Governor nominates new attorney general

Governor nominates new attorney general

HARRISBURG, PA.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday nominated Kathleen Kane’s former top deputy to step in as attorney general for the remaining months of her term on the heels of her conviction and resignation from the state’s top law-enforcement job.

Bruce Beemer would take over the beleaguered 800-employee attorney general’s office after two years of infighting, firings and scandal under Kane. Though Beemer was promoted into the top lieutenant’s job under Kane, he later clashed publicly with her and provided testimony that helped prosecutors convict her.

Senate confirmation of Beemer was expected but still at least a couple of weeks away. A permanent successor to Kane will be chosen by voters in November and sworn in Jan. 17.

Twitter suspendedSFlb360K accounts over ‘violent extremism’

new york

Twitter said Thursday it has suspended 360,000 accounts since mid-2015 for violating its policies banning the promotion of terrorism and violent extremism.

The San Francisco-based company said in a blog post that it also has made progress in preventing users who were suspended from immediately returning to the platform using different accounts, which has been a problem in the past.

It said its rate of daily suspensions is up 80 percent since last year, though it did not provide specific numbers. The suspensions spike immediately after terrorist attacks, it said.

Twitter noted that there is no magic formula for identifying extremist accounts.

Attacks in Turkey kill 14, wound 220

ANKARA, Turkey

A string of bombings, blamed on Kurdish rebels and targeting Turkey’s security forces, killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 220 others, officials said Thursday.

Two of the attacks were car bombings that hit police stations in eastern Turkey, while a third – a roadside blast – targeted a military vehicle carrying soldiers.

Authorities say the assaults were carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has launched a campaign of car bombings targeting police stations or roadside bomb attacks against security- force vehicles.

Agency: 22 executed

MEXICO CITY

Federal police executed at least 22 people on a ranch last year, then moved bodies and planted guns to corroborate the official account that the deaths happened in a gunbattle, Mexico’s human rights commission said Thursday.

One police officer was killed in the confrontation in the western state of Michoacan on May 22, 2015. The government has said the dead were drug-cartel suspects who were hiding out on the ranch in Tanhuato, near the border with Jalisco state.

The National Human Rights Commission said there were also two cases of torture and four more deaths caused by excessive force.

Rare T-rex skull arrives at museum

SEATTLE

Paleontologists with Seattle’s Burke Museum have unearthed the bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex that lived more than 66 million years ago, including a rare nearly complete 4-foot long skull.

The remarkable discovery includes the dinosaur’s vertebrae, ribs, hips and lower jaw bones, and represents about 20 percent of the meat-eating predator.

The team that excavated the bones in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana later encased the massive skull in a protective plaster cast, lifted the 2,500-pound load onto a flatbed truck and drove it to Seattle. The skull was unloaded at the Burke Museum on Thursday.

Associated Press