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‘It Was a Planned Attack.’ Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Says Looting Was Organized

A day after looters overwhelmed police officers in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the violence was an organized raid

U.S. postal service reorganization sparks delays, election questions

A shakeup of the U.S. Postal Service is leading to mail delays, union officials said on Tuesday, heightening concerns that an ally of President Donald Trump is destabilizing the service as millions of Americans consider whether to cast their ballots by mail in the Nov. 3 presidential election. New Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has donated $2.7 million to Trump and his fellow Republicans since 2017, has ordered operational changes and a clampdown on overtime in a bid to fix the financially troubled service, which reported a net loss of $2.2 billion in the last quarter. The reorganization, introduced in July, has resulted in thousands of delayed letters in southern Maine, as delivery drivers follow a new directive to leave on time, even if the mail has not been loaded, said Scott Adams, who represents about 550 workers as the president of American Postal Worker Union Local 458.

Pro Poker Player Was Bound, Sexually Assaulted, ‘Lit on Fire’ After Motel Meeting

Susie Zhao, the professional poker player whose charred remains were found in a remote Michigan park in July, was allegedly bound with zip ties and sexually assaulted before she was “lit on fire until she died” after meeting with a convicted sex offender, according to new court documents. Zhao, 33, was last seen around 5:30 p.m. on July 12 by her mother, the White Lake Township Police Department previously told The Daily Beast. The next day, her “badly burned” body was discovered at around 8:05 a.m. in a parking lot near the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, about an hour outside of Detroit. Last week, Jeffrey Bernard Morris, 60, was charged from his hospital bed with first-degree premeditated murder. Authorities discovered the convicted sex offender allegedly met Zhao in a motel room the night before her body was found. Morris, who is homeless and has a “lengthy criminal history” is currently in jail after being denied bail. A Pro Poker Player Was Found ‘Badly Burned.’ Was She Murdered Over Gambling?“This is not the end of the investigation into Susie’s death but the beginning of the pursuit of justice for her and her family,” White Lake Township Detective Chris Hild said in a press conference. “We can only hope that where we are today brings some level of comfort to the healing process.”In new court documents, first obtained by WXYZ, authorities revealed what occurred the night the pro poker player, known on the circuit as “Susie Q,” went missing. Cell phone records indicate Morris and the rising poker star first met on July 12. In an interview with police the night of his arrest on July 31, Morris admitted to picking up Zhao on Watkins Lake Road before they both checked into the Sherwood Motel at around 9:26 p.m.  Morris told investigators the pair left the motel at some point to buy some alcohol and that Zhao left the motel at around midnight and took everything with her. Cell phone records, however, show the 33-year-old’s phone didn’t leave the motel until around 5 a.m on July 13, according to the court documents. Surveillance footage near the motel and cell phone records also show Morris left the room at around 5 a.m., before driving to a secluded section of the Pontiac Lake Recreation area— where Zhao was found. Court documents say that evidence suggests Morris was at the 3,745-acre park for about seven minutes. When Zhao was found the following morning, she was identified by fingerprints and was bound with zip ties. She had been sexually assaulted with a large object before being "lit on fire until she died,” the court documents state. A spokesperson for the Oakland County Medical Examiner told The Daily Beast that Zhao’s cause of death is currently unknown, pending an autopsy and toxicology results. When authorities pulled Morris over on a warrant in Ypsilanti weeks later, investigators found several hairs and other evidence with possible bloodstains. They also found duffle bags with a fitted bed sheet that appeared to have blood on it and a wooden baseball bat that also appeared to have a bloodstain. The items were taken to Oakland County Crime Lab for testing. Authorities are now scrambling to understand the motive behind the “mysterious death” that occurred just weeks after Zhao moved back to her home state of Michigan from California on June 9. Two childhood friends of Zhao previously told The Daily Beast that the poker player bounced between several cities—including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Florida—both for her job and because she was “a jet-setter.” According to PokerNews.com, Zhao was successful in the professional worker world, garnering several deep runs in the World Series of Poker Main Event—placing 90th in 2012 to earn $73,805. Over the course of her career, Zhao won $224,671, according to the poker database The Hendon Mob. Despite earlier speculation, authorities have said there is no evidence that Zhao’s death was connected to her gambling.“I don’t think there was ever anything else that she wanted to do. She was playing poker from a very young age,” Meredith Rogowski, a childhood friend, told The Daily Beast. “It was not a surprise. She was very bold and did whatever she wanted to do. Whenever we talked about her job, she was very nonchalant. But I do know it was exhausting to be in that world—it was long-hours and some of the people she met weren’t always genuine.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

China retaliates against US sanctions with its own, targeting 11 US citizens in ongoing political skirmish

"That is little more than an effort to distract attention from its wholesale assault on the rights of the people of Hong Kong," Kenneth Roth said.

