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Recently Kim Kardashian West did a photo shoot with her daughter featuring Kim as Ms. Jackie Onassis (Ms. Kennedy. Now she is being slammed for it calling it "offensive".

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The reality star and her four-year-old daughter North are featured on the September cover of Interview Magazine with the headline "America's new first lady Kim Kardashian West and her daughter North West. "

The accompanying story penned by journalist Janet Mock states that "If anyone can be said to embody the American Dream, it's Kim Kardashian West."

But to some, Kardashian West as the former first lady is far from a dream.

"When we start comparing Kim Kardashian to Jackie Kennedy we have officially failed as a country," one person tweeted.

Part of the controversy includes the fact that Kardashian West looks darker than usual on the cover and in the photo spread, where she's fashioned to look like Jackie O.

In June, the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star responded to accusations that she was sporting blackface in a series of ads for her new KKW Beauty makeup line.

The mogul told the New York Times she was simply sporting a summery look.

"I would obviously never want to offend anyone," she said. "I used an amazing photographer and a team of people. I was really tan when we shot the images, and it might be that the contrast was off. "

In the Interview article, Kardashian West said she's "very conscious" of the fact that she is raising biracial children. She is of Aremenian descent and husband Kanye West is African American.

Kardashian West took to Twitter on Monday to share the photos with her 55 million followers. She thanks photographer Steven Klein for a shoot that she said she will "treasure."

In addition to North, Kim and Kanye also have a one-year-old son, Saint.

"We want to raise our kids to be really aware. I think that's all you can do," she said in the Interview article. "The more you talk about things and keep them out in the open, the more they won't be taboo."

On Tuesday, Mock used her Twitter account to defend the interview.

"FYI: I did not choose the portraits/art, headline or write the intro," Mock tweeted. "I led the conversation w/ KKW, in @InterviewMag's signature style."

CNN has reached out to Interview for comment.

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kim kardashian west slammed for jackie onassis photoshoot - cnn

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Kim Kardashian West slammed for Jackie Onassis photoshoot

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The reality star and her four-year-old daughter North are featured on the September cover of Interview Magazine with the headline "America's new first lady Kim Kardashian West and her daughter North West. " The accompanying story penned by journalist Janet Mock states that "If anyone can be said to embody the American Dream, it's Kim Kardashian West."

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Tim Cook gets 89 million stock payout from apple.

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Tim Cook's stewardship of Apple is paying off.

The iPhone maker's CEO received company stock worth $89 million last week after hitting a key performance target, according to a regulatory filing Monday.

The payout is part of the huge welcome package that Apple gave Cook after he succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011. Cook only gets the shares in fixed amounts as they vest over a period of years.

Half of the latest batch was linked to the performance of Apple's share price compared with those of other S&P 500 companies. Because Apple outperformed more than two-thirds of the companies in the index over the past three years, Cook received the full payout, the filing said.

Related: Apple will invest $1.3 billion in Iowa

Not all the money ended up in Cook's hands, though. Apple said it set aside about $46 million to meet tax requirements. Cook sold off the other shares between Thursday and Monday for a total of about $43 million.

The filing didn't say what Cook plans to do with the money, and an Apple spokesman declined to comment. But the Apple CEO said in 2015 that he plans to give most of his wealth away to charity.

The huge stock grant the tech company gave Cook in 2011 was valued at around $380 million at the time. But Apple's share price gains since then mean the nearly 3 million shares that are yet to vest are worth about $484 million at current prices.

Cook also currently holds Apple shares worth about $145 million, according to the filing.

The company's stock is up nearly 40% so far this year.

CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First published August 29, 2017: 12:32 AM ET

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Apple's Tim Cook gets $89 million stock payout

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The iPhone maker's CEO received company stock worth $89 million last week after hitting a key performance target, according to a regulatory filing Monday. The payout is part of the huge welcome package that Apple gave Cook after he succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011.

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A sheriff named Apario was pardoned by Donald Trump in August. He has said to have been racial profiling in Arizona.

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When President Donald Trump granted his very first pardon to Arizonan former sheriff Joe Arpaio, he bucked process and precedent by circumventing the Department of Justice's unit dedicated to making recommendations on such requests.

But he also bucked decades of precedent for how recent pardons have nearly always been granted: a majority have come in the last year of a president's term, they usually come in groups of a dozen or more and they cancel convictions averaging more than two decades old.

Trump's pardon of Arpaio marks one of the earliest pardons in a president's term and one of the only pardons granted alone, according to a CNN analysis of Department of Justice data ranging back nearly three decades.

And we turned that data into a chart that shows how, historically, this pardon sticks out in all three major areas: numbers of years into a president's term, number of pardons issued at once and time since the conviction or sentencing.

The average time since the person in each group was sentenced runs up the left side, while the number of years into each term runs along the bottom. The size of each bubble represents the number of individuals in each group of pardons.

Other unique pardons that stand out in the chart include Barack Obama's pardon of four people before trial as part of a hostage deal with Iran, Bill Clinton's pardon of a now-disputed crime in 1881 by the first African-American to graduate from West Point, and George H.W. Bush's nine pardons that came during August of his first year as president.

"He's done a great job for the people of Arizona. He's very strong on borders, very strong on illegal immigration," Trump said at a press conference on Monday afternoon, justifying his pardon of the controversial sheriff who was convicted of criminal contempt last month. "He is loved in Arizona. I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly."

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, as well as both GOP Senators from Arizona, joined Democrats in criticizing Trump's decision to pardon Arpaio, who was a political ally during his presidential bid.

Trump is just the third president in the last 40 years to use his pardon power during their first nine months. (Data for previous presidents is sparser, but Ronald Reagan pardoned only two people in his first nine months and Jimmy Carter pardoned no one in that span, according to the DOJ.)

More than half of the pardons granted over the last three decades came from outgoing presidents in the final year of their tenures.

Most pardons are granted following a recommendation and rigorous scrutiny from a special office in the Department of Justice. They are typically granted at least five years after conviction -- and are based on post-conviction character, the seriousness of the crime and demonstrations of remorse and responsibility, according to DOJ guidelines.

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this chart shows why trump's pardon of arpaio was so unusual - cnnpolitics

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Ryan Struyk with graphics from Joyce Tseng, CNN

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This chart shows why Trump's pardon of Arpaio was so unusual

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When President Donald Trump granted his very first pardon to Arizonan former sheriff Joe Arpaio, he bucked process and precedent by circumventing the Department of Justice's unit dedicated to making recommendations on such requests.

