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"Light the Earth with fire"

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of extremist group ISIS, called on his supporters to “erupt volcanoes of jihad” in an apparent new audio message released Thursday. The recording, which appeared to be genuine according to Flashpoint Intelligence, a global security firm and NBC News counterterrorism consultancy, came days after speculation that Baghdadi had been wounded in an airstrike in Iraq.

“O soldiers of the Islamic State, continue to harvest the soldiers,” the recording said. “Erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere. Light the Earth with fire.”

The extremist leader claimed the bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq is failing, saying: “America and its allies are terrified, weak, and powerless…”

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Cold air will blanket two-thirds of the U.S. on Thursday, with arctic air expected to take aim at the East Coast after ripping through the rest of the county. The National Weather Service said temperatures will plummet to 25 to 40 degrees below normal across much of the northern and central U.S. New England is expected to experience light snow, but up to a foot of snow is expected to fall in the Great Lakes region.

The polar invasion is expected to linger through the middle of next week, according to The Weather Channel. It tore through the Plains and Midwest earlier this week, sending temperatures plummeting and shattering record lows…

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Read next: Winter is Here: See the First Major Snow Storm of the Season

The plane landed safely

Cold weather blew through the American Midwest

At least four people had been killed in crashes on ice-slicked roads in Minnesota, and some parts of the Upper Midwest were buried under two feet of snow Tuesday as an unusually early winter blast socked large parts of the country, authorities said.

Lac du Flambeau in north-central Wisconsin had 23.7 inches of snow on the ground Tuesday afternoon, while 24.5 inches had fallen on Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, said the National Weather Service, which reported that numerous other locations in the north-central Upper Peninsula had seen more than 18 inches of snowfall…

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The ruling, which is subject to appeal, comes after a 9-1/2 week divorce trial ended last month

An Oklahoma County judge has ordered oil magnate and Continental Resources Chief Executive Officer Harold Hamm to pay nearly $1 billion in a divorce judgment, according to a court filing made public on Monday. Special Judge Howard Haralson found that Hamm should pay his ex-wife Sue Ann Hamm a total of $995.5 million, with about a third of the funds, or $322.7 million, to be paid by the end of the year, the filing says.

Hamm, Oklahoma’s richest man, will then be required to pay the rest of the judgment, some $650 million, in installments worth at least $7 million per month, the filing says…

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Rivers' manner of death was determined to be "therapeutic complication"

The clinic where Joan Rivers had a medical procedure during which she suffered brain damage because of lack of oxygen “failed to identify deteriorating vital signs and provide timely intervention,” an investigation by the New York Department of Health and Human Services has determined.

Rivers, 81, was undergoing a laryngoscopy and an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at Yorkville Endoscopy on Aug. 28 when she went into hypoxic arrest, which occurs when the brain lacks oxygen. The legendary comedian had been suffering from chronic reflux disease, according to the health department’s report. Rivers was rushed to a hospital where she died Sept. 4 after being…

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Seven million people were under winter storm warnings from Montana to Michigan early Monday ahead of a blast of freezing temperatures that will reach the East Coast later this week.

Six inches or more of snow is possible in a wide swath from the Dakotas to Minnesota and northern Wisconsin and Michigan. Forecasters say the snow will taper off in the Rockies and Plains by Monday evening but will continue to fall in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan through Tuesday.

In Minneapolis, which could get a foot or more of wind-whipped snow, residents braced for a hellish evening commute and rushed out to buy shovels…

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