- WorldYahoo News
White House warns Syria may be readying chemical attack
The White House charged late Monday that Syria seemed to be making preparations for a chemical attack and warned strongman Bashar Assad that he and his regime “will pay a heavy price” for any mass slaughter of civilians. The unusual statement, attributed to press secretary Sean Spicer, did not include any details of how or what the United States knew about the possible attack, nor how confident U.S. officials were that Assad might carry it out. “The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children,” Spicer said.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Former GOP Rep. Jolly: Affordable Care Act gave me a ‘safety net’
While members of his party scramble to repeal the Affordable Care Act, former Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., praised it as a “safety net” for unemployed people with pre-existing conditions — as he recently was. Appearing on MSNBC’s “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” Monday, Jolly alluded to the backlash against the House and Senate health care bills, saying “the politics of Obamacare in 2017 are different than 2013.” Jolly ran on an anti-Affordable Care Act platform, winning a special election in 2014 before losing his seat in 2016. “On January 4, I was a former member of Congress, unemployed, with no health insurance, and a pre-existing condition,” Jolly, who is 44, said.
- NewsInside Edition
'Good Samaritan' Trying to Help Lost Toddler Attacked by Child's Father: Cops
A Florida man trying to help a lost toddler was beaten by the girl's father, who mistakenly thought she was being abducted, police said. “When I got there, I just swung on him, Austin Strickler told WFTS-TV. He was playing softball when his daughter wandered away, he said. The Lakeland Police Department said on its Facebook page the man was acting as a “good Samaritan” and was trying to find the child’s parents when he was attacked.
- NewsAssociated Press
Mystery of missing Chinese scholar shakes up Illinois school
Yingying Zhang, the daughter of a working-class factory driver from China, took the same career path as many other young Chinese academics before her: She travelled to a university in the U.S. with dreams of one day landing a professorship and being able to help her parents financially. The case has shaken staff and students at Illinois' flagship public school in Urbana-Champaign. Zhang's father, Ronggao Zhang, travelled to the university from the family's home in Nanping, China, to await word on his daughter.
- ScienceInternational Business Times
Are Whales Methodically Killing South Africa’s Great White Sharks?
Killer whales may have slaughtered at least four sharks in South Africa over the last couple of months, cutting out their livers as if they had the training of a surgeon. The Great White sharks have washed up after the killer whales feasted on their organs. According to The Times, a shark was just found dead at Pearly Beach in southwestern South Africa and authorities suspect a killer whale — also known as an orca — was behind it, as it had wounds consistent with such an attack.
WorldReutersNigeria's Buhari sends first message since taking sick leave on May 7: presidency sources
By Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has delivered an audio message to mark the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday, two senior presidency sources said, his first public statement since he left for Britain on medical leave on May 7. Buhari, a Muslim from the north, made the address, calling for peace and unity, in the Hausa language spoken widely in that part of the country. The presidency did not release video footage or photographs of Buhari making the recording heard by Reuters in which the president's voice sounds weak.
PoliticsYahoo NewsAl Franken: Democrats ‘gotta stop riding in limousines’
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., says the Democratic Party has a clear messaging problem. Franken was asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday how members of “the corporate wing” of the party might be able to erase the “limousine Democrat” image in the minds of some voters. “We gotta stop riding in limousines,” Franken replied.
- NewsInternational Business Times
Plane Diverted After Passenger Tries To Open Emergency Exit
Southwest Airlines flight 4519 flying from Los Angeles to Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, was forced to divert course and land at Corpus Christi International Airport, Nueces County, Texas, on Sunday, after a disruptive woman passenger tried to open the emergency exit on the aircraft. The flight left Los Angeles around 8 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. EDT) and was supposed to land at Houston around 1.30 p.m. CDT (2:30 p.m. EDT). According to Houston Chronicle, the Southwest said about the incident: “Following an uneventful landing, local authorities met the aircraft at a gate and removed the disruptive passenger.
- WorldTime Magazine Videos
A Female Soldier Led Buckingham Palace’s Changing of the Guard for the First Time
A Canadian soldier made history Monday by becoming the first woman to lead the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London.
- CelebrityYahoo View
All the President's Lies
The New York Times Sunday published an extraordinary definitive list of the more than 100 lies Donald Trump has told as president. Lawrence O'Donnell talks to Stuart Thompson, who worked on the piece.
- WorldForeign Policy Magazine
SitRep: CIA’s Secret Syria Contacts; Tillerson Bashed by Anonymous WH Officials; State Shuttering Afghan Office
The USS Fitzgerald, which was rammed along its right side by a container ship off the coast of Japan on June 17, apparently ignored warnings it had swerved into the oncoming ship’s path, the vessel’s owner claims. Reuters has obtained a copy of the container ship captain’s report, which said the ACX Crystal had signaled with flashing lights after the Fitzgerald “suddenly” crossed its path. The U.S. Navy continues to investigate the incident, which killed seven U.S. sailors. For the first several months of the Trump administration, CIA director Mike Pompeo held a series secret talks with Ali Mamlouk, the head of Syria’s National Security Bureau intelligence service, who has been accused of human rights abuses during the country’s civil war and hit with sanctions by Washington.
- NewsInside Edition
Man Spent 3 Months Behind Bars for Possession of Cocaine That Turned Out to Be Dry Wall
A Florida handyman is walking out of jail a free man after spending three months in jail earlier this year for possession of cocaine that was really drywall. Karlos Cashe was pulled over in Oviedo for a routine traffic stop when the police officer said he noticed a white powder in the man’s car. Cashe, a handyman by trade, explained that the powder was not drugs but drywall residue from his job.