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9 year old girl goes missing at a wedding in the French Alps. She was last seen at 3 a.m Sunday morning. Over 250 people are being questioned, including two other wedding parties, and , Pont-de Beauvoisin, the town it took place in.

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FBI: Man kills wife on cruise for laughing
The FBI said a Utah man killed his wife while on a cruise ship in Alaska, and told a witness he did it because she wouldn't stop laughing at him.

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fbi: man kills wife on cruise for laughing - cnn video

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FBI: Man kills wife on cruise for laughing - CNN Video

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The FBI said a Utah man killed his wife while on a cruise ship in Alaska, and told a witness he did it because she wouldn't stop laughing at him. CNN's Jean Casarez has details.

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Raina Nash- Recently Kevin Hart made a post about celebrity's donating money to help out the people of Texas after Hurricane Harvey hit the people of Texas very hard. A very popular family was very touched by the events decided to donate. This family is the Kardashians. Kris and her daughters donated 500,000 to help the people of Texas. This is one of the many donations Texas received after Kevin Hart started the donation challenge.  

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Raina Nash- Recently Kevin Hart made a post about celebrity's donating money to help out the people of Texas after Hurricane Harvey hit the people of Texas very hard. A very popular family was very touched by the events decided to donate. This family is the Kardashians. Kris and her daughters donated 500,000 to help the people of Texas. This is one of the many donations Texas received after Kevin Hart started the donation challenge.  

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The Kardashians We're Giving $500k For Harvey Relief

The Kardashains have stepped up to the plate in a huge way to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell us Kim, Kris, Khloe, Kendall, Kylie and Kourtney gave $500,000 to The Red Cross and The Salvation Army Tuesday. We're told the money will be wired and will be split evenly.

The Kardashians were touched by the courage and bravery of those in Houston battling the storm and those helping with relief efforts.

The donation is one of a number made by celebs since Kevin Hart started a movement Monday challenging other Hollywood heavyweights to pitch in.

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Kardashians Donate $500k to Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts in Houston

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The Kardashians We're Giving $500k For Harvey Relief The Kardashains have stepped up to the plate in a huge way to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey. Sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell us Kim , Kris, Khloe , Kendall, Kylie and Kourtney gave $500,000 to The Red Cross and The Salvation Army Tuesday.

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a 7 year old girl from Massachusetts was kidnapped and thrown off a bridge into a lake near Worcester but she swam to safety

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7-year-old girl kidnapped, thrown from bridge - CNN Video

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A 7-year-old Massachusetts girl swam to safety after being abducted and thrown from an interstate bridge into a lake near Worcester.

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At age 19 Emily Gavigan began to exhibit several odd behaviors, which were misdiagnosed as a mental illness. A guest on NBC's "Today" show had a story similar to Emily. Doctors had a feeling that it could be something neurological instead of something psychiatric. Antibodies were getting directed towards a receptor in the brain and they were being attacked. This condition is named anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, or NMDARE for short.

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Emily Gavigan was a college sophomore when the bizarre behavior began – but she wasn’t alone.

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A family in Texas was trying to get to higher grounds when their van was swept away. Only one out of seven got out of the van before it sank.

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Sammy packed his elderly parents and their great-grandchildren, ages 6 to 16, into a van as water rose around their northeast Texas home.

As he approached a waterlogged bridge over Greens Bayou, he tried to turn around but his father yelled at him to keep going, his brother, Ric Saldivar, said. Even at 84, patriarch Manuel Saldivar was still demanding. The way they were raised, "Dad tells you to do something, you do it," Ric Saldivar said.

Sammy made it across the bridge only to encounter a dip in the road on the other side, Ric Saldivar told CNN's Erin Burnett, recalling what his brother told him. Sammy lost control and the van went nose-first into the bayou with the family trapped inside.

Sammy managed to wriggle out of his seat belt and through the driver's side window. He made his way to a branch in the rushing water and held on for his life, Ric Saldivar said.

The water was so deep the van bobbed up and down. Sammy could hear the children scream and cry as they tried to escape. He yelled out to them to go to the back of the van and open the door, but they never made it. The van plunged into the water as Sammy watched.

Ric Saldivar said a sheriff told him his brother was stuck in the water for 45 minutes. They still don't know where the van is, whether the current carried it away or if it sank close to where it went in. They'll have to wait for the storms to pass to look for it.

For now, all the Saldivar family can do is grieve and comfort their surviving relative.

"He's still blaming himself," Ric Saldivar said. "He was trying to do the right thing to get them out of the flood ... and it just happened."

Sammy had relocated from Missouri to live with his aging parents, who both had Alzheimer's, his brother said. He was with them the morning flooding began in their neighborhood. Ric Saldivar called his brother and told him to bring the family members to his house on higher ground. Sammy stopped at another relative's home to pick up Devy, 16, Dominic, 14, Javier, 8, and 6-year-old Daisy.

Ric Saldivar takes comfort knowing his parents died together. Belia and Manuel Saldivar would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in October. He didn't think they had much time left, but despite the ravages of Alzheimer's they were still as close as ever.

"I was really hoping they would somehow go together because I couldn't see one without the other. No matter who was left behind they weren't gonna last much longer without the other one."

Sammy told his brother their parents were holding hands as the car plunged into the water. It brings Ric Saldivar a small measure of comfort.

"They went to heaven holding hands."

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Sammy packed his elderly parents and their great-grandchildren, ages 6 to 16, into a van as water rose around their northeast Texas home. As he approached a waterlogged bridge over Greens Bayou, he tried to turn around but his father yelled at him to keep going, his brother, Ric Saldivar, said.

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Uber is working on a new privacy update. They say it will limit the amount of location tracking while using the app.

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Uber is changing its location privacy features to give iOS users more control over what data they share with Uber.

A widely-criticized location tracking feature debuted last year with an update to the app's permissions. It asked users to allow the app to always access their location, even when they weren't using it, including up to five minutes after a ride was completed.

There was no option for tracking data only while using the app, a permission it had previously allowed. At the time, Uber said the change was for improved customer service and safety.

Now that option is coming back.

"While our efforts last fall around post-trip location were aimed at improving the user experience, our riders let us know we missed the mark," a spokesperson for Uber said in a statement. "We took this feedback seriously and have been working hard to make things right."

Related: Uber's CEO pick is an outspoken Trump critic

Uber said the post-ride data collection is already suspended on iOS and Android, and was never turned on for iOS. The new privacy settings that let people limit location tracking to "While Using" will show up in the iOS app in the next few weeks.