Andrew Yang on Democratic National Convention: 'I kind of expected to speak'

Yang voiced his apparent disappointment in not being on the list of speakers at the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Three killed in Bangalore clashes over Prophet Muhammad post

Police in the southern city of Bangalore opened fire on protesters angered by the Facebook post.

Coronavirus may spread farther than 6 feet indoors

A classroom simulation shows how the spread of the virus is significantly cut down simply by placing ventilation near a teacher.

Air Force helicopter shot at from ground while flying over Virginia, crew injured

FBI investigating shot fired at UH-1N Huey flying over Virginia which injured a crew member.

South Dakota's Noem to build security fence around residence

South Dakota officials said Wednesday they plan to build a security fence budgeted for $400,000 around the official governor’s residence to protect Gov. Kristi Noem. Noem's office did not give specifics on any threats, but her spokeswoman Maggie Seidel said her security team recommended the fence. Noem's administration had proposed the fence last year, but she abandoned the plan.

An admitted KKK leader has been sentenced to 6 years in prison after driving a truck through a crowd of protesters in June

A Virginia man who boasted to police of his Ku Klux Klan rank was sentenced to six years in prison after driving his truck into a crowd of protesters.

Trump says he is considering the ‘great battlefield’ at Gettysburg for his convention speech

President Trump tweeted on Monday that he is choosing between two locations, Gettysburg, Penn. and the White House, for his speech accepting the Republican nomination, scheduled for the night of Aug. 27.

Coronavirus found on frozen seafood in China

Authorities in China have found the novel coronavirus on the packaging of imported frozen seafood that arrived from the port city of Dalian, which recently battled a surge of cases, a local government said on Tuesday. The virus was found on the outer packaging of frozen seafood bought by three companies in Yantai, a port city in eastern Shandong province. The Yantai city government said in a statement the seafood was from an imported shipment that landed at Dalian but did not say where it originated.

N95 respirators can be sanitized using crockpots and rice cookers, study finds

Researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign say this new method can help hospital workers safely disinfect their N95 respirators.

Mocimboa da Praia: Key Mozambique port 'seized by IS'

After days of fighting, IS is said to have driven government forces out of Mocimboa da Praia.

Mother says son with autism was 'kicked out' of church by priest

Julia Vicidomini said her son, Nicholas, was instructed to leave the church after he dropped a toy.

Thunderstorms have hospitalized 52K Americans for breathing issues, study says. Why?

As global warming continues, more respiratory hospitalizations are expected.

Iran's president, FM lash out at new US push on arms embargo

Iran's president and foreign minister lashed out on Wednesday at a revised proposal by the U.S. that would extend a U.N. arms embargo on Iran indefinitely, the latest in the Trump administration's maximum pressure policy against Iran. The U.S. on Tuesday circulated the revised draft at the U.N., seeking to gain more support in the 15-member Security Council where veto-wielding Russia and China have voiced strong opposition. The revised draft, which eliminated some provisions from the earlier version that diplomats said went beyond the extension of the arms embargo, may be put to a vote as early as Friday.

DNC lineup of speakers headlined by the Obamas and Jill Biden as keynotes

DNC speakers include Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, AOC, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and John Kasich.

Ghislaine Maxwell says she is being mistreated in jail and that she should be taken out of solitary confinement

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in jail awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, want her released into her jail's general population.

Cop posted "Kill em all" on protest livestream, investigation finds

The CSPD police chief chose not to fire Sergeant Wrede, calling his actions "an isolated incident of an error in judgment."

MBS is stamping out the final threat to his rule, bringing an end to his 3-year coup marked by power grabs, forced disappearances, and assassinations

Crown Prince Mohammed is gunning for Saad al-Jabri and Mohammed bin Nayef, but they are old friends of the US, who want answers from the kingdom.

Agnes Chow: Hong Kong activist hailed as the 'real Mulan'

The 23-year-old democracy activist arrested under a new security law is a folk hero to her supporters.

Israel closes Gaza goods crossing after balloon attacks

Israel will close its goods crossing with the Gaza Strip, authorities said Monday, after militants in the Hamas-run territory fired rockets into the Mediterranean and launched incendiary balloons towards the Jewish state. The Kerem Shalom crossing will be closed to all traffic except humanitarian equipment and fuel from Tuesday, COGAT, the defence ministry unit that oversees the crossings, said in a statement. The move comes in response to the "continued launching of incendiary balloons" from Gaza, it added.

