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Mom, 26, cut in half when elevator reportedly malfunctions in freak accident

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/08/21/mom-26-cut-in-half-when-elevator-reportedly-malfunctions-in-freak-accident.html

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Trump dismisses climate change advisory panel.

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Members on the 15-person committee tell CNN they learned the news by email Friday. CNN has obtained a copy of the email sent from acting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Benjamin Friedman.

"On behalf of the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), I am writing to inform you that per the terms of the charter the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment (Committee) will expire on August 20, 2017," the email read. "The Department of Commerce and NOAA appreciate the efforts of the Committee and offer sincere thanks to each of the Committee members for their service."

The advisory committee's big work was coming once a congressionally mandated climate report was released; the federal report, required every four years, provides a comprehensive statement from the scientific community on where the nation stands in relation to climate change. The advisory committee would then make recommendations to government agencies based on those findings.

The Trump administration's dismissal of the advisory committee on climate change, first reported by The Washington Post, will not affect the completion of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, according to NOAA, which says the report remains a key priority.

The White House did not explain the decision to do away with the panel, but told CNN in an email that "the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment was chartered in 2015 to provide advice on sustained assessment activities and products. Per the terms of the charter, the committee expired on August 20, 2017. The National Climate Assessment 4, which is coming out next year, is not affected by this change."

The experts who sat on the now-defunct committee warn that without their advice and guidance, the release of the federal climate report could be the equivalent of a large scientific data dump absent of useful context for a public that lacks scientific expertise.

"The job of this advisory committee was to help federal agencies, state and local governments and the private sector understand all the science and data behind climate change," said Riley Dunlap, a sociology professor at Oklahoma State University who was one of the experts on the committee.

Jessica Whitehead, a coastal communities hazards adaptation specialist in North Carolina, who also sat on the committee, told CNN, "We helped the science make sense."

"It's now going to be a big challenge for government entities to easily understand how to use the science when making decisions on things like land use and infrastructure." Whitehead added. "If states or towns, for example, need to install new storm-water pipes, those pipes won't be very effective if they make those decisions without a good understanding of the science of climate change and how it's impacting that community."

The advisory committee was formed in 2015, and the membership represents a wide range of sectors, including industry, academia, government and nonprofits. The advisory committee offers expertise on such things as climate effects and risk assessment and management.

Scientists have told CNN they fear that the administration might try to bury the findings of the congressionally mandated climate report. Even if the report is released, there's concern it will effectively be suppressed if the general public doesn't understand what's in it.

"It was our job to advise government and private sector what they needed to know about climate change," said Kim Knowlton, an environmental health sciences professor at Columbia University, who also sat on the committee.

"The job if the advisory committee was to help ensure the big climate report and the information in it would be usable and user-friendly," Dunlap added.

The committee's chairman, Richard Moss, said in an email response to NOAA, "I regret the outcome -- as I expect you and others at NOAA do. The sad fact is that the American people will be the ones adversely affected by allowing the charter to expire. The quadrennial reports are essential but not sufficient to provide decision makers with the information needed to prepare for the effects of interacting changes in land use, climate, biodiversity, demographic patterns, and other challenges."

Advisory committee members were appointed by the NOAA administrator in consultation with the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Committee members said they did not receive explicit reasoning for why the federal advisory committee on climate science was disbanded. Many of them told CNN they were disappointed but not surprised about the White House's actions.

"Given what's happened over recent months, when you look at the things being said by key people in the administration like EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt about climate science, it's fair to say we were all a bit concerned," Dunlap said. "But I expected the committee's term to be renewed."

Whitehead agreed: "Usually these committees are renewed."

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trump administration scraps climate change advisory panel  - cnnpolitics

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Trump dismisses climate change advisory panel

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Members on the 15-person committee tell CNN they learned the news by email Friday. CNN has obtained a copy of the email sent from acting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Benjamin Friedman.

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The bodies of a few sailors missing since a U.S Navy guided-missile destroyer collided with an oil tanker near Singapore have been found.

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India's top court bans Islamic

practice of instant divorce

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The practice, that stretches back over a thousand years, allows a husband to divorce his wife by simply saying the Arabic word for divorce, talaq, three times.

The five-judge bench did not unanimously ban the practice, which Balaji Srinivasan, one of the lawyers on the case, called "disappointing." Instead, three judges ruled that it was unconstitutional, while the minority issued a dissenting judgment that said it would now be up to Parliament to pass legislation officially banning the practice.

The Supreme Court had convened a special summer session to hear the much-anticipated case -- alongside others of constitutional importance -- in May, when it is normally in recess. It would otherwise take years to hear these cases, said the Chief Justice, according to local media

A verdict could have come as early as May, but the Supreme deferred its judgment in the contentious court case.

