Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military officials have sought to ward off congressional efforts to address child-on-child sexual assaults on bases, even as they disclose that the problem is larger than previously acknowledged.

Members of Congress expressed alarm and demanded answers after an Associated Press investigation revealed that reports of sexual violence among kids on U.S. military bases and at Pentagon-run schools are getting lost in a dead zone of justice that often leaves both victim and offender without help.   Continue reading “Military seeks to limit Congress on fixing child sex assault”

Mail.com

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Texas principal accused of expelling a student who stayed seated during the Pledge of Allegiance and a Utah high school accused of censoring its student newspaper have been bestowed Jefferson Muzzles, tongue-in-cheek awards from a free-speech group.

The Charlottesville, Virginia-based Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression on Sunday announced the seven winners of its Muzzles, given annually to those the group deems the previous year’s most egregious offenders of free expression.   Continue reading “Annual Muzzle ‘awards’ go to alleged protest squelchers”

RT – by Lee Camp

By the end of this column, it will be clear which country the United States will invade and topple next. Or failing that, it will be clear which country our military-intelligence-industrial complex will be aching to invade next.

We all want to know why America does what it does. And I don’t mean why Americans do what we do. I think that question still will be pondered eons from now by a future professor showing his students a video mind-meld of present-day UFC fighters booting each other in the head while thrilled onlookers cheer (not for either of the fighters but rather for more booting in the head).   Continue reading “I know which country the US will invade next”

RT

Amazon has halted development of a high-rise office block in downtown Seattle, threatening to ditch the plans altogether unless the city withdraws a proposed new tax to fund homelessness programs.

The retailer’s decision to delay construction on its 17-story ‘Block 18’ tower also threatens the 7,000 new jobs the company planned to create. Drew Herdener, vice president of the e-commerce behemoth, also said the firm may not occupy space in another skyscraper currently in development in the city, choosing instead to sublet it to another firm.   Continue reading “Amazon v Seattle: 7,000 jobs under threat as retail giant protests homeless tax”

Mail.com

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The Latest on an explosion during a standoff in Connecticut (all times local): 10 a.m. Court records show a divorce proceeding between a husband and wife who own a Connecticut home where an explosion injured nine police officers during a standoff with a suspect.

The records show Deborah Sayre filed for divorce from John Sayre on April 18 and checked a box that said the marriage had “broken down irretrievably.” The documents show the Sayres live at the home in North Haven where police responded Wednesday and encountered a barricaded man. North Haven police say a building on the property exploded later in the night while a SWAT team was negotiating with the man.  Continue reading “The Latest: Owners of explosion site were divorcing”

RT

Fewer than 10 percent of Norwegians are still using paper currency or coins, which could completely disappear in a decade, according to the local authorities.

Jon Nicolaisen, the deputy governor of Norway’s central bank, has said Norwegian society has become cashless, and that this is very much a present reality rather than a future dream.   Continue reading “Scandinavians are done with cash”

RT

Tehran has been ordered by a US court to pay more than $6 billion to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, despite the fact that most of the plane hijackers were Saudi nationals, and no direct link was ever found to Iran.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York found Iran, the country’s central bank, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps liable for the deaths of more than 1,000 people in the September 11 attacks. As a consequence, District Judge George Daniels ordered Iran and its entities to pay over $6 billion in compensation to the victims’ families.   Continue reading “US judge orders Iran to pay billions to families of 9/11 victims”

Mail.com

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The caravan of Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States sought the world’s attention as scores of migrants traveled through Mexico on a journey to escape their violent homelands.

Now that the group has arrived at the border, the next steps in their journey will unfold mostly out of public view. The caravan first drew attention in the U.S. when President Donald Trump promised that his administration would seek to turn the families away. The rest of the asylum-seeking process will happen slowly and secretively in immigration courts.  Continue reading “Next steps for caravan will unfold mostly out of public view”

Mail.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — An official autopsy released Tuesday says an unarmed black man was shot seven times, not eight as concluded by an independent doctor hired by the man’s family. A pathologist retained by the Sacramento County coroner says that’s a crucial distinction because it shows the pathologist hired by the family of 22-year-old Stephon Clark mistook an exit wound for an eighth entry wound, creating an impression that police first shot Clark from the side or back.  Continue reading “Autopsy by coroner sheds light on Sacramento police killing”

RT

The world is now 12 percent of GDP deeper in debt than it was at the peak of the financial crisis in 2009, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China was described as a “driving force” behind the new debt levels.

