Exclusive: Mueller Enlists the IRS for His Trump-Russia Investigation

Will the accountants take down key members of Team Trump? Or force the president’s tax returns into the open?
Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-mueller-enlists-the-irs-for-his-trump-russia-investigation?source=Snapzu

Victory for Assad looks increasingly likely as world loses interest in Syria

In recent months, as supplies of aid, money and weapons to Syria’s opposition have dwindled, it had clung to the hope that ongoing international political support would prevent an outright victory for Bashar al-Assad and his backers. Not any more. An announcement earlier this week by Jordan – one of the opposition’s most robust supporters – that “bilateral ties with Damascus are going in the right direction” has, for many, marked a death knell for the opposition cause.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/31/victory-for-assad-looks-increasingly-likely-as-world-loses-interest-in-syria?source=Snapzu

Owners must surgically 'debark' loud dogs, court rules

The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that a southern Oregon couple must quiet their incessantly barking dogs by sending them to the vet to have their voices surgically squelched. The Appeals Court ruled “debarking” surgery is an appropriate solution to a noisy and relentless problem that neighbors living next to the dogs have had to endure for more than a decade on their rural property outside Grants Pass.
Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/08/owners_must_surgically_debark.html?source=Snapzu

US man who said he was stabbed for looking like neo-Nazi actually stabbed himself

A Colorado man who claimed that someone had stabbed him because he looked like a “neo-Nazi” fabricated the story after he accidentally cut his hand with a knife, according to police. Joshua Witt, who has been arrested on false reporting charges, admitted to law enforcement in Sheridan, Colorado, that he lied to officers when he alleged that a black man had attacked him for having a haircut associated with white supremacists, police officials said Monday.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/28/neo-nazi-stabbing-fake-colorado-joshua-witt?source=Snapzu

Power company kills nuclear plant, plans $6 billion in solar, battery investment

On Tuesday, power provider Duke Energy Florida announced a settlement with the state’s public service commission (PSC) to cease plans to build a nuclear plant in western Florida. The utility instead intends to invest $6 billion in solar panels, grid-tied batteries, grid modernization projects, and electric vehicle charging areas. The new plan involves the installation of 700MW of solar capacity over four years in the western Florida area.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/florida-power-company-exchanging-nuclear-plans-for-solar-plans-cutting-rates/?source=Snapzu

Hungry North Korean soldiers 'ordered to steal corn because war is imminent'

As North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un boasts of his military prowess and flaunts his high tech weapons to the world, his malnourished soldiers are said to be stealing corn from fields to stave off hunger pangs. Officers are ordering their troops to supplement their meagre food rations by plundering local fields, in order to keep up their strength for battle, according to a report in the Daily NK.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/hungry-north-korean-soldiers-apos-043511033.html?source=Snapzu

Amazon study discovers 381 new species in two-year period

Conservation charity WWF warns that the species were found in areas at risk from human activity.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41107862?source=Snapzu

Why the Media Refuses to Understand Antifa

While establishment pundits fret over civility, the antifascist movement in America is working for peace.
Read more: https://psmag.com/social-justice/understanding-antifa?source=Snapzu

Houston’s flooding shows what happens when you ignore science and let developers run rampant

The city's gung-ho approach to development has destroyed the area's natural ability to drain away hurricane floodwaters.
Read more: https://qz.com/1064364/hurricane-harvey-houstons-flooding-made-worse-by-unchecked-urban-development-and-wetland-destruction/?source=Snapzu

ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

Ed Cunningham, who called games for ESPN and ABC, said: “I just don’t think the game is safe for the brain. To me, it’s unacceptable.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/sports/espn-ed-cunningham-football-concussions.html?source=Snapzu

Oklahoma isn't working. Can anyone fix this failing American state?

