| Double shootings heighten fears of 'white terrorism' in US Posted: 04 Aug 2019 03:08 PM PDT  Armed with assault rifles and clad in combat gear, two white men methodically gunned down nearly 30 people over the weekend, underscoring fears that "white terrorism" is now the main threat in the United States. Amid rising grief and a clamor for action after the shootings in Texas and Ohio, and earlier in several other cities, politicians of both parties called for the federal government to take that threat more seriously, with some Democrats accusing President Donald Trump of dangerously fanning racial tensions. "It is very clear that the loss of American life in Charleston, in San Diego, in Pittsburgh and by all appearances now in El Paso, too, is symptomatic of the effects of white nationalist terrorism," Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Sunday, naming the scenes of mass shootings that targeted blacks, Jews and, apparently, Hispanics.
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| Canadian police divers search river for missing teen murder suspects Posted: 04 Aug 2019 02:23 PM PDT  Canadian police divers are searching a river for two missing teenagers suspected of a double murder, after finding an abandoned boat on its shores.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been chasing Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, for weeks since the pair were connected to two separate killings in British Columbia earlier this month.Authorities announced on 31 July that they were scaling back the search, which had taken officers to the remote town of Gillam in northern Manitoba.On Friday RCMP officers, travelling in a helicopter, spotted a damaged aluminium boat on the shores of the Nelson River, near Gillam.RCMP divers have now travelled to the town to search a section of the river.Their hunt began on Sunday."RCMP Underwater Recovery Team (URT) will conduct a thorough underwater search of significant areas of interest today," the force said on Twitter.The teenagers have been tracked in a series of stolen cars as they have travelled thousands of miles across Canada, from its Pacific coast in the west all to the way east to rural Manitoba.RCMP units believe the pair have been cornered in this region of rural Manitoba.The manhunt began on 12 July when Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky, childhood friends, left their home in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island and travelled 1,500 miles north to Whitehorse, in the Yukon, claiming that they were looking for work.But on 15 July police discovered the bodies of a young couple near Liard Hot Springs, back in British Columbia. The RCMP has said the teenagers are suspects in the case and are wanted for questioning.A few days later a burnt-out truck driven by the pair was discovered, along with the body of Leonard Dyck. Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky have been charged with his murder and chased across Canada by the RCMP ever since.The father of Mr Schmegelsky has told reporters he believes his son is on a "suicide mission" and expects him to eventually die in a confrontation with the police."A normal child doesn't travel across the country killing people," he said. "A child in some very serious pain does."
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| Dayton shooting: Gunman killed his sister, but was the ‘sororicide' intentional? Posted: 05 Aug 2019 05:25 PM PDT  The murder of a sister is sororicide. Officials says it's too early to tell whether Megan Betts was a target of Sunday's mass shooting in Dayton.
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| Chicago suffers bloody weekend as gun violence leaves seven dead Posted: 05 Aug 2019 02:45 PM PDT  Mass shootings command widespread media coverage, but lost in the national conversations about guns are everyday killings A memorial where 26-year-old Chantell Grant and 35-year-old Andrea Stoudemire were shot and killed on 28 July in the South Side of Chicago. Photograph: Kamil Krzaczyński/AFP/Getty ImagesAs deadly mass shootings devastated communities in Texas and Ohio and reignited calls for lawmakers to act on gun reform, Chicago experienced yet another bloody weekend – suffering the kind of violence that has come to be treated by the nation as almost routine in this city.Seven people were killed and 46 wounded here, including in two multiple shootings on the west side. The first of the shootings, in the Douglas Park neighborhood early on Sunday, left seven wounded; the second, in Lawndale hours later, wounded another seven and killed one."As a city, we have to stand up and do a hell of a lot more than we've done in a very long time," Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in an address on the violence over the weekend."There are no adequate words at this point," she said of the violence.Often lost in national conversations about guns are shootings occurring every day in places like Chicago, which has continued to see high levels of violence, mostly affecting its predominantly black and brown south and west sides."In Chicago, it's just another weekend," Father Michael Pfleger, a south side pastor and anti-violence activist, said of the national response to the city's deadly violence. "It gets forgotten and pushed to the side."Where mass shootings tend to command widespread media coverage, Pfleger said, violence in Chicago tends not to make national headlines. In part, he believes it's become an "old story" after years of the city suffering from a devastatingly high murder rate. But it also has to do with the fact that those being affected by the city's scourge of violence are mostly black and brown Chicagoans, he said."Black and brown life being taken by gun violence is not something America has been concerned about for a long time," the St Sabina pastor said."It needs to get the same attention," Pfleger continued. "We have 47 people shot and seven killed. If that happened over in Iraq, that's all anyone would be talking about."To erase everyday violence from the national conversation about gun control is to lose sight of the scope of the problem, according to Kris Brown, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence."We do that at our own peril," Brown told the Guardian. "It's not routine for the people who live in these communities, and it doesn't have to be accepted as normal."As studies have shown, mass shootings like those in Texas and Ohio represent just a fraction of gun deaths in America. Suicides and other homicides account for the majority of firearm-related deaths. "We need to look at gun violence as the public health epidemic it is," Brown said. "We have to change the cultural narrative around guns."Doing so can be challenging, though, given the unwillingness by Republicans to act on commonsense gun reforms."The shootings that occurred this past weekend in Chicago are certainly not taken for granted by the neighborhoods and families that experience them all too often," Rob Nash, chair of the board of directors for the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, said in an email interview. "The only people who have accepted gun violence as being routine are public policymakers who refuse to take action to stop it."Brown said the Brady campaign was continuing to work on changing the national narrative about guns, and Pfleger is organizing a national demonstration in Washington DC, in September in an effort to pressure lawmakers into action. "They're not gonna just do it," Pfleger said of gun reform. "They have to be pushed."
