world news: 2018-08-05

Saturday 11 August 2018

Parents Charged With Murder After Refusing To Get Medical Help For Sick Baby: Cops

A Michigan couple who told cops they declined to get medical help for their

Baby Survives After Ohio Mom Gives Birth at Burger King While Allegedly Overdosing on Heroin: Report

The mom was allegedly overdosing on heroin at the time.

Farmer took lie detector test in Mollie Tibbetts search

Wayne Cheney acknowledges taking a polygraph test in Brooklyn, Iowa; Matt Finn reports on the search for the missing college student.

'Suicidal' mechanic steals plane from Seattle airport, is chased by F-15 jets and then crashes in the sea

Two F-15 fighter jets were scrambled on Friday evening after the unauthorised take-off on an aircraft from a Seattle airport prompted a major security alert. There were no passengers on board when it crashed about 30 miles later, according to local police, who said they knew the identity of the 29-year-old mechanic at the controls and believed him to be suicidal. Flights were halted in and out of Seattle's international airport. Passengers on airliners took to social media to relay messages from air crew as they were told their flights would not be taking off. Alaska Air said a Q400 twin-engined plane, operated by its subsidiary Horizon, was involved. We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400. We believe there are no passengers on board. More information as we learn more.— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) August 11, 2018 The unauthorised pilot could be earlier heard talking to air traffic control, in communications relayed on aviation websites, reporting that he believed one of his engines had failed. In response, he was told to stay low and over water. Sitting on a plane at SeaTac Airport, a Horizon employee just hijacked an airplane. He is flying around the airport, he does not know how to land it. Happening right now. SeaTac airport.— Victoria (@Mickaleets) August 11, 2018 Witnesses described seeing the plane nose dive shortly after the F15s arrived in the vicinity. News crews following the story said they had spotted smoke coming from an island in southern Puget Sound just off the shoreline of Seattle. #breaking smoke and flames barely visible on Ketron island. Witnesses tell me a commuter twin prop plane and two military aircraft were in area before what may be a crash. @KIRO7Seattlepic.twitter.com/tCcNvJBEVx— Terry Griffin (@TerryKIRO7) August 11, 2018 Law enforcement officers then tweeted that the plane had crashed and that they believed the pilot was suicidal. Stolen horizon airplane crashed into Ketron island. Preliminary info is that a mechanic from unknown airlines stole plane. Was doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills caused crash into Island— Pierce Co Sheriff (@PierceSheriff) August 11, 2018 Male is confirmed a suicidal male. Acted alone he is 29 year old Pierce county residence . We are working back ground on him now.— Pierce Co Sheriff (@PierceSheriff) August 11, 2018 The US Coast Guard was sending a 45-foot vessel to the crash scene after witnesses reported seeing a large plume of smoke in the air, according to Petty Officer. Some flights resumed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport later in the evening, although west-bound departures remained on the ground.

The Latest: Inmate just before execution: 'I'm really sorry'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Latest on the execution of Tennessee inmate Billy Ray Irick (all times local):

Judge Orders Trump Administration To Bring Deported Mother, Daughter Back To U.S.

A federal judge threatened on Thursday to hold top Trump administration

Bethenny Frankel's On-Again, Off-Again Boyfriend Found Dead in Trump Tower Apartment: Report

Dennis Shields and Frankel began dating in 2016.

Tennessee executes child killer Billy Ray Irick with drug that inflicts 'torturous pain'

Tennessee has carried out its first execution in nearly a decade using a controversial cocktail of drugs including a lethal ingredient described by the Supreme Court as "chemically burning at the stake". Billy Ray Irick, an inmate convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of seven-year-old Paula Dyer, received a three-drug injection on Thursday night after the US Supreme Court denied a final request to stay his execution. The lethal injection consisted of midazolam, used as sedative during an execution, a muscle-relaxer called vecuronium bromide, and compounded potassium chloride, the agent that stops the heart.

