Public fears about sewing needles concealed inside strawberries on supermarket shelves have spread across Australia and New Zealand as growers turn to metal detectors and the Australian government launches an investigation to restore public confidence in the popular fruit.
The government of Queensland state, where the contamination scare started last week, offered a 100,000 Australian dollar ($72,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for inserting needles into strawberries after six brands — Donnybrook Berries, Love Berry, Delightful Strawberries, Oasis, Berry Obsession and Berry Licious — were recalled.
The scare had spread across the nation by Monday, with needles reported found in strawberries in all six Australian states. No injuries have been reported.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt ordered the national food safety watchdog to investigate Queensland’s handling of the needle scare.
He directed Food Standards Australia New Zealand to investigate whether there are supply chain weaknesses that need to be fixed.
“The job is very, very clear. Protect the public and keep them safe,” Hunt told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Both of New Zealand’s major food distributors, Foodstuffs and Countdown, announced on Monday they are taking Australian strawberries off their shelves because of the scare.
New Zealand imports Australian strawberries when they are out of season locally from April to September, and both chains say the home-grown product will be on supermarket shelves soon.
Queensland Strawberry Growers Association vice president Adrian Schultz said what had started as a single act of “commercial terrorism” had brought a multimillion-dollar industry to its knees.
“I’m angry for all the associated people, it’s the farmers, the people who supply them, the packaging people, the truckies with families to support, who suddenly lose their jobs … it’s far-reaching,” Schultz said.
Major Australian supermarket chains Coles and Aldi have pulled all strawberries from their shelves across Australia except in Western Australia state as a precaution.
But Western Australia police announced Monday that the first suspected needle contamination case has been reported in locally grown fruit.
A man in the town of York reported to police that he found a needle in a sink after washing strawberries.
The report came after a 7-year-old girl in South Australia state found a needle in a Western Australia-grown strawberry on Saturday.
Western Australia Health Minister Roger Cook said the needle could have been inserted in the fruit after it arrived in South Australia.
Strawberry Growers Association of Western Australia president Neil Handasyde said growers had received requests from major retailers and insurance companies to scan fruit for needles.
“As an industry we are sure that (the needles) are not coming from the farm, but we’re trying to get confidence into consumers that when they buy … strawberries, that there isn’t going to be anything other than strawberries in there and they’re safe to eat,” Handasyde told ABC.
“Industry are looking at lots of different ways of tackling this issue. There’s been metal detectors purchased and tamper-proof packaging looked at,” he said.
Handasyde said he paid AU$20,000 for a metal detector for his berry farm.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is fighting back against opponents of her blueprint for Brexit, saying Parliament will have to choose between her proposal and crashing out of the European Union without a deal.
May said Monday on the BBC that if rebel lawmakers shoot down a deal between her government and the EU, “the alternative to that will be having no deal.”
With just over six months until Britain is due to leave the 28-nation EU on March 29, May’s Conservative government remains divided over how close an economic relationship to seek with the bloc.
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who says Britain should make a clean break with the EU, wrote in Monday’s Daily Telegraph that May’s Brexit negotiations were heading for a “spectacular political car crash.”
British police say there is no evidence that the nerve agent Novichok was involved in case of two people who became ill in a Salisbury restaurant, but the premises remain closed off.
Wiltshire Police said Monday that the two people who fell ill at an Italian restaurant had been clinically assessed and there was no evidence of Novichok.
Authorities responded with extreme caution after two diners became ill, in light of the March poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter and the subsequent poisoning of two others who came into contact with Novichok.
Police have not released the names of the two diners, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 30s. Both remain hospitalized.
British officials blame the Russian government for the Novichok attack.
The Latest on Typhoon Mangkhut (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
Life is gradually returning to normal along the hard-hit southern Chinese coast, where high-rises swayed, coastal hotels flooded and windows were blown out as a result of Typhoon Mangkhut.
Rail, airline and ferry services have been restored and casinos in the gambling enclave of Macau have reopened for business.
In Hong Kong on Monday, crews were clearing fallen trees and other wreckage left when the financial hub felt the full brunt of the storm on Sunday.
Authorities have reported four deaths from falling trees and building materials in Guangdong, China‘s manufacturing hub.
At least 65 people died when the storm swept through the northern Philippines over the weekend before lashing southern China.
———
3:30 p.m.
A Philippine mayor says it’s highly unlikely any of the 40 to 50 people who are feared buried in a huge mudslide set off by Typhoon Mangkhut can be found alive.
Mayor Victorio Palangdan of Itogon town in Benguet province, among the worst-hit by the typhoon that struck Saturday, said in a news conference Monday that there’s “99 percent (chance) that they really are all dead.”
Palangdan says rescuers have dug out 11 bodies from a muddy mound covering a former miners’ bunkhouse which had been turned into a chapel. Dozens of residents sought shelter there during the storm Saturday despite warnings it was dangerous.
Palangdan says: “They laughed at our policemen. They insisted. They were resisting when our police tried to pull them away. What can we do?”
Hundreds of rescuers, including police and soldiers, scrambled to search for the missing as grief-stricken relatives waited nearby, many of them quietly praying.
———
2 p.m.
The Philippine government has ordered a stop to all illegal mining in six mountainous northern provinces in a drastic decision to prevent more tragedies after Typhoon Mangkhut set off landslides that trapped dozens of poor people, including small-scale miners.
Environmental Secretary Roy Cimatu announced the ban during a news conference Monday in Benguet province, where 54 of the 65 typhoon deaths in the Philippines occurred. Mangkhut hit the Philippines on Saturday and Hong Kong on Sunday before weakening to a tropical storm Monday in inland China, where four have died.