Poverty, police abuse, record prison rates and education cuts that mean a four-day school week. Why are public services failing Oklahomans? A teacher panhandles on a roadside to buy supplies for her third-grade classroom. Entire school districts resort to four-day school weeks. Nearly one in four children struggle with hunger. A city overpass crumbles and swarms of earthquakes shake the region – the underground disposal of...
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/29/oklahoma-education-system-four-day-school-weeks-poor?source=Snapzu

Scientists have spiders producing enhanced web that can hold a human

Scientists have found a way to make spider silk five times stronger.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/nanotech-super-spiderwebs-are-here-20170822-gy1blp.html?source=Snapzu

‘Remember, we only kill black people,’ Georgia police officer told a woman

A Georgia police officer has been accused of making racist statements to a woman during a traffic stop, telling her the officers “only kill black people.” Dash-cam video shows the Cobb County police officer, who has been identified by local news organizations as police Lt. Greg Abbott, standing outside a vehicle during a DUI traffic stop in July 2016.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/08/31/remember-we-only-shoot-black-people-georgia-police-officer-told-a-woman-on-camera/?source=Snapzu

Sandra Bullock donates $1 million to Harvey Red Cross relief

Sandra Bullock is giving in a big way toward relief for Hurricane Harvey victims. The actress, 53, donated $1 million to the American Red Cross for its efforts in devastated regions of Texas, according to People magazine. “I’m just grateful I can do it,” Bullock said. “We all have to do our part.” Bullock, who has a home in Texas and who is a longtime supporter of the Red Cross, told the magazine that it was crucial to look above the heated political rhetoric around the devastating storm and urged fellow Americans to give.
Read more: http://www.khou.com/ext/news/nation-now/article/285/5vi8Rid5DOswgI8Oqm4csM?source=Snapzu

'No way to prevent' potential chemical plant explosion near Houston, CEO says

Arkema's CEO said Wednesday that there is "no way to prevent" a possible explosion at the company's Crosby, Texas, facility, which has been heavily flooded as a result of Hurricane Harvey. “We have an unprecedented 6 feet of water at the plant,” Arkema President and CEO Rich Rowe said in comments made Wednesday. “We have lost primary power and two sources of emergency backup power.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/risk-chemical-plant-explosion-houston-prompts-evacuation-harvey/story?id=49521170?source=Snapzu

Equal by Catastrophe – Victor Davis Hanson – Inference

Is economic equality worth the catastrophic events that produce it? Probably not. Victor Davis Hanson reviews Walter Scheidel’s The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century.
Read more: http://inference-review.com/article/equal-by-catastrophe?source=Snapzu

Ukraine sues Russia at highest UN court 'over downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17'

Ukraine has filed a case against Russia for “acts of terrorism and unlawful aggression” at the United Nations’ highest court. The Ukrainian foreign ministry launched the action at the International Court of Justice on Monday, claiming that Russia was supplying weapons and other assistance to rebel groups operating in eastern Ukraine. “As part of its unlawful aggression in Ukraine, the Russian Federation has displayed contempt for the basic human rights of the people of Ukraine,” said foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin.
Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-sues-russia-united-nations-mh17-un-international-court-justice-crimea-annexation-acts-of-a7531636.html?source=Snapzu

Residents "fighting for their lives" after record rainfall in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas

The Texas cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur were watery wastelands Wednesday after they felt the wrath of Harvey. The storm that inundated Houston swamped the cities with a record 30 inches of rainfall, unleashed flash flooding that police said claimed two lives in Beaumont and forced hundreds of residents to flee to local shelters.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-harvey/flash-floods-hit-beaumont-port-arthur-texas-harvey-makes-landfall-n797336?source=Snapzu

Finland says no fighter deal with Boeing after Trump's comments

President Sauli Niinisto on Tuesday denied that Finland was buying new fighter jets from American planemaker Boeing (BA.N), following remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump. Finland is looking to replace its ageing fleet of 62 F/A-18 Hornet jets with multirole fighter aircraft in a procurement estimated at 7-10 billion euros by 2025.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-finland-trump-boeing-idUSKCN1B91X3?source=Snapzu

FCC flooded with comments before critical net neutrality vote

The FCC has received nearly 22m comments on “Restoring Internet Freedom” with just hours left before the window for public feedback closes on Wednesday
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/30/fcc-net-neutrality-vote-open-internet?source=Snapzu

