I am a real idiot to do this: August 23

Showing posts with label August 23. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Yemen hotel air strike leaves 35 dead

At least 35 people have been killed in air strikes that hit a hotel north of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

The roof of the hotel collapsed, leaving at least two bodies dangling from the building, said a witness in the Arhab area, about 20km from Sanaa.

The report said the attack hit a small hotel but made no direct reference to civilian casualties or fighters.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, which is fighting the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen, was not immediately available for comment. Reuters was not immediately able to independently confirm the reports.

The Houthis, who control Sanaa and northern Yemen, are fighting the internationally recognised government which is backed by Saudi Arabia and its allies in the country’s civil war.

A medic told Reuters that 35 bodies had been recovered from the rubble but more victims were believed to be inside. Houthi-run al-Masira TV earlier said at least 30 ‘martyrs’ had been killed.

Source: Yemen hotel strike leaves 35 dead

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Bannon is already going to war — on Trump

Will the alt-right win?

Bannon has returned to Breitbart News, his former haunt and the voice of the white right, and on Tuesday night, when Trump addressed the nation about Afghanistan, Bannon’s Breitbart hit Trump with three unfriendly headlines:

Trump “defends flip-flop in somber speech”

“His McMaster’s voice: Is Trump Afghanistan policy that different from Obama’s?”

“Donald Trump echoes Obama’s ‘Blank Check’ rhetoric in Afghanistan speech”

It was a rhetorical golden shower.

Which way the flow goes now in these early days of the post-Bannon White House could well be determinative — not just for the Trump presidency but for the country as it grapples with a reemergence of white supremacists. Can Trump control the wave of racism he has released? Does he even want to?

“For 100 years, nobody could imagine an American president saying that. That he’s willing to endorse the leaders of the Confederate side of the Civil War, for them that’s an indication that their agenda has some seeds of support.”

MORE: Bannon is already going to war — on Trump – The Washington Post

The return of the KLF: pop’s greatest provocateurs take on a post-truth world

Billy Joel dons Jewish star against Neo-Nazis

Billy Joel may wear his heart on his sleeve in his songs, but Monday night he wore the Star of David to make a statement.

Joel, whose parents are Jewish, wore the symbolic yellow stars on the front and back of his jacket while performing at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Billy Joel wears a jacket with the Star of David during the encore of his 43rd sold out show at Madison Square Garden on August 21, 2017 in New York City.

Those of the Jewish faith were required to wear a yellow Star of David as identification in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.

In 2011, the “New York State of Mind” singer gave an interview in which he discussed growing up in a predominantly Christian neighborhood when he learned he was Jewish.

A little girl across the street told him, “You’re going to grow up and have horns on your head,” and Joel said for months after he would obsessively check his head…

Source: Billy Joel dons Jewish star against Neo-Nazis – CNN

Facebook Outage: Site Appears Down For Many Users

The problem seems to be affecting Chrome users.

Many Facebook users in Europe and elsewhere found themselves unable to access the social network through their desktop computers on Wednesday morning.

The problem has been ongoing since around 11 a.m. Central European Time.

This does not seem like an outright outage, as it remains possible to access the site through certain browsers, such as Opera or Microsoft’s Edge. However, some Google Chrome users trying to access it are shown an error message saying the site “can’t be reached.”

It is possible to bypass this problem by holding down the shift key and pressing the refresh button in the browser—this action bypasses the versions of webpages that browsers store in their caches in order to load the pages more quickly.

However, subsequent attempts to refresh the page, or even just clicking on any of the links in the website, again show Facebook to be inaccessible. That means it’s possible to use the site, but not easily.

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The problem appears to be scattered. Users in the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, and even Australia have posted complaints on Twitter about being unable to access Facebook’s desktop site. However, some users are not having any problems, even when using Chrome.

