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(Sep 1, 2016 9:50 AM CDT) To the European Union, a $14.5 billion bill for back taxes it handed Apple Tuesday is a valid request for recompense. To Apple CEO Tim Cook, it's maddening and nothing more than total political crap --and Washington seems inclined to agree, with US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew noting Wednesday the European Commission's ruling was an attempt to tax income that ought to be taxed in the United States, per Reuters and RTE. Cook--who told RTE that Apple has several billion dollars put aside to pay US tax liabilities, per the AP--refutes his company getting any sweetheart deals and specifically takes issue with the effective tax rate of 0.005% it supposedly paid on European profits in 2014, saying Apple forked over a worldwide income tax rate of 26.1% that year. But European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager says what's crap is Cook's assessment, noting the info that resulted in the ruling came directly from Apple-provided numbers and other openly available data. Now European countries are stepping up with their own opinions, and it seems they're not Team Apple. The French finance minister said in a presser that it's normal to make Apple pay normal taxes, joining Germany in supporting the ruling. Who's really in a pickle at the moment: Ireland, which is struggling to decide whether to take the huge tax payment (Reuters notes it would pay for the country's health system for a full year) or turn it down so it can keep cajoling others into its low-tax fold, therefore creating jobs. Some regular Irish citizens say to just go for the cash. They don't care about the normal people, one woman who cares for her ailing elderly mother tells Reuters. The money should be spent on the old-age pensioners who worked all their lives and are struggling to survive. (Apple and the US only have themselves to blame, says a New York Times editorial.)
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(Apr 20, 2016 2:24 PM CDT) Neal Gabler has written and published books and hundreds of articles, won awards and fellowships, appeared on a movie-review TV show for three years, and even sold the rights to one of his books to Martin Scorsese. Yet he is among the 47% of Americans who, according to a 2013 Federal Reserve Board survey, would have trouble coming up with the funds to cover an emergency costing $400. In an extensive piece for the Atlantic, he looks at other, similarly depressing numbers about the financial state of many Americans, and traces some of the reasons for this--people who increasingly spent money using credit cards and then were walloped by the Great Recession, wages that have been basically stagnant since 1972, and more. And he looks at his own story, which involves the complications of the way he earns money (some years are very good; others very bad), living beyond his means because [his] means kept dwindling, and making several poor financial choices. Gabler's not looking for sympathy, he writes: And let me be clear that I am not crying over my plight. I have it a lot better than many, probably most, Americans--which is my point. Maybe we all screwed up. Maybe the 47% of American adults who would have trouble with a $400 emergency should have done things differently and more rationally. Maybe we all lived more grandly than we should have. But I doubt that brushstroke should be applied so broadly. Many middle-class wage earners are victims of the economy, and, perhaps, of that great, glowing, irresistible American promise that has been drummed into our heads since birth: Just work hard and you can have it all. Wages remain flat, personal savings remain low, and it remains difficult to maintain a middle-class life: Hope doesn't come easily anymore, even in a nation of dreamers and strivers and idealists. What so many of us have been suffering for so many years may just seem like a rough patch. But it is far more likely to be our lives. Click for his full piece.
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(May 18, 2010 2:53 PM CDT) A suicide attack in Kabul that killed five US troops today has brought the American death toll in the war to 1,000, reports the New York Times. In an extended look at the unwanted milestone, the Times notes that it took 7 years to reach the first 500 deaths and fewer than 2 to reach the second. Also, the casualties are getting younger, with the average age now 25, down from 28 a few years ago.
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(Apr 24, 2013 7:16 PM CDT) The number of cheetahs in the wild has been dropping so quickly that wildlife experts think the animal could disappear by 2030, reports AFP. They estimate that maybe 10,000 of the big cats exist, mostly in Africa, down from 100,000 about a century ago. The problem is that while the animals' natural habitat is shrinking, the animals generally don't do well in wildlife preserves. They need more far more open space because, fast as they may be, they can't compete against bigger animals such as lions and leopards. To make matters worse, the cheetah is suffering from widespread inbreeding as its world shrinks. One sliver of hope, according to AFP, is that the animals are easily tamed and thus can be raised in captivity. The big question is whether cheetahs born in captivity can survive once released in the wild, and early experiments haven't been encouraging. Click for more.
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(Dec 8, 2008 9:33 AM) Dow Chemical Co. will slash 5,000 full-time jobs--about 11% of its total work force--close 20 plants, and sell several businesses to rein in costs amid the recession, the company announced today. One of the largest chemical makers in the world, Dow expects the moves to save about $700 million per year by 2010. Dow also will temporarily idle 180 plants and prune 6,000 contractors from its payroll. We are accelerating the implementation of these measures, said CEO Andrew Liveris. We must adjust ourselves to the severity of this downturn. But the company denied it will suspend dividend payments as a way to conserve cash. In a conference call today, Liveris said Dow has paid a dividend each quarter for nearly 100 years, and has no plans to stop that trend. We will not break that string...not on my watch, he said.
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(Feb 8, 2008 9:06 AM) Oral Roberts University leaders funneled $1 billion a year from the books for their personal use, a former accountant alleges in a lawsuit. The charges are the latest accusations of financial misdeeds to hit the college, the AP reports. The suit names former president Richard Roberts and his wife as among the defendants. Board members also participated, says the suit, so the foxes were watching the hen house. Roberts, who resigned shortly after accountant Trent Huddleston's first complaint in November, had already been called out by three fired professors for using university funds to bankroll his lavish lifestyle and spruce up his mansion. While university spokesmen call the new suit grounded in fantasy, Huddleston's lawyer insists that the lawsuit speaks for itself.
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(Dec 30, 2009 7:54 AM) Google's upcoming phone will cost users $530 unlocked and unsubsidized--or $180 with a 2-year T-Mobile contract, Gizmodo reports from leaked documents. The tech firm will sell its new gadget itself, and sources tell TMO News that it will go on sale January 5 at 9am, There's just one rate plan on T-Mobile: $79.99 a month. If users nix their plan before the 120-day mark, they'll have to shell out $350--the difference between the T-Mobile and unlocked prices--unless you want to just return the phone. Each Google account is eligible for only five phones, which Google is dubbing the Nexus One. The leaked documents also suggest phones may be shipped outside the US.
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(Nov 2, 2018 6:48 AM CDT) Throughout childhood, brothers Steven and Michael Carroll were told their father went out and just never came back. It turns out he might never have left the family's Lake Grove, NY, home after all. Steven Carroll's adult sons were digging in the basement on the eve of Halloween when they found human bones the family believes belong to George Carroll, who vanished in 1961, reports Newsday. It wasn't exactly a surprise: Michael, who bought the home from his mother in the 1980s, began digging in the basement three years ago after a psychic and a person close to the situation told him his father's remains could be found there. The search intensified after ground-penetrating radar showed a soil disturbance beneath the house. Steven's sons took over the work in the last few months, ultimately finding bones 6 to 8 feet down, near an old well encased in concrete. Suffolk police plan to use dental records or DNA testing to identify the remains in a process that could take months. As for the question of who would have killed George, 57-year-old Michael, who was an infant when the Korean War veteran went missing, tells WABC he has someone in mind. But he wouldn't say more, other than to say the perpetrator is likely dead. CBS New York reports it asked Michael the same thing, and that he didn't want to speculate but did suggest there were troubles in George's marriage to Dorothy, who died in 1998. I feel great that my dad is finally free from that crappy hole, says Michael. (Bones found behind a wall suggested a fatal misstep.)
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(Dec 28, 2012 3:50 PM) The good news for Silvio Berlusconi is that he gets to keep the $100 million villa. The bad news is that he has to pay ex-wife Veronica Lario $48 million a year in alimony, reports the BBC. The former Italian prime minister reached a settlement with Lario this week. It's steep, but Forbes has pegged the media tycoon's worth at $6 billion. Lario left Berlusconi in 2009 when he was spotted in the company of an 18-year-old model. Today, the 76-year-old is engaged to an older woman--she's only 50 years his junior.
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(Jun 28, 2020 10:40 AM CDT) I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility, actor John Wayne said in a 1971 interview. Those views--and quite a few others--are catching up to him. The Democratic Party of Orange County wants Wayne's name removed from the California airport that has carried it since 1979, the year the Hollywood icon died. The Democrats' resolution cited Wayne's racist and bigoted statements, per TMZ. Other efforts to change the signs in Santa Ana have gone nowhere, including one last year after the Playboy interview recirculated on Twitter, per Newsweek. Wayne, a committed opponent of Communism, was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Wayne's disparaging comments in the interview were wide-ranging. He referred to the gay characters in the film Midnight Cowboy with a homophobic slur. There was nothing wrong with seizing land from Native Americans, he said: There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves. The airport was built on an old Army base, and the area also had a couple of major air bases. A oped in the Orange County Register said the area has been home to plenty of heroes who would better a better choice for an airport name. Their stories better express the county's values, state Sen. Thomas Umberg says. We should be proud to tell our children who our airport is named after, he writes, and why. (Ethan Wayne has defended his father.)
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(Jan 3, 2020 9:51 AM) It's a security tip unique to this particular new year: Authorities say people should avoid abbreviating the year 2020 on checks and any other documents. Instead, write out 2020 in its entirety. Why? Writing 1/3/20 or something like that makes it easy for someone to doctor the document by sticking a few numbers onto the end. Consider this example, from Ira Rheingold of the National Association of Consumer Advocates to USA Today: Say you agreed to make payments beginning on 1/15/20. The bad guy could theoretically establish that you began owing your obligation on 1/15/2019, and try to collect additional $$$, Rheingold writes. It might not be a high-probability scam, but even police departments--including the East Millinocket department in Maine in this Facebook post--say it's smart advice and could potentially save you some trouble down the road. A story at KRON cites another example from auditor Dusty Rhodes in regard to legal papers. If you just write 1/1/20, one could easily change it to 1/1/2017 (for instance) and now your signature is on an incorrect document, he writes.
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(Sep 14, 2017 12:33 AM CDT) A fire killed 24 people, mostly teenagers, trapped behind barred windows and a blocked exit in an Islamic school dormitory on the outskirts of Malaysia's capital early Thursday, officials said. Firefighters rushed to the scene after receiving a distress call at 5:41am and took an hour to put out the blaze, which started on the top floor of the three-story building, Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh said. He said there were at least 24 charred bodies, 22 of them boys between 13 and 17, and two teachers. Singh said 14 other students and four teachers were rescued, with six of them hospitalized in critical condition. The fire broke out near the door of the boys' dormitory, trapping the victims as it was the only entrance and the windows have grills, fire department senior official Abu Obaidat Mohamad Saithalimat said. He said the cause was believed to be an electrical short-circuit. A witness says she saw hands reaching out through the grilled windows and heard boys crying and screaming for help, but the fire was too strong for her to do anything, the AP reports. The Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah is a private Islamic center, known as a tahfiz school, for Muslim children to study and memorize the Koran. Many such centers are exempt from state inspections, and the Star reports that the school opened about a year ago without applying for a fire permit.