Traces of 6,000-year-old wine discovered in Sicilian cave

Residue in terracotta jars suggests drink was being made and consumed on the island in the fourth millennium BC
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/30/traces-of-6000-year-old-wine-discovered-in-sicilian-cave?source=Snapzu

Aftermath of Harvey

A police officer wades through the Hurricane Harvey floodwaters in Alvin, Texas.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/aftermath-of-harvey-idUSRTX3DZQU?source=Snapzu

FDA Deems MDMA, Banned Since 1985, a 'Breakthrough Therapy'

The designation should speed the drug's approval as a prescription medicine, which could happen as soon as 2021.
Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2017/08/28/fda-deems-mdma-banned-since-1985-a-break?source=Snapzu

Chinese fishermen get up to 4 years prison for illegally fishing sharks in Ecuador

An Ecuadorean judge sentenced 20 Chinese fisherman Monday to up to four years in prison and fined them more than $5 million for illegally fishing more than 6,000 sharks in the Galápagos Marine Reserve, where fishing is strictly prohibited. The sentence was praised by Ecuadorean environmental officials, who have condemned the ongoing illegal fishing in waters near the Galapagos Islands.
Read more: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/08/30/Chinese-fishermen-get-up-to-4-years-prison-for-illegally-fishing-sharks-in-Ecuador/2211504072728/?source=Snapzu

Judge dismisses Sarah Palin's lawsuit against New York Times

A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday dismissed Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against the New York Times. "Nowhere is political journalism so free, so robust, or perhaps so rowdy as in the United States," Judge Jed Rakoff wrote in an opinion dismissing the case. "In the exercise of that freedom, mistakes will be made, some of which will be hurtful to others."
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/29/media/judge-dismisses-sarah-palin-lawsuit-new-york-times/index.html?source=Snapzu

The Latest: Official says shelter will have cots for all

Just 500 cots are being added to the floor of the Toyota Center, as the nearby downtown convention center will remain the primary major shelter for evacuees of Tropical Storm Harvey. Tom McCasland, Houston’s housing and community development director, told The Associated Press Tuesday that the Toyota Center— where the NBA’s Houston Rockets play — will serve as an overflow center for people still arriving Tuesday night and early Wednesday. It will only serve families with children that don’t have pressing medical needs.
Read more: https://apnews.com/321799f607534fd89ee3bf14cd8fed53/The-Latest:-Rainfall-is-new-continental-US-record-for-1-spot?source=Snapzu

Japan, US look to cut off North Korea's oil supply

The U.S. and Japan will call for an international embargo on oil exports to North Korea in response to Tuesday's launch of a ballistic missile over Japan, as the allies seek to strike at the lifeblood of Pyongyang's weapons programs. The ban will be proposed at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to be held in New York on Tuesday at the request of Japan, the U.S. and South Korea.
Read more: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Pyongyang-provocation/Japan-US-look-to-cut-off-North-Korea-s-oil-supply?source=Snapzu

India and China Turn Down the Heat

As summer reached the high Himalayas this past June, one corner of the mountains turned hotter than expected. On a small plateau called Doklam, close to where the India-China border meets the tiny kingdom of Bhutan, two of the largest armies in the world faced off against each other. Chinese soldiers, convinced they were on Chinese territory, had brought equipment to extend a road; Indian soldiers, who viewed the land as disputed, blocked the earth-movers. For three months, the armies camped just meters away from each other...
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-08-29/india-and-china-learn-how-to-turn-down-the-heat?source=Snapzu

TIL: Outcome of terrorist groups

Ways that terrorist groups end: Converted into a legitimate political process. (Negotiation) 43%; Law enforcement took out 40 percent. Ten percent won. Only 7 percent, were taken out by military force.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism#Outcome_of_terrorist_groups?source=Snapzu

Crisis flares in Guatemala over corruption and organised crime

Guatemala has fallen into deep political crisis after the president declared the United Nations-backed anti-corruption chief investigating him and his party persona non grata, only to have the expulsion order blocked hours later by the country’s constitutional court.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/27/guatemalan-president-jimmy-morales-order-expel-head-un-body-suspended?source=Snapzu