According to its Fiscal Monitor report, global debt is at a historical high, reaching the equivalent of 225 percent of GDP.   Continue reading “Global debt balloons to all-time high of $164 trillion”

RT

A large ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Oman is increasing in size, according to scientists who warn the oxygen-scarce area is worse than previously thought and poses a threat to the environment. But what does that mean?

The dead zone in the Arabian Sea is now the world’s biggest Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ). About the size of Scotland or Florida, the dead zone almost covers the entire Gulf of Oman, which borders Iran, Oman, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.   Continue reading “Huge dead zone in Gulf of Oman is far worse than feared – but what is it?”

Mail.com

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — U.S. border inspectors allowed some of the Central American asylum-seekers to enter the country for processing, ending a brief impasse over lack of space. But the migrants who crossed Mexico in a caravan may face a long legal path.

Caravan organizers said eight members of the group criticized by President Donald Trump that traveled from southern Mexico to the border city of Tijuana were allowed in to be interviewed by asylum officers, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not provide a number.   Continue reading “US starts processing asylum seekers slammed by Trump”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Immigrants say President Donald Trump’s administration has become almost everything they feared, but while they rally across the United States on May Day, their focus is less on huge turnout Tuesday than on the first Tuesday in November.

Marches and other demonstrations for labor and immigrant rights were planned from Florida to New York to California on International Workers’ Day and come amid similar actions worldwide. “The Trump administration has made very clear that they’ve declared war on the immigrant community on all levels,” said Javier Valdes, co-executive director of the advocacy group Make the Road New York.   Continue reading “US May Day immigration protests target Trump, fall elections”

RT

Activists distributed kippahs to members of the public at several of Berlin’s major parks on Sunday in response to a reported rise in anti-Semitic incidents over the past year.

A series of marches, protests and solidarity events have been held in the city following a spate of incidents over recent months where Jews have been targeted. Footage of an attack on a kippah-wearing Israeli national in Berlin went viral in mid April.   Continue reading “Free kippahs handed out across Berlin in protest against anti-Semitism”

RT

Powerful explosions have been heard in the countryside of Hama and Aleppo provinces, the Syrian state news agency reports. The state media says military bases there were hit by rockets launched by an unspecified enemy.

The alleged attacks were reported by Syria’s Sana news agency on Sunday evening. Citing a military source, it said that “a new aggression with hostile missiles” took place at around 10:30 pm local time, targeting military positions in the Hama and Aleppo villages.  Continue reading “Military targets in Hama & Aleppo, Syria hit by missiles – state TV”

Mail.com

CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati officials expect to review a plan for improving the city’s emergency center while police finish an internal investigation into the death of a teen who twice called 911 to report he was trapped in a minivan.   Continue reading “Emergency center plan being reviewed after minivan death”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will be at the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas on Friday. A White House official said Monday that Trump will attend the group’s annual meeting. Trump has been a strong supporter of the NRA and enjoyed their backing in his 2016 campaign.

After a deadly school shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, Trump suggested he was open to new gun control measures. He held a meeting with senators, declaring that he would stand up to the gun lobby and calling for a “comprehensive” bill.   Continue reading “Trump to attend the NRA convention in Dallas”

RT

Denmark’s immigration minister, known for her hardline stance on migration, has drawn ire from people on social media after she said that in order to pass language tests, asylum seekers cheat and abuse the trust of authorities.

Minister Inger Stojberg of the ruling center-right Venstre party, cited a Facebook group that provides answers to Danish language and culture tests, which all migrants have to take in the Nordic country. “A significant group” of refugees who have come to Denmark “cheats, lies and abuses our trust,” she wrote in an editorial in BT, a Danish tabloid newspaper.   Continue reading “Cheat, lie and abuse – Danish immigration minister hits out at migrants”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee is poised to vote Thursday on a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s job — legislation that has split Republicans as President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Two Republicans and two Democrats introduced the bill earlier this month as Trump ramped up criticism of the special counsel. Mueller is investigating potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign as well as possible obstruction of justice by the president.   Continue reading “Senate committee poised for vote on bill to protect Mueller”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for President Donald Trump will be back in court Thursday as part of his attempt to limit investigators’ access to records the FBI seized from his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

A judge in New York scheduled a noon conference to discuss electronic files and communications seized from Cohen’s home and office April 9 as part of an investigation of his personal business dealings.   Continue reading “Lawyer: Trump ready for role in raids’ evidence review”