MIAMI — Tucked away inside a white, weathered dresser rests a brown, crumpled paper bag.Inside that bag are a few ounces of what’s left of the dead teen — two wrinkled dollar bills, a quarter, a dusty hair tie, a black leather choker, a long pendant necklace, a silver ring, a sorority keychain, a Sunpass transponder and a driver’s license.“This is what they handed to me,” whispered Gina Duran, angry tears dribbling down her cheek.The mourning mother held the chalky items up into the light. Her voice cracked.“They handed me my daughter in a freaking paper bag.”Alexa Duran, 18, was one of six people crushed to death on March 15 when the pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed onto ongoing traffic. The FIU freshman would have turned 19 last week.The mountain of concrete crushed cars, even the strongest of pickup trucks, at 1:47 p.m. that day. Alexa, who was driving her father’s Toyota 4Runner, was going east on … [Read more...] about The FIU bridge crushed their daughter. Her iPhone survived — but they can’t unlock it
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AP: Emails reveal secret lobbying effort to alter U.S. policy in Middle East
After a year spent carefully cultivating two princes from the Arabian Peninsula, Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, thought he was finally close to nailing down more than $1 billion in business.He had ingratiated himself with crown princes from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who were seeking to alter U.S. foreign policy and punish Qatar, an archrival in the Gulf that he dubbed "the snake."To do that, the California businessman had helped spearhead a secret campaign to influence the White House and Congress, flooding Washington with political donations.Broidy and his business partner, Lebanese-American George Nader, pitched themselves to the crown princes as a backchannel to the White House, passing the princes' praise — and messaging — straight to the president's ears.Now, in December 2017, Broidy was ready to be rewarded for all his hard work.It was time to cash in.In return for pushing anti-Qatar policies at the highest levels of … [Read more...] about AP: Emails reveal secret lobbying effort to alter U.S. policy in Middle East
The princes, the president and the fortune seekers
Desmond Butler and Tom Lobianco, Associated Press Updated 5:28 pm, Tuesday, May 22, 2018 window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-4', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 4', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true}); Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Image 1of/4 CaptionClose Image 1 of 4 FILE - In this May 20, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump shakes hands with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. In emails obtained by The Associated Press, George Nader claims he later met with Mohammed bin Salman, who by then had been elevated to crown prince, and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in a lobbying effort to alter U.S. policy in the Middle East. less FILE - In this May 20, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump … [Read more...] about The princes, the president and the fortune seekers
The Titanic’s most famous myths — and their veracity — on the 106th anniversary of its sinking
By Katie Dowd, SFGATE Published 1:25 pm, Friday, April 13, 2018 window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-5', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 5', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true}); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-10', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 10', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true}); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-15', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 15', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true}); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-20', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 20', … [Read more...] about The Titanic’s most famous myths — and their veracity — on the 106th anniversary of its sinking
How Trump Moved the Mexican Border North
“My mom’s story is like a fairy tale,” the boy said before he fell asleep on the living room sofa. His mother calls him her little angel. They live together in an unpainted shack at the back of a dirt cul-de-sac among trailers and birds of paradise on the outskirts of Houston. Sunshine filtered through the window. The light was at once welcome and bitter, because the rain had only just lifted after Hurricane Harvey in September and much of the city was still flooded. Water had not forced them out of the house, and the boy’s mother, a 42-year-old undocumented woman who requested anonymity for fear of being deported, thanked God aloud; had the floods come, she didn’t know where they would have gone. She had already been deported to Honduras once before and lost her asylum case upon returning to Houston three years ago. Every time she sees someone in uniform she says she thinks she might never see her son again. “Recently, a cop stopped me, and I felt … [Read more...] about How Trump Moved the Mexican Border North