ansible
ansible's JournalAt Least 1 Dead, Water Rescues Reported as Torrential Rainfall Hammers Southern California
Source: Weather.com
Crews in Southern California conducted water rescues Thursday as deadly heavy rainfall continued, threatening mudslides and flooding.
A 19-year-old woman was killed Wednesday after she lost control of her vehicle in the rain on Highway 41, west of the city of Atascadero, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune. The car slid roughly 10 feet down an embankment and struck a tree, breaking it in half.
Ten people were saved from the Salinas River in Paso Robles Thursday, the Tribune reports. Six were airlifted to safety by a state Highway Patrol helicopter and the other four were retrieved by firefighters who swam out to them. Two people were taken to a hospital for treatment.
Southern California authorities ordered the evacuations of residents living in burn areas at risk from the heaviest rainfall of the season. Evacuations ordered by the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department include areas burned by the Thomas, Sherpa and Whittier fires, according to a press release.
Read more: https://weather.com/news/news/2018-03-20-california-burn-areas-evacuations-storm
UK YouTube comedian Count Dankula convicted over 'grossly offensive' Nazi salute dog video
Source: Yahoo
A man who posted a video of his girlfriend’s dog doing a Nazi salute on YouTube has been been convicted over the “grossly offensive” footage. Mark Meechan, 29, who goes by the name Count Dankula, was arrested in April 2017 after footage of his girlfriend’s pug appearing to respond to Nazi slogans such as ‘gas the Jews’ went viral.
In a case that attracted widespread attention, Meechan was found guilty on Tuesday at Airdrie Sheriff Court of a charge under the Communications Act 2003. Sheriff Derek O’Carroll dubbed the video “grossly offensive” and said he did not believe Meechan’s defence that he had made it only to annoy his girlfriend.
Prosecutors accused Meechan of posting material that was ‘anti-semitic and racist in nature’ and was aggravated by religious prejudice. In a tweet on Tuesday, Meechan confirmed he had been convicted, later adding that he is due to be sentenced in April. Outside court, Meechan said: “There has been a huge miscarriage of justice.
“I think it’s a very, very dark day in regards to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
Read more: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/youtube-comedian-count-dankula-guilty-hate-speech-nazi-dog-video-145920581.html
Russian national convicted of spying for Britain found critically ill from unknown substance
A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain, the BBC understands. Sergei Skripal, 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a "spy swap" between the US and Russia in 2010. He and a woman, 33, were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping centre in Salisbury on Sunday afternoon. The substance has not been identified.
Wiltshire Police are investigating whether a crime has been committed. They said the pair had no visible injuries but had been found unconscious at the Maltings shopping centre. They have declared a "major incident" and multiple agencies are investigating. They said it had not been declared as a counter-terrorism incident, but they were keeping an "open mind". They said officers did not believe there was any risk to the wider public.
Col Skripal, who is a retired Russian military intelligence officer, was jailed for 13 years in 2006 for spying for Britain. He was convicted of passing the identities of Russian intelligence agents working undercover in Europe to the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43295134
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