The company is still working on updating the privacy settings for Android.

Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.), who has previously criticized Uber's privacy policies, applauded the on-demand taxi company's decision to let users have more control of their data.

"I'm glad to see that Uber has heeded my call and reinstated a customer's ability to limit the collection of location data to only when the app is actually in use and that the company has chosen to end post-trip tracking," the senator said in a statement. "I'm hopeful that this announcement is the first step in Uber's renewed commitment to the privacy and security of its users."

The privacy update comes as the company is finally ending its tumultuous search for a chief executive. Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia, is expected to take the job.

CNNMoney (New York) First published August 29, 2017: 3:40 PM ET

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Uber to give users better control over location data

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A widely-criticized location tracking feature debuted last year with an update to the app's permissions. It asked users to allow the app to always access their location, even when they weren't using it, including up to five minutes after a ride was completed.

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Domino's is testing a self-driving pizza delivery car. They are making sure the interface is simple and easy to use. The car will be equipped with an oven, and a system of identification. To receive your pizza from the vehicle, you just have to input the last few digits of the phone number used to place the order. The only downside is that there will no longer be someone to come to your door.

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Someday soon your Domino's Pizza could be delivered to you -- without an actual delivery person.

Ford and Domino's are testing out a specially-equipped Ford Fusion that comes not only with self-driving technology but also an oven. It sounds cool but there is a catch -- there's no one to walk the pizza to your front door and ring the bell. That's what Ford and Domino's say they're really testing.

"How will customers react to coming outside to get their food?" Domino's president Russell Weiner said in a statement, "We need to make sure the interface is clear and simple."

During the testing phase, an engineer and a driver will be in the car -- but the windows will be heavily tinted so customers can't see them. And both have been instructed not to interact with people at all. Domino's wants to see how well customers deal with coming out and getting their own pie from what is, basically, a pizza ATM built into the car.

To get their pizzas, customers will have to enter a number on the touchpad, then a back window will lower, revealing the pizza. Over the next five weeks, randomly selected customers around Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be offered the option of getting their pizza delivered by the hi-tech "driverless" car.

During testing on public roads, the driver will operate the vehicle. Ford is testing self-driving cars on public roads in other places but this test is really about customer acceptance of the technology, a Ford spokesman said, not whether the car can drive itself.

Roush Enterprises, a company that frequently works with Ford on a specialty vehicles, created the built-in pizza oven for the Fusion delivery car. Roush previously helped create a specialized Domino's delivery vehicle based on a Chevrolet Spark. That car also had a built-in oven.

Ford has been using Fusion sedans for some time to test self-driving technology. Experts have said that delivery services will likely be among the first industries to widely adopt self-driving vehicles.

Ford and Domino's did preliminary testing for the human-free delivery process at Mcity, a simulated city environment on the campus of the University of Michigan. During testing on the college campus, the cars were allowed to drive themselves although humans were still were in the driver's seat.

CNNMoney (New York) First published August 29, 2017: 12:55 PM ET

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Domino's testing self-driving pizza delivery

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Ford and Domino's are testing out a specially-equipped Ford Fusion that comes not only with self-driving technology but also an oven. It sounds cool but there is a catch -- there's no one to walk the pizza to your front door and ring the bell. That's what Ford and Domino's say they're really testing.

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Recently, North Korea has been testing missiles near the west coast of Japan. North Korea is wanting to make these tests over Japan acceptable, and the new 'normal' North Korea is trying to expand the tests farther into the pacific.

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The language from North Korea on Wednesday is as familiar as it is chilling, a declaration to the world to expect more missile tests. But there are important clues about North Korea's ambitious push to send its missiles farther into the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to make them an accepted part of life in the region, as leader Kim Jong Un expands the weapons program he sees as his country's best chance of survival against encircling enemies.

By firing a missile over Japan and putting the Asia-Pacific, including Guam and its major U.S. military base, on notice for more tests, North Korea may have won itself greater military space in a region dominated by enemies. It's still too early to see if Kim can create new rules without crossing a line that the United States won't tolerate.

Here's a look at the possible meaning of Kim's comments carried by state media after North Korea sent a missile potentially capable of carrying a nuclear bomb over Japan on Tuesday:

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WHAT NORTH KOREA SAID

Because North Korea's "current ballistic rocket launching drill ... is the first step of the military operation ... in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam, (which is an) advanced base of invasion, he (Kim) said that it is necessary to positively push forward the work for putting the strategic force on a modern basis by conducting more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future."

WHAT IT MAY MEAN

This refers to North Korea's attempt to strengthen its weapons capabilities and use them to test its bargaining power against the United States. To this end, North Korea is signaling that it may soon turn the Pacific Ocean into its own ballistic missile training ground and make its launches over Japan an accepted norm.

This might have been Kim's plan all along as he sought what to do next after North Korea's weapons development reached a point where it could test intercontinental ballistic missiles meant to reach deep into the U.S. mainland. North Korea threatened earlier this month to fire a salvo of Hwasong-12s - the same missile it sent over Japan on Tuesday - to create "enveloping fire" near Guam.

The U.S. territory of Guam is home to key military bases and strategic long-range bombers that North Korea finds threatening. Still, it's unclear whether the North will ever act on its threat to fire missiles at the "advanced base of invasion." This could risk triggering a military retaliation from the United States if something goes wrong. But the threat and the subsequent launch Tuesday may have won North Korea space to stage more weapons tests because anything less than targeting Guam would draw a sigh of relief from the United States.

"There were times when even a short-range ballistic missile launch drew a heated response and sanctions from the international community, but the world didn't do anything about North Korea's short-range ballistic missile launches on Saturday" ahead of Tuesday's longer launch, said Du Hyeogn Cha, a visiting scholar at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies. "North Korea will try to do the same with midrange ballistic missile launches in the Pacific, making them part of the new normal."

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WHAT NORTH KOREA SAID

Kim Jong Un "sternly" said that "the drill conducted by the (North's) Strategic Force is a curtain-raiser of its resolute countermeasures" against joint military exercises being conducted by the U.S. and South Korea.

WHAT IT MAY MEAN

Before Tuesday's launch, it appeared North Korea was backing away from its threat to fire missiles toward Guam. Some took this as a sign that it was willing to talk and wouldn't let things get too tense during the annual joint military drills between Washington and Seoul that run through Thursday.