Source: Facebook Outage: Site Appears Down For Many Users | Fortune.com

Egypt cancels Kushner meeting with minister after denial of aid

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt called off a scheduled meeting between its foreign minister and top U.S. presidential adviser Jared Kushner on Wednesday after the United States decided to withhold millions of dollars in aid.

But President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would meet the U.S. delegation led by Kushner later in the day as scheduled, Sisi’s office said.

Two U.S. sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday that Washington had decided to deny Egypt $95.7 million in aid and to delay a further $195 million because of its failure to make progress on respecting human rights and democratic norms.

“Egypt sees this measure as reflecting poor judgment of the strategic relationship that ties the two countries over long decades and as adopting a view that lacks an accurate understanding of the importance of supporting Egypt’s stability,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The decision could have “negative implications” on achieving common goals and interests between the two countries, it added.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had been scheduled to meet the U.S. delegation led by Kushner, a son-in-law to U.S. President Donald Trump and a close adviser, on Wednesday in Cairo to discuss the Middle East.

Source: Egypt cancels Kushner meeting with minister after denial of aid

GoogleByte v Beyon-Say: extract from the KLF’s chilling novel about the world in 2023

Rodrigo Duterte pictured meeting Australian spy chief Nick Warner – rare and surprising

In a rare and surprising public appearance, Australian spy chief Nick Warner is pictured posing for photos with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.

It’s not a photo you see every day — the strongman and the spy chief.

Nick Warner, the head of Australia’s international spy agency ASIS, stands next to one of South-East Asia’s most controversial leaders, Rodrigo Duterte.

The Philippines President, whose war on drugs has claimed thousands of lives and drawn furious condemnation from human rights groups across the globe, raises his hand in his trademark clenched fist.

And so does Mr Warner.

The two men met in the Malacañang Palace in Manila on Tuesday. A spokesman for Mr Duterte said the meeting was “basically a courtesy call” and the two men, “touched on regional security issues and declaration of mutual support”.

There would have been lots to discuss. The Philippines has been waging a furious campaign against Islamist militants in the city of Marawi. And Australia is increasingly worried about the flow of foreign fighters back into South-East Asia from wars in the Middle East.

Last week, Australia formally listed Islamic State in East Asia — which attempted to wrest control of Marawi from the Philippines Government — as a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Source: Rodrigo Duterte pictured meeting Australian spy chief Nick Warner – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

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Commuter chaos as #PERTH city station evacuated

A CITY train station has been evacuated leaving passengers on city-bound trains stranded this afternoon.

There are reports an unattended bag on the platform led to the closure of Elizabeth Quay station just before 3pm.

The closure is affecting trains on both the Mandurah and Joondalup lines.

Passengers on trains heading into the CBD have tweeted that they are being left in the dark on the situation.

Trains stuck at Glendalough and we aren’t going anywhere soon

Source: Commuter chaos as city station evacuated | Perth Now

Trump’s Phoenix speech was bizarre and dishonest: sky.com

To rewrite his response to Charlottesville – a matter so sensitive and fundamental in modern America – is being seen as a new low.

When the clouds of pepper spray clear from the streets of Phoenix, Americans will survey the wreckage of Donald Trump’s latest assault on the rules of American politics.

The uncompromising dispersal of protesters by police was a dramatic end to another extraordinary night in Trump world.

Can there be any more telling image of the simmering temperature of American politics right now than what happened outside of where the President had just been speaking?

His critics will say he fed those divisions with what he said during 96 strange minutes on stage at the Phoenix Convention Centre.

His attempt to build on the perceived success of his Afghanistan speech the night before collapsed within 10 minutes in Arizona.

He veered from the teleprompter, rarely to return, and unloaded his presidential frustrations.

The 20 minutes he spent defending his response to Charlottesville and attacking the media was bizarre and dishonest.

To rewrite his own history – neglecting to mention that he blamed “many sides” in his statement on the incident – on a matter so sensitive and fundamental in modern America is being seen as a new low.

That original statement was broadcast live. Everyone saw it. Everyone knows what he said. He knows that everyone knows.