Nevada death-row inmate on legal delays: 'Just get it done'

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada death-row inmate whose execution has been postponed twice said a legal fight over the drugs to be used in his lethal injection is taking a tortuous toll on him and his family and he just wants his sentence carried out.

California blazes threaten populated areas

Authorities battling massive wildfires in large swathes of California issued mandatory evacuation orders and health warnings Friday over the worsening air quality as the flames grew ever closer to populated areas. After almost a month of wildfires, the National Weather Service warned that satellite images showed "widespread smoke" drifting from the fires into western and central Canada before heading back south in the US Northern Plains. Its largest blaze, the Ranch Fire, was only 53 percent contained compared to 87 percent for its twin River Fire.

Judge backs off comments to prosecutors in ex-Trump aide Manafort's trial

Ellis has repeatedly prodded prosecutors to move swiftly while seemingly giving Manafort's defense team more latitude. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. On Thursday, prosecutors in a legal filing asked the judge to correct some statements he had made on Wednesday.

Yemen's Shiite rebels welcome UN call for Saudi strike probe

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's Shiite rebels on Friday backed a U.N. call for a probe into a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in the country's north that killed dozens of people the previous day, including many children, in an attack that drew wide international criticism.

Manafort trial - live updates: Robert Mueller's team ask Rick Gates discussion to be kept secret to protect Russia investigation

After three days of dramatic testimony in the trial of Paul Manafort,, prosecutors returned on Thursday to the nuts and bolts of their case against Donald Trump's former campaign chairman as they sought to show he obtained millions of dollars in bank loans under false pretenses. Attorneys for special counsel Robert Mueller also got a rare — and narrow — acknowledgement from Judge TS Ellis III that he likely erred when he angrily confronted them a day earlier over whether he had allowed a witness to watch the trial. The judge's comments and detailed testimony about Mr Manafort's loans opened the eighth day of his trial as prosecutors began presenting the bulk of their bank fraud case against him after spending days largely on tax-evasion allegations.

Thousands in China mosque standoff over demolition plan

BEIJING (AP) — Thousands of Muslims gathered at a mosque in northwestern China on Friday to protest its planned demolition in a rare, public pushback to the government's efforts to rewrite how religions are practiced in the country.

'Suicidal' man steals and crashes empty plane from Seattle airport

Two military F-15 jets were scrambled late Friday after a "suicidal" airline worker stole and later crashed an empty passenger plane from the Seattle-Tacoma airport, local officials said. An airline employee "conducted an unauthorized takeoff" of an airplane carrying no passengers at the major airport in the northwestern US state of Washington, airport officials said on Twitter. The aircraft "crashed in south Puget Sound," Sea-Tac Airport said, adding that normal operations at the transport hub had resumed after a pause.

Mark Hamill Mocks Donald Trump's 'Space Force' With 'Star Wars' Burn

President Donald Trump may be getting all pumped up over his proposed "Space

Fredericton Canada shooting: Robb Costello and Sarah May Burns identified as two police officers killed with 48-year-old suspect in custody

At least four people, including two police officers have been killed in a shooting in the eastern Canadian city of Fredericton, with one person having taken into custody. Police in Fredericton, a city of about 56,000 that is the capital of the province of New Brunswick, have a 48-year-old suspect in custody. Fredericton's deputy police chief Martin Gaudet said the two the officers saw two deceased civilians before being shot and killed themselves.

