| Woman who killed boyfriend during sex game released on parole after 18 years Posted: 27 Aug 2019 04:08 PM PDT  Anastazia Schmid was a free woman Tuesday more than 18 years after she stabbed her boyfriend, Tony Heathcote, 39 times during a consensual sex game.
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| Iran says oil on tanker pursued by US sold; buyer unnamed Posted: 26 Aug 2019 09:47 AM PDT  Iran on Monday announced that the 2.1 million barrels of crude aboard an Iranian oil tanker pursued by the U.S. has been sold to an unnamed buyer as the ship, at the center of a crisis roiling the region, continued its voyage in the Mediterranean Sea. The announcement by government spokesman Ali Rabiei represent just the latest twist in the saga of the Adrian Darya 1, which had been known as the Grace 1 when authorities seized the vessel off Gibraltar on July 4, on suspicion of breaking European Union sanctions targeting Syria. The seizure of the ship, and Iran's subsequent seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker, came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran over the collapse of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
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| Trump reportedly suggested fighting hurricanes with nukes. Here's what would really happen if we set off a bomb in the eye of a storm. Posted: 26 Aug 2019 01:07 PM PDT  President Donald Trump has suggested disrupting hurricanes with nuclear weapons, according to Axios. Here's why that wouldn't work.
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| Someone Has Killed More Than 40 Wild Burros in a California Desert. There's a $10,000 Reward for the Gunman Posted: 26 Aug 2019 05:24 PM PDT  A burro is simply a wild donkey. They are considered to be an enduring symbol of the Southwest region of America, according to the Associated Press
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| 90+ Low-Carb Dishes That Will Make Your Diet A Breeze Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:00 PM PDT |
| This Exoplanet Has the Weirdest Orbit We've Ever Seen Posted: 27 Aug 2019 09:00 AM PDT  There's no circular orbit for this giant world.
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| Indiana attorney general exposes the real reason behind California's homeless crisis Posted: 26 Aug 2019 05:44 AM PDT  Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill says California's Proposition 47 has had unintended consequences.
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| NASA astronaut accused of first space crime denies hacking into wife's bank account Posted: 27 Aug 2019 08:23 AM PDT  An US astronaut accused of committing what may have been the first crime in space allegedly hacked into her estranged wife's bank account while aboard the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year.Anne McClain, one of NASA's top astronauts, accessed her wife's bank account multiple times from a NASA computer while aboard the ISS in January and February during a six-month mission in space, according to a letter the wife's attorneys wrote to the agency's Office of Inspector General.
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| Bangladesh rules women need not say if virgins on marriage certificates Posted: 26 Aug 2019 11:20 PM PDT ![Bangladesh rules women need not say if virgins on marriage certificates]( "Bangladesh rules women need not say if virgins on marriage certificates") Bangladesh's top court has ruled that women need no longer declare if they are virgins on marriage certificates after a five-year legal battle by women's rights groups trying to protect women's privacy and potential humiliation. Marriage laws in the Muslim-majority country in South Asia had required a bride had to state on her marriage certificate if she was a "kumari" - meaning virgin - a widow, or divorced. Ainun Nahar Siddiqua, one of two lawyers involved in the case, said the case dated back to 2014 with the filing of a writ petition to change in the form provided under the 1974 Bangladesh Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act.
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| Fuzzy math: Democrats spend big to draw small-dollar donors Posted: 27 Aug 2019 11:26 AM PDT  Montana Gov. Steve Bullock was told how he could qualify for the next presidential debate, but it didn't make much sense: Spend $60. "You spend $60 on Facebook right now to get a $1 donor," Bullock said last week while campaigning in Iowa , referring to the 130,000 donor threshold that is one of the requirements to reach the debate stage in Houston next month. Facing a Wednesday deadline, a handful of Democratic White House hopefuls are racing against time — and odds — to qualify, trying desperately to meet the donor targets as well as reaching 2% in four approved public opinion polls.