NewsAssociated PressObama and family go river rafting during Indonesia vacation
Former U.S. President Barack Obama and his family were seen on a river rafting trip Monday as they vacationed in Indonesia, where he lived for several years as a child. Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, rafted on the Ayung River on the resort island of Bali, where the family arrived Friday. Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had invited Obama to take a holiday in the country after leaving office, and has invited the family to visit the presidential Bogor Palace in West Java during their nine-day trip.
- WorldMashable
China's verdant 'forest city' will fight pollution with a million plants
If tree-covered skyscrapers act like enormous air filters, this cluster of buildings will be a clean air oasis. China has broken ground on a "forest city" in the southern city of Liuzhou. The development, which will span two-thirds of a mile along the Liujiang River, involves blanketing offices, apartments, hotels, and schools with more than a million plants and about 40,000 trees.
WorldReutersSaudi demands from Qatar 'very provocative': Germany
By Andrea Shalal BERLIN (Reuters) - A list of 13 demands submitted by four Arab states to Qatar as a condition to lift their boycott on the Gulf country is "very provocative" because some items challenge Doha's sovereignty, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a boycott on Qatar three weeks ago, accusing it of backing militants - then issued an ultimatum, including demands that it shut down a Turkish military base in Doha.
- NewsThe Independent
Emmett Till Mississippi civil rights memorial vandalised for second time in two months
An sign marking the site where black teenager was accused of whistling at a white woman - something that would subsequently result in him being lynched - has been vandalised for the second time in two months. The marker on the Mississippi Freedom Trail was damaged last month when someone scratched on it. Allan Hammons, whose company manages the Mississippi Freedom Trail, more than a dozen signs established in 2011 to mark seminal moments and locations in the civil rights movements, said the incident was deeply disturbing.
- WorldYahoo News Photo Staff
London apartment tower fire triggers emergency inspections, evacuations
The deaths of 79 people in a London apartment tower have triggered emergency inspections, evacuations and soul searching among British officials who failed to prevent the tragedy.But fire-safety experts say governments and builders around the world should
- HealthInternational Business Times
Two New Mexico Women Hospitalized With The Plague
Two women, ages 52 and 62, were diagnosed with the plague in New Mexico this week, health officials say. The New Mexico Health Department says the two women in Santa Fe County, N.M. were both hospitalized as a result of contracting confirmed symptoms of the human plague. A 63-year-old man contracted the plague earlier this month in New Mexico.
- BusinessYahoo View
Kushner Hires Lawyer With Scandal Experience
Rachel Maddow reports that Donald Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has hired a famed defense lawyer Abbe Lowell, who has represented a litany of clients through high profile political scandals and prosecutions.
WorldAFPMacron says France will not recognise Crimea 'annexation'
President Emmanuel Macron said Monday France refuses to recognise Russia's "annexation" of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday visited Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, in a trip that Kiev condemned as a violation of its sovereignty.
- NewsAssociated Press
Philando Castile's family reaches $3M settlement in death
The mother of Philando Castile, a black motorist killed by a Minnesota police officer last July, has reached a nearly $3 million settlement with the city that employed the officer, avoiding a federal wrongful death lawsuit that attorneys said could have taken years to resolve. The settlement to be paid to Valerie Castile, who is the family's trustee, was announced Monday and comes less than two weeks after officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter and other charges connected to her son's death. Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker, was shot five times by Yanez during a traffic stop after Castile informed the officer he was armed.
- NewsAssociated Press
Police: Girl's actions caused her to fall from NY park ride
A teenage girl's actions, not mechanical malfunctions, caused her to slip under a restraining bar on an amusement park gondola ride before falling into the arms of bystanders below, police said Monday. Warren County sheriff's Lt. Steven Stockdale told The Post-Star of Glens Falls (http://bit.ly/2s9pG46 ) that "human error" on the part of the 14-year-old Delaware girl caused her to slip out of the two-person gondola while riding with her younger brother Saturday at Six Flags Great Escape. State inspectors cleared the Sky Ride for resuming operation, but officials at the park 55 miles (88 kilometers) north of Albany said the gondolas would remain idle for at least a second day Monday, pending an internal review.
- WorldYahoo News Photo Staff
U.S.-backed fighters advance in Raqqa, Syria
Islamic State group jihadists wage fierce battles in their Syrian stronghold Raqqa in a bid to repel US-backed fighters advancing towards the walls of the Old City. The Kurdish and Arab fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) entered Raqqa in early June, after months of fighting to encircle the northern city that has become a jihadist bastion. Since then, they have seized one neighborhood in western Raqqa and another in the east, where they are now battling to secure control of the Al-Senaa district that leads to the Old City.
- NewsThe Guardian
Rare spate of bear attacks leaves two dead in Alaska
A warning sign in Anchorage, Alaska, after a 16-year-old runner was recently killed by a black bear. There have only been six fatal bear attacks in the state in 130 years. Alaska is experiencing a spate of bear attacks, with four people attacked in less than a week, resulting in two fatalities.
WorldReutersPhilippines VP visits refugees fleeing fighting, Duterte unseen in days
By Kanupriya Kapoor and Manuel Mogato BALO-I, Philippines (Reuters) - The vice president of the Philippines expressed hope on Monday for a swift end to an urban siege by Islamist rebels, and offered support to displaced civilians during a visit normally conducted by a president not seen in public for six days. The trip by Leni Robredo to an evacuation center in Balo-i for residents who escaped a month-long conflict in nearby Marawi City adds to speculation about the health of 72-year-old President Rodrigo Duterte, whose absence this month from the public eye is the longest since he took office a year ago. Known for a packed public schedule and marathon speeches several times a day, Duterte's disappearances during what has been the biggest crisis of his presidency will add to frequent rumors he is in poor health, which his office denies.