Nasa probe will still be circling Sun at end of Solar System, say scientists

Nasa's new solar spacecraft is so indestructable that parts of it will be circling the Sun until the Solar System ends, eight billion years from now, scientists have said. The US space agency launches its Parker Solar Probe on Saturday, which will travel closer to the Sun than any mission before, to unlock the secrets of fierce radioactive storms which threaten Earth. Earth, and all the other objects in the Solar System are constantly ploughing through what is known as the solar wind - a constant stream of high-energy particles, mostly protons and electrons, hurled into space by the Sun. These radioactive storms are so powerful they are able to knock out satellites, disrupt services such as communications and GPS, threaten aircraft and even interfere with electricity supplies. The mission is to reach Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, the closest any man-made instrument has ever got to a star. For seven years it will orbit at around 3.38 million miles from the star's surface, where temperatures reach 1,400C. Why Nasa's daring mission to 'touch the sun' will be 'the next jump in knowledge' The probe is relying on a 4.5 inch carbon heat shield which has taken 10 years to develop and which is so strong it will survive for billions of years even when the rest of the spacecraft has disintegrated. Speaking at a briefing ahead of the launch, Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe Programme Manager from Johns Hopkins University, said: "At four million miles the Sun is very hot, so we need to bring an umbrella with us. "It’s a carbon heat shield. It took 18 months to fabricate it and a decade to develop it. "Eventually the spacecraft will run out of propellant and will leave altitude control and parts of it will transition into the Sun. But hopefully in 10 to 20 years there is going to be this carbon disc and that will be around to the end of the Solar System." The Parker Solar Probe Credit: Ed Whitman Johns Hopkins APL/NASA The spacecraft also holds a memory card containing the names of more than 1.1 million members of the public who were asked to write in to support the mission. London-born professor Nicky Fox, project scientist from Johns Hopkins University, said: "I think the spacecraft will break up into parts and form dust, and then those names will orbit the Sun forever." The nearest a spacecraft has previously come to the Sun was the Helios 2 mission in 1976, which flew to within 27 million miles. The Parker Solar Probe will go closer to a star than any mission has ever gone Credit: Nasa Once inside the corona, sensory equipment will attempt to ‘taste’ and ‘smell’ electronic particles while they are still moving slowly enough to be measured. Professor Mathew Owens, space scientist at the University of Reading, said: “It's an incredibly hostile environment in which to do science, so the spacecraft has faced enormous engineering challenges. But everything is looking positive for Saturday. “The thing we really don't understand about the Sun, and therefore stars in general, is why its atmosphere gets hotter further away from the heat source. “We've been trying to solve this mystery for more than 50 years, by taking measurements from a nice, safe distance, and it's left us in an unusual position. We've got a bunch of theories that seem to work, but don't know which ones actually explain the Sun.” Currently, solar activity is monitored by a network of satellites, but scientists still have a poor understanding of how radiation builds up in the star’s outer atmosphere and then accelerates towards Earth. A better understanding of “space weather” is also considered crucial for protecting astronauts and their equipment for any future endeavours to colonise the Moon or Mars. The Parker Solar Probe, which weights 1,400lbs, will travel faster than any craft ever before at 430,000 mph, and during its seven-year mission will make 24 orbits of the Sun. The spacecraft will carry instruments to measure bulk plasma, described as the 'bread and butter' of solar waves, as well as a full package of magnetic measuring equipment. Eugene Parker, who the mission is named after Credit: AFP It will also carry a white light imager, dubbed 'Whisper', which can photograph solar waves. “Where does the solar wind come from? What causes flares and coronal mass ejections? We still don’t understand these processes,” said Justin Kasper, professor of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan, mission principal investigator on the Parker Solar Probe. “The Parker Solar Probe will help us do a much better job of predicting when a disturbance in the solar wind could hit Earth.” The mission was named after Eugene Parker, the solar astrophysicist who first discovered the solar wind, and has been in the works for more than half a century. The memory card on board also contains a copy of his first scientific paper outlining his work. It was conceived before a space programme, or even Nasa, existed.

Alex Jones' 'Free Speech' Shouldn't Be Your Primary Concern

After Apple, YouTube, Facebook and other companies removed or banned some of

Partying Like It’s 1998

By PAUL KRUGMAN from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2nubr5j

Kris Kobach's Lead In Kansas Governor's Race Shrinks After Vote Count Discrepancy

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach saw his lead in the Republican

CNN's Jake Tapper Rips Trump For Bashing NFL Players, Not White Supremacists

CNN's Jake Tapper slammed President Donald Trump on Friday for failing to

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Slams Conservative Commentator: 'I Don't Owe' You A Response

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shot back at a conservative commentator on Twitter

Plane Stolen From SeaTac Airport Crashes On Island In Puget Sound

All flights were grounded at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on

Former Virginia governor remembers troopers who died in Charlottesville

“It was very painful. I cannot tell you how close we were. These folks live with you all day, 24/7. It was like losing a family member.”

