questions, the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Lane was also a defense lawyer who represented some high-profile clients, including James Earl Ray and cult leader Jim Jones. Even after Ray was convicted of killing Martin Luther King Jr., Lane maintained his innocence and believed another conspiracy could be at play, the New York Daily News reports. Lane was also a civil-rights activist and served one term in the New York State Assembly. His life was just an absolute testament to what people can become, his assistant and friend Sue Herndon tells the Times-Dispatch. He lived more lives than so many people. Lane passed away one year before all government records of Kennedy's death are set to be made public.
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(Feb 14, 2019 5:48 PM) School officials say 21 students from a middle school south of Atlanta have been taken to hospitals after eating candy and snacks on Valentine's Day, the AP reports. Authorities with the city of South Fulton say it appeared that the Sandtown Middle School students became ill after eating some type of candy Thursday. They say the children experienced shortness of breath and other reactions. City spokeswoman Ashley Minter-Osanyinbi says the students were taken to two local hospitals. Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Romanick says the students were first evaluated by paramedics, and then taken to two Children's Healthcare of Atlanta campuses. Romanick said she didn't know what type of candy and snacks were eaten. She said that question is part of an investigation being done by the school system's police department. (In another recent candy incident, THC turned out to be the culprit.)
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(Jan 8, 2010 12:43 PM) Republicans have reeled in a diverse and promising assortment of candidates for 2010, lured by the prospect of a wave election that will sweep them into power. We've got candidates popping up all over the place, Mitch McConnell tells the Washington Post, and candidates that we have really, really encouraged to get in. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy spearheads the effort, which has turned up longtime prospects like California Assemblyman Van Tran as well as promising newcomers, like Stephen Fincher in Tennessee. Fincher, a gospel singer and farmer who raised $300,000 in September without a single staffer, is a threat to take a seat Democrats have held for 21 years. But like many Republicans, he may soon face a primary challenge that Democrats hope will damage establishment darlings. Carly Fiorina, for example, will have to fight to face Barbara Boxer. But Republicans are thrilled to have candidates fighting to take on incumbents like Boxer, who won by double digits in 2004.
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(Apr 17, 2016 1:07 PM CDT) The parent of a 4-year-old girl who was killed in a Philadelphia neighborhood has confessed to accidentally shooting her, police said. Authorities were unsure whether the man, who has not been identified, is her father or stepfather, but said he told police it was him Saturday night. The child was originally believed to have been fatally shot by her young brother. Investigators said the girl was shot in the face by the parent in a home in the Kensington neighborhood shortly before 2:30pm Saturday. Emergency medical personnel pronounced her dead at the scene. Police previously said the girl was shot by her 5-year-old sibling and were searching for the child's father or stepfather, who was believed to have owned the gun used. But the man turned himself in Saturday night and ultimately said he, not the other child, was responsible, Sgt. Eric Gripp said Sunday. After investigation, (he) admitted to accidentally shooting the victim, and stated that the sibling had nothing to do with it, Gripp said. He said charges were pending. A neighbor said the girl's mother was quite protective, rarely letting her children out to play for fear of violence in a neighborhood in which shootings and drugs were a constant concern. She would say, No, I'm not bringing these kids out with this trouble, Louise Sawyer told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Crystal Dougherty, who said she was a friend of the family, said the little girl who died was sweet and loved Barbie dolls and coloring. She was just an outgoing little girl, she said.
