Reuters – by Patricia Zengerle and Matt Spetalnick

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the chief judge and seven other members of Venezuela’s Supreme Court on

Thursday as punishment for annulling the opposition-led Congress earlier this year, U.S. officials said.

The new sanctions package was aimed at stepping up pressure on the leftist government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his loyalists amid growing concern over a crackdown on street protests and his efforts to consolidate his rule over the South American oil-producing country.   Continue reading “Venezuela Supreme Court judges hit with U.S. sanctions”

Freedom Outpost – by Tim Brown

In a similar fashion as to how the prosecution in the Bundy Ranch trials tried to hide Bureau of Land Management agent Daniel P. Love’s misconduct, they seem to have failed to disclose an FBI agent’s arrest for impersonating a journalist/private investigator.

Charles Johnson, undercover agent of “Long Bow Fame,” was busted last year in Colorado for impersonating a private investigator and the government failed to inform the defense of this fact.   Continue reading “Government Hid Fact That FBI Witness at Bundy Ranch Trial Ended Up in Jail for Impersonating a Journalist/Private Investigator”

ABC News

A framework agreement between China and the Association of Southeast Asia Nations on a code of conduct in the South China Sea marks a potentially significant step toward cooling tensions in the strategic waterway, analysts said Friday.

While details of the agreement reached Thursday weren’t disclosed, it is a definite sign of progress on reaching a final code of conduct that the parties committed to 15 years ago, the experts said.   Continue reading “Draft a sign of progress on South China Sea code of conduct”

Reuters

Two Chinese SU-30 aircraft carried out what the U.S. military described as an “unprofessional” intercept of a U.S. aircraft designed to detect radiation while it was flying in international airspace over the East China Sea.

“The issue is being addressed with China through appropriate diplomatic and military channels,” said Air Force spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Lori Hodge.   Continue reading “Chinese jets intercept U.S. radiation-sniffing plane, U.S. says”

BBC News

Sweden’s director of public prosecutions has decided to drop the rape investigation into Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Marianne Ny filed a request to the Stockholm District Court to revoke his arrest warrant, apparently ending a seven-year stand-off.

Mr Assange, 45, has lived in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012, trying to avoid extradition.   Continue reading “Julian Assange: Sweden drops rape investigation”

ABC News

The Latest Syria developments (all times local):

8:15 p.m.

U.S. officials say an American airstrike has hit pro-Syrian government forces in southern Syria as they were setting up fighting positions in a protected area.

The officials say the strike near Tanf hit a tank and a bulldozer and forces there, but it was not clear if they were Syrian army troops or other pro-government allies.   Continue reading “The Latest: Officials: US Strike Hits Pro-Assad Forces Syria”

Reuters

A speeding car plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in New York City’s busy Times Square on Thursday, killing one person and injuring a dozen, according to witnesses, and police said the incident did not appear to be an act of terrorism.

A Reuters witness said one person was covered with a bloodstained blanket after the collision, which occurred around noon ET (1600 GMT) at the Midtown Manhattan tourist venue.   Continue reading “Car slams into Times Square pedestrians, killing one, injuring others”

Yahoo News

For more than a year, there have been no arrests in the April 2016 massacre of the Rhoden family in which many of the eight family members were fatally shot multiple times. Police say that the victims were shot “execution-style,” and none appeared to be a suicide. The killer – or killers – are still at large.

But on Tuesday, police charged a witness with two felony charges of vandalism and tampering with evidence in the unsolved case.   Continue reading “First Arrest Made in Unsolved Ohio Family Killings: Victim’s Brother Accused of Evidence Tampering”

Reuters

Oil tankers carrying around 10 million barrels of U.S. crude are en route to Asia, according to shipping data and trade sources, as U.S. producers take advantage of favorable prices to ship to the region while OPEC ponders further supply cuts next week.

At least eight tankers are in transit, sources said and the shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon showed, with one of them carrying the first ever cargo of Southern Green Canyon crude purchased by Japanese refiner Cosmo Energy. Another contains the first Alaskan North Slope cargo to arrive in Asia in eight months.   Continue reading “Flotilla of U.S. crude heads to Asia as OPEC weighs extending cuts”

Reuters

The U.S. Justice Department, in the face of rising pressure from Capitol Hill, named former FBI chief Robert Mueller on Wednesday as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow.