Cimatu said army troops and police would be deployed to enforce the ban, which covers about 10,000 small miners in Benguet’s Itogon town, where dozens of poor miners and their families were feared buried by a landslide.
———
12:15 p.m.
Philippine and Chinese authorities say the death toll from a typhoon has risen to at least 69 with dozens missing.
Mangkhut weakened to a tropical storm Monday morning as it moved deeper into southern China, where rain and strong winds were expected to continue through Tuesday.
A Philippine national police report said the death toll as of Monday midday was 65, with 43 people missing and 64 injured. Chinese authorities reported four deaths from falling trees and building materials in Guangdong, China’s manufacturing hub.
Many of the missing in the Philippines are gold miners and their families feared buried in a landslide after seeking shelter in a bunkhouse-turned-chapel in a village in Benguet province.
Mangkhut battered the northern Philippines on Saturday before slamming into southern China on Sunday. It was the most powerful typhoon to hit Hong Kong since 1979, packing winds of 195 kilometers per hour (121 mph).
———
11:30 a.m.
Mangkhut has weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it moves deeper into China.
The storm was still affecting southern China’s coast and the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan on Monday morning and rain and strong winds were expected to continue through Tuesday.
Hong Kong residents were being told to stay away from the coastline and be on alert for occasional gales. Bus, ferry and rail services were suspended and almost 900 flights were canceled at the city’s airport, one of the world’s busiest. The South China Morning Post said Hong Kong’s hospitals had to use backup power due to outages caused by the storm.
Mangkhut earlier lashed the Philippines, sparking landslides and building collapses that killed at least 64 people. At least two deaths have been reported in China. As of Monday morning Mangkhut was on track to pass over the Guangxi regional capital of Nanning.
The Hong Kong Observatory reported Mangkhut was the most powerful cyclone to hit the city since 1979, packing maximum sustained gusts of 195 kilometers per hour (121 mph).
———
9 a.m.
Rescuers are resuming work to find people feared trapped by a landslide in a Philippine gold-mining area that was pounded by wind and rain from Typhoon Mangkhut.
The workers used pikes and shovels to dig into the mud Monday morning, with the use of heavy equipment limited on the soaked ground.
Philippine police had said earlier that at least 40 people, mostly gold miners, were feared to have been trapped when part of a mountain slope collapsed on miners’ bunkhouses in a far-flung village of Itogon town in Benguet province. At least seven bodies had been dug out Sunday before the work had ceased during the night.
Mangkhut battered the northern Philippines on Saturday before slamming into southern China. At least 64 deaths were reported in the Philippines and two more in China as of Sunday.
The 2018 Emmys will award some very deserving actors with TV’s highest honor Monday night.
“Game of Thrones” led in nominations this year with 22, followed by “Saturday Night Live” and “Westworld,” which each earned 21.
In addition to favorite shows, actors like Donald Glover for “Atlanta,” Milo Ventimiglia for “This Is Us,” Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross for “Black-ish,” Larry David for “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and many more were nominated in their respective categories.
But the show that kicks off at 8 p.m. ET won’t just be about the winners.
“SNL’s” Colin Jost and Michael Che are slated to host the show, so expect biting commentary and witty satire, much like waht you have come to expect from the “Weekend Update” stars.
And with their boss Lorne Michaels producing the show, expecting some classic “SNL” sketches featuring the best and brightest in TV making some impressive cameos. Alec Baldwin, for example, is nominated for best supporting actor in a comedy series for his President Donald Trump satire. Might he be making an appearance?
Jost spoke to Entertainment Weekly last week on what fans can expect.
“A lot of special guests, a lot of fun SNL cast members from current cast and alumni of the show, and hopefully some jokes,” he said, then adding there might be some Sean Spicer moments. This may be a joke, as last year’s Emmy’s cameo for Spicer earned him and the bit mixed reviews.
And don’t forget the glam!
This is the first major event of award season, so expect your favorite actors and actresses to be dressed to the nines and having a blast.
“GMA” will keep you updated on the fashion trends of the evening: the gowns, the suits, the bold colors and patterns, and the accessories.
Brit Morin is the force behind the popular digital media and e-commerce company Brit + Co., a go-to destination for millennial women looking for DIY tips and other information on health, beauty, food, fashion, relationships and more.
Recently named by Inc. as one of the most creative entrepreneurs of 2018, Morin created Brit and Co. to build a community and help people tap into their own creativity.
She founded the company in 2011 after leaving a job at Google, where she worked under Marissa Mayer. She was only 25 at the time and although she knew she wanted to start a business, what she ended up creating wasn’t exactly what she expected.
“I actually was on the track to starting a different company; it was more of a health-oriented startup,” Morin told ABC News’ chief business, technology and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis.
As she worked to develop her startup, Morin was also planning her wedding, using her knack for DIY projects and digital design to make much of what she needed by hand.
“I was getting married and started making everything for my wedding and putting it on my blog,” Morin said. “I was like, ‘Oh this is a fun side thing that I’m doing,’ and then I started to get a little bit of a following doing that.”
As women began reaching out to Morin for guidance on how to create wedding accessories ranging from handmade flowers to custom tie designs, the seeds for Brit and Co. were planted.
“I created a digital design in an illustrator for a pattern that then I exported onto fabric and then I sewed my husband’s tie for the wedding…My flowers were handmade. I didn’t have any real flowers; they were all handmade wooden…I did the whole thing and I had so much fun doing it. And all these women were asking questions like how did I make those flowers and how they wanted to do that.”
