Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — A little-known side to the government’s health insurance website is prompting renewed concerns about privacy, just as the White House is calling for stronger cybersecurity protections for consumers.

It works like this: When you apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, dozens of data companies may be able to tell that you are on the site. Some can even glean details such as your age, income, ZIP code, whether you smoke or if you are pregnant.   Continue reading “New privacy concerns over government’s health care website”

Mail.com

CAIRO (AP) — The Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages unless they receive $200 million in 72 hours, directly demanding the ransom Tuesday from Japan’s premier during his visit to the Middle East. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to save the men, saying: “Their lives are the top priority.”

Abe and other Japanese officials declined to discuss whether they’d pay the ransom for captives Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, though their armed forces generally only operate in a self-defense capacity at home. Their kidnapping also immediately recalled the 2004 beheading of a Japanese backpacker in Iraq, carried out by the Islamic State group’s predecessor over Japan’s involvement in the U.S.-led war there.   Continue reading “Islamic State group threatens to kill 2 Japanese hostages”

RT

Veteran US TV journalist Jim Clancy has abruptly left the international news broadcaster after 34 years, following a seemingly tangential Twitter argument over Charlie Hebdo that escalated to a verbal war between Clancy and pro-Israel social media users.   Continue reading “Long-time presenter Jim Clancy leaves CNN after ‘anti-Israel’ Twitter rant”

Mail.com

DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — A German group protesting what it calls “the Islamization of the West” vowed Monday that it won’t be silenced after its weekly rally was canceled following an alleged terrorist threat against one of its organizers.

The planned demonstration in Dresden by PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, was scrapped and local police banned all rallies Monday after being informed of a call for attackers to kill Lutz Bachmann, PEGIDA’s best-known figure.   Continue reading “German anti-Islam group vows that it won’t be silenced”

RT

Iran has confirmed the death of a general with the Revolutionary Guard in an Israeli helicopter strike, carried out in Syria.

The confirmation came in a statement published Monday on the website of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

At the time of the attack, General Allahdadi was on an assignment, giving “crucial advice” to the Syrian armed forces, battling extremists.   Continue reading “Iranian general, son of ex-Hezbollah leader, killed in Israeli airstrike in Syria”

Mail.com

KONKETIYAWA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Karunawathie isn’t hungry for breakfast. She rarely is these days, but she forces herself to choke down a few bites of rice, dried fish and a simple coconut mix. The doctors say it’s better to have something in her stomach before the four-hour dialysis treatments.

She’s going for her second session of the week, dressed all in pink, right down to her flip-flops. Her fingers and toes are fat with fluid, and her spongy arms feel like soft water balloons. Since she can no longer pass liquids on her own, doctors have told her to drink only 500 milliliters a day — equal to less than a can and a half of soda.   Continue reading “Mystery kidney disease killing Sri Lankan farmers”

RT

Amid the heightened terror alert in the EU, authorities in Washington are concerned that extremists who have received training in Iraq or Syria and since returned back to Europe might also try to slip into the US undetected through a visa waiver program.

“To deal with the foreign fighter potential, the foreign fighter threat presented now globally, we need to develop more robust information sharing with our key counterterrorism allies overseas to share information about individuals of suspicion,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Friday.   Continue reading “US visa waiver program is loophole for extremists, ‘much work’ needed – DHS chief”

Mail.com

ALTON KUPRI, Iraq (AP) — The Islamic State group released about 200 Yazidis held for five months in Iraq, mostly elderly, infirm captives who likely slowed the extremists down, Kurdish military officials said Sunday.

Almost all of the freed prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. Three were young children. The former captives were being questioned and receiving medical treatment on Sunday in the town of Alton Kupri.   Continue reading “Islamic State group releases 200 captive Yazidis in Iraq”

RT

A report into the recruiting and hiring practices of the New York Correction Department found that more than one-third of the people hired had problems – criminal histories, mental issues – that should have disqualified them from the job.

Conducted by New York City’s Department of Investigation (DOI), the review is the latest in a number of critical revelations about city jails including death, brutality, and drug smuggling.   Continue reading “NYC hired Rikers officers with gang ties, psychological issues – report”

RT

Police fired tear gas as hundreds of Niger Muslims came out to yet again protest Charlie Hebdo’s satirical cartoons targeting Islam. Several Christian churches have been set on fire by rioting crowds in Niger, as the world sees a second day of rallies.

