Monday 31 August 2015

How Trump could turn the presidency into a ‘litigation circus’

Kathleen Meese, an upstate New York schoolteacher, plunked down $25,000 five years ago for “Gold Elite” courses at Trump University — a for-profit educational outfit owned by Donald Trump that promised prospective students it would teach them how to “make a killing” in the real estate market.

A frenzy in Poland over the latest mysterious ‘Nazi gold train

A frenzy in Poland over the latest mysterious ‘Nazi gold train’

There’s an air of mystery to the Owl Mountains of southwestern Poland. The ancient range is thick with spruce and dotted with medieval towns. It’s home to a centuries-old castle built by a man known as “the Raw” and occupied by Hitler himself. And several meters beneath the mountains’ broad peaks lies a network of crumbling, unfinished tunnels, dug by slave laborers for some unknown purpose and then largely abandoned at the end of World War II.

Facebook is trying to make it easier to stop video piracy

From user-made clips to content from big media properties, video is all over Facebook (and more people than ever are using the social network). Along with that trend comes the problem of piracy: plenty of video publishers are seeing their work distributed on Facebook without their permission, and now Facebook says its going to do something about it. In a blog post today, the company says it is building a new video matching system for a "subset" of video publishers. Facebook says that its tool will "evaluate millions of video uploads quickly and accurately, and when matches are surfaced, publishers will be able to report them to us for removal." For starters, this tool will launch in beta with selected partners, but Facebook intends to roll it out more broadly as it gets more effective.

Hundreds die as desperate migrants head for Europe

TRIPOLI/EISENSTADT, Austria - Four children, including a baby girl, were among 71 migrants found dead in a truck on an Austrian highway and several people have been arrested in Hungary in connection with the tragedy, Austrian police said on Friday.

Prosecutors: Lottery scam leader deserves severe

U.S. prosecutors say the sentence for a man convicted in North Dakota of leading a Jamaican lottery scam should reflect the "severe mental anguish" he caused his victims.Authorities say Sanjay Williams, of Montego Bay, Jamaica, was a "lead broker" who bought and sold "sucker lists" of potential victims. He was found guilty during a two-week trial in May of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

Grace Mugabe: Dentist not to blame for Cecil's death

Harare - Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabesays US dentist Walter Palmer isn't to be blamed for Cecil the lion's death, it was reported on Thursday.

In a comment likely to be greeted with relief by the much-hated Palmer, President Robert Mugabe's wife told a rally in northern Zimbabwe that the bow-hunting fanatic "was not aware of the importance of Cecil", the private Newsdayreported in an online update.

Grieving station comes together for newscast af

Grieving station comes together for newscast afROANOKE, Va. (AP) — The colleagues of two journalists shot to death on live television returned to their morning show Thursday with memories, tears and a determination to carry on.

WDBJ-TV's "Mornin'" show opened with images of reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, with the words "In Memory.

Obama to people of New Orleans: You inspire me, and America

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Visiting residents on tidy porch stoops and sampling the fried chicken at a corner restaurant, President Barack Obama held out the people of New Orleans on Thursday as an extraordinary example of renewal and resilience 10 years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Iconic 9/11 photos: Where are they now?

Marcy Borders, the "dust lady" photographed in the aftermath of 9/11, died recently from stomach cancer.

USA TODAY Network looks at the current lives of other individuals captured in seminal photos from that time.
Andrew Card
THEN: White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispers in President George W. Bush's ear that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York City. Bush was visiting Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., the morning of the attacks.

Clinton likens GOP's views on women to those of terrorists

Hillary Rodham Clinton is drawing parallels between terrorists and the Republican presidential candidates when it comes to their views on women.

She says at an event in Ohio that Republican efforts to cut access to health centers and opposition to abortion rights are “extreme” and likens it to “terrorist groups” and “people who don’t want to live in the modern world.

Washington fires pose added threat for tribes

The worst wildfire season in Washington state history could be particularly devastating to the people who have lived here between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains since long before the region became part of the United States.

