Authorities on Thursday sedated and euthanized four small whales after 10 of the animals were stranded alive on a beach on the Hawaii island of Maui. Two others were also likely to be euthanized.
Veterinarians determined the four melon-headed whales were in grave condition and nothing more could be done to save them, Jeffrey Walters, the wildlife management and conservation branch chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a statement.
The animals were made comfortable with a sedative and then humanely euthanized to relieve their suffering, he said.
The remaining six whales were refloated to the ocean, but two of them soon stranded again. Walters says the prognosis for these two wasn't good and they would likely be euthanized.
Walters said NOAA and University of Hawaii scientists will examine the whales to determine what caused the stranding on Sugar Beach in the town of Kihei.
Kealoha Pisciotta, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, said the whales are .

4 out of 10 whales stranded alive on US beach euthanized

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The wife of a U.S. Army sergeant from Michigan who was convicted of plotting to kill her husband has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Twenty-two-year-old Kemia Hassel learned her punishment Thursday. A Berrien County jury found her guilty of murder last month in the death of Sgt. Tyrone Hassel III. The 23-year-old was fatally shot in an ambush on New Year's Eve while visiting family in St. Joseph Township.
Kemia Hassel chose not to speak at the sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors argued at trial that she planned her husband's death so she could continue a romantic relationship with 24-year-old Jeremy Cuellar. All three were soldiers stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.
Cuellar has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and faces a minimum sentence of 65 years in prison.

US woman gets life in ambush slaying of soldier husband

Police in New Jersey say a possible carjacker apparently removed a sleeping 80-year-old woman from her parked car before stealing the vehicle and leaving her in the driveway.
Hamilton police say the woman told them she'd fallen asleep in her parked car in a driveway around 9 p.m. Wednesday, but woke to find the vehicle missing at around 4 a.m. on Thursday.
Police say the woman didn't remember what happened and had a bruise and abrasion on her face.
Authorities found the empty vehicle Thursday afternoon in Trenton.
No arrest had been made as of midday Thursday.

US woman fell asleep in her parked car, woke to find it missing

A judge formally ended the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, but not without a final tribute to the women who spoke out against the financier.
U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman took the procedural step of adding his initials to an order dismissing the indictment that charged the 66-year-old Epstein with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and sex trafficking of minors in the early 2000s in Florida and New York.
In requesting the action 10 days earlier, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, who is not related to the judge, noted that the law required the dismissal after Epstein killed himself in jail Aug. 10 while he was awaiting trial.
Though anticipated, Berman's action included a reference to a Tuesday court hearing where 16 women spoke about their claims against Epstein of sexual abuse, some committed when they were under the age of consent. Statements by several other women were read by their lawyers.
The judge said he was incorporating by reference the 

Judge ends case against Epstein, with a nod to the accusers

Apple is loosening its grip on how its products are repaired to give customers more options for fixing cracked screens and other defects on their older iPhones.
Under the new policy announced Thursday, Apple will begin selling its tools and parts to more independent phone-repair shops in the U.S. Apple will expand that to other countries later. Repairs at these shops, though, will be limited to iPhones already out of warranty.
IPhones still under warranty must still be taken to an Apple store or one of more than 5,000 service providers that the company already has authorized worldwide. That includes all Best Buy stores in the U.S. Those who have other devices, such as the Apple Watch and Mac computer, or an iPhone requiring more complicated repairs will also have to go there.
Although many unofficial repair shops have been offering basic fixes such as screen replacements, they aren't necessarily using Apple parts or qualified technicians. Now, thousands more shops will be able to buy .

Cracked iPhone screen? You'll have more places to fix it

North Korea accused the United Kingdom, France and Germany on Thursday of meddling in its "self-defensive measures for arms modernisation," saying the West will make "no greater mistake" than thinking Pyongyang will give up its right to have weapons that it says are needed to ensure peace.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency circulated a statement from Kim Son Gyong, an adviser at the Korea-Europe Association, in response to a joint statement Tuesday from the three important U.S. allies condemning Pyongyang's "repeated provocative launches" of ballistic missiles.
The Europeans accused North Korea of violating U.N. sanctions and urged leader Kim Jong Un to engage with the United States and make progress on denuclearization, which they said is "the only way to guarantee security and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region."
The North Korean statement said defending national security has become more important after seeing countries "whose destinies were hacked to .