Niger, a former French colony, has been gripped by Charlie Hebdo-fueled violence since Friday, when a protest rally in front of a French cultural center led to deadly clashes in which three protesters and a police officer were killed.   Continue reading “Churches torched as Niger’s anti-Charlie Hebdo protest escalates”

RT

Russia’s design bureau NPO Energomash is to deliver 60 RD 181 engines for the Antares rocket first stage to American space technology manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corporation. The total cost of the deal is about $1 billion.

“We are committed to deliver 60 engines. Three options have been signed, each for 20 engines,” Vladimir Solntsev, executive director of Energomash, told the Izvestia newspaper. “There is a firm contract for 20 engines, which we have started fulfilling, as we are due to supply the first two engines next June.”   Continue reading “Billion-dollar deal: Russia to sell space rocket engines to US company”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid fresh concerns about terrorism and cybercrime, President Barack Obama hosted British Prime Minister David Cameron for an Oval Office meeting on Friday, as the British leader called for American technology companies like Google and Facebook to allow governments to snoop on encrypted communications.

Obama and Cameron were huddling with their top aides at the White House the week after 17 people died in terror attacks in France spurred by a satirical newspaper’s caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Fears of additional attacks by Islamic extremists grew Thursday, when police in Belgium killed two suspects during an anti-terror raid launched to pre-empt what officials called a major impending attack.   Continue reading “Cameron to press Obama on gov’t access to communications”

Mail.com

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told jurors Thursday she was stunned to learn that a classified mission to thwart Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions — now at the heart of a criminal leak trial — had been disclosed to a reporter.

Rice testified for the prosecution in U.S. District Court at the trial of ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, 47, of O’Fallon, Missouri, who is charged with illegally disclosing details of the program to New York Times reporter James Risen. Sterling denies leaking any information to Risen.   Continue reading “Condoleezza Rice says she was stunned CIA mission was leaked”

Mail.com

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona became the first state in the nation on Thursday to enact a law requiring high school students to pass the U.S. citizenship test on civics before graduation, giving a boost to a growing nationwide effort to boost civics education.

Both the Arizona House and Senate quickly passed the legislation on just the fourth day of the legislative session, and newly elected Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed it into law Thursday evening. The swift action in Arizona comes as states around the country take up similar measures. Arizona’s law requires high school students to correctly answer 60 of 100 questions on the civics portion of the test new citizens must pass.   Continue reading “Arizona passes law requiring students to pass civics test”

RT

President Barack Obama was never the most popular commander-in-chief among the military, but a new poll shows his support has all but cratered. Meanwhile, his general approval rating moved upwards among the public, but still remained below 50 percent.

According to a new poll conducted by the Military Times, only 15 percent of active-duty service members approve of President Obama’s performance as commander-in-chief. That’s quite the drop from 35 percent in 2009. Meanwhile, 55 percent of respondents said they disapproved, up from 40 percent in the same time span.   Continue reading “Obama’s approval rating crashes among troops, rises with public”

Mail.com

SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) — Firefighters were back at a nearly 140-year-old central Pennsylvania prison Thursday morning after a blaze that prompted the evacuation of more than 200 inmates reignited.

Flames were seen around 6 a.m. Thursday shooting up the stone walls of a tower at the Northumberland County Prison in Sunbury, a city of 10,000 about 40 miles north of Harrisburg. The original fire broke out Wednesday afternoon. It took firefighters more than eight hours to extinguish that blaze.   Continue reading “Firefighters again battling flames at Pennsylvania prison”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Renewing a push for paid leave for workers, President Barack Obama on Thursday will call on Congress, states and cities to pass measures to allow tens of millions of workers to earn up to a week of paid sick time a year, the White House said.

He’ll also ask Congress for more than $2 billion in new spending to encourage states to create paid family and medical leave programs. In addition, Obama will take steps to provide federal employees with up to six weeks of paid sick leave to care for a new child. And he’ll propose that Congress pass legislation to give federal workers an additional six weeks of paid parental leave.   Continue reading “Obama to renew push for paid leave for working parents”

Mail.com

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A prison bus skidded off an icy Texas highway, slid down an embankment and collided with a passing freight train Wednesday, killing eight inmates and two corrections officers, including the bus driver, authorities said.

The overpass on Interstate 20 was slick with ice Wednesday morning when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus left the roadway in Penwell, just west of Odessa, according to Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson.   Continue reading “10 dead when Texas prison bus skids off highway, hits train”