Morin decided that she could build a space to help women creatively express themselves. She created a few weeks worth of content and, with $5,000, hired an engineering and design agency to build the initial website. Morin already had somewhat of a social following from her personal blog and leveraged those followers to drive initial traffic.
“The initial strategy was, ‘OK, I’m going to make enough content to create enough engagement that people come back to my site, and then I’m going to build apps and all these different categories — wedding, food, home — and create utility services in these categories and then redirect them to download the apps. And so the content was just part of the funnel. What happened was like people just started really liking the content.”
The business made six figures in its first year, momentum that led Morin to her seed round of financing which allowed her to hire a team. From there Brit and Co. started to grow rapidly, and today the business has raised over $40 million in funds, creates hundreds of pieces of content a month and reaches over 175 million people online and across platforms.
Recently the company has evolved past the digital realm with conferences and pop-up experiences to bring together a growing community of “Brit girls”.
“I just feel like a group of women working together for the same mission is so much more powerful than one person alone,” Morin said.
Building a community was always important to Morin, who said the worst advice she ever got ran counter to that idea.
“The worst advice I’ve ever received was to make myself a huge celebrity and not worry about the business behind it,” Morin told Jarvis. “To me that’s always been wrong because everything I wanted to do is around creating a community.”
She said she got the advice early in her venture, and realized that she could go in that direction if she chose.
“I was so early on and YouTube stars were a thing and TV stars of course were always a thing, and it felt like it could be a nice way to go if I were not so obsessed with the idea of motivating hundreds of millions of women around the globe to be more creative and confident in themselves.”
She added, “It would have been a much smaller idea without the full potential of what we’ve achieved now.”
Hear more from Brit Morin on episode #82 of the “No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis” podcast.
Belgian police have shot and injured a man after he attacked one of the officers with a knife in a northern neighborhood of the capital city, Brussels.
Brussels police spokeswoman Ilse Van De Keere said Monday that “the man attacked one of our colleagues with a knife.”
Van De Keere said that a second officer shot the attacker and “seriously wounded him.”
She said that the full details of the incident were not yet clear.
Officials say a 35-year-old driver has been killed and 18 other people have been injured, including four children, in a car pileup in southern Poland.
Local rescue services said that at least 16 cars, including a truck, collided in poor visibility late Sunday on an overpass in the town of Jaworzno. The injured were taken to hospitals.
Aneta Golebiowska, a spokeswoman of the regional firefighters, said the cause may have been dense smoke coming from tires and waste that was burning under the overpass.
Police and prosecutors are investigating.
The Philippines will deploy soldiers and police to stop illegal mining in six mountainous northern provinces in a drastic decision to prevent tragedies like the landslides set off by a typhoon that have buried dozens of poor people, including small-scale miners.
Environmental Secretary Roy Cimatu announced the ban on unauthorized mining during a news conference Monday in Benguet province, where 54 of the 65 deaths occurred since Typhoon Mangkhut hit the Philippines on Saturday. Another four deaths from Mangkhut occurred in China, where the typhoon weakened to a tropical storm Monday as it churned inland.
The ban covers about 10,000 small-scale miners in Benguet’s Itogon town, where dozens of poor miners and their families were feared buried alive after seeking shelter at the height of the storm in a chapel that had once been a miners’ bunkhouse. Hundreds of rescuers using shovels and picks were searching in the red mud for dozens still missing.
Philippine officials have said in the past that gold mines tunneled by big mining companies legally or by unauthorized individuals and small outfits have made the hillsides unstable and more prone to landslides. Tens of thousands of small-time miners in recent years have come to the mountain provinces from the lowlands and established communities in high-risk areas like the mountain foothills of Itogon.
Mangkhut on Monday was still affecting southern China’s coast and the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan and rain and strong winds were expected to continue through Tuesday. The Hong Kong Observatory said Mangkhut was the most powerful cyclone to hit the city since 1979, packing winds of 195 kilometers per hour (121 mph).
The typhoon struck Asian population centers as tropical weather also was devastating the southern U.S. Florence has dumped historical levels of rain on North Carolina.
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — With Wilmington cut off from the rest of North Carolina by still-rising floodwaters from Florence, officials plan to airlift food and water to a city of nearly 120,000 people as rescuers elsewhere pull inland residents from homes threatened by swollen rivers.
The spreading disaster claimed additional lives Sunday, with at least 17 people confirmed dead, and the nation’s top emergency official said other states were in the path this week.
“Not only are you going to see more impact across North Carolina, … but we’re also anticipating you are about to see a lot of damage going through West Virginia, all the way up to Ohio as the system exits out,” Brock Long of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Sunday on Fox News.
In Wilmington , the state’s eighth-largest city, residents waited for hours outside stores and restaurants for basic necessities like water. Police guarded the door of one store, and only 10 people were allowed inside at a time.
County commission chairman Woody White said officials were planning for food and water to be flown into the coastal city.
“Our roads are flooded,” he said. “There is no access to Wilmington.”
About 70 miles (115 kilometers) away from the coast, residents near the Lumber River stepped from their homes directly into boats floating in their front yards; river forecasts showed the scene could be repeated in towns as far as 250 miles inland as waters rise for days.
Downgraded to a tropical depression, Florence was still massive. Radar showed parts of the sprawling storm over six states, with North and South Carolina in the bull’s-eye.
Meanwhile, half way around the world, Typhoon Mangkhut barreled into southern China on Sunday after lashing the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left dozens dead. More than 2.4 million people were evacuated from China’s southern Guangdong province ahead of the massive typhoon, the strongest to hit the region in nearly two decades.
