Kerry to visit Turkey amid strained ties after failed coup

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reviews the military guard of honor before a meeting with the President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, on Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. Nursultan arrives in Turkey, becoming the first foreign head of state to visit since the failed coup.

 Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca was indicted Friday on charges of obstructing justice and conspiring with underlings to derail a federal investigation into corruption and beatings in the nation's largest jail system.

The charges that carry up to 20 years in prison come just days after Baca withdrew a guilty plea to lying to investigators and said he would go to trial to "set the record straight" before he is incapacitated by Alzheimer's disease.

Baca, 74, made the decision knowing federal prosecutors were likely to bring stiffer charges, but his lawyers said he didn't have much choice when negotiations collapsed after a federal judge rejected a plea deal as too lenient. That agreement called for no more than six months behind bars.

Defense lawyer Michael Zweiback said it appeared the judge was seeking several years in prison, and Baca needed certainty because his condition has already started to deteriorate.

"We have a very, very small window of time that we believe Mr. Baca's life will be normal," he said Monday. "If there was a possibility that he was going to go beyond his good years in prison, then he should go out and fight."

Baca is now facing the original charge of lying to federal authorities and new charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Defense lawyers had anticipated the stiffer charges, and said Friday that they represent punishment for Baca's decision to go to trial.

Attorney Nathan Hochman said prosecutors revealed in court filings that evidence is very thin to support the obstruction case against Baca.

"If you look in the government's own sentencing position on this case, they go through each one of the different actions of alleged obstruction, and you'll see, highlighted at the end of each paragraph, they'll say: 'Baca was not involved. Baca did not participate,'" Hochman said.

Twenty members of the Sheriff's Department have been convicted in the probe that began after deputies discovered an inmate was an FBI informant gathering evidence about civil rights abuses and corruption in the jails.

Baca had denied any involvement in a scheme to hide the informant from the FBI in what conspirators dubbed "Operation Pandora's Box." The inmate was moved to different jails and listed under fictitious names. Deputies intimidated an FBI agent with the threat of arrest at one point.

In the plea agreement that has since been withdrawn, Baca acknowledged for the first time that he had lied to investigators and was aware of efforts to thwart the investigation. Jurors will not be told that he previously pleaded guilty.

Baca abruptly stepped down in January 2014 after heading the nation's largest sheriff's force for 16 years.

His second in command, Paul Tanaka, who unsuccessfully campaigned to replace Baca, was convicted and sentenced to five years for his role in the conspiracy.

The president of the union representing sheriff's deputies, which criticized the plea deal as a slap on the wrist while rank-and-file officers got stiffer terms, said Baca's punishment should be at least as harsh as Tanaka's.

"Baca knew what was going on, and he perpetuated and encouraged the culture," said George Hofstetter, president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. "When confronted with the mess he had created, Baca blamed his subordinates instead of taking responsibility as a leader should."

Read More

FBI chief calls for national talk over encryption vs. safety

FBI Director James Comey gestures during an address to the American Bar Association annual meeting Friday, Aug. 5, 2016, in San Francisco.

The FBI's chief said Friday the office is gathering information to exhibit one year from now with expectations of starting a national discussion about law authorization's expanding powerlessness to get to encoded electronic gadgets.

Speaking Friday at the American Bar Association yearly meeting in San Francisco, James Comey said the office was not able access 650 of 5,000 electronic gadgets agents endeavored to seek in the course of the most recent 10 months. He said the issue is just going to deteriorate without a dialog about the innovation.

Comey says encryption innovation makes it incomprehensible in a developing number of criminal cases to seek electronic gadgets. However, he said it's dependent upon U.S. residents, as opposed to the FBI or government authorities, to choose whether to adjust the innovation to help law requirement get to the gadgets.

Comey's worry with encryption developed recently when the FBI occupied with a prominent lawful battle with Apple over getting to information from a bolted iPhone utilized by one of the two shooters in the San Bernardino, California, terrorist assault. The legitimate battle stayed uncertain on the grounds that the FBI dropped its court challenge after it said it figured out how to get to the shooter's iPhone.

Silicon Valley organizations say encryption defends clients' security rights and offers insurances from programmers, corporate spies and different breaks.

"The San Bernardino case was fundamental, however in my perspective, it was additionally counterproductive," Comey said amid his 20-minute discourse. "It was essential since we needed to get into that telephone. It was counterproductive on the grounds that it made it difficult to have a mind boggling discussion."

Comey said he trusts a more settled discussion about encryption and its impacts on open security can be begun in 2017 after the presidential races setting Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Comey criticized Clinton on July 5 for being "greatly inconsiderate" in utilizing private email servers for government interchanges while serving as secretary of state, however he suggested no criminal allegations.

