| The government of Puerto Rico has quietly admitted more than 1,400 people appear to have died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria—a figure that is more than 20 times its official death toll. Several academic assessments of the aftermath of Maria placed the death toll much, much higher than the Puerto Rican government’s official figure of 64. Now, in a draft of a report to Congress requesting $139 billion in recovery funds, territory officials admit that 1,427 more people died in the last four months of 2017 compared with the same time frame in the previous year. The figures were released quietly—they come from death-registry statistics released in June, but they were never publicly acknowledged by officials, according to The New York Times. “Although the official death count from the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety was initially 64, the toll appears to be much higher,” said the report, titled “Transformation and Innovation in the Wake of Devastation.” In another section, it said: “According to initial reports, 64 lives were lost. That estimate was later revised to 1,427.” |
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| Russia has threatened to cut off a supply of rocket engines that are crucial to the U.S. space program in retaliation for surprise sanctions over the Skripal poisoning. The U.S. announced Wednesday it would impose new sanctions after Washington determined Moscow had used a nerve agent against Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. Dawn Sturgess, a mother of three, died after coming across remnants of the poison, which also affected her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley. Russia continues to deny any involvement in the attempted murders using a Soviet-era nerve agent known as Novichok. “On August 8, 2018 our Deputy Chief of Mission was informed in the State Department of new ‘draconian’ sanctions against Russia for far-fetched accusations of using the ‘Novichok’ nerve agent against a U.K. citizen,” the embassy said in a statement. “We grew accustomed to not hearing any facts or evidence.” The value of the Russian ruble slid by more than 1 percent against the dollar Thursday, a day after falling toward its lowest level in nearly two years. The Russian embassy said it continued to advocate for a transparent investigation into the poisoning. |
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| A convenience-store clerk in Santa Fe, New Mexico, reportedly called the police on a 22-year-old college student because he was “arrogant” and “black.” The female employee was caught on cellphone video by pre-med student Jordan McDowell, who told local station KRQE that he was racially profiled when he went into the store to buy Sour Patch Kids candy. “And I want him out of the store right now,” the clerk can he heard saying on video talking on the phone. After a pause, the clerk says: “Because he’s being arrogant, because he’s black.” McDowell, who attends Xavier University, said the store clerk accused him of being “sketchy” before she called the cops. “There’s nothing right about this, there’s nothing right to call the police on someone just because of their skin tone,” McDowell told KRQE. “I just want everyone to know you still have a voice, you can speak up, you still can do your part and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.” The store employee didn’t comment to the station, but a manager told the news outlet that the clerk’s behavior was “unacceptable.” |
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| Tribune Media has terminated its merger agreement with rival media giant Sinclair Broadcast Group and is now suing it for allegedly failing to make sufficient efforts to get the deal approved by regulators. The suit alleges Sinclair breached the $3.9 billion merger agreement by carrying out “unnecessarily aggressive and protracted negotiations” with regulators over their requirement that Sinclair divest stations in some markets to gain approval. Tribune is now seeking financial damages. “Our merger cannot be completed within an acceptable time frame, if ever,” Tribune Media Chief Executive Peter Kern said in a statement. “This uncertainty and delay would be detrimental to our company and our shareholders. Accordingly, we have exercised our right to terminate the merger agreement, and, by way of our lawsuit, intend to hold Sinclair accountable.” Sinclair has not yet commented, The Wall Street Journal reports,butthe company said Wednesday it was continuing to work with Tribune to “analyze approaches to the regulatory process that are in the best interest of our companies, employees and shareholders.” |
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| If you’ve been holding off on buying noise cancelling headphones until you found a great discount, the wait is over. The Daily Beast readers can get a pair of Paww WaveSound 3 Noise-Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones for $20 less than they’re going for on Amazon. You've probably heard of these because of their premium sound quality, famously comfortable design, and skillful noise cancellation. The Paww WaveSound 3s are a personal favorite of air travelers and noisy open-office-plan employees because they’re comfortable to wear, cancel noise like a champ, and are easily foldable for convenient transport. That's why they've earned a 4.3 rating on Amazon based on more than 1,000 reviews. Pick up your pair of Paww WaveSound 3 Noise-Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones in the Daily Beast shop for $74.99, marked down from $149.99. Scouted is here to surface products that you might like. Follow us on Flipboard. Please note that if you buy something featured in one of our posts, The Daily Beast may collect a share of sales. |