Tuesday's events killed such optimism. Most experts now say North Korea will likely continue its torrid pace of weapons tests until it perfects ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missile systems, and that it probably won't show serious interest in talks before then.

Kim is clearly seeking a real nuclear deterrent against the United States and likely believes that will strengthen his negotiating position when North Korea returns to talks. And if it does, North Korea will likely demand a halt of the U.S.-South Korean drills and perhaps the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula in any talks involving a moratorium on its missile launches, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert from Seoul's Dongguk University.

North Korea condemns the annual U.S.-South Korea war games as rehearsals for an invasion, and Washington and Seoul faced calls to postpone or downsize this year's drills to ease tensions.

There might also be a simpler reason Kim attributed Tuesday's launch to the drills.

China, North Korea's only major ally, has been calling for a "dual suspension" in which the North stops its nuclear and missile tests and Washington and Seoul halt their military exercises to lower tensions and lead to talks. By publicly linking the launch to the drills, Kim is attempting reduce the possibility that Beijing supports more punitive measures against North Korea at the United Nations over the launch, Cha said.

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WHAT NORTH KOREA SAID

Kim Jong Un said his nation has drawn a lesson "again that it should show action, not talk, to the U.S. imprudently denying the (North's) initiative measure for easing the extreme tension" and stressed that it will continue to watch America's demeanor toward the North and decide its future actions accordingly.

WHAT IT MAY MEAN

The problem here is that Washington won't be very interested in displaying the kind of "demeanor" that North Korea is likely to want.

A U.S. military solution to North Korea's missile tests is also unlikely. Making a highly difficult intercept of North Korean missiles would be a tough call because failure would seriously dent the credibility of the expensive U.S. missile defense system.

So the question is whether North Korea will put some checks on itself as it seeks to expand its weapons tests in the Pacific. Some experts believe the next North Korean launches will be bolder unless Washington makes serious concessions.

But Hwang Ildo, a professor at Seoul's Korea National Diplomatic Academy, disagrees, saying North Korea probably won't risk infuriating the United States. He says the North Korean threat toward Guam is more about winning greater freedom of military action than about deterring flyovers of U.S. bombers or stopping the U.S.-South Korean war games.

"The North's intention was to push the boundaries of its military presence farther from the Korean Peninsula and Japan and into the wider Pacific, and they practically drew the line at Guam with their missile threat," he said.

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Will North Korea make missiles over Japan the new normal?

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The language from North Korea on Wednesday is as familiar as it is chilling, a declaration to the world to expect more missile tests. But there are important clues about North Korea's ambitious push to send its missiles farther into the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to make them an accepted part...

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North Korea launched a missile that went over Japan was fired yesterday. North Korea says that it is the first step of military operation in the pacific. North Korea's next goal is to reach Guam

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Pyongyang said it fired an intermediate-range missile Hwasong-12 in Tuesday's test.

The missile's flight path took it over Japan, further fueling tensions between North Korea and the United States and its allies, Japan and South Korea.

Tuesday's launch was "the first step of the military operation of the (North Korean military) in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam," a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

It said Pyongyang would be "conducting more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future."

'All options on the table'

Earlier, US President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang that " all options are on the table."

Kim Jong Un's regime regularly fires missiles into the sea between its own territory and Japan, however this is the first North Korean ballistic missile to ever fly over the country.

North Korean officials told CNN in Pyongyang the launch was overseen by Kim, who was "very satisfied with the performance of the missile."

They said the launch sent a strong message in response to ongoing joint US-South Korean military drills in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. State media also pointed out that the launch came on the 107th anniversary of the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1907.

It also followed a fiery exchange of threats and insults between Trump and the North Korean regime in recent weeks, after state media said Kim was considering plans finalized by military chiefs to fire a missile off Guam.

In measured statements Tuesday, Trump said: "The world has received North Korea's latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior."

"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table," he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- who had a 40-minute phone call with Trump on Tuesday -- described the launch as a "reckless act."

"This launch of a North Korean missile is an unprecedented serious and grave threat to Japan," Abe said after the call, adding that Trump said "the US stands with Japan 100%."

"I would like to make the utmost effort to protect the lives and assets of the Japanese people under a strong alliance between Japan and US."

What happened

The missile, an intermediate range ballistic missile, was fired just before 6 a.m. Japan time (Monday 5 p.m. ET). The launch set off emergency sirens in northern Japan, triggering text messages that warned residents to seek cover.

"The launch occurred in the vicinity of Sunan Air Base, North Korea and flew east ... The ballistic missile overflew the territory of northern Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean approximately 500 nautical miles east of Japan," a statement from the Pentagon said.

It was the fourth missile North Korea fired in four days -- Pyongyang tested three short-range ballistic missiles, one of which failed, from Kangwon province that landed in water off the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea responded by conducting a bombing drill at 9:30 a.m. local time to test its "capability to destroy the North Korean leadership" in cases of emergency, an official with the country's Defense Ministry told CNN.

Guam has been a focal point of North Korea's anger against the US. The Pacific island is the closest US territory to North Korea. It hosts Andersen Air Force base, from which the US has been staging B-1 bomber flights over the Korean Peninsula, often in response to North Korea's missile tests.

In early August North Korea said it was "examining the operational plan" to strike areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic missiles.

Specifically, a KCNA statement mentioned a potential strike on Andersen Air Force Base designed "to send a serious warning signal to the US."

In Wednesday's statement, North Korea called Guam the "advanced base of invasion."

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Pyongyang said it fired an intermediate-range missile Hwasong-12 in Tuesday's test. The missile's flight path took it over Japan, further fueling tensions between North Korea and the United States and its allies, Japan and South Korea.

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In Waco, Texas; a mammoth's remains are discovered, and it is found nearly 120 miles from where an "ancient picnic spot" of the Colombian Mammoth that resides near Austin, Texas. Research tells us that it is about 67,000 years old, and that the mammoth wasn't in Waco until its death was very near. It survived on a diet of Texas grass.

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CALGARY, Alberta - About 67,000 years ago, a gigantic mammoth chowed down on enormous mouthfuls of grass in Texas, just west of where modern-day Austin is located, according to new research.

The finding is surprising, given that the beast's remains were discovered in Waco, Texas, more than 120 miles (200 kilometers) away from the Columbian mammoth's ( Mammuthus columbi) ancient picnic spot near Austin, the researchers said.