84 arrests made at Sturgis Rally as governor welcomes 250,000 bikers to district

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally kicked off in the western part of South Dakota on Friday, leading to 84 arrests in one day, according to a report.The annual rally, which the city council decided would go ahead in June, has drawn thousands of bikers to the state from all over the country, many without masks or social distancing in mind.

Op-Ed: If Biden wins, don't expect Trump to accept defeat and head for the exit

The only way to guarantee Trump doesn't ignore election results is a Biden win so decisive it's apparent on election night.

Taliban warn against attacks on freed prisoners going home

Ahead of an upcoming release of Taliban detainees held in Afghan prisons, the insurgent group warned the government in Kabul on Tuesday against any attacks on those released, saying such incidents would jeopardize the peace talks. A Taliban spokesman told The Associated Press there have been at least 11 such attacks in the past several months — instances when freed Taliban figures were killed, harassed and re-arrested by government forces. Kabul officials denied unwarranted attacks on freed Taliban.

China: No U.S-Taiwan ties under any pretext

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters during a daily briefing that "those who play with fire will get burnt". U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar attacked China's response to the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday (August 11) and said that if such an outbreak had emerged in Taiwan or the United States it could have been "snuffed out easily". Azar arrived in Taiwan on Sunday (August 9) as the highest-level U.S. official to visit in four decades, a trip condemned by China. Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has vowed to bring it under its rule, by force if necessary.

A man was forcibly carried out of an Arizona grocery store after he screamed profanities at an employee over face mask requirements

"You are a bunch of idiots wearing masks. You know it's not real," the man yelled in a video that went viral.

Ghislaine Maxwell complains of unusual guards and special uniform as she requests to be moved from ‘onerous’ New York jail

Ghislaine Maxwell has requested to be moved from her New York prison cell amid claims that she is being watched by guards who do not appear to be “regular personnel” at the jail where she is being detained.Lawyers for Ms Maxwell, 58, have written a motion to Judge Alison Nathan asking that their client be moved into the general prison population at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.

Family removed from Southwest flight after 3-year-old son with autism would not wear a face mask

A Texas woman and her family were forced off a Houston-bound Southwest flight after her three-year-old son with autism would not wear a face mask.

'Terror crocodiles' with teeth the size of bananas once roamed North America preying on dinosaurs

"Terror crocodiles" which had teeth the size of bananas and could reach 33 feet in length once roamed North America preying on dinosaurs, according to a new study. Researchers say the Deinosuchus, which means "terror crocodile", was the largest predator in its ecosystem when it roamed the earth between 75 to 82 million years ago, outweighing the largest predatory dinosaurs which existed at the same time. The new study, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, revisited fossil specimens of the gigantic creatures and found the Deinosuchus had teeth “the size of bananas”, capable of taking down even the very largest of dinosaurs. It also confirmed that the predators grew to as much as 33ft in length, making them nearly as long as some city buses. Researchers also found that there were at least three species of Deinosuchus, two of which lived along western America from Montana to northern Mexico.

Downfall: BP worker sacked after Hitler meme wins payout

Scott Tracey used the scene from Downfall to portray scenes from company wage negotiations.

Philippines talking to Russian vaccine maker on trials, seeks 'complete dossier'

Philippine scientists were set on Wednesday to meet representatives of the Russian state research facility that developed a coronavirus vaccine, to discuss participation in clinical trials and access to its research data. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has lauded the Russian vaccine and offered to be "injected in public", to allay public fears about its safety. Russia on Tuesday became the world's first country to grant regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine, to be named "Sputnik V" in homage to the Soviet Union's launch of the world's first satellite.

Trump says ‘suburban housewife’ will vote for him. What do polls, 2018 election show?

He tweeted they are “thrilled” he did away with an Obama-era fair housing regulation.

Iran's Rouhani hopeful US arms embargo push will fail

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani expressed "great hopes" Wednesday that a US bid to extend an arms embargo on his country will fail, warning of consequences if the UN Security Council backs it. Rouhani's remarks came after Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said the US would have to redraft its proposed resolution on the issue after being "rebuffed" by Security Council members. The ban on selling weapons to Iran is set to be progressively eased from October under the terms of Resolution 2231, which blessed the Iran nuclear deal that world powers agreed in July 2015.

