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Girls from STA caught underage drinking and suffered little punishment. This angers Alumnae.

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North Korea threatens to test a hydrogen bomb in the pacific.

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No video of Kenneka Jenkins entering freezer where she was found dead, hotel says

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the iphone 8 is out, the Australia

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Alumnae of St. Teresa's Academy are upset by the school's lax response to social media posts that show current students posing with a swastika.

According to multiple alumnae who reached out to KCUR, seven students arranged plastic cups in the shape of a swastika while playing beer pong at a weekend party. They then shared photos of themselves with the swastika on Snapchat with the caption, "Girls night!"

Upset classmates asked the girls to take the photos down, and when they refused, one of their peers went to administration. The girls allegedly received one day of "in-school reflection," were banned from participating in activities for a week and had to email the colleges they planned to attend.

"That's the same punishment one of my peers received for bringing an e-cigarette to class," says Maddie Summers, a 2016 St. Teresa's graduate who is now a sophomore at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

It's Summers' opinion that what the students did violates St. Teresa's core values - mutual respect, integrity, compassion and justice.

"I don't believe there has been any compassion or justice in this situation," Summers says.

Summers says the anti-Semitic symbol was particularly egregious given that a St. Teresa's alumna, Terri LaManno, was gunned down by an avowed anti-Semite outside Village Shalom in 2014.

Kathleen Pointer, a 2007 St. Teresa's graduate who recently moved back to the Kansas City area after several years in Chicago, says she's concerned that the student who reported her classmates to administration is being bullied.

"From what I've heard, she has gotten backlash from the girls she reported on and is having a difficult time," Pointer says.

Like Summers, Pointer remembers classmates getting far harsher punishments for lesser infractions than these girls allegedly did.

Summers says she's reached out to Liz Baker, principal for student affairs, to ask why the school hasn't publicly condemned the students involved.

"I emailed her yesterday - still no reply," says Summers. "I've had friends who've been emailing her every day all week who've still had no reply."

On Thursday, the school sent the following email to parents of St. Teresa's students:

"The St. Teresa's Academy community was challenged this past week in a student incident. We wanted you to be aware of the occurrence and what steps we are undertaking. Because of the privacy and legal issues involved, we are unable to report every detail. However, in the interest of transparency and in learning from this occurrence, we are reporting what we can.

"A group of STA students were drinking alcohol and participating in a beer drinking game. A picture of their activity which was unrelated to any school-sponsored event took place off school property and after school hours, was posted on social media. The beer drinking game involved the placement of cups in a sequence resembling a hateful symbol. Upon the incident being brought to our attention, STA leadership undertook an internal, as well as external investigation. We investigated the underage drinking as well as the potential for racial discrimination. We also involved the KC Police Dept. Internal and external investigations concluded that this is a case of inappropriate and unlawful underage drinking. After careful and complete review by the STA administrative team and in accordance with school policies, the students involved were disciplined.

"STA is committed to providing a respectful and inclusive learning environment for our students. As such, the Academy is rooted in Christian values and embraces a culturally, economically, ethnically, and racially diverse student body, all with diverse perspectives and experiences. We constantly strive to promote civil discourse, understanding, and appreciation of these differences, which is vital in an increasingly diverse and global society. When there is disruption to this inclusivity in our learning environment, it is appropriate for the Academy to take responsive action. Our hope is that, as our mission states, 'profound love' in action can lead to unity and reconciliation. We are ardent in attaining a safe and quality educational environment for all of our students. We are committed to provided our students the best educational opportunities we can while balancing justice, mercy, and reconciliation."

Calls to the school for comment were not returned immediately.
Editor's note: KCUR has received screenshots of the social media post but is not publishing them because the participants are minors. Elle Moxley covers Missouri schools and politics for KCUR. You can reach her on Twitter @ellemoxley.

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St. Teresa's Alumnae Outraged After Students Pose With Swastika While Drinking

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Alumnae of St. Teresa's Academy are upset by the school's lax response to social media posts that show current students posing with a swastika. According to multiple alumnae who reached out to KCUR, seven students arranged plastic cups in the shape of a swastika while playing beer pong at a weekend party.

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Search for Mexico survivors continues as story of missing girl proves false

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Ahmed Hassan, 18, is accused of planting the homemade bomb that scorched train passengers. He was arrested Saturday at the port of Dover, a departure point for ferries to France.

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British police charged a teenager with attempted murder in connection to the Sept. 15 terror attack on a London subway train that injured at least 30 people.

Ahmed Hassan, 18, is accused of planting the homemade bomb that scorched train passengers. He was arrested Saturday at the port of Dover, a departure point for ferries to France.

Hassan was due in Westminster Magistrates Court later Friday. Three other men -- aged 17, 25 and 30 -- remained in custody but have not been charged with participating in the attack. At least one of those men had been staying at a "halfway house" for asylum seekers.

Hassan is believed to have stayed with fosters parents who were awarded an MBE for their work taking in hundreds of children and teens, including refugees, Sky News reported.

The Parsons Green attack sparked a huge hunt for the perpetrators and prompted officials to briefly raise the national terrorism threat to the highest level -- "critical."