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(Aug 21, 2013 7:43 AM CDT) Kelly Burke, now 45, struggled with infertility before deciding to adopt an embryo in order to have a child--and not just any embryo, but one frozen 18 years ago. A couple in Oregon who went through IVF to have twins in 1994 (themselves using donated eggs) had decided to donate their four remaining embryos. Burke, a NASA research scientist living in Virginia Beach, adopted the embryos in a rigorous process last year; son Liam James was born in November 2012. Her doctor believes it's the second-oldest cryopreserved human embryo to result in a live birth. (The oldest, reported in 2010, is believed to be 19 years and 7 months. Embryos are not easy to come by and the opportunity came unexpectedly. I was excited by the idea of carrying my child, says Burke in a press release from the Reproductive Science Center of the Bay Area, which housed the embryos and performed the implantation. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that it was an open embryo adoption, so her son will have a relationship with his siblings--who will be of voting age as Liam turns one.
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(Sep 1, 2015 6:46 PM CDT) A Hall of Fame wrestler was arrested today and charged with murder 32 years after his mistress was found beaten and unresponsive in a Pennsylvania hotel room, the AP reports. In 1983, Jimmy Superfly Snuka, one of the World Wrestling Federation's biggest stars, returned to his hotel room after an event to find 23-year-old Nancy Argentino gasping for air and oozing yellow fluid from her mouth and nose, according to the Allentown Morning Call. Argentino died the next day, and an autopsy report, which classified the death as a homicide, stated she had brain injuries and scores of cuts and bruises all over her body. Despite Snuka being the only person of interest in the case, he was never charged. That autopsy report was never seen until it was dug up by the Morning Call as part of a 2013 story on the cold case, a story the AP reports prompted the district attorney to send the case to a grand jury last year. Between the autopsy, Snuka's multiple accounts of how Argentino was injured--including allegedly telling multiple people he pushed her--and previous allegations of abuse on his part against both Argentino and his wife, the grand jury found enough to charge the 72-year-old former wrestler with murder and involuntary manslaughter. It's been a long road, Argentino's sister tells the Morning Call. They did the right thing in the face of all the evidence. In his 2012 autobiography, Snuka, who was reportedly diagnosed with stomach cancer this month, says Argentino's death ruined his life. (Click for a list of athletes convicted of homicide.)
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(Jul 14, 2012 2:17 PM CDT) At least 20 are dead and 400,000 are under evacuation orders after flooding ravaged south-west Japan over the past three days, report the BBC and AFP. Television footage has shown flooded houses and streets deluged with muddy, debris-filled water, following what officials called unprecedented seasonal rainfall. The southern island of Kyushu was hit especially hard, and officials say landslides and flooding there will only continue. Two men were rescued from landslides but their conditions were not immediately available. One woman was still trapped, said a spokesman on Kyushu, which had up to 4.3 inches of rain per hour today. I don't remember any flooding which stretched over such a wide area in our prefecture.
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(Dec 26, 2008 4:45 PM) California is beefing up its distracted-driving laws, DailyTech reports, with a ban on adults texting while at the wheel going into effect Jan. 1. The state instituted a hands-free law in July, at the same time prohibiting teen drivers from texting and driving; the new law extends to adults, and allows police to cite drivers they believe to be reading or writing texts, with a minimum fine of $20.
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(Dec 16, 2016 10:35 AM) The 3.5-second symphony covers nearly half of the sound range that humans can hear, rising from a frequency as low as 38 hertz to an 8,000-hertz metallic finale. But unless you make a detour to waters above the deepest spot in the ocean, you might never hear it. Initially stumped by the Western Pacific Biotwang --recorded above the deepest known part of Earth's oceans, the Mariana Trench--scientists now believe the noise comes from a species of baleen whale called minke whales. Minke whales are found in the area, but little is known about their vocalizations as the species doesn't spend much time at the surface, has an inconspicuous blow, and often lives in areas where high seas make sighting difficult, researcher Sharon Nieukirk tells Live Science. However, it is known that minke whales call frequently, says Nieukirk, and acoustic robots recorded the Western Pacific Biotwang on several occasions between the fall of 2014 and spring of 2015. It's very distinct, with all these crazy parts, Nieukirk says in a statement. The low-frequency moaning part is typical of baleen whales, and it's that kind of twangy sound that makes it really unique. If the sound is confirmed to come from a baleen whale, it would be significant as identifying a new baleen-whale call is a rare occurrence. It's unclear what the call might mean--a mating call would only be heard seasonally--but researchers plan to collect biopsy samples to learn more, reports the Christian Science Monitor. (The Mariana Trench is quite noisy. And dirty.)
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(Oct 20, 2019 9:40 AM CDT) A woman driving through Philadelphia on Saturday night heard gunfire, so in trying to flee, she kept driving. When she stopped after about 10 minutes, WCAU reports, she saw bullet holes in her car and realized her 11-month-old stepdaughter had been shot. She rushed the girl to a hospital, where she was listed in critical condition Sunday morning. The girl had been shot once in the back of the head, once in the chest, and twice in the buttocks, per the Inquirer. No arrests have been made in the shooting. Three men were shot nearby about an hour earlier, but police have not released any information about the investigation. My heart is breaking right now, a neighbor of the stepmother says. I don't know what to do.
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(Oct 25, 2012 2:40 PM CDT) Mitt Romney's lead over President Obama stands at 3 points in today's Gallup tracking poll, and among registered voters Obama actually leads 48-47. The poll is noteworthy, the Hill explains, because Gallup has lately been much higher on Romney than all the other polls; he was ahead by 3 yesterday, too, but for most of last week, he was up between 5 and 7 points. The results back up a trend Nate Silver has been seeing: It appears Romney's rise has stalled. Yesterday he lost ground in five out of six daily polls. This is the closest we've come in a week or so to one candidate clearly having 'won' the day ... and it was Mr. Obama, Silver writes. It's improbable that Mr. Romney would have a day like this if he still had momentum. Romney still has a slight edge in RealClearPolitics' polling average, but Silver's prediction model still has Obama as a 71% favorite to win.
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(Jan 25, 2018 6:49 PM) 50 Cent just might be the world's greatest businessman (that bit of bankruptcy notwithstanding). Not only did the rapper make a reported $100 million from his investment in Vitamin Water when it sold to Coca-Cola, but the Guardian reports he recently became a bitcoin millionaire--apparently without realizing it. Back in 2014, 50 Cent released his fifth album, Animal Ambition. It didn't sell well and probably wouldn't be worth mentioning except that the rapper decided to accept bitcoin as payment to--as per the International Business Times-- stay with the times. 50 Cent earned 700 bitcoin in album sales, with each unit of the cryptocurrency worth around $662 at the time. As of earlier this week, the value of a single bitcoin stood at a much more impressive $10,850. Sources tell TMZ that 50 Cent left his digital stack of bitcoin sitting in his account in the years since Animal Ambition--despite being officially bankrupt between 2015 and 2017. Now, depending on who you ask, his bitcoin are worth between $7.5 million and $8 million. Not Bad for a kid from South Side, I'm so proud of me, NPR quotes 50 Cent as saying in an Instagram post. LOL. He added in a comment: I'm a keep it real. I forgot I did that s***. Congratulations to 50 Cent, a man so good at business he accidentally made up to $8 million on one of his worst-selling albums. Or, as the Guardian puts it: Nothing has any point any more. We should all just give up.
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(Apr 28, 2016 10:44 AM CDT) In animating news for DreamWorks, Comcast's NBCUniversal will scoop up the studio, behind such films as Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, in a deal worth $3.8 billion, the AP reports. The acquisition, which the Los Angeles Times says came together with breathtaking speed, will result in DreamWorks Animation being absorbed into the Universal Filmed Entertainment group, with DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg taking on the role of chairman of DreamWorks New Media, as well as serving as a consultant to NBCUniversal. DreamWorks Animation is a great addition to NBCUniversal, Steve Burke, NBCUniversal's CEO, says. [Katzenberg] and the DreamWorks organization have created a dynamic film brand and a deep library of intellectual property ... [and] will help us grow our film, television, theme parks, and consumer products businesses for years to come. CNNMoney notes the deal, though smaller, is akin to Disney's ambitions when it bought Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006, with theme park and merchandising elements being key to the buy. Although Comcast has put out successful animated films, including Despicable Me and Minions, joining forces with DW could help it compete with Disney, the Wall Street Journal notes. Katzenberg launched DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994, per USA Today, and the animation studio branched off as a public company in 2004. I am proud to say that NBCUniversal is the perfect home for our company; a home that will embrace the legacy of our storytelling and grow our businesses to their fullest potential, Katzenberg said. The deal, which will pay DreamWorks investors $41 per share, is to close by year's end. (Katzenberg was so addicted to Breaking Bad he once offered to pay $75 million for three extra episodes.)
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(Mar 26, 2009 11:00 AM CDT) Commercial real-estate borrowers are defaulting on their loans at an ever-faster pace, and experts now believe the crisis could match or exceed the early-1990s slump, the Wall Street Journal reports. That catastrophe killed off 1,000 banks and savings institutions, with lenders taking $48.5 billion in charges. This time, one firm estimates, as much as $250 billion could be lost, resulting in more than 700 bank failures. Since September, the delinquency rate on about $700 billion in securitized commercial loans has more than doubled, to 1.8%. That's a bit shy of the '90s rate--though not bad compared to home delinquencies. In just seven months, we've gone from the best of times to the worst of times, said Deutsche Bank's head of commercial mortgage securities.
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(Dec 5, 2009 12:24 PM) The Kindle will begin selling short stories next week picked and edited by The Atlantic magazine. Amazon's e-reader will offer two a month for $3.99 each, with the first two appearing Monday from Christopher Buckley and Irish writer Edna O'Brien. The latter writes her fiction in longhand and had never heard of the Kindle until this deal, notes the New York Times. The stories are exclusive to the Kindle. The plan could provide a home for stories too long for magazines but too short for a book. Buckley's piece, for instance, is 15,000 words. Sure, ideally, I would like it printed on archival paper and bound in red morocco with gold embossed for a limited edition and signed by the author, he tells the Times. But if the Kindle edition grabs some eyeballs--and I guess grabbing eyeballs is what the Internet is all about--then I'm all for it.
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(Mar 4, 2013 12:07 AM) Bobby Rogers, a founding member of Motown hit machine The Miracles, has died at the age of 73 after a long illness. Rogers--a songwriter and choreographer as well as one of the group's five voices--kept the group going through various incarnations until health issues forced him to retire in 2011; he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. He had the sparkling personality that was loved by everyone, fellow Miracle Claudette Robinson tells the Detroit Free Press. He was personable, approachable, and he loved talking to the women, loved talking to the guys, loved to dance, loved to sing, loved to perform. That was the joy of his life. Another soldier in my life has fallen, longtime Miracles frontman Smokey Robinson tells CNN. Bobby Rogers was my brother and a really good friend. He and I were born on the exact same day in the same hospital in Detroit. I am really going to miss him. I loved him very much.
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(Jun 3, 2014 9:32 AM CDT) 50 Cent stopped by Power 105.1 Monday, and told a pretty interesting story about Beyonce: One time she jumped off of a ledge and came running over cause she thought me and Jay had issues, he said. I was like, 'What the f---? Did she really just jump down and run up on me like that?' She jumped down and she was like this, 'What? That Bonnie and Clyde for real! You try this or what, boy? I'm here!' She bugged out at me. He didn't elaborate on why she thought there was a problem between him and Jay, but the Daily Mail notes the rappers have a longstanding rivalry, and 50 recently made fun of last month's elevator brawl between Jay Z and Beyonce's sister, Solange. In any case, the close call at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas apparently ended well: I looked and Jay starts laughing. He's like, 'Yo, you know what it is.'