India has the world's second-largest Muslim population, but, unlike other countries with significant Muslim populations such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, has yet to officially pass legislation outlawing triple talaq.

No legal recourse

The controversy around talaq stems from how it is practiced in modern day societies. According to Islamic belief, it should be a deliberate and thoughtful practice, carried out over the course of several weeks.

Yet, in its practice, men give the command without warning, uprooting a woman's life.

Often it is said in a fit of anger. Sometimes, it's delivered through the cold medium of a Whatsapp message.

One of the women who has suffered from the practice is 30-year old Farha from Jaipur.

Farha's husband divorced her in October 2016, during a festival, when he became angry that their daughter had asked him for five rupees to purchase some fireworks.

Farha's husband works in the family business of selling diamonds, but she was left to fend for herself without any sort of allowance. "He hasn't given me a rupee since our divorce," she told CNN in January.

Without money, she couldn't leave the house of her ex-husband.

There was no easy way to pursue a case in court as the practice of talaq is not formally banned. Without legal recourse, Farha had to pursue other options.

She ended up approaching the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (Indian Muslim Women's Movement) for help.

With their support, Farha was able to bring her divorce case in front of other members of her community, and, through that pressure, she received alimony from her husband.

Decades-long fight

This triple talaq petition before the Supreme Court is not the first.

In 1985, a woman named Shah Bano fought a case in the Supreme Court against her husband after he left her without providing her money to live on her own.

Her husband was a well-established lawyer. She was already in her seventies at the time and was left with a minimal amount of money per month.

The court ruled in her favor, but the case set off a frenzied response from Muslim religious leaders who saw the judgment as a breach against their religious identity.

They were incensed that the government had applied a "uniform" law to an area they believe should be governed by religious law -- and they were worried it would further erase their rights as a religious minority.

In India, each religious community has their own set of laws based on their religious texts which govern family matters. The idea is that Hindus are governed according to practices outlined in Hindu texts, Christians, the Bible and Muslims, the Quran.

In practice, however, "the family law system in India is a very big mess," said legal scholar Tahir Mahmood in an interview in February.

Since India's independence, various politicians have proposed an overarching law known as the Uniform Civil Code, which would make separate religious laws obsolete -- creating one system for every citizen.

India's current government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, favors such a law.

Opponents fear that a ban against triple talaq will start an erosion of their religious rights and lead to the passing of a Uniform Civil Code.

"It is our fundamental -- given in the constitution -- right to abide by our personal laws. You cannot snatch our right from us," said Mohammad Jafar, a life member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the legal organization opposing the petitions filed in the Supreme Court, in an interview with CNN in February.

Petitions and politics

In spite of the opinion of male Muslim leaders, momentum for a triple talaq ban has gradually increased over the years as Muslim women started to speak up.

It's made for seemingly contradictory alliances.

In March, a million women put their signatures behind a petition against triple talaq.

The petition was sponsored by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), an Islamic organization affiliated with the right wing Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The momentum for a ban has reached the highest levels of power, too. India's prime minister Narendra Modi first spoke out against the practice in 2016, arguing that India cannot allow the lives of Muslim women to be ruined by three words over the phone, and the issue has been linked to BJP's electoral success in a crucial local election in Uttar Pradesh. He again raised the issue a week ago in his speech on the 70th anniversary of India's independence.

But for the women fighting the case, at the end of the day, the fight is not political. It is about true equality.

"My creator cannot create me in a way that I am subservient to another human being. My creator cannot make me secondary to a man just because I'm a woman," said BMMA co-founder Noorjehan in January.

"That gave me strength to question patriarchal attitudes. I'm equal to anybody in this world."

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triple talaq: india's top court to decide on controversial islamic instant divorce practice - cnn

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Triple talaq: India's top court bans Islamic practice of instant divorce

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The practice, that stretches back over a thousand years, allows a husband to divorce his wife by simply saying the Arabic word for divorce, talaq, three times. The five-judge bench did not unanimously ban the practice, which Balaji Srinivasan, one of the lawyers on the case, called "disappointing."

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http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/15/us/confederate-memorial-removal-us-trnd/index.html

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2017 charlottesville white nationalist rally

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international relations and national security

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confederate flag and monuments controversy

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Here are the Confederate memorials that will be removed after Charlottesville | CNN

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Many local government officials are now weighing whether to keep Confederate memorials in their cities and towns. Read a state-by-state breakdown.

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Recently more clues have been discovered in the Natalee Holloway case. This has been over a decade search for the missing girl in Aruba. They received an anonymous tip from a man about being a part of the disposal of the body. The bones just discovered are currently being DNA tested. One of Holloway's friends, Jessica Caoila, talked about her memories of that night. She mentioned a man named Joran Van De Sloot, being at the bar and is currently in prison for a murder in Peru. She recalls many of her friends noticing the man and his willingness to speak to all of them. She also remembers being one of the last people to take a photo of Natalee.

