Apple has removed the app for Infowars, the conspiracy website founded by Alex Jones, for violating App Store guidelines, according to published reports.
According to The New York Times, Apple removed the app for violating guidelines that don’t allow apps to provide content considered “offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust or in exceptionally poor taste.”
The removal of Infowars from the App Store follows Twitter’s announcement Thursday that it had permanently suspended Jones and his site from the platform “based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations.”
According to a Google cache of his since-deleted Twitter account, Jones had about 896,000 followers, while Infowars had over 430,000.
Prior to the permanent suspension, Twitter faced scrutiny over its decision to keep Jones and Infowars on their platform after companies including Spotify, Facebook and YouTube all banned him from their services.
“We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday,” said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey last month. “We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does.”
Last month, Apple removed all episodes of his show and four other Infowars-related podcasts from iTunes and its Podcast app.
Three million people are trapped in the Syrian province of Idlib.
It is the last remaining rebel stronghold, and likely to be the scene of a major military offensive.
Ankara’s call for a ceasefire was rejected by Russia and Iran who both back the Syrian government, prompting Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to warn of a Turkish intervention if the offensive turns into a bloodbath.
Erdogan, along with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani, met for trilateral talks in Tehran on Friday, but could not reach an agreement.
The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian disaster if Syrian and Russian forces push ahead with a full-scale assault on Idlib.
Is this the beginning of the end to the seven-year war in Syria? And what plans do Russia, Iran and Turkey have for Syria’s future?
Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra
Guests:
Galip Dalay – research director at Al Sharq Forum
Alexey Khlebnikov – Middle East expert at the Russian International Affairs Council
Foad Izadi – professor at the University of Tehran
Paul McCartney’s multi-decade career in music continued on Friday with the release of his 17th solo album, Egypt Station. McCartney is one of the most famous rock musicians in the world, both for his work with The Beatles and as a solo artist. To celebrate his latest album, McCartney decided to give something back to fans in the form of a surprise show at New York City’s Grand Central Station.
Anyone passing through Grand Central on Friday night would have heard the music from McCartney and his band, though only invited guests were allowed behind black curtains to see the stage for the 24-song set. According to the Associated Press, the VIP crowd included Jon Bon Jovi, Meryl Streep, Amy Schumer, Kate Moss and Steve Buscemi. But it wasn’t exclusive for long; on Saturday, McCartney posted full video of the show.
As usual for McCartney concerts, the setlist combined his solo songs (including three tracks off Egypt Station) with famous Beatles tunes like “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” Though when McCartney played “Blackbird” he forgot the words — not once, but twice. As fans sang the lyrics to try and jog his memory, the singer said, “I know this song. I wrote it!” After successfully finishing it on the third try, he exclaimed, “I finally got it!”
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Following a fiery appearance in his home state of Illinois, former President Barack Obama brought his star power among Democrats Saturday to Orange County, California – a traditional GOP stronghold.
He spoke to about 900 Democratic supporters at the Anaheim Convention Center here, some wearing T-shirts supporting congressional candidates in closer races that could foreshadow the political transformation of Orange County.
Awaiting his appearance, they occasionally broke into chants of “Take it back,” referring to Congress.
As he did Friday,, Obama took a far tougher stance against President Donald Trump than former presidents have against their predecessors in the past. In his Friday speech at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Obama took direct aim at Trump, referring to “crazy stuff that is coming out of this White House.”
Trump, in remarks to a crowd in North Dakota, took Obama’s speech Friday in stride, saying it put him to sleep.
“I’m sorry, I watched it, but I fell asleep … I found he’s very good – very good for sleeping,” he said.
Obama delivered his message in one of the most critical counties in the country for Democrats ahead of the November midterms. For generations, Orange County has been known for its right-wing politics – even as Los Angeles County to the north skewed far more to the left.
