Ukraine elections: actor and comedian poised to win crushing victoryVolodymyr Zelenskiy is hot favourite to triumph in Sunday's presidential electionLatest polling in Ukraine suggests that the actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has eschewed traditional political campaigning and given little insight into his policy positions, is set to win a crushing victory in Sunday's presidential election.Zelenskiy is known for his television series Servant of the People in which he plays a history teacher who wins a shock victory in presidential elections. He is now odds-on to pull off the feat in real life, after capitalising on widespread disappointment with the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, who won elections in 2014 after the Maidan revolution kicked out the previous government. Continue reading...
Malaysia investigates women who discussed their 'dehijabbing'Move by Islamic authorities condemned as attempt to 'intimidate women activists'Three women in Malaysia who held an event discussing their decision to stop wearing the hijab are being investigated by Malaysian Islamic authorities.The event, hosted over the weekend at the Gerakbudaya bookshop in the Petaling Jaya area, was held to mark the launch of Unveiling Choice, a book documenting the author and activist Maryam Lee's decision to stop wearing the hijab. Continue reading...
Parisians and President Macron salute the city's firefightersMacron invites fire crews to the Élysée Palace while crowds gather for their own tributeAs hundreds of firefighters in ceremonial uniform marched through the gates of the French presidential palace to receive personal thanks from Emmanuel Macron for saving the structure of Notre Dame Cathedral, crowds gathered outside to cheer and clap.Many of those applauding had watched horrified from Paris streets earlier this week as over 500 firefighters worked through the night to put out the fire and prevent an even worse disaster than the fallen spire and destroyed roof. Since then, there has been an outpouring of gratitude towards firefighters, with people taking chocolates and flowers to fire stations across the city, seeking to shake officers' hands. Continue reading...
Crusader armies were remarkably genetically diverse, study findsDNA research adds to evidence soldiers heading east struck up relationships with localsCrusader armies were made up of people from remarkably genetically diverse backgrounds, hailing not just from western Europe but also much further east, according to a new study that gives unprecedented insight into the fighters' lives.The Crusades to the Holy Land were spread over two centuries, with many Europeans heading east to fight, and others turning up to trade. Continue reading...
Facebook security lapse affects millions more Instagram users than first statedNews that the company had insecurely stored passwords came on the same day as the release of Robert Mueller's long-awaited report Facebook chose one of the busiest news days in American politics this year to admit that millions more Instagram users were affected by a security lapse than it had previously disclosed.At 10 am ET on Thursday, as the attorney general, William Barr, wrapped up his news conference on the release of the report of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, Facebook updated a 21 March blogpost, which revealed it had mistakenly stored the passwords of hundreds of millions of users unencrypted, to include a sentence admitting that millions more Instagram accounts had been affected. Continue reading...
Kim Jong-un to visit Russia to meet Putin for first timeSummit between North Korean leader and Russian president to take place in late AprilThe North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will visit Russia in late April for his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, Moscow has said."Following an invitation from Vladimir Putin ... Kim Jong-un will visit Russia in the second half of April," said the Kremlin in a statement on its website on Thursday. Continue reading...
|
Woman accused of making threats against Columbine high school found dead Sol Pais, 18, who was described as armed and 'infatuated' with the Colorado school shooting, apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot woundA police vehicle sits outside a high school as some Denver area schools closed during the police search for an armed woman in Littleton, Colorado. Photograph: Rick Wilking/ReutersThe young woman being hunted in Colorado after making threats against Columbine high school just days before the 20th anniversary of the mass shooting there was found dead by police on Thursday, apparently as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, law enforcement officials said.Sol Pais, 18, who authorities said had traveled to the Denver area on Monday from her home in Florida, had been declared armed and dangerous on Tuesday after purchasing a pump-action shotgun and ammunition. She was hunted down in a forested campground in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, west of Denver, late morning on Wednesday.At first the FBI put out a statement on Twitter declaring she was "no longer a threat to the community". Then law enforcement later confirmed that she was dead.> UPDATE: THERE IS NO LONGER A THREAT TO THE COMMUNITY. More information to follow shortly. FindSol> > - FBI Denver (@FBIDenver) April 17, 2019Pais was said to be obsessed with the 1999 school shooting of students and teachers at the high school in Littleton, near Denver, which killed 13. The two students who perpetrated the massacre died, in addition to their victims.Schools in and around Denver were closed on Wednesday after she made unspecified threats.The anniversary of the Columbine high school shooting is on Saturday. The tragedy ushered in the modern era of repeated US school shootings.Just a few minutes before its tweet that Pais was no longer a threat, the FBI had said that it was searching in the area of Mount Evans, west of Denver, and images on television showed investigators in snowy forest, aided by a snowcat vehicle with caterpillar tracks.