News of the Force: Tuesday, June 20, 2017 - Page 1

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Tuesday, June 20, 2017 - Today is World Refugee Day

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U.S. student released by North Korea dies

    

    U.S. President Donald Trump has called North Korea a "brutal regime" after the death of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been jailed there for more than 15 months and was returned to the U.S. in a coma.

    Fred Warmbier, the father of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia under-graduate student who was imprisoned in North Korea in March 2016, spoke during a news conference, on Thursday, June 15th, 2017, at Wyoming High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.

    Meanwhile, the China tour agency that organized a trip to North Korea for Warmbier, who died after being released from North Korean detention, said it would no longer take Americans to that country.

 

Car rams police van in Paris

    

    Tourists strolling along Paris' famous Champs-Elysees yesterday afternoon watched in horror as a car rammed into a police van - and some witnessed the car burst into flames as police grabbed the man inside and put him on the ground in what authorities called a probable terrorist attack. The driver of the car is dead.

 

Brexit talks open in Brussels

    

    Britain and the European Union began formal negotiations yesterday over how Britain will leave the bloc and what might come afterward.

    Meanwhile, More than £200,000 of a £5 million emergency fund has so far been given to families affected by last week's fire at Grenfell Tower in Kensington.

 

South Korea seeks reconciliation with the North

    

    As South Korea's new leadership works toward easing long strained inter-Korean relations, U.S. experts are eyeing the country's conciliatory overtures to the Kim Jong Un regime, worried that a possible resumption of the Kaesong Industrial Complex could complicate the situation there even further.

 

Hidden trove of Nazi artifacts found in Argentina

    

    In a hidden room in a house near Argentina's capital, police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in the country's history, including a bust relief of Adolf Hitler, magnifying glasses, and other Nazi items.

 

Visiting scholar from China feared kidnapped

     Female Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang, 26, was last seen getting into a car on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana-Campaign on June 9th.

 

Mutual enemies closing in on ISIS

     

    The Islamic State group is in retreat across Syria and Iraq, and the contours of a new conflict among the array of parties battling it are already starting to appear.

    Meanwhile, U.S. and Coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. In Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 56 engagements against ISIS targets: Near Beiji, a strike destroyed two ISIS bunkers; Near Huwayjah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a supply cache; Near Mosul, four strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units, destroyed 36 fighting positions, 10 medium machine guns, four rocket-propelled grenade systems, four mortar systems, a supply cache, a vehicle and an anti-air artillery system, and damaged 12 fighting positions; and near Tuz, a strike destroyed an ISIS supply route.

 

Tehran attacks caused by Saudi Arabia, Iran says

    

    The Iranian Parliament's General Director for International Affairs, Hossein  Amir-Abdollahian, has said the recent deadly terrorist attacks in Tehran have been carried out at the request of Saudi Arabia's security services.

 

Foreign minister says Cuba won't send fugitives back to the U.S.

    

    Cuba's foreign minister says Cuba will not send back fugitives back to U.S.: "These people will not be returned," he says.

 

U.S. Department of Defense releases report on Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan

    Today the U.S. Department of Defense provided to Congress a report on “Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan” covering events during the period from Dec. 1, 2016, through May 31, 2017. The report is posted at https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/Enhancing-Security-and-Stability-in-Afghanistan-June-2017.pdf.

 

People forced from their homes in record numbers, U.N. says

    

    The total of those displaced from their homes worldwide in 2016 was about 300,000 more than in 2015, according to a U.N. refugee agency report.

 

Russia warns U.S. after shoot-down of Syrian warplane

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

    

    Long-running tensions between the United States and Russia erupted publicly yesterday as Moscow condemned the American military's downing of a Syrian warplane and threatened to target aircraft flown by the United States and its allies.

    In Syria yesterday, Coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of 13 engagements against ISIS targets: Near Raqqa, eight strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units and destroyed 15 fighting positions and a vehicle.

    Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., seems to be championing a single cause: Israel. When Haley speaks about Israel, her language is not merely emotive nor tailored to fit the need of a specific occasion.

    Jared Kushner, U.S. President Trump's son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, is traveling to the Middle East this week in pursuit of a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

    The Security Cabinet is debating the building of 14,000 new homes in "Area C." Israelis are becoming growlingly frustrated after local media showed Prime Minister Netanyahu again freezing settlement construction. 

    And President Trump's special representative for international negotiations has visited the family of a female Israeli border police officer as they mourned the loss of their daughter.

 

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    Couzin Gym's Thought for the Day: You never appreciate what you have until it's gone. Toilet paper is a good example.