Democrats are counting on a strong showing in California in November’s elections in the battle to take control of Congress. They are targeting several congressional districts. While Democrats have gained, Republicans overall still have a registration edge in the county — 563,992 to 516,121 at the start of the year, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.
Demographics have changed with an influx of Latinos, Asians and other immigrants.
The county’s economy has evolved away from manufacturing and to more services and high-tech jobs that attract white-collar workers who are inclined to vote Democratic
Like much of the country, unemployment is low in Orange County and the economy is strong, meaning turnout could be more dependent on anger about Trump and his policies rather than dissatisfaction with the state of the nation.
Cal Fire shows Carr Fire from different views Redding Record Searchlight
It took over a month, but she was finally unpacking.
Mia Miller still wasn’t totally comfortable with it, but figured it was time to put her things back where they were before the Carr Fire forced her to leave her Shasta Lake home for six days.
Then came the Ranchera Fire earlier this week. And instead of the panic Miller felt when she had to leave her home July 26, she didn’t really feel anything.
“I’m just done with this, you know? There’s only so much you can emotionally invest in it before you just either go psycho or shut down,” said Miller, 42.
Besides the Carr and Ranchera fires this summer, the threatening Hirz and Delta fires have spurred evacuations — some in the same neighborhoods first emptied by Carr. This summer’s horrific fire season has sent many fleeing for their lives more than once, leaving their homes behind and only the hope that they’d still be standing when they returned.
“Even if they were not in a lick of range of a cinder, it wouldn’t surprise me if this whole county does not end up traumatized by this,” Miller said.
One man has been evacuated five times since 2005. A family ended up evacuated again within an hour of finding refuge from the Carr Fire.
“You figure, ‘OK, we’re out of danger,’” said Bob Nelson, who evacuated twice in barely a month. “Then another one pops up in our neighborhood.”
‘Weird little things sort of trigger your emotions’: Five evacuations in 15 years
Every few years, a different fire forces Nelson out of his Ranchera Pines home.
This year, it’s been two: The Carr and Ranchera fires.
“You’re supposed to think, ‘Well, it can’t burn anymore now,’” said Nelson, owner of Central Valley Feed in Shasta Lake.
He and his wife have evacuated five times since 2005 — four of which were mandatory. And because she’s on oxygen, the Nelsons have to be especially cautious about leaving.
They’ve gotten so good at it, they keep beating the fire department to the punch: In both fires this summer, Nelson said he and his wife were getting ready to leave when they got the call ordering them out.
Still, having to leave twice in one summer is taking a psychological toll — something he’s not used to.
That’s a common response to a major disaster like a fire, experts say.
“Something like this can absolutely be a trigger,” Susan Power, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness — Shasta County, has said. “This could set off a depression in someone who hadn’t experienced that before.”
For Nelson, even seeing signs around town thanking firefighters can be stressful — a reminder of what he and his wife have been through.
“The fire is just kind of getting to me after a while,” he said. “For the first time in my life, I’ve been experiencing some PTSD stuff, because weird little things sort of trigger your emotions. You go, ‘Wow, I didn’t know all that emotion was sitting under the surface.”
‘I’m not running from this’: Waiting for her chance to fall apart
Evacuating from the Carr Fire was intense, Miller said.
Her car broke down not once, but twice. The second time was right after she and her husband had loaded an elderly woman and her dog inside because the woman was having car troubles of her own.
Miller’s friend, a mechanic, came to help.
“When he came rolling through the smoke, it was like a white knight in a rusty Chevrolet,” she said.
After that, it was six days at her mom’s house in Anderson. But once Miller got home, she didn’t feel safe unpacking.
And when she finally started to let her guard down earlier this week, it was the night of the next fire that would force her out of her house.
By the time a firefighter knocked on her door the second time, Miller was fed up with feeling terrified. She just shut down instead.
“He didn’t even have to say anything,” she said. “I just looked at him and I said, ‘Is it time?’”
In some ways, that worked. Miller kept a cool head as she watered things down outside before leaving.