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| A person reportedly died and 320 passengers and crew had to be evacuated after a cruise ship in Russia caught on fire Posted: 26 Aug 2019 08:10 AM PDT  The ship was reportedly docked in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday when the fire began in the cabin of one of the ship's mechanics, Fontanka reported.
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| Puerto Rico Under State of Emergency as Tropical Storm Dorian Approaches. Here's the Latest Track and Forecast Posted: 26 Aug 2019 06:14 AM PDT  Forecasters are watching Dorian closely
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| Beijing confirms arrest of Australian for spying Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:03 AM PDT  An Australian academic has been arrested in China for spying, Beijing said Tuesday, prompting Canberra to demand the country upholds "basic standards" of justice. Yang Jun, who also goes by his pen name Yang Hengjun, was detained in January shortly after making a rare return to China from the United States. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said earlier on Tuesday that she was "very concerned" that Yang -- a former official turned author -- had been arrested on "suspicion of espionage".
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| Was Amelia Earhart Eaten by Crabs? Posted: 26 Aug 2019 11:33 AM PDT  Hard to say, really.
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| Palestinian Harvard student denied entry to US because 'friends posted anti-American statements' Posted: 27 Aug 2019 09:47 AM PDT  A Palestinian Harvard student claims that he has been denied entry into the US because his friends had posted anti-American statements on social media. Ismail Ajjawi, 17, who is due to begin his studies at the prestigious university next Tuesday, said he was detained when he arrived at Boston's Logan International Airport on Friday night. Mr Ajjawai told the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper, that immigration officers subjected him to hours of questioning and demanded access to his phone and computer. Mr Ajjawai, who lives in Lebanon, said he was asked about his religious beliefs and practices before officers trawled through his technology devices. The teenager said that after five hours an officer called him into a room and "started screaming" at him. "She said that she found people posting political points of view that oppose the US on my friend[s] list," he said. Mr Ajjawi said he stressed to the officer that he had not made any political posts himself and that he should not be held responsible for others' posts. "I have no single post on my timeline discussing politics," he added. However he claimed that the officer cancelled his visa and informed him that he would be deported back to Lebanon. A spokesman for Harvard University told The Telegraph that the university is working closely with Mr Ajjawi's family "and appropriate authorities to resolve this matter so that he can join his classmates in the coming days". US immigration officials have refused to divulge the specifics of Mr Ajjawi's case or why he was denied entry into the country but confirmed that the Customs and Border Protection agency found him "inadmissible". "Applicants must demonstrate they are admissible into the US by overcoming all grounds of inadmissibility including health-related grounds, criminality, security reasons, public charge, labour certification, illegal entrants and immigration violations, documentation requirements, and miscellaneous grounds," a spokesman for the CBP told the Crimson in a statement. "This individual was deemed inadmissible to the United States based on information discovered during the CBP inspection." Mr Ajjawi, who was granted a scholarship by the Washington-based Amideast non-profit organisation, said that he is receiving assistance from an immigration lawyer and hopes to resolve his visa issues in time for the start of classes next week.
