Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s governor on Tuesday named a long-serving Republican city councilor from Albuquerque as secretary of state to oversee an elections oversight agency upended by a campaign finance scandal.

Brad Winter, a councilor since 1999 and a longtime public school administrator, is expected to guide the agency through the November general election, when a new secretary of state will be chosen and take office in January 2017.   Continue reading “Governor names replacement for disgraced secretary of state”

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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Northern California authorities say a driver is lucky to be alive after a large metal beam pierced the windshield of his SUV while on a San Jose freeway.

San Jose Fire Department Capt. Christopher Salcido says the beam fell off of a flatbed truck, crashing through the windshield and lodging itself into the driver’s seat of the BMW. The driver, 66-year-old Don Lee of San Jose, California, suffered a small scratch to his right arm.   Continue reading “Driver dodges death when large metal beam pierces windshield”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Working to ease public jitters ahead of the holidays, President Barack Obama will use visits to the Pentagon and the National Counterterrorism Center this week to try to explain his strategy for stopping the Islamic State group abroad and its sympathizers at home.

Obama’s high-profile visits to agencies charged with keeping the U.S. safe follow an Oval Office address Dec. 6 that aimed to reassure the public but that critics said failed to do the job. Obama is also hoping to draw a contrast with Donald Trump and his inflammatory remarks about Muslims, which Obama’s administration has warned emboldens extremists looking to pull the U.S. into a war with Islam.   Continue reading “Obama ramps up bid to explain how US will fight extremists”

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Three-quarters of California’s paroled sex offenders previously banned from living near parks, schools and other places where children congregate now face no housing restrictions after the state changed its policy in response to a court ruling that said the prohibition only applies to child molesters, according to data compiled at the request of The Associated Press.

The rate is far higher than officials initially predicted. The state expected half of the 5,900 parolees would have restrictions on where they can live or sleep lifted when the corrections department changed its policy following the March ruling. Instead, data shows that 76 percent of offenders no longer are subject to the voter-approved restrictions.   Continue reading “Most sex offender parolees exempt from ban”

RT

The US food regulator has approved GMO chicken to produce a breakthrough drug. Extracted from transgenic hens’ egg whites, the medicine is hoped to help patients with a rare, rapidly progressive disease affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans.

The drug, named Kanuma, would help people whose bodies can’t break down fatty molecules in cells, causing fat to accumulate in the liver, spleen and vasculature. In the medical world this illness is called lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (LAL deficiency). A rare, inherited condition, it is diagnosed in infants within their first six months. Statistically, sick babies don’t live past their first year.   Continue reading “FDA approves GMO chicken to produce breakthrough drug”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The commando force that President Barack Obama is dispatching to Iraq to conduct clandestine raids against the Islamic State group does not fit neatly into a picture of the U.S. military strategy for defeating the extremist army.

Even the name — “specialized expeditionary targeting force” — is a bit of a riddle. The main point is that the force is intended to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic State by using a small group of special operations troops — possibly fewer than 100 — to more aggressively use intelligence information, to include capturing and killing the group’s leaders. In theory, this would generate even more and better intelligence, feeding what the military calls a “virtuous cycle” of intelligence-driven air and ground operations.   Continue reading “US keeps wraps on new commando force for Iraq”

RT

Four Western coalition warplanes were spotted over the Deir az-Zor area in Syria on December 6, when a Syrian Army camp came under attack. No Russian warplanes were in the region, says the Russian Defense Ministry.

“Russian aircraft were not on a mission in that area. All our flights in Syrian airspace are coordinated with air traffic control and the General Staff of the Syrian government’s armed forces,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said, adding that Russia always informs the US about the time, altitudes and routes of its aircraft in Syrian airspace.   Continue reading “4 US-led coalition jets seen over Deir ez Zor in Syria day govt troops attacked – Russian MoD”

RT

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a ground-breaking device that can plug gunshot wounds in 15 seconds using a special sponge-filled mechanism.

The device is called ‘XSTAT Rapid Hemostasis System’, and is an expandable, multi-sponge dressing that can be used to stop life-threatening bleeding from wounds, or in hard-to-reach areas like the groin or armpit, according to an official FDA press release.
Continue reading “Shoot! FDA okays revolutionary wound-plugging gun”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time, the Supreme Court is hearing a white Texan’s challenge to the use of race in college admissions.

Abigail Fisher has been out of college since 2012, but the justices’ renewed interest in her case is a sign that the court’s conservative majority is poised to cut back, or even end, affirmative action in higher education.   Continue reading “Supreme Court hears Texas affirmative action challenge”

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HOMS, Syria (AP) — Hundreds of Syrian civilians and rebels began pulling out of the last opposition-held neighborhood of the city of Homs on Wednesday as part of a local deal with government forces that would return the entire central city to government control.

A few thousand insurgents have been holed up in Waer district, which government forces had blockaded for nearly three years, only sporadically allowing in food. The governor of Homs, Talal Barazzi, told The Associated Press on the outskirts of Waer that 272 gunmen and 447 civilians left the district on Wednesday in an evacuation process that was presided over by the United Nations.   Continue reading “Syrian rebels start pulling out of last stronghold in Homs”

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TOKYO (AP) — Japan launched a new counterterrorism unit in an air of secrecy Tuesday, with journalists only allowed to photograph its 24 members from behind.

The country is expanding its international espionage work after being shocked by the deaths of five Japanese citizens at the hands of Islamic militants this year. The recent Paris attacks have also raised fears ahead of a Group of Seven summit in Japan next year and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.   Continue reading “Japan launches anti-terrorism unit ahead of summit, Olympics”

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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The latest developments as tens of thousands of people make their way to Europe and across the continent, seeking safety and a better life. All times local.

3:55 p.m. Finland has announced stricter immigration policies to stem an influx of migrants, including opening repatriation centers for the quick expulsion of those denied asylum, tightening conditions for family unification and cutting benefits for refugees.   Continue reading “Finland tightens immigration policies”

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SAN DIEGO (AP) — The U.S.-Mexico border is one of the world’s most fortified international divides. Starting Wednesday, it will also be one of the only that has an airport straddling two countries.

An investor group that includes Chicago billionaire Sam Zell built a sleek terminal in San Diego with a bridge that crosses a razor-wire border fence to Tijuana’s decades-old airport. Passengers pay $18 to walk a 390-foot overpass to Tijuana International Airport, a springboard about 30 Mexican destinations.   Continue reading “California newest airport terminal extends to Mexico”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton on Wednesday will unveil a proposal for a new “exit tax” aimed at cracking down on corporate inversions, a practice that permits U.S. companies to merge with corporations overseas to lower their tax bill.

The new tax would be part of a broader effort to target what experts say is roughly $2 trillion in profits U.S. companies are hoarding abroad to reduce their taxes. The Democratic presidential front-runner will propose spending the revenue raised by the new tax to boost manufacturing jobs in the U.S., campaign aides said. They spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the official campaign announcement.  Continue reading “Clinton offers new ‘exit tax’ on US-foreign company mergers”

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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The deep sea hunt for the missing Malaysian airliner has been refocused on the southern reaches of an expansive search zone based on new analysis released on Thursday of the Boeing 777’s final hours and how it might have plunged into the Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard after running out of fuel.

Searchers have been combing a 120,000-square-kilometer (46,000-square-mile) expanse of the Indian Ocean since October last year but have yet to turn up any trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. A wing flap found in July on the other side of the Indian Ocean when it washed up on remote Reunion Island is the only debris recovered.   Continue reading “Search for Malaysian jet refocuses in southern Indian Ocean”