On Friday, because of an inquiry regarding the choice, Comey said, "I would prefer not to discuss the case itself any longer, following four hours and 40 minutes without a restroom break" affirming before Congress about the FBI's examination of Clinton's email rehearses while secretary of state.

In any case, he said that it was "remarkable for the FBI to demonstrate the sort of straightforwardness" it did in examining its examination of Clinton and suggestion to prosecutors to swear off criminal allegations.

Read More

Railing collapses at New Jersey concert injuring

Wiz Khalifa performs at Arena stage at Roskilde Festival in Roskilde, Denmark June 29, 2016. Scanpix Denmark/Torben Christensen/via 

Many concertgoers endured minor wounds on Friday night when a railing given way amid a hip bounce show including Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa in west New Jersey, neighborhood media reported.

Around 30 individuals were brought to clinics with minor wounds when they fell and were pounded after a railing crumpled close to the phase at around 10 p.m. neighborhood time in the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The daily paper reported that the railing isolated the structure's yard from inside seating and caved in when concertgoers inclined toward it.

An observer educated the paper that regarding 50 individuals fell around 10 feet (3 meters) onto concrete.

Powers said that in regards to 30 individuals, who endured minor wounds, were taken to healing centers, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported

Read More

Railing collapses at rap concert at least 10 hurt

In this May 16, 2016, file photo, Snoop Dogg arrives at the LA Premiere of "Coach Snoop" at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Los Angeles. Authorities say multiple people have been hurt after a railing collapsed during an outdoor concert by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa in southern New Jersey on Friday, Aug. 5.

Powers say no less than 10 individuals have been harmed after a railing given way amid an outside show by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa in southern New Jersey.

A segment isolating concertgoers from the phase at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey, fallen, making individuals fall onto the solid beneath. It happened in a matter of seconds before 10:30 p.m. Friday.

Camden County authorities tell WCAU-TV (http://bit.ly/2aBxbqc ) that 10 to 15 individuals were harmed and five were taken to doctor's facilities. Their conditions weren't known and the quantity of harmed could increment.

The railing was isolating a slanting garden from a secured part of the show corridor. The garden is a few feet over a solid walkway.

Concertgoer Katie Colbridge says the show, which was about mostly completed, halted suddenly when the mischance happened.

It was later wiped out.

Read More

Drone pilots gather on NYC island for racing championship

A pilot flies a small racing drone through an obstacle course on Governors Island, a former military installation in New York Harbor, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. Drone pilots are gathering in New York City to compete in the National Drone Racing Championship

Tyler Brennan is preparing to be a pilot in the Air Force, yet this weekend he'll be competing to be top weapon at the National Drone Racing Championship.

The 22-year-old Air Force lieutenant went from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to contend in the competition, which is being held in New York City this weekend. Brennan is one of more than 100 pilots competing for a $50,000 prize.

"I discovered it on YouTube and I was snared promptly," Brennan said of the game, which is as yet finding a taking after. "My first time, I resembled, 'I got it. I am snared here' and I smashed very quickly . In any case, that brief instant that you get has you snared forever."

Many pilots assembled for a practice occasion Friday on Governors Island, a previous army base in New York Harbor.

With onlookers viewing from a review stand, the pilots wore headsets that gave them a cockpit view as they remotely coordinated their automatons — most no bigger than a soft cover book — through a deterrent course of entryways and banners at rates up to 60 mph.

The contenders fly utilizing first-individual perspective headsets, which permit them to see as though they were inside the modest automatons, said Scot Refsland, the organizer and executive of Drone Sports Association, which is putting on the competition.

A little work net is the main thing isolating the observers from the activity. Observers remained as an afterthought lines, their cell phones close by, catching video of the little artworks zooming by. Members expected to go through qualifying rivalries with a specific end goal to race.

The competition, which is being show on ESPN3, draws contenders of any age.

The most youthful racer, 12-year-old Sorell Miller, of Boise, Idaho, will go head to head against many different racers, including his dad, Conrad.

Brennan says he trusts the opposition convinces individuals that they shouldn't fear the art, which tend to stand out as truly newsworthy just when somebody is utilizing one dishonorably.

"No one here will you see flying in airspace they should fly, almost an out of control fire or doing anything they should do," he said. "I trust this presents ramble hustling and can indicate individuals that automatons aren't something that sits outside your window and spies on you — not in any manner in any capacity, shape or frame. This is a game."

After this, he said he's going to concentrate on get ready to fly much greater machines.

"This is my genuine hurrah," Brennan said. "After this, I'm focusing on flying for the Air Force and this will remain a side game."

Read More