“My husband and daughter were panicking, and I’m just sitting there like, ‘OK, I’m not running from this,’” Miller said.
That’s a common coping strategy for people facing imminent trauma, Barbara Davis, an associate clinical social worker at Redding’s Creekside Counseling, has said.
“They’re still in shock, and so the emotional piece connected to the fire may not happen for many of them for a few more months,” Davis said.
But the numbness has a dark side, too. After all, the fear of fire is still in the back of Miller’s head.
“If someone even lights so much as an effing barbecue in this neighborhood tonight, I’m going to lose my s***,” she said Thursday.
And forcing the fear back takes a lot of energy — the kind Miller used to focus into painting and other hobbies.
“I just haven’t had the motivation or even the emotional energy to sit down and paint. And I’m not the only one,” she said. “I just haven’t had the energy to do anything what I normally enjoy doing because I’m so fixated on, ‘Oh my God, is there going to be a fire that pops up?’”
On some level, Miller knows she’s not really OK just because she’s figured out way to get by emotionally. But she won’t let herself grieve until there’s time to.
“When a crisis is happening, I lock into a mode of ‘solve the problem,’” she said. “And then after the problem is over, that’s when I have my breakdown — 10 minutes exactly, that’s when I have my, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’”
‘Homeless until 4:30’: Evacuating twice in one night — with kids
Jill Sharp and her family had found their refuge.
All the hotels were booked, but a church friend with a vacation home opened it up for them the night the Carr Fire destroyed Sharp’s own house.
But within an hour, the fire caught up with them. And they were back on the road.
“We were kind of homeless until 4:30 (a.m.),” when they got in touch with an extended family member in the area, 54-year-old Sharp said.
Sharp has 11 children. Some of them are grown — including one whose house also burned that night. But others are still children, and some are former foster kids she and her husband have adopted.
With their diverse backgrounds, Sharp noticed how diverse their responses to the trauma were, too.
Her 13-year-old thought it was fun to dig through the rubble of their house, reminding Sharp that she’s already lived in 15 homes throughout her young life.
Her 11-year-old wanted to help, too. But it was just too much.
“He could only handle it for maybe 15 minutes and he said, ‘Mom, I need to go,’” she said.
It’s not just the young ones struggling, either.
Sharp’s adult daughter has been evacuated more than once. Now she keeps her pictures packed in her car.
“She’s just so done with this, she could scream,” Sharp said. “It’s really hard to say that this darkness hasn’t affected my children.”
Sharp is having a tough time, too. She worries daily about her husband, an electrician who’s been working at Shasta Dam since the Carr Fire.
He left work to help the rest of the family evacuate that night. But he’s been working since, making her more worried than usual.
“He was our hero that night, and our angel,” she said. “It scares me with my husband working at the Shasta Dam so close to it, too.”
When those fears pile up, Sharp drives to the charred plot of land that used to be her home and prays.
“Every time when my chin’s hanging low, I’m just down there praying,” she said. “That’s how I’m dealing with it.”
While there, Sharp noticed her white cement angel outside had somehow survived the fire, which burned so hot in some places that it melted metal. She sees the angel as a symbol of everyone who’s been praying for the family.
That’s why she moved it to the Shasta Lake home of her daughter who’s also been evacuated more than once.
“It was a little diminished, but giving hope to us that we could try and move on from this,” she said. “We put it there to give her hope.”
Jos Buttler’s 89 dragged England back into the fifth Test before the home bowlers took control of India on day two at The Oval.
Buttler shared 98 for the ninth wicket with Stuart Broad, who hung around for 98 minutes for his 38.
With Buttler also adding another 20 in the company of James Anderson, England turned their overnight 198-7 into 332 all out.
At 70-1, India were making comfortable progress until Sam Curran produced a beauty to bowl KL Rahul.
Anderson delivered a wonderful spell to remove both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, and was also unfortunate not to have India captain Virat Kohli lbw.