The bomb partially detonated at the height of the morning rush hour. London police chief Cressida Dick said the bomb was packed with shrapnel and the carnage could have been "much worse."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Parsons Green subway attack suspect charged by police

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British police charged a teenager with attempted murder in connection to the Sept. 15 terror attack on a London subway train that injured at least 30 people. Ahmed Hassan, 18, is accused of planting the homemade bomb that scorched train passengers. He was arrested Saturday at the port of Dover, a departure point for ferries to France.

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Trump turns to sanctions, diplomacy on North Korea after threatening destruction

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Story highlights

"We will be putting more sanctions on North Korea," Trump said

Trump unveiled the sanctions during a midday working lunch

President Donald Trump announced an expansion of sanctions on North Korea Thursday and praised China for taking action to limit financial transactions with the isolated communist nation.

The effort to project forward momentum in his bid to isolate Pyongyang came at the end of Trump's four-day visit to the United Nations General Assembly, where the crisis has taken prominence in rapid-pace meetings with more than a dozen world leaders.

His emphasis on economic efforts to end the standoff was a sign the President has not exhausted diplomacy in his dealings with North Korea, despite his warnings earlier in the week of dire military consequences should the nuclear provocations continue.

The new set of US sanctions on financial institutions that do business with North Korea is not targeted specifically at China, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Thursday.

"This action is directed at everyone," Mnuchin said, adding the steps are "in no way specifically directed at China."

Mnuchin said he'd spoken with a counterpart in China earlier Thursday. But he refused to say whether they'd discussed the new measures taken by China's central bank that Trump had announced earlier.

Trump indicated ahead of talks with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts that China's leader Xi Jinping - who was not present this week in New York - had told financial institutions to stop dealing with North Korea. Chinese state media was not yet reporting the decision, and the White House declined to say what the source of Trump's information was.

The step would amount to major progress in US efforts to cut off support for Pyongyang as punishment for its nuclear provocations. Trump has applied pressure on Beijing, North Korea's top economic patron, to end trade and financial support.

"It is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal rogue regime," Trump said at the start of the talks, held at a hotel in New York, adding he was calling for "complete denuclearization" in North Korea.

The executive order Trump inked just ahead of the lunch enhances Treasury Department authorities to target individuals who provide goods, services or technology to North Korea, Trump said. He added the order would also allow the US to identify new industries - including textiles, fishing and manufacturing - as potential targets for future actions.

The order also bans ships and aircraft that have visited North Korea from entering the United States for 180 days.

"Tolerance for this disgraceful practice must end now," he said of providing resources to North Korea.

The new sanctions come two days after Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea if it continues to threaten the United States and its allies.

Trump insists that military options are on the table for dealing with North Korea, but his aides have said diplomacy is the preferred outlet for containing the nuclear crisis.

Trump himself appeared to open the door for talks with North Korea, an option he'd previously ruled out. Asked at the end of the photo-op whether dialogue was still possible with North Korea, Trump said: "Why not?"

The remark indicated fresh openness for talks with Pyongyang, despite his insistence earlier this month that "talking is not the answer."

The United Nations Security Council has approved multiple rounds of sanctions on North Korea, including on its exports. But they have yet to stop the communist nation's leader Kim Jong Un from launching ballistic missile tests, and did not prevent a massive nuclear test earlier this month.

During talks Thursday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Trump was expected to reiterate that military options are available in retaliation for North Korean threats.

That's likely to draw a rebuke from Moon, who has ruled out military action and issued warnings on the ramped-up rhetoric coming from Washington.

Still, Moon sought to appeal to Trump on Thursday, praising his bellicose remarks at the General Assembly and lambasting North Korea's "deplorable" actions.

Trump took a liking to the phrasing, saying the word "deplorable" has been "a very lucky word for me and many millions of people," a reference to Hillary Clinton's use of it to describe some of his supporters.

The lunch was meant as a display of unity, though one without the region's most important player, Xi. Trump spoke by phone with Xi on Monday and praised the leader during multiple sets of remarks here on Thursday for the banking moves, which were reported by Reuters.

"That was a tremendous move, and we have great respect," Trump said. "And we also would like to thank President Xi of China. So that was a great thing he did today."

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Trump turns to sanctions, diplomacy on North Korea after threatening destruction

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"We will be putting more sanctions on North Korea," Trump said Trump unveiled the sanctions during a midday working lunch President Donald Trump announced an expansion of sanctions on North Korea Thursday and praised China for taking action to limit financial transactions with the isolated communist nation.

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Hawii is starting to tell its residents to prepare for a nuclear attack.

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Hawaiian officials were reportedly telling residents to prepare for a nuclear attack by North Korea, but they were doing so delicately so they don't cause a panic.

The Washington Post reported that Hawaii officials were working to educate and prepare residents amid the growing tension between Washington and Pyongyang. The public was being told to consider prepare for a nuclear attack in a similar way that it prepares for tsunamis.

"Now it's time to take it seriously," Hawaii state Rep. Gene Ward, a Republican, said, "not to be an alarmist, but to be informing people."

North Korea's foreign minister has said the Communist nation may test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean after dictator Kim Jong Un vowed he would take the "highest-level" action against the United States, South Korean media reported Thursday.