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One of the Alabama high school students who was with Natalee Holloway on the 2005 graduation trip to Aruba during which she vanished is revealing new details about the final hours before her friend's disappearance.

When Jessica Caiola saw then-18-year-old Natalee Holloway being driven away in a car after a night out on their vacation, she said she assumed her classmate found a ride back to the hotel where the group of teens was staying.

In an interview with Oxygen, Caiola said the two girls left "Carlos 'n Charlie's," a local bar, to catch a shuttle back to the hotel.

While they stopped to order some street food, Caoila said she looked up and saw Holloway being driven away in a white car.

"The window was down so we could see it was her in the back of the car," she said in the interview. "My impression was, 'Oh, great, she found a ride back to the hotel.'"
COULD THE HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN ARUBA BE NATALEE HOLLOWAY? EXPERTS WEIGH IN
Holloway never returned to the hotel with her friends, who said they didn't realize she was missing until the next morning.

Her body hasn't been found, but her father, Dave Holloway, has never stopped searching for answers.

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In fact, Holloway's father, Dave, revealed new information in the case on NBC's "Today" last week, saying a tip from a man who claimed to have helped dispose of her body 12 years ago led to the discovery of unidentified human remains behind a house in Aruba, calling it a "major discovery."

The bones are being tested for DNA and the results could take up to a month, he said.

Investigators and Natalee's family said they've long suspected that Joran van der Sloot was responsible for her disappearance. He has never faced trial in connection with the case but he is currently serving a 28-year sentence for an unrelated murder in Peru.
NATALEE HOLLOWAY: A DECADE OF MYSTERY
In the Oxygen series, Caiola said she remembered van der Sloot being at "Carlos 'n Charlies" the night of Holloway's disappearance.

"He was absolutely at Carlos 'n Charlie's, 1000 percent," said Caiola. "Natalee and I were actually talking at the bar and interacting and having a good time."

He was also seen around the group of teens earlier at various points throughout their trip, she said.

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"I remember seeing Joran van der Sloot at the casino at our hotel," she said. "That was the first time I saw him and I remember chatter of him, like, 'He's so cute. Who's going to hook up with him?' Those sort of things were floating around. That was probably the extent to which I got close to him."

Caoila also discussed taking some of the last photographs of Holloway on that final night at the bar, saying she wanted to "remember" the moment.

"I never took a photo of Natalee before that night," Caiola said.

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Natalee Holloway's final hours: New clues surface in teen's disappearance

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One of the Alabama high school students who was with Natalee Holloway on the 2005 graduation trip to Aruba during which she vanished is revealing new details about the final hours before her friend's disappearance.

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Interns find, release two-headed sea turtles

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MELBOURNE, Fla. - This one's worth a double take.

University of Central Florida interns recently found a two-headed baby loggerhead sea turtle in Brevard County.

Loggerheads are know for their massive heads.

But two?

Double-headers are not unheard of and are among a litany of developmental abnormalities this threatened species faces.

"We often find stragglers in the nest and the two-headed turtle was one such straggler," Kate Mansfield, assistant professor and director UCF's Marine Turtle Research Group, said via email. "There are so many eggs laid by sea turtles throughout Florida. It is not uncommon to find unhatched eggs in a nest with embryos that ceased development for a variety of reasons, including developmental issues."

Among the stragglers, the UCF researchers find missing flippers, odd scales on shells, missing eyes and other developmental abnormalities.

Two-headed hatchlings are fairly rare, Mansfield said.

The likelihood of any hatchling surviving to maturity (25+ years) is low, she added, and those with these developmental anomalies face tougher challenges.

"The other two-headed hatchlings I've seen or heard of did not survive long ... I don't know of any two-headed sea turtle adults. Personally, I've never seen one."

The UCF interns found the two-headed hatchling just south of Patrick Air Force Base, about a week ago. They released it the morning they found it, per guidelines of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The two-headed turtle crawled energetically towards the ocean, Mansfield said.

"With any live hatchling, we typically release them," she added. "If the hatchling had been dead, we likely would have saved the specimen, but we don't have a facility for long-term care or study of hatchlings. And the state prefers that live animals be released."

The cause of the double-headed turtle may be genetic, developmental or environmental, Mansfield said.

"Healthy sea turtle hatchlings at best have a difficult road ahead in terms of early survival rates (a number of things eat them)," she said.

The interns who encountered the turtle didn't get samples.