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| Classmate Says Dayton Shooter Targeted Her in High School: ‘We Predicted He Would Do This’ Posted: 05 Aug 2019 12:17 PM PDT  via TwitterJessica Masseth was months into her sophomore year at Bellbrook High School in Ohio when she started getting disturbing text messages from a freshman named Connor Betts. Betts texted that Masseth was on his "rape list," describing in detail "what he wanted to do" to her, she said—even sending her the list of all of his proposed victims to prove she wasn't the only one. Finally, Masseth said she had enough and went to police. "I was not surprised at all when I heard his name on the news yesterday," she said. "We predicted he would do this 10 years ago." Early Sunday morning, authorities said Betts, 24, opened fire on a crowded Dayton street lined with bars and restaurants. Wearing body armor and carrying an assault-style rifle outfitted with a magazine carrying a hundred rounds, he killed nine people, including his sister, and injured 26 others. Police killed him before he murdered more.Dayton Shooter Murdered Sister in Attack, Officials SayPolice said they do not have a motive for Betts' deadly rampage, but Masseth and other classmates said he expressed violent attitudes going back a decade.Word spread quickly in 2010 about the lists of 15 classmates he wanted to "rape or kill" in a notebook he carried around, Masseth said. "He had a kill list that was mostly guys and then a rape list that was mostly girls," Masseth said, adding that he also texted her the list to prove she was on it. "The lists basically had any girl who turned him down, any girl who thought they were above him, and any guy that was competition or was seen as a threat."Masseth, who said she was "not one of the popular girls," was shocked when she started to get Betts' texts naming her as one of the girls on his "rape list." The texts, she said, made it seem like Betts had a "God complex mixed with 'Iwantattention.'"Masseth said she doesn't even remember having a full conversation with him."In the texts, and on the lists, he talked about destruction and dismemberment. I mean how did the police not know he was going to do something like what he did this weekend?" she said. "Everyone knew he was not right."After "countless texts" and growing concern in school about the lists, Masseth said she finally told her mother, who encouraged her to contact the authorities. Another former classmate, who spoke to The Daily Beast but asked not to be named, said she learned she was on the list when she was questioned by police in the principal's office one morning."There was chatter at school that a kid was taken off the bus by the police but we weren't really sure who it was," she said. "But then police started asking me questions about Connor Betts and whether there was any reason he would want to hurt me."The former student said the list was conveyed to her as a "kill, dismember, and rape list.""My best friend and I on that list," she said. "But a good amount of girls on the list were girls that didn't want to date him. I personally never perceived our relationship as that close."Police officers pulled Betts off a school bus as they headed to school, a former classmate told The Washington Post. Masseth said police questioned Betts about the hit lists and he was suspended from school. The following year he returned to school, she said. When she graduated in 2012, Betts was still "not right." "He basically got a slap on the wrist," she said. "If he was only held accountable, this shooting would have never happened because he wouldn't have been able to buy any firearms. There are levels of failure here."Police declined to comment on the purported lists, citing the "ongoing investigation" into Betts' mass murder. Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said Sunday that Betts had no criminal record as an adult. Police said Betts arrived in Dayton's downtown entertainment district Saturday night in his father's car with with his younger sister, Megan, and a male acquaintance. Betts fatally shot his sister and wounded the acquaintance, who survived, police said. The acquaintance is not suspected to have played a role in the attack, officials say.Sometime around then, Betts crept through an alley before opening fire near a tattoo parlor before moving across the street toward a crowded line waiting to enter a bar. Just then, several police officers wielding pistols, a rifle, and a shotgun unloaded on Betts—and stopped him a split second before he stepped through the bar's open doors.Police said they are still investigating why Betts killed his sister and eight other people. Masseth said it is "still frightening" to learn he could have made good on his threat against her. "Everyone in high school knew what he was capable of, but there was a gap in getting Connor help because people just decided they didn't care," she said. "If people just cared a little more, none of this would have happened."The Mother Who Lost a Daughter to Her Son, the Mass MurdererRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Kamala Harris Has 1 Big Weakness That Won't Be Easy to Dismiss Posted: 05 Aug 2019 02:59 AM PDT  During Wednesday night's Democratic presidential debate, Tulsi Gabbard tore into Kamala Harris for her track record as a prosecutor in San Francisco and later as California's Attorney General. The attack was sharp and effective, earning Gabbard an outsize share of the post-debate commentary. Its thrust was entirely fair, too, as any number of articles have demonstrated, including Lara Bazelon's recent takedown in The New York Times titled Kamala Haris Was Not a Progressive Prosecutor.The real significance of Gabbard's critique, however, lies not in the proposition that Harris was a particularly unprofessional or malign prosecutor, but rather in the fact that she seems to have been a rather ordinary prosecutor who simply did her job the way most prosecutors do. And if that makes a former-prosecutor-turned-presidential-candidate look like a monster, then perhaps that says more about prosecutors in general than it does about Kamala Harris in particular.Gabbard's gut-punch underscores the difficult position that modern prosecutors find themselves in as the key players in a substantially immoral and increasingly indefensible criminal justice system. A near-universal blind spot of career prosecutors like Harris is their failure to appreciate the fact that law and morality can—and in our system frequently do—diverge.
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| Soldier praised for heroic act at El Paso shooting: 'What I did was what I was supposed to do' Posted: 05 Aug 2019 02:25 PM PDT  A 22-year-old off-duty U
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| Analysis: India's actions in Kashmir could have bloody consequences in the UK Posted: 05 Aug 2019 09:59 AM PDT  In February 1984, the deputy head of the Indian Consulate in Birmingham was grabbed as he got off the bus heading home with a cake for his daughter's birthday. The next day, Kashmiri nationalists announced that they had kidnapped him and were demanding a ransom and the release of a Kashmiri leader in Indian custody. The Indian government refused and Mhatre was brutally murdered. Three decades later in 2005, the Kashmiri connection came to life once again when a group of British born young men blew themselves up on the London public transport system murdering 52 innocent commuters. Their journey to Al Qaeda training camps had started through Kashmiri oriented ones. This sad history of violence shows how intimately the UK is tied to the waves of violence that occasionally pulse through Kashmir, and shows why attention needs to be paid to what is happening in there now. The newly crowned BJP government led by Narendra Modi won a landslide election victory on May 23 on a platform of revoking a key part of the constitution which defined Indian controlled Kashmir as separate to the rest of the country. This reclamation has come at a moment when violence in Kashmir appears to be sharpening as the Muslim majority population chafe against rule from Delhi. The Indian government's assessment of the potential impact of this decision can be seen in the fact that the Internet has been largely cut off and the mass deployment of thousands of soldiers into the region. Over the weekend thousands started to stream away from the region near India's border with Pakistan after the government issued a series of warnings about potential violence. Pakistanis protest against India in Lahore on August 5 Credit: AP They are right to be concerned. Quite aside the fact that internecine violence between different ethnic and religious communities in India has in the past resulted in mass death and violence, this region often acts as a flashpoint between India and Pakistan. Since 2015 there has been an growing number of terrorist attacks against Indian security forces which has resulted in an escalating level of response by the Indian government against Pakistan. While there is some evidence of cross-border support from Pakistan, they are able to exploit genuine and growing anger in Kashmir at the moment. This move by the government in Delhi is unlikely to do much to tamp this down. Rather, it is likely to exacerbate people's fears that Delhi is going to open the region more to re-settlement by non-Muslim populations from elsewhere in India. The region's special status will feel further under threat and create a context that will become a further flashpoint between India and Pakistan. These are two nuclear armed states who have shown in the past few years an escalating pattern of armed confrontation over incidents starting in Kashmir. This has hugely dangerous consequences for one of the most populated parts of the world. But it also resonates in the UK. Talk to any MP who represents a constituency with a substantial South Asian population, and they will tell you about the degree to which issues in the subcontinent show up regularly in their surgeries. At one point, a Kashmiri focused political party managed to claim city council seats in Birmingham on a platform largely focused on Kashmir. The UK is right to be deeply proud of its South Asian communities (both current Chancellor and Home Secretary claim this proud heritage), but unfortunately there are difficult politics attached. What happens in Kashmir resonates in the UK. Raffaello Pantucci is Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
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| Cadillac CT6-V Shows Off New Blackwing V-8 Posted: 05 Aug 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| If foreign terrorists attacked Dayton, El Paso and Gilroy, would America do nothing? Posted: 05 Aug 2019 11:14 AM PDT  America harbors no greater culture of violence, mental illness or racial animosity than other nations; it just has more guns: Our view
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| China may halt French police cooperation over Interpol case: source Posted: 05 Aug 2019 07:52 AM PDT  Chinese officials are threatening to stop all police cooperation with France after it gave political asylum to the wife of the former Interpol chief, a Chinese national now languishing in prison on charges of bribery, a French source close to the matter said Monday. "There hasn't been any official request to suspend the cooperation but an informal expression of intent," the source told AFP. French daily Le Monde reported over the weekend that the security attache at France's embassy in Beijing had been told of the impending move.
