"A recent clampdown by the Libyan coastguard means fewer boats are making it out to sea, leaving the smugglers with a backlog of would-be passengers on their hands. So the smugglers become masters, the migrants and refugees become slaves."
"Even though the M.T.A. is paying for its capital construction with taxpayer dollars, the government does not get a seat at the table when labor conditions are determined. Instead, the task of reining in the unions falls to the construction companies — which often try to drive up costs themselves."
"Trump national security officials are considering an unprecedented federal takeover of a portion of the nation’s mobile network to guard against China, according to sensitive documents obtained by Axios. In the memo, the Trump administration likens it to 'the 21st century equivalent of the Eisenhower National Highway System' and says it would create a 'new paradigm' for the wireless industry by the end of Trump's current term."
"Grocers are under pressure, in an already thin-margin business, to cut costs and make the shopping experience more enjoyable for customers."
"The group of 54 lawmakers sent a letter to the president on Thursday asking him to go against Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempts to roll back protections on state marijuana laws, reports Marijuana Moment‘s Tom Angell.
"An angry American traveler found herself plunged into German legal waters this month after allegedly calling federal police officers 'Nazis' during a dispute at Frankfurt International Airport. Police say the woman, a 49-year-old professor, became 'unreasonable and irritated' when they told her she had too many liquids in her carry-on during a screening for explosives. The issue of too many liquids morphed quickly — by her own account – into a tail-chasing argument over her deodorant: They insisted it must go; she claimed that made no sense since it was a solid."
"The allegation that the Obama administration put the law-enforcement and intelligence arms of the federal government in the service of the Clinton campaign to undermine the Trump campaign is, they maintain, an overwrought conspiracy theory. If that is true, then Democrats — who have had the opportunity to review the memo — should be clamoring for it to be disclosed, not fighting its release."
"There are many non-hateful groups on the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate list. But Antifa, which clearly is a hate group, is not on the list."
"Authorities say Clemans sent Lyan Tandeg, one of his co-conspirators, $6,000 to buy film equipment and instructed her to photograph a selection of naked children. Clemans allegedly used the images to decide which child he would rape when he next traveled to the Philippines. Clemans also paid Tandeg to seek out young, vulnerable victims from orphanages and paid Shellina Atad, another co-conspirator, to legally obtain custody of the children in order to make pornography, ABC News reported."
"A kidnapping victim was shot to death Thursday during an FBI investigation at a northeast Houston home. Investigators said FBI agents were conducting an operation at a home in the 7300 block of Elbert Street when the victim, 47-year-old Ulises Valladares, was shot and killed. Court records indicate that authorities found Valladares' with his hands bound tape. According to sources, FBI agents accidentally shot Valladares. He was taken to LBJ Hospital, where he was pronounced dead."