"We are not currently permitted to take hatchling samples, unfortunately," she said.
Follow Jim Waymer on Twitter: @JWayEnviro

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Interns find, release two-headed sea turtle

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MELBOURNE, Fla. - This one's worth a double take. University of Central Florida interns recently found a two-headed baby loggerhead sea turtle in Brevard County. Loggerheads are know for their massive heads. But two? Double-headers are not unheard of and are among a litany of developmental abnormalities this threatened species faces.

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http://www.foxnews.com/category/tech/topics/computers.html

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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2017 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. All market data delayed 20 minutes.

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an oil ship crashed into an american destroyer, USS John S. McCain. it is a possibility that the cause of the accident  was cyber sabotage.

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Archaeologists discovered a cemetary in the Nile Valley that could help solve old Egyptian mysteries. It is a new style of tomb, and can give more information about the lives of ancient Egyptians.

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Experts have unearthed three tombs that date back 2,000 years at the site of an ancient city in the Nile Valley.

Egypt's antiquities ministry said that archaeologists discovered the tombs from the Ptolemaic Period. The discovery was made in the province of Minya, south of Cairo, in an area known as al-Kamin al-Sahrawi.

In a August 15 Facebook post, the ministry explained that excavators unearthed a collection of sarcophagi of different shapes and sizes as well as clay fragments that date the tomb to between Egypt's 27 th Dynasty and the Greco-Roman period.
TOMB OF KING TUT'S WIFE DISCOVERED? EXPERTS EXCITED BY FIND IN EGYPT
The area was likely a "great cemetery," according to Dr. Ayman Ashmawy, head of the ministry's Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector. Ashmawy described the latest discoveries as "very important," adding that they reveal more of al-Kamin al-Sahrawi's secrets.

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Previous excavations at the site had revealed about 20 catacomb-style tombs. The current exacavation is still ongoing.

The newly-discovered tombs, however, are a different design to previously discovered tombs at the site, according to the antiquities ministry.
YALE ARCHAEOLOGISTS MAKE AMAZING ANCIENT EGYPTIAN 'BILLBOARD' DISCOVERY
One of the tombs has a burial shaft carved in rock and leads to a chamber where lids with human figures and four sarcophagi for two women and two men were found. Another tomb contains two chambers; one of them has six burial holes, including one for a child. Ali Al-Bakry, head of the ministry's mission to the site, noted that this the first time that a child's burial to be discovered al-Kamin al-Sahrawi.

Analysis of bones found in the tombs indicates they are from men, women and children of various ages, according to Egypt's antiquities ministry. The bones also confirm that the tombs are from a large city's cemetery, the ministry said, disproving the theory that it was a military garrison cemetery.

Excavation work for the third tomb is still underway.
ANCIENT TOMB OF GOLD WORKER FOUND ALONG NILE RIVER
The tombs at al-Kamin al-Sahrawi are just the latest ancient Egyptian discovery to thrill experts. Last month, archaeologists said that a tomb that may have belonged to the wife of King Tutankhamun had been discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

In June, archaeologists from Yale and the Royal Museum of Art and History in Belgium announced the discovery of the earliest-known 'billboard-sized' hieroglyphs in the ancient city of Elkab.

Other finds include a 3,000-year-old royal tomb in the Luxor area and the tomb of an ancient gold worker on Sai Island in northern Sudan.
The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

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Archaeologists discover tombs from ancient 'great cemetery' in Egypt's Nile Valley

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Experts have unearthed three tombs that date back 2,000 years at the site of an ancient city in the Nile Valley. Egypt's antiquities ministry said that archaeologists discovered the tombs from the Ptolemaic Period. The discovery was made in the province of Minya, south of Cairo, in an area known as al-Kamin al-Sahrawi.

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President Trump ended the ban of water bottles in national parks.

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The Trump administration is ending a policy implemented by former president Barack Obama that attempted to ban water bottles at national parks.

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math grads from Kansas city,mo disrupt car insurance industry by finding a way to make it cheaper for people

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Proven Advice To Save You Money On Your Car Insurance Bill

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United States drivers are surprised they never knew this rule. If you don't have tickets in the past 3 years, consider this.

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A man was found dead in a broken elevator in an apartment complex in denver. He was 82, and was found because neighbors reported a bad odor

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man found dead after weeks trapped in elevator - cnn video

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Man found dead after weeks trapped in elevator - CNN Video

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An elderly man's decomposing body was found in an inoperable elevator at an apartment complex in Denver. CNN affiliate KMGH has more.

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Early Tuesday morning 40 people were injured in a train crashing into another in Suburban Philadelphia terminal. 42 passengers were on, but no serious injuries that could lead to death. One train rear ended the other witnesses say.

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boy who has heart transplant dies on first day of school right after dad took picture.

