SFGate

Camp Fire: Recovery efforts end, flooding prompts evacuations SFGate Butte County officials ended their recovery efforts for human remains on Thursday, three weeks after the vicious Camp Fire tore through Paradise and surrounding communities. But heavy rains this week brought new problems to the area: Flooding prompted ... Bodycam footage shows California wildfire rescue of nursesMinneapolis Star Tribune all 163 news articles »

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Reuters

Ex-FBI director Comey asks court to quash Republican congressional subpoena Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former FBI Director James Comey asked a federal judge on Thursday to quash a congressional subpoena from Republicans on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee who are trying to compel him to testify behind closed doors about ... and more »

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USA TODAY

'Destined for failure': Evangelicals question John Chau's sincere, ill-advised plan USA TODAY When John Chau landed on North Sentinel Island, he brought gifts for the tribespeople he hoped to reach for Jesus: Fish, safety pins, some cord. They shot an arrow into his Bible in response, he later wrote. “Please do not be angry at them or at God if ... Doomed missionary John Allen Chau was obsessed with North Sentinelese tribeNew York Post all 54 news articles »

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A flammable gas leak at a plant owned by ChemChina subsidiary Hebei Shenghua Chemical Industry Co caused a blast that killed 23 people and injured 22 this week in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, ChemChina said in a statement on Friday.

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By SARAH STEIN KERR, AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER and SAMEEN AMIN from NYT U.S.


Admissions Standards, Blacks

By ERICA L. GREEN, KATIE BENNER and ANNIE FLANAGAN from NYT U.S.


Admissions Standards, Blacks

By SHARON OTTERMAN from NYT New York


Sexual Harassment, Computers and the Internet

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the

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Mississippi Senate incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) didn't use the opportunity

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Robert Mueller's office is aware of emails sent to Trump confidant Roger Stone tipping him off about "very damaging" data dumps Wikileaks released during the 2016 presidential election, a draft court document has revealed. The emails, detailed within in draft court documents, were sent by right-wing commentator Jerome Corsi to Mr Stone — who was serving as a campaign adviser to Donald Trump — two months before the data dumps were published online. Mr Stone has denied any involvement in the release of the emails.

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Russia seized the Ukrainian vessels and their crews on Sunday near Crimea, the Ukrainian region which Moscow annexed in 2014, over what it said was their illegal entry into Russian waters, which Ukraine denies. Some of Ukraine's Western allies have also raised the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia over the episode, which could deliver a blow to the Russian economy. Putin said he also still hoped to meet Trump at the G20, while the Kremlin said the meeting was still being prepared and Washington had not informed Moscow it was off.

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WASHINGTON ― The Senate on Wednesday inched closer to confirming Thomas Farr

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Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, on Thursday declined to come to Ukraine's aid after its president appealed for help to block Russian aggression. Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, appealed to Nato on Thursday, asking for naval support in the standoff with Russia and accused the neighboring state of wanting to annex the Sea of Azov. Speaking to German newspaper Bild, Mr Poroshenko called Germany one of Ukraine's “closest allies” and urged it - together with other Nato countries - to deploy naval ships to aid his country after Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian vessels near Crimea on Sunday. “We simply cannot accept this aggressive policy, originally there was Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, now the Sea of Azov,” he said in the interview. Mrs Merkel blamed Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, for the tensions, but warned that there is “no military solution” to the conflict in the region. Crimean bridge map “We ask the Ukrainian side too to be sensible because we know that we can only solve things through being reasonable and through dialogue," Mrs Merkel said during her opening speech at the annual German-Ukrainian economic forum in Berlin on Thursday.  Nato, which Ukraine hopes to join, called on Russia to release the captured vessels and the crews, but didn’t say it had any plans to send its naval forces to the region. The incident over the weekend marked the most serious escalation of the conflict between the states since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Russian officials insist that the Ukrainian vessels breached its border on Sunday morning and later attempted dangerous manoeuvres in Russia’s territorial waters. Mr Putin defended Russia’s actions on Wednesday, accusing Mr Poroshenko of organising a provocation in an attempt to boost his poor ratings ahead of the next year’s presidential elections. Recent polls suggest that roughly 10 percent of the electorate would vote for the incumbent president. Ukraine has denied any wrongdoing and imposed martial law in the country’s regions bordering Russia for 30 days. Mr Poroshenko called on Europe to introduce new sanctions and re-think Nord Stream-2, an undersea pipeline project that would increase Russia’s gas direct supplies to Germany.  Ukraine, which currently earns transit fees from piping Russian gas to Europe, has objected the project. Ihor Voronchenko, the Ukrainian Navy Commander, said Thursday that Kiev would also seek a ban on passage for Russian vessels through the Bosporus Strait. Meanwhile, Russian state media reported that the country’s Black Sea Fleet had deployed a battalion of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, the fourth one, to north Crimea, and also plans to build a new missile early-warning radar station there. Crimean courts put all 24 captured Ukrainian servicemen suspected of breaching the Russian state border under pre-trial two-month arrest. Ukraine's infrastructure minister, Volodymyr Omelyan, on Thursday accused Russia of imposing a de facto blockade on two Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov by preventing ships from leaving and entering the sea via the Kerch Strait.  The Kremlin’s spokesman denied any restrictions for shipping in the area, saying that no problems had been reported. Mrs Merkel said she was going to discuss the crisis with Putin during the G20 summit, which starts Friday in Argentina.

