- PoliticsHuffPost
GOP Rejects Two Resolutions Affirming Support For U.S. Intelligence Community
At a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in Helsinki, Trump refused to condemn Russia’s efforts to manipulate the 2016 presidential election, as detailed by his own intelligence agencies several times. Instead, he cast doubt on those assessments and in his comments gave credence to Putin’s denial of the interference. After his performance sparked bipartisan criticism, Trump struggled to clarify his position several times this week.
NewsAOL.comFather of 2 Parkland shooting survivors fatally shot during armed robbery
The father of two students who survived the Parkland high school shooting in February was fatally shot during an armed robbery at his own convenience store on Tuesday afternoon. Ayub Ali, 61, was working at Aunt Molly’s Food Store in North Lauderdale, Florida, when an unidentified man wearing a black vest, reddish-orange shorts and a skull cap with 'Miami' stitched on the front entered the shop, CBS Miami reports. The victim was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
- NewsHuffPost
Justice Department Will Tell Public About 'Persistent,' 'Pervasive' Attacks On Democracy
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the report, crafted by the Justice Department’s new Cyber-Digital Task Force, demonstrates that U.S. citizens and businesses are targeted “every day” by hackers and influence campaigns, noting that it was far more than elections being targeted. “The Russian effort to influence the 2016 presidential election is just one tree in a growing forest,” Rosenstein said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the last national election, said Justice would begin informing the public about such efforts in an attempt to combat future disinformation campaigns.
- WorldHuffPost
Kremlin Launches Twitter Flash Mob To Free Alleged Russian Agent Maria Butina
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a Twitter flash mob to free Russian national Maria Butina following U.S. charges that she conspired to influence American politics while covertly working for the Kremlin. The ministry urged people to show support for Butina by changing their Twitter profile photos to a portrait of Butina posted on the ministry’s official Twitter account and Facebook page on Thursday.
WorldReuters'Treasure ship' claim raises eyebrows in South Korea
By Josh Smith SEOUL (Reuters) - A company claiming to have found the wreck of a Russian warship with $130 billion in gold "treasure" off the coast of South Korea has drawn scepticism from researchers and regulators in Seoul. Shinil Group, which lists a Singapore address on its website, said on Tuesday it had discovered the wreck of the Dmitrii Donskoi, a Russian armored cruiser built in the 1880s and sunk in 1905 after battling Japanese warships. Shinil Group representatives did not respond to requests for comment, but its news release said the company was the "only entity in the world" to have discovered the ship.
- BusinessTime
Microsoft Says It Stopped Cyberattacks on Three 2018 Congressional Candidates
The targets, who it didn’t identify, were “all people who because of their positions might have been interesting from an espionage standpoint, as well as an election disruption standpoint,” Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for customer security and trust, said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Thursday. A Facebook Inc. executive on the same panel at the Aspen conference said that in April, the company removed a few hundred pages on the service controlled by the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, which has been indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for an alleged social media campaign aimed at interfering in the 2016 U.S. election.
WorldAssociated PressAfter rescue, soccer boys pray for protection at Thai temple
The youth soccer teammates rescued from a flooded cave began their first day back home with their families Thursday by going to a Buddhist temple to pray for protection from misfortunes. Eleven of the boys and the Wild Boars coach kneeled and pressed their hands in prayer to the tune of chanting monks at the ceremony meant to extend one's life and protect it from dangers. Only one member was absent, Adul Sargon, who is not Buddhist.
- NewsYahoo News
The real battle for social conservatives isn't the Supreme Court, it's the culture
Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination by President Trump has sparked panic among abortion-rights voters and advocates, who worry that if Kavanaugh is confirmed the court will overturn previous rulings that legalized abortion. Rather, the concern is that nominations to the Supreme Court — though they are enormously significant — do not outweigh the damage being done to the anti-abortion movement’s long-term health because of its political alliance with President Trump.
- WorldHuffPost
Egyptian Officials Open Black Sarcophagus, Find 3 Skeletons Inside
After approximately 2,000 years sitting untouched, a black sarcophagus recently unearthed in Egypt has been opened ― and it wasn’t pretty. Authorities in Alexandria removed the massive granite lid on Thursday to reveal the skeletal remains of three people amid sewage water that had leaked in, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced. Mostafa Waziry, the head of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, had some reassuring words in response to media rumors of bad luck. “The sarcophagus has been opened, but we have not been hit by a curse,” he said, according to the Guardian.
NewsYahoo NewsMonths after giant immigration raid, the wounds are still raw in one Tennessee town
Luis Bautista-Martinez was on his way home from church with his sister and her two children when the sound of a police siren brought back frightening memories of an officer pointing a gun at his head months earlier. The 23-year-old had, at that point, been back in Tennessee for less than three days after his release from an immigration detention facility in rural Louisiana, where he was taken after being arrested in one of the biggest worksite immigration raids in the last 10 years. Arriving at the mobile home where he lives with his sister, Esmeralda, her husband and their three young children, Bautista-Martinez went straight to his room and fell asleep.
- NewsHuffPost
Home Depot Backtracks After Firing Employee Who Says He Stood Up To Racist Customer
Maurice Rucker, who is black, was working in the garden center when he asked a customer with a dog to leash his pet while in the store, the Albany Times Union reported on Thursday. In response, the customer, who is white, reportedly cursed at Rucker and said, “You’re from the ghetto.
