Новости за 23.03.2016

PARIS — The Islamic State reportedly has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum carnage. Officials, including European and Iraqi intelligence officers and a French lawmaker who follows jihadist networks, described camps in Syria, Iraq and possibly the former Soviet bloc where attackers are trained to attack the West. The shadowy cells were confirmed by Europol ... Читать дальше...

The committee's statement did not provide further details, but earlier this month Carla Wiley, a close associate of Brown, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and agreed to testify as part of a larger probe into the activities of a Leesburg, Virginia-based charity called One Door for Education. The court papers say the funds were used to benefit individuals identified only as Person A and Person B. Separate documents obtained by The Associated Press in a public records request to Orlando... Читать дальше...

Photo By Photo by Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle 2003Asia SF named one of OpenTable’s 100 Hottest Restaurants. Photo: Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle Today (Wednesday, March 23), online reservations service OpenTable announced its list of 100 Hottest Restaurants. California came out on top with 25 restaurants on the list, followed by New York which had 15. Florida and Illinois tied for third with 7 restaurants each. (You can see the full list here.) Related Links Liholiho Yacht Club and Michael Tusk lead the... Читать дальше...

Even if you’re not religious, you may take issue with Marx, but his assessment certainly applies to followers of the Meyerist Movement, a cult-like organization at the complicated heart of Hulu’s stunning new dramatic series “The Path,” premiering on March 30. Created by Dr. Stephen Meyer (Keir Dullea), the Movement is a blend of spirituality and pseudo-science marketed as a way of achieving enlightenment to overcome pain and negativity in our lives. [...] a core group of followers reside in a gated compound in upstate New York... Читать дальше...

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice said a lower court judge erred in releasing tapped phone calls of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and at least temporarily removed him from any investigation of the embattled ex-leader. Zavascki said Judge Sergio Moro, who is overseeing a massive probe of corruption at the Petrobras oil company, should not have released the tapped conversations, agreeing with the government’s argument that by releasing them the judge endangered national sovereignty. Читать дальше...

Among the tributes to A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg is a morning traffic report from a news station in Atlanta. WSB-TV used their Wednesday broadcast as a subtle tribute to the Tribe Called Quest rapper.

(AP) — The lead contamination of Flint's water is "a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice," according to a task force created by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to investigate the crisis. In their final report Wednesday, investigators also chided Snyder for his refrain that the situation represents a failure of local, state and federal government, saying that suggests all three were equally culpable when the state was "fundamentally accountable."... Читать дальше...

The Mercedes driver, the son of a wealthy Thai businessman, survived with minor injuries and refused both alcohol and drug tests — and his wishes were respected. Since the video was widely shared on social media last week, the fatal March 15 crash has reignited a debate about the impunity of the rich and well-connected in Thailand who tend to get away with murder. TV talk shows, social media forums and editorials have chimed in on a debate that asks whether justice will be served this time or ... Читать дальше...

TAIPING ISLAND — Taiwan flew international media to its largest island holding in the South China Sea on Wednesday in a bid to reinforce its territorial claims in the disputed and increasingly tense region. Two dozen journalists were flown to the island aboard a Taiwanese air force C-130 transport plane that landed on an airstrip guarded by coast guard sentries with rifles. Speaking to reporters in Taipei following the trip, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said he would invite Philippine government representatives... Читать дальше...

Festus Ezeli said Wednesday that he’s ahead of schedule in his return from left knee surgery, adding some optimism to an otherwise choppy contract year for the Warriors’ backup center. “I mean, to be honest, this is not an ideal contract year for me,” Ezeli said in his first public statements since the team updated his progress from a Feb. 8 arthroscopic procedure. Right now, I’m just working on my rehab and working on getting back, so I can work toward our main goal, which is to win a championship. Читать дальше...

A BART ride turned into an episode of "Wild Kingdom" earlier this month in San Francisco when a passenger chased a freeloading pigeon through a coach before capturing it barehanded.

CAIRO — President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi reshuffled his government on Wednesday, naming nine new ministers and creating a new portfolio for business but leaving the key ministries of defense, foreign affairs or interior untouched. Egyptian security forces are meanwhile embroiled in a debilitating fight against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula who are proving to be tenacious while growing deadlier. The reshuffle is the first since September, when el-Sissi named Sherif Ismail prime minister... Читать дальше...