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| Israel’s Strategy against Tehran: Revealing the Iranian Threat Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:30 AM PDT  On Thursday, August 22, members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force took a drone to an area near the Golan Heights, seeking to attack Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) monitored the men, took video of them walking through a field, and struck back two nights later. The air strikes targeted a villa in southern Syria that Jerusalem says was being used by the IRGC and Shiite militias. This includes Hezbollah, a Lebanese ally of Iran that has played a major role in Syria in recent years.The air strike is part of an increasingly firm stand Israel is taking against Iran's regional ambitions in the Middle East. This includes several recent air strikes in Iraq that Iranian-linked paramilitaries have blamed on Israel. It also includes near-daily reports in media from Lebanon to Kuwait asserting that Israel is targeting Iran's network of proxies and their bases in Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. Jerusalem is no longer secretive about this widespread campaign. In January former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot said Israel had carried out thousands of air strikes on Iranian targets.Now IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani has warned Israel that these strikes will be Israel's last. Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah has threatened retaliation. This is part of a rising Iranian-backed chorus against Jerusalem, which includes real threats such as continuing rocket fire from Hamas in Gaza. It also includes threats by Iranian proxies such as Iraqi-based Kata'ib Hezbollah against U.S. forces in Iraq.What is Israel's strategy in all this? The goal is to draw Iran and its allies out of the shadows. Over the past decade, inflamed by the 2015 Iran deal, Tehran has increased its weapons transfers to Hezbollah, sent thousands of advisers to support the Syrian regime, and helped mobilize a network of militias in Iraq. Some of this was used to fight ISIS, or enemies of Bashar al-Assad. But with the ISIS war and Syrian conflict winding down, these groups are turning their threats toward Iran's adversaries. Tehran is obsessed with destroying Israel, as can be seen in its frequent statements and militaristic parades. It has launched drones from Syria into Israel in February 2018, rockets in May 2018, and a rocket in January 2019. Hezbollah threatens that its 150,000 rockets can strike all of Israel.Air strikes on Iran's network of proxies force the network out of the shadows. It can't hide in villas in southern Syria, or launch drones at night, or stockpile ballistic missiles in Iraq if it is looking over its shoulder and increasingly making mistakes through its aggressive and open threats. Iran is used to playing a double game of moderates and hard-liners, sending its smiling foreign minister to the recent G7 while boasting of its allies' drone technology striking Saudi Arabia.The Israeli air strikes couple well with the Washington-led campaign of "maximum pressure." Iran now faces two fronts, the sanctions and strikes, that together are designed to blow the lid on its regional strategy. Tehran will be tempted to make a misstep in its otherwise calculated reactions. Iran has a playbook: If a Western power seizes its tanker, as the U.K. did in July, Iran seizes a tanker. It downed a sophisticated U.S. drone in June but hasn't harmed anyone in six sabotage operations on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. More than anything, Iran wants to preserve its regional power, based in proxies and allies that are often Shiite coreligionists. Its long-term goal is to get Hezbollah and its Shiite paramilitary allies in Iraq into more government positions and build up their parallel-state structures of armed fighters and bases. A war with the U.S. or Israel, or a direct confrontation with Saudi Arabia, as opposed to using proxies such as the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, is not in Tehran's interest. This is the strategic calculation that underpins Israel's actions, but it can go only so far. A game of whack-a-mole against Iran's drones and missiles is just a setback for Tehran. If Tehran doesn't gamble on a major conflict with Israel, it will continue its creeping annexation of neighboring states.
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| Sri Lankan Islamic clerics seek clarity on face veil ban Posted: 27 Aug 2019 01:32 AM PDT  Islamic clerics in Sri Lanka asked Muslim women on Tuesday to continue to avoid wearing face veils until the government clarifies whether they are once again allowed now that emergency rule has ended four months after a string of suicide bomb attacks. Clerics are wary of the Muslim community being targeted again for violence, as it was in the aftermath of April's Easter Sunday attacks that killed more than 260 people, said Fazil Farook, spokesman for All Ceylon Jammiyyathul Ulama, Sri Lanka's largest group of Islamic clerics.
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| View Photos of the BMW X5 Protection VR6 Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:37 AM PDT |
| The U.S. Navy SEALs Have Special Ops Jet Skis Posted: 26 Aug 2019 07:51 AM PDT  The SEALs and potential adversaries Iran and Russia both use personal watercraft.
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| 21-Year-Old Woman Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering Stranger Outside Colorado Restaurant Posted: 26 Aug 2019 06:45 PM PDT  A 21-year-old woman was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of first degree murder.
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| Trump blames Obama, not Putin, for Russia seizing Crimea Posted: 26 Aug 2019 10:20 AM PDT  President Trump blamed the last U.S. president for Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, praising President Vladimir Putin for outsmarting President Obama and saying he thought Russia should be welcomed back into the annual meeting of the leaders of the world's largest economic powers.