Tennessee executes man for 1985 rape, murder of seven-year-old girl

Billy Irick, 59, who had spent more than three decades on death row, was put to death at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Tylee Tracer said. Pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m. Central time, he became the 15th inmate executed this year in the United States and the first in Tennessee since 2009. Irick had been a boarder in the home where the girl lived with her mother, stepfather and siblings.

Governor's demand pushes Kobach out of Kansas vote count

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Thursday that he will remove himself from the further counting of votes while his Republican primary battle with Gov. Jeff Colyer hangs in the balance, describing it as a "symbolic" step in response to a public demand from Colyer.

A Quebec Comedian Is Happy to Offend in Multiple Languages

By DAN BILEFSKY from NYT World https://ift.tt/2vBnLVX

Graham Worried Democrats Will Win '10 Or 12' More Seats Than They Need To Take The House

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned Wednesday that Democrats, riding a blue

Kaine: We are still in a 'battle between love and hate'

“There are people who want to drag us back, sadly even including the president.”

The Latest: Life with parole for son in fatal stabbings

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of a teenager who was convicted in the stabbing deaths of his parents and three siblings (all times local):

Kids' travel nightmare

Two angry Florida parents are asking why an airline neglected to notify them after their unaccompanied children's flight was diverted to different destination. ABC News' Maggie Rulli reports.

'Suicidal' mechanic steals plane from Seattle airport, is chased by F-15 jets and then crashes in the sea

On Istanbul streets, defiant Turks see U.S. hand behind lira crisis

"This crisis is created by America," she said. The lira has lost more than 35 percent against the dollar this year and hit a fresh low on Friday, its biggest one day fall since Turkey's 2001 financial crisis. Food, rents and fuel prices in Turkey have all surged.

Joe Arpaio Gives Wild Explanation For Trainwreck Sacha Baron Cohen Interview

Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, said Thursday

California blazes threaten populated areas

U.S. Marines Name First-Ever Female Infantry Platoon Commander

First Lt. Marina A. Hierl is one of four platoon commanders in Echo Company, a group of 175 Marines and Navy sailors.

White House announces Space Force, but don't try to enlist just yet

The Space Force debate has hinged on whether the existing Air Force Space Command can protect American satellites in orbit and handle other military challenges in space.

Kris Kobach Says He'll Remove Himself From Overseeing Kansas Primary Vote Count

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Friday that he would recuse himself

Imam Says Body Found at New Mexico Compound Is His Missing Grandson

Authorities say they have yet to officially identify the body

Nevada death-row inmate on legal delays: 'Just get it done'

Miami Dolphins Players Kneel For Anthem During NFL Preseason Opener

The NFL's regular season is a month away, but players are already defying the

Donald Trump Jr.'s 'Mountain Time' Escape Has Everyone Making The Same Joke

Donald Trump Jr. is going off-the-grid.

Death toll rises to 259 from Sunday's quake in Indonesia's Lombok island

The number of confirmed deaths from a strong earthquake that hit the Indonesian island of Lombok on Sunday has risen to 259 and would rise as more victims are found in the rubble, the disaster mitigation agency said. This number will continue increasing as rescue teams continue to find victims under collapsed buildings," the agency said in a statement on Thursday.

