After 17 years of fighting grinding counterinsurgencies in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army is shifting its gaze.
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Move over Bruno: Another thicc cat's found his happy home. The enormous 28-pound cat's name is Doughnut, and the internet fell in love with him on Friday when the Jacksonville Humane Society posted photos of him on Facebook. OH LAWD HE COMIN! #chonk pic.twitter.com/ZeZc0iI9A3 — Jax Humane Society (@jaxhumane) October 26, 2018 According to the original post showing off all of Doughnut's curves, one requirement for his new home was "an owner who is willing to keep him on his strict diet." They acknowledged that while many of us might like a chunky cat, it's really not very healthy for Doughnut to be that overweight. "His new family will need to work with a vet to get him to the right weight at the right pace," the post stressed. But all is well, according to a recent Facebook update sharing that Doughnut is now in a happy home with a new owner. The Jacksonville Humane Society Facebook page said that pictures of the cat in his new home will be posted soon. Hopefully by the time we get new photos of Doughnut, he'll look a little slimmer. After all, a healthy cat is a happy cat. We all wish Doughnut the best of luck on his weight-loss journey. [H/T: NBC New York] WATCH: This smart feeder will stop your pets from mooching off each other
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Should they reclaim a majority in the House come November, Democrats will prioritize legislation that would extend federal anti-discrimination protections to the LGBT community, minority leader Nancy Pelosi said recently. The legislation, which Pelosi unveiled during a speech at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, would expand upon the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which currently covers race, religion, gender, and national origin — to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. If passed, the bill would outlaw discrimination against LGBT Americans seeking loans, applying for jobs, ordering in a restaurant, or seeking to serve on a jury.
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A travel blogger who fell to her death alongside her husband while apparently taking selfies on a cliff edge had previously warned tourists against attempting to capture dangerous photographs. Rangers at Yosemite National Park in California found the bodies of Vishnu Viswanath and Meenakshi Moorthy around 800 feet below Taft Point, where visitors can gaze over an unguarded cliff face. Viswanath’s brother, Jishnu Viswanath, told reporters on Tuesday the pair had set up a tripod close to the sheer ledge shortly before they apparently fell.
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The suspect in the Saturday massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue that left eleven dead appeared in court Monday and is being held without bond by the U.S. Marshals Service. Robert Bowers, 46, appeared in federal court in Pittsburgh in a wheelchair and was mostly silent as the 29 charges against him — including eleven counts of obstruction of religious exercise ending in death and eleven counts of use of a firearm to murder — were read. Because he is unable to afford a private attorney, he will be represented by a public defender as the case proceeds.
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Divers searched on Tuesday for victims of the Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people and high-tech equipment was deployed to find its data recorders as reports emerged of problems on the jet's previous flight that had terrified passengers. Search and rescue personnel worked through the night, sending 24 body bags to identification experts while the airline flew dozens of grieving relatives to the country's capital, Jakarta. The two-month-old Boeing jet crashed into the Java Sea early on Monday, just 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta for an island off Sumatra. Its pilot had requested clearance to return to the airport just 2-3 minutes after takeoff, which aviation experts said indicated a problem, though its cause is still baffling. The National Search and Rescue Agency said 10 intact bodies as well as body parts have been recovered. Aircraft debris and personal belongings from ID cards to clothing and bags found scattered in seas northeast of Jakarta are being spread out on tarps at a port in north Jakarta. The disaster has reignited concerns about safety in Indonesia's fast-growing aviation industry, which was recently removed from European Union and US blacklists. Jakarta plane crash: Flight Lion Air JT610 Two passengers on the plane's previous flight from Bali to Jakarta on Sunday have described issues that caused frustration and alarm. Alon Soetanto told TVOne the plane dropped suddenly several times in the first few minutes of its flight. "About three to eight minutes after it took off, I felt like the plane was losing power and unable to rise. That happened several times during the flight," he said. "We felt like in a roller coaster. Some passengers began to panic and vomit." His account is consistent with data from flight-tracking sites that show erratic speed, altitude and direction in the minutes after the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet took off. A similar pattern is also seen in data pinged from Monday's fatal flight. Safety experts cautioned, however, that the data must be checked for accuracy against the plane's so-called black boxes, which officials are confident will be recovered. Lion Air's president Edward Sirait said there were reports of technical problems with the flight from Bali but said it had been resolved in accordance with the procedures released by the plane manufacturer. In a detailed post online, Indonesian TV presenter Conchita Caroline said boarding of Sunday's flight was delayed by more than an hour and when the plane was being towed, a technical problem forced it to return to its parking space. She said passengers sat in the cabin without air conditioning for at least 30 minutes listening to an "unusual" engine roar, while some children vomited from the overbearing heat, until staff faced with rising anger let them disembark. After about 30 minutes of passengers waiting on the tarmac, they were told to board again while an engine was