Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani officials say authorities have hanged two convicted militants in the first executions following the reinstatement of the death penalty in the wake of this week’s Peshawar school massacre.

Two officials and Pakistan’s state television say the executions were carried out late on Friday in the central city of Faisalabad. There was no official confirmation of the executions. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.   Continue reading “Officials: Pakistan executes 2 convicted militiants”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday capped a swift and forceful response to an Associated Press investigation by signing into law a measure that bars suspected Nazi war criminals from receiving U.S. Social Security benefits.

The AP’s investigation, which was the impetus for the No Social Security for Nazis Act, found that dozens of former Nazis collected millions of dollars in retirement benefits after being forced to leave the United States. Recipients ranged from the SS guards who patrolled the Third Reich’s network of camps where millions of Jews died to a rocket scientist who helped develop the V-2 rocket that Nazi Germany used to attack London.   Continue reading “It’s law now: ‘No Social Security for Nazis’”

RT

Despite, or because of, the fallout from the 2007 Great Recession, annual earnings between the richest Americans and everybody else have exploded to record levels. Meanwhile middle- and lower-class wealth growth remains stagnant.

The median wealth for high-income families hit $639,400 last year, a whopping 7 percent jump from three years earlier and seven times greater than middle-class incomes, which stood at $96,500 according to Pew Research Center, citing data from the Federal Reserve.   Continue reading “America’s wealthiest families smash income ceiling, middle-class left far behind”

RT

Britain’s oil industry is in a “crisis” and may be “close to collapse,” a senior oil industry expert has said, as the UK’s biggest oil and gas companies continue to cut staff and investment and the price of crude slumps.

Speaking to the BBC, Robin Allan, chairman of the independent explorers’ association Brindex, echoed warnings made by other figures in the oil industry in the past month, saying that no new projects in the North Sea would be profitable while oil is being traded at below $60 a barrel.   Continue reading “UK oil industry ‘close to collapse’ as price plunges below $60 per barrel”

Mail.com

BOSTON (AP) — Mold and bacteria were in the air and on workers’ gloved fingertips. Pharmacists used expired ingredients, didn’t properly sterilize them and failed to test drugs for purity before sending them to hospitals and pain clinics. Employees falsified logs to make it look as if the so-called clean rooms had been disinfected.

Federal prosecutors leveled those allegations in bringing charges Wednesday against 14 former owners or employees of a Massachusetts pharmacy in connection with a nationwide meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people.   Continue reading “14 charged in deadly 2012 meningitis outbreak”

Mail.com

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Just days before he shot to death a 17-year-old German exchange student, Markus Kaarma told hair stylists he had been waiting up to shoot some kids who were burglarizing homes.

He told them they would see it on the news. Kaarma hoped to bait an intruder by leaving his garage door partially open and placing a purse inside, prosecutors said. And when he did, a motion detector alerted him early April 27. Kaarma took a shotgun outside and almost immediately fired four blasts into the garage. Diren Dede, unarmed, was hit twice. He died after the final shot hit him in the head.   Continue reading “‘Stand your ground’ defense fails in Montana murder trial”

Mail.com

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev returned to court Thursday for the first time since he was arraigned in July 2013, and he received a shout of encouragement from the mother-in-law of a man who was shot and killed while being questioned by law enforcement after the bombings.

Security was tight at the federal courthouse in Boston for the final pretrial conference before Tsarnaev’s trial begins next month. The judge made no rulings, saying he would rule in writing on pending motions, including the defense’s latest push to move the trial.   Continue reading “Tsarnaev appears in court for 1st time since 2013”

NJ.com – by Anthony G. Attrino

PERTH AMBOY – Police Chief Ben Ruiz has been charged with theft and suspended without pay for using a police department mechanic to fix vehicles belonging to himself and a friend, according to Middlesex Prosecutor Andrew Carey.

Ruiz, 53, of Perth Amboy, was charged with one count of theft of services for authorizing the repairs on various occasions between Dec. 8, 2013, and July 29, 2014, the prosecutor said.   Continue reading “Perth Amboy police chief charged with theft, suspended without pay”

Mail.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Motorists at the nation’s busiest border crossing were accustomed to waiting hours while vendors paraded between lanes with everything from sliced papaya and hot oatmeal to sombreros and ceramic mugs. Now, thanks to a $741 million construction project, they may not have enough time to lower their windows and order a cappuccino.

Waits to enter San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico, during the morning rush have dropped to less than 45 minutes from two hours since vehicle lanes were added in September. It can be less than 10 minutes during lulls, compared to a few months ago when waits topped four hours on busy weekends.   Continue reading “Upgrades at US border crossing thrill commuters”

Mail.com

DENVER (AP) — The discovery that a Cleveland officer who shot and killed a 12-year-old boy last month had washed out at another police force highlights what some experts call an unnerving truth about policing: Departments don’t always dig deeply enough into recruits’ pasts.