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WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump publicly floated the possibility that he'd

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European leaders rebuffed calls from Ukraine for greater support against Russia on Thursday, after Kiev urged NATO to send ships into waters disputed with Moscow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Kiev to be "sensible" following the request from President Petro Poroshenko, just hours after the European Union failed to agree to threaten new sanctions against Moscow. Kiev has called on Western allies to back expressions of support with concrete action after Russian forces on Sunday seized three Ukrainian ships off the coast of Crimea.

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Hotter summers will drive a spike in violence, suicide and self harm, the authors of a major study into the health impacts of climate change have warned. More than 150 experts from fields including climate science, health, engineering, agriculture and transport have assessed the implications of global warming on populations and warned that sweltering summers could have unexpected side effects. The new Countdown on Health and Climate Change report published in The Lancet warns that climate change ‘aggravates’ risks to mental health and wellbeing and increases aggression, violence, self-harm and suicide. Extreme events could also spark psychological problems such post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adjustment disorder, and depression. Speaking at a briefing in Central London Dr Nick Watts, Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown, said: “Heat also has effects in terms of what it does to our mental health. “We know that in periods of hot weather there are spikes in violence, suicide and depression. “This is most evident in a few countries like Australia but we’re now developing ways of considering that across the world.” How hot is 2018 compared to previous summers? Research suggests that extreme heat can seriously impact brain chemistry, damaging neurotransmitters which regulate emotion.  Heat is also known to increase testosterone production, which can promote aggression. Studies in the US and Australia have found that increases in mean temperature by just 1C can see suicides rise more than two per cent and increase the number of people attending A&E through self harm by 0.7 per cent. Adelaide researchers also found rising temperatures led to significant increases in admissions to A&E for assaults and an increase in ambulance call-outs by four per cent, while mental health admissions increased by six per cent. A study in 2015 found droughts lead to an increase in farmers committing suicide while last year soaring temperatures was linked to collective violence. This week a climate change report from the Met Office warned that heatwave summers such as experienced in Britain this summer would become normal in the coming decades, with temperatures rising by more than 5C. Heatwave | Read more Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “When it comes to heatwaves in the UK, a sense of triviality often prevails – ‘bumper summer temperatures’ or ‘barbecue weather’ are more likely headlines than any focusing on the threat to our health. “GPs and our teams witnessed the effects of this summer’s heatwave first-hand, and they are anything but trivial.” The report found that on average, everyone on Earth was exposed to an additional 1.4 days of heatwave between 2000 and 2017 compared with the period 1986-2005. And while average global temperatures rose by 0.3 per cent between 1986 and 2017 the impact on human populations was much greater. The average temperature increase people were exposed to over the same period was 0.8C. Heat rising above physiological limits also made sustained work more difficult or impossible, the authors said. In 2017, 153 billion hours of labour were lost due to heat exposure, an increase of 62 billion hours since 2000.

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CNN

Miami Herald: Labor secretary accused of giving wealthy alleged pedophile 'deal of a lifetime' CNN Washington (CNN) When he was a US attorney in Florida, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta gave accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein the "deal of a lifetime," the Miami Herald reported Wednesday. In a sweeping review of the politically connected ... and more »

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Los Angeles Times

Two San Diego teens among three reportedly killed execution-style at Tijuana apartment complex Los Angeles Times Two San Diego teenagers and their Tijuana friend who set out for Ensenada for a Friday barbecue were shot and killed execution-style early Sunday at a Tijuana apartment complex, according to family members, school officials and Mexican media reports. Two American Teens Killed Execution-Style in MexicoNewsweek 2 San Diego teens tortured, killed execution-style in Tijuanafox5sandiego.com all 30 news articles »

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New York Times

St. Louis Police Officers Charged With Beating Undercover Detective at 2017 Protest New York Times Three St. Louis police officers were charged on Thursday with beating up an apparent protester who turned out to be an undercover detective on their own team, the authorities said. The officers were accused of attacking their own colleague during a ... 4 St. Louis police officers indicted, accused of beating an undercover colleague during Stockley protestsSTLtoday.com St. Louis officers accused of beating undercover colleagueAssociated Press (press release) (blog) all 76 news articles »

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Syrian air defenses shot down "hostile targets" on Thursday, state media said, in an area regional intelligence sources said contains Iran-backed assets, while Russian media said no Israeli jet had been downed as earlier reported.

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An optional warning light could have alerted engineers about mechanical faults on Lion Air's Boeing 737 MAX jet that crashed last month, experts said, sparking an industry debate over whether installing the system should become mandatory.

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Ukraine has banned Russian adult men aged 16-60 years from entering Ukraine, the head of the border service Petro Tsygykal said in a televised meeting on Friday.

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Syrian air defenses shot down several targets but did not shoot down an Israeli war plane on Thursday, Russia's RIA news agency cited an unnamed Syrian security source as saying on Friday.

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Sri Lanka's parliament on Friday voted to halt payment of ministers' salaries and travel expenses, but it remained unclear how the move would impact the disputed government of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa whose ministers boycotted the vote.

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The race to succeed Angela Merkel as leader of Germany's ruling conservatives, and take pole position to succeed her as chancellor, is going down to the wire.

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