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German mother admits killing babies, but says she can't remember how many
World
German mother admits killing babies, but says she can't remember how many
A German woman on trial in one of Germany's worst infanticide cases has confessed to killing several of her babies, but said she could not remember how many. Andrea Goeppner, 45, is charged with four out of a possible eight babies' murders after their remains were found wrapped in towels and plastic bags last year in a case that has horrified the country. Asked how many of the babies Goeppner confessed to killing, defence lawyer Till Wagler said: "It could have been two, three or four." Prosecutors have been unable to pursue murder charges for the other four infants, because one was stillborn and the others were so badly decomposed that it was uncertain they would have been alive at birth.
She sought simply to remain sexually active without any thought about the consequences or the value of a newborn child.
State prosecutors
The woman’s estranged husband, Johann Goeppner, 55, is charged with complicity for failing to stop the killings, which took place between 2003 and 2013. In her confession, read out by her lawyer, the mother said she had given birth to each of the eight babies at home alone and had wrapped every infant in a hand towel. She would immediately suffocate any baby that moved or cried, and then put the body in a plastic bag or containers and hid it in the apartment, said the defence lawyer. The grisly remains were uncovered last year in Goeppner's apartment in the Bavarian small town of Wallenfels.
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I'm not pregnant, just fed up, says an angry Jennifer Aniston
Celebrity
I'm not pregnant, just fed up, says an angry Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston says she is “fed up” with the “absurd and disturbing” scrutiny of women as she denied reports suggesting she is pregnant. The 47-year-old actress issued a lengthy statement criticising tabloid claims that she and her husband Justin Theroux were expecting their first child.“For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed up,” Jennifer wrote in an essay published by the Huffington Post. “I’m fed up with the sport-like scrutiny and body shaming that occurs daily under the guise of ‘journalism’, the ‘First Amendment’ and ‘celebrity news’."
The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing. The way I am portrayed by the media is simply a reflection of how we see and portray women in general, measured against some warped standard of beauty.
Jennifer Aniston
The Friends star said young girls were absorbing “toxic messages buried within these seemingly harmless stories”. In a lengthy diatribe, Aniston said celebrity news was perpetuating a dehumanising view of women. “The message that girls are not pretty unless they’re incredibly thin, that they’re not worthy of our attention unless they look like a supermodel or an actress on the cover of a magazine is something we’re all willingly buying into,” she wrote. “This conditioning is something girls then carry into womanhood." She added that she may become a mother in the future but she believed “we are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child”.
I resent being made to feel ‘less than’ because my body is changing and/or I had a burger for lunch and was photographed from a weird angle and therefore deemed one of two things: ‘pregnant’ or ‘fat’.
Aniston
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Solar Impulse grabs pyramid photo as fuel-free aircraft lands in Cairo
Science
Solar Impulse grabs pyramid photo as fuel-free aircraft lands in Cairo
Solar Impulse 2 landed in Cairo on Wednesday for the penultimate stop in the solar-powered plane's world tour, two days after setting off from Spain. The experimental plane had completed the first solo transatlantic flight powered only by sunlight to land in Spain last month, and will continue from Cairo to Abu Dhabi, where it began its marathon journey in March last year. After setting off from Seville on Monday morning, the plane passed through Algerian, Tunisian, Italian and Greek airspace, and flew over the Giza Pyramids before touching down at Cairo airport at 0510 GMT. Its support crew cheered as the plane, no heavier than a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, landed, and trailed after it on bicycles.
It was fantastic, everything worked well.
Pilot Andre Borschberg
Pilot Andre Borschberg emerged from the cockpit and hugged Bertrand Piccard, with whom he has taken turns flying the plane around the world. Solar Impulse is being flown on its 35,400km (22,000 mile) trip round the world in stages, with Piccard and his Swiss compatriot Borschberg alternating at the controls of the single-seat plane. Picard, who had arrived early to greet the plane, told reporters that flying Solar Impulse 2 was "magic". He said: "It's a new era for energy. I love to fly this plane because when you are in the air for several days you have the impression to be in a film of science fiction."
You look at the sun, you look at your motors, they turn for days and for days, no fuel. And you think that's a miracle. That's magic. It is actually the reality of today. This is what we can do with these new technologies.
