Sheriff's deputies in Douglas County, Oregon, are seen exchanging fire with a suspect in an open field after a car chase. The suspect was found dead in the car after it caught fire.
A report of a stolen vehicle in Oregon on Saturday quickly morphed into a police chase that ended in a dramatic shootout -- caught on video -- and a person found dead inside a burnt-out car, officials said.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post the incident began around 6 p.m. when deputies received a report of a possible stolen vehicle at a Love’s Travel Stop along Interstate 5 in Roseburg. The vehicle had been reported stolen on March 7, and reportedly had multiple weapons, including a semi-automatic rifle, and ammunition inside.
Officers initially tried to stop the vehicle, but that only triggered a pursuit that ended on a nearby ranch's property, where the stolen car became stuck in a field.
The driver started shooting at authorities, who returned fire. Video taken by a witness shows the flash of a gun firing as several shots ring out. Livestock at the ranch can be seen running as the gun battle continues.
The suspect got into a shootout with police after driving onto a ranch property and getting stuck in a field. (Julie McCartt)
"I think that was the craziest thing I ever saw," Julie McCartt told FOX12
During the exchange of gunfire, the stolen car began to smoke -- and then caught on fire, according to police.
No members of law enforcement were injured during the shootout, but officials said the involved officers were placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol in officer-involved shootings.
Investigators are now seeking assistance in determining the driver’s identity and said the incident remains under investigation by the Douglas County Major Crimes Team.
A slab of concrete sits in the backyard of the house where Timmothy Pitzen used to live in Aurora, Ill., Thursday, April, 4, 2019. The man who lives in the house now, Pedro Melendez, says he didn't know the boy but saved the concrete slab with Tim's name, handprint and footprint etched in it when he redid the back patio. Authorities conducted DNA testing to try to determine Thursday whether a teenager found wandering the streets of a Kentucky town is who he claims to be — an Illinois boy who disappeared eight years ago around the time his mother took her own life. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
CINCINNATI – The Latest on the investigation of a man who allegedly claimed to be a long-missing child from Illinois (all times local):
11:15 a.m.
An FBI affidavit says an Ohio man who authorities say falsely claimed to be an Illinois boy missing for eight years has made similar claims twice before.
The affidavit filed in federal court Friday says 23-year-old Brian Rini repeatedly told investigators he was Timmothy Pitzen, who disappeared in Aurora, Illinois, in 2011 at age 6.
The affidavit says Rini refused to be fingerprinted but submitted to a DNA test after which his true identity was determined.
The affidavit says Rini had watched a TV show about Pitzen and told investigators he wanted to get away from his family.
Investigators determined Rini had twice before falsely portrayed himself as a juvenile sex trafficking victim.
Federal court records don't list an attorney for Rini.
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8:30 a.m.
A 23-year-old man authorities say falsely claimed to be an Illinois boy missing for eight years is being held in an Ohio jail.
Hamilton County's jail site shows Brian Rini of Medina, Ohio, was jailed Thursday. There were no charges listed Friday and no other information was available immediately.
The FBI announced Thursday afternoon that DNA tests disproved the claim of a person who Wednesday identified himself as Timmothy Pitzen, who disappeared in Aurora, Illinois, in 2011 at age 6.
Rini was released on probation from Ohio prison last month after serving more than a year on burglary and vandalism charges.
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1:02 a.m.
A day of false hope has given way to questions about why a man would claim to be an Illinois boy who disappeared eight years ago.
The FBI declared the man's story a hoax Thursday one day after he identified himself to authorities as Timmothy Pitzen, who disappeared in 2011 at age 6.
Newport Police Chief Tom Collins identified the man to ABC as 23-year-old ex-convict Brian Rini of Medina, Ohio, who was released from prison less than a month ago after serving more than a year.
The man had told police he's Timmothy and escaped from men who held him captive.
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Follow Dan Sewell at https://www.twitter.com/dansewell
New campaign ad from 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders claims the forgotten Americans that President Trump promised to protect are being left behind; reaction from Linda McMahon, chair of America First Action and former Small Business administrator.
