Marietta hotel the latest named in federal sex trafficking lawsuits

Employees of a Cobb County hotel where police have responded to numerous calls over the years knew sex trafficking was taking place, newly filed federal lawsuits allege. Instead of helping victims, the suits claim, hotel employees helped the traffickers hide from police and profited from the crime ring.

The two lawsuits, filed last week, are the latest targeting metro Atlanta hotels for their alleged roles in trafficking. The same hotel is named in both suits — the Days Inn by Wyndham on Northwest Parkway in Marietta. Police have been called to investigate trafficking and numerous other crimes over the years.

“Without a venue, or crime scene, a sex trafficking venture ceases to exist,” one of the lawsuits says. “Defendants, for a fee, provided the crime scene, a private and anonymous venue for the 15-year-old (victim) to be sold for sex at their hotel.”

Part of the filing was a photograph of a vending machine in the hotel’s lobby stocked with condoms, a sticker with a lewd message affixed to the glass.

The companies that own and operate the Days Inn, including Lincoln Hotels, Days Inn Worldwide and Wyndham Hotel and Resorts, were contacted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for comment on the lawsuits, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. A Wyndham spokesman declined to comment.

https://www.ajc.com/news/marietta-hotel-the-latest-named-in-federal-sex-trafficking-lawsuits/46KKRAPSDZCZ5AA7WLOJBOLDTM/

2 arrested after $3M worth of meth was seized in Hall County

A narcotics investigation in Hall County led to the arrests of two men and the seizure of about $3 million worth of methamphetamine, authorities said.

The bust took place Thursday evening at a home off James Ed Road, Hall County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Derreck Booth said in a news release. It led to the arrest of Juan Hernandez-Pacheco, 20, and Israel Bustis-Padilla, 31, both of Michoacan, Mexico.

The suspects are accused of possessing approximately 67 pounds of meth, which consisted of both crystal and liquid forms. In addition, agents found packaging materials, other chemicals and a ledger inside the house.

The investigation was conducted by Hall County Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad (MANS) agents and the Department of Homeland Security, the release said.

The suspects were arrested without incident and booked into the Hall County Jail, where they remain without bond, records show. They face counts of trafficking meth, possession of meth with intent to distribute and manufacturing meth.

https://www.ajc.com/news/2-arrested-after-3m-worth-of-meth-was-seized-in-hall-county/BRZN747GG5GCHLOULKCUWDMJSY/

Republicans keep top billing on Georgia ballots, judge rules

Republican candidates, from President Donald Trump to state legislators, can continue to be listed ahead of Democrats on Georgia ballots, according to a federal judge’s ruling.

U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg denied an effort to overturn a Georgia law that requires candidates in the same party as the most recently elected governor to be listed first on the ballot in partisan general elections.

The plaintiffs in the case, including the Democratic National Committee, had argued that the law gave Republican candidates an unfair edge. Expert witnesses told the court that Republicans received a 4.2 percentage point advantage, on average, from being listed first on the ballot in Georgia elections since 2004.

But Totenberg ruled Thursday that she was bound by an April decision from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a similar ballot order case from Florida.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/republicans-keep-top-billing-on-georgia-ballots-judge-rules/RHJY6ISGHVDX7CMJKH24ANFLEY/

Possible coup underway in Mali

Shots have been heard at an army base in Kati, just outside the capital, amid an ongoing political crisis in Mali. The situation remains unclear, but news of the gunshots quickly sparked fears of a possible coup attempt.

Gunfire was heard at an army base near Mali's capital Bamako on Tuesday, sparking fears of a possible mutiny in the conflict-torn country.

According to nearby witnesses, soldiers fired gunshots into the air at a military base in Kati, a town 15 kilometers (nine miles) from Bamako, though it remained unclear who was firing at whom.

The Norwegian Embassy gave a clear message to its citizens: "The embassy has been notified of a mutiny in the Armed Forces and troops are on their way to Bamako. Norwegians should exercise caution and preferably stay at home until the situation is clear."

Arrests being made

Sources told DW that the leader of the coup could be Colonel Sadio Camara. DW also learned that several high-ranking politicians and officials have been arrested, including the Minister of Finance Abdoulaye Daffe and the chief of staff of the National Guard.

Meanwhile, soldiers took up arms in Kati and began arresting senior military officers.

The national radio station ORTM has been evacuated. According to ORTM employees, a column of possible putschists is said to be on its way to the station.

The French Embassy in the West African country was quick to react, urging people to stay inside their homes.

https://www.dw.com/en/possible-coup-underway-in-mali/a-54608009

Israeli planes bomb Gaza for seventh straight night

The Israeli air raids came as Egyptian officials arrive to defuse the latest uptick in violence

Attacks on Gaza continued for the seventh straight night as Israeli warplanes targeted Hamas observation posts in what the Israeli army said was a response to Palestinian fire balloon attacks across the border.

Tuesday's air raids came as visiting Egyptian security officials strove to defuse the latest uptick in violence.

"Fighter jets and [other] aircraft struck underground infrastructures belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip," an Israeli military statement said, linking the attack to "explosive and arson balloons launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel".

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/israeli-planes-target-gaza-seventh-straight-night-200818060902391.html

https://www.iol.co.za/news/world/israel-strikes-hamas-targets-in-tit-for-tat-cross-border-fire-07aef7bc-e591-4f3f-9d6a-afbdb77ef41f

Long ‘lost’ elephant shrew found in Horn of Africa

For half a century scientists feared that the Somali elephant shrew had vanished from the face of the Earth. No one had seen so much as a whisker.

But the tiny mammal with its probing trunk-like nose was quietly thriving in the arid, rocky landscape of the Horn of Africa, researchers said Tuesday.

The elusive, insect-eating creature is neither an elephant nor a shrew.

It is a sengi — a distant relation to aardvarks, elephants and manatees — the size of a mouse, with powerful legs that allow it to run at speeds of nearly 30 kilometers (20 miles) an hour.

The Somali sengi has been lost to science since the 1970s, leaving just the 39 preserved specimens held in the world’s natural history museums as the only physical evidence that it ever existed.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/long-lost-elephant-shrew-found-in-horn-of-africa/

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