From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Police in Florida appear to have made ‘dopes’ of themselves after they arrested a man for possessing what they thought was crystal meth, when it was actually icing sugar from a Krispy Kreme doughnut.
Orlando resident Daniel Rushing is now planning to sue over the case of mistaken amphetamine, and according to the Orlando Sentinel has been put off munching the sugary snack in his car for good. Continue reading “‘No, it’s meth’: Florida police mistake Krispy Kreme icing for hardcore drug”
The Norwegian coast may be beautiful but with more than a thousand fjords cutting into it, getting from one place to another often requires lengthy journeys.
Norway’s Public Roads Administration (NPRA) has an ambitious plan to solve the problem by building the world’s first floating submerged tunnel system about 30 meters (100ft) underwater. Continue reading “Norway to create world’s first floating underwater tunnel”
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A drug used to sedate elephants and other large animals, 100 times as potent as the fentanyl already escalating the country’s heroin troubles, is suspected in spates of overdoses in several states, where authorities say they’ve found it mixed with or passed off as heroin.
The appearance of carfentanil, one of the most potent opioids known to investigators, adds another twist to the fight against opioid painkillers in a country already awash in heroin and fentanyl cases. Continue reading “A new threat in fight against overdoses: Elephant sedative”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Red-light cameras are widely hated, but a new study says getting rid of them can have fatal consequences. Traffic deaths from red-light-running crashes go up by nearly a third after cities turn off cameras designed to catch motorists in the act, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The institute is funded by auto insurers.
While cities continue to add cameras at intersections with traffic signals, at least 158 communities have ended their red-light camera programs in the past five years, the study said. Researchers compared trends in annual crash rates in 14 cities that had ended their camera programs with those in 29 cities in the same regions that continued their camera programs. Continue reading “Turning off red-light cameras can be deadly”
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs told The Associated Press on Thursday that Washington “crossed the red line” and effectively declared war by putting leader Kim Jong Un on its list of sanctioned individuals, and said a vicious showdown could erupt if the U.S. and South Korea hold annual war games as planned next month.
Han Song Ryol, director-general of the U.S. affairs department at the North’s Foreign Ministry, said in an interview that recent U.S. actions have put the situation on the Korean Peninsula on a war footing. Continue reading “N. Korea: US has crossed red line, relations on war footing”
Prosecutors dropped all charges against the three remaining Baltimore Police Officers that were indicted over the death of Freddie Gray.
The decision was announced by the Baltmore City State’s Attorney’s Office on Wednesday morning during a motions hearing for Officer Garrett Miller. Officer William Porter was to set be retried in September, and Sgt. Alicia White was scheduled for trial in October. Continue reading “Remaining charges dropped against police officers in Freddie Gray case”
WikiLeaks possesses “a lot more” documents to surprise American voters ahead of the upcoming presidential elections – and will not hesitate to make them public.
The leak of 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), published by the whistleblowing website on July 22 “is having so much political impact in the United States,” Julian Assange acknowledged to CNN in a Skype interview on Tuesday. Continue reading “Assange promises to leak ‘a lot more’ materials on US presidential elections”
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 35 years after he tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in an effort to impress actress Jodie Foster, John Hinckley Jr. will be allowed to leave a Washington mental hospital and live full time with his mother in Virginia, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Judge Paul Friedman wrote in a 14-page ruling and accompanying 103-page opinion that Hinckley — who currently spends more than half his days at his mother’s home — is ready to live full time in the community. Friedman granted Hinckley leave from the hospital starting no sooner than Aug. 5. Continue reading “Judge: Reagan shooter can leave hospital to live in Virginia”
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Nearly 70 people have been arrested as officers cleared demonstrators from the street in front of the Minnesota governor’s mansion, police in St. Paul said Wednesday. Demonstrators have been camping outside the governor’s residence since July 7, a day after Philando Castile, a black man, was shot and killed by a suburban police officer during a traffic stop. Castile’s girlfriend livestreamed the aftermath of his shooting on Facebook. Continue reading “About 70 protesters arrested at Minnesota governor’s mansion”
A doctor has been killed after being shot by a gunman who subsequently killed himself at a university clinic in Berlin. Police say the situation in the southwest of the capital is now under control and is not related to terrorism.
The incident happened at the Benjamin Franklin Clinic, located in the Steglitz district, at around 11:00 GMT. Continue reading “Gunman shoots dead doctor at Berlin clinic, not terrorist related – police”
SAGAMIHARA, Japan (AP) — A young Japanese man went on a stabbing rampage Tuesday at a facility for the mentally disabled where he had been fired, officials said, killing 19 people months after he gave a letter to Parliament outlining the bloody plan and saying all disabled people should be put to death.