> We can confirm there is investigative activity around the base of Mt. Evans. The investigation is active and ongoing. More information will follow soon. FindSol> > - FBI Denver (@FBIDenver) April 17, 2019The Jefferson county sheriff, Jeff Shrader, held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, during which he said it had appeared that Pais had killed herself.She was found dead as police closed in, but Shrader said: "I don't believe they were in active pursuit at the time she died."He said he believed Pais had purchased the weapon legally after arriving in Colorado from Florida, where she lived near Miami, and from where she was reported missing on Monday by her parents.Police were searching her home in Surfside, Florida, on Wednesday, and schools in the Denver area were put into lockdown on Tuesday and then closed on Wednesday while she was still at large in the area, following unspecified threats.Shrader said Pais's body was found "not far from Columbine". The school is in Littleton, near Denver, and the woman was in densely wooded snowy hillside terrain, at a campground in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, in the Arapahoe national forest.She was said to have had a fascination with the Columbine school shooting and its perpetrators."Looking at school shooters there are some real indicators, the fact that she purchased a plane ticket and made this pilgrimage here. There is no evidence that she was [seen] on the Columbine property, but the fact of her history and the fact that she bought a firearm indicate that she was a threat," said John McDonald, executive director of the Jefferson county department of school safety.The sheriff said it was not clear what, if anything, Pais would have been charged with if she had been captured."She would have been subject to being taken into custody for a mental health check, 72 hours holding and treatment, to assess the threat," Shrader said.Frank DeAngelis, the former principal of Columbine high school who was in charge on the day of the massacre in 1999 and has been there ever since, said that when the alarm was sounded about the threat on Tuesday, the school employed its lockdown system "like clockwork"."The kids knew exactly what to do. There was help there. It was much more reassuring than it was 20 years ago," he said on Wednesday.
McDonald's pulls Signature Crafted burgers, doubles down on Quarter Pounders![McDonald's pulls Signature Crafted burgers, doubles down on Quarter Pounders]( "McDonald's pulls Signature Crafted burgers, doubles down on Quarter Pounders") McDonald's Corp said it would remove costlier, premium burgers from its menus in favor of its more popular Quarter Pounders, shifting its focus to simpler and quickly-served burgers. The company said its new deluxe and bacon Quarter Pounders received good feedback and it would continue to focus on such items. "It (the removal) probably has more to do about the process of cooking the burger in McDonald's than it does what the consumer is saying about the food," said Howard Penney, a managing director at Hedgeye Risk Management.
Republican rescinds Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's invite to meet coal miners after it completely backfires A Republican lawmaker's invitation for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to meet with coal miners in his home state of Kentucky backfired completely after the progressive Washington newcomer accepted without hesitation. Ms Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to serve in the US House of Representatives, has served as a lightning rod across party lines for her Green New Deal resolution, which seeks to provide a comprehensive response to the global threat of climate change. Andy Barr, the Kentucky Republican who initially invited the 29-year-old congresswoman to his state, said at the time that local coal miners would tell her "what the Green New Deal would mean for their families, their paychecks," while suggesting the resolution could destroy their industry. To his apparent surprise, the first-term Democrat from New York immediately accepted his invitation, saying she would be "happy" to meet the coal miners and noted her resolution provides pension payments for those who have worked in the mining industry. "We want a just transition to make sure we are investing in jobs across those swaths of the country," she said in her response to Mr Barr's invitation. Suddenly, that invite appears to include some caveats. In order to accompany her on a trip to meet with local coal miners, Mr Barr demanded an apology from Ms Ocasio-Cortez towards Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican she has criticised for sharing a false tweet that claimed Ilhan Omar denied the attacks on September 11, 2001 were an act of terror. Ms Ocasio-Cortez has defended the Minnesota Democrat after conservatives and Donald Trump spread false and misleading information about her. On Wednesday, it did not appear she was about to back down from that position."Luckily, we still have open borders with Kentucky," Corbin Trent, a spokesperson for Ms Ocasio-Cortez, told The Courier-Journal. "We don't need Congressman Barr to meet with coal miners and have a town hall," he added, "though we'd love his participation if we do." > GOP's getting scared that up close, their constituents will realize I'm fighting harder for their healthcare than their own Reps í ½í¹‚ https://t.co/TVSafpJWEd> > - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) > > April 16, 2019As GQ Magazine reported Wednesday, Kentucky Republicans are now publicly voicing their opposition to Ms Ocasio-Cortez headed to the Bluegrass State. "I think we need to be very prepared when we debate her on issues that we're having a hard time with," James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told local news outlets, warning "Republicans are making a mistake picking on her." Responding to his comments on Twitter, the lawmaker wrote, "GOP's getting scared that up close, their constituents will realize I'm fighting harder for their healthcare than their own Reps."
Instagram accounts of Iran Guards commanders blocked The Instagram accounts of several Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders have been blocked, the Tabnak news website reported Tuesday, with the photo-sharing website saying it was complying with US sanctions. The United States announced on April 8 that it has placed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Islamic republic, on their list of "foreign terrorist organisations". Tabnak, a site close to Iranian conservatives, said Instagram blocked the accounts of Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Major General Mohammad Bagheri and Major General Ghassem Soleimani.
500 read timeout
|