North Korea says it won't give up arms modernisation

President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled his planned weekend trip to Poland as Hurricane Dorian barrels toward Florida.
Trump, announcing the last-minute change of plans at a Rose Garden signing ceremony, said it was "very important" for him to be in Washington to deal with the storm, which the National Hurricane Center predicts will make landfall on Labor Day as a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds.
"Our highest priority is the safety and security of the American people in the path of the hurricane," Trump said.
Trump had been scheduled to depart for Warsaw Saturday for a visit to commemorate the 80th anniversary of World War II. He said he'll be sending Vice President Mike Pence in his place.
It's the second time Trump has canceled a trip in recent weeks. Trump had originally been scheduled to fly from Poland to Copenhagen for his first official trip to Denmark, but canceled after leaders there mocked his desire to purchase Greenland.
Trump said he delivered the news to Polish ..

Trump cancels Poland trip as hurricane heads to Florida

Declaring space crucial to the nation's defense, President Donald Trump said Thursday the Pentagon has established U.S. Space Command as part of a broader effort to preserve U.S. dominance in orbit.
"This is a landmark day," Trump said in a Rose Garden ceremony, "one that recognizes the centrality of space to America's national security and defense." He said Space Command, headed by a four-star Air Force general, will "ensure that America's dominance in space is never questioned and never threatened." But there's still no Space Force.
Space Force, which has become a reliable applause line for Trump at his campaign rallies, has yet to win final approval by Congress.
The renewed focus on space as a military domain reflects concern about the vulnerability of U.S. satellites, both military and commercial, that are critical to U.S. interests and are potentially susceptible to disruption by Chinese and Russian anti-satellite weapons.
The role of the new Space Command is to conduct ...

Trump declares new Space Command key to American defense

Florida residents picked the shelves clean of bottled water and lined up at gas stations Thursday as an increasingly menacing-looking Hurricane Dorian threatened to broadside the state over Labor Day weekend.
Leaving mercifully little damage in its wake in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the second hurricane of the 2019 season swirled toward the U.S., with forecasters warning it will draw energy from the warm, open waters as it closes in.
The National Hurricane Center said the Category 1 storm is expected to strengthen into a potentially catastrophic Cat 4 with winds of 130 mph (209 kph) and slam into the U.S. on Monday somewhere between the Florida Keys and southern Georgia  a 500-mile stretch that reflected the high degree of uncertainty this far out.
"If it makes landfall as a Category 3 or 4 hurricane, that's a big deal," said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. "A lot of people are going to be affected. A lot of insurance claims." President Donald Trump ...

'A big deal': Florida braces for Hurricane Dorian

Britain's Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, says the House of Commons will move quickly to try to block a no-deal Brexit despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to suspend Parliament.
Corbyn told Sky News that Parliament should "legislate rapidly" to prevent a "no-deal" Brexit and that he would try to "politically stop" Johnson from pushing through a no-deal Brexit and shutting down Parliament.
Corbyn says "we believe we can do it."
The move by Johnson to suspend Parliament could make it more likely that Britain falls out of the European Union on October 31 without a deal, wreaking havoc for people and businesses.
The decision was slammed by some as being dictatorial, but Brexit supporters cheered it as a decisive move to finally bring the country out of the EU three years after the 2016 referendum.
The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator is warning British Prime Minister Boris Johnson he will not back down before the October 31 departure date and make concessions just to ..