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(Jul 14, 2016 5:25 PM CDT) Authorities say at least 77 people are dead and dozens more injured after a truck plowed into a Bastille Day celebration Thursday in Nice, France. Reuters reports the crowd was leaving holiday festivities at the Promenade des Anglais seaside walk when the truck hit it. The truck drove for more than a mile through the crowd, according to CNN. A witness tells the Guardian the truck was going between 25mph and 30mph. I was walking for nearly a mile, and there were dead bodies all over the place, a journalist at the scene says. We saw people hit and bits of debris flying around, another reporter says. It was absolute chaos. The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation for murder, attempted murder in an organized group linked to a terrorist enterprise, reports AP. There are reports the driver of the truck, who was believed to be the only person inside, fired on the crowd. The driver was shot and killed by police, and authorities say they found weapons, including guns and grenades, inside the truck. Authorities are asking people to stay inside their homes. CBS News reports French anti-terror police are now investigating the attack. President Obama condemned what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack, adding, Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed.
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(May 24, 2009 3:58 PM CDT) Helio Castroneves won his third Indianapolis 500 today, beating 2005 winner Dan Wheldon by 1.981 seconds and leaving Danica Patrick in third, the best finish by a woman at Indianapolis. With 10 laps to go, Castroneves' lead was 1.38 seconds, and he continued widening the gap the rest of the way. Townsend Bell was fourth and Will Power fifth. Last year's winner, Scott Dixon, finished sixth. Castroneves, who started from the pole, had a half-second lead over teammate Ryan Briscoe before a hard crash by Vitor Meira and rookie Raphael Matos brought out the yellow caution with 26 laps to go in today's race. But Briscoe had to come in for fuel, moving Wheldon up to second and Patrick third. The green came out after 183 of the 200 laps, and Castroneves began pulling away for good.
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(Jul 8, 2010 4:45 AM CDT) The list of Craigslist crimes keeps growing. Police have now busted a $1million dollar drug ring operating through the site. The group allegedly shipped drugs like Vicodin and Adderall from California to Brooklyn where web-savvy wholesalers pawned the pharm off to neighborhood yuppies, reports the New York Daily News. The accused, who are twentysomethings, face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Click here to read about another creative Craigslist venture (hint: it involves panties).
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(Mar 17, 2012 3:30 PM CDT) The Thai billionaire who sparked the worldwide energy drink craze and co-founded Red Bull has died of natural causes in Bangkok, the AP reports. Chaleo Yoovidhya was 89. Born to a Thai mother and Chinese father who sold ducks and fruit to survive, Chaelo died as Thailand's third-richest man. He founded TC Pharmaceuticals in the 1960s and created an energy drink a decade later called Krathing Daeng, which translates roughly as Red Bull. (The bull is actually a near-extinct, cattle-like animal, reports the Bangkok Post. The drink was popular mostly with Thai blue-collar workers until Chaleo and Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz released their own version of Red Bull in 1987, starting an international business that still sells billions of drinks annually. According to a daily paper in Thailand, Chaleo will be remembered as a business and marketing genius who put the Thai energy drink on the global map.
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(Nov 14, 2018 8:51 AM) A former University of Alaska Anchorage runner who lost both of his feet to frostbite in 2011 ran his first marathon and became an American citizen last week, the AP reports. Marko Cheseto, 35, finished 613th overall out of nearly 53,000 runners at the New York City Marathon on Nov. 4, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Two days later, he became a US citizen. Cheseto, who's from Kenya, went to Anchorage in 2008 on an athletic scholarship, quickly earning honors in track and cross-country. Grieving the death of another Anchorage runner from Kenya, Cheseto disappeared in the woods near campus in November 2011, his senior year of school. Temperatures dipped to the single digits, and it snowed more than a foot. On the third day he was missing, Cheseto stumbled back with his shoes frozen to his feet, resulting in amputations.
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(Apr 2, 2009 9:02 PM CDT) A jury decided today that the University of Colorado unjustly fired one of its professors after he called 9/11 victims little Eichmanns in an essay, the Denver Post reports. Jurors, however, awarded Ward Churchill only $1 in damages. A judge will now determine whether the school must reinstate Churchill and pay him any lost wages. The school not only violated my rights, but my students' rights and the community's rights, said Churchill. The $1 judgment didn't bother him because his suit was about justice, he said, adding that he expected to be reinstated. Churchill's essay of Sept. 12, 2001, blamed misguided US policies for drawing the attacks, and it said some of the financial workers who died in the World Trade Center were complicit, notes the New York Times.
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(May 22, 2020 5:22 AM CDT) A 6-year-old boy in South Carolina has taken up magnet fishing as a hobby during the pandemic--and earlier this month, he reeled in a whopper. Knox Brewer helped reunite a woman with some stolen valuables after he fished a lockbox out of Whitney Lake, Fox reports. The boy had been hunting for metal objects underwater when his magnet attached itself to something big and a bystander helped bring it up. Knox's parents contacted police, who determined that the safe, which contained credit cards, jewelry, and a waterlogged checkbook, belonged to a woman who lived across the street from the lake. She said it had been stolen in 2012--two years before Knox was born. She got some missing charm bracelet pieces that were still left in there, Knox's mother says. She said all the expensive stuff was gone but at least she got closure and some of her pieces back. The first thing that she did was just kneel down, hug Knox, and thanked him for bringing that closure to her, the boy's father tells WCIV. He himself wants to one day become a police officer and so he got a lot of fun out of them coming out and investigating, asking questions, and get to the source.
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(Dec 10, 2014 8:29 AM) A Boston-area Chinese restaurant charging $1 more per plate than it advertises on its online menu may have served the wrong guy--a Harvard Business School professor specializing in online advertising fraud who wasted no time in pulling out the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Statute and threatening legal action. According to a lengthy email exchange published by the Boston Globe, Ben Edelman is seriously agitated, and though the mom-and-pop shop only overcharged him $4, he says it's the principle. If you look at my other work ... you'll see I've been pretty diligent in holding large companies accountable for their false statements of price and other attempts to overcharge passengers, he tells Business Insider. Should all small businesses get a free pass? The restaurant, Sichuan Garden, appears to have thus far complied with Edelman's requests, including refunding him $12 (three times what he was overcharged) and updating the online menu to reflect actual prices. Ran Duan, who tends bar at the restaurant for his parents, recently told the Globe: I personally respond to every complaint and try to handle every situation personally. ... I have worked so hard to make my family proud and to elevate our business. [This exchange] just broke my heart. It just so happens that GQ Magazine featured Duan last month, hailing him as America's Most Imaginative Bartender. (Speaking of overcharging, Sprint is being accused of padding this bill--to the tune of $21 million.)
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(Oct 19, 2011 2:25 PM CDT) Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan has come under a lot of fire, but Arthur Laffer, of the Laffer Center for Supply Side Economics, thinks it will right the wrongs of our federal tax code. These days we're mired in ever-more arcane tax codes that seek not just to raise revenues but to redistribute income and encourage and discourage various industries and behaviors, he writes in the Wall Street Journal. The whole purpose of a flat tax, a la 9-9-9, is to lower marginal tax rates and simplify our tax code. With marginal rates down, Laffer thinks both the demand for and the supply of labor and capital will increase. Output will soar, as will jobs. Tax revenues will ultimately increase, thanks to all that economic growth. Individuals and businesses could spend less hiring lawyers and accountants to navigate tax law, and will thus actually pay their taxes instead of ducking them. Some tax revenues at low rates is a heckuva lot better than no tax revenue at high tax rates.
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(Jun 28, 2010 4:15 PM CDT) Ten people have been arrested for allegedly serving as secret agents of the Russian government with the goal of penetrating the US government, the Justice Department said today. According to court papers in the case, the US government intercepted a message from Russian intelligence headquarters in Moscow to two of the defendants. The message states that their main mission is to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in US and send intelligence reports. The court papers cited numerous examples of communications intercepted by investigators that spelled out what the 10 were allegedly trying to do. They describe the defendants' communicating with purported Russian agents using a method not previously described in espionage cases here: by establishing a short-range wireless network between laptop computers and sending encrypted messages while the computers were near each other.
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(Jun 9, 2009 8:57 AM CDT) The Treasury Department has given 10 banks--including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, American Express, and Capital One--permission to repay their TARP loans, the Wall Street Journal reports. The government will recoup $68 billion faster than anticipated, but the money won't go back into the public coffers; Tim Geithner intends to deploy it to assist other firms, including some that have already received TARP funds. The Treasury must now decide how to deal with the 10-year warrants it holds for the companies' common stock. It must sell them, but it will have to decide at what price and to whom. Though the government hadn't originally intended the money to be repaid so quickly, Congress passed legislation earlier this year requiring they be allowed to do so, provided they meet government criteria.
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(Nov 9, 2013 6:26 AM) A cow pasture may not be the most typical testing ground for a new cologne, but then new colognes typically don't get written up in Modern Farmer. Such is the case with Farmer's Cologne out of Maine, which goes for $110 a bottle and has the unique selling point that cows seem to like it. That is, a chic farmer could wear it and not upset the sensitive noses of his bovine charges. Creator Lisa Brodar mixed natural oils and essences such as sandalwood, sage, and blue tansy to create a scent that has a woody, earthen musk, with only a hint of the pungency found in mainstream fragrance, writes Jesse Hirsch. His unscientific field test suggests that cows genuinely like it. In an earlier story in the LA Times, Adam Tschorn gives the cologne a favorable write-up and says it was redolent of the grain and hay smells of the cow barn from my Vermont childhood ... with an ever-so-slight medicinal note. If you can't picture an old-school farmer spritzing himself with a pricey cologne before milking, that might be because Brodar doesn't see farmers like that as her key clientele. It's for the guy in Brooklyn who wants to move back to the land, to become a homesteader ... but who still likes going out at night. One Green Planet likes that the product is vegan and mostly organic. The curious can check it out at the Portland General Store website. (Click to read about the debunked myth of cow-tipping.)
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(Apr 11, 2014 10:08 AM CDT) Chances are that you have heard the wisdom that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. It's a comforting thought. Who wouldn't like the idea of changing your life in just three weeks? asks James Clear at the Huffington Post. Unfortunately, it's also just not true. Clear traces the history of the myth back to a 1960 book by plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz, who observed that it tended to take patients at least 21 days to adjust to their new faces and other bodily changes--the key words being at least. Over time, those words fell away and 21 days gained fame as the hard-and-fast rule. So how long does it really take? Clear dug up a 2009 study in which researchers followed 96 people as they tried to adopt new habits (example: drinking a bottle of water with lunch). The results? Subjects reported behaviors becoming automatic in an average of 66 days. For some it took as little as 18, but for others it stretched as long as 254. Bottom line: Building habits takes time. All the '21 Days' hype can make it really easy to think, 'Oh, I'll just do this and it'll be done,' Clear writes. But habits are a process, not an event.