checked. Caroline said she queried a staff member but was met with a defensive response. "He just showed me the flight permit that he had signed and he said the problem had been settled," she said. "He treated me like a passenger full of disturbing dramas even though what I was asking represented friends and confused tourists who didn't understand Indonesian." Women, who are relatives of passengers on the crashed Lion Air flight JT610, cry at Bhayangkara R. Said Sukanto hospital in Jakarta Credit: Reuters Distraught family members struggled to comprehend the sudden loss of loved ones in the crash of a plane with experienced pilots in fine weather. "This is a very difficult time for our family," said Leo Sihombing, outside a crisis centre set up for family members at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport. "We know that it is very unlikely that my cousin is still alive, but no one can provide any certainty or explanation," he said as other family members wept and hugged each other. "What we hope now is rescuers can find his body, so we can bury him properly, and authorities can reveal what caused the plane crash," Sihombing said. Specialist ships and a remotely operated underwater vehicle have been deployed to search for the plane's hull and flight recorder. At a glance | Annual aviation deaths Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi has said he's certain it won't take long to locate the hull of the aircraft and its flight recorders due to the relatively shallow 30 meter (115 foot) depth of the waters where it crashed. The crash is the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea in December 2014, killing all 162 on board. Indonesian airlines were barred in 2007 from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, though several were allowed to resume services in the following decade. The ban was completely lifted in June. The U.S. lifted a decadelong ban in 2016. Lion Air, a discount carrier, is one Indonesia's youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations. Earlier this year it confirmed a deal to buy 50 new Boeing narrow-body aircraft worth an estimated $6.2 billion. It has been expanding aggressively in Southeast Asia, a fast-growing region of more than 600 million people.
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Conservationists have issued a demand for urgent international action after a major report uncovered an unprecedented crisis in nature that threatens to devastate the world economy and imperil humanity itself. Only a global pact on the scale of the Paris Agreement on climate change will save the natural world from irreversible collapse, the World Wide Fund for Nature said after publishing a report showing a cataclysmic decline in global wildlife populations. Global vertebrate populations have fallen by 60 per cent since 1970 as human activity destroys their natural habitats in grasslands, forests, waterways and oceans, the organisation said. Until the turn of the 20th century, humanity’s consumption of the world’s natural resources was smaller than Earth’s ability to replenish itself. But over the past 50 years expanding agricultural activity and the over-exploitation of natural resources to feed a growing world population, particularly its booming middle class, has pushed many ecosystems to the brink of collapse. The Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, is being cleared for soy monoculture Credit: Adriano Gambarni/ PA “Humans are living beyond the planet’s means and wiping out life on earth in the process,” the report warns. From the savannahs of Africa to the rain forests of South America and oceans across the world, few wildlife populations have been spared. While great attention has been given to the impact of poaching on elephants and rhinos in Africa, the story has been more dismal in Latin America and the Caribbean, where 89 percent of indigenous mammals like the jaguar and anteater have been wiped out. Statistics are just as grim in the world’s rivers, lakes and seas. More than 80 per cent of freshwater populations has vanished, with freshwater fish accounting for a higher rate of extinction than any other vertebrate. Since 1950 nearly 6bn tonnes of fish and other seafood have been removed from the world’s oceans. Employees move freshly caught fish at a factory in the Angolan coastal city of Benguela Credit: AFP For surviving populations the impact of human activity is also stark: some 90 per cent of the world’s seabirds have plastic in their stomach, compared to just 5 per cent in 1960. Plastic pollution now stretches across the seas of the earth, even reaching the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific, the deepest natural point in the world. With just a quarter of the planet’s land now free from human impact, the space bird, reptile and mammal populations' need to recover is growing ever more limited. “We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last that can do anything about it,” said Tanya Steele, chief executive of the WWF. “The collapse of global wildlife populations is a warning sign that nature is dying." As tragic as the collapse of wildlife populations is, the impact of habitat loss will have a profound impact on human wellbeing, conservationists say. Man’s encroachment on nature threatens agriculture itself, because crops pollinated by animals account for 35 per cent of global food production, while habitat loss means that the soil for crops to grow is not being replenished with nutrients. Under threat | The 19 species on the World Wildlife Fund's critically endangered list The loss of South American rainforests has reduced rainfall thousands of miles away, also imperilling crop production. As many as 70,000 species of plants are used commercially or in medicine, posing a danger to efforts to fight disease and protect industry. Yet the issue, conservationists say, is not being taken as seriously as climate change — even though protecting nature can help mitigate the impact of global warming — which is why it is essential for big business and government to come together to find a solution to the crisis. “The statistics are scary, but all hope is not lost,” said Ken Norris, director of science at the Zoological Society of London, which collaborated on the report. “We have an opportunity to design a new way forward that allows us to coexist sustainably with the wildlife we depend on.”