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| Bolsonaro says Macron must take back 'insults' for Brazil to accept G7 Amazon aid Posted: 27 Aug 2019 11:30 AM PDT  Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, has said he may accept the $22 million (£18 million) of aid offered by G7 countries to help combat forest fires in the Amazon, providing that French president Emmanuel Macron apologises for calling him a "liar". Mr Bolsonaro initially rejected the $22 million, showing concern that the offer of aid was a veiled attempt to undermine Brazil's sovereignty in the region. This sentiment is shared by farmers associations and regional governments, who fear that France is trying to sabotage Brazilian agribusiness. Mr Bolsonaro's chief of staff Onyx Lorenzoni was also dismissive of the aid, saying it would be better used to "reforest Europe". "Mr Macron can't even avoid a foreseeable fire in a church … what is he trying to teach our country?", Mr Lorenzoni said, referring to the blaze at the Notre Dame cathedral in April. G7 nations announced that $22 million would be made available to help combat the wave of forest fires which have been devastating the Amazon region since the beginning of August. Official statistics show that the number of fires in the Amazon has increased by over 83 per cent since 2018, reaching the highest level since 2012, when records were first collected. Last Friday, Mr Macron declared that Mr Bolsonaro had "lied to him" at the G20 conference in Osaka in June, when the Brazilian president promised to respect climate commitments. "First of all, Macron has to withdraw his insults. He called me a liar. Before we talk or accept anything from France ... he must withdraw these words then we can talk," Mr Bolsonaro told reporters in Brasilia. "First he withdraws, then offers (aid), then I will answer." The hostility shown by the Brazilian government toward Mr Macron is partly fuelled by a long-held nationalist fear that foreign interests intend to "steal" the Amazon from Brazil. The Amazon is ablaze in Brazil Much of this backlash was sparked by Mr Macron's first statement on the forest fires, in which he referred to the Amazon rainforest as "our house". On Monday, the French president spoke of the need to create an international statute to govern over the Amazon rainforest, which the Bolsonaro administration saw as a threat to Brazil's sovereignty. "There is a clear effort to extrapolate real environmental problems into a fabricated 'crisis', as a pretext to introduce external control mechanisms in the Amazon," said Ernesto Araujo, Brazil's foreign minister. Mauro Mendes, governor of Brazil's leading grain-producing state Mato Grosso, said that Mr Macron's comments about the Amazon were intended to "create a negative climate for Brazil and support French producers". Race to save the rainforest | Mass deforestation in the Amazon Jair Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 thanks in part to the support of Brazil's huge agribusiness industry. Despite growing pressure from abroad, farmers' associations have stuck by the far-right president. Wellington Andrade, the executive director of the Soy and Corn Farmers' Association in Mato Grosso (Aprosoja), agrees with Mr Bolsonaro's stance toward the forest fires, but warned that Brazilian producers run the risk of "facing trade barriers which are dressed up as environmental barriers". There have been about 75,000 fires in the Amazon this year alone, being largely blamed on loggers and farmers taking advantage of decreased environmental regulations in the region. While the number of fires has increased 83 per cent this year, the number of fines handed out by the national environmental protection agency has fallen 29.4 per cent. Preliminary data from satellites put in place to measure deforestation suggest Brazil has lost over 1,100 sq km of Amazon forest since the beginning of August. If confirmed, this would be the highest deforestation level for August ever recorded. Last week, Mr Bolsonaro sent military troops to the Amazonian states of Rondonia and Roraima, with firefighter planes being deployed to try and extinguish the flames.