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(Mar 30, 2012 6:42 AM CDT) French police today rounded up 19 people believed to be Islamic militants, just eight days after Mohamed Merah died after a 32-hour stand-off with authorities, reports the New York Times. Police raided homes in Paris, Toulouse, Nantes, and in the south and west of France, though they announced no direct link to Merah. Instead, they emphasized that the arrests were done to dismantle networks of people sympathetic to militant Islam. What must be understood is that the trauma of Montauban and Toulouse is profound for our country, a little--I don't want to compare the horrors--a little like the trauma that followed in the United States and in New York after the September 11, 2001 attacks, said Nicolas Sarkozy. He added that the arrests would continue and a certain number of people would be expelled from France.
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(Feb 14, 2009 8:27 AM) Venture capital partners have poured another $35 million into Twitter, reports Bloomberg. The microblogging site said it still has money in the bank from its last round of financing, but the offer was too good to turn down. Twitter--which has grown ninefold in the last year but still lacks a revenue model--plans to use the cash to hire more employees and keep expanding, notes the San Francisco Chronicle. Twitter execs say they are now poised to take tangible steps in bringing in revenue, and the first efforts should be under way by April. This is going to be a very large media property, said a general partner at one of the investors. Any time you have millions of users engaging with your service multiple times a day, there are a lot of monetization opportunities.
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(Dec 9, 2009 3:07 PM) Stocks posted solid gains today, swinging back from earlier losses as worries over sovereign credit faded and 3M gave the Dow a boost after being upgraded to buy by Citigroup, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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(Jun 27, 2017 9:50 AM CDT) The Crown Estate's profits have increased by more than $30 million, which means it's time for a raise for the queen. An 8% raise, or about $7.7 million, in fact, which comes from public funds, per the BBC. (The Telegraph says the boost in the Crown Estate's profits is thanks to offshore wind farms.) The increase of the Sovereign Grant during the 2018-19 year will pay for palace maintenance, official travel, and household salaries. Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse (i.e., the person who handles the royal household's expenses), says that when you look at how much the Sovereign Grant amounts to per person in the UK, and then you consider that against what the queen does and represents for this country, I believe it represents excellent value for [the] money.
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(Mar 22, 2016 2:36 AM CDT) Billionaire Elon Musk and actress Talulah Riley are making another attempt to end their second marriage, the AP reports. Riley filed to divorce Musk on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Musk filed for divorce on New Year's Eve in 2014 but withdrew the petition seven months later. The divorce is amicable, and the pair agreed that Riley would file the petition to end their latest marriage after roughly 2 1/2 years. According to the statement, Musk and Riley have been living separately for the past six months and plan to remain friends. Riley's filing cites irreconcilable differences and makes no mention of a prenuptial agreement. She is seeking spousal support from Musk. Musk co-founded PayPal and has gone on to help start the electric car company Tesla Motors and the private space firm SpaceX. Riley appeared in Pride & Prejudice and Inception and wrote and directed her first feature film, Scottish Mussel, in 2014. The pair first married in 2010 and divorced in 2012. They remarried 18 months later. They do not have any children together, although Musk has five sons from a previous marriage. (Tesla Motors may have a name change in the works.)
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(May 5, 2016 2:34 PM CDT) The petsitting company suing a Texas couple over their negative Yelp review now wants even more money from the couple. As Consumerist reports, Prestigious Pets' original lawsuit, which sought less than $7,000, was quickly dropped--only to be replaced with this new suit, which seeks between $200,000 and $1 million. Prestigious Pets originally argued that Robert and Michelle Douchouquette violated a non-disparagement clause in the petsitting contract by posting the bad review, in which the couple complained about some of the company's policies and alleged the petsitter may have harmed their fish. The new suit still alleges the non-disparagement clause was violated, and adds two more claims: defamation and business disparagement. Prestigious Pets says the bad review and the ensuing bad publicity have led to threats and harassment and left the company a shell of its former success, CBS DFW reports. You'd think that what really damaged the reputation of the company was bringing the suit in the first place, says Paul Levy of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group representing the Douchouquettes pro bono. A warning that now pops up on Prestigious Pets' Yelp page reads, You should know this business has issued legal threats and/or taken legal action against reviewers for exercising their free speech. If your review accurately describes your firsthand experience, you have a First Amendment right to express your opinion on Yelp. A court will soon determine whether the petsitters' lawsuit is frivolous, in which case the Douchouquettes could seek to have it dismissed. (This couple sued after a disastrous HGTV remodel.)
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(May 29, 2018 6:00 PM CDT) Palestinian militants bombarded southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortar shells Tuesday, while Israeli warplanes struck targets throughout the Gaza Strip in the largest flare-up of violence between the sides since a 2014 war. The Israeli military said most of the projectiles were intercepted, but three soldiers were wounded, raising the chances of further Israeli retaliation. One mortar shell landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened, the AP reports. The sudden burst of violence, which stretched past midnight with no signs of slowing, follows weeks of mass Palestinian protests along the Gaza border with Israel. Over 110 Palestinians, many of them unarmed protesters, have been killed by Israeli fire in that time. Israel says it holds Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible for the bloodshed. Tuesday's violence bore a striking resemblance to the run-up to past wars. Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the chief military spokesman in Israel, threatened tougher action and said it was up to Hamas to stop the situation from escalating. Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant issued a joint statement Tuesday, claiming shared responsibility for firing rockets and projectiles against Israeli communities near Gaza. They said Israel began this round of escalation by targeting their installations in the past two days, killing four militants. It was the first time the armed wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for rocket attacks out of Gaza since the 2014 war. The United States condemned the attacks out of Gaza and called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council
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(Sep 19, 2020 6:30 AM CDT) It's being called the largest Rochester shooting in memory. Police in the upstate New York city responded to a 911 call early Saturday after reports of a shooting, and what they found was tragic: two young adults killed and 14 wounded at a backyard house party, per the Democrat & Chronicle. Acting Police Chief Mark Simmons says police found a very chaotic scene when they arrived at the Marketview Heights residence, with people scattering and multiple people shot. The two deceased victims haven't yet been identified until next of kin can be notified; WROC puts their ages as being between 18 and 22, per Simmons. This is truly a tragedy of epic proportions, if you ask me, Simmons said at the scene early Saturday, per the Democrat & Chronicle. I mean, 16 victims is unheard of. Simmons also decried what he says have been illegal and unsanctioned house parties under a still-in-effect ban on nighttime public gatherings of more than five people, issued by Mayor Lovely Warren in July. Police are staying mum about a possible motive or weapons used, though officials did say in a statement that several dozen rounds were fired, per WROC. Simmons adds that it's too soon to determine if the shooting was targeted or random, 13WHAM reports. There were no suspects in custody as of later Saturday morning. The 14 wounded are all said to be in stable condition at area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, per police. (Tensions between the Rochester Police Department and the Black community in Rochester have been running high.)
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(Aug 7, 2016 11:08 AM CDT) Suicide Squad took outraged critics directly to the bank, where it gave them a $135.1 million shakedown in one of the year's biggest debuts and the biggest August debut ever, reports USA Today. That tops the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool. It wasn't all love notes for Suicide Squad, though: The AP notes that after drawing heavy crowds on Thursday and Friday, ticket sales fell off steeply on Saturday--suggesting that audiences could be belatedly agreeing with the film's scathing reviews. Rounding out the top five: Jason Bourne with $22.7 million; Bad Moms with $14.2 million; The Secret Life of Pets with $11.6 million; and Star Trek Beyond with $10.2 million.
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(Sep 12, 2008 7:21 PM CDT) Ten to 15 people are dead and 70 injured after two trains collided in Los Angeles during rush hour today, the Los Angeles Times reports. At least 10 are critically hurt and dozens are likely trapped after a freight train slammed a Metrolink commuter train and derailed several cars. Firefighters initially battled a blaze sparked by the crash, which was so fierce that the commuter train's front passenger car was bent around its locomotive. It is a very, very sad situation, a Metrolink spokeswoman said. We honestly don't know what happened. Obviously two trains are not supposed to be at the same place at the same time.
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(Nov 7, 2008 4:21 PM) At least 30 people, many possibly children, died in Haiti today when a school building collapsed, AP reports. The school, in a village in the hills above Port-au-Prince, experienced a partial collapse in 2000. Before today, the building was under construction, and the town's mayor said structural problems, not recent rains, were behind the disaster. Aid groups, including the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, were quickly on the scene. The Dominican Republic, which shares the island with Haiti, sent helicopters, and engineers from Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador arrived to help. UN peacekeepers stationed in Haiti since 2004 also pitched in. Many more are believed buried at the site, and the death toll is likely to rise.
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(Nov 11, 2013 8:41 AM) Expect a Democratic divide in 2016: There will be the party elites, who, though they back stimulus and big unemployment benefits, see a giant financial sector as integral to the economy. The majority of Democratic voters, on the other hand, have grown more populist and want less Wall Street power. The icon for that latter group: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who continues to make a name for herself battling big banks. And therein lies the rub for Hillary Clinton, who may find it difficult to extricate herself from Wall Street ties, writes Noam Scheiber in the New Republic. Warren has three key qualities that make her a threat to Clinton: First, she's a woman, and Democrats want to make history again. Second, she can easily raise cash. And third, she can awaken in Democratic voters an almost evangelical passion. Some criticize her for apparently focusing on her image, but it's not that she wants stardom: She's just relentlessly, perhaps ruthlessly, maybe even a bit messianically, focused on advancing her policy agenda, Scheiber notes. It's hard to look at the Democratic Party these days and not feel as if all the energy is behind Warren --even if many doubt she'd run against Clinton. Click for Scheiber's full column.
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(Oct 16, 2012 3:29 PM CDT) It's a pretty nifty idea assuming it all comes together: An Israeli inventor has made a bicycle almost entirely out of cardboard and hopes to have it in mass production in months, reports Reuters. Izhar Gafni swears his $20 bike is uber-durable, thanks to a treatment of organic materials that makes it both waterproof and fireproof. It has no metal parts, and its tires are made of recycled rubber from car tires. It can accommodate a simple motor, too. (You can see a video here. I was always fascinated by applying unconventional technologies to materials ... but this was the culmination of a few things that came together, says Gafni, who thinks the bike could have a huge impact on third-world countries. I worked for four years to cancel out the corrugated cardboard's weak structural points. The bike is expected to go on sale in Israel within a year, and production will expand after that. The invention is winning favorable mentions in Time, the Street, and DesignTaxi.
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(Jul 16, 2010 5:33 AM CDT) Is the IPhone 4 cursed? Before you laugh, consider the evidence: Apple's would-be star has been plagued by setbacks including a suicide, misplaced prototypes and, now, the antenna problems the company will address at a news conference today, notes the Los Angeles Times. These problems, they theorize, may have something to do with the number 4 itself--in China, where the devices are made, 4 is a homophone for death and is considered unlucky. The Times consulted a China expert from Harvard, who said she grew up knowing the number 4 should be avoided. I would personally never say it's the number 4 causing all of this, she says. But, she adds, maybe people should avoid iPhone 13 when it gets here. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal's sources blame the problem on something very different: Steve Jobs overrode internal concerns about the new antenna design months ago, they say, and his obsession with secrecy caused the company to roll out the phone with insufficient testing.
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(Oct 5, 2008 7:27 PM CDT) The Chicago White Sox staved off elimination today with solid starting pitching and a fastball that left Evan Longoria looking, MLB.com reports. John Danks held the Tampa Bay Rays to 3 runs over 6 2/3 innings in the 5-3 victory. When a two-run homer by B.J. Upton got Danks pulled in the seventh, reliever Octavio Dotel squelched the Rays' rally by striking out superstar Longoria.