UK Labour leader to try to block no-deal Brexit

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed revoking Obama-era regulations on climate-changing methane leaks from many oil facilities, a move that environmental groups said was meant to renounce the agency's overall legal authority to regulate the gas in the fight against global warming.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the proposed rule followed President Donald Trump's directions to remove "unnecessary and duplicative regulatory burdens from the oil and gas industry."
The step would be the latest in a series easing the previous administration's emissions controls on the oil, gas and coal industries, including a 2016 rule regulating oil-industry methane leaks as a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act.
Methane is a component of natural gas that's frequently wasted through leaks or intentional releases during drilling operations.
The gas is considered a more potent contributor to climate change than carbon dioxide, although it occurs in smaller volumes.
Under ...

US proposing easing rules on climate-changing oil emissions

Polish authorities on Thursday were warning residents in cities along the Vistula river that runs into the Baltic Sea of a "crisis" situation after Warsaw's new sewage collection plant malfunctioned.
The health minister and local authorities said they have been closely monitoring the levels of contamination north of the Polish capital, including by nitrogen, since the problem began late Tuesday, but wouldn't disclose the results of the tests.
The sewage is being discharged at about 3,000 liters (nearly 800 gallons) a second at Warsaw's northern edge and goes north without affecting the city's waters, authorities said.
"There is no reason for panic and there is no threat to the health of Warsaw residents," Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski said.
Other officials were speaking in the central city of Plock, about 110 kilometers (68 miles) north of Warsaw, which was bracing for a wave of contaminated water.
Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski advised people not to fish or bathe in the Vistula ...

Warsaw sewage plant malfunction contaminates Vistula river

Opposition to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to suspend Parliament intensified Thursday, with the head of the Labour Party vowing "to politically stop him" from pushing through a chaotic no-deal Brexit.
Johnson's tactic gave lawmakers little time to prevent Britain from crashing out of the European Union without an agreement on October 31.
But a backlash to the maneuver has unified the disparate political opposition, bringing protests, legal action and a petition with more than 1 million signatures.
The confrontation is almost certain to increase next week when lawmakers return from their summer recess for a brief session.
They are pledging to challenge what Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has called Johnson's "smash-and-grab raid against our democracy."
"What we're going to do is try to politically stop him on Tuesday with a parliamentary process in order to legislate to prevent a no-deal Brexit and also to try and prevent him shutting down Parliament in this utterly ..

Backlash grows to Johnson's suspension of UK Parliament

France and the United States agreed to take leading roles in talks aimed at reaching a deal on a global digital tax by mid-2020.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Thursday that both countries will be working in a task force with the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Le Maire will meet with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin next week in Washington.
Angel Gurria, OECD secretary general, said that about 130 countries are involved in the process.
France and the US announced an agreement this week over a French tax on online giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook.
France would reimburse companies any excess taxes once an international deal is in place.
"No one can accept that companies make huge revenues in a country without being physically present there and therefore without paying taxes on that territory," Le Maire said.
"That's about justice and efficiency."
The 3 per cent French tax, which primarily targets firms using consumer data to ...

US, France to lead talks on a global digital tax

Former FBI Director James Comey violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with President Donald Trump, the Justice Department's inspector general said Thursday.
The watchdog office said Comey broke bureau rules by giving one memo containing unclassified information to a friend with instructions to share the contents with a reporter.
Comey also failed to notify the FBI after he was dismissed in May 2017 that he had retained some of the memos in a safe at home, the report said.
"By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for official action, Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees_and the many thousands more former FBI employees_who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information," the report says.
The report is the second in as many years to criticise Comey's actions as FBI director, following a separate ...

Watchdog: Comey violated FBI policies in handling of memos

A rocket at an Iranian space center that was to conduct a satellite launch criticised by the US apparently exploded on its launch pad Thursday, satellite images show, suggesting the Islamic Republic suffered its third failed launch this year alone.
State media and officials did not immediately acknowledge the incident at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province.
However, satellite images by Planet Labs Inc. showed a black plume of smoke rising above a launch pad there, with what appeared to be the charred remains of a rocket and its launch stand.
In previous days, satellite images had shown officials there repainted the launch pad blue.
On Thursday morning, half of that paint apparently had been burned away.
"Whatever happened there, it blew up and you're looking at the smoldering remains of what used to be there," said David Schmerler, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Schmerler told The Associated Press that the images .