In North Carolina, fears of what could be the worst flooding in the state’s history led officials to order tens of thousands to evacuate, though it wasn’t clear how many had fled or even could.
President Donald Trump said federal emergency workers, first responders and law enforcement officials were “working really hard.” As the storm “begins to finally recede, they will kick into an even higher gear. Very Professional!” he declared in a tweet.
The storm’s death toll climbed to 17 when authorities said a 3-month-old child was killed when a tree fell on a mobile home in North Carolina. Three people died in weather-related traffic accidents, officials said.
Victor Merlos was overjoyed to find a store open for business in Wilmington since he had about 20 relatives staying at his apartment, which still had power. He spent more than $500 on cereal, eggs, soft drinks and other necessities, plus beer.
“I have everything I need for my whole family,” said Merlos. Nearby, a Waffle House restaurant limited breakfast customers to one biscuit and one drink, all take-out, with the price of $2 per item.
Kenneth Campbell had donned waterproof waders intending to check out his home in Lumberton, but he didn’t bother when he saw the Coast Guard and murky waters in his neighborhood.
“I’m not going to waste my time. I already know,” he said.
As rivers swelled, state regulators and environmental groups were monitoring the threat from gigantic hog and poultry farms located in low-lying, flood-prone areas.
The industrial-scale farms contain vast pits of animal feces and urine that can pose a significant pollution threat if they are breached or inundated by floodwaters. In past hurricanes, flooding at dozens of farms also left hundreds of thousands of dead hogs, chickens and other decomposing livestock bobbing in floodwaters.
Some stream gauges used to monitor river levels failed when they became submerged, but others showed water levels rising steadily, with forecasts calling for rivers to at or near record levels. The Defense Department said about 13,500 military personnel were assigned to help relief efforts.
Authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of up to 7,500 people living within a mile (1.6 kilometers) of a stretch of the Cape Fear River and the Little River, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the North Carolina coast. The evacuation zone included part of the city of Fayetteville, population 200,000.
Near the flooded-out town of New Bern, where about 455 people had to be rescued from the swirling flood waters, water completely surrounded churches, businesses and homes. In the neighboring town of Trenton, downtown streets were turned to creeks full of brown water.
The rain was unrelenting in Cheraw, a town of about 6,000 people in northeastern South Carolina. Streets were flooded and Police Chief Keith Thomas warned people not to drive, but the local food and gas store had customers.
“As you can tell, they’re not listening to me,” he said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation for the Supreme Court is taking an uncertain turn as Republican senators express concern over a woman’s private-turned-public allegation that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers.
The White House and other Kavanaugh supporters had dismissed the allegation of sexual misconduct when it was initially conveyed in a private letter. With a name and disturbing details, the accusation raised the prospect of congressional Republicans defending President Donald Trump’s nominee ahead of midterm elections featuring an unprecedented number of female candidates and informed in part by the #MeToo movement.
The GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee appeared nonetheless committed to a vote later this week despite Christine Blasey Ford’s account in The Washington Post. Kavanaugh, she said, pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. Kavanaugh repeated his previous denial that such an incident ever took place.
A split seemed to be emerging among the GOP.
As Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, called for a delay in the vote, two committee Republicans — all 11 on the GOP side are men — Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said they wanted to hear more from Ford. Flake went as far as to say he was “not comfortable” voting for Kavanaugh for the time being. A potential “no” vote from Flake would complicate the judge’s prospects. A Republican not on the committee, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said the vote should be postponed until the committee heard from Ford. Contacted Sunday by CNN, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, wouldn’t say if the vote should be postponed.
Some Senate Republicans, along with the White House, see no need to postpone voting over what they consider uncorroborated and unverifiable accusations, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.
A committee spokesman said late Sunday that its chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, was trying to arrange separate, follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Ford, but just for aides to Grassley and Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., before Thursday’s scheduled vote. Critics have already accused the GOP of fast-tracking the process to get Kavanaugh on the court by Oct. 1, the first day of the fall term.
The allegation against Kavanaugh first came to light late last week in the form of a letter that had been for some time in the possession of Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and one of its four female members. On Sunday, The Washington Post published an interview with Ford, who after months of soul-searching decided to go public.
“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” said Ford, 51, a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.” She told the Post that she was able to escape after a friend of Kavanaugh’s who was in the room jumped on top of them and everyone tumbled.
Through the White House, Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals judge in Washington, said Sunday: “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”
Senate Republicans, along with the White House, see no need to postpone voting over what they consider uncorroborated and unverifiable accusations, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.
In considering their options Sunday, Republicans largely settled on the view that Ford’s story alone was not enough to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Grassley could invite Ford to testify, likely in closed session before Thursday. Kavanaugh would also probably be asked to appear before senators. The panel would also likely seek testimony from Mark Judge, Kavanaugh’s friend and classmate who Ford says jumped on top of her and Kavanaugh. Judge has denied that the incident happened.
Republicans have not settled on the strategy, the person familiar with the situation said, but were weighing options, including doing nothing.
Republicans say the allegations have already cast a shadow over Kavanaugh but that it does not appear to be enough to change the votes in the narrowly divided 51-49 Senate. Key will be the views of Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
The White House has accused Feinstein of mounting an “11th hour attempt to delay his confirmation.” The White House has also sought to cast doubt about Ford’s allegation by noting that the FBI has repeatedly investigated Kavanaugh since the 1990s for highly sensitive positions he has held, including in the office of independent counsel Ken Starr, at the White House and his current post on the federal appeals court in Washington.