Kohli moved to an ominous 49, only for Ben Stokes to induce edges from both the skipper and Rishabh Pant that left India 174-6, 158 behind.
Anderson’s two wickets took him to 561 in Test cricket, three away from overtaking Australia’s Glenn McGrath as the most successful fast bowler in the history of the game.
England already have an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series and are looking to send opener Alastair Cook into retirement with victory in his final Test.
Brilliant Buttler does it again
Brilliant Rahul catch ends Broad-Buttler stand
Buttler has enjoyed a stellar spell since being recalled to the England Test team and is their leading run-scorer this summer with 199 more than second-placed Joe Root.
What has been so impressive is the way he has adapted his game to suit the circumstances. Here, he was patient, trusting of his lower-order partners and happy to take the runs India offered until the arrival of Anderson signalled some of Buttler’s trademark hitting.
Buttler had overturned being given out lbw on the first evening and on Saturday morning extended his eighth-wicket stand with Adil Rashid to 33.
After Rashid was leg before to Jasprit Bumrah, India spread the field for Buttler in the hope of restricting his scoring and bowling more deliveries at Broad.
Instead, Broad was solid and Buttler mixed milking singles with the occasional cover drive until Broad was brilliantly caught at long-on by a diving Rahul off the spin of Ravindra Jadeja.
With Anderson for company, Buttler hoiked then hooked Bumrah for two sixes in an over before he was caught at slip to give Jadeja his fourth wicket.
Another missed opportunity
‘Significant moment in the game’ – Stokes dismisses Kohli
India, the world number one side, have lost this series despite having wonderful opportunities to win the first and fourth Tests, both of which eventually went England’s way.
Still, they showed no signs of being disheartened on the first day and a superb bowling effort looked to have given them a real chance of winning two Tests on a tour of England for the first time since 1986.
Instead, they once again failed to finish off England thanks to some lacklustre bowling and curious tactics.
The plan to drop the field to Buttler simply did not work and left skipper Kohli with nowhere to turn. Not only could the tourists not find a way past Broad, but Buttler was gifted runs.
It was another example of how the lower-orders have affected the outcome of this series – England’s partnerships for the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth wickets have outperformed India’s.
And, when India came to bat, a promising start ended in the top order crumbling around Kohli.
England shine under the lights
Though Shikhar Dhawan fell cheaply to Broad, the aggressive Rahul and watchful Pujara were making comfortable progress against an England attack that struggled to find the movement enjoyed by India on day one.
Curran made the breakthrough with a wonderful delivery; one that shaped in and then nipped off the pitch to take Rahul’s off stump.
England v India: Sam Curran bowls KL Rahul
From there, England exploited the gloom and the floodlights. Anderson was immaculate and was only denied an lbw against Kohli when the review showed the tightest ‘umpire’s call’. Anderson’s reaction resulted in words from umpire Kumar Dharmasena.
Anderson did have Pujara caught behind and Rahane held at first slip, while debutant Hanuma Vihari was fortunate with two lbw shouts from Broad. One, given not out, would have been overturned had England opted to review, another that was given out was successfully reversed by the batsman.
The reprieved Vihari went on to 25 not out, adding 51 with Kohli, who looked imperious in nearing 600 runs for the series.
Stokes, though, arrived to swing the ball, with Kohli flashing to second slip and Pant prodding to first slip, leaving England in a dominant position.
India punished after letting the game drift – what they said
Former England captain Michael Vaughan on TMS: “India had the better of day one, their seamers were outstanding and their intensity was fantastic.
“But this morning they looked like a side that were just letting the game drift. Virat Kohli sent the message from the first ball of the day, spreading the field to Jos Buttler. The initiative was lost.”
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew: “Jos Buttler is showing that he can play both types of innings for England down the order. He can dig in and help rebuild or capitalise on a good position.