Bertrand Piccard
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Obama strives for reconciliation as he honors fallen Dallas officers
World
Obama strives for reconciliation as he honors fallen Dallas officers
President Obama urged Americans on Tuesday to cast off despair over violence, to rise above racial divides and to honor five police officers slain in Dallas in a racially motivated attack by building on their call to service. Obama's address at a memorial service for the officers killed last Thursday also followed a series of high-profile police killings of black men in the past two years, including two last week. His speech sought a careful balance between tribute to the fallen officers and respect for the country's law enforcement, and sympathy for those protesting against police violence. A call for national unity and solidarity was reinforced by several speakers at the interfaith service, including former President George W. Bush, a Dallas resident.
We turn on the TV or surf the Internet, and we can watch positions harden and lines drawn and people retreat to their respective corners, and politicians calculate how to grab attention or avoid the fallout. ... I understand how Americans are feeling. But Dallas, I'm here to say we must reject such despair. I'm here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem.
Obama
Emerging at the helm of the current divide between law enforcement and the communities across the nation is Dallas Police Chief David Brown. No stranger to this role, Brown has been lauded for taking bold steps to repair relations between police officers and minorities and has personal stake in the current crisis. Brown became chief in 2010, and a few months later, police shot and killed his 27-year-old son, who had gone on a shooting rampage, killing a civilian and a police officer. Then in 2012, the killing of a black man by a white officer triggered widespread protests in the city, and Brown responded by creating a public database to track shootings by police. He required officers to undergo lethal-force training every two months instead of every two years, and he fired 70 officers involved in questionable incidents. But the biggest backlash has come in the last six months, when Brown started a community policing program in mostly Hispanic and black neighborhoods. He began reassigning officers from desk jobs to foot patrols, a move that was praised by criminal justice experts but angered the police unions, who demanded his resignation. However, it has been a gradual process of getting residents accustomed to community policing, and some say the disconnect is still strong.
I'm more afraid of the police after the shooting because people are going to feel like everybody's out for them. ... We feel like the biggest gang is the police out here because they face no repercussions.
Anthony Williams, a 23-year-old demolition worker who described being routinely sworn at, frisked and asked for identification simply for sitting outside
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Beijing says it has right to air defences in South China Sea after ruling blow
Politics
Beijing says it has right to air defences in South China Sea after ruling blow
A senior Chinese official has said China has the right to set up an air defence zone over territory it claims in the South China Sea. The statement from Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin comes a day after an international tribunal said there was no legal basis for China's claims. In the 497-page ruling, judges also found that Chinese law enforcement patrols had risked colliding with Philippine fishing vessels in parts of the sea and caused irreparable damage to coral reefs with construction work. Beijing, which boycotted the case brought by the Philippines, has said it will not abide by any ruling.
Beijing will not step back, and will not allow what it sees as a wolf-pack scheme to succeed.
China Daily newspaper
State news agency Xinhua has been referring to the court as a "law-abusing tribunal". A cartoon published by the national TV station CCTV shows a sad panda in the dock and a one-eyed judge presiding from above. The US comes into this despite not taking a position on the individual territorial disputes (China, Vietnam, The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia all lay claim to parts of the sea). It has, however, been carrying out what it calls 'freedom of navigation patrols' through the waters, effectively rejecting China's claim to territorial waters around its artificial islands. It is also a treaty ally of the Philippines.
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Hundreds of adults and children 'disappeared and tortured in Egypt'
World
Hundreds of adults and children 'disappeared and tortured in Egypt'
Egypt’s national security Agency (NSA) is abducting, torturing and forcibly disappearing people in an effort to intimidate opponents and wipe out peaceful dissent, according to a new Amnesty International report. The report shows a trend which has seen hundreds of students, political activists and protesters, including children as young as 14, vanish without trace. On average, three to four people per day are seized according to local NGOs, usually when heavily-armed security forces led by NSA officers storm their homes. Amnesty said many of these people are held for months at a time and often kept blindfolded and handcuffed for the entire period.
Enforced disappearance has become a key instrument of state policy in Egypt. Anyone who dares to speak out is at risk, with counter-terrorism being used as an excuse to abduct, interrogate and torture people who challenge the authorities.
Amnesty report
Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, said the report “reveals the shocking and ruthless tactics that the Egyptian authorities are prepared to employ in their efforts to terrify protesters and dissidents into silence". The report features details of 17 people subjected to enforced disappearance, who were held for periods ranging from several days to seven months. Amnesty said these people were “cut off from the outside world and denied access to their lawyers, families or any independent judicial oversight”, as well as many being tortured – including children.
