#F1 Paul di Resta: leading contender for Williams seat as doubts persist about Robert Kubica

Paul di Resta a leading contender for 2018 Williams seat as doubts persist about Robert Kubica http://skysports.tv/zVUkgc  #SkyF1

No other US state gets hit by hurricanes as often as Florida – 117

http://cnn.it/2fdP6Fk

Bull kills teenage woman farm worker in WA town of Dalyup

A WOMAN has been killed by a bull while working on a farm in Dalyup, about 680km south-east of Perth.

The woman was located unresponsive by a co-worker at the South Coast Highway farm at about 11.35am on Monday.

Police believe the 19-year-old woman had been herding a bull when she was struck by the animal and pushed into a fence railing.

St John Ambulance took the woman to Esperance Hospital but she could not be revived.

Worksafe will be investigate the circumstances surrounding the death and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

Source: Bull kills teenage farm worker in WA town of Dalyup | Perth Now

Canada sect leader had 24 wives, 146 kids

Two former leaders of a breakaway Mormon sect in British Columbia have been found guilty of polygamy.

A former leader of a breakaway religious sect who had 24 “wives” and at least 146 children has been found guilty of polygamy by a Canadian court.

Winston Blackmore and another former bishop of the breakaway Mormon community of Bountiful, in British Columbia, were found guilty by a British Columbia Supreme Court judge of one count of polygamy each.

Blackmore, 61, was accused of practising “a form of polygamy” or “a kind of conjugal union” with 24 women between 1990 and 2014, according to court documents. Media have reported that he fathered at least 146 children.

James Oler, 53, faced the same charge involving five women between 1993 and 2009. It is not known how many children Oler has fathered.

Under Canada’s century-old anti-polygamy law, the British Columbia government had been weighing prosecution since the early 1990s against members of the isolated community of 1,500 residents .

Despite multiple police investigations into claims of abuse in the community, it had declined to pursue polygamy charges because of concerns that doing so would violate constitutional freedoms of religion, which Blackmore’s defense counsel had argued.

In 2011, the British Columbia Supreme Court affirmed that laws banning polygamy were constitutional and did not violate religious freedoms.

Source: Canada sect leader had 24 wives, 146 kids | SBS News

Saudi Arabia and allies vow new measures against Qatar in diplomatic row

Saudi Arabia and its allies have promised new measures against Qatar, after the tiny emirate refused its demands.

Saudi Arabia, along with Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, announced last month that they would cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

The group cut air, sea and ground links with the major oil exporter, cutting off vital routes for imports, including food.

A list of 13 demands were made on Qatar in order to have sanctions lifted but on Wednesday Qatar rejected the list.

On Friday, the four Arab states said in a joint statement that Qatar’s refusal to agree to the demands “reflect(ed) its intention to continue its policy, aimed at destabilising security in the region”.

Source: Saudi Arabia and allies vow new measures against Qatar in diplomatic row

Vietnam drills for oil in South China Sea

The move is reported to have angered China, which claims almost all of the resource-rich sea.

Vietnam has begun drilling for oil in an area of the resource-rich South China Sea also claimed by China.

An oil industry consultant told the BBC that a drilling ship on contract to international firm Talisman-Vietnam was working off Vietnam’s south-east coast.

This appears to be why a senior Chinese general cut short an official visit to Vietnam last month.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also contested by other nations.

According to Ian Cross, of Singapore-based Moyes & Co, the drillship Deepsea Metro I, began to drill in an area of sea about 400km (250 miles) off the Vietnamese coast on 21 June.

It is likely that the news was kept secret because of its extreme sensitivity.

Source: Vietnam drills for oil in South China Sea – BBC News

Trump says the Atlantic, Arctic could soon be open to oil drilling: MAD MEN?

In his bid to make America dominant in energy production, the president moves ahead with a plan to open the Atlantic and Arctic oceans to oil and gas leasing.

The White House is making a bid to overturn the Obama administration’s five-year plan forbidding oil and gas exploration in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and will examine opportunities to drill almost anywhere off the U.S. coast.

Interior Department officials said Thursday that opening most of the outer continental shelf to leasing is part of President Trump’s strategy to make the United States a global leader in energy production, stimulate coastal activity and create thousands of jobs. But as onshore oil and natural gas production has surged from horizontal drilling, helping to lower the price of petroleum, interest in offshore drilling has fallen.