“It was a brave call by Ed Smith to recall him on Twenty20 form but it’s certainly worked and you have to credit Smith for that.”
The two leading groups in Iraq’s parliament have demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi over the unrest in the southern city of Basra, where a recent escalation in violence during protests over public services has seen at least 12 deaths, the Iranian consulate torched and its airport hit by rockets.
At an emergency session of parliament on Saturday, the coalition headed by populist Shia leader Moqtada Sadr, which won the most seats in Iraq’s May elections, called for Abadi’s government to step down.
“We demand the government apologise to the people and resign immediately,” Sadr’s spokesman, said Hassan al-Aqouli, said.
Ahmed al-Assadi, spokesperson for the second-largest Conquest Alliance list, also denounced “the government’s failure to resolve the crisis in Basra”.
Defending his government, al-Abadi described the weeks-long unrest in Basra over poor services and lack of jobs as “political sabotage” and charged that crisis was being exploited for political ends.
His government has announced the allocation of an unspecified amount of extra funds for Basra, although demonstrators say that billions of dollars in emergency funding pledged in July has failed to materialise.
In a session attended by 172 deputies in the 329-seat house, Abadi also traded barbs with Asaad al-Eidani, the governor of Basra who is also the parliament speaker.
Iraqi officials also imposed a curfew on Basra starting 4pm local time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday, according to a military statement.
The anger flared after the hospitalisation of 30,000 people who had drunk polluted water. Residentrs in the oil-rich region have for weeks complained of water and electricity shortages, corruption among officials and unemployment.
Iraqi protest against unsafe water in Basra
Hours before parliament met, four rockets fired by unidentified assailants struck inside the perimeter of Basra airport, security sources said.
Staff at the airport, which is located near the US consulate in Basra, said flights were not affected.
The attack came after a day of rage in the southern city where hundreds of protesters stormed the fortified Iranian consulate, causing no casualties but sparking condemnation.
Abadi said he had instructed security forces to “act decisively against the acts of vandalism that accompanied the demonstrations”.
Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, which includes the army and police, vowed a “severe” response with “exceptional security measures”, including a ban on protests and group travel.
The foreign ministry called the attack on the consulate “an unacceptable act undermining the interests of Iraq and its international relations”.
Reporting from Baghdad, Al Jazeera’s Rob Matheson said that despite the measures taken by Abadi, Basra could be facing another upsurge of violence tonight and in coming days.
“Although PM has authorized security services to head to Basra to try and contain the violence, there is a real fear that if the security forces get involved, that will exacerbate things even further and may also encourage it to spread across other parts of Iraq as well.”
He added that while tribal elders had previously helped suppress this kind of violence before, protesters are as angry many tribal leaders as they are with the government and security forces.
“There is a significant worry that if nothing tangible appears for the people within the next few days, this could spiral out of control,” said Matheson.
Iranian reaction
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi denounced the “savage attack” on its consulate, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
A spokesman for the consulate said that all diplomats and staff had been evacuated from the building before the protesters attacked, and that nobody was hurt.
Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Iraj Masjedi, said the consulate was “totally demolished” and charged that “foreign agents close to the US, Zionists and some Arab countries are trying to sabotage Iran-Iraq relations”, Iran’s ILNA news agency reported.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said that leaders in Tehran were taking this situation very seriously.
“The foreign ministry spokesman pointed out that this was part of an attempt to drive a wedge between friendly relations of the governments of Iran and Iraq. He said that although there may have been events outside of the governments’ control, it was a failure of the Iraqi government that was unable to use its police forces to protect the Iranian mission.
“The parliamentary commission on foreign policy and national security has said it will investigate the events that led to the attack on the mission,” said Basravi.
The foreign ministry called the attack on the consulate “an unacceptable act undermining the interests of Iraq and its international relations” [AP]
‘Neglect, corruption’
The wave of protests first broke out in Basra in July before spreading to other parts of the country, with demonstrators condemning corruption among Iraqi officials and demanding jobs.