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A 13-year-old Ohio boy who received a new heart in March collapsed and died as he arrived for his first day of school last Thursday, CBS affiliate WKRC reports.

Peyton West was born with a heart defect called hypoplastic left heart heart syndrome and had seemed to recover well from the transplant surgery.

Peyton arrived at school with his older brother Thursday morning. When he got out of his brother's car he collapsed.

"We don't know why. We don't understand it but we know God has a purpose and Peyton touched so many lives in just his short time here," said Corey West, Peyton's father.

Peyton's dad had taken a picture of him with his backpack just 15 minutes before he collapsed. He said his son was excited to return to school and skipped an FC Cincinnati soccer game Wednesday night so he could attend an open house at Goshen Middle School.

"He went to bed, no problems. He woke up, no problems being his goofy self," Corey West said.

He said Peyton was not showing signs of rejection. Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the family of Peyton's donor, Derek Cisneros, traveled to Cincinnati from Iowa to meet him and his family.

"To thank them and we feel bad for them for losing Derek," Peyton said that day.

Peyton's younger brother, Nolan, who shared a room with his Peyton, said he misses his brother.

"I just wish that he was still alive so we could play and I don't know if I can sleep by myself," Nolan said.

Thursday night, classmates and members of the community gathered at the football field in Goshen, Ohio, to pray for Peyton's family. Some people wore t-shirts marked #PeytonStrong. Counselors were made available to students.

"Peyton was a wonderful young man a courageous young man who always had a big smile on his face. Certainly his battle and his challenges are well-known to our community," said Darrell Edwards, the district's superintendent.

The community's support has been a big help to the West family. Peyton touched many people, and his father said his life can serve as a lesson to others.

"That's what people would want people to know is to love people and to love God and to be there for one another," Corey West said. "Just thank you for praying and for being there for Peyton and our family."

An autopsy will be performed to determine what went wrong with Peyton's heart. His family hopes the results will help other children.

Funeral services for Peyton will be held on Wednesday.

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Boy who had heart transplant dies on first day of school

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A 13-year-old Ohio boy who received a new heart in March collapsed and died as he arrived for his first day of school last Thursday, CBS affiliate WKRC reports. Peyton West was born with a heart defect called hypoplastic left heart heart syndrome and had seemed to recover well from the transplant surgery.

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Tin Vu-Falling tree kills 12 at  festival. A Catholic festival in Portugal came to a stop after a tree falls down killing 12 people and injuring dozens. 

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Tin Vu-Falling tree kills 12 at  festival. A Catholic festival in Portugal came to a stop after a tree falls down killing 12 people and injuring dozens. 

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Military commander in the Pacific says it would be "Foolhardy" to test America's forces in this time of perceived weakness. He said this only a day after the collision of the USS John McCain and a merchant ship. This is the fourth time such a collision has happened.

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The comments from Admiral Harry Harris, the head of US Pacific Command (PACOM), came a day after the USS John McCain collided with a merchant ship, leaving 10 sailors missing and another five injured. It was the fourth such accident involving a US military ship in Asia this year -- and has prompted questions about the operational capabilities of US forces in the region.

"Perception is in the eyes of the beholder, and I will hope that no one will test US on the perception that we've had a problem with USS John McCain and three other assets -- that would be a very foolhardy thing to do," Harris told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.

Harris' comments come amid continued tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with Washington and Pyongyang trading heated rhetoric and dueling threats, worrying observers that a miscalculation on either side could have serious consequences.

Operational pause

Harris said he believed the McCain's collision would not affect the US military's ability "to defend the (Korean) peninsula and our interest in the region."

"The US Navy is large, we have a lot of capacity, and we will bring that capacity forward if we need to," he said.

The US Navy ordered a one-day operational pause -- which will be spread out over a couple weeks and conducted at the discretion of individual commands -- in response to the McCain collision, but Harris stressed that the string of incidents will not affect the US military's ability to defend itself from incoming threats.

The John McCain is equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, which is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles from adversaries like North Korea.

A spokesman for the Pacific-based US 7th Fleet said the McCain is one of 14 Aegis-equipped ships the Navy has forward-deployed to Japan, and it plans to add another one next year. In total, the US Navy has 84 vessels equipped with the Aegis system.

"The ballistic missile defense destroyers and cruisers we have in the region are only part of the layered defense we have in the region," said Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the commander of US Forces Korea.

Open eyes and ears

Flanked by two Patriot missile batteries -- another missile defense system designed to shoot down incoming projectiles -- Harris spoke Tuesday at Osan Air Base just south of Seoul.

The news conference came on the second day of the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises between the American and South Korean militaries.

Seoul and Washington say the exercises, which have been going on for years, are meant to "enhance readiness, protect the region and maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula," according to the US Department of Defense.