Kavanaugh’s nomination had already sharply divided the Senate along party lines. But the allegations of sexual misconduct, particularly coming amid the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, coupled with Ford’s emergence could complicate matters, especially as key Republican senators, including Collins and Murkowski, are under enormous pressure from outside groups who want them to oppose Kavanaugh on grounds that as a justice he could vote to undercut the Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion in the U.S.
Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh and a friend — both “stumbling drunk,” she says — corralled her in a bedroom when she was around 15 and Kavanaugh was around 17. She says Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes, grinded his body against hers and tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit and the outfit she wore over it. Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she says, and escaped when Judge jumped on them.
Kavanaugh attended a private school for boys in Maryland while Ford attended a nearby school.
In the interview, Ford says she never revealed what had happened to her until 2012, when she and her husband sought couples therapy. Ford’s husband, Russell Ford, said he recalled his wife using Kavanaugh’s last name and expressing concern that Kavanaugh — then a federal judge — might someday be nominated to the Supreme Court.
Sixty-five women who knew Kavanagh in high school defended him in a separate letter, circulated by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, as someone who “always treated women with decency and respect.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- Lexington Police arrested a man they say he tried to rob Video Max on Winchester Road, leading to a fire and an assault on a police officer.
Police say the man arrested is 25-year-old William Spears.
Police say just before 1:00 a.m. Sunday, Spears entered the store and told the clerk he had a gun.
They say he then attempted to reach over the counter when the clerk stopped him, leading to a chase throughout the store.
Police say Spears went to the warehouse area of the store and started a fire with a book and a t-shirt.
They say the clerk was able to put the fire out quickly.
Police say Spears tried to escape from the scene but an officer was waiting outside the business.
Spears scuffled with the officer but was arrested, according to police.
Spears is charged with assaulted on a police officer, arson, robbery, and resisting arrest.
He is scheduled to appear in court on those charges Monday.
Seven people have died of suspected drug overdoses during a music festival in Vietnam.
The Capital Police newspaper said five other people were still in comas Monday after overdosing at the festival Sunday night.
The music festival was held in a water park near Hanoi’s city center and attended by thousands of people.
The state-run media outlet said all the victims tested positive but it didn’t identify which drug or drugs were involved. It said police had seized suspected drug substances at the scene.
Police and local officials were not available for comment Monday.
Government data say Vietnam has 220,000 drug addicts with police records and some 1,600 overdose deaths annually.
Methamphetamine and heroin are the most common drugs used and overdosed, with meth use rising in recent years.
Israel has released an American law professor detained for allegedly trying to block Israeli troops in a West Bank village slated for demolition.
The 66-year-old Frank Romano was detained on Friday in the embattled village of Khan al-Ahmar, along with two Palestinian activists.
Witnesses said that Romano stood in front of heavy equipment being used to clear barriers that had been set up to slow demolition. Activists said he began a hunger strike while in detention.
Gaby Lasky, Romano’s lawyer, said a court ordered his release Sunday. She said he was freed early Monday after police decided not to appeal the decision.
Upon his release, Romano returned to the village and said: “I can continue the struggle with you.”
Israel is expected to demolish the village in the coming days.
Echoing some of President Donald Trump‘s rhetoric, authorities in Egypt are taking aim at an alleged barrage of “fake news” they say is meant to sow division and undermine the rule of general-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Under a new law, the state’s top media regulatory agency can now use the “fake news” label to shut down social media accounts with more than 5,000 followers, without having to obtain a court order. Another new law allows blocking websites with content deemed a threat to national security.
Last month, the government set up a unit tracking alleged rumors, after el-Sissi claimed without elaborating that the government had identified some 21,000 rumors having been circulated over a three-month period this year. The Cabinet often issues statements refuting purported rumors.
Government critics denounce the measures as the latest attempt to suppress dissent and silence what is left of independent journalism. Over the past few months, some 500 online sites have been blocked, as part of the state’s growing control over the media, according to an Egyptian watchdog, the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression.
“They (authorities) have blocked all sources of information,” said Khaled el-Balshy, a prominent pro-democracy activist and former board member of the Journalists’ Union. “They confiscate the media and any area of free speech, even on social media.”
Two of his websites were recently blocked, including one just nine hours after its June 19 launch. He said the government did not publicize the decision or provide an explanation.
Trump has repeatedly accused critical media outlets of being producers of “fake news,” labelling them “the enemy of the people,” and only lauding those that cover him favorably.
Egypt’s government never said publicly that it was embracing Trump’s media policies, but el-Sissi, a staunch Trump ally, has made clear that he wants to see the media united behind him.
El-Sissi has alleged that Egypt and other Arab nations are being threatened by rumors.
“The real danger is blowing up countries from within,” el-Sissi said in July. “Rumors, terrorist acts, losing hope and frustration, all these (things) function in an incredible network aiming at one objective: to stir up people to destroy their country.”
In recent years, more restrictive media policies have been adopted elsewhere in the Arab world as governments crack down on social media content.
The Palestinian self-rule government, for example, last year clamped down on social media and news websites — main outlets for debate and dissent in the West Bank — with a vaguely worded law that allows for charges of harming “national unity” or the “social fabric.”
In Egypt, officials have pointed to several recent reports on social media networks that they said were blatantly false and seemed designed to spread panic.
One report claimed poisoned tomatoes were being sold in the markets. Another said authorities planned to tax bank deposits. A third rumor warned depositors that the government planned to seize their foreign currency accounts and give them their equivalent in Egyptian pounds.