Ri Yong Ho made the comments on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Yonhap news agency reported.

"We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un," Yonhap quoted Ri as saying.

Such a test would be considered a major provocation by the U.S., South Korea and Japan. Ri was scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, a day later than previously scheduled.

Ri's comments followed Kim's extraordinary statement lashing out at President Trump, calling the American leader "deranged" and vowing that Trump would "pay dearly" for his threat to destroy North Korea.

Kim's first-person statement was published by North Korea's state propaganda arm in response to Trump's fiery speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. South Korean media called it the first such direct address to the world by Kim.

Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean military official who is now an analyst at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said Kim's statement indicated that North Korea would respond to Trump with its most aggressive missile test yet. That might include firing a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile over Japan to a range of around 4,349 miles, to display a capability to reach Hawaii or Alaska.

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Hawaii reportedly prepares for nuclear attack amid North Korea rhetoric

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Hawaiian officials were reportedly telling residents to prepare for a nuclear attack by North Korea, but they were doing so delicately so they don't cause a panic. The Washington Post reported that Hawaii officials were working to educate and prepare residents amid the growing tension between Washington and Pyongyang.

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A worker in Greensboro, North Carolina, fell from a Ferris wheel when he was trying to fix one of the cars. He was not critically injured.

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video shows worker fall from ferris wheel  - cnn video

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Video shows worker fall from Ferris wheel - CNN Video

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A worker in Greensboro, North Carolina, fell from a Ferris wheel when he was trying to fix one of the cars. He was not critically injured. HLN's Lynn Smith reports.

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Mexico earthquake: Navy official apologizes for report of trapped girl

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Story highlights

Death toll from central Mexico earthquake rises to 286

Official: All students have been accounted for at collapsed school

A Mexican navy official has apologized for confusion over reports that a 12-year-old girl was trapped alive after a Mexico City school collapsed in the wake of a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that killed more than 280 people nationwide.

Those reports had riveted Mexicans pulling for an uplifting rescue when the temblor damaged the Enrique Rebsamen school Tuesday.

Rescue workers said Wednesday they believed they'd made contact with a girl trapped in the rubble at the school, where at least 19 children and six adults were killed.

For more than a day, rescuers told reporters they were trying to reach and free the girl - efforts that were shown live on television.

But by Thursday afternoon, navy official Angel Enrique Sarmiento said all the school's children had been accounted for - either having died, been hospitalized or found safe - and there was no student known to be in the rubble.

Sarmiento, deputy navy secretary, followed up with an apology Thursday night, while emphasizing that someone still could be alive in the debris.

"I want to make it very clear that the information the Mexican public received about the existence of a girl who was alive underneath the rubble was released by the navy based on the technical reports and the accounts of the civilian and navy rescuers," he said.

"I offer the Mexican public an apology for the information disseminated (Thursday) afternoon where I affirmed that I did not have details about a supposed child survivor in this tragedy."

A search of the school continues, though the last time a body was found - that of a 58-year-old woman, the navy said - was Thursday morning.

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Mexico earthquake: Navy official apologizes over reports of trapped girl

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Death toll from central Mexico earthquake rises to 286 Official: All students have been accounted for at collapsed school A Mexican navy official has apologized for confusion over reports that a 12-year-old girl was trapped alive after a Mexico City school collapsed in the wake of a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that killed more than 280 people nationwide.

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4 year old accidentally shoots herself after reaching for candy in grandmas purse.

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A 95-year-old veteran was attacked and robbed outside her house; the attacker was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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A 20-year prison sentence was handed to a Chicago man who pleaded guilty to attacking a 94-year-old World War II veteran.

Olajuwon Claiborne was tearful as he apologized Thursday to the now 95-year-old Josephine Regnier before being sentenced by a Cook County judge.

Regnier was attacked last December outside her home in Chicago's Garfield Ridge neighborhood. The grandmother was left with bruises and several broken ribs after she was beaten and robbed while waiting for her daughter in the gangway of her home. Her attacker ran away with her purse.

The attacker was caught on surveillance video by a nearby restaurant. Claiborne was arrested after being turned in by a jailhouse acquaintance.

Regnier said she felt good about Claiborne's apology, but feels sorry for him because he's going to prison.

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20-year sentence for man in attack on 94-year-old veteran

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A 20-year prison sentence was handed to a Chicago man who pleaded guilty to attacking a 94-year-old World War II veteran. Olajuwon Claiborne was tearful as he apologized Thursday to the now 95-year-old Josephine Regnier before being sentenced by a Cook County judge. Regnier was attacked last December outside her home in Chicago's Garfield Ridge neighborhood.

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North Korea threatens to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific. Trump warned that the US would completely destroy North Korea if they keep up their testing.

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Amid new North Korean threats to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, President Trump tweeted Friday that the rogue regime's leader would be "tested like never before."

Trump, during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, warned the U.S. would "totally destroy" North Korea if Pyongyang continued its provocative actions, leading North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to up the ante by calling Trump "deranged." North Korea escalated the situation further when the nation's foreign minister revealed Pyongyang could conduct the H-bomb test, and, between tweets about healthcare and "The Russia hoax," Trump fired back.

"Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!" Trump wrote.

The Yonhap news agency reported Thursday on the hydrogen bomb threat from North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Ri framed the possible new nuke test as a response to Trump's U.N. speech.

"This could probably mean the strongest hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific Ocean. Regarding which measures to take, I don't really know since it is what Kim Jong Un does," Ri said.

Such a test would be considered a major provocation by the U.S., South Korea and Japan. Ri was scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, a day later than previously scheduled.

Ri's comments followed Kim's extraordinary statement lashing out at Trump, vowing the American leader would "pay dearly" for his threat to destroy North Korea.

Kim's first-person statement was published by North Korea's state propaganda arm in response to Trump's fiery speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. South Korean media called it the first such direct address to the world by Kim.

Kim said Trump was "unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country." He also described the U.S. president as "a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire."

Some analysts saw Kim's statement as a clear announcement that North Korea would ramp up its already brisk pace of weapons testing, which has included missiles meant to target U.S. forces throughout Asia and the U.S. mainland.

On Tuesday, Trump mocked Kim as a "rocket man" on a "suicide mission," and said that if "forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."

Kim characterized Trump's speech to the world body as "mentally deranged behavior."

He said Trump's remarks "have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last."

Kim said he was "thinking hard" about his response and that Trump "will face results beyond his expectation."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Trump responds after North Korea threatens hydrogen bomb test

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Amid new North Korean threats to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, President Trump tweeted Friday that the rogue regime's leader would be "tested like never before." Trump, during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, warned the U.S.

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A 7 year old girl with a 3-D printed hand will throw the first pitch for Game 4 of the World Series.

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The 7-year-old Las Vegas girl who made headlines for wanting to throw a pitch at every MLB ballpark will take the mound this fall to toss the ceremonial first pitch during Game 4 of the World Series. Hailey Dawson, who was born with Poland syndrome and uses a 3-D printed hand, has always loved baseball, FOX5 Vegas reported.

But the syndrome, which occurs in about one in 20,000 newborns and affected the development of her right pectoral muscle and fingers, prevented her from playing the game.

Hailey's mom, Yong, emailed the University of Nevada Las Vegas College of Engineering to see if they could help. After about six months of testing and fittings, Hailey was given her new hand.
GEORGIA GIRL BATTLING CANCER DIES BEFORE SPENDING DAN WITH SAN FRANCISCO POLICE
"She just put it on and started doing stuff, so that was cool," Yong told FOX5 Vegas.

Hailey, a Baltimore Orioles fan, asked her mom if she could pitch for the UNLV baseball team. Yong sent another email, and Hailey was invited to join the team for a pitch. About a month later, she had another request, but this time for her favorite team, the news outlet reported.

After she met her favorite player, Bryce Harper, Hailey asked him if he could help her get to the Nationals' stadium to throw the first pitch there too. Soon after, all 28 parks sent out an invitation for Hailey to throw the first pitch at their stadium, FOX5 Vegas reported.

"It's been a little crazy," Yong told the news outlet.
DOCTOR GOES INTO LABOR WHILE DELIVERING PATIENT'S BABY
Still, the biggest surprise came when the family got a call from the MLB's vice president.

"Then he said 'We want to invite your whole family to a World Series game,'" Yong told FOX5 Vegas. "Fantastic, dream come true right? And then he goes, 'And we want Hailey to throw out the first pitch,' and I started crying.'"

Yong said the opportunity will be a chance for Hailey to spread awareness for Poland Syndrome, as well as fulfill her ultimate dream.

"She was born this way for a reason," Yong told FOX5 Vegas.

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7-year-old fitted with 3-D printed hand to throw first pitch at World Series

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The 7-year-old Las Vegas girl who made headlines for wanting to throw a pitch at every MLB ballpark will take the mound this fall to toss the ceremonial first pitch during Game 4 of the World Series. Hailey Dawson, who was born with Poland syndrome and uses a 3-D printed hand, has always loved baseball, FOX5 Vegas reported.

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Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society (HKDCS), which sends researchers out almost every day, no matter the weather, to search the city's waters for an ever-shrinking population of dolphins.

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Their relentless work matters, not just to keep a few individual animals alive, but as a test of whether Hong Kongers can have more of a say in how their city progresses, take a step back from the mega projects and uninhibited development that have characterized Hong Kong for decades, and act to preserve what made it special in the first place.

I. Ancient 'ruddy' residents

On a day in July 1637, British explorer and trader Peter Mundy sat at anchor aboard the ship "Planter," near what was then still the Portuguese colony of Macau.

Mundy - who would go on to help introduce tea to the UK, forever changing British drinking habits and imperial priorities -- wrote in his diary, "the Porpoises here are as white as Milke, some of them Ruddy withall."

It was one of the first recorded mentions of the Chinese white dolphin, but would go largely unnoticed until another European, Swedish missionary and naturalist Pehr Osbeck wrote of "snow-white dolphins (which) tumbled about the ship" and suggested a scientific name for them: "delphinus chinesis."

