News Daypop Archives

A growing wildfire in southwestern Colorado forced more people from their homes Sunday as crews tried to slow the blaze being fed by hot, dry and windy conditions. Authorities ordered the residents of 675 homes to evacuate after the fire burning north of Durango nearly doubled in size overnight, to 26 square miles. Residents of 2,156 homes have been ordered to evacuate as of Sunday afternoon. The cause of the blaze, which is being called the 416 Fire, which started in the San Juan National Forest, has not been determined. ...Read more

President Trump arrived in Singapore on Sunday for his historic on-again-off-again meeting with the North Korea leader, Kim Jong-un. The meeting will be the first ever between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader. Just over two weeks ago, it seemed that the summit meeting was not going to happen. But on Sunday, Mr. Trump arrived just after 8:20 p.m. local time at Paya Lebar Air Base in Singapore aboard Air Force One, a few hours after Mr. Kim landed at Changi Airport on a commercial Air China plane.  ...Read more

On Thursday, social media platform Facebook acknowledged that it accidentally exposed the private posts of 14 million users over the span of a few days last month. From May 18 through May 22, when Facebook was testing a new feature, any posts published by those 14 million users were automatically made public — even if the user’s privacy settings should have restricted who could see them. Facebook corrected the mistake, and by May 27, it changed back the affected posts. That means someone could have unwittingly shared a post publicly for as long as nine days. Starting Thursday, Facebook is letting the affected users know and asking them to review any posts they made during that time. ...Read more

Scientists reported on Thursday that NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has found fresh evidence for the red planet’s past — and possibly present — habitability. The nuclear-powered rover has detected a variety of organic compounds, a requirement for life as it’s known on Earth, in 3-billion-year-old rocks deposited on the floor of Gale Crater. While organics were discovered by the rover earlier, the age and variety of the newly analyzed samples strengthen the case for a habitable environment in the past. “We found organic molecules in rocks from an ancient lakebed,” said Jen Eigenbrode, a research scientist and astrobiologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “Those organic molecules could have come from life.” ...Read more

President Trump reportedly granted clemency to Alice Marie Johnson on Wednesday, days after Kim Kardashian West traveled to the White House to advocate for the Tennessee grandmother’s release.  Johnson — a 63-year-old woman who has spent more than two decades behind bars for a first-time nonviolent drug offense — was said to be among those on a shortlist of at least 30 people the President was considering pardoning, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Kardashian West met with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Oval Office last week in a bid to convince them to release Johnson from the federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama. She was handed a life sentence on charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering in 1996. ...Read more

A White House communications aide who made headlines in May for cracking a macabre joke about the health of Senator John McCain has left the White House. Kelly Sadler made off-the-cuff comments about the Republican senator’s opposition to President Trump’s nominee for C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel, saying that it did not matter because Mr. McCain was “dying anyway.” Mr. McCain has a malignant brain tumor and has been in treatment for several months. The joke was shared with the news media, igniting a firestorm. The White House addressed the departure in a brief statement on Tuesday evening, saying that Ms. Sadler was “no longer employed within the executive office of the president.”  ...Read more

President Trump abruptly called off the White House celebration honoring the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles after nearly all of the players and coaches said they would boycott the visit. White House officials said that fewer than 10 members of the team were planning to attend the celebration on Tuesday afternoon on the South Lawn, despite weeks of planning for the event. When it became clear that most members of the team would not attend, Mr. Trump issued a blistering statement disinviting them. “The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow,” Mr. Trump said in a statement released Monday evening. “They disagree with their president because he insists that they proudly stand for the national anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.” ...Read more

Fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead in an apparent suicide her Manhattan apartment, according to NY law enforcement officials. She was 55. Spade’s body was discovered by her housekeeper at her Upper East Side apartment. The Associated Press reported that Spade left a note and was found with a red scarf around her neck attached to a doorknob. Spade, a world-famous designer, launched Kate Spade Handbags in 1993 with her husband Andy Spade and opened her first store in New York City in 1996. Spade is the sister-in-law of actor David Spade. Spade sold her company in 2007, a year after it was acquired from the Neiman Marcus Group for $125 million by the company then known as Liz Claiborne Inc. In 2017, Coach bought the brand for $2.4 billion. In 2016, she launched a new shoes and handbag line called Frances Valentine, named after her daughter. Spade is survived by her husband Andy and their daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade, 13.  ...Read more

Bruce Springsteen will join Grammy-winning rock band Portugal. the Man next week in his hometown of Asbury Park, New Jersey for the reopening of concert venue Asbury Lanes. On Monday, June 18th, the event celebrates the renovation of Asbury’s bowling alley, newly outfitted as a music venue. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Monmouth County.  An online lottery via the Asbury Lanes website is available only to Asbury Park residents as part of the commitment to honor the local community. The lottery will accept entries until 8 a.m. Eastern Time on June 7th. Asbury Park Now will also host a giveaway for a pair of tickets as well as a night at the newly-established boutique hotel, The Asbury. ...Read more

Villages hit by Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire on Monday were met with search and rescue teams, this coming after the volcano spewed lava, ash, rocks and deadly hot gas, killing at least 25 people. The Volcán de Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, began erupting ash and lava early Sunday, according to local reports. Fast-moving flows surprised communities that had not been ordered to evacuate. Ash spread through the sky as far as Guatemala City, some 40 miles away. More than 3,200 residents of communities near the volcano have been moved, and 48 people including have been treated at a nearby hospital, according to officials. Authorities expected the death toll to rise and warned of the possibility of further mudslides. ...Read more