Not surprisingly, authorities are blaming the misinformation on the Muslim Brotherhood group, which was designated a terrorist organization after the 2013 military overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the group, amid mass street protest against his one-year rule.
The government has treated the Brotherhood as its main domestic enemy since then.
Thousands of people — mostly Islamists but also secular, pro-democracy advocates — have been jailed since 2013 as restrictions were placed on civil society groups and freedom of expression. The crackdown continues amid rising discontent over price hikes for food, transport and utilities.
The government has also clamped down on independent journalists, activists and bloggers, detaining dozens who now face an array of charges, chief among which is disseminating false news, according to Mokhtar Mounir, a rights lawyer who represents several detainees.
Among those detained were many social media heavyweights critical of the government, including famous blogger Wael Abbas, and political activists Hazem Abdel-Azim and Shady Harb.
Earlier this year, authorities shut down an independent news site after it published an Arabic translation of a New York Times article alleging that voters in this year’s presidential election were offered cash, food and promises of better services if they cast their ballots. The site’s editor was arrested.
Authorities said the site was operating without license and charged it with spreading false news and belonging to an outlawed group, political parlance for the Muslim Brotherhood.
At about the same time, the editor of one of Egypt’s popular dailies — el-Masri el-Youm — was fired over an article that catalogued state-sponsored efforts to boost the turnout in the March vote. Election authorities said the article was an “insult” to the state, several staff members along with its editor, Mohammed el-Sayed Saleh, were questioned by prosecutors and the paper was fined 150,000 Egyptian pounds ($8,400).
The head of the government’s new “rumor tracking unit,” Naayim Saad Zaghloul, said her staff is focusing on social media. “It is fertile ground for rumors to spread, and we have personnel in the field to monitor rumors and address them immediately,” she said.
The state media and private, pro-government TV networks broadcast daily announcements warning against purported lies on social media.
State-run Nile News TV ran an ad claiming to have identified eight fake reports within 10 days.
The pro-government CBC Extra channel urged viewers not to “believe everything seen on social media.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Police have arrested a man they say endangered the life of an officer by driving off while the officer was holding onto the handle of his car door.
According to police, early Saturday morning, officers stopped 19-year-old Byron Ezzard on Nicholasville Road near Zandale.
They say he refused to open his door and when the officer grabbed the handle, Ezzard sped off, dragging the officer several feet.
There is no information at this time on the officer’s condition.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Macedonia Monday, condemning Russian efforts to use its money and influence to build opposition to an upcoming vote that could pave the way for the country to join NATO — a move Moscow opposes.
Mattis told reporters traveling with him to Skopje that there is “no doubt” that Moscow has been funding pro-Russian groups in order to defeat the referendum on a name change later this month.
“They have transferred money and they’re also conducting broader influence campaigns,” Mattis said. “We ought to leave the Macedonian people to make up their own minds.”
Macedonians will vote Sept. 30 on whether to approve the new name of North Macedonia is an effort to placate Greece, which has for years blocked Macedonia’s path to NATO and the European Union. But any progress toward NATO membership by the Balkan nation is strongly opposed by Russia, which doesn’t want the alliance to expand to areas formerly under Moscow’s influence.
Mattis is the latest in a string of international leaders visiting Macedonia to voice support for the referendum, and he’s the most senior U.S. official to go there. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, German chancellor Angela Merkel, and Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz have all visited and made public endorsements of the name change, saying it’s critical in order for the country to join NATO, after years of waiting.
Mattis said that he and other NATO allies “say right up front in open press what we think. We’re not passing money to people behind the scenes, we’re not putting together parties that we control or try to control.”
Russia has already been called out for trying to influence the vote. In July, Greece expelled two Russian diplomats accused of supplying funds to protest groups who were opposing the name change deal. Russia denounced the expulsions as unjustified.
Greece, a member of NATO, has for years vetoed attempts by Macedonia to join NATO, complaining about the country’s name ever since Yugoslavia broke up in the early 1990s. Greece argues that the name implies a territorial claim against the northern Greek region of Macedonia and its ancient heritage.
NATO leaders in July formally invited Macedonia to begin membership talks on the condition that it wouldn’t become effective until the name change was implemented.
But there is widespread concern about Russian impact on the vote.
“There is this influence campaign to try to buy off people and try to support pro-Russian organizations,” said Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia and the region. She said she couldn’t give specifics about the pay-offs, but said the U.S. is aware of financial support that Moscow has given to pro-Russian individuals and groups that are working to undermine the referendum.
Russia, she said, is “swooping in now with disinformation and other forms of malign influence to try to change the minds of the Macedonian people.” As examples,, she cited efforts to convince people that the vote isn’t relevant and isn’t the last step for NATO admission.
Evelyn Farkas, an expert on the region who is a fellow with the Atlantic Council and a former Defense Department adviser, said Mattis’ visit to the tiny nation could help sow support for the name change.
“I think Mattis could make or break this thing by delivering a strong message to the opposition which has been grudgingly quiet, that they need to come out in full-throated support, because they’re not going to get another chance later,” said Farkas. “He can tell them this is their last chance.”
Farkas, who was recently in Macedonia, also said the visit reaffirms America’s commitment to the region and the need for stability there.
According to Cooper, the U.S. has given Macedonia about $5 million in security assistance annually since 1991, and the total U.S. aid since then has been about $750 million.
Mattis plans to meet with Macedonia President Gjorge Ivanov, center-left Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, and Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska.
The main conservative opposition VMRO-DPMNE party and Ivanov have said Macedonia’s goal is to join NATO and the EU, but that they oppose the deal with Greece, warning it will damage the country’s national interests.