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(Nov 15, 2017 5:02 AM) Roy Moore says his fight is just beginning--but with even Sean Hannity withdrawing support, the writing could be on the wall for his Senate bid. The Fox host, who previously defended Moore after the candidate was accused of sexual misconduct, issued an ultimatum Tuesday night, telling Moore he has 24 hours to explain inconsistencies in his story, the Washington Post reports. You must remove any doubt, said Hannity, who was facing an advertiser boycott. If he can't do this, then Judge Moore needs to get out of this race. AL.com reports that the Republican National Committee has also withdrawn its support of Moore, though the Alabama Republican Party has yet to issue a statement on the candidate. President Trump is expected to comment on Moore now that he is back in the US, and he faces what Politico describes as a wrenching call, with congressional leaders urging him to help push Moore out of the race and conservative Moore loyalists strongly opposed to any such move. In an op-ed, the Wall Street Journal argues that Moore's credibility has fallen below the level of survivability and if he refuses to drop out, the Republican Party will be better off if Democrat Doug Jones wins. Moore, whose latest accuser says he sexually assaulted her when she was 16, spoke at a Baptist revival in an Alabama church Tuesday night but said little about the allegations, the AP reports. I want to talk about where this country's going and if we don't get back to God, we're not going anywhere, he said.
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(Nov 18, 2010 1:20 AM) The first Guantanamo detainee to face a civilian trial has been acquitted on 284 of the 285 charges against him, including one murder count for each of the 224 people killed in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The anonymous New York jury found Ahmed Ghailani guilty on one count of conspiring to destroy government buildings, for which he will face a sentence of 20 years to life, the New York Times reports. The case--which suffered a major setback when a judge ruled that testimony from a key witness was off limits because the government learned about him during CIA interrogations at a secret prison--was seen as a test case for trying terror suspects in civilian courts, and the result is certain to fuel further debate on the policy. The trial judge told jurors they demonstrated that American justice can be rendered calmly, deliberately and fairly by ordinary people, people who are not beholden to any government, not even ours. It can be rendered with fidelity to the Constitution.
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(Jun 27, 2014 2:31 AM CDT) There is now one less armed separatist group in Europe: After nearly 40 years and thousands of attacks, including bombings and assassinations, the National Liberation Front of Corsica has decided to call it a day, CNN reports. The banned militant group, which launched its violent campaign for independence from France in 1976, says it has begun the process of demilitarization without preconditions and will pursue its goals through political channels. The group's cause still has plenty of support on the island of 320,000 people, where at least 40% of homes are second properties owned by non-residents, the Financial Times finds. The regional assembly recently restricted property purchases to those who have been residents for at least five years, and the militants say that move and similar ones show that we are moving from a phase of combat and resistance to a phase of the construction of a true Corsican political power.
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(Apr 14, 2009 2:10 PM CDT) Strunk and White's classic writing guide, The Elements of Style, has some harmless things to say about style, Geoffrey Pullum writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education, but its assault on grammar is unforgivable. The toxic mix of purism, atavism, and personal eccentricity is not underpinned by a proper grounding in English grammar, Pullum writes of the book, 50 this month. Though Pullum takes exception to some of Strunk and White's pronouncements, particularly about passive clauses, the real problem is how poorly the book is written. Its contempt for its own grammatical dictates seems almost willful, as if the authors were flaunting the fact that the rules don't apply to them. The book does not deserve an anniversary fete: Strunk and White are just wrong about the facts of English syntax.
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(Jan 2, 2011 10:24 AM) Who's the moderate conservative, Mormon ex-governor making ripples in the 2012 presidential pool? Not Mitt Romney--meet Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah who President Obama appointed ambassador to China in 2009. The move, seen as an effort to neutralize the only potential rival who made Team Obama a wee bit queasy, has done anything but: Huntsman recently bought a $3.6 million home in Washington, DC, and isn't shy about signaling he's giving 2012 a long look, reports Newsweek. Huntsman won't confirm that he's taking on his boss, but he does say, But we won't do this forever, and I think we may have one final run left in our bones. The billionaire businessman's son doesn't even register on GOP pollsters' radar, and would certainly face stiff competition from Romney in terms of support and campaign cash, but that could change quickly: We're a fire squad, says one former supporter, if he says the word, we can get things going fast.
