BBC News

India has inaugurated a 9.15km (5.68-mile) bridge over the Lohit river, easily its longest ever, which connects the disputed state of Arunachal Pradesh with the north-eastern state of Assam.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, and refers to it as “southern Tibet”.

Beijing recently strongly objected to India’s decision to allow Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to visit the state and has also protested against the development of military infrastructure there.   Continue reading “India opens longest bridge on China border”

Yahoo News

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers hope a new, unusual law cuts down on increasingly troubling forms of cyber harassment by giving authorities the ability to send online bullies to jail for a year.

Law enforcement, school officials and support groups back the effort, but some lawyers and a libertarian-leaning group have balked at what they call vague language in the law. They believe it could be unconstitutional and lead innocent people to be charged with crimes.   Continue reading “Utah law that could send online bullies to jail criticized”

New York Times – by Mia Wollan

“The most important thing is to build underground,” says Cédric Vuilleumier, an engineer for the Federal Office for Civil Protection in Switzerland, where all citizens are legally guaranteed a spot in a bomb shelter. Packed earth insulates against radiation and blast waves, but don’t go deeper than 10 feet; if your exits (make two) become blocked in the blast, you may need to dig yourself out.   Continue reading “How to Build a Fallout Shelter”

NPR – by James Doubek

Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg returned to the university Thursday to give graduates a commencement address, filled with calls for building a connected world “where every single person has a sense of purpose.”

In a wide-ranging speech that touched on climate change, charity, volunteering, education and universal basic income, the billionaire CEO of Facebook championed globalism and called fighting authoritarianism and nationalism “the struggle of our time.”   Continue reading “Mark Zuckerberg Tells Harvard Graduates To Embrace Globalism, ‘A Sense Of Purpose’”

McClatchy DC – by Stuart Leavenworth

WEST CHESTER, PA. – Norm MacQueen would seem to fit the profile of a property owner comfortable with an oil and gas pipeline running through his land. A retired oil refinery employee, MacQueen worked amid risky conditions for more than 20 years, as a pipe fitter and a welder.

But early last year, MacQueen learned that an oil company, Sunoco, was planning to install two more pipelines past his family’s home in eastern Pennsylvania, where one already runs. According to MacQueen, Sunoco’s agents told him the company will force his neighbors and him to sell the rights to some of their land – through a process called eminent domain – if they don’t agree to turn it over.
Continue reading “Trump’s rural voters fighting to keep their land from a growing web of pipelines”

NPR – by Colin Dwyer

Gunfire erupted between Philippine security forces and militants in Marawi City in the mid-afternoon Tuesday. By the time the sun had set on the small southern city, President Rodrigo Duterte had declared martial law in the region and vowed to end his diplomatic trip to Moscow early.

In the hours between, violence and confusion consumed the community, as armed men linked with the Maute Group occupied the Amai Pakpak Medical Center and several other major buildings. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who is in Moscow with Duterte, told a news conference that militants even set fire to some of those buildings — including the city’s jail, a local Catholic church and Dansalan college.   Continue reading “Duterte Declares Limited Martial Law As Bloodshed Breaks Out In Marawi City”

NPR – by Bill Chappell

Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET

A bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, has killed 22 people and injured 59 more, police say. Monday night’s concert had drawn thousands of children and young people — many of whom were trying to leave when the blast hit. The bomber died at Manchester Arena, police say.   Continue reading “Manchester Concert Bombing: What We Know Tuesday”

NPR – by Jim Zarroli

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will donate a combined $100 million to a World Bank fund for women entrepreneurs that was the brainchild of Ivanka Trump.

The announcement by World Bank President Jim Young Kim came during a visit to Saudi Arabia by President Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.   Continue reading “Saudis And The UAE Will Donate $100 Million To A Fund Inspired By Ivanka Trump”

Al Arabiya

World leaders, including Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and US President Donald Trump, inaugurated the Global Center for Combating Extremism headquartered in Riyadh as the US-Islamic Summit came to a close on Sunday.

Riyadh hosted on Saturday and Sunday three anticipated summits during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia with nearly 50 leaders, mainly from the Muslim world will be attending.  Continue reading “Global Center for Combating Extremism in Riyadh adopts unprecedented techniques”

Tucson News – by Murphy Woodhouse

In recent months, federal and state officials have cited at least eight Chinese students at the UA for fraudulently obtaining resident hunting licenses, and also seized from them a number of firearms obtained using those licenses.

A high-ranking federal official told the Star his agency has no evidence of “malicious intent” by the eight students. Nevertheless, the purchases reveal what officials say is a potentially troubling vulnerability in federal and Arizona firearms laws, which exempt international students and other nonimmigrant visa holders with hunting licenses from prohibitions on gun ownership.   Continue reading “Feds seize guns of 8 Chinese students at University of Arizona”

NPR – by Tom Gjelten

President Trump’s choice to represent the United States at the Vatican, Callista Gingrich, has one especially prominent achievement as a Catholic: She is responsible for her husband, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, converting to Roman Catholicism in 2009.

“When Newt became a Catholic, it was one of the happiest moments of my life,” she said in a 2012 interview with The New Yorker.   Continue reading “Callista Gingrich Nominated As Ambassador To The Vatican”