Mattis said he believes the Macedonian peoples’ lives can be changed with added economic opportunities and security, and it’s important to have those options available. He said he will take that message to Ivanov.
Polls indicate Macedonians will likely back the deal, but it’s not clear if turnout will meet the required 50 percent for the vote to be valid.
The agreement with Greece was signed in June, and requires changes to the Macedonian Constitution. The final step for NATO admission is ratification by Greece’s parliament, which would vote only after Macedonia completes all necessary procedures.
An Afghan official says at least five police officers have been killed in an insurgent attack on their base in northwestern Badghis province.
Jamshid Shahabi, spokesman for the provincial governor, says around 22 Taliban were killed, and 16 others were wounded during the gunbattle earlier Monday morning.
Shahabi says Abdul Hakim, the police commander of the reserve unit, was among those killed in the attack that took place near Qala-i-Now, the capital of the province.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Shahabi blamed the Taliban. The militant group has a strong presence there and often attack on Afghan security forces.
A senior South Korean official on Monday played down the chance that this week’s inter-Korean summit will result in major progress in efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear program.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in flies to Pyongyang on Tuesday for his third summit of the year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok told reporters the leaders plan to meet twice during Moon’s three-day trip.
Im said it’s “difficult to have any optimistic outlook” for progress on denuclearization during those talks, adding that progress will depend on how candid the discussions are. Still, Im said he expects the summit to produce “meaningful” agreements on ways to ease a decades-long military standoff between the rivals. He did not elaborate.
Moon’s trip comes as global diplomatic efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear program have stalled and questions have been raised about how serious Kim is about following through with his vague commitments to denuclearize. Moon has said he hopes he can help restart talks between Washington and Pyongyang, which peaked in June with a historic summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.
North Korea has long maintained that’s its nuclear program is aimed at coping with what it calls U.S. military threats. As such, in exchange for giving up its nuclear program it has been seeking the withdrawal of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and a peace treaty with the United States to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War. It also wants the lifting of U.S.-led sanctions.
North Korea has taken some steps, like dismantling its nuclear and rocket-engine testing sites, but U.S. officials have said the North must take more serious disarmament steps before receiving outside concessions.
Im, who is in charge of Seoul preparations for the summit, said he was confidant that the talks would yield agreements that “fundamentally remove the danger of armed clashes and ease fears of war” between the two Koreas. He said he expects the agreements would help promote chances for the signing of a peace treaty that formally ends the Korean War.
Military officials have in recent months discussed the possibility of disarming a jointly controlled area at their shared border village, removing front-line guard posts and halting hostile acts along their sea boundary.
The Koreas’ 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long border is the world’s most heavily fortified, with hundreds of thousands of troops stationed along a border laced with mines, barbed wire fences and anti-tank traps. The navies of the Koreas also fought several bloody skirmishes off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula.
Moon will also take a group of business tycoons such as Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong to Pyongyang. Some experts say Moon is preparing for the resumption of inter-Korean economic cooperation projects after diplomacy eventually yields results. Currently, all major joint economic projects between the Koreas remain stalled because of U.S.-led sanctions.
Peru’s president is facing a standoff with lawmakers over his call for a referendum on anti-corruption measures.
In a televised speech Sunday night, President Martin Vizcarra ordered the opposition-dominated congress to hold a special session Wednesday to debate his proposal.
If they block it in a no-confidence vote, Vizcarra will then be empowered by Peru’s constitution to dissolve congress, something he has already threatened.
Peru’s congress was last closed in 1992 during the authoritarian rule of Alberto Fujimori.
But polls suggest they are rallying behind Vizcarra’s campaign to clean up politics following the leak of several videos showing judges negotiating bribes with politicians to settle cases.
Vizcarra took over as president in March after Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned amid a vote-buying scandal.
Soon-Yi Previn, the wife of Woody Allen and the estranged adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, defended her husband against what she contends is unfair treatment in the #MeToo era and attacked her adoptive mother in her first public comments about the relationships in decades.
New York magazine posted on its website Sunday night an in-depth article about Previn in which she talks of a troubled relationship with her mother and tells how she fell in love in 1992 with Allen, who was Farrow’s boyfriend at the time.
The 47-year-old said she and her mother clashed soon after Farrow adopted her and that her mother many times treated her like a maid. She denies being manipulated into a relationship by Allen.
Previn told the magazine that she decided to speak out now because Dylan Farrow, who is an adopted daughter of Allen, is, in her view, unfairly accusing her husband of sexual abusing her when she was a child.
“I was never interested in writing a ‘Mommie Dearest,’ getting even with Mia — none of that,” Previn told the magazine. “But what’s happened to Woody is so upsetting, so unjust. (Mia) has taken advantage of the #MeToo movement and paraded Dylan as a victim. And a whole new generation is hearing about it when they shouldn’t.”
She also said of Farrow: “Mia wasn’t maternal to me from the get-go.”
An email sent to Mia Farrow’s agent Sunday night was not immediately returned.
The Associated Press does not typically name victims of sexual abuse, but Dylan Farrow has commented extensively on her allegations that Allen abused her in 1992 when she was 7-years-old. Allen was investigated but wasn’t charged, and he has long denied inappropriately touching Farrow. In a statement in January after Dylan Farrow’s allegations resurfaced, Allen reiterated his denial and accused her and her family of using the Time’s Up movement “to repeat this discredited allegation.”
In separate statements posted on Twitter Sunday night, Dylan Farrow and Ronan Farrow say their mother is a good parent and that the New York magazine article is inaccurate and unfair. Dylan Farrow also noted that the New York magazine piece’s author, Daphne Merkin, calls herself a longtime friend of Allen’s.