Joel Osteen, criticized for closing his Houston megachurch to Harvey victims, relents

Televangelist Joel Osteen canceled Sunday services at his Houston megachurch but was reluctant to reopen its doors to Harvey victims — despite the fact that thousands of flooded-out residents are desperately seeking shelter. The perpetually smiling pastor told followers on Twitter on Monday to lean on their faith. “Jesus promises us peace that passes understanding,” he wrote. “That’s peace when it doesn’t make sense.”
Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/joel-osteen-criticized-for-closing-his-houston-megachurch-amid-flooding-2017-08-28?source=Snapzu

South Korea holds live-fire drills hours after North Korea missile launch

South Korea's air force has staged a live-fire drill simulating the destruction of North Korea's leadership, hours after Pyongyang launched a missile over Japan. Just before 6 a.m. South Korea time Tuesday, North Korea fired an unidentified missile from near the capital Pyongyang, towards the northeast. It flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, making it the first North Korean projectile to successfully pass over Japanese territory since 1998.
Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/29/asia/north-korea-south-korea-bombing/index.html?source=Snapzu

Mattis freezes transgender policy; allows troops to continue serving, pending study

Defense Secretary establishes panel to review controversial issue
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/29/mattis-orders-pentagon-allow-transgender-troops-continue-serving-pending-study/614711001/?source=Snapzu

Cyber experts were blocked in their push to patch voting systems in 2016

Cybersecurity experts on a federally-supervised team, fearing a Russian attack, scrambled last summer to draft guidelines for state and local election officials to patch the most obvious vulnerabilities in the nation’s voting systems. Their recommendations were blocked, and still aren’t out.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article170006067.html?source=Snapzu

How the NSA identified Satoshi Nakamoto

The ‘creator’ of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is the world’s most elusive billionaire. Very few people outside of the Department of Homeland…
Read more: https://medium.com/@amuse/how-the-nsa-caught-satoshi-nakamoto-868affcef595?source=Snapzu

Euro rises to 18-month high against dollar

The euro has hit $1.20 for the first time since January 2015 as the prospect of a US interest rate rise recedes. Hurricane Harvey's impact has led analysts to assume the US central bank will not want to risk curbing economic growth and fears over North Korea's activities have unnerved investors. A rise in interest rates tends to draw investors to a currency, taking advantage of the higher returns.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41080896?source=Snapzu

'Storm stilettos': Melania's flood fashion making waves

First Lady Melania Trump is making waves for her flood fashion after boarding a flight to Texas in heels.
Read more: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/08/30/storm-stilettos-melanias-flood-fashion-making-waves?source=Snapzu

Florida professor fired after suggesting Harvey was 'karma' for Texas

The tweets, which have since been deleted, have spread across the internet.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/29/florida-professor-fired-after-suggesting-harvey-karma-texas/612335001/?source=Snapzu

Stormfront: 'murder capital of internet' pulled offline after civil rights action

One of the oldest and largest neo-nazi sites on the internet, the white supremacist chatroom Stormfront, has been thrown off the open web by its hosting provider. Stormfront has been described by the anti-hate group Southern Poverty Law Center as the “murder capital of the internet”. The group pointed out that “registered Stormfront users have been disproportionately responsible for some of the most lethal hate crimes and mass killings since the site was put up in 1995.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/29/stormfront-neo-nazi-hate-site-murder-internet-pulled-offline-web-com-civil-rights-action?source=Snapzu

Uber to scrap its most disturbing feature

Uber has decided to reverse its controversial move to track users even after their trips have ended. The company had claimed it would help ensure customers’ physical safety, but says the manner in which it introduced the change was wrong. Following an update last November, the app forced users to choose between letting Uber always collect their location data or never collect it.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/uber-app-privacy-controversial-location-tracking-permissions-a7918031.html?source=Snapzu