North Korea, however, sees them as practice for an eventual invasion.

A propaganda video released by North Korea's state-run Uriminzokkiri website Saturday, shortly before the start of the exercises, showed senior US leaders -- including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis -- above flames and warned the Trump administration to keep "its eyes and ears open from now on."

The provocative video also appeared to show a missile heading toward the US territory of Guam, an island in the western Pacific that's home to two US military assets, and speculated that "this is the fateful end of sinful US."

Guam, which is the closest US territory to North Korea, was ensnared in last week's heated back-and-forth between Pyongyang and the United States after being specifically threatened by North Korean state media.

The tense rhetoric has died down somewhat since last Tuesday, when North Korea's state-run news outlet KCNA reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would opt to wait and see what the "foolish Yankees" do next after being briefed by his military advisers on plan to fire missiles off the coast of Guam.

As the threats rolled, US and Guam officials have reiterated that the multi-layered missile defense system the US operates throughout Asia is designed to keep Guam safe from threats like these, though independent analysts have issued more cautious assessments.

Harris and Brooks offered strong praised US' missile defense systems Tuesday, both made it clear that the current situation on the Korean Peninsula must be resolved diplomatically.

"We hope and we work for a diplomatic solution to the challenge presented by Kim Jong Un. A strong diplomatic effort, backed by a strong military effort, is key," Harris said. "Credible combat power should be in support of diplomacy, not the other way around."

CNN's Elaine Ly, Sol Han and Brad Lendon contributed to this report

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top us commander warns against testing military's operational capability - cnn

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Top US commander warns against testing military's operational capability

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The comments from Admiral Harry Harris, the head of US Pacific Command (PACOM), came a day after the USS John McCain collided with a merchant ship, leaving 10 sailors missing and another five injured. It was the fourth such accident involving a US military ship in Asia this year -- and has prompted questions about the operational capabilities of US forces in the region.

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Ty Kohl- President Trump has changed his strategy in Afghanistan and will keep troops in the country.

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Ty Kohl- President Trump has changed his strategy in Afghanistan and will keep troops in the country.

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five key pieces of trump's afghanistan plan - cnnpolitics

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Five key pieces of Trump's Afghanistan plan

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President Donald Trump outlined his plan for the 16-year US war in Afghanistan Monday evening, vowing that the US would find victory while no longer "nation-building."

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10 crew members were reported missing after USS John McCain collided with merchant vessel on Monda y.

ome remains of the missing have been found.

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Navy and Marine Corps divers found the remains in the sealed compartments aboard the McCain, said Swift, commander of the Pacific Fleet.

The Royal Malaysian Navy has located one body at sea, and officials are working to determine whether it is one of the missing sailors, he said. Divers have located others.

US military divers continue to search the flooded areas of the McCain. Ships and planes are scouring the seas east of Singapore. Divers will also assess the extent of damage to the warship, which is docked at a Singapore naval facility, according to the Navy.

"Until we have exhausted any potential of recovering survivors or bodies, the search and rescue efforts will continue," Swift said.

The White House expressed its "great sadness" about the incident. "As the Navy begins the process of recovering our fallen sailors, our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and friends," the statement said.

The guided-missile destroyer and the merchant vessel collided Monday east of the Malacca Strait, the fourth time a US warship has been involved in an accident in Asian waters this year.

"This trend demands more forceful action," Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, said. Swift said the Pacific Fleet will complete the operational pause by next Monday.

Swift also said there will be "a deliberate reset for our ships focused on a number of areas, such as navigation, ship's mechanical systems and bridge resource management." A reset refers to the restoration of unit or equipment capability and readiness.

"It will involve training and assessment by a team of experts," he said.

At least seven vessels from the Malaysian and Singapore navies, plus military aircraft from the USS America, are involved in the search near one of the world's most congested shipping lanes.

A Malaysian official said the sea in the area was "quite rough," with waves up to 1 meter (3-feet) high.

One of the missing seamen was named as Petty Officer Logan Palmer in a Facebook post by US Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois, who said he was in touch with Palmer's family.

Five sailors were injured in the crash, and a Singaporean air force helicopter airlifted four of them to a Singapore hospital.

What caused the accident?

The McCain suffered a steering failure as the warship was beginning its approach into the Strait of Malacca, causing it to collide with a commercial tanker, a Navy official told CNN.

The official said it was unclear why the crew couldn't use the ship's backup steering systems to maintain control.

Earlier, another US Navy official told CNN there were indications the destroyer experienced a loss of steering right before the collision, but steering had been regained afterward.

Swift lauded the "damage control efforts of the crew," such as helping injured sailors and fighting to control the flooding and stability of the ship.

"John S. McCain was up and running as an operational ship almost immediately after the collision. It was quite extraordinary," he said.