"They really weren't in the Waco area until right before they died, which is a little unexpected," the study's lead researcher, Don Esker, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geosciences at Baylor University in Waco, told Live Science. "Two hundred kilometers is within the largest distance that we've known Columbian mammoths to travel, but only just." [ Mammoth Resurrection: 11 Hurdles to Bringing Back an Ice Age Beast]

Esker and his colleagues made this discovery by studying the isotopes (an isotope is a variation of an element that has a different number of neutrons in its nucleus) in the mammoth's teeth. So far, Esker has studied just one tooth, but he has plans to examine more teeth from different mammoths in the coming months.

Esker could have a lot of work in front of him. There are remains from at least 23 mammoths dating to the late Pleistocene in Waco. The prehistoric graveyard was found in 1978 by two local youngsters, Paul Barron and Eddie Bufkin, who were searching for fossils and arrowheads when they discovered the fossilized mammoth bones. In 2015, President Barack Obama issued a presidential proclamation, with bipartisan support, that made the site a national monument, according to the National Park Service.

It's likely, but not certain, that these fossils are from the same mammoth nursey herd, Esker said. His goal is to confirm whether these mammoths traveled together as a social group, and to learn where they traveled and what they ate, he said.

If his research reveals these mammoths gulped down the same kind of water and gobbled up the same types of food, then it's likely they did travel as a herd, he told Live Science here at the 2017 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting.

Mammoth menu

To get started, Esker analyzed the carbon, oxygen and strontium ratios in a single mammoth tooth, which helped him reconstruct "an itinerary and menu for the mammoth over the last six years of its life," he said.

When mammoths dined on vegetation, the plants' nutrients eventually ended up in their teeth. This information can reveal what types of plants the mammoths ate, because the way plants photosynthesize energy from the sun governs what type of carbon isotopes they produce: Carbon 4 (C4) indicates that the beasts ate grasses and sedges, and carbon 3 (C3) shows that they ate most other vegetation, including honey locust, Osage orange and mesquite.

"The carbon told us that the mammoth in question ate 65 percent to 75 percent warm season C4 grasses year-round," Esker said. This supports evidence from mammoth fossilized poop, or coprolites, that also revealed that Columbian mammoths ate plants containing C4.

Meanwhile, the oxygen isotopes in the mammoth's tooth showed that conditions "may have been a good deal more arid than [they are] today," Esker said.

Finally, the strontium isotopes revealed that the mammoths "spent a good deal of time eating grass growing on granite-derived soil," Esker said. The only place Esker could find with this type of soil was west of Austin, he said.

In addition to studying mammoth teeth, Esker and his colleagues plan to analyze chompers from a horse, camel and pronghorn that also perished at the Waco site. The results will show whether these animals' ranges overlapped with the mammoths' stomping grounds, Esker said. [ Photos: Mammoth Bones Unearthed from Michigan Farm]

"Serially sampling teeth for isotopic analysis can be unpopular, as it does cause slight damage to the fossils," Esker said. "Nevertheless, it is an unparalleled record of an animal's life, and has much to offer us."

The research, which has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, was presented Wednesday (Aug. 23) at the 2017 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting.
Original article on Live Science.

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Mammoth tooth reveals beast once walked around Austin, Texas

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CALGARY, Alberta - About 67,000 years ago, a gigantic mammoth chowed down on enormous mouthfuls of grass in Texas, just west of where modern-day Austin is located, according to new research. The finding is surprising, given that the beast's remains were discovered in Waco, Texas, more than 120 miles (200 kilometers) away from the Columbian mammoth's ( Mammuthus columbi) ancient picnic spot near Austin, the researchers said.

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7-year-old girl kidnapped, thrown from bridge

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7-year-old girl kidnapped, thrown from bridge - CNN Video

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A 7-year-old Massachusetts girl swam to safety after being abducted and thrown from an interstate bridge into a lake near Worcester.

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Kathy Griffin says that she's 'no longer sorry' after her controversial Donald Trump photo. She claims that the reaction to the photo was 'blown out of proportion', and that her friend, Chelsea Clinton should have stood by her.

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Kathy Griffin can't get her "sorry" straight.

The comedian who tearfully apologized twice after a photo shoot of her holding a blooded Trump mask in May caused an uproar is not sorry now.

"I am no longer sorry, the whole outrage was B.S., the whole thing got so blown out of proportion and I lost everybody," Griffin told Australia's " Sunrise."

Griffin noted her friends like Debra Messing and Chelsea Cliton didn't stand by her at the time.

"These Trump fans, they're hardcore," the 56-year-old said blaming President Trump supporters for the fall out.

When "Sunrise" co-host Samantha Armytage brought up to Griffin that many of Trump's critics, not just supporters, denounced the photo at the time, Griffin angrily spat back.

"No, you're full of crap," Griffin screeched at Armytage. "Stop acting like my little picture is more important than talking about the actual atrocities that the president of the United States is committing."

Griffin initially gave an emotional apology in a video posted on Twitter hours after the photos leaked. In it she tearfully admitted, "I went too far and I was wrong."

Days later she held a press conference in which she said she made a "horrible call" with the images that caused a firestorm.

"I'm going to be honest," she said through tears. "He broke me, he broke me, he broke me.

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Kathy Griffin 'no longer sorry' for Trump photo shoot: 'The whole outrage was BS'

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Kathy Griffin can't get her "sorry" straight. The comedian who tearfully apologized twice after a photo shoot of her holding a blooded Trump mask in May caused an uproar is not sorry now. "I am no longer sorry, the whole outrage was B.S., the whole thing got so blown out of proportion and I lost everybody," Griffin told Australia's " Sunrise."

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Tropical Storm Harvey continues its course east into parts of Louisiana, the death toll rose to 20 people,  and they are expecting it will take many years to recover

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Tropical Storm Harvey made its second landfall early Wednesday, hitting just west of Cameron, Louisiana, which is in the southwest corner of the state.

The storm returned to land about 5 miles west of Cameron with maximum sustained winds of 45 m.p.h. National Hurricane Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said Tuesday that when Harvey came back to shore, "it's the end of the beginning."

Harvey is forecast to drop substantial amounts of rain on Louisiana before moving on to Arkansas, Tennessee and parts of Missouri, which could also see flooding.

Feltgen said there's still a lot of residents in multiple states "who are going to feel the impacts of the storm."

Harvey first made landfall Friday in Texas as a Category 4 hurricane.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Harvey makes 2nd landfall just west of Cameron, Louisiana

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Tropical Storm Harvey made its second landfall early Wednesday, hitting just west of Cameron, Louisiana, which is in the southwest corner of the state. The storm returned to land about 5 miles west of Cameron with maximum sustained winds of 45 m.p.h.