Quebec man fights back after dealer remotely disables car over $200 fee

A Quebec man is back on the road after a dealership remotely disabled his vehicle over his refusal to pay an extra $200 fee to remove the device used to immobilize it - something consumer advocates say may have broken the law.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-man-fights-back-after-dealer-remotely-disables-car-over-200-fee-1.4265588?source=Snapzu

'There's nowhere to go': Texan recalls abandoning her home amid deadly floodwaters

“If I start crying, I’m so sorry,” Ashley Yell began. Yell, a resident of Dickinson, Texas, evacuated her home early Sunday after Tropical Storm Harvey brought massive flooding to Gulf Coast cities. Harvey touched down as a Category 4 storm Friday, and rescue efforts are still underway in Houston and the surrounding area. In an interview, Yell described how her family evacuated their flooded home, relying on strangers driving boats to ferry them to higher and higher ground until they finally made it safely to a friend’s home.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/theres-nowhere-go-texan-recalls-abandoning-home-amid-deadly-floodwaters-182033644.html?source=Snapzu

South Korea drops eight bombs near North Korea border to show 'overwhelming force'

South Korea's military has dropped eight heavy bombs near its border with the North in a show of what local media called "overwhelming force" following Pyongyang's latest missile test. President Moon Jae-in ordered the strike, by four F-15K fighter-bombers, at a firing range in the country's east to "display a strong capability to punish" North Korea if it were to attack.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/south-korea-north-korea-heavy-bombs-border-38th-parallel-pyongyang-japan-hokkaido-moon-jae-in-a7917496.html?source=Snapzu

South Asia Is Also Experiencing The Worst Flooding In Decades And The Photos Are Horrifying

Extreme rainfall has led to devastating floods across Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, killing nearly 1,200 people and displacing millions.
Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/anupkaphle/south-asia-is-also-experiencing-the-worst-flooding-in?utm_term=.ri6kAk45n#.xlLeNemkB?source=Snapzu

First Armadillo Confirmed In Champaign County

Armadillos are native to the southern United States, but the animals have slowly been moving north. And, Champaign County recently saw its first armadillo. Armadillos have been in southern Illinois since the 1990s. But, Champaign County saw its first documented armadillo earlier this month at Urbana High School.
Read more: https://will.illinois.edu/index.php/news/story/first-armadillo-confirmed-in-champaign-county?source=Snapzu

Gay marriage has just been legalised in Chile

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has introduced a bill to legalise gay marriage, the latest in a series of recent reforms in a country long regarded as one of Latin America’s most socially conservative.
Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chile-gay-marriage-bill-michelle-bachelet-lgbt-rights-weddings-legalised-reforms-a7918441.html?source=Snapzu

Is There Any Point to Protesting?

We turn out in the streets and nothing seems to happen. Maybe we’re doing it wrong.
Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/is-there-any-point-to-protesting?source=Snapzu

Another neo-Nazi site, Stormfront, is shut down

Stormfront, the oldest neo-Nazi forum on the web, has been shut down by its name provider, Network Solutions, and the domain officially put on hold. The news followed the shutdown of DailyStormer, another supremacist site. Stormfront began in 1990s as a dial-up BBS and then morphed into a website and forum in about 1995. It has been registered at Network Solutions since 1995.
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/28/another-neo-nazi-site-stormfront-is-shut-down/?source=Snapzu

Harvey is an unprecedented disaster made worse by poor planning

Since Friday, Hurricane Harvey has dumped more than two feet of rain in Houston and parts of the Texas Gulf Coast, triggering unprecedented flooding and causing at least five deaths. The storm, which began as a tropical storm early last week and strengthened to a full-fledged major hurricane by the time it made landfall, has already produced a one-in-500-year flood event, with the National Weather Service calling it “unknown and beyond anything experienced.”
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/hurricane-harvey-climate-politics-bc26ca7afa9f/?source=Snapzu

German students win Hyperloop Pod competition after reaching 200 mph

A team of 30 students from Germany won the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition on Sunday, with their prototype pod reaching a speed of 324 kilometers per hour (201 miles per hour).
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/28/16213348/hyperloop-pod-competition-spacex-warr-elon-musk?source=Snapzu