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In a storyline better befitting a melodrama than a popularity vote, Grazer won her second Fat Bear Contest Tuesday by defeating the male behemoth that killed her cub this summer.

Grazer beat Chunk by more than 40,000 votes cast by fans watching live cameras of Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve.

A Turkish Airlines pilot died after collapsing mid-flight, forcing the Turkish national carrier to make an emergency landing in New York, the airline said Wednesday. The incident occurred after the plane took off from Seattle on Tuesday evening, airline spokesman Yahya Ustun wrote on social media.

A new report details how the Trump White House secretly killed an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against then–Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The White House under sexual abuser Donald Trump secretly worked to suppress an FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh while his Supreme Court nomination was under consideration by the Senate. 

In September 2018, when Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault, Trump promised that the FBI would have “free rein” to fully investigate the claims, adding that the bureau was “talking to everybody.” 

“I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion,” Trump posted on Twitter at the time. However, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Trump’s assertions were all a farce, citing a new report by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Whitehouse’s report states that the FBI was directed to conduct a limited investigation in only a week, and requested “additional guidance” from the White House. But Trump administration officials never provided any authorization for a deeper probe into the allegations against Kavanaugh.

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Ron DeSantis attacked Kamala Harris during an interview Monday night, calling her “delusional” amid reports that the Florida governor refused to take the VP’s calls to discuss hurricane relief.

Asked earlier in the day about a report that, as a DeSantis aide described, “Kamala was trying to reach out, and [the DeSantis team] didn’t answer,” the vice president told reporters, “People are in desperate need of support right now, and playing political games at this moment, in these crisis situations—these are the height of emergency situations—it’s utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”

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During an appearance on The View on Tuesday, Harris said it was a “shame” she hadn’t been able to speak to DeSantis, and that she will continue to call him when she is president.

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Although Irvine police said they won’t use the Cybertruck as a patrol car, the police department didn’t rule out other uses should the need arise.

A police department in Southern California says it has the country’s first Tesla Cybertruck for police use, but the unusual vehicle won’t see much action. 

The Irvine Police Department unveiled the purchase Tuesday in a splashy video on social media, including Facebook and X. The price tag: $153,175.03, including the installation of emergency equipment. 

The police department said its Cybertruck would have a limited role: jazzing up anti-drug events at schools through the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program.

Demand for beef, soy, palm oil and nickel hindering efforts to halt demolition by 2030, global report finds

The destruction of global forests increased in 2023, and is higher than when 140 countries promised three years ago to halt deforestation by the end of the decade, an analysis shows.

The rising demolition of the forests puts ambitions to halt the climate crisis and stem the huge worldwide losses of wildlife even further from reach, the researchers warn.

Almost 6.4m hectares (16m acres) of forest were razed in 2023, according to the report. Even more forest – 62.6m ha – was degraded as road building, logging and forest fires took their toll. There were spikes in deforestation in Indonesia and Bolivia, driven by political changes and continued demand for commodities including beef, soy, palm oil, paper and nickel in rich countries.

The researchers said attempts at voluntary cuts on deforestation were not working and strong regulation and more funding for forest protection were needed.

Analysis shows Gulf’s heat that worsened Helene 200-500 times more likely because of human-caused global heating

As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida, fueled by a record-hot Gulf of Mexico, a new analysis has shown how the Gulf’s heat that worsened last month’s Hurricane Helene was 200 to 500 times more likely because of human-caused global heating.

Helene, one of the deadliest storms in US history, gathered pace over the Gulf before crashing ashore with 140mph winds.

The new analysis found climate change increased by 10% the amount of rainfall hurled down by the hurricane, which left more than 220 people dead across six states as it barreled north two weeks ago, flattening and drowning towns, tearing up roads and severing water supplies. It also made Helene’s winds about 13mph, or 11%, more intense.

President Biden on Tuesday announced $2.6 billion in funding to replace all lead pipes in the United States as part of a new EPA rule that will require lead pipes to be identified and replaced within 10 years using the new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

KEY POINTS

• The Department of Justice late Tuesday indicated that it was considering a possible breakup of Google as an antitrust remedy.
• The DOJ said it was “considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search.”
• The judge has yet to decide on the remedies, and Google will likely appeal, drawing out the process potentially for years.

More than two-thirds of Taiwanese people would be willing to fight off a Chinese invasion of their island, a new survey found. Just over half of respondents believe that the United States would send its military to help.

Most Taiwanese people would be willing to defend their island against a Chinese attack, according to a poll published Wednesday. Most also believe that such an attack is highly unlikely in the next five years.

The poll, commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, was released a day before Taiwan's National Day.

Should Beijing attack, 67.8% of the 1,214 people surveyed said they would be "very willing or somewhat willing" to fight in defense of Taiwan; 23.6% said they would not be.

Almost 64% said China's "territorial ambition" in Taiwan represents "a serious threat." At the same time, 61% said it was not likely China would invade soon.

Some 52% of respondents said that they believed key ally the United States would come to their aid in the invent of a Chinese invasion. Yet, only 40% believed that the US would send its navy to "break" a potential blockade.

The 27-year-old man was arrested while buying weapons allegedly to carry out the attack, intended to target large groups of people. The threat levels in the country continue to be high.

An Afghan national was arrested in the US state of Oklahoma for allegedly planning an attack on election day, the US Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

According to the indictment, the 27-year-old plotted to provide "material support” to the so-called Islamic State group (IS) and obtained firearms and ammunition to "conduct a violent attack on US soil in the name" of the group.

The FBI said it found communication between the suspect, Nasir A. T. and a person whom he believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State.

Russia's intelligence agency has been on a mission to generate "sustained mayhem on British and European streets", the head of MI5 has said.

Giving his annual update on security threats faced by the UK, Ken McCallum said GRU agents had carried out "arson, sabotage and more dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness" in Britain after the UK backed Ukraine in its war with Russia.

MI5 had also responded to 20 plots backed by Iran since 2022, he said, although he added the majority of its work still mostly involved Islamist extremism followed by extreme right-wing terrorism.