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A hospital in India has stated that 217 children have died this August due encephalitis outbreaks and other medical conditions. In just 2 days 33 children were pronounced dead, and 42 have died in the last 48 hours. Encephalitis outbreaks occur annually in India, around monsoon season. Experts say that deaths from encephalitis are expected to be high this year due to excessive rains and floods. Encephalitis has killed more than 4,000 kids and affected 25,000 since 2010. Symptoms of encephalitis include fever, vomiting, headaches, and cognitive issues including confusion, comas, and even seizures. Children that catch encephalitis can be paralyzed and mentally impaired for life.

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A government hospital in India that came under fire after dozens of babies died there this month is facing a new backlash after reports that more children have died while under its care.

Dr. P.K. Singh, the head of the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur city, said Wednesday that at least 217 children died there in August alone due to a variety of reasons including an annual encephalitis outbreak. Singh added that 42 children have died in the last 48 hours. Seven of the deaths were from encephalitis while the others were attributed to other medical complications.

The hospital found itself in the middle of a media storm earlier this month when 33 children died there Aug. 10 and 11 around the same time as a disruption in the oxygen supply. A team of experts from New Delhi later said that the interruption was not responsible for the deaths, but there was fury in India over how the hospital let oxygen run out.

"Increase in fatality is because of seasonal infection," Singh said, explaining the deaths. "There is no shortage of oxygen or medicine in the hospital. Children died only because of medical complication not because of medical negligence."
SOUTH ASIA MONSOON FLOODING KILLS 1,200, DISPLACES MILLIONS
It's well-known that encephalitis wreaks havoc in the area every year during the monsoon season.

Experts say this year, fatalities from encephalitis are expected to be high because of excessive rains and flooding across eastern Uttar Pradesh and particularly the area in and around Gorakhpur.

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Medical experts say the government continues to be taken by surprise and unprepared for what is now an annual cycle of disease and death.

"Any layman can tell you that in view of flooding, the cases of vector-borne diseases are likely to go up. But what shocks me is that the administration has taken no preventive step," said Dr. R.N. Singh, a local expert who has worked with encephalitis patients for years. "There is no attempt to prevent spread of communicative diseases."

Indian hospitals have been routinely criticized for poor management, widespread corruption and outright negligence.

Encephalitis has killed more than 4,000 children and sickened nearly 25,000 since 2010 in Uttar Pradesh. Some of the children who died had the brain-swelling condition.

Acute encephalitis syndrome causes patients to suffer from fever, vomiting, headaches and brain function issues such as confusion, trouble speaking and coma along with seizures. The condition can leave surviving children paralyzed and mentally impaired.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Troubled Indian hospital says 217 children died in August

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A government hospital in India that came under fire after dozens of babies died there this month is facing a new backlash after reports that more children have died while under its care. Dr. P.K.

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After the hurricane there were a few stories about peoples pets being left behind and rescued, or taken with their owners.

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But Winston and Baxter, a West Highland terrier and a Shih Tzu, were never going to leave Belinda Penn's side. The floodwaters began to seep through the exterior doors of her home in Spring on Sunday afternoon and started to fill up the first floor.

She and her husband, Scott, grabbed the dogs and retreated to their second floor. The family was upended, but Winston and Baxter had their crates and food on the second floor. It did not matter, though, Ms. Penn said. They were too nervous to eat.

Around 11 a.m. on Monday, a neighbor told the Penns that a rescue boat was on the way. They loaded garbage bags with clothes and dog food, and carried the dogs through the water. On Monday night, they had reached Ms. Penn's mother's apartment in the suburb of the Woodlands.

"Every situation is different, but for us, it was not an option to leave our pets behind," Ms. Penn said. "They are my best friends."

Other animals were not as fortunate.

A woman in Corpus Christi said on Twitter that she took in her neighbor's dog left in the backyard. A photographer for The Daily Mail rescued a dog he found chained to a pole in Victoria, waters rising around him, the paper reported. In Dickinson, a CNN reporter spotted two retrievers abandoned in a boat.

In San Antonio, the city's Animal Care Services Department had taken in about 200 displaced animals as of Monday afternoon. More were on the way.

Rescued dogs were being held in rows of cages in an air-conditioned warehouse east of downtown San Antonio. Cats, for their own peace of mind, were taken to a separate location.

"Our commitment is for as long as it takes and as long as the nation needs our help," Heber Lefgren, the department's director, said in an interview.

Some animals already in the shelter's care before the storm were expected to be flown to animal centers in other states to make room for displaced pets from Harvey. On Tuesday morning, the first flight full of dogs and cats is scheduled to depart San Antonio for New Jersey. On Wednesday, a flight will head to Seattle.

"There's a likelihood that this could go on for weeks, because as the waters recede, they are going to be finding more and more pets that are displaced," said Kim Alboum, a director at the Humane Society of the United States, which was organizing the flights.

Pets were also helping rescuers track down people who were stuck in their homes. Marty Lancton and another firefighter in Houston were driving people to rescue in a boat in southwestern Houston when he spotted two dogs on a roof.

"Something didn't sit right," Mr. Lancton said, describing why it caught his attention.

The firefighters, their boat already crowded as they ran rescues, pulled closer to the home and soon saw a message on the glass of the front door: "Help."

"We backed up the boat - the water was almost halfway to three-quarters of the way up the house - we busted the window, tried to call for somebody and the homeowner was in the garage," said Mr. Lancton, the president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.

He said he never found out why the dogs were put on the roof. Maybe there was no room in the house. Maybe they were there to catch someone's attention.

"Either way, it worked," Mr. Lancton said.

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Saving Pets Is Paramount for Many Fleeing Tropical Storm Harvey

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But Winston and Baxter, a West Highland terrier and a Shih Tzu, were never going to leave Belinda Penn's side. The floodwaters began to seep through the exterior doors of her home in Spring on Sunday afternoon and started to fill up the first floor.

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11 trillion gallons of rain have fallen over Texas so far. They predict that by the time Harvey ends the state will see 25 trillion gallons of rain. On Tuesday, 49.20 inches fell on Texas. Which is a record for continental U.S. from a land falling tropical cyclone.

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Harvey's devastating impact by the numbers | CNN

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The toll that Harvey is taking on Texas is staggering.