The McCain has been towed to Singapore's Changi Naval Base. The other ship, the Alnic MC, a 600-foot, Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker, was towed to Singapore's eastern anchorage for inspection.

The collision bears a resemblance to an incident in June involving the USS Fitzgerald, which collided with a container ship off the coast of Japan and led to the deaths of seven US sailors.

In addition, the USS Lake Champlain hit a South Korean fishing boat in May, and the USS Antietam ran aground off the coast of Japan in January.

Lawmakers and defense analysts have warned that longer deployments for ships and less time and money for maintenance and training could be playing a role in the accidents.

A press release on the McCain last week said the crew had completed 350 maintenance and repair jobs while at sea. At least 100 of those were classified as "depot-level" jobs that would usually be conducted at a shipyard.

"We are not letting this deployment eat away at our material readiness," said Cmdr. Jessie Sanchez, the executive officer of McCain. "We continue to maintain our upkeep, so that when we come back, we are just as good if not better than when we left."

There was no indication the collision was intentional or evidence the ship was the target of a cyberattack, but investigators would not discount these possibilities, Richardson told reporters.

"We are taking a look at all (options) as we did with the (USS) Fitzgerald as well," he said.

What actions are being taken?

The spate of accidents suggests there could be a more systemic issue.

"This is the second major collision in the last three months, and is the latest in a series of major incidents, particularly in the Pacific theater," Richardson said as he announced the operational pause.

The United States has ordered a "comprehensive review," which Defense Secretary James Mattis said "will determine any of the causal factors, to determine what's going on -- both immediate contributors to this incident but also any related factors."

The review will take place over a week in a series of 24-hour periods during which on-board actions, as well as leadership and operational procedures, will be examined.

Speaking at the Osan Air Base in South Korea, Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the US forces in the Pacific, said the pause would not have an effect on the ability "to defend our nation and our allies."

The McCain, named for Sen. John McCain's father and grandfather, both of whom were Navy admirals, is one of 84 US warships equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, which has been touted as a possible counter to any North Korean missile launch.

Swift said he was not concerned that the number of ships out of commission would affect the Navy's ability to respond to threats in the region.

"We have a deep bench," he said. "I've got 140,000 sailors that report for duty in the Pacific Fleet every day. I have over 200 ships assigned to me, 60% of the United States Navy is assigned to the Pacific Fleet, so I am highly confident we can respond to any guidance or direction."

Nevertheless, Swift said, "We are very concerned about the four incidents."

Retired Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, a CNN diplomatic and military analyst, said the Navy will look at a number of factors to try to understand if there's a systemic problem.

"They'll look at the quality of leadership at all levels, the amount and the quality of training that commanders have been able to get done, shipboard watch-standing procedures and qualifications, and system and equipment readiness," Kirby said.

"I suspect they will also want to consider the degree to which the budget uncertainty of the last few years has likewise affected any of those factors."

Criticism in Chinese press

An opinion piece in the state-run China Daily newspaper criticized the wave of accidents, saying the US Navy was becoming "a hazard in Asian waters."

"It may be hard for people to understand why US warships are unable to avoid other vessels since they are equipped with the world's most sophisticated radar and electronic tracking systems, and aided by crew members on constant watch," said the unbylined piece published in the English-language daily.

Calling the Navy a "dangerous obstacle" and an "increasing hindrance to ships sailing in Asian waters," it said there was "no denying the fact that the increased activities by US warships in Asia-Pacific since Washington initiated its rebalancing to the region are making them a growing risk to commercial shipping."

It added that investigations into the cause of the Fitzgerald collision in June "shed some light on the way US warships tend to sail without observing maritime traffic rules and the sloppiness of their crews."

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uss john mccain: 'some remains' of missing 10 sailors found after collision - cnnpolitics

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Euan McKirdy, Brad Lendon and Jim Sciutto, CNN

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'Some remains' found in search for missing crew on US warship

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Navy and Marine Corps divers found the remains in the sealed compartments aboard the McCain, said Swift, commander of the Pacific Fleet. The Royal Malaysian Navy has located one body at sea, and officials are working to determine whether it is one of the missing sailors, he said. Divers have located others.

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25 year old man confesses to stabbing his 6 year old sister and two young cousins while babysitting

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The three girls, all under 10, were found dead in a single bed with lacerations to their upper body, according to the Prince George's County Police Department.

Antonio Williams' mother found her daughter and the other two children in the basement of her home.

Williams' mother had asked her son to care for the children while she worked an overnight shift.

Williams has been charged with three counts of first and second-degree murder in the deaths of his sister, 6-year-old Nadira Withers, and two second cousins, 9-year-old Ariana Decree and 6-year-old Ajayah Decree.