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(Apr 5, 2011 2:40 AM CDT) Gamers--including some reviewers--who have tried out Nintendo's new 3D-effect console say it has left them feeling distinctly woozy. Customers complain that the Nintendo 3DS, which flashes separate images into each eye, has caused headaches and nausea, and now they're having trouble getting full refunds from retailers, the Telegraph reports. Nintendo has responded to complaints with some simple advice: If it's making you feel ill, take a break. As with anything that requires focus, from reading to staring at a computer screen, taking frequent breaks is always recommended, a spokesman said, noting that some people might experience discomfort when viewing any 3D images.The Nintendo 3D was designed with a 3D depth slider that lets users adjust the 3D effect to a level that suits them, he said.
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(May 28, 2020 5:43 PM CDT) US health care workers have been praised as the heroes in this pandemic. But they're also the victims. COVID-19 has killed almost 300 of them, NPR reports. CDC data also show that more than 60,000 health care workers have been infected with the coronavirus. It is underreported, said the president of National Nurses United. The union recently surveyed 23,000 nurses, more than 80% of whom said they had not been tested for the coronavirus. Union leaders are concerned that, during the crisis, unsafe practices--including a lack of adequate personal protective equipment--will become the norm. There are no federal workplace rules specifically protecting health care workers from airborne pathogens such as the coronavirus; in 2017, the Trump administration blocked new regulations from taking effect that would have required the industry to prepare for a pandemic like this one, per NPR. Health care workers who speak out about the dangers, including those posed by a lack of PPE, are risking their jobs, per an opinion piece in the Hill. Nonetheless, professional groups, including Physicians for Human Rights, have advised health care workers that they have an ethical responsibility to come forward about the problems. A Washington Post-Ipsos survey of medical personnel completed early this month found major PPE shortages. Workers have staged protests to call for more and better protective equipment, including a nationwide event May 1, per CBS. On Thursday, Tennessee launched a COVID-19 Emotional Support Line--888-642-7886--for health care workers and front-line personnel dealing with the pandemic, per WBIR. (Doctors in Germany held a naked protest to call attention to the PPE shortage.)
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(Oct 30, 2009 11:28 AM CDT) Joe Lieberman says he probably will support some Republicans in 2010 and may not seek the Democratic nomination in his own 2012 reelection campaign. I'm going to call them as I see them, he tells ABC News, saying he's weary of partisan, passionate, hardcore legislators on both sides of the aisle. Sometimes, the better choice is somebody who's not a Democrat. He says it's an open question whether he'll run as a Democrat, because he finds being an independent liberating. You're not tied to a particular inner group and feel that extra pressure to march in lockstep. I think that the public generally is fed up with all the partisanship, and us against them. He says he will, however, support Chris Dodd in his home state.
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(Oct 18, 2013 11:41 AM CDT) The former leader of the US House of Representatives, Tom Foley, has died at the age of 84 in his Washington home. Foley's wife, Heather, confirmed the death of the Washington state Democrat. Foley also served as US ambassador to Japan for four years during the Clinton administration. But he spent the most time in the House, serving 30 years, including more than five as speaker. He became the first speaker since the Civil War of the 1860s who failed to win re-election in his home district. Foley lost his seat in the Republican Revolution of 1994. The Democrat had never served a single day in the minority. John Boehner's reaction, via Twitter: In Tom Foley's passing, the House loses one of its most devoted servants & the country loses a great statesman.
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(Dec 2, 2015 5:47 PM) Big developments in the San Bernardino mass shooting: Police chased a black SUV--the type of vehicle seen fleeing the shooting--resulting in a shootout that left two suspects dead, a man and a woman, reports the Los Angeles Times. Both are still unidentified, and Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said they were armed with assault weapons and handguns. One officer was wounded in the shootout. A third person seen running from the original shooting scene has been detained, but he hasn't officially been declared a suspect. Burguan said police, acting on a tip after the mass shooting, went to a residence and soon saw the SUV leaving the home, prompting the police chase. Earlier reports said three suspects wearing body armor and armed with long guns opened fire in an auditorium of a social services facility, killing 14 and wounding 17. The auditorium was reportedly being used at the time by employees of the county health department for a holiday party. There's still no official word on a motive. Is this a terrorist incident? We do not know, said David Bowdich of the FBI. But reports are emerging that the shooting was sparked by an argument at the party.
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(Feb 21, 2018 7:33 AM) The Rev. Billy Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died at age 99. Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia, and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday morning, per the AP. More than anyone else, Graham built evangelicalism into a force that rivaled liberal Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in the United States. His leadership summits and crusades in more than 185 countries and territories forged powerful global links among conservative Christians, and threw a lifeline to believers in the communist-controlled Eastern bloc. Dubbed America's pastor, he was a confidant to US presidents from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush. In 1983, President Reagan gave Graham the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. When the Billy Graham Museum and Library was dedicated in 2007 in Charlotte, former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton attended. When he prays with you in the Oval Office or upstairs in the White House, you feel he's praying for you, not the president, Clinton said at the ceremony. Graham reached untold millions through his pioneering use of prime-time telecasts, network radio, daily newspaper columns, evangelistic feature films, and satellite TV hookups. Graham's message was not complex or unique, yet he preached with a conviction that won over audiences worldwide. The Bible says, was his catch phrase. His unquestioning belief in Scripture turned the Gospel into a rapier in his hands, he said.
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(Oct 28, 2014 5:49 PM CDT) Video of a woman who walks around New York City for 10 hours makes one thing very clear: It can be exhausting to be a woman, observes Jessica Roy at New York mag. How else to describe what's it's like to listen to the relentless stream of catcalls from guys of all kinds? To be precise, Shoshana Roberts recorded 108 over that stretch, with the camera tucked away in a backpack of someone walking in front of her, explains the website Hollaback! The site is dedicated to stopping what it calls street harassment. Roberts, dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, got lots of remarks of the Hey Baby variety, along with what Gothamist calls the most infuriating type of catcall: A guy scolds her, Somebody's acknowledging you for being beautiful--you should say thank you! Writes Jen Carlson: Ladies whenever will we learn to smile and thank our street harassers? The creepiest encounter might be another guy who walked silently by Roberts' side for five minutes after his opening remark failed to get a response.
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(Oct 7, 2014 10:06 AM CDT) America has seen its 28th death of a child left in a hot car this year, according to the Kids and Cars nonprofit, with the latest death occurring on Saturday in Phoenix. In that case, 3-year-old Hayden Nelson was allegedly left in a car outside Abundant Life Church for several hours by a family friend. Police explain the timeline, via the Arizona Republic: The child, mother Tiffani Nelson, and an 8-year-old sister spent the night at Courtney Arnold's home. Arnold and Nelson both had choir practice to attend; because Nelson had to get there early, Arnold, 27, agreed to bring her own daughter, along with Nelson's kids, later. AZFamily.com reports that Arnold arrived around 11am. In an emailed statement, police say indications are the suspect was a bit late and she and the other children exited the car. The suspect went immediately into the church for practice. Hayden was somehow left behind and spent three hours in the vehicle before his mother and churchmembers began searching for him. Outside temps at the time were as high as 96 degrees. The boy had stopped breathing, and died Sunday in the hospital. Prosecutors are still considering whether to bring charges against Arnold, though Officer James Holmes paints it as a tragic accident: It's obvious that the 27-year-old forgot that the child was in the car. She was in a hurry. She had something that she had to do, and she didn't take a minute to make sure.
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(Jul 29, 2019 12:13 PM CDT) The Charles Manson murders have never really left the public eye, but they've gotten a boost with Quentin Tarantino's new film Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood. But Tarantino isn't the only one out with a Manson-related project. Tom O'Neill and Dan Piepenbring are out with the new book Chaos: Charles Manson, the C.I.A., and the Secret History of the Sixties, and as the New York Times explains, there's nothing new about the Manson beat for O'Neill. In 1999 the journalist took on a 3-month assignment with Premiere magazine to explore the murders' effect on Hollywood. He missed that deadline--by 20 years, writes Alex Williams, who interviewed O'Neill about what he found. The conversation starts with O'Neill saying the narrative we all accept isn't one he's buying. We've spent the past 50 years thinking the murders were all about sparking a race war, says O'Neill. What he turned up led him in another direction. Well, many others. The Manson family intersected with a multitude of shady characters at so many levels--law enforcement, drug trafficking, even the government, all wiped from the record--that I found good reason to doubt that the Helter Skelter motive was the full story, or even the real story, he says. One key piece of evidence he cites: an arrest warrant for Manson that was supposedly misdated, leading to Manson and his followers being arrested a week after the murders but then released over the goof. O'Neill says he got his hands on the warrant and it was correct. (Read the full interview for more on that and more, including O'Neill's not-so-complimentary opinion of lead prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi.)
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(Aug 30, 2011 2:26 AM CDT) Four years after he was sent to prison for his involvement in a dogfighting ring, Michael Vick has rejoined the ranks of the NFL's highest-paid players. The Philadelphia Eagles have signed the quarterback to a 6-year, $100 million contract with $40 million guaranteed, sources tell AP. The 31-year-old, who joined the Eagles after completing his 18-month sentence in 2009, led the team to the NFC East title last year. I'm very happy we were able to reach an agreement with Michael on this long-term contract, Eagles coach Andy Reid said in a statement. It's a product of all the hard work Michael has done to better himself over the last couple of years, both on and off the field. I'm very proud that he has been able to achieve success again in this league, but he'll be the first one to tell you that there is a lot of work yet to be done by him and this team as a whole. Only two NFL players now earn more than Vick, who filed for bankruptcy while in prison.
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(Jun 21, 2019 2:19 PM CDT) It's been more than five years since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and it doesn't seem we're much closer to knowing where it is now than we were immediately after the plane with 239 on board vanished on March 8, 2014. Since then, as William Langewiesche writes for a new story in the July issue of the Atlantic, the mystery swirling around the into-thin-air plane has been a focus of continued investigation and a source of sometimes feverish public speculation, prompting a slew of preposterous theories. Langewiesche tackles the story from a variety of angles, anchored by the story of Blaine Gibson, an American who moved to Laos of his own accord and became MH370's private beachcomber, looking along coastlines for debris, instead of in the deeper waters where others were searching. Gibson traveled to Myanmar, the Maldives, and other islands in the Indian Ocean, with no luck until July 29, 2015, when a 6-foot piece of the plane washed up on the French island of Reunion. Here was the necessary physical evidence of what had already been electronically surmised--that the flight had ended violently in the Indian Ocean, Langewiesche writes. He also looks at the harassment Gibson has faced; what role the captain could have played; the rampant conspiracies (one Aussie claims he's found the plane via Google Earth and will soon crowdfund a trip to the site); and the secrecy of Malaysian officials, who Langewiesche thinks may still be holding onto info. The important answers probably don't lie in the ocean but on land, he writes. The Malaysian police know more than they have dared to say. The riddle may not be deep. ... If Blaine Gibson wants a real adventure, he might spend a year poking around Kuala Lumpur. Read the full story.