The former head of the Small Business Association, Linda McMahon, said Monday that for the economy to continue to grow President Trump must be reelected.
"We need to re-elect President Donald Trump because he put all of these policies in place. I mean, do we really want to stop this economy and the growth that is going?" McMahon said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum."
"I'm just a very practical, common sense person, when I'm out looking across the country and I see the positive impact that the president's policies have had, I'm going 'why do we want the stop this?" McMahon added saying she was 100 percent behind the president.
McMahon didn't seem too worried about a matchup with Democratic presidential candidate frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and was asked by guest host Ed Henry about a possible general election featuring pro-capitalist Trump versus Democratic socialist Sanders.
"I would love to see that," McMahon said.
"Because I really do believe Americans, and polls show, that most Americans do believe in capitalism and not socialism. It's where our country has been founded on, what made our country so successful."
McMahon also touted Trump's vision for America and the economy.
"I think the president certainly touts that experience as an entrepreneur who built a business and has watched the economy grow here as being president. He's known what to do. He's been a bit disruptive doing it and I think that's why he was elected, " McMahon told Henry.
A woman who calls herself ‘The Fat Sex Therapist’ gave a speech to St. Olaf College in Minnesota during which she claimed that diet culture was a form of “assault” and that weight loss science was “white supremacy”.
“I truly believe that a child cannot consent to being on a diet the same way a child cannot consent to having sex,” Sonalee Rashatwar told the audience during a two hour speech on the topic of “radical fat liberation”.
“I experience diet culture as a form of assault because it impacts the way that I experience my body,” she added.
Rashatwar went on to assert that science was a tool of “white supremacy”.
“We should be critical of the use of science and the production of knowledge to continue promoting this idea that certain bodies are fit, able, and desirable…is it my fatness that causes my high blood pressure, or is it my experience of weight stigma?” Rashatwar asked, going on to claim that “fatphobia” was a form of Nazism.
Rashatwar went on to argue that people shouldn’t be burdened with personal responsibility for weight loss and that “social supports” should be in place to help fat people “subsidize” their food costs.
She also said that the Christchurch shooter being a fitness instructor was proof that “Nazis really love this idea of an idealized body”.
Maybe everything Rashatwar said is true – science doesn’t exist and is actually just veiled racism, obesity doesn’t cause high blood pressure, and that dieting and fitness are just tools of white supremacy and structural oppression.
Or maybe she’s just inventing pseudo-intellectual excuses for being fat and lazy.
BEIJING – A zoo in southern China says the only known female member of one of the world's rarest turtle species has died.
The animal was one of four Yangtze giant softshell turtles known to be remaining in the world.
The Suzhou zoo, where the female turtle lived, also houses a male Yangtze giant softshell turtle. The other two live in Vietnam, but their genders are unknown.
Suzhou authorities said Sunday that the female turtle died Saturday afternoon.
The city government said in a statement that experts have already used technology to collect the turtle's ovarian tissue for future research.
The state-run People's Daily reported that the turtle was over 90 years old and had undergone a fifth attempt at artificial insemination shortly before she died.
JERUSALEM – Israel is holding the country's 21st parliamentary elections on Tuesday, with over 6.3 million people eligible to cast ballots in a vote largely seen as a referendum on long-seated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Here is a closer look at what to expect:
CHASING HISTORY
Netanyahu is seeking his fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, including an earlier stint in the 1990s. With another victory, Netanyahu will secure a place in history later this year as the longest-serving prime minister, surpassing Israel's founding father David Ben-Gurion. He faces tough opposition from his former army chief of staff, Benny Gantz, whose new Blue and White party seeks to replace Netanyahu's long-dominant Likud.
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'CORRUPTION' VS. 'INEXPERIENCE'
The three-month campaign has focused much more on personalities than issues. Netanyahu has tried to portray his opponent as weak and inexperienced. Gantz has tried to capitalize on a series of corruption investigations. The attorney general has recommended bribery and breach of trust charges against Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing.