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(Jun 12, 2015 8:58 AM CDT) The WNEP news anchor reporting on Pauline Spagnola might have been right on the money when he said she may have thrown back a few while celebrating her 100th birthday on Tuesday. That's because, like the 110-year-old Nebraska man who attributes his longevity to a daily can of beer, Spagnola has a similar secret to staying alive for as long as possible: a fair amount of booze, is what she apparently told WNEP. The newly crowned centenarian didn't have much else to reveal to reporters at the party thrown for her at the Golden LivingCenter-East Mountain assisted-living facility in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.--but that piece of advice alone seems to have carried her through the past century, so ... cheers. (The French also have a secret for long life--and it literally stinks.)
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(Jul 5, 2013 10:18 AM CDT) At least three people are dead in Cairo after security forces opened fire on supporters of the freshly-ousted president Mohamed Morsi, security sources tell Reuters. While an army spokesman says the military did not use live rounds, the BBC reports that forces fired at a crowd of Muslim Brotherhood supporters as they gathered outside the Republican Guard barracks where Morsi is being held. Other violent clashes have been reported in cities across Egypt as thousands of Morsi supporters gathered to protest the military coup that removed the country's first democratically elected leader from power. Across the country, 10 people have been killed and 210 wounded in the clashes, the AP reports, citing a Health Ministry official. Earlier, the army had said it would support the planned rally, citing the rights of peaceful protest and freedom of expression. Click for more of today's developments.
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(Aug 23, 2011 7:58 AM CDT) A cheaper, 8GB iPhone 4 is on its way, and could be available within weeks, reports Reuters. A Korean supplier has reportedly started manufacturing the new flash drive for the phone, say sources. Analysts suspect the plan may be to use this phone as a way to juice sales in developing markets, where customers want to switch to low- to mid-end smartphones from high-end feature phones, which usually cost $150 to $200, said one analyst. But that price point isn't too achievable in this round, says the analyst: I think for an 8GB iPhone 4 the price is hard to go below $200, so Apple will still need a completely new phone with low specifications for the emerging markets.
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(Jan 3, 2008 11:42 AM) Merck today finalized a deal worth as much as $700 million to license a schizophrenia drug from Swiss biotech firm Addex Pharmaceuticals. Addex will get $22 million up front, and qualify for another $680 million in milestone payments. Such licensing deals are growing commonplace, Reuters reports, as big pharma turns to little biotech to refill drug pipelines. Addex, one of a number of newly public Swiss biotech firms, saw its stock rise 6.5% on the news; analysts expect more deals from it before 2008 is over. Addex has signed two deals with Merck alone--the other is a $170.5 million pact to develop a Parkinson's drug--but will still burn $22.2-26.6 million in 2008.
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(Apr 23, 2008 4:29 PM CDT) Apple's profit surged 36% in its second quarter, beating analysts' estimates thanks to strong sales of laptops, Bloomberg reports. The company earned $1.05 billion, or $1.16 a share; analysts expected $1.06 a share. Revenue grew 43%, to $7.5 billion, despite the sluggish economy. The company sold 2.29 million Macs, with strong sales in particular of its new ultra-thin Air notebook. We're seeing this Mac resurgence because of the sex appeal of the brand,'' said an industry analyst. The MacBook Air is novel enough that it brings people into the Apple store, even if they're not in the market for it.''
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(Jun 7, 2019 4:14 PM CDT) A former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman who had called 911 said Friday he knew in an instant I was wrong and apologized to her family, moments before a judge brushed off a defense request for leniency and ordered him to prison for 12 1/2 years. Mohamed Noor was convicted in April of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the US and Australia. Noor shot Damond when she approached his squad car in the alley behind her home. Noor's lawyers had argued for a light sentence, the AP reports, saying a prison term would only compound the tragedy and keep him from doing service. But Judge Kathryn Quaintance followed the recommendation under state guidelines. The act may have been based on a miscalculation, but it was an intentional act, Quaintance said.