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes advanced swiftly in central Syria on Wednesday, seizing high ground around Palmyra and positioning themselves to recapture the historic town held by the Islamic State group. In Lebanon, the militant Hezbollah group’s television station broadcast footage of the troops, advancing single file through a desert landscape as helicopter gunships provided cover. “God willing, within few hours we will enter and secure the town,” one officer told the Syrian Ikhbariya TV... Читать дальше...

This 2016 Ford Mustang GT will be available at select airports starting Memorial Day weekend.

"Flint water customers were needlessly and tragically exposed to toxic levels of lead and other hazards through the mismanagement of their drinking water supply," investigators said. [...] the 116-page report described as "inappropriate" a frequent claim of Snyder and his representatives that the Flint water crisis represents a failure of the local, state and federal governments. While investigators primarily blamed the state Department of Environmental Quality — they initially did so in preliminary... Читать дальше...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The estranged wife of an internationally known pianist pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that she killed the couple's young daughters at their Texas home. Vadym Kholodenko, a winner of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, discovered his daughters' bodies March 17 when he arrived at the home to take them to school. A pillow partially covered the head of the youngest child, but police Cmdr. David Babcock said Wednesday that investigators haven't... Читать дальше...

‘Anew’ artists use found images, objects to deal with fear, shame “Menstruation, masturbation, dating or sexting — these are things I’ve always done but we’re always kind of ashamed of,” she says from New York City, where she pours 40 to 1,000 hours into the textiles she weaves. Shapiro works through themes of obsessive behavior, ritual and even personal healing in the lavishly embellished masks, vessels and weapons he creates out of thousands of found bottle caps, “punker studs” and shards of broken safety glass he calls street diamonds. Читать дальше...

“Starter homes” are just what they sound like: the low end of the market where the buyer, new to said market, begins an ostensive trajectory upward. The starter home brings the needed wealth/equity to move to a“trade up” home, which is theoretically closer to the ideal home the buyer sought from the outset, but could

Samsung started selling the Windows-based Galaxy TabPro S last week, while Microsoft doubled down on its Surface tablet business last fall with Surface Book, a laptop whose keyboard pops off to leave behind a tablet. Companies market them as PC replacements rather than devices for watching video, reading books and playing games — that is, things you can already do with your phone. The Microsoft Surface didn't have the fun apps that iPads and Android tablets had, but it had Word, Excel and other... Читать дальше...

The case drew national attention when his parents waged a successful legal fight to prevent a court-appointed guardian from having him removed from life support. The Ohio Supreme Court eventually ruled that a probate court lacked the authority to allow a guardian to stop the care keeping Aiden alive when his parents hadn't permanently lost their parenting rights. Stein was later convicted of felonious assault and child endangerment and spent eight years in prison despite his assertions that he never injured his son. Читать дальше...

A vacant lot in Potrero Hill that sold for $135,000 in March 2013 hit the market Sunday at $995,000. That's a staggering 637 percent increase over three years.

The Senate and Assembly budget proposals call for either tuition freezes or getting rid of the tuition plan, along with increases in state aid to SUNY. Board member Henrik Dullea also says Wednesday that community colleges are asking the state for an extra $285 per student in base operating aid.

(AP) — A rare bird described as a "flying rainbow" that normally doesn't fly north of the Carolinas on the East Coast has turned up in a small town in Vermont, drawing hundreds of bird watchers to Pittsfield hoping to catch a glimpse of the painted bunting. A conservation biologist with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies says it's the sixth time since 1993 a painted bunting has been recorded in Vermont.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Despite the high death toll and dramatic scenes of destruction, this week's attacks in Brussels appear to have been surprisingly easy to carry out, requiring little more than some careful preparation, a handful of motivated militants and ingredients that are readily available on store shelves. Security experts say Europe's major cities — filled with soft targets and home to hundreds of Islamic militants who have fought or trained in Syria, Iraq and Libya — will remain vulnerable... Читать дальше...

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday accused the Ukrainian government of dragging its feet on implementing last year's cease-fire agreement as Moscow sought to press its point in a new round of high-level diplomacy. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was hosting German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Moscow Wednesday, told reporters that Kiev's inaction is the main stumbling block to a peace settlement in the east. Rebels in their turn have said they won't allow Ukrainian right-wing parties to run... Читать дальше...