POLICE BELIEVE SLAYINGS RACIALLY MOTIVATED
The slayings of two black men in Baton Rouge last week were likely racially motivated, police said Sunday, and a suspect — a 23year-old white man — was in custody. In both shootings the gunman fired from his car then walked to the victims as they were on the ground and fired again multiple times.
The suspect, Kenneth Gleason, was being held on drug charges. Authorities didn’t immediately have enough evidence to arrest him on charges related to the killings, but the investigation was ongoing, Baton Rouge Sgt. L’Jean Mckneely said.
“The victims were ... ambushed,” Mckneely said. “There is a strong possibility that it could be racially motivated.”
Uproar in Turkey over removing evolution from biology class.
ISTANBUL» Students in Turkey are returning to school Monday where they will be taught evolution for the last time in their biology classes. Next fall, evolution and Charles Darwin will be scrapped from their textbooks.
Turkey has announced an overhaul of more than 170 topics in the country’s school curriculum, including removing all direct references to evolution from high school biology classes.
The upcoming changes have caused uproar, with critics calling them a reshaping of education along the conservative, Islam-oriented government’s line. Opposition parties and unions have organized protests against the changes, demanding that Turkey provide a scientific, secular education for its students. Lawmakers have also opposed the new curriculum in parliament.
Trump mocks North Korean leader as “Rocket Man.”
N.J.» President SOMERSET,
Donald Trump on Sunday mocked the leader of North Korea as “Rocket Man” while White House advisers said the isolated nation would face destruction unless it shelves its weapons programs and bellicose threats. Trump’s chief diplomat held out hope the North would return to the bargaining table, although the president’s envoy to the United Nations said the Security Council had “pretty much exhausted” all its options. Kim Jong Un has pledged to continue the North’s programs, saying his country is nearing its goal of “equilibrium” in military force with the United States.
“It” stomps “Mother” with $60 million in its second weekend.
The current adaptation of Stephen King’s “It” continues to scare up record ticket sales, taking in an estimated $60 million in its second week and leaving a paltry $7.5 million for Darren Aronofsky’s audacious genre-bending psychological thriller “Mother!” With $218.7 million to date, “It” is now the highest grossing September release ever. “Mother!” has horror elements, too, so it was risky to schedule it right behind “It.”