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Thumb suckers, nail biters less likely to develop allergies
Health
Thumb suckers, nail biters less likely to develop allergies
Children who suck their thumbs or bite their nails are less likely than others to have allergies later in life, according to a new study. Lending support to the “hygiene hypothesis,” which holds that early life exposure to microbes may decrease the risk of developing allergies, the study may explain why kids with oral habits have fewer allergies as adults, the authors write. However, researchers were clear that the results do not suggest that kids should take up these habits.
Many parents worry about the dental effects of thumb sucking in particular, and we don't wish to dismiss these concerns, but if a child has a habit that is difficult to break, maybe there is some consolation in the fact that there may be a reduction in the risk of allergies.
Senior author Robert J. Hancox, MD, of the Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.
The study followed more than 1,000 children whose parents reported their nail biting and thumb-sucking tendencies at ages 5, 7, 9 and 11. The same kids were tested for allergies with pin-prick tests at ages 13 and 32. Researchers that found 49 percent of 13-year-olds who did not suck their thumb or bite their nails tested positive to at least one allergy, compared to 38 percent who practiced one of the habits. The allergy level fell to 31 percent for children who did both. The results remained the same when participants were 32-years-old, regardless of factors such as parental history of allergies, pet ownership or being breast fed. However, researchers cautioned that the findings need to be supported by more studies in different geographical regions around the globe.
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'Far and away the best': Sanders finally endorses Clinton
Politics
'Far and away the best': Sanders finally endorses Clinton
With hugs and handshakes, Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton for president on Tuesday and emphatically told his supporters their "political revolution" must now turn to electing his former rival. Sanders bestowed his long-awaited support before a boisterous New Hampshire crowd, declaring he wanted to make it "as clear as possible as to why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton." He congratulated her for securing enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination and vowed to do everything he could to help her defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump.
This campaign is not really about Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders, or any other candidate who sought the presidency. This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face. And there is no doubt in my mind that, as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that.
Sanders
As Sanders delivered the endorsement just two weeks shy of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Clinton said the final four months of the campaign would be "much more enjoyable" working alongside Sanders and echoed her campaign slogan, "We are stronger together." During much of her remarks, the former secretary of state embraced many of Sanders' causes, vowing to oppose trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, fight to raise the federal minimum wage and overhaul the campaign finance system. "These aren't just my fights. These are Bernie's fights. These are America's fights," Clinton said. Trump, who has courted Sanders' backers late in the primary season, wasted little time going after Sanders, accusing him of capitulating to Clinton.
Bernie Sanders, who has lost most of his leverage, has totally sold out to Crooked Hillary Clinton. ... Sanders was not true to himself and his supporters.
Trump on Twitter
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Scientists discover rare dwarf planet lurking beyond Neptune
Science
Scientists discover rare dwarf planet lurking beyond Neptune
Scientists using a telescope in Hawaii have discovered a never-before-seen dwarf planet lurking within the ring of icy bodies on an eccentric orbit far beyond Neptune. The small new world — temporarily named 2015 RR245 — is about 435 miles in diameter and is in a wide orbit that takes it farther away from the sun than even Neptune. The newly spotted dwarf planet joins a cohort of other small worlds in that part of space, including Pluto. Together, dwarf planets can help scientists learn a lot about how the solar system became what we see today.
They let us piece together the history of our solar system. But almost all of these icy worlds are painfully small and faint: It's really exciting to find one that's large and bright enough that we can study it in detail.
Michele Bannister, one of the researchers who helped discover the dwarf planet using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii
They are smaller than ordinary planets, and they orbit the sun at a much greater distance, traveling in a zone littered with other objects like asteroids. There are thought to be dozens of them in our solar system, but only a handful have been identified so far. They include Eris and Ceres, as well as Pluto, which was downgraded to a dwarf planet in a 2006 decision that remains contested to this day. The discoverers of RR245 now have the right to propose a name for their find.