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A couple who was stranded in a home in Corpus Christi during Hurricane Harvey, brought a new life into the world. Their child is a baby girl who was born during the height of Hurricane Harvey. Isabel Pena, mother of the child, gave birth with just the light of a phone flashlight due to the power outage in Texas. Paramedics were unable to reach them until seconds after the child (Kataleya Rose) was born. The parents and child are all safe and healthy.

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A couple in Corpus Christi, Texas, welcomed their baby girl into the world at the height of Hurricane Harvey.

Isabel Pena started going into labor after the power went out due to the storm. Isabel and her boyfriend used the light from a cell phone to help deliver the baby.

An ambulance was still trying to make its way to them, through the flying debris, when their daughter was born early Saturday morning.

"I had walked away with the light to the front door to see if EMS was coming and then I hear her scream "we need the light" so I came back and as soon as I got back to the room I seen her head and then right then it was over," said Andrew Garza, the baby's father.

The parents say paramedics knocked on the door seconds after the baby was born. Both mother and baby are doing fine.
This story originally appeared on Fox 2.

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Baby born to couple stranded in home during Harvey

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A couple in Corpus Christi, Texas, welcomed their baby girl into the world at the height of Hurricane Harvey. Isabel Pena started going into labor after the power went out due to the storm. Isabel and her boyfriend used the light from a cell phone to help deliver the baby.

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The U.S. shot down a ballistic missile near Hawaii as a missile intercepting test. This is the second time that the SM-6 missile has intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile. This is coming 2 days after North Korea fired a KN-17 missile over Japan that landed in the Pacific

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A U.S. Navy ship successfully intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile launched from a facility in Hawaii during a test, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA).

Sailors on board the USS John Paul Jones, a guided missile destroyer based in Hawaii, conducted the test off the coast of Hawaii on Monday. The ship's onboard radar "detected and tracked" the target missile before Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) guided missiles were launched from the ship to intercept the target, MDA said.

The test came just two days after North Korea fired a KN-17 missile over Japan, triggering sirens and text alerts from the Japanese government to warn citizens of an imminent attack. The missile landed in the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of the island of Hokkaido. It was the third time a North Korean missile overflew one of Japan's four main islands -- with previous tests in 1998 and 2009.

Guided missile destroyers like the John Paul Jones could be used to intercept a North Korean missile from their locations in the Sea of Japan and the Pacific. Monday's intercept test, like previous ones the U.S. has conducted, was long planned, the MDA said.

Monday's test missile was launched from Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii.

This is the second time a SM-6 missile has successfully intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target, according to MDA.

"We are working closely with the fleet to develop this important new capability, and this was a key milestone in giving our Aegis [ballistic missile defense] ships an enhanced capability to defeat ballistic missiles in their terminal phase," said MDA Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves. "We will continue developing ballistic missile defense technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves."

The U.S. frequently tests elements of its missile defense systems.

In July, the Air Force launched a medium-range ballistic missile over the Pacific that was intercepted by the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system located at a complex in Kodiak, Alaska. That was the 15th successful intercept in 15 tests for the THAAD weapon system, according to MDA.

In May, the U.S. successfully intercepted an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) during the first test of its ground-based intercept system, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The ICBM-target was launched from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 4,200 miles away.

The ground-based interceptor system is mainly designed to counter a North Korean missile threat, a U.S. official said at the time.

In that test, the interceptor collided with the ICBM-class target over the Pacific Ocean a little more than one hour after it was launched.

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US conducts missile intercept test amid heightened tensions with North Korea

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A U.S. Navy ship successfully intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile launched from a facility in Hawaii during a test, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Sailors on board the USS John Paul Jones, a guided missile destroyer based in Hawaii, conducted the test off the coast of Hawaii on Monday.

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The U.S. shot down a medium range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii in a test of the new missile defense system at sea.

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The U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced Wednesday that it successfully shot down a medium-range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii in a new test of its missile defense system at sea.

The USS John Paul Jones, a guided-missile destroyer successfully launched an SM-6 interceptor missile to shoot down the target.

This test comes after a previous failed test in June from the same warship.

"We are working closely with the fleet to develop this important new capability, and this was a key milestone in giving our Aegis BMD ships an enhanced capability to defeat ballistic missiles in their terminal phase," MDA Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves said in a statement. "We will continue developing ballistic missile defense technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves."

The ship detected and tracked a target missile launched from Kauai, Hawaii, "with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar, and onboard SM-6 missiles executed the intercept," the statement read.

The test comes after North Korea fired a ballistic missile from its capital Pyongyang that flew over Japan before plunging into the northern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, an aggressive test-flight over the territory of a close U.S. ally that sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile traveled around 1,677 miles and reached a maximum height of 341 miles as it flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

President Trump offered a surprisingly subdued response Tuesday, pulling back from his administration's recent suggestions of a dialogue with the communist country but also avoiding a repeat of his bombastic warnings earlier this month of a potential military confrontation.

Instead, Trump's terse, written statement reiterating that all U.S. options are being considered pointed to an administration cautiously searching for an effective policy, even as the North's test risked endangering Japanese civilians. Washington and its allies called an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting for later Tuesday, but looked short on new ideas for stopping the nuclear and missile advances that are increasingly putting the U.S. mainland within range.

"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world," Trump said after the North's missile soared almost 1,700 miles into the Pacific Ocean, triggering alert warnings in northern Japan and shudders throughout Northeast Asia. "All options are on the table."
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and the Associated Press contributed to this report

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US shoots down ballistic missile in test amid recent North Korean provocations

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The U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced Wednesday that it successfully shot down a medium-range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii in a new test of its missile defense system at sea. The USS John Paul Jones, a guided-missile destroyer successfully launched an SM-6 interceptor missile to shoot down the target.

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Joel Osteen opens church to Harvey survivors despite flooding. He has been housing hundreds since yesterday and is receiving supplies to help. He didn't open his doors earlier due to safety issues with flooding. He wanted to make sure it was safe before taking people in.

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"We're housing hundreds of people that have been displaced by the flooding. All day today and yesterday, we've been receiving supplies," Osteen told CNN's Chris Cuomo, responding to criticism that he didn't open Lakewood Church to the needy soon enough.

As flooding ravaged parts of Houston and left thousands without shelter, Twitter users lambasted the televangelist, saying he should have opened Lakewood sooner.

But the church complex, which can hold more than 16,000 people, was " inaccessible due to severe flooding," its staff reported on social media Sunday afternoon. Photos provided by the church Monday to CNN show flooding inside a building and on a street.