Now officially the Sousa chinesis (to reflect their relation to the wider Sousa, or humpback dolphin, genus), the animals are more commonly known as pink dolphins due to their pink bubblegum-like coloring in adulthood.

Growing up to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) in length, with short, stubby snouts and small dorsal fins high up on their arched backs, pink dolphins have lived in the waters around Hong Kong for hundreds of years, as the human population grew from the low thousands in the 1600s to the millions today.

Throughout that time, pink dolphins - and to a lesser degree the finless porpoise, another local cetacean - were a common sight for Hong Kong fishermen, who regarded the animals as a catch-stealing nuisance at best, and an evil omen at worst.

Seeing pink dolphins leap out of the water was said to be a harbinger of storms; one old story has it that in 1941, fishermen off Yau Ma Tei saw a particularly large pod cresting three days before the Japanese Air Force began bombing the city.

While some saw dolphins as having an effect on human affairs, no one took much mind of what people might be doing to the dolphins until the 1990s, when scientists began sounding the alarm that population numbers were plummeting.

Today, there are an estimated 10,000 pink dolphins globally, with the largest population, around 1,200, in the Pearl River Delta region. HKDCS estimates 47 dolphins currently make the city's waters their home.

II. Breathing room

Hong Kong is dense. The city squeezes 7.4 million people into an area three times smaller than Rhode Island, with 57,250 people per square kilometer in the busiest neighborhoods.

For hundreds of years, the solution to this density has to be to carve out a bit more space by filling in parts of the sea. Industrial land reclamation began in earnest in the late nineteenth century, as the city's British rulers attempted to expand their new possession by dredging out bays and advancing shorelines.

At its most basic level, land reclamation is the process of scooping rock and other materials from a hillside and dumping them into the sea until the resulting pile is high enough to be built upon. However, this method results in "large displacement of the marine sediments and the development of mud-waves beneath the reclamation fill," according to a 1996 government review.

Such underwater disruption can destroy habitats and release toxic materials trapped under the mud into the surrounding water - potentially decimating fish and other local marine populations.

In order to address these concerns, attempts have been made to minimize the environmental impact by using vertical wick drains like giant straws to suck moisture out of the mud, making it solid enough to be built upon, but even the most minimal reclamation work is a major engineering undertaking creating extra marine traffic and huge amounts of noise and disorder underwater.

Despite these precautions, Samantha Lee, a senior marine conservation officer at the World Wildlife Fund's Hong Kong office, warned that because dolphin numbers are already diminished -- and they face a multitude of other challenges -- they are particularly vulnerable to continued construction work.

"The government has been adopting a 'develop first, conserve later' approach," she said.

III: Reclaimed waters

A constant stream of planes passes overhead, deafening the crew of Boat 36826 as they near a line of white buoys strung out over the water north of Hong Kong International Airport. Inside the perimeter sits a cluster of barges with red-and-white towers reminiscent of oil derricks, carrying out the drilling, dredging and pumping that will add the extra 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of land to Chep Lap Kok island needed to house a third runway.

The runway is one of two megaprojects in the waters around Lantau that HKDCS and others warn could be the final nail in the coffin for the local dolphin population. Near the airport, the sound of a drill rings loud over a huge building site, a 1.5 square kilometer (0.5 sq mile) pile of stone and sand that will one day house a transportation hub at the end of a $14.9 billion, 30 kilometer (18.5 mile) long bridge and tunnel stretching from Chep Lap Kok to Macau and the Chinese city of Zhuhai, on the other side of the Pearl River Delta.

The bridge - which the government argues is necessary as marine traffic between Hong Kong and its neighbors - has been plagued by criticism since its beginning, over its environmental impact, worker safety, and sprawling budget, among other issues. But most Hong Kongers do not have a say in how major development projects are approved.

Less than 1% of the city's population selects its leader, who - along with an appointed executive council - can sign off on many projects with limited scrutiny from the partially democratically-elected legislature.

Aboard Boat 36826, opinions towards the bridge are predictably negative. Mak, who was born in Macau, laughs dismissively at the government's justification. Lau says the bridge "does not benefit Hong Kong people, it just benefits businessmen who want to transport their goods more cheaply than by ferry."

"They don't care about nature," she adds. "They just want to make money."

"Most of the destruction (of nature) is non-reversible," HKDCS chairman Chang says later. "It's like we keep withdrawing money from a bank account but we never deposit anything, so now we've almost run out of money but we still want to use credit cards to continue to spend."

For Chang and others, the pink dolphin is a test of whether Hong Kong can cultivate a new approach that values nature as much as property and works to preserve the past as well as develop the future.

The bright red high-speed ferry slows to 10 knots as it crosses the boundary of the Brothers Islands Marine Park just ahead of Boat 36826.

The park, along with two others due to open in 2018 and 2019, is a protected area designated for dolphin conservation. The scheme is intended to offset disruption caused by development projects like bridge and third runway, but many dolphin advocates argue they are too little too late (the Brothers park was not opened until five years after bridge construction began) and do not reflect how the animals actually behave.

"Dolphins have a large range, you can't build marine parks for them in such fragmented places, they need a wide protected area for long term survival," Chang says as the boat passes between the two islands that give the park its name.