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Venezuelans spend life on the line amid economic crisis
World
Venezuelans spend life on the line amid economic crisis
The people waiting for hours in front of the drugstore were dazed with heat and boredom when the gunmen arrived. The robbers demanded a cellphone from a 25-year-old in black shorts. Instead of handing it over, Junior Perez took off running. Eight shots rang out, and he fell face-down. The dozens of shoppers in line were unmoved. They held their places as the gunmen went through Perez's pockets. They watched as thick ribbons of blood ran from the young man's head. And when their turn came, they bought two tubes each of rationed toothpaste. As Venezuela's lines have grown longer and more dangerous, they have become not only the stage for everyday life, but also a backdrop to death. More than two dozen people were killed in line in the past 12 months, including a 4-year-old girl caught in gang crossfire.
These days, you have to put the line above everything.
Haide Mendoza, pharmacist who was there that morning
The extent of the country's economic collapse can be measured in the length of its lines. The average Venezuelan shopper spends 35 hours waiting to buy subsidized goods each month, according to the polling firm Datanalisis. Venezuela's vast oil wealth once fueled a bustling economy. But years of mismanagement under a socialist government disrupted much of the nation's production, and a steep drop in the price of oil left the country unable to pay to import basic necessities. Shortages now top voters' lists of concerns, surpassing even safety. That's stunning in a country with one of the world's highest murder rates. And the longest lines are for food, which is the shortest in supply.
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Annoyed eagle attempts to carry young boy away in Australia
Odd News
Annoyed eagle attempts to carry young boy away in Australia
While nature can be breathtakingly beautiful, wildlife can pose a lot of potential danger. Visitors at Alice Springs Desert Park in Australia were reminded of this after a wedge-tailed eagle tried to fly away with a young boy on July 6. As BBC News reported, the wedge-tailed eagle attempted to airlift the boy — who was wearing a green hoodie and reportedly kept running his zipper up and down — during a popular wildlife show at the park. They wrote that the surrounding crowd was stunned by the event, and witnesses explained that the bird "attempted to pick him up like a small animal." BBC News spoke with onlooker Christine O'Connell, who captured several photos of the attack and even posted one on Instagram with a short account of what she witnessed.
Those talons are huge he was a very lucky young boy. The show was quickly cancelled and the boy taken off to first aid.
O'Connell on Instagram
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'Elvis & Nixon' reimagines unrecorded but surreal White House meeting
Entertainment
'Elvis & Nixon' reimagines unrecorded but surreal White House meeting
"Elvis & Nixon," a comedy that reimagines their unlikely White House encounter, opens in U.S. theaters on Friday after premiering at New York's Tribeca film festival. The meeting, one of the more surreal moments in modern American history, probably best known for the photos of the two (played here by Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey) that came out of the meeting. The details were important to director Liza Johnson in bringing this world to life. But the script takes artistic license too. According to the archives, photos were taken at the start of the meeting, for example. In the film, however, it's played for drama and almost doesn't happen.
I wanted to be caught up in the facts in different ways than if I were making a documentary or a docudrama.
Johnson
For Johnson and her actors, the fun was getting to the emotional truth of the encounter, rather than creating a beat-by-beat, court-transcript-style reenactment. This freedom leads to some very funny moments as this superstar rocker and this buttoned-up politician navigate their time together. Without spoiling too much, one power move involves some M&M's. "The story tries to take those characters seriously and really think about what they both actually wanted out of the situation, but also acknowledge the kind of energy that comes from the absurdity of them being together," Johnson said.
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Apple hopes to get its books, movies online after shutout in China
Technology
Apple hopes to get its books, movies online after shutout in China
Apple Inc. said Friday it hopes to resume its online iTunes and iBooks services in China, where they were recently shut down less than seven months after being launched. The New York Times reported Thursday that Apple's online movie and book stores initially received government approval but were blocked last week on orders from the broadcasting regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Apple said in an emailed statement that it hoped the services could resume "as soon as possible," but offered no details about the shutdown.
We hope to make books and movies available again to our customers in China as soon as possible.
Apple statement via the New York Times
Chinese regulators have been cracking down on a wide range of online content, including blocking popular overseas news, entertainment and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. That's partly to maintain the ruling Communist Party's strict control over media, but also to provide space for Chinese competitors such as search engine Baidu, microblogging site Weibo and messaging app Weixin. China is also eager to promote homegrown phone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi, and foreign equipment suppliers such as IBM and Cisco have seen some decline in sales because of increased competition from local brands.