Wildfire smoke from California has reached New York City, 3,000 miles away

Anthony Wexler, the director of the Air Quality Research Center at the University of California, Davis, packed his bags and drove his family out to the coast. They're escaping the smoke. Davis, California, sits amid a layer of wildfire smoke in Northern California. To the northwest, the largest fire in state history, the Mendocino Complex Fire, continues to burn. To the southeast, the Ferguson Fire has closed down smoke-choked Yosemite National Park indefinitely. And to the North, the Carr Fire, infamous for its towering fire tornado, still burns. SEE ALSO: California just had its hottest month on record, and that means more wildfires The air quality in the region around the fires — whose spread has been enhanced by extreme heat parching the land — is some of the worst in the world. "I decided to go out to the coast for a couple days because it was so ridiculous," Wexler said. On Wednesday, the National Weather Service illustrated how winds have lifted bounties of smoke across the entire U.S., bringing pollution even beyond the East Coast. Smoke from the western fires is making it all the way to the East Coast and beyond (at least aloft—mostly above a mile above the surface). Here's the vertically integrated smoke (HRRR model from last night). Another map showed some smoke near the surface even in New England. pic.twitter.com/0Jl6WDAFjg — NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) August 8, 2018 That said, it's not as if these smoke particles are harmful to those on the East Coast. By the time that smoke arrives in Boston and New York, the particles have been diluted with fresh air, and certainly can't be seen, nor are concentrations unhealthy. It's normal for pollution to waft from west to east across the country, just like pollution from China is regularly transported over the Pacific Ocean into the U.S. That's how air generally moves over the Northern Hemisphere, said Wexler. But it's much rarer for even low concentrations of smoke to find their way across the nation. "It doesn’t happen every day," Gabriele Pfister, deputy director of the National Center of Atmospheric Research’s atmospheric chemistry lab, said in an interview. "But, it can happen." "Normally, the pollution isn’t so great that it’s noticeable when it gets east," added Wexler. This isn't stratus this morning looking west from the @LickObservatory, it's smoke. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/dcAMDwShCG — NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) August 7, 2018 But just how bad is the air pollution in large regions of the West? "It's been like a reasonably decent day in Beijing," said Wexler. "That's really telling. It’s really awful there." "It’s unbelievable," said Pfister. She noted that planes flying over the area, as part of a National Science Foundation-funded wildfire study, have picked up some alarming pollution numbers. It's expected that particulate matter — tiny fragments of pollution 30 times thinner than a human hair — would be bad. But the flights even picked up abnormally high concentrations of carbon monoxide, an odorless gas that can be dangerous to human health in enclosed spaces, and at worse, lethal. However, some of the measured values around the fires are about 5 parts per million, or ppm, which are not considered nearly dangerous — but it's still telling. The amount of smoke over the West tonight is nothing short of astounding. pic.twitter.com/Mya0rZauMl — Dan Satterfield (@wildweatherdan) August 8, 2018 "These are values you don’t typically find near the surface in the U.S.," said Pfister. "Maybe you’ll find that if you stick your head into the exhaust of a car." It's not carbon monoxide, however, that people in burning regions need to be concerned about. One of the main factors that's figured into air quality ratings is particulate matter. Both U.S. government and university researchers have repeatedly shown that breathing this stuff is bad for your heart, as it accelerates plaque build-up in blood vessels. In some areas of Oregon, the Air Quality Index currently registers as "Hazardous." In Redding, California, where a fire tornado spun for 80 minutes last week, the air quality is rated as "Unhealthy." But out near the windswept coast, like in San Francisco, the air quality is "Good." Here is what the #smoke looked like over the Central Valley and affecting #AirQuality today. Deep smoke up to 10,000 feet AGL with multiple layers of smoke caused by transport of different #wildfire plumes. Thanks to @MBrewerWX @weather_jack #MendocinoComplexFire #CarrFire pic.twitter.com/aOlNqLLJNV — SJSU FireWeatherLab (@FireWeatherLab) August 9, 2018 It's likely that the West will be intermittently blanketed in unhealthy to hazardous air for months ahead, as the fire season is not nearly over. Rains aren't expected for months, and more temperature and fire records might be broken. Many Westerners aren't near the fires themselves. But it's harder to outrun the smoke. "In my experience, it's never been this bad," said Wexler. WATCH: A tick is spreading and making people allergic to beef