Cleveland police officials didn’t learn until after the Nov. 22 shooting that Officer Timothy Loehmann’s former supervisors at a suburban department noted in his personnel file his “dismal” handgun performance and emotional immaturity. The file shows a deputy chief recommended firing him, but he resigned first.   Continue reading “Expert: Killing shows strict police vetting needed”

RT

No end seems to be in sight for the plight of the Russian ruble, which slumped to new record lows against hard currencies Tuesday. The EUR traded at 93.5 against the ruble, and the USD at 75.

The Russian stock market also went haywire, dropping more than 15 percent as of 2:30pm Moscow time, after it dropped 11 percent the day before. Sberbank, the country’s largest lender, lost 17.77 percent, and VTB, the second biggest bank, fell by 14.29 percent. State-owned oil and gas companies Gazprom, Rosneft, and Surgut also saw shares plummet.    Continue reading “Ruble plummets losing more than 20% in a day, hitting new dollar and euro lows”

Mail.com

SYDNEY (AP) — He wrote letters to grieving families of Australian troops killed in Afghanistan that likened them to “Hitler’s soldiers.” He was accused of being an accomplice in the murder of his ex-wife, who was stabbed and set on fire.

But the social media postings of 50-year-old Man Haron Monis, the man who was killed Tuesday in a police operation to rescue the people he was holding hostage in a Sydney cafe, indicate he thought of himself as something of a martyr. The self-styled Muslim cleric, who came to Australia as a refugee from Iran, complained of being tortured in prison for his political beliefs and said he was fighting for Islam and peace.   Continue reading “‘Deluded’ hostage-taker saw himself as a martyr”

Mail.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — With tensions running high over the killings of blacks by police, departments around the country are changing policies and procedures to curb the use of deadly force, ease public distrust and protect officers from retaliation.

New York City plans to issue stun guns to hundreds more officers. The Milwaukee department is making crisis-intervention training mandatory. And in Akron, Ohio, police have begun working in pairs on all shifts for their own safety.   Continue reading “Police altering tactics after killings, protests”

RT

A gunman suspected of killing at least five people at three separate locations in Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County has barricaded himself inside a home in Souderton. A SWAT team is on the scene.

The first shooting was reported at 3:55 a.m. Monday in Lower Salford Township, about 45 minutes northwest of Philadelphia. Police found a woman shot to death at the location, WPVI reported. Forensics investigators from Montgomery County could be seen investigating a unit there, and two bullet holes were visible, according to WCAU.   Continue reading “Five killed in Pennsylvania shootings, suspect in standoff with SWAT”

Mail.com

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Long depicted as the rootin’-tootin’ capital of American gun culture, Texas is one of the few states with an outright ban on the open carry of handguns.

That could change in 2015, with the Republican-dominated Legislature and Gov.-elect Greg Abbott expected to push for expanded gun rights. “If open carry is good enough for Massachusetts, it’s good enough for the state of Texas,” Abbott said the day after his election last month.   Continue reading “Texas weighs allowing open carry of handguns”

Mail.com

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As soon as Mark Kim found out his personal information was compromised in a data breach at Target last year, the 36-year-old tech worker signed up for the retailer’s free credit monitoring offer so he would be notified if someone used his identity to commit fraud.

Someone did. The first monitoring report showed crooks opened accounts in his name at Macy’s and Kohl’s department stores, where they racked up more than $7,000 in charges. “My heart basically sank,” he said. Over the next seven months the New York City resident spent hours on the phone, most of a day in a police station filing a report, and countless time sending documents to banks and credit reporting agencies to clear his credit history.   Continue reading “Identity theft victims face months of hassle”

Mail.com

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea on Sunday presented to the media an American man who says he illegally crossed into the country but has not been put into custody and is seeking asylum in Venezuela.

Arturo Pierre Martinez, 29, of El Paso, Texas, said he entered North Korea by crossing the river border with China. Details of how and when he got into the country were not immediately clear. In his comments to reporters, Martinez strongly criticized the U.S. for alleged human rights violations.   Continue reading “US man illegally in NKorea says he’s not detained”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — One colleague called the tactics of tea party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz on the $1.1 trillion spending bill a painful echo of last year’s 16-day partial government shutdown.

Another senator said it was a strategy without an end game. And that sniping came from Cruz’s fellow Republicans. The 43-year-old Texas freshman in a political hurry — he’s considering a 2016 presidential run — infuriated several GOP colleagues with a last-minute attempt to force a vote on President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.   Continue reading “Ted Cruz’s moves on spending bill roil Republicans”