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Shay Khatiri first heard about the mass shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue from a friend. Mr Khatiri, who had been crashing on his Jewish friend’s couch for several months, woke up to see his friend visibly shaken from the tragic news and wanted to do something. “I thought about [making] a small donation, and then I thought it’d be better if I start this campaign,” Mr Khatiri told The Independent.
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A 6.1 magnitude earthquake rattled parts of central New Zealand Tuesday, where British royals Meghan and Harry are on tour, but officials said it caused no major damage. The quake was felt in Wellington during a session of parliament, prompting lawmakers to stop deliberations and seek refuge as a precaution. Reporters travelling with the couple said they did not feel any tremors during the quake, which the US Geological Survey (USGS) gave a magnitude of 6.1.
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The man accused of shooting dead 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue was brought into court in a wheelchair on Monday to hear he faced 29 charges, including 11 counts of murder. Robert Bowers, 46, wore a blue sweatshirt and arrived amid tight security, flanked by marshals and with his hands shackled in his lap. Bowers opened fire with an AR-15 rifle and three Glock handguns, killing eight men and three women on Saturday before a police tactical police team shot him, according to court documents. Prosecutors are treating the attack as a hate crime and say they are poring through social media posts that allegedly show a history of anti-Semitic remarks. Pittsburgh has been in mourning ever since, with moments of silence before the weekend’s sporting events and flags at half mast. It is bracing for a wave of funerals in the coming days. Pittsburgh synagogue shooting Bowers was released from hospital on Monday morning after undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds and appeared for a brief hearing at Pittsburgh’s federal courthouse. He appeared pale but composed as the charges were read, speaking four times to confirm his name, that he had been given a copy of the charges and requested a court-appointed defence team. “Yes,” he answered in a clear, firm voice each time. He waived his right to a detention hearing which means he will remain in the custody of the marshals service. He is due to appear in court again on Thursday. The victims included Cecil Rosenthal (l) and Melvin Wax Scott Brady, US attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said afterwards: “At that time we will have an opportunity to present evidence demonstrating Robert Bowers murdered 11 people who were exercising their religious beliefs and that he shot or injured six others, including four of whom were police officers responding to the shooting. “Our investigation into the hate crimes continues.” The suspect is a long-haul trucker who worked for himself, according to Mr Brady, although even neighbours living around his ground-floor apartment in the Pittsburgh suburb of Baldwin said they knew nothing more about him. Mr Brady also said he planned to seek the death penalty. The criminal complaint alleges that a wounded Bowers delivered anti-Semitic slurs even as he was arrested, according to the police report, saying: “They're committing genocide to my people. I just want to kill Jews." Meanwhile, more accounts are emerging of how the shooting unfolded. Survivors described dodging through the Tree of Life synagogue’s warren of nooks and crannies to find bolt holes. Barry Werber arrived just before the gunshots began, saying hello to Melvin Wax, David Rosenthal, Daniel Stein and Richard Gottfried. Minutes later all four were dead and Mr Werber was hiding in a storage cupboard. “I don't know why he thinks the Jews are responsible for all the ills in the world, but he's not the first and he won't be the last,” said Mr Werber. “Unfortunately, that's our burden to bear. It breaks my heart.” More than 2500 people crammed into the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial and Museum on Sunday evening for a memorial service and demonstration of unity. Thousands more stood in the rain outside. “I think people are in various stages of trauma, mourning, disbelief, shock all rolled into one,” Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life Synagogue told ABC's Good Morning America show on Monday.
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Angry local communities have warned India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stay away from the inauguration on Wednesday of the world's biggest statue, a 182 metre (600 feet) high tribute to an independence hero. The Statue of Unity, which is twice the size of the Statue of Liberty, has been built in a remote corner of Gujarat state as a flagship project of conservative leader Modi who is to open it on Wednesday. Posters of Modi with Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in a town near the statue were torn down or had the faces blackened at the weekend.
