Ms. Park's opportune visit with Mr. Obama

October 14, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

White House visits can be long on pomp. But South Korean President Park’s may actually have some substance.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

To read this post and thousands more articles, subscribe today!

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was destroyed by a Buk surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine, the Dutch Safety Board said Tuesday as it presented the results of an official probe into the crash. The missile's Russian maker, however, presented its own report hours earlier, trying to clear Russia-backed separatists who controlled the area or Russia of any involvement in the crash on July 17, 2014, that killed all 298 people aboard the plane. The Dutch investigators said the missile exploded next to the plane. The aircraft broke up in the air and crashed over a large area controlled by rebel separatists who had been fighting government troops there since April 2014.

A large wildfire raging in Wyoming has prompted the evacuation of hundreds of homes near Evansville and Casper. The fire, which started at a landfill outside Evansville, has destroyed roughly a dozen homes and an unknown number of outbuildings. Some 300 people have been driven from their homes by the wildfire which broke out on Saturday evening, according to Bob Fawcett, fire marshal with the Natrona County Fire Protection District. As of Monday afternoon, almost 10,000 acres had burned an evacuation orders expanded after flames resumed spreading after the wind picked back up late Monday. Fire managers say that the strong winds have hampered their efforts to contain the blaze.

Israel's prime minister on Tuesday said he would take a series of "aggressive steps" to halt a wave of violence in Israeli cities after two attacks in Jerusalem left three Israelis dead. Three Palestinians, including two attackers, were also killed. The attacks in Jerusalem, including a deadly shooting and knifing spree on a bus and a violent hacking attack caught on video, escalated the month-long unrest and raised the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take action. The government has been unable to stop the violence, carried out mostly by young Palestinians unaffiliated with known militant groups and apparently acting on their own.

The former head of Chicago Public Schools pleaded guilty Tuesday to a fraud charge in an alleged scheme to steer $23 million in no-bid contracts to education firms for $2.3 million in bribes and kickbacks. Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who ran the nation's 3rd largest school district for nearly three years, had faced 20 fraud counts, each with a maximum 20-year prison term. However, she pleaded guilty to one fraud count in federal court in Chicago. In exchange, prosecutors will dismiss all the other counts. Federal prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 7 1/2 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang will sentence the 66-year-old at a later date.

Climate negotiators are banking on countries’ voluntary pledges to save the world from global warming, but questions remain. By Monday, 149 countries had submitted pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions, European Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told Reuters. If met, those nationally set goals will stop global warming at 3 degrees Celsius, one degree above the global goal of 2 degrees, determined to be the cutoff to prevent dangerous consequences. Still, efforts to stop climate change center around these voluntary pledges with no sanctions in place to ensure the full execution of these promises.

NASA’s tiny satellite has made it to space. The space agency confirmed Friday that the Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) CubeSat spacecraft is now in orbit. Next, the miniature satellite will demonstrate use of its laser. The arrival of this CubeSat in space is just the first of two flight demonstrations planned to test the tiny spacecraft.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

Are you sure?

Forgot to add folder?

Tags Error

HEADING

THANK_YOU_HEADING