Police said the Decree sisters were visiting from Newark, New Jersey. Their mother was also present when they were found, at 7:30 a.m. on Friday.

A fourth child, a 2-year-old, was also in the home at the time of the killings but was unharmed.

Williams was the only adult in the house at the time of the killings, said Tony Schartner, of the Prince George's County Police Department.

Police are still trying to determine a motive.

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man confesses to killing 6-year-old sister and 2 young cousins - cnn

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Man confesses to killing 6-year-old sister and 2 young cousins

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The three girls, all under 10, were found dead in a single bed with lacerations to their upper body, according to the Prince George's County Police Department. Antonio Williams' mother found her daughter and the other two children in the basement of her home.

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USS John S. McCain crashes with merchant vessel, no oone injured

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Remains of missing U.S. Navy soldiers were found in a compartment of the USS John S. McCain one day after the ship collided with a tanker in the Pacific, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said.

Ten American sailors were missing after the warship crashed into the oil tanker just east of Singapore early Monday morning in what was the second collision involving a ship from the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet in the Pacific in just two months. One body has been found although it has not yet been identified, according to officials.

Read on for a look at other recent U.S. military incidents in the Pacific.
USS John S. McCain
The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC at approximately 6:24 a.m. Japan Standard Time, or 5:24 p.m. EDT on Aug. 20, according to the Department of Defense.

No one onboard the 600-foot oil and chemical tanker was injured, the Singapore government said, although the ship did sustain damage to a compartment at its front.
NAVY SHIP IN COLLISION NAMED FOR MCCAIN'S DAD, GRANDFATHER
The McCain had been heading to Singapore on a routine port visit after conducting a sensitive freedom-of-navigation operation last week by sailing near one of China's man-made islands in the South China Sea. Five sailors were injured; 10 sailors are missing.

There was no immediate explanation for the collision, and the Navy said an investigation would be conducted. Singapore, at the southernmost tip of the Malay Peninsula, is one of the world's busiest ports and a U.S. ally, with its naval base regularly visited by American warships.
UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter
Officials ended the search Monday for the five soldiers aboard an Army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in the ocean off the coast of Hawaii on Aug. 15.

Two Black Hawk aircrews were participating in training exercises when communications were lost.

Crews from the Army, Coast Guard, Navy and local agencies in Hawaii searched around the clock as strong currents moved the wreckage into a deep-water search area that spanned 72,000 nautical miles (115,873 kilometers).
NAVY CAPTAIN LATEST TO PLEAD GUILTY IN BRIBERY CASE
The missing soldiers range in ages from 26 to 41. The crew did have life vests and devices to assist with underwater breathing on the helicopter, officials said.

But while officials did recover significant debris from the crash, Army and Coast Guard officials said Monday that they found no signs of life and ended the search and rescue operation.
MV-22 Osprey
Three U.S. Marines were declared dead earlier this month after their MV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Australia.

The MV-22 Osprey - part helicopter, part plane - crashed into the back of the USS Green Bay, a Navy amphibious ship, and fell into the sea on Aug. 5.
USS Fitzgerald
Seven sailors - ranging in ages from 19 to 37 - died in June when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship in waters off Japan.

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US MILITARY PLAN CRASHES ON RISE AS AGING FLEET CONTINUES BREAKING DOWN
"The collision was avoidable and both ships demonstrated poor seamanship," the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said in a statement. "Within Fitzgerald, flawed watch stander teamwork and inadequate leadership contributed to the collision that claimed the lives of seven Fitzgerald sailors, injured three more, and damaged both ships."

The captain of the Philippine-flagged container ship accused the Navy destroyer of failing to heed warning signs before the crash on June 17.
USS Lake Champlain
The USS Lake Champlain, a guided-missile cruiser part of the U.S. Navy's 7th fleet, collided with a South Korean fishing vessel in the Sea of Japan in May.

No injuries were reported following the crash that occurred on May 9.
CHINA NEWSPAPER CLAIMS US NAVY IS 'HAZARD' IN ASIAN WATERS
The naval ship was conducting routine operations in international waters at the time of the crash, according to the U.S. Navy. A defense official said visibility was limited at the time of the incident.
USS Louisiana
The ballistic-missile submarine USS Louisiana collided with a U.S. Navy Offshore Support Vessel off the coast of Washington state on Aug. 18, 2016, according to the U.S. Navy.

The crash occurred during routine operations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

While both vessels were damaged, no one was injured in the collision.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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US military crashes, collisions in the Pacific

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Remains of missing U.S. Navy soldiers were found in a compartment of the USS John S. McCain one day after the ship collided with a tanker in the Pacific, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said.

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Californos shooting victim identified as Lee's Summit Police Officer