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The murder of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday has brought new attention to Gab, the social media service created by Andrew Torba that bills itself as pro-free speech and serves as a gathering place for white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other extremist figures online, and counted among its users suspected gunman Robert Bowers.
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Saudi prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb held talks with Istanbul's prosecutor on Monday and Tuesday about Khashoggi's death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which has escalated into a crisis for the world's top oil exporter. Riyadh at first denied any knowledge of, or role in, his disappearance four weeks ago but Mojeb has contradicted those statements, saying the killing of Khashoggi, a critic of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was premeditated. The case has put into focus the West's close relationship with Saudi Arabia - a major arms buyer and lynchpin of Washington's regional plans to contain Iran - given the widespread scepticism over its initial response.
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Conservationists have issued a demand for urgent international action after a major report uncovered an unprecedented crisis in nature that threatens to devastate the world economy and imperil humanity itself. Only a global pact on the scale of the Paris Agreement on climate change will save the natural world from irreversible collapse, the World Wide Fund for Nature said after publishing a report showing a cataclysmic decline in global wildlife populations. Global vertebrate populations have fallen by 60 per cent since 1970 as human activity destroys their natural habitats in grasslands, forests, waterways and oceans, the organisation said. Until the turn of the 20th century, humanity’s consumption of the world’s natural resources was smaller than Earth’s ability to replenish itself. But over the past 50 years expanding agricultural activity and the over-exploitation of natural resources to feed a growing world population, particularly its booming middle class, has pushed many ecosystems to the brink of collapse. The Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, is being cleared for soy monoculture Credit: Adriano Gambarni/ PA “Humans are living beyond the planet’s means and wiping out life on earth in the process,” the report warns. From the savannahs of Africa to the rain forests of South America and oceans across the world, few wildlife populations have been spared. While great attention has been given to the impact of poaching on elephants and rhinos in Africa, the story has been more dismal in Latin America and the Caribbean, where 89 percent of indigenous mammals like the jaguar and anteater have been wiped out. Statistics are just as grim in the world’s rivers, lakes and seas. More than 80 per cent of freshwater populations has vanished, with freshwater fish accounting for a higher rate of extinction than any other vertebrate. Since 1950 nearly 6bn tonnes of fish and other seafood have been removed from the world’s oceans. Employees move freshly caught fish at a factory in the Angolan coastal city of Benguela Credit: AFP For surviving populations the impact of human activity is also stark: some 90 per cent of the world’s seabirds have plastic in their stomach, compared to just 5 per cent in 1960. Plastic pollution now stretches across the seas of the earth, even reaching the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific, the deepest natural point in the world. With just a quarter of the planet’s land now free from human impact, the space bird, reptile and mammal populations' need to recover is growing ever more limited. “We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last that can do anything about it,” said Tanya Steele, chief executive of the WWF. “The collapse of global wildlife populations is a warning sign that nature is dying." As tragic as the collapse of wildlife populations is, the impact of habitat loss will have a profound impact on human wellbeing, conservationists say. Man’s encroachment on nature threatens agriculture itself, because crops pollinated by animals account for 35 per cent of global food production, while habitat loss means that the soil for crops to grow is not being replenished with nutrients. Under threat | The 19 species on the World Wildlife Fund's critically endangered list The loss of South American rainforests has reduced rainfall thousands of miles away, also imperilling crop production. As many as 70,000 species of plants are used commercially or in medicine, posing a danger to efforts to fight disease and protect industry. Yet the issue, conservationists say, is not being taken as seriously as climate change — even though protecting nature can help mitigate the impact of global warming — which is why it is essential for big business and government to come together to find a solution to the crisis. “The statistics are scary, but all hope is not lost,” said Ken Norris, director of science at the Zoological Society of London, which collaborated on the report. “We have an opportunity to design a new way forward that allows us to coexist sustainably with the wildlife we depend on.”
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PITTSBURGH (AP) — In a story Oct. 29 about developments in the aftermath of the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, The Associated Press erroneously reported the professional position of Cecil and David Rosenthal's sister. She is state Rep. Dan Frankel's former chief of staff, not his current chief of staff.
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The UN rights chief called Tuesday for "international experts" to help investigate the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and called on Riyadh to reveal the whereabouts of his body. "For an investigation to be carried out free of any appearance of political considerations, the involvement of international experts, with full access to evidence and witnesses, would be highly desirable," Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor, was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain paperwork ahead of his upcoming wedding.
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A choice was made to include each word in this sentence. Every message, even the most mundane, is crafted with a specific frame in mind that...