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| After a Georgia teenager reported a sexual assault to her school administrators, she says she was expelled for 'sexual impropriety.' Now she's suing. Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:51 AM PDT  The teenager's lawsuit agains the Fayette County Board of Education was filed by the National Women's Law Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
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| Israel's shadow war with Iran bursts into the open Posted: 27 Aug 2019 09:43 AM PDT  The long shadow war between Israel and Iran has burst into the open in recent days, with Israel allegedly striking Iran-linked targets as far away as Iraq and crash-landing two drones in Hezbollah-dominated southern Beirut. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking to project strength three weeks before national elections, while Iran has taken a series of provocative actions in recent months aimed at pressuring European nations to provide relief from crippling U.S. sanctions. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, vowed to retaliate after a drone crashed on the militant group's Beirut media office and another exploded midair early Sunday.
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| Armed Jewel Thieves Rob New York Diamond District Store Popular With Rappers, Celebrities Posted: 26 Aug 2019 11:30 AM PDT  Avianne and Co's customers have included Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne
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| U.S. yield inversion deepens, stokes recession fears Posted: 27 Aug 2019 12:24 PM PDT  The U.S. yield curve inversion deepened on Tuesday to levels not seen since 2007, rekindling fears of a looming recession that spurred a sell-off on Wall Street and stoked even more safe-haven demand for government bonds. The intense interest in Treasuries supported demand for $40 billion worth of two-year government debt for sale, part of this week's $113 billion fixed-rate Treasury supply. The yield curve often inverts prior to a U.S. recession.
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| Uganda launches national airline with flight to Kenya Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:18 AM PDT  Uganda on Tuesday re-launched its national airline after two decades with an inaugural flight to Nairobi, becoming the latest East African nation seeking to revive their aviation industry. Uganda Airlines is launching into increasingly crowded East African skies, where both Rwanda and Tanzania have in recent years revived their national airlines in a bid to capture a slice of the booming market.
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| Far-Right Vies for Lead in German Regional Election, Poll Shows Posted: 27 Aug 2019 06:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and the German Social Democratic Party are barely holding their ground against the insurgent far-right Alternative for Germany in two states holding elections on Sunday, two polls showed.The SPD, which has governed the eastern state of Brandenburg since German reunification in 1990, gained 2 points to 21% there. It is neck and neck with the anti-immigration AfD, which also gained 2 points compared with a survey three weeks ago, according to a survey by Insa published in Bild newspaper.In Saxony, a CDU stronghold, Merkel's party gained a point to 29% and is now four percentage points ahead of the AfD, according to a second poll in the same paper. The upstart far-right party surged more than 15 percentage points from the last election in 2014, while the SPD and CDU, both in Merkel's coalition, together plunged by as much.Nazi Salute in Dresden Shows Cracks With Merkel, GermanyWith Merkel's fourth-term government saddled with infighting and deep losses for the SPD, the Sept. 1 election in the two states that were once part of communist East Germany risks prompting an early collapse of CDU-led coalition in Berlin. After almost 14 years in office, Merkel has said she won't run again for chancellor.Several leaders of the center-left SPD have blamed their poor showing in polls on their coalition with the center-right CDU, saying they've abandoned their traditional values.To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond Colitt, Iain RogersFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Man accused of force-feeding meth to cat used kitten in extortion attempt, court docs show Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:43 AM PDT  A New Mexico man accused earlier this year of force-feeding a cat methamphetamine has now been charged with extortion.
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| Biden: Racism in U.S. a ‘white man’s problem’ Posted: 27 Aug 2019 04:08 PM PDT ![Biden: Racism in U.S. a 'white man's problem']( "Biden: Racism in U.S. a 'white man's problem'") Biden, who launched his campaign focused on defeating President Donald Trump, warned that "silence is complicity."
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| Amazon fires: Effort to quell rainforest blaze hampered by hostile ground and defiant Bolsonaro Posted: 27 Aug 2019 12:37 AM PDT  Millions of dollars in aid are being pledged. Hundreds of soldiers are heading into the jungle. The Amazon is burning - and the world has taken notice.Now comes the hard part.