By Monday night, a few hundred people had arrived at Lakewood by bus, Osteen's brother-in-law, Don Iloff, told CNN's Erin Burnett.

Early Tuesday morning, Osteen told CNN his church would "continue to be a distribution center for those in need," adding: "We are prepared to shelter people once the cities and county shelters reach capacity."

And by late Tuesday morning, when the shelter at the city's convention center reported twice as many evacuees as its capacity, Osteen's facility was publicly welcoming displaced Houstonians, Osteen tweeted.

Osteen said Wednesday he wasn't sure "how this notion got started that we're not a shelter and we're not taking people," calling it a "false narrative."

"There was a time, Chris, that the place was flooded," Osteen told Cuomo. "There was a safety issue the first day or two. ... We would never put people in here until we know that it's safe, and it was not safe those days, let me tell you."

The church "has always been open," Osteen said. A handful of staff and maintenance workers rode out of the worst of Harvey at the facility to keep tabs on flooding, Iloff said.

Watch New Day weekdays at 6am-9am ET. For the latest on New Day click here

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osteen: houston megachurch 'has always been open' - cnn

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Osteen: Houston megachurch 'has always been open,' despite flooding

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"We're housing hundreds of people that have been displaced by the flooding. All day today and yesterday, we've been receiving supplies," Osteen told CNN's Chris Cuomo, responding to criticism that he didn't open Lakewood Church to the needy soon enough.

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Joel Osteen not opening up his megachurch for Harvey victims, defends himself. He says that his church was inaccesible and had severe flooding.

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Houston preacher Joel Osteen's megachurch is now welcoming Texans displaced by Hurricane Harvey following an onslaught of social media criticism for initially staying shut.

On Tuesday, Osteen tweeted that his church is providing shelter for hurricane victims.

"Victoria and I care deeply about our fellow Houstonians. Lakewood's doors are open and we are receiving anyone who needs shelter," he wrote.

By the afternoon, hundreds of volunteers had arrived to collect bags packed with donations from locals. Cars lined the building's perimeter as people waited to hand in their donations.

Paul Osteen, Joel Osteen's brother, said in a Facebook live on the church's page that doctors and nurses had arrived to volunteer at Lakewood. He said the church had set up a medical center for those in need.

Pastor Joel Osteen had said in a statement late Monday that he never shut his doors to those in need and shared pictures that appeared to show the church, which seats thousands, had experienced flooding in order to back up claims the church was "inaccessible."

"We have never closed our doors. We will continue to be a distribution center for those in need," Osteen said. "We are prepared to shelter people once the cities and county shelters reach capacity. Lakewood will be a value to the community in the aftermath of this storm in helping our fellow citizens rebuild their lives."

On Saturday, Osteen wrote on Twitter that he was praying for the safety of those affected by the flooding.

"Victoria & I are praying for everyone affected by Hurricane Harvey. Please join us as we pray for the safety of our Texas friends & family," Osteen wrote.

Hurricane Harvey dumped as much as 20 inches of rain on parts of Houston, leading to "catastrophic and life-threatening flooding," according to the National Weather Service.

"This may end up being one of the worst flood disasters in U.S. history," the Weather Channel warned.

Approximately 3,000 rescues have been carried out in Texas since the storm hit and nearly 300,000 people were without power in southeastern parts of the state.

On Sunday, Lakewood Church posted on Facebook saying the facility was "inaccessible" due to "severe flooding."

But after several people posted videos on Twitter appearing to show the location relatively unscathed and unaffected by flooding, a swarm of Twitter users began questioning why Osteen's megachurch, which has the capacity for more than 16,000 people and was once home to the NBA's Houston Rockets, hadn't been opened as a shelter to those in need.

"Houston's Joel Osteen has a net worth over $50m and a church that holds 16,800 but this is all he's offering," Mark Elliott of the Economic Mobility Corporation tweeted in reference to Osteen's tweet.

Singer Travis Garland tweeted that he was "deeply disappointed" by Osteen's actions.

"deeply disappointed @joelosteen. that House belongs to God + was built for people in need. you should have been the first to open your doors," Garland wrote.

However, Osteen shared images that appeared to show standing water inside the building's parking garage and surrounding areas.

Osteen also reached out to his congregation, offering prayers and explaining how they could volunteer for a relief effort the church was organizing.

"Over the last couple of days, as the enormity of this storm was being realized, we have been working to organize relief efforts for the Houston area with our friend Franklin Graham and the disaster relief organization that he oversees, Samaritan's Purse," the release said.

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Joel Osteen defends not opening megachurch to Harvey victims

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Houston preacher Joel Osteen's megachurch is now welcoming Texans displaced by Hurricane Harvey following an onslaught of social media criticism for initially staying shut. On Tuesday, Osteen tweeted that his church is providing shelter for hurricane victims. "Victoria and I care deeply about our fellow Houstonians.

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Sandra Bullock Donates $1 Million to Hurricane Harvey Relief

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Sandra Bullock is the latest celebrity to lend aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

The actress donated $1 million dollars to the relief efforts of the American Red Cross, People reported on Tuesday. Bullock is a long-time supporter of the American Red Cross and owns a home in Austin.

Bullock said that despite the current political divide and turmoil in the country, she hopes that, at the very least, the storm provides an opportunity for Americans to unite. "There are no politics in eight feet of water," the star, who has a history of donating to humanitarian aid projects, told People. "There are human beings in eight feet of water."

Among other celebrities to pledge their support for relief in Texas are Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kim Kardashian West, Lin-Manuel Miranda, DJ Khaled, and Nicki Minaj. The Walt Disney Company has also donated $1 million to Red Cross relief efforts. Facebook announced that it will match donations made on its website up to $1 million.

Although Hurricane Harvey has been downgraded from the category 4 storm it was when it made landfall to a tropical storm, it is still expected to pour at least another 39 inches during the week. So far, the storm has killed 19 people and caused over $3 billion in property damage.

Related Video: Kevin Hart Encourages Friends to Donate to Hurricane Harvey (Via E! Online)

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Sandra Bullock Donates $1 Million to Hurricane Harvey Relief

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Sandra Bullock is the latest celebrity to lend aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. The actress donated $1 million dollars to the relief efforts of the American Red Cross, People reported on Tuesday. Bullock is a long-time supporter of the American Red Cross and owns a home in Austin.

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Joel Osteen opens his churches door to the flood victims. They say he was worried what would of happen if the church flooded more with the victims inside.