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(Oct 8, 2019 5:10 AM CDT) A relative who arrived at a home in a Boston suburb Monday morning to take children to school made a horrifying find downstairs: The body of their mother, 40-year-old Deirdre Zaccardi. After the relative called 911, police found the bodies of the family's three children--11-year-old Alexis and 9-year-old twins Nathaniel and Kathryn--elsewhere in the Abington home, along with that of father Joseph Zaccardi, 43, the Boston Globe reports. All five had been shot. At a press conference Monday, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz did not disclose whether the deaths were a murder-suicide, but said the community is not in danger. The family did not have any known history of domestic issues, Cruz told reporters. A crime occurred in that building and three little children are gone forever as a result of this, Cruz said. This is a horrible, horrible event, he added. I think when something like this, unimaginable like this happens, there's always going to be more questions than there are going to be answers. The New York Post reports that Joseph Zaccardi was a struggling children's book author, whose books included All Mixed Up and Sammy the Once Sad Caterpillar. On Facebook, he listed his employment status as Unemployed and Going Crazy, according to the Post. People reports that Deirdre Zaccardi worked as an office manager for a Boston marketing consulting firm. A spokesperson for relatives said they wanted to be left alone to grieve their unfathomable loss.
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(Oct 6, 2015 5:30 PM CDT) Kaleigh Hansen must have the magic touch. The massage therapist at the Northern Lights Spa at Anchorage's Ted Stevens International Airport says she gave a Colorado man a basic one-hour massage on Sept. 27 as he waited for a flight back home after a hunting trip, per KTUU. But when he went to pay for the $120 service, he handed her a check for $5,000 as a tip. I grabbed the piece of paper and ... just looked at him, Hansen says. The man later assured her coworkers he didn't mistakenly add one to two extra zeros. Hansen says she plans to perform random acts of kindness with the money. Like if I'm getting coffee I'll pay for the person behind me, she says.
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(Aug 23, 2011 11:32 AM CDT) For the past three years, the biggest-selling beer in the world was a brew you've probably never heard of: China's Snow Beer, reports the Telegraph. And with the Chinese beer market surging by 10% a year, expect Snow to grow even bigger. Though not as well known as Tsingtao, Snow has grown by buying up breweries all over China since it was formed in 1993 in a joint venture between SABMiller and China Resources. Last year, Snow sold 16.5 billion pints, about twice as much as former No. 1 seller Bud Light. Although very light and bland by the standards of most beer lovers in the West, Snow works well with the Chinese palate. Chinese still see beer mostly as an accompaniment to a meal, said the head of SABMiller in Asia. Half of all beer is drunk in restaurants, and with spicy food, they want a less filling and less heavy beer. They prefer low alcohol (typically between 3% and 4%) and a more American taste profile.
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(Aug 24, 2017 5:01 PM CDT) A publicist for Jay Thomas says the actor and radio host has died. Thomas was 69. In a statement Thursday, publicist Tom Estey said his longtime friend and client will be dearly missed by many, the AP reports. Thomas' longtime agent tells the New York Daily News the comedian died of cancer. Thomas played Eddie LeBac, the former-hockey-player husband of barmaid Carla on Cheers. He played tabloid TV show host Jerry Gold on Murphy Brown, for which he won two Emmys. He also starred in the sitcom Love & War as a sports writer romancing the woman who owned his favorite sports bar. His film roles include Mr. Holland's Opus and the second and third Santa Clause films. Thomas started out as a DJ in college and in recent years hosted a talk show on SiriusXM Radio.