Satellite photos show burning Iran space center launch pad

The Israeli military is accusing Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah of stepping up attempts to build missile-production facilities in Lebanon and says these efforts are putting Lebanese civilians in danger.
The announcement comes at a time of rising tensions.
In recent days, Israel has struck Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq, and Hezbollah has accused Israel of a drone strike in Lebanon.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said Thursday that Israel has detected an "intensified" effort by Iran and Hezbollah to establish missile-production facilities in Lebanon.
He released the names of four officials, led by an Iranian brigadier general, allegedly leading the effort.
"Iran and Hezbollah are endangering Lebanon," he said.
Israel considers it a major escalation if Hezbollah manages to obtain large quantities of guided missiles.

Israel: Iran, Hezbollah intensifying missile efforts

Syrian government forces pressed ahead with their military offensive in Idlib, seizing a cluster of villages on the southeastern edges of the province on Thursday as the overall civilian death toll from the campaign rose further.
The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said troops captured three small villages in the area, as they continued their assault with the next target appearing to be the rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan, which lies near the Damascus-Aleppo highway.
Last week, the troops captured the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which also sits on the highway.
Idlib is the Syrian opposition's final stronghold in the country, and President Bashar Assad's forces, backed by Russia, are determined to recapture it.
For now, their main aim is to reopen the M5 highway and they have been pounding towns and villages that lie near that route.
Opening the highway would cut the trip between the country's two largest cities by two hours.
The opposition Syrian Civil Defence group 

Syrian army presses on in Idlib province as death toll rises

Hurricane Dorian posed an increasing menace to Florida as it pushed over open waters Thursday after leaving limited damage in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The US National Hurricane Center said Dorian was expected to grow into a potentially devastating Category 3 hurricane before hitting the US mainland late Sunday or early Monday somewhere between the Florida Keys and southern Georgia.
Across much of Florida's east coast, residents began flocking to the grocery stores and gas stations, stocking up in anticipation of the storm.
There were lines at many gas stations in South Florida as people began filling gas cans and topping off their gas tanks.
Some residents using community Facebook groups gave updates on new shipments of water to restock the nearly empty shelves at local grocery stores.
Josefine Larrauri, a retired translator, went to a Publix supermarket in Miami only to find empty shelves in the water section and store employees were unsure of when new cases would ...

Hurricane on track for Florida after strike in Caribbean

The number of people killed by drivers running red lights has hit a 10-year high, and AAA is urging drivers and pedestrians to use caution at traffic signals.
In 2017, the latest figures available, 939 people were killed by vehicles blowing through red lights, according to a AAA study of government crash data.
It's the highest death toll since 2008 and 28 per cent higher than in 2012.
AAA says two people are killed every day in the US by drivers who don't stop for the signals.
"Drivers who decide to run a red light when they could have stopped safely are making a reckless choice that puts other road users in danger," David Yang, executive director of AAA's Foundation for Traffic Safety, said Thursday.
AAA isn't sure why the numbers are on the rise or why they have increased at a far higher rate than overall US roadway deaths.
Since 2012 the overall number of highway fatalities rose 10 per cent, far short of the 28 per cent increase in red-light running deaths.
There are more people ...

Deaths caused by drivers running red lights at 10-year high

A federal appeals court has upheld a US Air Force veteran's conviction on terrorism charges for trying to join the Islamic State group and die a martyr.
But the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said Tairod Pugh should be resentenced so a judge can explain why he gave him the maximum 35-year prison sentence.
Pugh, of Neptune, New Jersey, drew the first verdict of over 70 cases the US brought against Americans suspected of supporting the militant group.
He was convicted in 2016 after a Brooklyn federal court trial.
Prosecutors said Pugh sought a route into Syria to join the Islamic State group when he was stopped at a Turkish airport in 2015.
He was in the Air Force from 1986 to 1990.

AP

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