Iranian interrogators are pressuring imprisoned Washington Post reporter to lie, his brother says

Jason Rezaian is being pressured by Iranian interrogators to lie by confessing that he spied on the Islamic Republic, his brother says. (Photo: Vahid Salemi/AP)

Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter on trial in Iran for espionage, faces “considerable” pressure from Iranian officials to confess to a crime he did not commit, his brother Ali told Yahoo News on Wednesday.

Palmyra Represents Everything ISIS Would Like To Destroy

It has been considered one of the most remarkable ruins in the world, offering unique insight into a city that was once a crown of the Roman Empire. But earlier this week, Islamic State militants published photos showing smoke clouds billowing above one of Palmyra’s 2,000-year-old temples, months after militants from the group, also called ISIS or ISIL, captured the ancient Syrian city and threatened its famed ruins.

Trump on fatal shooting of WDBJ journalists: 'This isn't a gun problem — this is a mental problem'

Donald Trump says the fatal shooting of two journalists on live television should not be seen as another example of America’s problem with gun violence.

“This isn’t a gun problem — this is a mental problem,” Trump said on CNN’s “New Day” on Thursday, a day after WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and her cameraman, Adam Ward, were killed in Virginia by a gunman who was fired from the station in 2013. “It’s not a question of the laws. It’s really the people.

Up to 50 dead in Austria as migrant crisis rages

Austrian police found the decomposing bodies of up to 50 migrants in an abandoned truck on Thursday, sparking a cross-border hunt for the people-smugglers responsible in the latest tragedy in the Europe-wide crisis.
The grisly discovery on a motorway near the Slovakia and Hungary borders came as European leaders again met to try to find ways to handle the flow of tens of thousands of people seeking refuge in the European Union.

Journalist killings like deaths in the family for viewers

The on-air murder of a popular television reporter and her cameraman during a morning live shot Wednesday hit residents like a death in the family in this small city surrounded by rolling mountains and cattle fields.
"Every morning we watch these people on TV, it's like they're part of your family," said Donna Toliver, who lives across the street from WDBJ television station. She spent most of Wednesday afternoon speaking encouraging words to station employees and watching them speak to reporters from around the country and across the world.

Wife Has All The Company She Needs In Her Electronic Devices

Monsanto leaves Syngenta facing awkward questions

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Monsanto’s abandonment of Syngenta may turn out to be the best thing for both sides. The world’s largest seed maker has given up its $46 billion pursuit of the Swiss agricultural chemical group. Syngenta’s management must now show why its reluctance to entertain the offer was well founded.

Monsanto shareholders have reason to be glad of Syngenta’s rejection. The 470 Swiss franc per share offer in stock and cash would have been a 50 percent premium to Syngenta’s undisturbed share price, and worth about $15.3 billion. A Breakingviews estimate suggested that savings from reducing costs and cutting taxes were worth no more than that.

China has formally detained a dozen people over huge explosions in the city of Tianjin this month that killed at least 139 people, and has accused

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has formally detained a dozen people over huge explosions in the city of Tianjin this month that killed at least 139 people, and has accused 11 officials and port executives of suspected dereliction of duty or abuse of power.

Anger over safety standards is growing in China, after three decades of swift economic growth marred by incidents from mining disasters to factory fires, and President Xi Jinping has vowed that authorities will learn the lessons paid for with blood.

Hungary scrambles to confront migrant influx, Merkel heckled

ROSZKE, Hungary (Reuters) - Hungary made plans on Wednesday to reinforce its southern border with helicopters, mounted police and dogs, and was also considering using the army as record numbers of migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, passed through coils of razor-wire into Europe.

In Germany, which expects to receive 800,000 of them this year, Chancellor Angela Merkel was heckled by dozens of protesters as she visited an eastern town where violent anti-refugee protests erupted at the weekend.

