Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Shiite rebels backed by supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh seized Yemen’s third largest city of Taiz and its airport on Sunday, security and military officials said, as thousands took to the streets in protest.

One person was killed and four wounded when the rebels, known as Houthis, fired on the crowd, security officials said. A few dozen were choked by tear gas. If the rebels hold onto the city, the capital of Yemen’s most populous province, it would be a major blow to embattled current President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who established a base in the southern city of Aden just 140 kilometers (85 miles) away after fleeing the rebel-held capital last month.   Continue reading “Shiite rebels seize Yemen’s 3rd largest city, protests erupt”

RT

Spaniards are gathering for an anti-austerity rally in the Spanish capital’s center. Almost a year ago, a similar protest in central Madrid turned violent and hundreds were injured.

Spanish police deployed some 1,200 officers to monitor Saturday’s protest, which is called Marches of Dignity. Up to 20,000 people are expected to show up.   Continue reading “‘Bread, jobs, dignity’: Crowds gather for anti-austerity march in Madrid”

Mail.com

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The United States and Iran reported significant progress Saturday toward a nuclear agreement, with the Iranian president declaring a deal within reach. America’s top diplomat was more reserved, leaving open whether world powers and Tehran would meet a March 31 deadline.

Speaking after a week of nuclear negotiations in Switzerland, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry challenged Iran to make “fundamental decisions” that prove to the world it has no interest in atomic weapons. Amid conflicting statement by officials about how close the sides were, Kerry said, “We have an opportunity to try to get this right.”   Continue reading “US, Iran cite progress in nuke talks, though deal is unclear”

Mail.com

GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — Jurors who convicted an Alabama woman in the running death of her 9-year-old granddaughter soon must decide whether to recommend she should die for the crime or spend the rest of her life in prison.

A jury convicted 49-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard late Friday in the February 2012 death of Savannah Hardin, siding with prosecutors who depicted Garrard as a “drill sergeant from hell,” a domineering taskmaster so enraged over a lie about candy that she made the girl run until she dropped.   Continue reading “Convicted in girl’s running death, grandma faces death”

Mail.com

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Just when flowering bulbs were poking out their heads and snow shovels were getting a well-deserved rest, winter weather has come back. And on the first day of spring no less.

Forecasters say a storm will dump up to 6 inches of snow on the Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Friday. New England will be on the lower end of the snow totals but even Boston, which has seen a record 108.6 inches of snow, could get an inch or 2 more.   Continue reading “Northeast gets another blast of winter on 1st day of spring”

Mail.com

In a survival story his doctors call extraordinary, a 22-month-old Pennsylvania boy whose lifeless body was pulled from an icy creek was revived after an hour and 41 minutes of CPR and has suffered virtually no lingering effects.

Gardell Martin came home from the hospital on Sunday, and his doctors said Thursday he has made a full recovery. “It’s not only extraordinarily rare that we got the kid back, but what’s even more extraordinary is the rate at which he recovered and the completeness of his recovery,” said Dr. Frank Maffei, director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Geisinger’s Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville. “The stars and moon aligned, and he had an angel on his shoulder.”   Continue reading “Toddler survives near-drowning after 101 minutes of CPR”

RT

Agrochemical giant Monsanto has settled class action lawsuits with farmers in seven states over genetically modified wheat incident in 2013. Without any admission of liability the company will pay some $350,000 in donations to agricultural schools.

The agricultural biotechnology corporation announced donations of $50,000 to agricultural schools in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The St. Louis based company also promised to reimburse a portion of the costs associated with the case. Monsanto said it can’t disclose how much that will cost.   Continue reading “Monsanto settles 7 lawsuits after 2013 GMO-wheat scare”

Mail.com

LONGMONT, Colo. (AP) — A 34-year-old woman was accused of stabbing a pregnant woman in the stomach and removing her baby, while the expectant mother visited her home to buy baby clothes advertised on Craigslist, Colorado authorities said.

Officers called to the residence Wednesday afternoon found the 26-year-old victim, who was seven months pregnant, stabbed and beaten, Longmont police Cmdr. Jeff Satur told the Daily Times-Call newspaper (http://bit.ly/1BzW1ZZ ).   Continue reading “Woman accused of cutting baby from pregnant woman’s womb”

Mail.com

NEW BERN, N.C. (AP) — A frantic and bloodied mother whose three sons were killed in a knife attack jumped from an upstairs window and ran across the street for help, according to neighbors.

A couple, who, like the suspect and victims, were Burmese refugees, was startled Tuesday night by pounding on their door by the mother. They said she was bleeding from a wound in her back and asking for help.   Continue reading “Deadly knife attack stuns North Carolina neighborhood”

Mail.com

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Marcus Johnson Jr.’s parents figured a sunny day at a city park was just what their son, a 6-year-old kindergartner, needed while recovering from heart surgery the previous week and a doctor’s visit that same day.