School district nixes in-person learning after 400 teachers opt out

More than 400 teachers in New Jersey's Elizabeth School District have already opted out of in-person classes over health concerns.

US Border Patrol agent arrested and charged with trafficking over 350,000 pills believed to be fentanyl

The suspect drove to the airport and unloaded two duffel bags into another vehicle. Officials later found nearly $330,000 in his home.

These states require travelers to self-quarantine or present negative COVID-19 test

States are opening back up, but some still require or recommend visitors self-quarantine for two weeks. Find out where.

A father filmed a racist encounter with a white woman who called him the n-word and phoned the police over a parking spot

The 34-year-old was picking up his children from his aunt's apartment complex when an elderly resident accosted him.

Air Force's Hypersonic Weapon Hits 'Major Milestone' in New Test

The Air Force carried out a captive-carry test of the Lockheed Martin AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW

Germany to Russia: we will protect our people, online and off

The murder in a central Berlin park of a Georgian national, blamed by German prosecutors on the actions of a branch of the Russian state, has been a serious burden on relations between the two countries, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Maas said on Tuesday that Germany would do everything it could to protect its people, both in the online and offline spaces. "The murder in the Tiergarten, which prosecutors believe was commissioned by a Russian state organ, has seriously weighed on our relationship, so I made clear that we will defend the security of our people, both online and off," he said.

Trump campaign tweets mugshots of alleged criminals, all of them Black, to claim Biden is pro-crime

Trump campaign Twitter account @TrumpWarRoom has tweeted and retweeted some questionable things in the past. Lately, it's been all systems go against former Vice President Joe Biden, who is set to oppose President Trump in November's election.The latest effort to bring down Biden is a series of tweets that seem to claim Biden is pro-crime. In a blog post, the campaign points to Biden staffer's donations to bail funds amid the nationwide protests against police brutality. The campaign highlighted four alleged "regular criminals," all of them Black, who were supposedly freed from jail thanks to Biden.> Remember Willie Horton? > > President Trump's campaign is tweeting mugshots of black people to attack Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/ursYZoXv5b> > — Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) August 11, 2020The mugshots were posted alongside rhetorical questions like "Does Joe Biden regret his campaign putting women in danger?" The donations to the bail fund were made by individual staffers, not by the Biden campaign as a whole. Still, the post asserts the streets are now less safe "thanks in part to the Biden campaign."The Trump campaign's strategy was quickly denounced as racist fearmongering. The Washington Post's Philip Bump pointed out that Biden himself is only loosely connected to the bailouts, and that it's not clear those pictured have been convicted of the crimes listed. Given Trump's insistence on respecting "due process," it seems like a significant oversight.More stories from theweek.com Trump and his aides reportedly think they have Democrats in a 'real pickle' with the COVID-19 aid stalemate The case against American truck bloat Stevie Nicks says pandemic 'is a real American Horror Story'

Mysterious shark frozen at Smithsonian to study its ‘big mouth with a lot of secrets’

Little is known about the “elusive” species, experts say.

Trump’s attorney general under fire for calling Black Lives Matter a ‘Bolshevik organisation’ with ‘fascistic’ tactics

US attorney general Bill Barr made waves with a Fox News interview this weekend in which he called the Black Lives Matter movement “Bolshevik” and “fascistic” – and the fallout is still simmering.Host Mark Levin, who conducted the interview, is now pushing back against the mainstream media’s coverage of the segment, accusing newspapers’ fact checkers of lying about Black Lives Matter’s true nature and declaring that journalists are in cahoots with “violent Marxists”.

Seattle shop owners close business after city council's decision to defund the police

Steepologies Tea Seattle owners Andrea and Joe Raetzer speak out.

Police face new lawsuit, probes after Elijah McClain's death

A police department in suburban Denver faced a new set of investigations and legal problems Tuesday as scrutiny mounts over the death last year of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold by officers, and other run-ins with people of color. McClain's parents sued the Aurora Police Department and paramedics who injected their son with a sedative, saying they were seeking both accountability for the loss of a “beautiful soul” and to send a message that “racism and brutality have no place in American law enforcement.” The office of Attorney General Phil Weiser said it's been looking into whether Aurora officers have been depriving people of their constitutional rights for several weeks and it's separate from a probe into McClain’s death, which Gov. Jared Polis ordered in June.

Taking toxic bleach MMS has killed 7 people in the US, Colombian prosecutors say — far more than previously known

Medical experts have long warned the substance can be fatal, but evidence of fatalities was not known.