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| High-ranking U.S. Army officials have been ordered to immediately stop discharging immigrant recruits who enlisted to seek a path to citizenship—at least for the time being. A memo shared with the Associated Press dated July 20 spells out orders to stop processing discharges of men and women who enlisted in the special immigrant program. “Effective immediately, you will suspend processing of all involuntary separation actions,” read the memo signed by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Marshall Williams. Last month, it was reported that immigrant recruits were being quietly discharged, with some service members saying they didn’t get told why they were dismissed. The AP reports it’s unclear how many recruits were affected by the action, but lawyers previously said they knew of at least 40. |
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| First Lt. Marina A. Hierl is a history-maker: She’s the first woman in the U.S. Marine Corps ever to lead an infantry platoon. Profiled by The New York Times, Lt. Hierl is one of four platoon commanders in Echo Company and, despite initial skepticism, her senior role appears to have been “quietly accepted” by the troops she now commands. Thirty-seven women have reportedly attended the Marines Corps’ Infantry Officer Course and only two have passed. Of those women, only Lt. Hierl has been given a platoon of roughly 35 men to lead, the Times reports. “I wanted to do something important with my life,” said Lt. Hierl. “I wanted to be part of a group of people that would be willing to die for each other.” She went on: “I wanted to lead a platoon. I didn’t think there was anything better in the Marine Corps I could do.” Women make up about 15 percent of the U.S. military’s 1.3 million active-duty troops. |
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| It’s always hard when one of your best friends starts getting closer with someone else. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged North Korea against warming its relations with Donald Trump, telling the country’s foreign minister that the U.S. is not to be trusted. “The U.S. administration performance in these years has led the country to be considered untrustworthy and unreliable around the world which does not meet any of its obligations,” Rouhani was quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) as telling North Korea’s top diplomat, Ri Yong Ho, who visited Iran as the U.S. reintroduced sanctions against the country. He added that Iran and North Korea have “always had close views” on many issues. Ri reportedly told Rouhani that the U.S. restoration of sanctions was an “action against international rules and regulations,” and said: “North Korea’s strategic policy is to deepen relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and confront unilateralism.” |
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| When Apple announced it was removing most of Alex Jones’ podcasts from its online stores Sunday, it had the unintended effect of catapulting the official Infowars app to the third-most downloaded news app of the week. Why did Apple keep the app available after it had removed so much other Infowars content? The company now says it didn’t believe the app had violated any content policies. “We strongly support all points of view being represented on the App Store, as long as the apps are respectful to users with differing opinions, and follow our clear guidelines, ensuring the App Store is a safe marketplace for all,” Apple told Reuters in a statement. “We continue to monitor apps for violations of our guidelines, and if we find content that violates our guidelines and is harmful to users we will remove those apps from the store as we have done previously.” The Infowars app contains only rebroadcasts of the current day’s episodes, subjecting a much smaller set of content to the rules than other Infowars or Jones apps—allowing it to stay, for now. |
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| Charges have been dropped against an 11-year-old Ohio girl who was struck with a taser by an off-duty cop after she was suspected of shoplifting. Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said Wednesday night that stunning the young girl who “posed no danger to the police” was wrong, and he urged prosecutors to drop the charges against her. She was initially charged with theft and obstruction of justice for the Monday night incident at a Kroger supermarket. Police say the officer suspected the girl was using a backpack to shoplift when he approached her—cops claim the girl then resisted and tried to flee before she was shocked with the stun gun. WKRC-TV says the girl’s mother wants the policy that led to the tasing changed. “I just wish that he would have thought of a different way of going about it other than tasing her,” said Donna Gowdy. “I know everybody probably be like, ‘Well, you know, she stole,’ or whatever, but that’s not the issue at this point. The issue is how he went about it.” She added: “If you can’t restrain these little kids, you need to find a different job.” |
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