The director, who faced a wave of backlash earlier this year including several prominent actors vowing not to work with him again, is also quoted in the New York magazine piece. “I am a pariah,” Merkin quotes the director as saying during a lunch. “People think that I was Soon-Yi’s father, that I raped and married my underaged, retarded daughter.”
As Emmy Award nominees nervously wait to hear their name called, or not, there’s more on the line at Monday night’s ceremony than personal glory.
“Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels, producing his second Emmy telecast in 30 years, is tasked with turning viewership around after the 2017 show’s audience of 11.4 million narrowly avoided the embarrassment of setting a new low.
The 8 p.m. EDT ceremony on NBC clearly bears his stamp, with “SNL” faux news anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost as hosts and familiar “SNL” faces, including Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin, as presenters and nominees. The long-running NBC sketch show, already the top Emmy winner ever with 71, could snare up to three more.
The pressure’s on Michaels because NBC and other broadcasters are increasingly reliant on awards and other live events to draw viewers distracted by streaming and more 21st- century options. The networks, which air the Emmy telecast on a rotating basis, are so eager for the ad dollars it generates and its promotional value for fall shows that they endure online competitors sharing the stage.
It’s Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” that’s the defending best drama series champ, with HBO’s two-time previous winner “Game of Thrones” the top rival. NBC’s “This Is Us” is the only network nominee in the category. On the comedy side, the front-runners are FX’s “Atlanta” and Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” with ABC’s “black-ish” the only network show in contention.
The telecast could see a number of record nominations for people of color converted into awards, some historic.
Sandra Oh has the chance to become the first performer of Asian descent to win a lead drama actress trophy for the BBC America’s spy thriller “Killing Eve.” Oh, who’s Korean-Canadian, previously received five supporting actress nods for “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Issa Rae of HBO’s “Insecure” or ABC’s “black-ish” star Tracee Ellis Ross could become the second African-American to win as best comedy actress, following Isabel Sanford (1981, “The Jeffersons”) by 37 years. The field, including Rachel Brosnahan of “Mrs. Maisel,” is wide open, with six-time Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her HBO series, “Veep,” sitting these Emmys out for scheduling reasons.
If the show hits a lull there’s a good chance politics will shake it up. “Weekend Update” anchors Che and Jost regularly traffic in political satire on “SNL,” and awards ceremonies have become a routine forum for celebrities to share their views on current events. It’s a trend embraced by Hollywood, at least publicly.
“I think if you’re given a forum and people are listening and you got something to say, particularly this day and age, say it,” said Ed Harris, up for best drama actor for the sci-fi drama “Westworld.”
Yeardley Smith, an Emmy winner for voicing Lisa on “The Simpsons,” said she doesn’t object when winners use the spotlight to say more than “thank you.”
“I don’t think it’s inappropriate,” Smith said. “I think that you do need to strike a balance. I think if you’re truly passionate about something, anything, that if you have a platform, you almost have a moral obligation to speak up.”
———
AP Entertainment Writer Mike Cidoni Lennox contributed to this report.
———
Online:
http://emmys.com
———
Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber@ap.org and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lynnelber .
In a blunt rebuke to President Jimmy Morales, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court ordered that the head of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption commission be let back in the country two weeks after Morales barred him as he moved to defang the investigative body.
The unanimous ruling late Sunday by the court’s five magistrates marked the second time in as many years that the court has reversed Morales’ efforts to keep Ivan Velasquez out of Guatemala. The commission’s chairman has pressed a number of high-profile graft probes, including one pending against the president himself.
There was no immediate public reaction from the president. His spokesman, Alfredo Brito, did not respond to phone calls Sunday night seeking comment.
Morales announced in late August that he would not renew the mandate of the commission for another two-year term, effectively giving it a year to wind down and end its activities.
A few days later the president said that Velasquez, a Colombian national who was in Washington at the time, would be prohibited from re-entering this Central American nation. Morales called him “a person who attacks order and public security in the country.”
Morales’ order touched off public protests in support of the body, and multiple appeals were promptly filed with the Constitutional Court.
In issuing its decision, the court said its ruling must be obeyed and cannot be appealed.
Morales said earlier this month that he was “not obligated to obey illegal rulings,” which observers interpreted as a clear allusion to the court’s previous checks on his actions.
Last year, Morales had declared Velasquez persona non grata and tried to have him expelled from Guatemala, but that move was blocked by the Constitutional Court.
Among the investigations that the commission, known as CICIG for its initials in Spanish, has brought in Guatemala was one that led to the resignation and jailing of former President Otto Perez Molina and his vice president. Others have ensnared dozens of politicians, public officials and businesspeople.
Morales is suspected in a case involving more than $1 million in purported illicit campaign financing. In August, Guatemala’s Supreme Court allowed a motion by CICIG and Guatemalan prosecutors seeking to lift the president’s immunity from prosecution to go to lawmakers. If they approve it, he would be opened up to possible prosecution.
Morales denies wrongdoing, but critics have seen his effort to wind down CICIG and bar Velasquez as a maneuver to protect himself as well as relatives and associates also in the sights of investigators.
The president had asked the United Nations to designate someone to replace Velasquez, but the world body opted to keep him in charge for the time being, working remotely from abroad. The U.N. defended CICIG and its commissioner, saying the body has played “a pivotal role in the fight against impunity in Guatemala.”
Philippine and Chinese authorities say the death toll from a typhoon has risen to at least 69 with dozens missing.