The move followed a week in which the White House was thrown into uproar after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Democrats and some of the president’s fellow Republicans had demanded an independent probe of whether Russia tried to sway the outcome of November’s election in favor of Trump and against Democrat Hillary Clinton.  Continue reading “Former FBI chief Mueller appointed to probe Trump-Russia ties”

USA Today

Rocker Chris Cornell, who gained fame as the lead singer of the bands Soundgarden and later Audioslave, has died at age 52, according to his representative.

Cornell, who had been on tour, died Wednesday night in Detroit, Brian Bumbery said in a statement to The Associated Press. Cornell had performed a Detroit concert with Soundgarden that night.   Continue reading “Soundgarden, Audioslave rocker Chris Cornell dies at age 52”

Middle East Eye

Israel wants the White House to explain why a US diplomat preparing President Donald Trump’s visit to Jerusalem said Judaism’s Holy Western Wall in the east side of the city is part of the occupied West Bank, an Israeli official said on Monday.

Israel considers all of Jerusalem as its indivisible capital, a claim that is not recognised internationally, and the Western Wall – the holiest prayer site for Jews – is part of territory it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.   Continue reading “Israel wants US to explain official’s Western Wall comment”

The Oregonian – by Kristi Turnquist

Oregonians have been following the case of Ammon Bundy and the group of followers who staged an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since it began, in January 2016.

The story is explored again in a new “Frontline” documentary called “American Patriot: Inside the Armed Uprising Against the Federal Government,” which airs at 10 p.m. Tuesday, May 16 on PBS.   Continue reading “FBI agents posed as filmmakers to infiltrate the Bundy family, ‘Frontline’ documentary reveals”

Fox News

The Second Amendment is only 27 words, but Americans have used millions of words arguing over what it means. It guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” But which people, what arms, and under what circumstances?

Two milestone cases involving the Second Amendment that reached the Supreme Court are District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), declaring an individual has a right to own a firearm, and McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), affirming the Second Amendment applies to state law.

Now, if the Supreme Court decides to hear it, there may be a third major case in a decade: Peruta v. California.   Continue reading “Second Amendment case Peruta vs. California may be heading to Supreme Court”

CBC News

TransCanada is reassessing whether oil producers in North Dakota and Montana are still interested in shipping crude through its long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline now that they have other new options to ship their product, including the Dakota Access pipeline.

The Calgary-based company’s announcement this month comes with the Keystone XL still needing approval of its proposed route through Nebraska and with the Dakota Access, which was designed to transport about half of North Dakota’s oil production, expected to be fully operational by June.   Continue reading “TransCanada looking at whether U.S. producers still interested in Keystone XL”

Fuel Fix – by Ryan Handy

The Texas Supreme Court ruled late last month that the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oil and gas regulator, does not have exclusive jurisdiction over environmental contamination cases, which can be settled in court.

The decision came from a years’ long dispute between a rancher, Jimmy McAllen, and the Denver-based Forest Oil, which McAllen accused of polluting his property and exposing him to radiation. Forest Oil, now a part of the Houston-based Sabine Oil and Gas Corp., argued that McAllen couldn’t sue the company and seek millions in damages through the court system because only the Railroad Commission has jurisdiction over contamination cases. Forest Oil objected to paying damages in addition to being forced to clean up McAllen’s property.   Continue reading “Texas Supreme Court says landowners can sue over oil and gas contamination”

Fox News

White House officials Monday denounced a Washington Post report that President Trump revealed classified information about ISIS to Russia’s foreign minister and Moscow’s ambassador to the United States during a White House meeting last week.

In a brief statement in front of the White House, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster described the Post’s story as “false.”   Continue reading “White House denies report Trump revealed classified info about ISIS to Russians”

Fox News

There is tangible evidence on the laptop of a former DNC staffer that confirms he was talking to WikiLeaks prior to his murder, a private investigator suggested Monday.

Seth Rich was killed last July in what authorities have called a robbery gone awry.

But Rod Wheeler, a former D.C. homicide detective and Fox News contributor, is leading a parallel investigation into Rich’s murder.   Continue reading “Slain DNC staffer had contact with WikiLeaks, investigator says”