When he was done, Kanagawa prefectural authorities said, 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu had left dead or injured nearly a third of the almost 150 patients at the facility in a matter of 40 minutes in the early Tuesday attack. It is Japan’s deadliest mass killing in decades. The fire department said 25 were wounded, 20 of them seriously. Continue reading “Letter foretold Japan rampage that killed 19 disabled people”
America’s telecommunications company Verizon announced on Monday it has finalized the acquisition of Yahoo’s core business for $4.8 billion.
Under the deal which doubles Verizon’s digital advertising business, the company gets Yahoo’s search, mail, and content businesses. Yahoo will be merged with Verizon’s AOL unit. Continue reading “Verizon to acquire Yahoo in $4.8bn deal”
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese military court on Monday sentenced a former top general to life in prison for taking bribes, concluding China’s highest-level prosecution of a military figure in decades. Guo Boxiong was also stripped of his rank and forced to hand over all his assets to the Chinese government, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Guo, 74, is a former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, which is led by Xi Jinping, China’s president and leader of the ruling Communist Party. Guo also was once among the 25 members of the party’s Politburo. Continue reading “Former top Chinese general sentenced for taking bribes”
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared a unilateral cease-fire with communist guerrillas effective immediately Monday and asked the rebels to do the same to end decades of deadly violence and foster the resumption of peace talks.
In his first state of the nation address before Congress, Duterte said he wanted a “permanent and lasting peace” before the end of his six-year term, which commenced on June 30. The ex-city mayor, who built a name for his tough, crime-busting style, also focused on his battle against illegal drugs, threatening drug dealers anew with death. Continue reading “Philippine leader declares ceasefire with communist rebels”
DENVER (AP) — A Navy veteran from Colorado who does not identify as male or female is pushing the U.S. government to allow for a third gender option or get rid of gender designators altogether on passports, highlighting the argument that forms on the state and federal level have been slow to include other identities even as gender becomes less defined.
A federal judge considering a legal challenge brought by Dana Zzyym (pronounced Zimm) urged the State Department on Wednesday to settle the case in a way that allows Zzyym to get a passport without having to lie about being a man or a woman. Zzyym, who was born with ambiguous sexual characteristics, was raised as a boy and later identified as intersex. Continue reading “Passport rule change debated as gender becomes less defined”
JERUSALEM (AP) — Nine months ago, Dareen Tatour posted a poem to Facebook about her frustration over spiking violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Days later, Israeli police banged on her door in the middle of the night and arrested her, accusing her of inciting violence on the social network.
Tatour, an Arab citizen of Israel, is one of several hundred people detained in recent years for allegedly spreading incitement. Hoping to further clamp down on what it sees as the driving force behind a 10-month spate of Palestinian attacks, Israel is now preparing a law that aims to rein in content on social media, including Facebook, a platform it says plays a central role in inspiring attackers. Continue reading “Israel takes on Facebook in battle against incitement”
NEW YORK (AP) — A man suspected of tossing a hoax bomb through the open window of a police vehicle in Times Square was taken into custody Thursday after an overnight standoff a short drive away in Manhattan’s landmark Columbus Circle, the New York Police Department said.
The episode began when a person in a passing vehicle tossed a cylindrical object into the police van late Wednesday, said Chief of Department James O’Neill. The officers sped to a less crowded neighborhood and notified the bomb squad. Continue reading “Man in custody after standoff with NYC police over hoax bomb”
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ strict voter ID law discriminates against minorities and the poor and must be weakened before the November elections, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, following claims that at least a half-million registered voters could have struggled to cast a ballot.
The ruling was a striking election-year victory for President Barack Obama’s administration, which took the unusual step of bringing the U.S. Justice Department into Texas to fight the case. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the ruling affirmed that the 2011 law — which Texas enforced in three elections — abridged the right to vote based on race or color. Continue reading “Appeals court: Texas voter ID law discriminates; orders fix”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, police officer was shot and killed while searching for a suspect in a drive-by shooting, police said. Capt. Robert Melton was searching for the suspect when he drove up to someone who matched that person’s description just before 2 p.m. Tuesday, police spokesman Tom Tomasic said. Before Melton could get out of his vehicle, the person opened fire, hitting the officer multiple times, Tomasic said. The alleged shooter was caught five minutes later about a block away, he said. Continue reading “Authorities to provide details about Kansas officer’s death”
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago mother thought she knew when it was safe to take her children outside, that she could protect them by sizing up and avoiding the people whom trouble seemed to follow. Then a bullet fired from a gun that D’Antignay Brashear never saw pierced the cheek of her 4-year-old son, Kavan Collins. It fractured the boy’s jaw and shattered some teeth before it went out his other cheek, all while he held his mother’s hand.
“He was with his mother, and it wasn’t like I was doing something wrong, having him out after hours,” said Brashear, a 21-year-old single mother of two, referring to the shooting that happened before sundown June 28 on Chicago’s South Side. “I thought he was safe.” Continue reading “Gunfire often connected to gangs hitting Chicago children”