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| Malaysian police looking for missing 15-year-old London girl Posted: 05 Aug 2019 06:47 AM PDT  Police in Malaysia said Monday they are investigating the disappearance of a 15-year-old London girl, but there were no initial indications of foul play. The family of Nora Quoirin says her father discovered her missing from her bedroom Sunday morning at a resort hotel in a nature reserve 63 kilometers (39 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur, with the window left open. The Lucie Blackman Trust, a British charity supporting people during a crisis overseas, quoted the girl's aunt as saying the family considers her disappearance a criminal matter.
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| Ohio governor stopped mid-speech at vigil for Dayton shooting victims: 'Do something' Posted: 05 Aug 2019 02:58 PM PDT  During a vigil to remember the dead killed in Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday, the Republican governor of the state was stopped mid-speech with demands that he "do something" about the kind of violence that had left at least nine people dead less than 24 hours earlier.Mike DeWine had just remarked on the size of the crowd in Dayton's Oregon District, when he was confronted with pleas for action."Do something!" a member of the crowd yelled, prompting echoes from the others in the crowd that built into chants that disrupted the event, which was being held around the corner from the site of the deadly shooting.The moment quickly went viral on social media,, as a frustration with a lack of action on the gun violence epidemic spread.It echoed sentiments across the US following other mass shootings, including at the vigil following the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last year, when a mourning crowd chanted "no more guns!""We are tired of vigils!" the crowd in Ohio chanted.Soon after the vigil, the hashtag "DoSomething" took off on Twitter, with impassioned statements being posted by users in favour of gun control action.Mr DeWine's position on gun control appears to hew closely to the positions of the National Rifle Association (NRA), and he announced on the campaign trail last year that he supported "red flag" laws that could allow law enforcement to take firearms from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others, so long as there is "due process".That position is similar to the one taken by the NRA.
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| From El Paso to Christchurch, a Racist Lie Is Fueling Terrorist Attacks Posted: 04 Aug 2019 06:16 PM PDT  Joel Angel Juarez/GettyIt's the meme behind the massacres. In El Paso this weekend and across the globe this year, white supremacists have left manifestos referencing a racist conspiracy theory to justify slaughtering religious and ethnic minorities.Alleged killers in Christchurch, New Zealand; Poway, California; and El Paso, Texas believed a theory that claims white people are being "replaced" by people of color through mass immigration. Conspiracy theorists often falsely claim this is a deliberate effort by any number of groups demonized on the far right: liberals, Democrats, Jews, Muslims. It's the theory peddled by white-supremacist groups seeking recruits and the torch-bearing marchers in Charlottesville two years ago. It's also a thinly disguised—and often not disguised—talking point from some conservative politicians and pundits, experts say.By leaving these conspiratorial manifestos, white supremacists are trying to add to a long and growing library of terror, and get others to follow their examples."They're also trying to inspire others about the urgency of the moment. In particular with the New Zealand shooter, the Poway shooter, and this guy in El Paso, you see these ideas building on each other," Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, told The Daily Beast."There's no question these people are feeding off each other because they're referencing prior manifestos. In the Poway case and the El Paso case, they both referenced Christchurch."Accused El Paso Walmart Shooter Apparently Posted Racist Manifesto Before AttackIn name alone, the conspiracy theory began in 2011, with the book The Great Replacement by French author Renaud Camus. The anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant text likened the growth of non-white populations to the genocide of white people in European countries. This supposed genocide is nonexistent. White supremacists use it as an excuse for violence anyway. On Aug. 11, 2017, white supremacists led a torch-lit march on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville. The marchers chanted "You will not replace us," or sometimes "Jews will not replace us," in a callout to the conspiracy theory. The gathering, the first event of the two-day "Unite the Right Rally," was intended as a coming-out moment for America's increasingly visible white-supremacist movement. On the second day, a neo-Nazi drove a car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, murdering one.The conspiracy theory continued to gain traction with white supremacists. The Christchurch shooter referred to the "replacement" in the title of his manifesto before he allegedly massacred 51 people at a mosque in March—and live-streamed it on Facebook for propaganda. White supremacists online glorified the Christchurch attack. The alleged shooter at a Poway synagogue in April cited the Christchurch manifesto as his motivation for murdering Jews. The alleged shooter at a Walmart in El Paso on Saturday also cited the Christchurch tract as inspiring him to murder Hispanic people.Clint Watts, a former FBI agent and current distinguished research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said the alleged attackers were mobilizing each other."They all cite each other," Watts told The Daily Beast. "Yesterday's El Paso shooter cited Christchurch. Then he talked about how a month ago, he started to think about an attack. That's really a short time, which makes it even more impossible for law enforcement to get in front of it.Mass Shooting Kills 20 at El Paso Walmart: Gunman 'Started Shooting Everyone, Aisle by Aisle,' Witness SaysWatts likened the attacks to terror campaigns by organized groups like ISIS, which touched off a series of attacks across the world in the summer of 2016, with new violence inspiring new violence."Because of those successful attacks, you'd see a wave of inspired attacks, meaning that there are often one, two, three people already thinking about doing an attack," Watts said. When those people see a violent incident, "they mobilize because they want to get into the media storm. They want to be part of that phenomenon. It becomes a contagion."ISIS terror and white-supremacist terror both require a wide network of online extremists potentially ready to commit violence for the cause. The difference with the current wave of white-supremacist violence, Watts said, is that white supremacists are decentralized and do their organizing through a leaderless online movement, rather than following orders from recognized leaders.Media treatment of ISIS and white-supremacist violence are also different, Watts noted. "What's remarkable is that our response [to white violence] is just, 'Eh, this guy is a bad apple; he's crazy," he said. Sometimes, the white-supremacist rhetoric actually comes from conservative media and politicians, SPLC's Beirich said.These figures are "not always using the term 'Great Replacement,'" she said, but "even from Trump and others, there's a lot of talk about Latinos 'invading' the United States, about the idea that Democrats like immigrants because they're going to vote for the Democratic Party, the idea—which we've heard from Trump, Tucker Carlson, and others—that white people are basically being pushed out of their areas by these new populations."Trump on Twitter has repeatedly described Hispanic immigrants as "invading" the U.S.—the same terminology the alleged El Paso shooter used—and in a campaign speech last year said migration from Central America was "like a war" on America. (Trump condemned white supremacy in an address Monday from the White House.)Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has gone further, promoting explicit white nationalists and writing that "we can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies" in a tweet defending a racist Dutch politician's stance on "demographics."Fox New personalities have also invoked similar terms, with pundit Laura Ingraham recently claiming that Democrats support "replacing the current American population, or swamping the current American population, with a new population of people."The line could have belonged in one of the emerging manifestos, according to Beirich."They're not calling it 'white genocide,' per se, but it's the same idea," she said.America Under Attack by White Supremacists Acting Like ISISRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| More than 175 killed worldwide in last eight years in white nationalist-linked attacks Posted: 04 Aug 2019 12:58 PM PDT  At least 16 high-profile attacks have been motivated by white nationalist conspiracy theoriesProtesters against gun violence dressed in white march in Times Square in response to recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday in New York City. Photograph: Go Nakamura/Getty ImagesIn the past eight years, more than 175 people around the world have been killed in at least 16 high-profile attacks motivated, or apparently motivated, by white nationalist conspiracy theories, including the far-right racist belief that nonwhite immigrants and refugees are "invaders" who pose an existential threat to the white race.The targets of deadly attacks have included Muslim worshippers at mosques in Canada, Britain and New Zealand; black Americans in church, including during Bible study at a historic black church in South Carolina; Jewish Americans in synagogues across the United States; and leftwing politicians and activists in the US, UK, Greece and Norway.Now, law enforcement officials in the United States are investigating two more mass shootings with potential links to white nationalist radicalization.An attack on Saturday at a Walmart superstore in El Paso, Texas, a majority-Hispanic city, which left 22 people dead and more than two dozen wounded, and a shooting the previous weekend at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California, packed with families with young children, which left three people dead and 15 wounded.Many of the white male perpetrators or suspects in these attacks have explicitly described immigrants and refugees as "invaders" or an "invasion" online, and have cited previous white nationalist killers as the inspiration for their attacks.Several of these deadly attacks have also been closely linked to mainstream political debates over refugees and immigration. Here are the prominent cases prior to this August 2019 shooting: April 20191 killed in mass shooting targeting a synagogue in Poway, California, US.The alleged shooter, 19, from California, opened fire in a synagogue during Passover services, killing a 60-year-old woman and injuring three others. An "open letter" posted on the 8chan extremist message board before the attack included white nationalist conspiracy rhetoric and said the shooter was inspired by the gunman who had opened fire on Muslims at two mosques in New Zealand the month before. March 201951 killed in mass shootings targeting two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.The alleged shooter, a 28-year-old white man from Australia, posted on 8chan before the attack, and then live-streamed himself shooting unarmed people in and around two Christchurch mosques. The manifesto posted before the shooting paid tribute to previous white nationalist attacks, including Anders Breivik's 2011 bomb and shooting attack in Norway, as well as historic acts of violence against Muslims. October 201811 killed in a mass shooting targeting the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US.The alleged shooter, a 46-year-old white man, reportedly shouted "All Jews must die!" during the attack. After he was taken into custody, he told a law enforcement official that he believed Jews "were committing a genocide to his people", a central white nationalist conspiracy theory. The gunman, who is awaiting trial and has pleaded not guilty, apparently had an active profile on an extremist social media site, where he accused Jewish people of trying to bring "evil" Muslims into the US, and wrote that a refugee aid organisation "likes to bring invaders in that kill our people". October 2018Man attempted to enter black church before allegedly killing two black people in a supermarket in Kentucky, US.A witness said that during the attack, the alleged shooter said: "Whites don't kill whites." His two victims, Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vickie Lee Jones, 67, were both black. Shortly before the shooting he had attempted to enter a nearby, predominantly black church, which was locked. The suspect was charged with hate crimes. August 2017Heather Heyer was killed and dozens injured after a car ploughed into anti-Nazi protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, US.After authorities shut down a violent white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, one of the men who had been photographed with a white supremacist group drove his car into a crowded street full of counter-protesters. Heather Heyer, 32, who was there protesting the far-right supporters, was killed. Dozens more were injured, many seriously. The killer had been obsessed with Hitler as a teenager, according to a former teacher. He was sentenced to life in prison. June 2017A man called Makram Ali was killed and 12 people injured after a van ploughed into worshippers outside a mosque in Finsbury Park, United Kingdom.The killer, who has been jailed for life, shouted: "I want to kill all Muslims – I did my bit," after the van attack, according to witnesses. He had been radicalised online and over Twitter, a judge concluded, and avidly consumed anti-Muslim propaganda from prominent rightwing figures. May 2017Two men stabbed to death after intervening in an anti-Muslim rant, Portland, Oregon, US.Two men were killed and one injured after they tried to intervene to protect young women on a public train who were being targeted with an anti-Muslim tirade. Their alleged killer shouted "Free speech or die" later in a courtroom, and "Death to Antifa! You call it terrorism, I call it patriotism!" The suspect is awaiting trial. March 2017Timothy Caughman stalked and killed by a white supremacist with a sword, New York, US.The alleged killer later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life behind bars.Caughman, a 66-year-old "can and bottle recycler", had lively social media accounts full of photographs with celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey. His killer, an American military veteran, said he targeted a random black man on the street in New York City as a "practice run" for a bigger attack. January 2017Six people killed during evening prayers at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada.One of the victims, Azzeddine Soufiane, was killed as he attempted to tackle the gunman. Nineteen people were also injured in the shooting, which the convicted gunman said was prompted by Justin Trudeau's tweet that refugees were welcome in Canada, and that "diversity is strength". Those comments from the Canadian prime minster followed US president Donald Trump's travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries. The shooter, who said he feared refugees would kill his family, had previously been known as an aggressive online troll . June 2016Labour MP Jo Cox shot and stabbed to death, UK.Cox was a supporter of Britain staying in the European Union. She was attacked a week before the EU referendum vote in 2016. The man convicted of killing her was a white supremacist obsessed with the Nazis and apartheid-era South Africa. He shouted: "This is for Britain," "Keep Britain independent" and "Britain first" as he killed her. October 2015Three killed in attack on school in Trollhättan, Sweden.The attacker targeted a local high school with a high percentage of immigrant students. Police said students and teacherswith darker skinwere targeted. Three died, including 15-year-old Ahmed Hassan, who was born in Somalia and had recently moved to Sweden. June 2015Nine people killed during Bible study at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, US.The nine victims included elderly longtime church members at the Mother Emanuel AME church, and Clementa Pinckney, a state senator. The shooter, a self-avowed white supremacist, said he wanted to start a race war, and that he was concerned about "black-on-white crime". He has been convicted of murder and hate crimes. April 2014Three killed at Jewish centre and retirement home in Overland Park, Kansas, US.A former Ku Klux Klan leader shot and killed three people, one of them just 14 years old. He was later convicted of murder. He said he believed Jews were destroying the white race, and that diversity was a kind of genocide. None of his victims were Jewish, but he said he considered two of them to be accomplices to Jewish people. September 2013Rapper and anti-fascist activist Pavlos Fyssas stabbed to death in Piraeus, Greece.A senior member of Greece's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party was imprisoned after confessing to the killing. August 2012Six worshippers killed in a shooting targeting a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.The dead included the temple president, Satwant Singh Kaleka. The shooter, a "frustrated neo-Nazi" who had played in white power bands, was a regular on racist websites, and died in the attack. He had previously talked to one colleague in the US military about a "racial holy war that was coming" and told another he was a "race traitor" for dating a Latina woman. July 201177 people killed in attacks on Utøya island and in Oslo, Norway.A bomb attack, followed by a shooting that targeted the island summer youth camp of Norway's Labor party. The shooter, who was convicted and is in prison, wanted to prevent an "invasion of Muslims" and deliberately targeted politically active young people who he saw as "cultural Marxists" and proponents of multiculturalism. More than half of the dead were teenagers.
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| Cellmate uses toilet to drown convicted Florida pedophile Posted: 05 Aug 2019 10:41 AM PDT  Paul Dixon has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of David Oseas Ramirez. The death allegedly occurred after the cellmates got into an argument.