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(Dec 11, 2016 9:07 AM) There's a freshman senator named John Kennedy headed for Washington, DC, in January, but Democrats won't exactly be happy to see him: The Republican won a runoff race for a Louisiana Senate seat Saturday night, sending Democrat Foster Campbell packing and delivering a final rebuke to Democrats who had been hoping to turn the seat blue and hold the GOP to a 51-49 edge. The win caps a year of historic Republican wins up and down the ballot, said the RNC co-chair in a statement. And with 52 seats in the US Senate, we are excited for Republicans to confirm a conservative Supreme Court justice and begin working with President-elect Trump to pass an agenda of change for the American people. Kennedy is the state's treasurer and replaces retiring Sen. David Vitter, reports the Hill. He was the frontrunner in the race from the get-go, notes the AP.
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(Apr 1, 2011 3:19 PM CDT) The family of a 14-year-old girl who was beaten to death in Bangladesh says she didn't commit adultery--she was raped. Hena Akhter's family talked to CNN this week, and offered a heartbreaking story of the girl's death. In their telling, Akhter's much older cousin, Mahbub Khan, had repeatedly harassed the girl, and finally this winter trapped her in a bathroom stall, gagged her, beat her, and raped her. When his wife walked in on the scene, she beat Hena, too, and then reported the adultery to the local Imam. A makeshift tribunal sentenced Hena to 101 lashes--she passed out after 70. She arrived at the hospital bleeding badly, and died a week later. Yet the autopsy report listed no injuries, ruling her death a suicide. Now, Hena's family is suing that doctor, and have ensured that many involved in Hena's punishment have been arrested. Bangladesh's public seems outraged, and that might be the faint silver lining here, writes Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. Let's hope that the public reaction and punishments are so strong that the word goes out ... that such misogynist fatwas are not only immoral but illegal.
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(Jun 3, 2018 3:30 PM CDT) Tanzania's beloved conjoined twin sisters, Maria and Consolata Mwakikuti, have died at the age of 21. Known for their determination and desire to overcome obstacles and gain an education as much as for their rare condition, the sisters were so well-known even Tanzania's president John Magufuli tweeted about their deaths, per BBC. I am saddened by the death of twins, Maria and Consolata, the president wrote. When I last visited them at hospital they prayed for the nation. My condolences to their family... Rest in peace my children. Maria and Consolata were admitted to a hospital after starting to suffer from cardiac issues back in January, according to AFP. Despite some improvements, the twins died Saturday. Joined at the navel down and sharing lungs and a liver, their short lives were marked by both tragedy and triumph starting while they were still infants. The twins were raised by the Catholic charity Maria Consolata, for which they were named, after their mother abandoned them following the death of their father. In a country not known for its kindness toward the disabled, the twins became national figures after beating the odds to graduate from high school in 2017 before enrolling in college, an even more stunning accomplishment. They'd hoped to go on to serve their country as language and history teachers.
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(Feb 11, 2014 12:41 AM) An explosion yesterday rocked a small-town New Hampshire plant that manufactures ball bearings, shaking walls, shattering windows, and sending at least 15 people to the hospital, but a company spokeswoman says none of their injuries appeared to be life-threatening. Hazardous-materials teams responded after the blast at the New Hampshire Ball Bearings Inc. plant in Peterborough, but firefighters said there didn't appear to be any environmental damage. The blast blew out windows on the three-story building's ground floor, a fire department spokesman says. There was heavy explosion damage, and the first arriving firefighters saw a column of smoke. The cause of the explosion was under investigation, but all indications were that it was an industrial-related incident, the spokesman says. At the time of the blast, around 450 people were working in the plant, which manufactures high-tech parts for the aerospace industry.
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(Jul 27, 2009 3:00 AM CDT) Police busted 19 men suspected of operating a canary fight ring in Connecticut, reports WFSB TV. Some 150 canaries and saffron finches were confiscated in Shelton. There were 100 canaries fighting, and they were betting on them 'til they were dead. It's absolutely shocking, said a neighbor. Canaries are increasingly being used in illegal fights instead of roosters, said a police official. They'll fight to the death and they don't make the noise that typical roosters make and they don't smell, he said. They fall under the radar because we wouldn't think it suspicious if people have a lot of canaries.
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