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(Aug 19, 2016 4:25 AM CDT) Federal police executed at least 22 people on a ranch last year, then moved bodies and planted guns to corroborate the official account that the deaths happened in a gunbattle, Mexico's human rights commission says, per the AP. A total of 43 people, including one police officer, were killed in the confrontation in the western state of Michoacan on May 22, 2015. The National Human Rights Commission says five people were killed when a police Black Hawk helicopter fired 4,000 rounds at the ranch house after the officer was shot, the BBC reports. Another 22 were arbitrarily executed, while the circumstances of the other 15 deaths are still unclear, according to the commission. The lopsided death toll had led to suspicions that officers might have arbitrarily killed people during the operation against suspected members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel. Eighteen of the victims were found barefoot and one just in his underpants, leading the commission to conclude most were asleep when police arrived. Thirteen of the 22 people the commission says were executed had been shot in the back. Mexico's national security commissioner denies the accusations of what the commission called grave human rights violations, saying federal police ordered the suspects to drop their weapons and surrender, but were answered with gunfire.
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(Aug 27, 2008 3:17 AM CDT) In the largest immigration raid in US history, federal agents have arrested 595 suspected illegal aliens at a Mississippi electronics factory. The detainees rounded up Monday included citizens of Peru, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, Brazil and Germany, reports Reuters. Immigrant activists complained that the raid cast a chill on the town of Laurel and exacted a huge toll on workers. If you have young children going to school, and they come home and find their parents gone, that is a major crisis, said the director of an immigrants' rights group. People are very, very fearful.
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(Jun 5, 2013 2:56 PM CDT) The suspense is over: An 84-year-old Florida woman has come forward to claim last month's $590 million Powerball jackpot, reports the Tampa Tribune. Gloria C. MacKenzie will take a lump-sum payout of $371 million before taxes, making her the biggest solo lottery winner in US history, reports AP. She is a resident of the small town of Zephyrhills, where the winning ticket was sold at a supermarket. Lottery officials say another customer let MacKenzie step ahead in line before she bought the winning ticket with a quick-pick, reports USA Today. MacKenzie left with family members after claiming the prize in Tallahassee and didn't speak to reporters.
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(Feb 14, 2013 8:28 AM) An amazing tale of survival out of France--and Belgium. Frank Lecerf's attempt to drive to the supermarket took a crazy turn on Saturday after his car's brakes failed while he was traveling 60mph. His attempts to use them only caused the car to accelerate, until it eventually hit 125mph, and stuck there, for an hour. Lecerf managed to call police to alert them to his plight; they decided to escort his Renault Laguna (which the Week notes was customized in light of Lecerf's epilepsy, with the gas and brake controls moved to the steering wheel) until it ran out of gas, which it did 125 miles later, allowing him to swerve into a ditch and come to a halt, in Belgium. And he managed to do it all in spite of two epileptic seizures he suffered during the hour-long ride, the Guardian reports. Police were on the line with a Renault tech throughout the chase, but were unable to come up with a fix; they also gave warning to three toll stations, which allowed Lecerf to tear through. Lecerf says he had taken his car to Renault before over concerns about a jammed speed dial, but was told the car was fine; he plans to file a legal complaint. But the Independent notes that some aren't so sure Lecerf's story is totally accurate, with Renault insiders noting the Frenchman may have just panicked after working the controls incorrectly. Adding to the too-crazy-to-be-real feel: He crashed near the Belgian town of La Panne--French for breakdown.
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(Jan 26, 2012 1:05 PM) When Graceanne Rumer recently got her driver's license, she probably had no idea that she would soon use her new skills to save a school bus full of her peers. But when she realized her bus driver had collapsed after suffering a heart attack, that's what she did. I just realized that there's no one driving this bus ... I need to do something, Rumer tells NBC Philadelphia. So the 17-year-old, who says she was simply the closest person who knew how to drive, grabbed the wheel and steered the bus out of oncoming traffic. The body of 51-year-old driver Charles Duncan, who died soon after, was in the way of the brake, so Rumer put the bus in park and was able to bring it to a stop. None of the three dozen or so students onboard was injured.
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(Nov 13, 2016 11:02 AM) Leon Russell, who sang, wrote, and produced some of rock 'n' roll's top records, has died. He was 74. An email from Leon Russell Records to the AP says Russell died in Nashville last night, citing Russell's wife. Russell had heart bypass surgery in July and was recovering at the time of his death. He had been planning on resuming touring in January, the email said. Russell's website says the musician died Sunday, also citing his wife. Besides his music, Russell was known for his striking appearance: wispy white hair halfway down his back and covering much of his face. He wrote Joe Cocker's Delta Lady and in 1969 put together Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, which spawned a hit double album and a documentary. As a musician, primarily a pianist, he played on the Beach Boys' California Girls and Jan and Dean's Surf City. He also played guitar and bass. Russell produced and played on recording sessions for Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Ike and Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones, and many others. He recorded hit songs himself like Tight Rope and Lady Blue and participated in The Concert for Bangla Desh. John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison played on his first album, Leon Russell. His concerts often ended with a rousing version of Jumpin' Jack Flash. It's cyclical, like fashion, he told the AP in 1992, commenting on the changelessness of music. You keep your old clothes and they'll be in style again sooner or later. There are new things, like rap. But that's a rebirth of poetry. It's brought poetry to the public consciousness. In 2011, Russell was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He also was honored with an Award for Music Excellence from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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(Apr 2, 2014 2:04 PM CDT) Crystal Morrow was just four hours into her first day working solo as a 911 operator in Georgia when she took a call--and heard a familiar voice. It was her aunt, who had called 911 because Morrow's dad went into diabetic shock. I heard her voice and I saw her name pop up on the screen, Morrow tells ABC News. I did freeze, my hands froze over the keyboard, but I knew I had to get the call in. Morrow walked her aunt through all the steps needed to save her dad's life, staying on the line with her until paramedics arrived--and her aunt had no idea who she was talking to. Morrow's dad survived, and a colleague praised how the 911 operator handled the situation. She took the entire call and then she got up after the call and stepped outside, the woman who trained Morrow tells My Fox Atlanta. I went to check on her and told her to go see about her family. The incident happened in August, but the 911 tape was just released. (A less feel-good story: A Delaware 911 dispatcher took a call ... and then warned her boyfriend rather than sending help.)
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(Feb 1, 2008 6:00 AM) Microsoft has made a $44.6-billion offer to buy struggling search engine giant Yahoo. The merger would help both companies compete against rival Google in the hotly contested on-line advertising market. The $31-a-share offer is a 62% premium on Yahoo's share price as of last night. Earlier this week Yahoo cut 1,000 jobs, its biggest since the dot-com crash. Microsoft said in announcing the offer that the online advertising market is increasingly dominated by one player. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo can offer competitive choice while better fulfilling the needs of customers and partners. If the bid is accepted it will be one of the biggest takeovers in corporate history and by far the biggest in the technology sector. Yahoo shares jumped to $29.45 in premarket trading, the Wall Street Journal reports; Microsoft dipped from $32.60 to $32.
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(Nov 3, 2017 9:10 AM CDT) A 911 caller in Ohio who told the dispatcher there's a lot of blood after he came across the body of his future mother-in-law is now being accused of her murder. Jeffery William Scullin Jr. has been charged with aggravated murder, Strongsville Police Chief Mark Fender told reporters at a Tuesday press conference, which WOIO notes took place eight days after the killing of 49-year-old Melinda Pleskovic. Scullin, 20, was engaged to Pleskovic's daughter and lived in the Pleskovic home. People reports he arrived at the home with Pleskovic's husband, Bruce, on Oct. 23 to find the sixth-grade teacher's body on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. She'd been shot and stabbed several times. Bruce Pleskovic told a 911 dispatcher there'd been recent break-ins at their home, but cops say he may have thought that based on info fed to him by Scullin. Scullin, who made a separate 911 call, told the dispatcher it didn't look like anyone had broken in. He says he grabbed his own daughter and Pleskovic's son--WKYC notes the 18-year-old has Down syndrome--and went outside without surveying the scene more carefully. Scullin was set to marry Pleskovic's daughter on the Saturday after the slaying, but instead he was said to have served as a pallbearer at her funeral. Per court records cited by WKYC, a knife with Pleskovic's blood was found in Scullin's pickup truck, among other evidence. Scullin is being held on a $1 million bond. (This man killed his mom and two brothers weeks before his planned wedding.)
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(May 21, 2019 7:47 AM CDT) Dear everyone who's ever climbed Mount Everest: Big deal. That may be exactly what Kami Rita Sherpa is thinking after extending his latest record on the mega-mountain, reaching the peak for the 24th time on Tuesday, per the BBC. Not only that, but the 49-year-old had just ascended Everest for the 23rd time on May 15--less than a week ago. A Nepal Department of Tourism rep confirmed Tuesday's climb to NBC News. Rita, who started climbing in 1994, somewhat shrugs off his place in the record books. I actually never knew that you could make a record, he told the BBC before his 23rd summit. Had I known, I would have made a lot more summits earlier. Three other climbers are on Rita's heels, with 21 ascents each, but two of them have already retired from mountaineering. Rita says he has no plans to retire anytime soon-- I can keep going until I am 60 years old; with oxygen it's no big deal --though NBC and Reuters note his goal is 25 Everest ascents before he hangs up his crampons. Mountain climbing runs in the family for Rita: His father was one of the first Sherpas to start helping people conquer Everest.
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(Jul 13, 2014 6:27 AM CDT) As Americans grow ever larger, clothing stores like J. Crew are offering ever smaller sizes--and the retailer insists it's due to actual demand. Just not from Americans. In response to the controversy that ensued this week after the chain started offering size 000, a spokesperson explained to Today, We are simply addressing the demand coming from Asia for smaller sizes than what we had carried. The company isn't the first to cater to this petite population--Nicole Miller introduced a size 0 for a 25 1/2-inch waist 15 years ago due to demand from Asian customers in California, reports Time--but it's worth noting that only those with a 23-inch waist will fit into a J. Crew 000. Something called vanity sizing may also be at play--meaning sizing goes down even while the average woman is growing larger. Today, the average American woman is 5'4 and 155 pounds, which is 20 pounds heavier than in the 1970s, so she should be in a size 16--but vanity sizing puts her in a 10 or 12 instead, Newsweek explained a few years ago when subzero sizing first started popping up. Fashion blog Racked notes that J. Crew's new '000' is the equivalent of a size 32 in Italy, 1 in Japan, and 0 in Australia. As far as J. Crew is concerned, it's an XXXS, i.e., smaller than an XS (size 0) or an XXS (size 00). (Forget vanity sizing --have you heard of slimming underwear ? If so, maybe think twice before buying a pair...)
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(May 22, 2017 10:45 AM CDT) Safe to say that race-car driver Scott Dixon had one of the most memorable days of his life on Sunday. Hours after he won the pole position for this weekend's Indianapolis 500, he got robbed in a Taco Bell drive-thru, reports the Indianapolis Star. Police say that Dixon, wife Emma, and former Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti were robbed at gunpoint by two males on foot about 9:40pm while in the drive-thru lane. Police have since arrested two boys, ages 14 and 15. Earlier in the day, Dixon won the pole for the big race, which runs on Sunday. For the record, he was driving a Honda when robbed, per Fox 59.