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| Indonesia to move capital from sinking Jakarta to Borneo Posted: 26 Aug 2019 07:31 PM PDT  Indonesia's president says the country's capital will move from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta to a site in sparsely populated East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, known for rainforests and orangutans. President Joko Widodo said Monday intense studies over the past three years had resulted in the choice of the location on the eastern side of Borneo island. The new capital city, which has not yet been named, will be in the middle of the vast archipelago nation and already has relatively complete infrastructure because it is near the cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda, Widodo said.
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| Hong Kong government warns of great danger after weekend of violence Posted: 25 Aug 2019 06:01 PM PDT  Illegal violence is pushing Hong Kong to the brink of great danger, the city government said on Monday, after a weekend of clashes that included the first gun-shot and the arrest of 86 people, the youngest just 12. Police fired water cannon and volleys of tear gas in running battles with protesters who threw bricks and petrol bombs on Sunday, the second day of weekend clashes in the Chinese-ruled city. "The escalating illegal and violent acts of radical protesters are not only outrageous, they also push Hong Kong to the verge of a very dangerous situation," the government said in a statement.
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| US approves $3.3bn sale of anti-ballistic missiles to Japan Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:46 PM PDT  Washington approved the $3.3 billion sale of anti-ballistic missiles to Japan Tuesday, following close behind a series of new ballistic missile tests by North Korea that could threaten the US ally. Japan will buy up to 73 of the Raytheon-made SM-3 Block IIA missiles, which are designed to be fired by the ship-board Aegis system to intercept incoming ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said. The sale came as North Korea is expanding its offensive missile capabilities, having proven over the past two years the ability to launch medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, potentially nuclear-tipped, that could hit both Japan and the United States.
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| 'I'm just humiliated': Black homeowner in underwear handcuffed by N.C. police after false alarm Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:29 PM PDT !['I'm just humiliated': Black homeowner in underwear handcuffed by N.C. police after false alarm]( "'I'm just humiliated': Black homeowner in underwear handcuffed by N.C. police after false alarm") Kazeem Oyeneyin, a black North Carolina homeowner, was handcuffed by police and taken out of his home in his underwear after a false alarm.
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| Trump pitches his country club for G-7 meeting but claims he's losing money as president Posted: 26 Aug 2019 11:16 AM PDT  The president defends a plan to hold a G-7 meeting at his private golf club.
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| Enslaved Africans landed in Virginia in 1619. USA TODAY is committed to telling the story, past and present Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:22 PM PDT  The goal of this project is to commemorate the landing of the enslaved Africans 400 years ago. We also want to hear your family stories.
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| Burger King fires employee who allegedly denied service to deaf woman Posted: 26 Aug 2019 08:22 AM PDT  A Burger King employee has reportedly been fired after he refused to serve a deaf woman at the drive-thru because he was "too busy".Rachel Hollis said she was attempting to order at a Burger King in Oklahoma when she was refused service.
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| AP Explains: Role of the Amazon in global climate change Posted: 27 Aug 2019 09:46 AM PDT  Fires across the Brazilian Amazon have sparked an international outcry for preservation of the world*s largest rainforest. IS THE WORLD'S OXYGEN SUPPLY AT RISK? No. While it's commonly said that the Amazon produces 20% of the world's oxygen, climate scientists say that figure is wrong and the oxygen supply is not directly at risk in any case.
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| Exclusive: Boeing CEO eyes major aircraft order under any U.S.-China trade deal Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:46 PM PDT  Boeing Co said on Tuesday that an aircraft order from China could result from any deal to end a yearlong trade war between the world's two largest economies. Speaking to Reuters at the planemaker's widebody aircraft factory in Everett, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg cautioned that it was "tough to predict" the timing of a potential trade deal between the United States and China. Chicago-based Boeing calls itself the top U.S. exporter and has delivered more than one out of every four jetliners it made last year to customers in China, where it forecasts demand for 7,700 new airplanes over the next 20 years valued at $1.2 trillion.
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