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Republicans hoping to avoid Georgia upset

    Republicans nervously await election results from Georgia today, hoping to avoid a watershed upset that could derail their ambitious agenda and drive a wedge between their congressional majorities and President Trump.

    Progressives poured $23 million into Jon Ossoff's campaign. The U.S. House Democrats' campaign arm sent a team to Georgia to organize the sixth congressional district months ahead of the special election there.

    As voters in Georgia's Sixth District (suburban Atlanta) trek to the polls today, no one on either side is betting on who will emerge as the successor to former Republican Rep. and present Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

 

NOAA news

    

    There are two disturbances and one of them has become a tropical storm. i. The one closest to the U.S. had a 90 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression or storm, and it's now Tropical Storm Bret.

    Meteorologists are tracking Tropical Storm Bret that's already bringing a lot of wind to Trinidad and Tobago, and heavy rain and gusty winds are spreading across the Windward Islands and northeastern Venezuela. Tropical storm warnings have been issued for Louisiana and Texas.  

    The tropical Atlantic Ocean is unusually active so early in hurricane season, NOAA says.

 

Crime stories

    

    In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law that prevented sex offenders from using social media, newsy.com is reporting.

The 2008 law from North Carolina sought to prevent registered sex offenders from accessing "commercial social networking" websites, like Facebook, that allowed minors to create accounts. And it was a Facebook post that landed the case in the high court. In 2010, convicted sex offender Lester Packingham posted about beating a traffic ticket. The state argued the law prevented sex offenders from having access to children, just like laws banning offenders' access to schools and playgrounds. But the court disagreed. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer joined Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion. Kennedy wrote that the "sweeping law" went too far. By banning access to many social media sites, Kennedy said, the state was actually unfairly restricting free speech. Louisiana is the only other state with a similar law, but it only applies to those convicted of sex crimes with children. Kennedy wrote that a more specific law prohibiting contact with minors over social media would be more effective and could still be constitutional. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a concurring opinion. He, Justice Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts agreed with the bulk of what Kennedy wrote. But they were concerned with equating the Internet to a real-world public space. Alito wrote the comparison could make it harder for states to pass laws that restrict sex offenders' access to certain websites, like dating services. Kennedy called the case "one of the first this Court has taken to address the relationship between the First Amendment and the modern Internet." The final decision was 8-0. Justice Neil Gorsuch didn't participate in the consideration or decision of the case.

    Missouri Highway Patrol troopers will soon be patrolling interstates in St. Louis as part of a 90-day pilot program to free up city police officers to focus on violent crime. Between 20 to 30 troopers will be assigned to the special detail, which will focus on the stretches of Interstates 55 and 70 that fall within the city limits, said Missouri Highway Patrol Cpl. Juston Wheetley. About eight troopers will be on each shift. The troopers also will be available to back up city police officers if they're ever in need of assistance, but their primary focus will be traffic enforcement, Wheetley said.

    The U.S. Marshals tracked down nearly two dozen felons wanted by the Conway (Ark.) Police yesterday in round-up that began before the sun came up.

    The U.S. Marshals Service has captured an additional suspect in a jewelry store burglary in Miramar Beach, Fla. Another suspect was arrested by the U.S. Marshals in Alabama.

    Police say a Missouri man’s three-day crime spree unraveled partly because he left hotel receipts behind in a Prius he tried to carjack but couldn’t figure out how to drive. Police arrested Charles Clifford Ackerman, 30, in Creve Coeur on Friday. Someone there had seen a flyer put out by the Maplewood Police identifying Ackerman as a suspect in a string of crimes there. His bail in those crimes was set at $100,000. He was also being held yesterday in lieu of $100,000 bail for a bank robbery in Fenton, Mo. More charges are expected against Ackerman, who is from Cape Girardeau. Ackerman tried to carjack three different women in Maplewood on June 4th, but failed each time, police say. He was finally able to escape in a man’s van.

    "Operation Alpha and Omega" will partner with the United States Marshals Service in New Mexico, with the New Mexico Department of Corrections (NMCD) and local authorities to round up wanted persons in the state.

    Damon Chapman, Jr., 23, was arrested at about 8:30 p.m., yesterday in the 2100 block of East 85th Street, in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said. Chapman is accused of a deadly shooting and robbery at a gas station.

    The U.S. Marshals need your help to find Roy Valenzuela. According to the U.S. Marshals, Valenzuela escaped from a Federal Bureau of Prisons residential facility.