That he accused the media of lying while being so untruthful is baffling…

MORE: Trump’s Phoenix speech was bizarre and dishonest

Multi-vehicle crash on Sydney Harbour Bridge

Emergency crews are attending the scene of a multi-vehicle crash on Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Police and NSW Ambulance were all called to the scene.

All lanes have since reopened but delays are expected.

NSW Police told SBS World News that they understood the crash involved two or three vehicles and they were aware of no major injuries.

A tow truck is due to arrive and there is heavy traffic in the area.

Source: Multi-vehicle crash on Sydney Harbour Bridge | SBS News

Don Lemon: Trump speech a ‘total eclipse of the facts’ “He’s unhinged, It’s embarrassing –“

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

WHISKEY ON THE ROCKS: Thousands of litres of Bourbon/Whiskey spills out after 2 trucks collided

WHISKEY ON THE ROCKS: Thousands of litres of Bourbon and Whiskey spills out onto a SA Hwy after two trucks collided earlier today. #TenNews http://pic.twitter.com/MBmIV9Lj3L

— TEN Eyewitness News (@channeltennews) August 23, 2017

#HappyBirthday: Celebrating 10 years of the #hashtag

Ten years ago, the #hashtag was created almost by accident. Now it’s one of the most widely used and recognised symbols in the world.

Ten years on, with an average of 125 million hashtags shared every day on Twitter, it’s hard to imagine the internet ever existed without it.

Hashtags are proving a powerful way for social and political movements to start conversations.

One of the most defining examples of this is #BlackLivesMatter campaign, which began as a hashtag to draw attention police-related violence in the United States.

It’s also used in the online sphere of sports, politics, pop-culture, entertainment and satire.

To celebrate its birthday, here are some of the most memorable #hastags movements in Australia, and around the world.

In Australia

One of the biggest movements to start on Australian Twitter is #putoutyourbatsout, where cricket and non-cricket fans alike shared pictures of bats on their doorsteps to honour the death of Phillip Hughes.

Source: #HappyBirthday: Celebrating 10 years of the #hashtag | SBS News

Police use tear gas to disperse protests after Trump rally

Police in Phoenix have used tear gas and smoke to disperse protesters outside a political rally hosted by US President Donald Trump.

Police have deployed tear gas to disperse crowds in Phoenix, Arizona, after protesters outside a rally by US President Donald Trump threw rocks and bottles at officers.

“People in the crowd have begun throwing rocks and bottles at police. They also dispersed some gas in the area,” Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sergeant Jonathan Howard said.

“Police have responded with pepper balls and OC (oleoresin capsicum) spray in an attempt to disperse the crowd and stop the assaults.”

Police have not given an estimate of the number of protesters who turned out for the event, but Arizona media said there were several thousand people.

Trump suggests he will pardon controversial Arizona sheriff

The president’s divisive remarks on Charlottesville violence lead thousands to gather outside the arena.

President Trump on Tuesday stopped short of pardoning former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio but signaled to a boisterous rally crowd here that such a move could be coming soon, saying “I think he’s going to be just fine.”

“I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy,” Trump said of Arpaio, who was convicted last month of criminal contempt for ignoring a federal judge’s order to stop detaining people because he merely suspected them of being undocumented immigrants.

Trump last week told Fox News that he was “seriously considering’’ a pardon for Arpaio and said he might do it soon, sparking speculation he would use Tuesday’s campaign here to make the move.

At the outset of the rally, a defiant Trump also blamed the media in an extended diatribe for the widespread fallout he’s received over his reaction to the hate-fueled violence in Charlottesville.

Trump opened his rally by selectively recounting the series of statements he made in the days following the melee, arguing that he “spoke out forcefully against hatred and bigotry and violence” but that the media — whom he called “sick people” — refused to report it properly.

Source: At Phoenix rally, Trump suggests he will pardon controversial Arizona sheriff – The Washington Post