About that Russian gift horse

August 13, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

There's no doubt that humanitarian aid is needed in eastern Ukraine. But is Russian charity is what Russia says it is?

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Robin Williams, the Academy Award winner and comic supernova whose explosions of pop culture riffs and impressions dazzled audiences for decades and made him a gleamy-eyed laureate for the Information Age, died Monday. Williams was pronounced dead at his home in California, according to the sheriff's office in Marin County, north of San Francisco. From his breakthrough in the late 1970s as the alien in the hit TV show "Mork and Mindy," through his standup act and such films as "Good Morning, Vietnam," the short, barrel-chested Williams ranted and shouted as if just sprung from solitary confinement. Loud, fast, energetic, he parodied everyone from John Wayne to Keith Richards, impersonating a Russian immigrant as easily as a pack of Nazi attack dogs.

A woman died when her vehicle became stranded in 3 feet of water in suburban Detroit, after heavy rain across southeastern Michigan left many roads impassable. Fearing more motorists could become stranded a day after a storm dumped more than 6 inches of rain in some places in and around Detroit, the state warned commuters against driving in affected areas Tuesday morning. Warren Mayor James Fouts said roughly 1,000 vehicles had been abandoned in floodwaters in the Detroit suburb where many roads were closed after 5.2 inches of rain fell Monday. He said he was seeking state help for residents dealing with the "overwhelming" and "catastrophic" flooding.

A hostage kidnapped during a Northern California bank robbery was killed by police in an ensuing chase and shootout, likely during a final gunbattle where the lone surviving suspect used her as a human shield, authorities said Monday. The results of a preliminary ballistics report show that police in the city of Stockton fired the 10 bullets that struck Misty Holt-Singh, 41, and all her wounds likely came during a final burst of gunfire, Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones said at a news conference.

The US Postal Service lost $2 billion this spring despite increasing its volume and charging consumers more money to send mail, officials said Monday. The loss for the spring quarter, which ended June 30, was significantly higher than the $740 million loss for the same three-month period last year. The agency blamed increases in compensation and benefit costs for the red ink and said it would be unable to make a congressionally mandated payment of $5.7 billion this September for health benefits for future retirees. The loss came despite a 2 percent increase in operating revenue compared to last spring.

China announced Tuesday the birth of extremely rare panda triplets in a further success for the country's artificial breeding program. The three cubs were born July 29 in the southern city of Guangzhou, but breeders delayed an announcement until they were sure all three would survive, the official China News Service said. The mother, Ju Xiao, and the three as-yet-unnamed cubs are healthy, the news agency said. Photos showed the three sleeping and standing, their bodies pink and mostly hairless.

The PBS series "Antiques Roadshow" says it hit a home run with a collection of 1870s Boston baseball memorabilia. A trove of signatures and rare baseball cards from Boston Red Stockings players was appraised at $1 million for insurance purposes, series producer Marsha Bemko said. She said it's the largest sports memorabilia find in the history of the 19-year-old public TV show, which travels America looking for varied heirlooms and treasures. The collection was brought to an "Antiques Roadshow" taping Saturday in New York City. The owner inherited it from her great-great-grandmother, who ran a Boston boarding house where the team lived in 1871-72, PBS said.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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