    Hawaii's Department of Transportation has ended its agreement with the Department of Public Safety to have deputy sheriffs handle law enforcement duties at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, and State Sen. Will Espero is questioning whether the move is payback for a lawsuit filed by the sheriffs' union to block the state's new contract with a private airport security firm. Deputy sheriffs have been used to provide security for the airport since 2002. On Thursday, DOT officials sent DPS a required 180-day notice of its intentent to terminate the agreement. The DPS has 57 deputy sheriffs and two civilians assigned to the airport. The private company Securitas has played an expanding role in providing security services for the airport. Last year, the DOT reached a three-year contract extension agreement with Securitas worth a reported $35 million a year. The extension came despite the indictment of four Securitas employees for soliciting and taking bribes from taxi and shuttle drivers at the airport. At the time, DOT spokesman Tim Sakahara said using the private security firm was cheaper than hiring more deputy sheriffs.

    Hubert Wyliss Lee Jr., 23, who also goes by the moniker “Blackest," was arrested by the U.S. Marshals as a suspect in a North Carolina rape case.

    A St. Louis, Mo.-area man was charged with animal cruelty for allegedly killing a kitten on Friday on a MetroLink platform after he was told he couldn’t bring the animal on the train. St. Clair County court records identify the man as DeCarlos Johnson-Foston, 23. Police Capt. Bruce Fleshren said Johnson-Foston had been at the Belleville MetroLink station on Friday morning with a kitten on his shoulder. The security guard told him he couldn’t board the train with the kitten. Johnson-Foston slammed the kitten to the platform and stomped on its head, police say. He's charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony. Johnson-Foston was held in the St. Clair County Jail in lieu of $75,000. Johnson-Foston told investigators that the kitten was his.

    A Muskogee, Okla., man is being returned to the state of Ohio. He ran away when the U.S. Marshals attempted to arrest him.

    Three years after the U.S. Marshals Service conducted the first auction of bitcoins confiscated from Silk Road, South Korea is about to do the same.

    The Lynn Haven, Fla., Police, along with the U.S. Marshals and deputies with the Bay County Sheriff's Office, are investigating a local shooting.

    The Horry County, S.C., school board voted yesterday to approve a $550,000 contract with U.S. Security Associates to provide 18 armed security officers at its schools.

    And two men wanted by the Cleveland, Ohio, Police for rape and have been sought months are now behind bars, thanks to the U.S. Marshals Service.

 

Today in the Department of Defense

    

    Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis hosted an enhanced honor cordon welcoming Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko to the Pentagon at 1 p.m., EDT, on the steps of the River Entrance.

    Secretary of Defense Mattis will receive the John Glenn College of Public Affairs (Ohio State University)'s 2017 Excellence in Public Service honoree award at 6 p.m., EDT, this evening at the National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW, in Washington, D.C. The event will be streamed live on www.defense.gov/live.

    Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work is traveling, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., has no public or media events on his schedule.

    David F. Helvey, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, provided a preview of the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue today at the Washington Foreign Press Center, in the National Press Building in Washington, D.C.

    Army Lt. Gen. Frederick "Ben" Hodges, III, commanding general, U.S. Army Europe, provided remarks this morning at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA)'s Institute of Land Warfare breakfast in Arlington, Va.

    And Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten, commander, U.S. Strategic Command, provided remarks on space, nuclear and missile defense modernization this morning at the Mitchell Institute Space Breakfast Series at The Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C.

 

U.S. Coast Guard

    

    The United States Coast Guard today started interviewing the crew of a Philippines-flagged container ship which collided with a U.S. Navy destroyer.

    The U.S. Coast Guard has medevaced two men it rescued off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.

    The U.S. Coast Guard says that its suspending its search for a diver who went missing in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Florida's Panhandle.

    The USCG operates 18 modified HC-144 Maritime Patrol Aircraft manufactured by Airbus Military, and is acquiring 14 HC-27J aircraft. The Coast Guard has awarded a contract to King Aircraft to paint the planes.

    Coast Guard Station Long Island Sound is searching for a missing kayaker off the coast of Connecticut.

    At the June meeting of the Hot Springs Village (Ark.) Anglers' Club, David Keyser of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary gave a safety inspection presentation.

    And the History Channel is showing a new four-part series called America’s War on Drugs. Not only is it an important contribution to recent American history, it’s also the first time U.S. television has ever told the core truth about one of the most important issues of the past 50 years.

 

UFO news

    

    Tesla has announced that they would be demonstrating the latest update to their Hardware 1 "UFO Detector" software, which is set to help older Tesla models identify any unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

 

 

 

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