Instead, the family will bury Marcus on Thursday after the child was shot in the chest and killed in an attack his mother and father said stemmed from a traffic dispute. The boy’s 15-year-old brother and a 69-year-old family friend were also wounded by the occupants of a car who shot at the family’s minivan as it left O’Fallon Park on the city’s north side on March 11. Marcus Johnson Sr. said he returned fire in self-defense as the rolling shootout continued for several blocks, with three other children — ages 8, 10 and 11 — in the car.   Continue reading “6-year-old heart patient’s shooting death rattles St. Louis”

Mail.com

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — A gunman killed one person and wounded five others Wednesday in a rampage that included a motel shooting, a carjacking and a home invasion and ended with his arrest at a nearby apartment in suburban Phoenix.

The suspect was taken into custody after officers spotted him on an apartment balcony and shocked him with a stun gun. Numerous officers led the handcuffed man to a truck parked outside an apartment complex.   Continue reading “Ex-convict arrested in Phoenix-area shootings that killed 1”

RT

American military officials admitted to members of Congress that they have lost track of millions in small arms, ammunition, night vision goggles, patrol boats, vehicles and other supplies donated by the US to the Yemeni government.

The US has supplied more than $500 million in military aid to Yemen since 2007 through programs managed by the Defense Department and State Department. But in January, the Yemeni government was toppled by Shiite Houthi rebels, backed by Iran and critical of US drones strikes in the country, who also took over government military bases in the north.   Continue reading “‘Compromised & gone’: Pentagon lost $500mn of weapons, equipment in Yemen”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are putting down a marker with their budget blueprint, one day after the House GOP unveiled a 10-year plan that boosts the military, makes deep cuts in social programs and targets President Barack Obama’s laws on health care and financial reforms.

Slated for release Wednesday afternoon, the GOP senators’ companion measure contains greater cost cuts to Medicare — $431 billion over the coming decade, which matches Obama’s savings if not his policies — but doesn’t call for the dramatic transformation of the program for future beneficiaries that House Republicans are pushing.   Continue reading “Senate, House GOP differ on savings approach to Medicare”

Mail.com

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri death row inmate has been executed for the shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy, after the U.S. Supreme Court and the state’s governor declined to spare the 74-year-old who attorneys said had a diminished mental capacity because of a brain injury.

Cecil Clayton was put to death Tuesday by lethal injection after Gov. Jay Nixon denied a clemency request and the nation’s high court turned aside appeals claiming Clayton was mentally incompetent. The Missouri Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, already had declined to intervene, with the court’s majority concluding last weekend there was no evidence Clayton wasn’t capable of understanding his circumstances. The U.S. Supreme Court was also divided, with four judges saying they would have granted a stay.   Continue reading “Missouri executes man after high court declines to intervene”

RT

The latest analysis from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows that more than 16.4 million Americans have acquired health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The report issued Monday was based in part on findings from a Gallup poll, which found the uninsured rate for Americans had fallen from 20.3 percent in October 2013 – when the sign-ups began – to 12.3 percent during the first quarter of 2015. The increases come from sign-ups through the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges and the expansion of Medicaid.   Continue reading “16 million Americans gained health coverage under Obamacare, HHS says”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, says he wasn’t influenced by politics when deciding to impose tough new restrictions on Internet service.

Wheeler is responding to criticism from congressional Republicans who say President Barack Obama unfairly inserted himself into the process led by an independent regulator. Wheeler told a House committee on Tuesday in a prepared statement that he did notice that the markets didn’t react much last fall when Obama called for Internet service to be regulated more heavily. He said that data point gave him some assurance that subjecting Internet service to stricter regulations probably wouldn’t hurt the cable and wireless industry.   Continue reading “Lawmakers weigh in on ‘net neutrality’”

RT

The US secretary of state appeared to say on CBS News that America has to negotiate with Syria’s president about a political transition in the war-torn country. But later the State Department clarified that John Kerry wasn’t referring to Bashar Assad.

“But to get the Assad regime to negotiate, we’re going to have to make it clear to him that there is a determination by everybody to seek that political outcome and change his calculation about negotiating,” Kerry said on Sunday.   Continue reading “Kerry says US wants to negotiate with Assad… State Dept denies”

Mail.com

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Once upon a time, Mexican marijuana was the gold standard for U.S. pot smokers. But in the new world of legal markets and gourmet weed, aficionados here are looking to the United States and Europe for the good stuff.

Instead of Acapulco Gold, Mexican smokers want strains like Liberty Haze and Moby Dick — either importing high-potency boutique pot from the United States, or growing it here in secret gardens that use techniques perfected abroad.   Continue reading “Homegrown, gourmet pot on the rise in Mexico”