WorldAFPBrazil's fugitive 'Dr. Bumbum' plastic surgeon arrested over patient death
A Brazilian celebrity butt-enhancement surgeon known as Dr. Bumbum was arrested Thursday over the death of a patient in a botched operation after spending four days on the run. Denis Furtado, who calls himself Dr. Bumbum on social media, was arrested in an office building thanks to a tip from an anonymous telephone caller, police said. Furtado was considered capable of performing magic on women's bodies, in particular their bottoms, and became known throughout the country for his expertise.
- BusinessHuffPost
Multiple Papa John's Employees Describe Sexual Harassment, Nepotism
Papa John’s founder John Schnatter resigned last week as chairman over his use of a racial slur, but that incident may have just scratched the surface of the company’s problems. According to an explosive Forbes report published on Thursday, the pizza giant also fosters a toxic workplace culture that includes sexual harassment, nepotism and spying on employees. Several female Papa John’s employees described enduring a pattern of sexist and other inappropriate remarks from male colleagues.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Russian warship ‘carrying £100 billion in gold’ discovered off South Korea
A South Korean salvage team has discovered the wreck of a Russian warship that was sunk in a naval battle 113 years ago and is believed to still contain a trove of gold bullion and coins worth 150 trillion won, or £100 billion. The Russian Imperial Navy cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi was discovered at a depth of more than 1,400 feet about one mile off the South Korean island of Ulleungdo. A joint team made up of experts from South Korea, Britain and Canada discovered the wreck on Sunday and used two manned submersibles to capture footage of the vessel, with the company behind the discovery promising to use a percentage of the money to fund the construction of a railway line linking Russia and South Korea through North Korea.
StyleAFP Relax NewsHailey Baldwin turns 'Style Creator' for Adidas Originals and JD
Hailey Baldwin is famous for her career in front of the camera, but she is stepping behind the lens for her latest big role. The model has been unveiled as the first-ever ‘Style Creator' for sportswear giant Adidas Originals and JD -- a move that will reportedly see her act as a creative voice for the brands behind the scenes. "Creativity is what drives me -- I love starring in campaigns but being able to direct and have creative control is what I am most passionate about," Baldwin told Harper's Bazaar.
- NewsInside Edition
17 Killed, Including 9 Family Members, After Missouri Duck Boat Capsizes During Storm
Seventeen people, including nine members of a single family, died Thursday when a duck boat carrying tourists capsized on a Missouri lake. The boat, which was carrying 31 people, was on Table Rock Lake when a thunderstorm coupled with strong winds caused it to capsize around 8 p.m., authorities said. There were two duck boats on the water when the storm hit and both were attempting to make it back to land, police said.
PoliticsAssociated PressEven US intel chief in the dark about Trump-Putin talks
Even Donald Trump's intelligence chief doesn't know what was said in the president's one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in Helsinki. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was also unaware that Putin was being invited to Washington. Coats made those surprise admissions Thursday in his first public comments since rebutting Trump's questioning of the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
WorldReutersPhilippines to expel 'undesirable' Australian nun who irked Duterte
The Philippines blacklisted and ordered the deportation on Thursday of an elderly Australian nun at odds with President Rodrigo Duterte, calling her an "undesirable alien" who broke terms of her missionary visa by engaging in political activism. The resolution was the second time immigration chiefs have sought to deport Patricia Fox, 71, who two months ago had been granted a reprieve by the justice department. Fox has worked in the Philippines since the early 1990s and is a coordinator of a congregation of Catholic nuns called Notre Dame de Sion.
- NewsThe Guardian
Accused spy Maria Butina met with Russia's former US ambassador
Maria Butina’s encounter with Sergey Kislyak has been cited as proof that she was in touch with diplomatic officials. The woman charged with spying for Moscow in the US met previously with the former Russian ambassador to Washington whose contacts with Trump advisers have raised concerns among investigators. Photographs of Maria Butina with Sergey Kislyak were among the files taken from Butina’s electronic devices by FBI agents, according to prosecutors.
- EntertainmentHuffPost
This Deadpool Toilet Seat Cover Is Something We Should All Get Behind
A crappy promotion is leaving San Diego Comic-Con attendees flush with excitement: Toilet seat covers featuring the face of Deadpool.Above the Marvel hero’s foul-mouthed face are the words “This is all Fox could afford,” alluding to the film studio that
WorldAFPUS host's gibe over 'African-ness' of World Cup victors sparks wider debate
A light-hearted quip about a soccer team has sparked a serious debate about identity politics and the merits of France's "colorblind" republican model versus American multiculturalism. When the host of American television's popular "The Daily Show" joked that the real winner of the World Cup was "Africa," it prompted a fierce reaction on social media and drew a pointed rebuttal from the French ambassador to Washington. Trevor Noah, the popular comedian who hosts the TV show, was calling attention to the fact that many of the winning French team's players are of African origin -- immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants.
- NewsThe Independent
71-year-old man dies from bacterial infection after eating oyster in Florida
A 71-year-old man has died from a bacterial infection after eating an oyster in a Florida restaurant in Sarasota County, according to local reports. The Florida Department of Health has not identified the man or the restaurant but the man died on 10, July. In posts published to Twitter, the health department identified the bacteria in question as Vibrio vulnificus, a rare bacterium that normally lives in warm seawater and that is naturally occurring in warm salty or brackish water.
- NewsHuffPost
EPA Staff Aimed To Protect Pruitt From Toxic Chemical He Failed To Regulate
Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency head whose anti-regulation crusade couldn’t save his job from his repeated ethics scandals, picked out an ornate desk for an expensive office remodel last year that concerned his staff because it contained toxic formaldehyde. “The irony would be comical if not so dangerous,” Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement.