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| North Korea took $2 billion in cyberattacks to fund weapons program: U.N. report Posted: 05 Aug 2019 11:28 AM PDT  North Korea has generated an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs using "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyberattacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a confidential U.N. report seen by Reuters on Monday. Pyongyang also "continued to enhance its nuclear and missile programmes although it did not conduct a nuclear test or ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) launch," said the report to the U.N. Security Council North Korea sanctions committee by independent experts monitoring compliance over the past six months. The North Korean mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the report, which was submitted to the Security Council committee last week.
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| US warned Sweden of 'negative consequences' if A$AP Rocky were not released from jail for trial Posted: 04 Aug 2019 03:01 AM PDT  A U.S. presidential envoy warned of "potentially negative consequences" to U.S.-Swedish relations if rapper A$AP Rocky were not released from prison, according to reports.
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| Refugees in Pakistan fearful after India abolishes Kashmir autonomy Posted: 05 Aug 2019 02:04 PM PDT  Refugees in Pakistani-held Kashmir voiced fears for relatives still on the other side of the disputed Himalayan border Monday after India abolished the Muslim-majority region's special autonomy, raising fears of fresh violence. Many of the roughly 250 people in the Manak Paiyan refugee camp near Muzaffarabad, the largest city in Pakistani-held Kashmir, fled fighting in the 1990s but still have family on the other side of the Line of Control, the de facto border slicing through the heavily militarised region. The move is set to exacerbate the rebellion in Kashmir, and to deepen the long-running animosity with nuclear rival Pakistan, which has fought two out of three wars with India over the territory.
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| Probe: No bias by TSA supervisor, but profiling concerns Posted: 05 Aug 2019 01:15 PM PDT  Investigators were unable to corroborate specific allegations that a Transportation Security Administration supervisor instructed air marshals to racially discriminate against passengers at Florida's busiest airport. The Office of Inspector General launched the investigation a year ago at the request of U.S. lawmakers after three air marshals went public with the discrimination allegations about the supervisor.
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| A hero grandmother persuaded her 19-year-old grandson to check into a hospital when she learned he was planning a mass shooting Posted: 05 Aug 2019 10:12 AM PDT  The US Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Texas announced on Friday that William Patrick Williams, from Lubbock, Texas, had been arrested.
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| View Photos of the New 2020 Nissan Versa Posted: 05 Aug 2019 10:04 AM PDT |
| Utah State Student Killed Herself After Eight Months of Racist Attacks—and the School Did Nothing, Suit Claims Posted: 05 Aug 2019 10:24 AM PDT  Courtesy Anderson and Karrenberg Law Firm"Every day I dread going to class now because I sit three feet from my white bully," a Malaysian student at Utah State University texted her friend months before she killed herself, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week on her family's behalf.After eight months of racist bullying by classmates, 24-year-old Ph.D. candidate Jerusha Sanjeevi ended her life in April 2017, the 91-page complaint states. Sanjeevi was of Chinese and Indian heritage but was born and raised in Malaysia.The lawsuit, filed by Sanjeevi's boyfriend, Matthew Bick, names as defendants Utah State University, the head of the psychology department, some of the students who were in her cohort, and professors. The complaint alleges negligence, wrongful death, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It contends that the university's lack of action—even after Sanjeevi complained about the alleged bullying to professors and a department chairperson—violated her civil rights. The Herald Journal first reported on the lawsuit Friday.Sanjeevi graduated from Minnesota State University with a Master's degree in clinical psychology and then enrolled in Utah State's psychology Ph.D. program in fall 2016. Eighty-three percent of students at the school are white, the lawsuit claims. The department "knowingly allowed one of its students to be verbally abused, intimidated and subjected to cultural and racist discrimination by favored students over the course of eight months, when she was rendered so emotionally devastated and hopeless that she committed suicide," the lawsuit claims.Other students in her cohort spread rumors about Sanjeevi, made fun of her "weird" Asian name, told her she smelled like Indian food, and derided her darker skin color as making her less deserving of a research position, according to the lawsuit.One of the students repeatedly made derisive comments about Asians, including that "Asian researcher names are so weird" and "Asians only want to please their parents," the complaint alleges. Members of the cohort told Sanjeevi's attorneys that this other student "was tormenting [Sanjeevi] daily."During an email conversation between professors excerpted in the lawsuit—about the tension between Sanjeevi and one of her alleged bullies—one wrote: "This is getting messy and ugly.""I'm going to leave my lab because I can't take it anymore," Sanjeevi told a friend, according to the lawsuit. "She knew that I've been struggling with the fear of getting deported since the election. She knew that I have no power here as a foreign student. And she did this to me on top of all of that. I don't understand how a person can be so cruel."In an essay assignment, Sanjeevi wrote that "[e]ncountering racism even in graduate school in psychology reinforced a powerful lesson that I learned my entire life: that I can put a nice suit on, but I can never take my skin off."By December, Sanjeevi had a meeting with the head of the department to report that she felt bullied and was "afraid" of at least one member of her cohort. But the department head labeled the issue as "a conflict between students" and declined to investigate the multiple reports of bullying and racism by specific students, even after Sanjeevi's death, according to the lawsuit.Eventually, other students began describing Sanjeevi as "despondent," "withdrawn," and "defeated and tired," the complaint states. Over those eight months, Sanjeevi reported the alleged bullying to at least five faculty members, in addition to a member of the school's counseling center, a representative of the student conduct office, and another individual at the affirmative action department, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.Just days before she killed herself, Sanjeevi told a friend that she was overwhelmed by the department's apparent apathy, the complaint states."I just don't understand why I matter so little to them," she said. "I haven't been feeling like living and this just confirms that I don't want this life anymore."On April 22, 2017, she died of acute carbon monoxide poisoning. Her body was found two days later."When something like this happens, people ask why," Sanjeevi wrote in a note before her death. "So I'm about to tell you why, and spare you the wondering.""I have lived with depression for over half my life, and somehow survived each episode. But each wave of sadness grew darker and longer," she wrote. "I looked and looked for a lifeline. Until I realized that I didn't deserve one. Because [the Department] succeeded at teaching me what poverty, violence, rape, and hunger somehow never did… When you dismissed the bullying report, you provided a final confirmation that I did, in fact, not matter.""The innocence of blonde hair and blue eyes could deny, with toxic ease, the 'crazy' ramblings of this dirty brown skin," Sanjeevi continued. "Watching the department not only choose to not enact consequences, but to give an award to the sick person who bullied me, was the last nail in my coffin. My heart was broken."Amanda DeRito, a spokeswoman for the university, told The Daily Beast on Monday that Sanjeevi's suicide was "a tragic event that had a huge impact on the psychology department and on our entire university" and said the university "strongly" disputes the allegations in the complaint."We believe Utah State took all appropriate action to address interpersonal issues between students in the department," DeRito said, declining to comment further on the details of the case, citing the pending litigation.The complaint seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages for Sanjeevi's family in Malaysia."Please