Pointing to the still visible building site next to Chep Lap Kok he adds: "You can imagine all the noise underwater, all the construction vessels next to the marine park. This will have a great impact on the function of the park."

In a statement, Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fishers and Conservation Department (AFCD) said any affect the twin construction projects have will be temporary.

"Once construction work is complete, the associated disturbance will cease and it is expected that habitat displacement due to construction activities will recover," the department said.

A new 2,400 hectare (5,930 acre) marine park is due to be designated following the completion of the two megaprojects. AFCD said it considered doing so earlier, while construction was ongoing, but this was deemed "not practicable."

The corpse lay half on its back, its distended stomach facing the sky, pink underside turned a deep, ugly maroon. Flaps of yellowed skin hung off it, like peeling sunburn.

Dressed in a white boiler suit, blue surgical gloves and a dust mask, the vet leaned over and delicately sliced the animal's stomach open with a scalpel.

A smaller dolphin fell out in a spill of bloated, red intestines. The calf was gray in color, with beady eyes and a partially formed snout, and just as dead as its mother.

More than 110 dolphins have washed up on Hong Kong's beaches in the last four years, nearly all of them dead and in a state of decomposition.

Most are killed by boat strikes, or wounded by nets and ropes, says vet Paola Martelli as he flicks through dolphin x-rays in his surgery in Ocean Park - a sprawling aquarium, zoo and theme park on the south side of Hong Kong Island.

Whenever a beached dolphin is spotted the park sends out a team to carry out an autopsy and determine the cause of death or, very occasionally, bring the still living dolphin to the park for treatment, with limited success.

"They always die. They always die," Martelli says, explaining that by the time most dolphins come into human hands, they have suffered life threatening injuries, and even those which survive initially often succumb to secondary infections.

"It's good for the heart and it's meaningful because a lot of the trouble they're in is because of us, so there's a moral obligation to try, but in terms of outcomes, it's not a species that has a good outcome," Martelli says.

In a large building adjacent to his surgery, Ocean Park's pod of bottlenose dolphins - a distant cousin of the pink dolphin - swim through a series of light-blue colored pools, emitting clicks and the occasional high-pitched squeak.

One dolphin flops onto a raised platform and opens her mouth - displaying dozens of small, white teeth and a large, muscular tongue - to allow Martelli to carry out a routine dental exam, splashing her head in disapproval when she sees an anesthetic needle but otherwise complying happily. "She hates injections, but loves the attention," the vet says.

These dolphins, foreign imports to the city, are nevertheless the ones most familiar to many Hong Kongers, tens of thousands of whom troop through the park every year.

The Ocean Park Conservation Foundation spent upwards of $1.1 million on conservation and public awareness projects in its most recent financial year, including three major studies of the Chinese white dolphin population. Despite the park's efforts however, its executive director, Suzanne Gendron, said many visitors were still surprised to learn the pink dolphins exist.

"It's such a common response: 'oh we have Chinese white dolphins, we have pink dolphins in our waters? I've only seen the ones at Ocean Park'," she said.

Boat 36826 rocks violently as the Benita Schulte, a colossal, 50,000 ton Liberian-flagged cargo ship powers past, carrying red, green and blue stacked containers en route to the Port of Hong Kong, one of the busiest in the world.

Last year, more than 370,000 vessels passed through the port, including huge container ships, small fishing boats, high-speed ferries, tugs, and cargo vessels of all shapes and sizes, churning up the water around them as they joined the constant stream of marine traffic into and out from the Pearl River Delta (PRD).

The delta region stretches from the Chinese metropolises of Guangzhou, Dongguan and Foshan in the north, to Hong Kong and Macau in the south, where three rivers and a host of small tributaries meet and combine as they pour into the sea.

The PRD is home to the world's largest population of Chinese white dolphins, estimated to less than 2,500 individuals, a minority of whom live and hunt in Hong Kong waters. Exactly how many is, like many things to do with dolphins, subject to some controversy.

According to AFCD figures, the Hong Kong dolphin population currently sits at 47, down from around 90 in 2010. While some research suggests those 47 are part of a larger transient group of a couple hundred, not all of whom live in Hong Kong waters year round, all agree the numbers are dropping.

In a statement, AFCD said the drop in numbers for Hong Kong dolphins may be due in part to them shifting their habitat to Chinese waters, something the department predicted would be reversed once conditions in the city improve again.

Dolphins are moving, but that doesn't mean they're headed into safer or more hospitable locations, said WWF's Lee. South of Hong Kong is one of the world's busiest shipping corridors, while in the north and west, Chinese cities have many of the same problems as Hong Kong - land reclamation, marine traffic, and pollution.

In the decade leading up to 2012, the PRD grew to be the "fourth largest trading economy globally," according to InvestHK, with a GDP equivalent to that of South Korea. Plans are underway to turn the entire region into a megacity of more than 67 million people, while major reclamation projects have been approved or are in progress in Macau, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and other parts of Guangdong province.

"If the dolphins are forced the leave the Hong Kong area to the rest of the Pearl River Delta, then the threat to them is greater," Lee said. "The entire population could die out."