A barrel of petroleum sells for less than $45, and many oil companies balk at the massive investment in equipment needed to drill offshore when the price is lower than $85, analysts say.

Source: Trump says the Atlantic, Arctic could soon be open to oil drilling – The Washington Post

Karl Stefanovic disappears from Today halfway through show

WHAT happened to Karl?

That’s what Today viewers wanted to know after the co-host of the Channel Nine breakfast show disappeared during the last hour of the show.

Stefanovic was last seen on air at 7.40am and then went missing, leaving Richard Wilkins and Tim Gilbert to pick up the slack and co-host the remainder of the show alongside Lisa Wilkinson.

There was no explanation offered as to why Stefanovic wasn’t around for the last hour of the show and fans were left scratching their heads.

“Why did Karl disappear halfway through this morning’s show?” one fan wrote on Today’s Facebook page.

“Where are you Karl?” asked another, “you seemed to have disappeared off screen”.

So what exactly happened?

Source: Karl Stefanovic disappears from Today halfway through show

Canada’s mowing man and tornado photo goes viral

A picture of a man in Canada calmly mowing his lawn with a menacing tornado swirling in the background has gone viral on social media.

Theunis Wessels was “fully aware” of the twister but “wasn’t worried at all”, his wife Cecilia, who took the photo, told the BBC.

She said the tornado was about 2km (1.25 miles) from their house in Three Hills, Alberta – much further away than it appeared in the photo.

MORE: Canada’s mowing man and tornado photo goes viral – BBC News

White House shaken as FBI’s Russia probe pierces Trump’s inner circle

Allegations that Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner sought a secret communication line to Moscow raise new questions about the president’s relationship with Russia.

The probe into Russia’s role in the US election pierced the innermost circle of the White House Saturday, with reports that Donald Trump’s son-in-law sought a secret communications line with Moscow – the most damning allegation yet from the scandal.

The latest furor was stirred up after the Washington Post reported late Friday that Jared Kushner – arguably Trump’s closest White House aide, and husband to the president’s eldest daughter Ivanka – made a pre-inauguration proposal to the Russian ambassador to set up a secret, bug-proof link with the Kremlin.

Kushner, 36, even suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States to protect such a channel from monitoring, The Post said, quoting US officials briefed on intelligence reports.

MORE HERE: White House shaken as FBI’s Russia probe pierces Trump’s inner circle | SBS News

One dead four injured in Atlanta metro train shooting

Four people were shot on the MARTA train system in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon, and one person is dead, say news reports.

A suspect, who is reportedly in custody, began shooting while inside one of the trains about 4:40pm, according to Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

The deceased victim was identified as Zachariah Hunnicutt, 38.

Two men and a woman who were shot were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and are in stable condition, according to officials. And another person was injured in the ensuing panic but not shot.

Source: One dead four injured in Atlanta metro train shooting  | Daily Mail Online

Bronwyn Bishop rails against socialists while collecting a $250k pension from taxpayers

Consider this: since Bronwyn Bishop finally left the federal Parliament nine months ago – kicking and screaming after being rolled by her own party – Australian taxpayers have paid her nearly $200,000.

Well, we’ll be paying her about a quarter of a million dollars every year for the rest of her life. And knowing Bishop – her sheer obstinacy – the 74-year-old will live for many years to come…

Source: Bronwyn Bishop rails against socialists while collecting a $250k pension from taxpayers

$249 earphones translate foreign languages in real-time + GOOGLE TRANSLATE APP CAN TRANSLATE SPEECH IN REAL-TIME

The system, dubbed the Pilot, will cost $249 and go on sale later this year. It uses two earpieces, one worn by each person in the conversation, and an AI app.

Google officially launched a speech translation tool as part of its Translate App.

It lets both iOS and Android users talk to the app and get a written translation of what they’re saying, in real time, on the screen.

When using the app, tap the mic to enter the voice translation mode.

Users can talk to the Google Translate app and get a written translation of what they’re saying, in real time, on the screen (pictured)

Tap the mic again, and the Google Translate app will automatically recognise which language is being spoken by both members of the conversation.

Once the two languages have been recognised, the app will be poised to translate speech, meaning the user doesn’t need to press the mic button again.

Google also updated its Translate app’s Word Lens tool.

Source: $249 earphones translate foreign languages in real-time | Daily Mail Online