be kinder in the future," Sanjeevi wrote in her suicide note. "Please send my ashes to my parents."If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.Death-Obsessed Missouri Frat Brother's 'Advice' Pushed Five People to Kill Themselves, Lawsuit ClaimsNYPD Officer Dies of Suicide, the Third Self-Inflicted Death in Less Than Two WeeksRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Police Fire Tear Gas to Protect China Office: Hong Kong Update Posted: 04 Aug 2019 05:41 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police once again used tear gas against protesters trying to attack China's main representation office, capping a weekend of violent demonstrations across the city that mark the ninth week of civil unrest in the Asian financial capital.Riot police used gas to deter hundreds of black-clad protesters, many wearing hard hats, goggles and gas masks, from approaching the China liaison office in Sai Wan on Sunday. Protesters then migrated to Causeway Bay, a bustling shopping and dining area, and set up barricades that were blocking one of the busiest roadways in the city.Earlier marchers massed in Tseung Kwan O, in the city's New Territories, and surrounded the district police station, pelting it with projectiles and breaking windows.On Saturday, thousands converged in Kowloon, where police used tear gas to try to disperse crowds and re-open blocked roads. Police stations came under attack there as demonstrators hurled projectiles at them and set fires.The violence, including arson and blockading major roads, "crosses the line" of peaceful and rational protests and cannot be tolerated, the Hong Kong government said in a statement Sunday. The city is reaching a "very dangerous" point, the statement said. The government also urged people not to join a planned general strike on Monday, saying it would hurt the economy and increase the risk of a recession.China's official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary on Sunday that China's central government would not sit back and let the situation continue.The protest movement that began as weekend marches has shifted form and become a part of daily life, with disquiet growing in the Asian financial hub. Dozens of people appeared in court last week on a colonial-era rioting charge that carries a 10-year prison term -- signaling the city's Beijing-backed government is heeding calls for a stronger response, bolstered by support from Chinese authorities.Demonstrations began nearly nine weeks ago over opposition to legislation easing extraditions to China, and demands have since widened to include Chief Executive Carrie Lam's resignation, the release of people detained at previous protests and an inquiry into the police's use of force.Sunday marches kick off (6 p.m.)Two marches kicked off on Sunday afternoon, one on the western side of Hong Kong island and the other in the New Territories district of Tseung Kwan O.The New Territories attracted thousands who moved directly to the local police station. Some protesters hurled projectiles at the building, breaking windows and drawing a warning from police that the crowd would be dispersed. Police issued a statement advising the public to leave the area immediately.The island march started at the expat-friendly residential neighborhood of Kennedy Town and was scheduled to end at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park in Sai Ying Pun.One of the protesters in Kennedy Town, 61-year-old church secretary Danny Yuen, said he was worried that the clashes could lead to serious injuries or death, which would "affect society's stability.""I don't like to see the violence, I'd like to see a peaceful way to engage with the government, but the government is forcing this way onto people," he said. "If the government would retract the bill, it would reduce tensions."China won't sit back (11 a.m.)Police said in a statement Sunday that at least 20 vehicles were damaged and officers' safety was put at risk when protesters hurled bricks and other objects into the station with "large catapults." When police dispersed the crowd some protesters hurled petrol bombs and other objects at officers, who fired tear gas to try to quell the violence, police said.At least 20 people were arrested for offenses including unlawful assembly and assault, according to the statement.Xinhua said in a commentary that the central government would not sit back and let the situation continue, while reiterating that it's sticking to the one country, two systems regime. The news agency warned "evil forces which are trying to challenge the central government's authority, to destroy the one country, two systems bottom line" that they will be judged by history.The report accused protesters of throwing a Chinese national flag into the sea in an act that is an insult to all Chinese nationals including Hong Kong residents.Two marches are planned for Sunday afternoon, one in the western side of Hong Kong island, ending in the area near China's liaison office; the other in the New Territories neighborhood of Tseung Kwan O.Government Condemns Acts of Protesters (2:16 a.m.)The Hong Kong government in a statement expressed regret over what it termed protesters' "violent" and "radical" actions, including barricading major roads in the Yau Tsim Mong district and the entrance to the Cross Harbor Tunnel. It said the actions went beyond what a "civilized society" considers freedom of expression. "We express regret over such behaviors which are illegal and disregard the public order and the needs of other members of the public." Acts that defaced the national flag were also condemned.Wong Tai Sin residents tear-gassed (Sunday, 12:05 a.m.)Police fired tear gas in Wong Tai Sin, a residential area with mostly public housing named for the nearby temple of the same name. Many were apparently local residents without gas masks or hard hats. They were angry at riot police who made arrests earlier on, including of at least one elderly person. Many remained on the streets as confrontations continued. Hundreds of protesters returned and encircled a police station in the Prince Edward neighborhood.Police use tear gas in Mong Kok (Saturday, 10:38 p.m.)Police fired tear gas in the densely populated neighborhood of Mong Kok for the first time since the start of the protests seven weeks ago. Lines of riot police faced off against demonstrators who had blocked Nathan Road, a main commercial thoroughfare. Police made progress in clearing many of the demonstrators, though some appeared to have entered into other neighborhoods with a thinner police presence.A large number of protesters remained in neighboring Tsim Sha Tsui, even after police fired several rounds of tear gas there to try dispel the demonstrators.Tear gas fired in Tsim Sha Tsui (Saturday 9:15 p.m.)Police fired tear gas to dispel protesters who had surrounded a police station in the Tsim Sha Tsui area, a shopping district that attracts many Chinese tourists. Protesters had set a fire near the station and hurled bricks at the outpost. Demonstrators had also blocked Nathan Road, the main thoroughfare in Kowloon, from Tsim Sha Tsui to Mong Kok. Riot police were also out in number trying to clear protesters from the Mong Kok district.Cross-Harbour Tunnel barricaded (Saturday 7 p.m.)Marchers from a rally in Mong Kok broke up into groups with some heading toward the shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui, where they took over the waterfront Canton Road. Some protesters set up barricades blocking the entrance to the Cross Harbor Tunnel, a busy route for vehicles, TV footage showed. Authorities cleared the barricades but traffic was backed up in a huge jam on the Hong Kong Island side of the tunnel.Organizers said 120,000 people attended the anti-government march, while police estimated that 4,200 were on the originally agreed route for the rally.One city, two rallies (Saturday 3 p.m.)Anti-government protesters gathered in a park in the Kowloon area for a 1.5 kilometer (about 1 mile) march to the Mong Kong district on a route approved by police. The park was overflowing with thousands of demonstrators spilling into the streets as police kept a low profile.In Causeway Bay, across the harbor on the Hong Kong Island side, thousands protesters congregated in Victoria Park in support of the police. Organizers said 90,000 people took part, while the media reported police as saying 26,000 attended.One of the demonstrators, who would only give her name as Ms Fung, accused the media of supporting protesters."If the news is beneficial to the people clad in black, they report it," she said. The protesters don't realize the harm they're inflicting on the economy, she said. "The police are very good compared to other countries."Lam Attends Event (Friday 8:50 p.m.)Hong Kong's embattled leader attended a cocktail reception celebrating the upcoming 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China at the Hong Kong Cultural Center. Some 20 black-clad