Major cancer breakthrough: Doctors solve long-standing mystery of how to stop cancer from growingCancer is a terrifying disease that researchers around the globe are obsessively working to cure. Now scientists from the USA have made a breakthrough discovery related to how cells replicate in cancer patients, how to put a stop to the process, and even how to reverse a tumor.

Breaking News: Kevin Bacon Will Lead World Premiere of REAR WINDOW at Hartford Stage; Tony Winner Darko Tresnjak Set to Direct

Renowned film, stage and television actor Kevin Bacon will lead the Hartford Stage cast in the world premiere of Rear Window, adapted for the stage by Keith Reddin, and directed by Hartford Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak, from October 22-November 15.
Tresnjak said, "I read Cornell Woolrich's classic crime story 'Rear Window' in high school, and it made a lasting impression. I'm thrilled to have an opportunity to direct a stage version thirty years later, when the issues of surveillance and voyeurism have become even more pertinent. Keith Reddin's taut adaptation takes place inside of a sweltering, claustrophobic apartment, very much like the addled brain of the leading character, who will be played by Kevin Bacon. I can't imagine finer collaborators than Kevin and Keith in exploring the terrifying psychological landscape of this timeless thriller."

Fastest moving glacier in the world sheds record breaking chunk of ice big enough to cover MANHATTAN in a 300m thick frozen slab

Satellite images show that the fastest moving glacier in the world shed a chunk of ice measuring around 12.5 sq km this week – one of the most significant calving events on record.

Radar images from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1A captured the Jakobshavn glacier in western Greenland before and after the event, which took place between 14 and 16 August.

Amid Tensions With Russia, U.S. to Deploy F-22 Fighter Jets to Europe

WASHINGTON — The United States will deploy F-22 fighter jets to Europe very soon as part of a broader effort to support eastern European members of the NATO alliance unnerved by Russia's intervention in Ukraine, Air Force Secretary Deborah James said on Monday.
James did not give details about the specific number of planes, date or location of the deployment, but said it was in line with Defense Secretary Ash Carter's recent call for a strong and balanced approach to Russia.

Taiwan boy accidentally damages $1.5 mn Italian painting

A 12-year-old boy accidentally punched a hole through a $1.5 million centuries-old Italian oil painting when he tripped and fell into the piece during an exhibition in Taiwan.

North, South Korea reach agreement to ease tensions

SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea agreed early on Tuesday to end a military standoff that sparked an exchange of artillery fire and had ratcheted up tension on one of the world's most heavily-fortified borders.

Under an accord reached in the early hours, following more than two days of talks, North Korea expressed regret over the recent wounding of South Korean soldiers in landmine blasts and Seoul agreed to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts.

Greece's Syriza projects election confidence despite split

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's radical left Syriza party can win re-election with an outright majority, a senior member said on Tuesday, and govern without relying on other parties that backed its hard-fought bailout deal with international creditors.

Panos Skourletis, energy minister in the Syriza-led government which resigned last week, also said the nation must avoid deadlock leading to a second round of elections - a scenario that politicians are already debating even though a first round has yet to be called.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who during his seven months in office took Greece to the brink of financial collapse and exit from the euro, resigned last week in the hope of crushing a far-left rebellion in Syriza and strengthening his grip on power through a snap election.

Skourletis, a close aide to Tsipras, told Mega TV: "I believe that an absolute majority in parliament for Syriza is achievable."

Turkey's Davutoglu appointed interim PM ahead of polls

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed PM Ahmet Davutoglu to head an interim administration ahead of elections expected in November.

Mr Erdogan confirmed the snap election on Monday, after Mr Davutoglu had failed to form a coalition in the wake of polls in June.

Record Number of Migrants as Hungary Hurries Border Fence

BUDAPEST, Hungary — The latest surge of migrants crossing the Balkanshas brought a record number to Hungary despite government efforts to quickly build a 4-meter (13-foot) high fence on the Serbian border to stop them.