Month: September 2019

Rescue workers said Tuesday they have recovered the bodies of 20 people killed in a middle-of-the-night fire aboard a dive boat off the coast of Southern California, while continuing to look for 14 more people feared dead. Divers, in water 20 meters deep, scoured the submerged remains of the 23-meter commercial dive boat, called Conception, where the blaze broke out before dawn Monday, trapping 34 people, who likely were asleep below deck and unable to escape. The U.S. Coast Guard, however, said it had ended 24 hours of aerial searches of the surrounding waters after finding no sight of survivors …

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Russia’s natural resources and environment minister said on Wednesday he supported allowing private oil and gas companies to work on the Arctic shelf. Speaking to reporters at an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, the minister, Dmitry Kobylkin, said he supported “any decision linked to an increase in investment in projects related to hydrocarbons.” The Russian economy is heavily reliant on natural resources and the Arctic’s vast oil and gas reserves are expected to become more accessible as climate change melts the ice and technology advances. “We clearly understand that Russia’s Arctic zone has not been …

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Vienna has held off Melbourne to retain the top spot on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index for 2019, further strengthening its reputation as the world’s most pleasant city, while the ‘gilets jaunes’ protests hurt Paris’ score. The Austrian capital, which attracts tourists for its classical music scene and imperial history but also has abundant green spaces and excellent public services, last year ended Melbourne’s seven-year run at the top of the survey of 140 cities, helped by an improved security outlook across Europe. Vienna and Melbourne have been neck and neck in the EIU survey for years, but …

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Set somewhere in rural eastern Europe towards the end of World War II, “The Painted Bird” is a sombre tale of a young boy trying to survive a harsh wilderness and the cruelty of strangers, and is described by one of its stars as “timeless.” Based on a 1965 novel by Polish-born novelist Jerzy Kosinski, the 35mm black and white film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, depicts a bleak world where being different is dangerous. Sent by his persecuted parents to stay with an elderly woman in the desolate countryside of an unnamed country, the lead …

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Former Navy SEAL James Hatch says heading to class as a freshman at Yale University is just about as nerve-wracking as preparing for the uncertainty of combat.    At 52 years old, Hatch does not fit the profile of the traditional Yale freshman. “My experience in academia is somewhat limited, at best,” he said. “But I want to learn, and I feel this can make me a better person. I also feel my life experience, maybe with my maturity — which my wife would say is laughable — I think I can help some of the young people out.” Hatch’s …

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The gunman in a West Texas rampage “was on a long spiral of going down” and had been fired from his oil services job the morning he killed seven people, calling 911 both before and after the shooting began, authorities said. Officers killed 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator on Saturday outside a busy Odessa movie theater after a spate of violence that spanned 10 miles (16 kilometers), injuring around two dozen people in addition to the dead. FBI special agent Christopher Combs said Monday that Ator called the agency’s tip line as well as local police dispatch on Saturday after being …

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Joe Biden entered the Democratic primary promising “from day one” to reject campaign cash from lobbyists. “I work for you _ not any industry,” he tweeted. Yet hours after his April campaign kickoff, the former vice president went to a fundraiser at the home of a lobbying executive. And in the months since, he’s done it again and again. It’s difficult to quantify how much Biden has raised from the multibillion-dollar influence industry, but the roughly $200,000 he accepted from employees of major lobbying firms is far more than any of his rivals has received, according to a review of …

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Ukraine’s parliament has approved a much-anticipated bill to scrap immunity from prosecution for lawmakers. The move was one of the main campaign promises for comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who won the presidential election by a landslide in April.   The parliament, dominated by Zelenskiy’s allies, voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to end parliamentary immunity next year.   Zelenskiy’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, had also said he would scrap immunity, but never came through on the promise.   Ukraine’s parliament has for years been notorious for hosting businessmen who have used their seats to ward off possible criminal prosecution for corruption or financial crimes. …

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Two U.S. lawmakers who Russia says are banned from entering the country say they will still join the same congressional delegation that is going to the country but just visit Ukraine, Serbia, and Kosovo. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, tweeted that “Russia wouldn’t let us in, but [Senator] Ron Johnson and I will be visiting Ukraine, Serbia, and Kosovo this week to demonstrate bipartisan support for the new Ukrainian government and continued dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.” Ron Johnson, a Republican, is co-chairman of the Ukraine Caucus, a group of lawmakers who meet to pursue common legislative objectives. FILE – …

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