protesters waited for her, Radio Television Hong Kong reported. Afterward, she didn't answer questions from protesters and media about the civil servants' rally as she was escorted away by bodyguards. People called out to her: "Have you ever responded to us?" "You are ignoring public opinion." "Do you agree you are hiding?"'To Voice My Opinion' (8:15 p.m.)"I am worried about the future of Hong Kong. We are being China-fied after all, despite the promise of 'one country, two systems.' I will keep coming out because I am so worried," said Ms Fung, a 60-year-old retired civil servant who worked as a clerk in the police commissioner's office for more than 20 years and declined to give her first name. "I want to come out and show that it's not just the young people and the people who are protesting that are against Carrie Lam, the extradition bill, and the police violence."Earlier in the evening, organizers played a video on a jumbo screen that summarized weeks of protests. When it came to July 21 attacks on marchers by unidentified white-shirted men at a train station in the suburb of Yuen Long, some people wept.My department "serves Hong Kong people," said Alan Cheung, 28, who works for the city's fire services department and came to the protest in a black shirt. "What happened in Yuen Long station and the police, what they do, is injustice.""I come to this protest to voice my opinion," Cheung said.Civil Servant Rally (7:30 p.m.)Thousands of people poured into centrally located Chater Garden after work for a planned civil servants' protest, some of them chanting the popular Chinese saying "add oil," a refrain of this movement that means to add fuel. The crowds flooded onto adjoining Chater Road as black-shirted demonstrators continued to join the gathering.Anticipating the rally, the government on Thursday night released a statement saying its civil servants must uphold their "political neutrality."Protesters' Next PlansA general strike and seven accompanying rallies called for Monday across the city are gaining traction in protester forums. They call for peaceful "non co-operation actions" at three busy metro stations at 7:30 a.m., as rush hour kicks off: Lai King, Diamond Hill and Fortress Hill. The strike begins hours later, at 1 p.m., with gatherings in Tuen Mun, Tseun Wan, Tai Po, Sha Tin, Mong Kok, Wong Tai Sin and Admiralty, which houses government offices and has been ground zero for weeks of mass marches.About 450 employees from both Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and Hong Kong Airlines Ltd. said they will take part in Monday's strike, Apple Daily reported Saturday, citing unidentified people.More than 300 Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon employees, including pilots, flight attendants and support staff, and about 150 from Hong Kong Airlines have expressed support for the civil action, the paper said. The employees who want to take part may take leave or call in sick, Apple Daily reported.(Updates with tear gas being fired near China liaison office.)\--With assistance from Sheryl Tian Tong Lee, Kari Lindberg, Alfred Liu, Anjali Cordeiro and Natalie Lung.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Karen Leigh in Hong Kong at kleigh4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Brian Wingfield, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Poll shows Germany still divided 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall Posted: 04 Aug 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Almost 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new poll has exposed the enduring political divisions in Germany. The nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has surged to first place in the former communist east, with 23 per cent support. But it has failed to make a similar breakthrough in the former west, where it is in fourth place with just 12 per cent. The figures for the Green Party, which is in second place in the national polls, are almost a mirror image of the AfD's. In the former west, the Greens have 25 per cent support, but in the east it is they who are mired in fourth place with just 13 per cent. Just three months ahead of national celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, the findings of the poll for Bild am Sonntag newspaper have laid bare the deep divide that persists across the old Cold War border. The AfD looks set to dominate the headlines in the run-up to November's anniversary, with the polls suggesting it could come first in regional elections in three eastern states this autumn. The party's anti-migrant platform has proved highly effective in the former communist east, where the city of Chemnitz saw violent protests last year. But the east accounts for less than a fifth of Germany's population, and the party has failed to make the sort of inroads in the west it would need to challenge for power. Current polls suggest the AfD could come first in three regional elections in eastern Germany this autumn Credit: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg The poll's findings suggest Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) are the only party that can claim nationwide support. They are first in the west with 27 per cent, and second in the east with 22 per cent — a single point behind the AfD. Support for Germany's other traditional main party has collapsed: the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) are third in the west on 13 per cent and a dismal fifth in the east with just 11 per cent. While the AfD is unlikely to win a majority in any of this autumn's regional elections, and will probably be kept out of power by a coalition of rival parties, coming first would be a shot across the bows of Mrs Merkel's government. The latest poll findings come as a new academic study claimed to show how the AfD distorts public perception of migrant crime figures. Researchers at Hamburg and Leipzig universities found AfD press statements blamed migrants for crimes in 95 per cent of cases last year, while police figures show they were only responsible for 35 per cent. "It's surprising how consistently this happens," Prof Thomas Hestermann and Prof Elisa Hoven, the study's authors, said.
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| Trump says 'something GREAT' can come out of shootings, tying background check bill to immigration reform Posted: 05 Aug 2019 05:25 AM PDT  In the wake of the deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, the president also blamed the media for "the anger and rage that has built up over many years."
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| Outrage in Gambia over claims ex-president ordered killings Posted: 05 Aug 2019 03:54 AM PDT  Baba Hydara was in his car, listening to the radio, when he heard a former hitman of ex-president Yahya Jammeh coldly describe how his dad was murdered. Baba's father, Deyda Hydara, co-founder of The Point newspaper and AFP's correspondent in The Gambia for 30 years, was revered among journalists in this small west African country. Baba Hydara, 42, has fought for years for his father's murderers and those who ordered them to be brought to book.
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| In less than a minute, Ohio gunman kills nine people, including sister Posted: 04 Aug 2019 01:38 AM PDT  Police officers on routine patrol nearby were on the scene in less than a minute and shot the attacker dead moments after he opened fire, likely preventing a much higher casualty toll, authorities said. "Officers acted ... instantaneously and effectively ended this in 30 seconds," Police Chief Richard Biehl said during a news conference. Police named the gunman as Connor Betts, a 24-year-old white male from Bellbrook, Ohio, and said he was armed with an assault-style rifle fitted with an extended drum magazine that could hold 100 rounds.
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| UN report: North Korea cyber experts raised up to $2 billion Posted: 05 Aug 2019 04:27 PM PDT  The experts said in a new report to the Security Council that North Korea is using cyberspace "to launch increasingly sophisticated attacks to steal funds from financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to generate income" in violation of sanctions. Cryptocurrency exchanges deal in virtual money like bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple which use a technology called blockchain.
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| How Jack Daniel's and 34 volunteer firefighters protect the world's supply of its whiskey Posted: 05 Aug 2019 03:04 PM PDT  Jack Daniel's spent millions to protect their product from the destructive fires like the blaze at Jim Beam. Its volunteer fire brigade is full time.
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| Mitch McConnell campaign tweets image of tombstone with opponent’s name Posted: 05 Aug 2019 04:05 PM PDT  The tweet was shared as details of the El Paso shooting were still developing.