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175 states sign landmark Paris deal on climate change
Science
175 states sign landmark Paris deal on climate change
Leaders from a record 175 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change Friday as the landmark deal took a key step forward, potentially entering into force years ahead of schedule. Secretary of State John Kerry, holding his young granddaughter, joined dozens of world leaders for a signing ceremony that set a record for international diplomacy: Never have so many countries signed an agreement on the first available day. States that didn't sign Friday have a year to do so.
We are in a race against time. The era of consumption without consequences is over.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Many now expect the climate agreement to enter into force long before the original deadline of 2020. Some say it could happen this year. After signing, countries must formally approve the Paris Agreement through their domestic procedures. China, the world's top carbon emitter, announced it will "finalize domestic procedures" to ratify the Paris Agreement before the G-20 summit in China in September. The United States also has said it intends to join the agreement this year. The world is watching anxiously: Analysts say that if the agreement enters into force before President Obama leaves office in January, it would be more complicated for his successor to withdraw from the deal, because it would take four years to do so under the agreement's rules.
There is no turning back now.
French President François Hollande, the first to sign the agreement
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'Elvis & Nixon' reimagines unrecorded but surreal White House meeting
Entertainment
'Elvis & Nixon' reimagines unrecorded but surreal White House meeting
"Elvis & Nixon," a comedy that reimagines their unlikely White House encounter, opens in U.S. theaters on Friday after premiering at New York's Tribeca film festival. The meeting, one of the more surreal moments in modern American history, probably best known for the photos of the two (played here by Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey) that came out of the meeting. The details were important to director Liza Johnson in bringing this world to life. But the script takes artistic license too. According to the archives, photos were taken at the start of the meeting, for example. In the film, however, it's played for drama and almost doesn't happen.
I wanted to be caught up in the facts in different ways than if I were making a documentary or a docudrama.
Johnson
For Johnson and her actors, the fun was getting to the emotional truth of the encounter, rather than creating a beat-by-beat, court-transcript-style reenactment. This freedom leads to some very funny moments as this superstar rocker and this buttoned-up politician navigate their time together. Without spoiling too much, one power move involves some M&M's. "The story tries to take those characters seriously and really think about what they both actually wanted out of the situation, but also acknowledge the kind of energy that comes from the absurdity of them being together," Johnson said.
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Report: 3rd of suicides in U.S. are among middle-aged whites
Health
Report: 3rd of suicides in U.S. are among middle-aged whites
Middle-aged white people now account for a third of all suicides in the U.S., a new government report shows. Suicide is the nation's 10th leading cause of death, and the overall rate rose 24 percent in 15 years, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicides have long been most common among white people — particularly older white males. But most striking in the new report is the growth in whites ages 45 to 64. They were a third of suicide deaths in 2014, up from about a quarter in 1999.
The findings in this report are extremely concerning.
Nadine Kaslow, an Emory University researcher and past president of the American Psychological Association
Some experts have speculated that middle age can be a particularly hard time for whites, who — compared to some other racial and ethnic groups — commonly don't have as many supportive relationships with friends, family, or religious communities. Money was a factor, too, they say. The economy was in recession from the end of 2007 until mid-2009. Even well afterward, polls showed most Americans remained worried about weak hiring, a depressed housing market and other problems. White people, in particular, seem to expect financial comfort and happiness by middle age — and have difficulty coping when things get worse instead of better, Emory's Kaslow said.
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175 states sign landmark Paris deal on climate change
Science
175 states sign landmark Paris deal on climate change
Leaders from a record 175 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change Friday as the landmark deal took a key step forward, potentially entering into force years ahead of schedule. Secretary of State John Kerry, holding his young granddaughter, joined dozens of world leaders for a signing ceremony that set a record for international diplomacy: Never have so many countries signed an agreement on the first available day. States that didn't sign Friday have a year to do so.
We are in a race against time. The era of consumption without consequences is over.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Many now expect the climate agreement to enter into force long before the original deadline of 2020. Some say it could happen this year. After signing, countries must formally approve the Paris Agreement through their domestic procedures. China, the world's top carbon emitter, announced it will "finalize domestic procedures" to ratify the Paris Agreement before the G-20 summit in China in September. The United States also has said it intends to join the agreement this year. The world is watching anxiously: Analysts say that if the agreement enters into force before President Obama leaves office in January, it would be more complicated for his successor to withdraw from the deal, because it would take four years to do so under the agreement's rules.
There is no turning back now.
French President François Hollande, the first to sign the agreement
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