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(May 6, 2013 10:41 AM CDT) An unsolved poisoning case has enthralled China, 19 years after the fact, and now more than 112,000 people have signed a petition asking the White House to investigate and deport a former suspect who is said to have moved to the US. Zhu Ling was a chemistry student at a top Chinese university when she was poisoned with Thallium in 1994, the Christian Science Monitor explains. She survived, but is now almost blind, paralyzed, and suffering from brain damage. Her case attracted quite a bit of attention at the time owing to the fact that she was young, smart, and attractive; it was never solved, and now a recent, similar poisoning has re-ignited interest. Police investigated Zhu's roommate, Sun Wei, who was said to have access to Thallium, but she was never charged due to a lack of evidence. Many speculated, however, that evidence was actually covered up because Sun's family was politically connected. She changed her name and is thought to live in the US now; in 2005, she even issued a statement declaring her innocence, the New Republic adds. The case was brought back to the forefront of public attention last month, when a student was arrested for fatally poisoning his university roommate. A journalist who has followed the case doubts the petition will do any good, but the Chinese government has definitely taken notice: Censors were briefly removing social media posts about the case, but now even state media are calling for further investigation.
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(Jan 14, 2016 8:42 AM) Banks loaned Ted Cruz as much as $1 million during his first Senate campaign in Texas back in 2012, but you wouldn't know it from campaign finance reports. While Cruz eventually disclosed the loans from Citibank and Goldman Sachs--each valued at $250,000 to $500,000--to Senate officials, he failed to inform the Federal Election Commission as required, reports the New York Times. At the time, Cruz spoke of how he and his wife put our entire net worth into the campaign. NBC News reports he used $1.43 million in personal funds. But a review of personal financial disclosures that Mr. Cruz filed later with the Senate does not find a liquidation of assets that would have accounted for all the money he spent on his campaign, per the Times. A Cruz rep admits the Goldman Sachs loan was used for the Senate race and a failure to disclose it was inadvertent. She didn't comment on the Citibank loan, which the Times notes would have freed up other assets even if it wasn't used on Cruz's campaign. The Times notes, too, that disclosing the loans might have hurt Cruz's campaign, given that he was criticizing Wall Street bailouts and big banks. Cruz, who says the loans were borrowed against the couple's own assets, cites a filing error, per NBC. Those loans have been disclosed over and over and over again on multiple filings, he adds, per the Wall Street Journal. If it was the case that they were not filed exactly as the FEC requires, then we'll amend the filings.
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(Dec 12, 2012 2:47 AM) The Indian sitar maestro George Harrison called the father of world music has died in California at the age of 92, Reuters reports. Ravi Shankar was already famous in his homeland when he introduced the Beatles to the sitar, bridging the gap between Eastern and Western music and achieving worldwide fame. He had heart-valve replacement surgery last week, but his body was not able to withstand the strain, his family said in a statement. He is survived by his wife and his two daughters, fellow sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar and jazz singer Norah Jones.
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(Nov 26, 2017 5:33 AM) Veteran Hollywood actor Rance Howard, the father of director Ron Howard, died Saturday. He was 89. Ron Howard announced his father's death on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, reports the AP. He praised his father for the ability to balance ambition with great personal integrity. A depression-era farm boy, his passion for acting changed the course of our family history, he wrote. We love & miss U Dad. Rance Howard's death also was confirmed by Michael Rosenberg, a spokesman for his son's production company. The elder Howard was the father of actor Clint Howard and grandfather of actresses Bryce Dallas Howard and Paige Howard.
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(Sep 17, 2015 9:33 AM CDT) Police in Irving, Texas, aren't pressing charges against Ahmed Mohamed, whose homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb, which means the teen whiz is now free to move his mind to other matters. I'm thinking about transferring schools from MacArthur to any different school, Ahmed, 14, said at a press conference yesterday to cheers, per USA Today. He adds he wants to attend MIT after high school--a professor has already offered to give him a tour, per MSNBC--but he has quite a few offers he'll need to consider first: Twitter is advocating for an internship, Google has invited him to its upcoming Science Fair, Mark Zuckerberg has proposed meeting Ahmed at Facebook's offices, and President Obama has suggested a visit to the White House, per the Independent. We should inspire more kids like you to like science, he says. It's what makes America great. Though officers initially weighed hoax bomb charges, police chief Larry Boyd says they found Ahmed didn't intend to create alarm. Responding to claims that he was targeted because of his skin color and religion, Boyd adds he discussed the issue with leaders at the Islamic Center of Irving, who say the meeting was productive. The Irving Police Department has always experienced an outstanding relationship with our Muslim community, Boyd says. Though the case now seems resolved, a school district rep maintains we haven't heard both sides of the story. Unfortunately, the information that has been made public to this point has been very unbalanced, the rep says, per USA Today. We would provide further factual information about the situation, however we feel it's very important to protect the student's right to privacy.
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(Jan 1, 2018 4:00 PM) A Greyhound bus careened from a highway and plunged into a deep wash, killing a 13-year-old girl and injuring 11 other people on New Year's Eve in rural Utah, state troopers said Monday. Investigators were still trying to determine what caused the crash along Interstate 70, west of the city of Green River, per the AP. However, a passenger reported a possible medical issue with the driver, the Utah Highway Patrol said in a news release. The bus was heading west across the desert from Green River to Las Vegas, Trooper Jared Cornia said. It went off the shoulder of the highway around 11pm and plunged into the wash, crashing about 200 feet from the highway.
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(Apr 27, 2011 5:42 PM CDT) This Paul-Ryan-for-president business is apparently gaining traction. The head of the Republican National Committee has begun investigating the possibility, writes Jon Ward at the Huffington Post. The reason? RNC chief Reince Priebus is a longtime friend and political ally of Ryan's--they both hail from Wisconsin--and Priebus has been seeking legal advice on whether he would need to step down if Ryan runs to avoid a conflict of interest. Ryan has flatly stated he has zero interest in running in 2012 and would prefer to focus on pushing through his budget blueprint. Still, he's a conservative rising star, and some big names--including Charles Krauthammer here--have been talking up the possibility of drafting him. The pressure on him to run is clearly increasing, writes Ward, as GOP leaders and the activist base remain unsatisfied with the current crop of candidates.
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(Sep 16, 2015 11:21 AM CDT) Sixth-grader Irma Rodriguez, 11, collapsed during gym class at her Fort Worth school Thursday, and suffered three heart attacks in quick succession. Now, she's on life support at a Texas hospital, and her family says she needs a heart transplant. But a Dallas hospital has already refused to do the procedure, and a Houston hospital is due to make its own decision this week, Irma's family tells WFAA. Both the transplant procedure itself as well as the trip to another hospital are risky given Irma's fragile condition. I don't want to see her like that, says Irma's mom, Nereyda Verastegui. Everything is so hard. The cause of the heart attacks is not yet known, and Verastegui says her very active daughter didn't have any known medical problems. The family, which doesn't have medical insurance, has raised more than $5,000 so far on a GoFundMe page.
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(Mar 7, 2020 5:00 PM) You know Marnie, the lovable Shih Tzu on Instagram with a curious face and wagging tongue? Well she died this week at 18, and TMZ reports that her LA owner has posted a touching message online. It is with much grief I share the news that Marnie passed away painlessly & peacefully in my home on Thursday afternoon at the age of 18, writes Shirley Braha on Instagram. Her comfort had been notably declining over over the past few days with little hope for improvement and she let me know she had had enough. She enjoyed her chicken until the very end. Marnie had an impressive following of 1.8 million Instagram followers and posed with many celebs throughout the years, including Ed Sheeran, Betty White, Taylor Swift, Usher, and Selena Gomez. Braha first saw Marnie in a Connecticut shelter where the pup had been named Stinky over her foul smell, the New York Times reports. But Braha loved her bemused What the heck am I doing here? look, took her home to New York, and got her surgery for her 14 bad teeth. The dog's long, lolling tongue was not a health issue, Braha says--it was just really long. When MTV laid Braha off in 2014, she began posting Instagram pics of Marnie and lo and behold, she became what the New Yorker called the most famous dog on Instagram. The pair later moved to California when Marnie struggled with New York winters. Our relationship was that of two best friends, Braha says. When she became more geriatric, I was more of a caretaker. Now, she adds, she has the whole world available to mourn with me.
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(Sep 15, 2018 5:30 AM CDT) A grieving New York mother recognized by President Trump at the State of the Union in his campaign against MS-13 gang violence was struck by an SUV and killed at her slain daughter's memorial site Friday after a confrontation with the driver. Evelyn Rodriguez was hit around 4pm in Brentwood--the epicenter of the fight against MS-13 violence on Long Island--near where the body of her 16-year-old daughter, Kayla Cuevas, was found beaten and slashed two years ago, police say. Cuevas' friend, Nisa Mickens, 15, was also killed, per the AP. Rodriguez and the driver, a relative of a person who lives near the memorial, were arguing over its placement, police say. Rodriguez, 50, and another person were seen standing in the street and yelling at the SUV's driver before the vehicle sped forward and struck her. The driver, who wasn't hurt, remained at the scene and called 911, police say.
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(Jan 20, 2010 1:05 PM) Mary Elizabeth Williams, 44-year-old columnist and mother of two, decided to do something that scared her: Pose naked in Time Out New York. But this isn't a story of how I took off my clothes and became all empowered by the experience, she writes in Salon--she's already quite empowered, thank you very much. No, this was an experience that let me be, for a little while, vulnerable --and, more importantly, gave her lots of funny column anecdotes. From the Playboy vet who coached her on how to minimize the squished-butt look to the daughter who reassured her, it's just boobies, Williams takes us through her journey, culminating in a role as the beagle in a naked re-creation of the dogs-playing-poker painting. When it was over, alone and naked, the four of us ladies made tender yet surprisingly innovative love until the break of dawn, she writes. OK, not really, but I figured if you've read thus far, it was likely in the hope of such an outcome.
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(Dec 14, 2018 4:45 AM) Customs and Border Protection is facing some tough questions after the death of a 7-year-old girl in its custody. The girl, a migrant from Guatemala, died from dehydration and shock after she was taken into CBP custody with her father on Dec. 6, the Washington Post reports. They were part of a group of 163 people who surrendered to CBP agents in New Mexico after crossing a remote stretch of desert. CBP says the girl had not eaten or consumed water for several days. According to the agency's records, she began having seizures around eight hours after she was taken into custody. She was flown to Providence Children's Hospital in El Paso, but died within 24 hours. It's not clear whether the girl was given food or water after she was taken into custody. Activists have long complained about the condition of Border Patrol facilities, and it's possible the agency could have been overwhelmed by dealing with such a large group of migrants, the Telegraph reports. The ACLU called for a rigorous investigation, saying the death shows a lack of accountability, and a culture of cruelty within CBP. Agency spokesman Andrew Meehan offered sincerest condolences to the girl's family. Border Patrol agents took every possible step to save the child's life under the most trying of circumstances, he said in a statement to the Post. As fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, we empathize with the loss of any child. (An advocacy group has accused Border Patrol agents of using the desert as a weapon. )
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(Jun 13, 2012 12:57 AM CDT) Henry Hill has died at the age of 69--young for an American male, but a Methuselah for a mob turncoat. The former gangster, whose life story was made into the 1990 movie Goodfellas, died in Los Angeles after a long fight with an undisclosed illness, TMZ reports. Testimony from Hill, who took part in the famous 1978 Lufthansa heist, led to the conviction of dozens of his former associates, but he was booted from the witness protection program for persistent misbehavior. In later years, Hill was a frequent guest on Howard Stern's radio show, opened a restaurant called Wiseguys, and even sold his own line of marinara sauce, the New York Daily News notes. He served six months for methamphetamine possession in 2005, and was arrested after getting drunk following a showing of his artwork in 2009. Even after most of his old associates died, Hill said he felt like a marked man. There's always that chance that some young buck wants to make a name for themselves, he said in 2010. I never thought I'd reach this wonderful age. I'm just grateful for being alive.