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| Thousands take to Hong Kong streets as Beijing says protests must stop Posted: 04 Aug 2019 07:48 AM PDT  Thousands again took to the streets on Sunday in Hong Kong to call for broad political changes as Beijing warned that it would not let protests persist. A commentary run by Xinhua, China's official state news agency said the central government "will not sit idly by and let this situation continue." Two demonstrations snaked through Hong Kong, one close to China's liaison office in Hong Kong, now heavily guarded after it was vandalised by protesters a few weeks ago. Demonstrators called for people to join a citywide strike, an action that could paralyse the global financial hub of seven million. Volunteers distributed snacks like rice cakes and granola bars, as well as energy drinks and water to help the black-clad crowd fight the oppressive heat. A member of Hong Kong's medical sector attends a rally to support the anti-extradition bill protest in Hong Kong Credit: Reuters Some also stamped numbers for lawyers on protesters' arms, in case they get arrested. A group also besieged the police station in Tseung Kwan O, shouting expletives, giving police graphic gestures and calling them "dogs" - Cantonese slang for police. Weeks of demonstrations have left Hong Kong facing its most serious political upheaval since the former British colony was returned to Chinese Communist Party rule in 1997. Protesters first took to the streets against a now-suspended extradition proposal. But public anger has grown from protesters and residents alike over increasing police violence to disperse crowds. Demonstrators have also expanded their demands to call for a formal withdrawal of the extradition bill - which would put suspects on trial in China where Communist Party influence contributes to a 99.9 per cent conviction rate - as well as direct leadership elections. "After all these protests, I think it [a strike] will definitely put pressure on the central government," said Michelle Ng, 23, an office clerk. In response, Beijing has upped its rhetoric against protesters in recent days. China's Hong and Macao Affairs Office gave its first press conference ever last week, a sign that Beijing was under increasing pressure to respond to the continuing unrest after initially censoring mentions of it in the mainland. Anti-extradition bill demonstrators drag traffic cones to block the main road at Central during a march to call for democratic reforms, in Hong Kong Credit: Reuters The office warned, "if the turbulence continues, the whole of Hong Kong society will pay the cost." A few days later, the head of the Chinese military garrison condemned protesters and said their actions "should not be tolerated." A propaganda video was also released of the unit's troops practising anti-riot drills and charging at protesters amid a barrage of sniper fire, tear gas and water cannons. Sending in the military, however, would be a controversial move reminiscent of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 when the Chinese troops opened fire on students protesters. Hong Kongers remain unperturbed by the growing tenor of threats, with many calling Beijing's bluff. "The central government is just trying to show its power, telling everyone else that Hong Kong belongs to me," said Ringo Lo, 21, a university student. "We are not scared of the military."
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| Is Manila Worth American Lives? Posted: 04 Aug 2019 03:00 PM PDT  Washington policymakers treat allies like Facebook friends, the more the merrier. Montenegro or the United Kingdom, allies are viewed as much the same. Administrations routinely ink another "mutual" defense treaty and pretend the result is a real military alliance, designed to make America more secure.In fact, most U.S. "allies" are nothing of the sort. During the Cold War Washington's principal objective was to prevent weak, war-torn, and/or failed states from falling under the control of the Soviet Union, and later China and North Korea. Although General and then President Dwight Eisenhower warned against turning the Europeans into security dependents, successive administrations ignored his advice. The U.S. inevitably took the lead and didn't worry much about what its nominal allies did. They lagged behind the United States, failed to fulfill their commitments, and not too subtly took a very cheap if not quite free ride at Washington's expense. U.S. officials whined on cue about the unfairness, but otherwise did nothing.The allies eventually recovered economically, with Japan, Germany, the UK, France, and South Korea becoming important international players. Nevertheless, Washington continues to be overwhelmingly responsible for national and regional as well as global security. The presumption is that its alliances are essentially costless. All Washington needs to do to deter impudent adversaries is make an occasional threat or issue a pertinent demand. There's really no need for allies to even possess weapons.
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| Trump said people with mental illness should be 'involuntarily confined' if necessary to prevent mass shootings, despite research showing a lack of connection between mental illness and gun violence Posted: 05 Aug 2019 09:41 AM PDT  A significant body of research, however, has thoroughly disproved Trump's claim that mental illness is a major contributor to mass shootings.
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| Hidden camera catches husband trying to poison his wife's coffee Posted: 05 Aug 2019 10:36 AM PDT  What she caught on film made her fall to her knees and sob
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| Spanish charity wants to disembark rescued migrants in Italy or Malta Posted: 05 Aug 2019 06:50 AM PDT  A Spanish migrant charity demanded Monday that EU nations agree to take in 121 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean so they can initially disembark in either Italy or Malta. "We have to disembark these people here.
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| Mexico FM says El Paso shooting 'terrorist' act Posted: 05 Aug 2019 01:41 AM PDT  Mexico considers the El Paso massacre a "terrorist" act and is looking at legal action to extradite the gunman, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Sunday. Seven of the 20 people killed in Saturday's shooting at a Walmart store were Mexican. Mexico's attorney general was considering possible legal action and extradition of the suspected shooter, who surrendered to police a block from the El Paso store, Ebrard told reporters.
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| Thousands evacuated after explosions at Russia ammo depot Posted: 05 Aug 2019 11:16 AM PDT  Massive explosions at a Russian military ammunition depot in Siberia injured at least eight people and prompted the evacuation of thousands Monday. Russia's Defense Ministry said a fire triggered the explosions at a storage facility for gunpowder charges near the city of Achinsk in eastern Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region.
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| Iran seizes another foreign oil tanker, state media says Posted: 04 Aug 2019 08:34 AM PDT  Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps accused the vessel, the third detained by Iran amid U.S. tensions, of trying to smuggle oil from Iran.
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| India gold prices hit record high on global cues, weak rupee Posted: 05 Aug 2019 03:21 AM PDT  Gold prices in India jumped over 2% on Monday to record levels, following gains in overseas markets and as the rupee fell to a five-month low, dampening demand further in the world's second-biggest consumer of the precious metal. Local gold futures hit an all-time high of 36,990 rupees ($524.70) per 10 gram, taking their gains to more than 17% in 2019. Dealers were offering a discount of up to $36 an ounce over official domestic prices, the highest since August 2016.
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| Frenchman achieves 'dream' of first hoverboard Channel crossing Posted: 04 Aug 2019 01:49 AM PDT  A Frenchman who has spent years developing a jet-powered hoverboard zoomed across the English Channel on Sunday, fulfilling his quest just 10 days after failing in a first attempt when he fell into the water while trying to refuel. Franky Zapata set off on his "Flyboard" from Sangatte on the northern coast of France at 8:17 am (0617 GMT) for the 35-kilometre (22-mile) trip to St. Margaret's Bay in Dover, on England's south coast. "Everything went great! Even though it was still tricky," Zapata said after the flight, referring to a complex landing manoeuvre on a boat around three-quarters of the way across to pick up a fresh backpack full of kerosene.
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| FBI agents are reluctant to pursue white nationalist extremists because they don't want to target Trump's base, former counterterrorism official says Posted: 05 Aug 2019 03:35 AM PDT  One former FBI agent told The Washington Post that he thought political controversies had muted the response to violence by white nationalists.
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| O.C. murder fugitive who allegedly murdered wife in 2012 captured in Mexico, authorities say Posted: 05 Aug 2019 12:33 PM PDT  A Southern California multimillionaire who went on the run after he was charged in the 2012 death of his wife was captured in Mexico, according to the Newport Beach Police Department.
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| Teen arrested after 'throwing' boy from London's Tate Modern Posted: 04 Aug 2019 11:59 AM PDT  A teenager was arrested on Sunday after allegedly throwing a six-year-old boy from a tenth-floor viewing platform of London's Tate Modern gallery, police said. The boy was airlifted to hospital and is in a critical condition, while the 17-year-old male suspect is being held on suspicion of attempted murder. The Tate Modern, a leading contemporary art museum on the banks of the River Thames, was initially locked down but visitors were later allowed to leave.
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