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WIDE RANGE OF PARTIES
All 120 seats in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, are up for grabs. A total of over 40 parties are competing, including large front-runners, ultra-Orthodox religious parties, Arab factions and fringe movements like the Pirate and Simply Love parties.
But only a handful are expected to garner the 3.25% of the vote necessary to break the electoral threshold and earn the minimum four seats in parliament. Ten parties made up the last Knesset.
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HIGH TURNOUT
Israeli elections tend to have robust turnout. Election day is a national holiday, a measure aimed at encouraging participation. The last elections, in 2015, saw a 72% voter turnout, the highest percentage since 1999, but below the 77% average since Israel first went to the polls in 1949, a year after independence.
Arab voters, who make up 20 percent of the electorate, have threatened to boycott the election, accusing Netanyahu of inciting against them. That could have the unintended effect of helping the prime minister win a new term.
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WINNER TAKE ... MAYBE NOTHING
No Israeli party has ever won an outright majority, which forces the larger parties to form blocs with smaller allies.
After the election, Israel's president will meet with party heads and select the party he believes is most capable of forming a coalition. That party, usually but not always the largest faction, then has four weeks to form a coalition. A new government will be given a four-year term, but disagreements between coalition parties often result in early elections.
Should neither a right-wing nor left-wing bloc be able to form a coalition, Israel could face the prospect of a second election in November.
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Follow Ilan Ben Zion on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IlanBenZion
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Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta, Cyprus, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stefanos Kouratzis
April 26, 2019
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriot police searched on Friday for more victims of a suspected serial killer, in a case which has shocked the Mediterranean island and exposed the authorities to charges of “criminal indifference” because the dead women were foreigners.
The main opposition party, the left-wing AKEL, called for the resignation of Cyprus’s justice minister and police chief.
Police were combing three different locations west of the capital Nicosia for victims of the suspected killer, a 35-year-old army officer who has been in detention for a week.
The bodies of three women, including two thought to be from the Philippines, have been recovered. Police sources said the suspect had indicated the location of the third body, found on Thursday, and had said the person was “either Indian or Nepali”.
Police said they were searching for a further four people, including two children, based on the suspect’s testimony.
“These women came here to earn a living, to help their families. They lived away from their families. And the earth swallowed them, nobody was interested,” AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides told Reuters.
“This killer will be judged by the court but the other big question is the criminal indifference shown by the others when the reports first surfaced. I believe, as does my party, that the justice minister and the police chief should resign. They are irrevocably exposed.”
Police have said they will investigate any perceived shortcomings in their handling of the case.
One person who did attempt to alert the authorities over the disappearances, a 70-year-old Cypriot citizen, said his motives were questioned by police.
The bodies of the two Filipino women reported missing in May and August 2018 were found in an abandoned mine shaft this month. Police discovered the body of the third woman at an army firing range about 14 km (9 miles) from the mine shaft.
Police are now searching for the six-year-old daughter of the first victim found, a Romanian mother who disappeared with her eight-year-old child in 2016, and a woman from the Phillipines who vanished in Dec. 2017.
The suspect has not been publicly named, in line with Cypriot legal practice.
A public vigil for the missing was planned later on Friday.
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Gareth Jones)
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson
April 26, 2019
LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.
The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.
The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo
April 26, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.
The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.
Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.
But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.
Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.
High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.
It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.
Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.
“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.
The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.
Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.
Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.
Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.
Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.
This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff
April 26, 2019
By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh
(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.
The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.
Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.
Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.
“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.
Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.
“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.
U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.
Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.
Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.
Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.
Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.
Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.
Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.
Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.
Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
April 26, 2019
By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan
(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.
Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.
Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.
WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?
The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.
Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”
Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.
HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?
The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.
Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.
The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.
The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.
No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.
Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.
Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.
CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?
No.
Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.
“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.
“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”
PROOF OF WRONGDOING?
In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.
Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”
PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?
Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.
In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.
The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.
WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?
A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)
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