This makes the fight to save dolphins in Hong Kong all the more important. Not only are conservationists seeking to save the city's native population,they want to prove that such a feat is possible, that a downward trend can be corrected.

They are pushing back at something which has plagued conservationists for centuries -- shifting baseline syndrome -- where each generation's perceptions of what is possible are shaped by what they grew up with.

"Overfishing may eat away at fish stocks, or even drive species extinct," explains Jon Mooallem in "Wild Ones," his book on the topic. "But when the next generation of scientists start their careers, they don't see the oceans as depleted; that depleted condition becomes their baseline, against which they'll measure any subsequent losses in their lifetimes."

Much of the time, baselines are shifting in the direction of a denuded, lesser nature - more extinctions, more endangered species. But very occasionally, the opposite occurs.

In 1941, there were a total of 16 living whooping cranes, and the species was almost wiped out. As of 2015, there were 442 living in the wild, and another 161 in captivity. The gray whale was nearly hunted to extinction before it was granted international protection in 1947, in the time since, population numbers have swelled to the tens of thousands. And last year, for the first time in a century, the number of wild tigers increased, by more than 600.

It's successes like these that keep the pink dolphin conservationists going -- educating people about reducing pollution and marine waste, encouraging them to lobby the government, and pushing for a development policy that puts nature on par with profit.

There's a point when, staring at the sea for hours on end, everything looks like it could be a dolphin. Every white cap is a head sticking out of the water, every piece of flotsam is a dorsal fin.

After eight hours of searching, Boat 36826 slows as it passes under a section of the bridge, a giant outcrop of grey concrete covered in spindly metal scaffolding. As the boat enters Tung Chung Bay, in the shadow of the airport, the crew begins stowing their equipment.

The clipboard Mak was holding at the beginning of the day is now covered in writing, a record of the boat's journey from near Kowloon, north to the border with China, to its end point on Lantau island. In the rightmost column, titled "sighting," is one entry repeated 22 times: "no."

Chang shrugs as he, Mak and Lau stand on the pier, their hair windswept and salty, their faces and clothes specked with seawater. He should be used to this by now, he admits, "but I still feel disappointed every time."

They go out again the next day.

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soon all of hong kong's dolphins will be dead - cnn

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Soon all of Hong Kong's dolphins will be dead

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Their relentless work matters, not just to keep a few individual animals alive, but as a test of whether Hong Kongers can have more of a say in how their city progresses, take a step back from the mega projects and uninhibited development that have characterized Hong Kong for decades, and act to preserve what made it special in the first place.

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A 12 year old girl named Emma Becker collected thousands of pairs of silly socks through facebook donations for other patients in her hospital to cheer them up. She has been a patient in the CCMC hospital for 4 years, due to neurofibromatosis.

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Hurricane Maria looking at Turks and Caicos.

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Deadly Hurricane Maria set its eye on Turks and Caicos on Friday after leaving Haiti and the northern coast of the Dominican Republic drenched and battered.

The Category 3 storm was centered about 35 miles east-northeast of Grand Turk island and was moving northwest at 7 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 6:30 a.m. update. Maria is expected to weaken during the next two days and veer into the open Atlantic. It is not set to threaten the U.S. mainland.

Rains and dangerous high waves began to subside in the island of Hispanola, where Maria knocked down trees and power lines. Joel Santos, president of the country's hotel association, said the hurricane didn't damage the tourism infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico residents face the prospect of going weeks, perhaps even months without electricity. Some are contemplating leaving.

"You cannot live here without power," said Hector Llanos, a 78-year-old retired New York police officer who planned to leave Saturday for the U.S. mainland.

Maria is the second major hurricane to hit the Caribbean this month and the strongest storm to hit the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in nearly 90 years.

Maria has already claimed at least 10 lives, however, additional deaths were being reported and the actual death toll was unlikely to be known for several days.

The territory's $73 billion debt crisis had left agencies such as the state power company broke even before the storm hit. It abandoned most basic maintenance in recent years, leaving the island subject to regular blackouts.

"We knew this was going to happen given the vulnerable infrastructure," Gov. Ricardo Rossello said.

Maria leaves Puerto Rico in rubble as storm heads for Dominican Republic

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would open an air bridge from the mainland on Friday, with three to four military planes flying to the island every day carrying water, food, generators and temporary shelters.

"There's a humanitarian emergency here in Puerto Rico," Rossello said. "This is an event without precedent."

The government has hired 56 small contractors to clear trees and put up new power lines and poles and will be sending tanker trucks to supply neighborhoods as they run out of water. The entire island has been declared a federal disaster zone.

Cellphone and internet service collapsed in much of Puerto Rico. The only radio station that remained on the air during the hurricane - WAPA 680 AM - was relaying messages to help connect friends and families.

President Trump told reporters the island had been "totally obliterated" and he planned to visit, Reuters reported. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also announced plans to visit Puerto Rico.

Maria's death toll across the Caribbean, meanwhile, climbed to at least 19, nearly all of them on the hard-hit island of Dominica.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit wept as he spoke to a reporter on the nearby island of Antigua.