Since then at least 27 people have been killed.
“We’re thirsty, we’re hungry, we are sick and abandoned,” protester Ali Hussein told AFP on Friday in Basra after another night of violence.
“Demonstrating is a sacred duty and all honest people ought to join.”
The anger on Basra’s streets was “in response to the government’s intentional policy of neglect”, the head of the region’s human rights council Mehdi al-Tamimi said.
Iraq has been struggling to rebuild its infrastructure and economy after decades of bloody conflicts, including an eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s, the US-led invasion of 2003 and the battle against the Islamic State group.
In August, the oil ministry announced that crude exports for August had hit their highest monthly figure this year, with nearly 112 million barrels of oil bringing $7.7 billion to state coffers.
Iraq, however, suffers from persistent corruption and many Iraqis complain that the country’s oil wealth is unfairly distributed.
Radical solutions
Parliament said lawmakers would hear speeches by Abadi and key ministers and discuss the water contamination crisis, the latest breakdown in public services to spark public anger.
The meeting was demanded by populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose political bloc won the largest number of seats in May elections although a new government has yet to be formed.
Sadr has called on politicians to present “radical and immediate” solutions at Saturday’s session or step down.
Two months ago, Abadi pledged a multi-billion dollar emergency plan to revive infrastructure and services in southern Iraq, one of the country’s most marginalised regions.
The premier is trying to hold onto his post in the next government and has formed an alliance with Sadr, a former militia chief who has called for Iraq to have greater political independence from both neighbouring Iran and the United States.
Iraqi protesters set fire to Iranian consulate in Basra
An all-electric rickshaw or three-wheeled vehicle may soon be more of the norm on streets in India — a country with a massive 1.3 billion population and a dependency on carbon energy sources to match.
At this week’s Global Mobility Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made comments that could change the car industry and energy consumption in the country. He spoke about a countrywide policy to support more electric and non-oil-dependent vehicles and indicated it will launch soon, according to Reuters.
Car companies are chomping at the bit to tap into the Indian market. Toyota is already working to bring electric vehicles to India in the next few years and more recently Suzuki announced 50 electric prototypes to test in the country. If the country commits to electric incentive and credit programs to move drivers away from fossil fuels, it could attract an electric vehicle market like China’s.
Mahindra Electric is one of the electric vehicle companies trying to make a dent in the country’s EV scene. At this week’s summit, Mahindra showcased to the prime minister its three-wheeled Treo as a low-cost, rechargeable urban vehicle.
While efforts from companies like Mahindra are ramping up, according to a Bloomberg estimate last year only a total of 2,000 electric vehicles were sold in India. That’s miniscule. China’s EV market is booming with an estimated 579,000 sold in 2017.
Although more electric vehicles would put increased demand on India’s grid, require a robust charging network, and rely on battery imports from places like China, this could be a government-led effort to meaningfully go electric. Last year, the country announced a 2030 goal to sell only electric vehicles — so this could get India closer to that lofty goal.
Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Sharp Objects finale.
There were plenty of shocks throughout Sharp Objects’ eight-episode run, but the show saved some of its nastiest surprises for after the end credits started to roll. The grisly final scenes of haunting dramawere all about Eliza Scanlen’s murderous Amma, but what about some of the other members of the Crellin family?
On Friday, Patricia Clarkson — who played the chilly Crellin matriarch Adora — told EW that if she was given her own post-credits stinger, she’d have loved to film a solo scene of Adora dancing in her jail cell.
When author Gillian Flynn stopped by People and Entertainment Weekly’s TIFF studio Saturday, she said she wasn’t surprised Clarkson had such a wild answer. She added that she never wrote or filmed any other end-credits scenes, but if she had to come with an alternate, she’d have liked to see something focusing on Henry Czerny’s music-obsessed Alan.
“I would have Alan listening to Bon Jovi: ‘Blaze of Glory,’” Flynn said.
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