1) 100 Rampaging Prisoners Freed By Hurricane Irma Captured
More than 100 criminals who escaped from a prison in the British Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma swept through have been captured, the governor of the islands said.
British Royal Marines were deployed to help in the operation to round up the temporarily free inmates of Balsam Ghut prison, in Tortola on Thursday.
Residents of the island had been “terrified” and claimed looting had been widespread.
2) Possible Shady Goings On At Mar-a-Lago
The Washington Post has come across a receipt that appears to show at least one US Government official has stayed at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida with the bill being paid for by by the US taxpayer.
And where does this money go? Well, to the owner of the resort.
Not only that but the official was charged the “rack rate” of $546 a night meaning they didn’t even get a discount.
3) British Journalist Killed By Crocodile
A young British journalist was dragged into a river and killed by a crocodile while holidaying in Sri Lanka, the country’s navy said on Friday.
Paul McClean, 24, who worked in London for the Financial Times, had been on a surfing holiday in the popular eastern coastal area of Arugambay when the incident occurred on Thursday, the navy said. His body was found on Friday.
“The navy was able to recover the body of a foreigner who had been snatched by a crocodile on September 14,” the Sri Lankan navy said in a statement.
The BBC quoted an eyewitness as saying local people had heard him screaming for help as he was pulled into the river, reports Reuters.
“By the time they went to the spot where the croc attacked, they couldn’t save him because already the crocodile had pulled him inside the water so they couldn’t see what was going on,” it quoted Fawas Lafeer, the owner of a surf school, as saying.
McClean, an Oxford University graduate with a first-class degree in French, joined the FT as a graduate trainee two years ago and worked most recently for the fastFT news service.
The FT’s managing editor James Lamont described McClean as “a talented, energetic and dedicated young journalist” who had had “a great career ahead of him” at the newspaper.
“Our thoughts are with his family, friends and loved ones,” Lamont said.
4) North Korea Fires Another Missile
North Korea conducted its longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile Friday, sending an intermediate-range weapon hurtling over US ally Japan into the northern Pacific Ocean in a launch that signals both defiance of its rivals and a big technological advance.
The growing frequency, power and confidence displayed by these tests seem to confirm what governments and outside experts have long feared: North Korea is closer than ever to its goal of building a military arsenal that can viably target both US troops in Asia and the US homeland.
This, in turn, is meant to allow North Korea greater military freedom in the region by raising doubts in Seoul and Tokyo that Washington would risk the annihilation of a US city to protect its Asian allies.
5) More Possible Shady Goings On At Mar-a-Lago
They were hoping for extensive visitor logs from Mar-a-Lago.
Instead, government watchdog groups got a list of 22 Japanese officials who had joined their country’s prime minister at the property during a February trip.
It’s the latest setback for advocates trying to make public information on who has access to the President, reports the Associated Press.
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the National Security Archive and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University had sued the administration for access to the logs, arguing that the public had a right to know who interacted with the president at the private property that Trump often refers to as “the winter White House.”
Trump made seven trips to Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.
6) The End For Cassini
After nearly 13 years in orbit around Saturn and almost two decades in space NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has ended its mission with a spectacular dive into the planet’s atmosphere.
NASA has officially confirmed it lost contact with the probe.
As the spacecraft headed down into the planet’s atmosphere it was constantly broadcasting data and images. You can actually see the raw images as their being sent to NASA here and here’s a classic from 2012.
7) 11-Year-Old Boy Mows White House Lawn
In this rather remarkable picture, Trump looks on as 11-year-old Frank Giaccio cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House.
Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the White House lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff, reports Reuters.
Trump seemed pleased with the results...