"It is a miracle there were not hundreds of deaths," he said, adding: "Dominica is going to need all the help the world has to offer."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Hurricane Maria sets eye on Turks and Caicos as Puerto Rico begins recovery

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Deadly Hurricane Maria set its eye on Turks and Caicos on Friday after leaving Haiti and the northern coast of the Dominican Republic drenched and battered. The Category 3 storm was centered about 35 miles east-northeast of Grand Turk island and was moving northwest at 7 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 6:30 a.m.

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Trump responds after North Korea threatens hydrogen bomb test

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Amid new North Korean threats to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, President Trump tweeted Friday that the rogue regime's leader would be "tested like never before."

Trump, during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, warned the U.S. would "totally destroy" North Korea if Pyongyang continued its provocative actions, leading North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to up the ante by calling Trump "deranged." North Korea escalated the situation further when the nation's foreign minister revealed Pyongyang could conduct the H-bomb test, and, between tweets about healthcare and "The Russia hoax," Trump fired back.

"Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!" Trump wrote.

The Yonhap news agency reported Thursday on the hydrogen bomb threat from North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Ri framed the possible new nuke test as a response to Trump's U.N. speech.

"This could probably mean the strongest hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific Ocean. Regarding which measures to take, I don't really know since it is what Kim Jong Un does," Ri said.

Such a test would be considered a major provocation by the U.S., South Korea and Japan. Ri was scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, a day later than previously scheduled.

Ri's comments followed Kim's extraordinary statement lashing out at Trump, vowing the American leader would "pay dearly" for his threat to destroy North Korea.

Kim's first-person statement was published by North Korea's state propaganda arm in response to Trump's fiery speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. South Korean media called it the first such direct address to the world by Kim.

Kim said Trump was "unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country." He also described the U.S. president as "a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire."

Some analysts saw Kim's statement as a clear announcement that North Korea would ramp up its already brisk pace of weapons testing, which has included missiles meant to target U.S. forces throughout Asia and the U.S. mainland.

On Tuesday, Trump mocked Kim as a "rocket man" on a "suicide mission," and said that if "forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."

Kim characterized Trump's speech to the world body as "mentally deranged behavior."

He said Trump's remarks "have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last."

Kim said he was "thinking hard" about his response and that Trump "will face results beyond his expectation."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Trump responds after North Korea threatens hydrogen bomb test

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Amid new North Korean threats to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, President Trump tweeted Friday that the rogue regime's leader would be "tested like never before." Trump, during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, warned the U.S.

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north Korea could test hydrogen bomb over pacific ocean

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international relations and national security

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state departments and diplomatic services

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North Korea could test hydrogen bomb over Pacific Ocean, says foreign minister | CNN Politics

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North Korea's foreign minister hinted Thursday that Pyongyang could test a powerful nuclear weapon over the Pacific Ocean in response to US President Donald Trump's threats of military action.

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Shari Jackson has taken her beautiful artwork to Fayetteville Academy bathrooms. She started in the girl's bathrooms in order to spread positive messages and inspire happiness. A parent of a student at the school contacted her to come in and create these pieces. Next week she is going to start working in the boys bathrooms and then the elementary schools. They are schools located in North Carolina.

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These aren't your ordinary middle school girls' bathrooms.

The colorful messages covering the walls at Fayetteville Academy in North Carolina are spreading positivity, inspiring the girls to "be kind always."

Shari Jackson Link, a local artist and mom of two, said she painted the motivational bathroom murals because of the "drama that comes with middle school."

"I thought to myself, if a little girl is coming into the bathroom, she needs to know to not be a bully, but also be OK if she is bullied. I wanted the murals to talk to both sets," Link told ABC News. "It's not only, 'Hey, you're beautiful on the inside,' but I also wanted inspire them to be nice to others. It would be hard to leave those bathrooms and be mean to someone."

Link's children don't attend this school, but she was contacted by a parent of a current student who does.

"She said, 'I'd like to hire you to paint some motivational quotes,'" Link recalled. "She gave me the freedom to do whatever I want. I attached some pretty colorful visuals to the quotes which were inspiring."

And boy did they take off. Photos of her creative final product have garnered nearly 65,000 shares on Link's Facebook page.

The head of school, Ray Quesnel, said the paintings "strike a chord with everyone."

"We've all been through middle school, and I don't care where you are or who you are, it doesn't matter, that's just a hard time of life," Quesnel told ABC News. "Everybody can remember back to good stuff, but everyone remembers tough things too."

He was thrilled to have Link liven up the boring bathrooms by sending positive messages to his students.

"We thought it would be a nice, pick-me-up, quaint thing, and it just resonated with virtually everybody," he said of the school's positive messages. "It's been really cool."

Link is painting the middle school boys' bathrooms and the elementary school bathrooms next week.

"I hope it inspires them to be comfortable in their own skin, realize that there is always a reason to smile, and most importantly, to see the power in simple acts of kindness towards others," she said

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Woman paints motivational messages in middle school bathrooms

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These aren't your ordinary middle school girls' bathrooms. The colorful messages covering the walls at Fayetteville Academy in North Carolina are spreading positivity, inspiring the girls to "be kind always." Shari Jackson Link, a local artist and mom of two, said she painted the motivational bathroom murals because of the "drama that comes with middle school."