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(Jul 22, 2020 12:12 AM CDT) Gunfire exploded outside a Chicago funeral Tuesday, leaving 14 people hospitalized. Shots were fired from a black car that sped by the funeral attendees in a neighborhood on the city's South Side around 6:30pm; some of them reportedly returned fire, the Chicago Tribune reports. The vehicle ultimately crashed, and the occupants fled. The injured, all adults, ranged from serious to critical condition as of Tuesday night. It's not clear if all were attending the funeral. All we saw was just bodies laying everywhere, a witness tells NBC 5. Shot up everywhere, all over. Legs, stomach, back, all over the place. We thought it was a war out here. One person of interest is in custody, but police say the identity of the shooter or shooters is not yet clear. CBS Chicago reports the funeral was for a 31-year-old man shot and killed July 14, and its sources say police had been warned that a retaliatory strike could take place at the funeral. It appears like it was planned because as the people were coming out of the funeral home, then the shots rang out like they were literally waiting on them to come out, says another bystander who witnessed the shooting.
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(May 5, 2011 9:10 AM CDT) Americans will get their own chance to experience royal frenzy come July 8, when Prince William and his wife Kate, nee Middleton, arrive in California. The newlyweds will visit the state for three days following an official tour of Canada that begins June 30, the palace confirmed today. It will be William's first official trip to the States, and Kate's first ever, the AP reports. Click if you need to re-live the royal wedding.
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(Jun 20, 2008 2:37 AM CDT) The world's soaring population is expected to hit 7 billion by 2012, further straining thinly stretched natural resources, AP reports. The current population is 6.7 billion, and growing at 1.2% a year, spurred by increasing medical and nutritional advances in developing countries. But as more women in developing nations join the work force, the growth rate is expected to slow--eventually to .5% by 2050.
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(Oct 28, 2015 12:21 PM CDT) One of the most expensive projects in the Pentagon's history has been awarded to Northrop Grumman. The company won the bid to build the Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRS-B) at a cost that could top $80 billion, reports the Los Angeles Times. Northrop will get more than $20 billion to develop the bomber--which will replace aging B-1s and B-52s--plus $564 million per plane with 80 to 100 currently planned, reports Popular Mechanics. However, the cost of the project could spike if Northrop's record is any indication: The Pentagon initially planned for 132 Northrop-built B-2s in the 1980s, but ended up with 21 when costs skyrocketed to $2 billion per unit. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter says the LRS-B will be the backbone of the Air Force with initial operational capability in 2025. It should be ready to fly by 2040. Because there's no way to know what might be necessary in a bomber in 2040, the LRS-B will be adaptable, says the Air Force's chief of staff. Military officials say it will be able to fly nuclear weapons and perhaps operate as a drone. Northrop earlier said the project could create 1,400 new jobs in Palmdale, Calif.--where Northrop also built the B-2--and the city's mayor says we're very excited. Northrop's chairman seemed to expect the Pentagon's decision, telling the Times, We're ready to get to work. But some industry experts were a bit shocked that the company beat out a Boeing-Lockheed Martin team, which had impressive political connections and funding. That team says it's talking with the Air Force before determining our next steps, but analysts expect it to challenge the decision.
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(Mar 6, 2009 7:54 AM) Unemployment hit 8.1% in February, its highest level since late 1983, as employers cut 651,000 jobs, the government said today. That's worse than the 7.9% analysts predicted, thanks to revised numbers from January and December that were much worse than originally reported. December's revised loss of 681,000 jobs makes it the worst month since October 1949, the Wall Street Journal reports. A total of almost 4.4 million jobs have been lost since the recession began, and many analysts expect the vicious cycle to continue. There is not a single sign that points to a bottom yet, one economist told Bloomberg. It is the worst recession in the post-war era.
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(Aug 29, 2017 7:44 AM CDT) At approximately 4:30am ... a woman from Shrewsbury was awoken by knocks at her door and found the 7-year-old victim standing at her door in pajamas soaking wet. That's how Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Riddle described the incredible end of an allegedly harrowing ordeal. Police say the sleeping child was taken from a chair in her grandparents' home in Worcester, Mass., around 2:30am Sunday, driven around for an hour, choked, and thrown from a bridge into a lake, only to miraculously survive and manage to swim to shore. Joshua Hubert, 35, has been charged with kidnapping and is being held without bail. MassLive reports Hubert has denied all involvement; Riddle alleges Hubert attended a cookout at the home and passed through the room where the girl was sleeping as he exited. The Telegram reports the girl was found with bruises on her wrist and leg and marks on her neck that indicate she was choked; none of the injuries are life-threatening. The Telegram reports police haven't specified which Lake Quinsigamond bridge she was thrown from, though WCVB cites police in saying it was a bridge along Interstate 290 that stands 100 feet above the water; the Washington Post notes a man who jumped from that bridge in 2012 died. MassLive reports the girl identified Hubert as her assailant. Worcester police are seeking surveillance footage from homes and businesses in the area that have exterior cameras in place and might have captured a Saturn Ion near the vicinity of Lincoln Street between 2am and 4:30am Sunday, notes WCVB.
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(Jan 27, 2017 11:30 AM) We have a fire in the cockpit! were words no one expected during a routine test for what was to be a momentous space mission. But that was what horrified NASA personnel heard on Jan. 27, 1967, as three astronauts prepping for a flight to the moon perished in a fire in the Apollo 1 command module. The Washington Post and NPR remember Virgil Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee on the 50th anniversary of their deaths, which happened in the span of five minutes and put the space agency's Apollo program on hold as officials tried to figure out what went wrong. A history of the incident on NASA's website documents the timeline that day, which started around 1pm with complaints of communications issues and a weird odor. How are we going to get to the moon if we can't talk between two or three buildings? one of the astronauts complained. But it was around 6:30pm when things took a turn from annoying to awful. Seconds after the cry for help, the module ruptured, and flames and gas poured out. The astronauts were said to have died almost immediately by suffocation from toxic gas and burns, with nearly everything inside the module incinerated. The cause: a cabin filled with pure oxygen and lots of combustible material, as well as vulnerable plumbing and wiring. Changes that NASA made after the tragedy included filling the cabin with both oxygen and nitrogen, making astronaut suits nonflammable, and setting up a new safety program. Apollo 7 was in the air less than two years later, and on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11, manned by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, made it to the moon. Chaffee and Grissom are buried at Arlington, while White is interred at West Point. (The Post talks to their children.)
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(Sep 10, 2018 12:15 PM CDT) An electrical mishap sent Pete Pyros to hell last week--or what felt like it. The 75-year-old Cleveland man is sharing his story after finding himself trapped in his stiflingly hot 2006 Cadillac for 13 hours. He tells FOX 8 that he pulled into his garage and found that the car's electrical system wasn't working, meaning he couldn't unlock the doors. His key fob was similarly dead, and he didn't have a cell phone on him. He was trapped in the car, screaming and punching the windows, to no avail. Hot is not the word, he says of his experience. Hot is not the word. I felt like I was in hell. A neighbor ultimately heard what sounded like pounding, scaled Pyros' fence, and found him in the fogged-up car; firefighters were able to get him out. FOX 8 spoke with a General Motors rep who says the power lock section of their owners manual explains what to do in the event of a power failure; Pyros was without his manual, so he was unaware there was an emergency lever along the lower frame of the door. He says he may sue over the incident.
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(May 12, 2016 12:11 AM CDT) A man who killed two people in a drug dispute and a sheriff's deputy in a subsequent shootout was put to death Wednesday in what could be Missouri's last execution for some time. Earl Forrest died by injection for the December 2002 deaths of Harriett Smith, Michael Wells, and Dent County Sheriff's Deputy JoAnn Barnes. The 66-year-old Forrest declined to make a final statement. The execution was delayed about an hour, partly because of severe weather in the area. Tornado sirens sounded at one point. As the execution began, Forrest mouthed words to his adult daughter, who was among the witnesses. He stopped speaking within seconds of being injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital, but showed no outward signs of distress, the AP reports. We know this execution will not bring JoAnn back, but it destroyed an evil person that otherwise would be still walking this earth, the deputy's family members said in a statement. Forrest's fate was sealed hours earlier when the US Supreme Court refused to halt the execution and Democratic Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon turned down a clemency request. The execution, Missouri's 19th since November 2013, brings the state's death row population down to 25 men, none of whom face imminent execution. Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, says the death penalty is withering in the state because fewer people are being sentenced to death. No one at all was sentenced to death in Missouri in 2014 or 2015, he says. (Nationwide, executions are at their lowest level in decades.)
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(Oct 27, 2015 12:22 PM CDT) Refugees have never been allowed to go for Olympic gold because they can't represent the countries they've fled from. Now they're going to get their shot, thanks to a decision by the International Olympic Committee to allow highly qualified refugees to take part in the Summer Olympics next year in Rio, the AP reports. This will be a symbol of hope for all the refugees in our world, and will make the world better aware of the magnitude of this crisis, Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, told the UN General Assembly Monday, imploring the 193 member-states to help his organization find the best of the best from this marginalized group. Bach noted that $2 million has been allocated for this initiative, which he hopes will bring hope through sport to refugees. The General Assembly also adopted a resolution that calls for a truce between all member states, from seven days before the Games start on Aug. 5, 2016, to seven days after the Paralympics end on Sept. 18, Reuters notes. (Hopefully Rio will have cleaned up its water act by next August.)
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(Jun 30, 2018 11:20 AM CDT) A Utah man who said he was the prophet of a polygamist sect is headed to prison after his conviction and sentencing this week on a child sodomy charge. Samuel Shaffer is the Knights of the Crystal Blade leader who was arrested in December on kidnapping charges involving his two daughters, as well as the two daughters and two sons of sect co-founder John Coltharp, who was also arrested. On Wednesday in Sanpete County, Shaffer pleaded guilty to felony sodomy on a child and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, KUTV reports. Among the details Shaffer shared with detectives as they looked into his case, per People: that he'd married Coltharp's 8-year-old daughter, and Coltharp had done the same with his 7-year-old daughter. Shaffer, listed as either 34 or 35, had previously been sentenced to 26 years to life in Iron County on child rape and child abuse charges; his new sentence will run concurrent with that one. I sincerely believed that child marriage was a correct principle from God, Shaffer told Sanpete County Judge Marvin Bagley, per USA Today. And I've seen the consequences of what's happened, and I know that I shouldn't have done it now. But Bagley wasn't buying his excuses. I'm not aware of any religion in this world that justifies an adult having a sexual relationship with an 8-year-old girl, Bagley said. Certainly it's a violation of Utah law. Coltharp is set to be sentenced Aug. 8.
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