Author: Sunfire

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Brittany Maynard’s mother is responding angrily to criticism from the Vatican of Maynard’s decision to end her life early under an Oregon law written to let terminally ill patients die on their own terms.

Days after Maynard’s Nov. 1 death at age 29, the Vatican’s top bioethics official called her choice “reprehensible” and said physician-assisted suicide should be condemned. Maynard’s mother, Debbie Ziegler, issued a sharp written response Tuesday. She said the comments from Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, came as the family was grieving and were “more than a slap in the face.”   Continue reading “Right-to-die advocate’s mom blasts Vatican remarks”

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CHICAGO (AP) — A small twin-engine cargo plane crashed into a home on Chicago’s southwest side Tuesday, killing the pilot but sparing a couple who were asleep just inches away.

The Aero Commander 500-B slammed nose-down into the front of the home around 2:40 a.m., punching through the ground floor into the basement and leaving about a third of the aircraft, including the tail, sticking straight out of the red-brick home.   Continue reading “Small plane crashes into Chicago home”

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BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police issued arrest warrants Tuesday for two Americans who attempted to mail a preserved baby’s head, foot and other human body parts to the United States, saying the objects were stolen from a Thai medical museum.

The bizarre case has quickly gained international attention, with Thai police asking Cambodian authorities to help locate the men, who traveled to the neighboring country on Sunday, and the FBI helping with the investigation in the United States.   Continue reading “Stolen body parts: Warrants issued for 2 Americans”

RT

The National Republican Congressional Committee used secret codes over Twitter to share polling data with third-party organizations, an investigation shows, possibly violating election laws forbidding third-party groups from coordinating with campaigns.

Using techniques normally associated with secret agents, an investigation by CNN showed the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) shared polling data with Super Political Action Committees (Super PACs) by using dead drops and cypher codes.   Continue reading “Republicans, third parties possibly violated election laws by sharing data on Twitter”

RT

The wealth gap is widening in the United States, but it’s not just the middle class and poor that are struggling. It turns out the rich are having a hard time keeping up with the changing luxury landscape, and the super-rich are to blame.

Of course, the rich aren’t exactly struggling in today’s economy. However, the rate at which profits have recovered for the upper echelons of the wealthy since the 2008 financial crisis has been extraordinary, especially compared to the buying power of those below them.   Continue reading “Rich being left behind – by super-rich”

RT

Almost 18,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks in 2013, a 61 percent increase from the 2012. Four terrorist groups, the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Boko Haram were responsible for two thirds of all such deaths around the globe.

Almost 18,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks in 2013, a 61 percent increase from the 2012. Four terrorist groups, the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Boko Haram were responsible for two thirds of all such deaths around the globe.   Continue reading “Global terrorism on rise: Fivefold increase in terror-related deaths since 2000”

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JERUSALEM (AP) — It has been a difficult year for Israelis and Palestinians, with the failure of peace talks and a string of violent incidents that shows no signs of ending. Here is a look at some key recent events:

April 24: Nine months of U.S.-mediated peace talks collapse. May 15: Two Palestinian teens killed in a West Bank clash with Israeli troops on the day that Palestinians mark their uprooting during the Mideast war over Israel’s 1948 creation.   Continue reading “Chronology of Israeli-Palestinian violence”

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Palestinians stormed a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, attacking worshippers with meat cleavers and a gun during morning prayers and killing four people before they were killed in a shootout with police, officials said.

The attack, the deadliest in Jerusalem in years, is bound to ratchet up fears of sustained violence in the city, already on edge amid soaring tensions over a contested holy site. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will “respond harshly,” describing the attack as a “cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke to Netanyahu after the assault and denounced it as an “act of pure terror and senseless brutality and violence.”   Continue reading “4 Israelis killed in Jerusalem synagogue attack”

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The largest solar power plant of its type in the world — once promoted as a turning point in green energy — isn’t producing as much energy as planned.

One of the reasons is as basic as it gets: The sun isn’t shining as much as expected. Sprawling across roughly 5 square miles of federal desert near the California-Nevada border, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System opened in February, with operators saying it would produce enough electricity to power a city of 140,000 homes.   Continue reading “Huge solar plant lags in early production”

RT

The Russian space agency is reportedly considering construction of a high-altitude orbital station starting from 2017. This means that Moscow may walk away from the ISS after 2020, when its obligations under the current project are fulfilled.

Kommersant newspaper reported that the manned space exploration program for the period until 2050 implies step-by-step assembly of a new scientific space station, citing its sources in Central Research Institute for Engineering Technology, Roscosmos space agency’s leading space scientific and research enterprise.   Continue reading “Out of ISS: Russia going solo with space station?”

RT

In the United States, one child in every 30 – or 2.5 million children – was homeless in 2013, marking an all-time high, according to a new comprehensive report that blames the country’s high poverty rate and lack of affordable housing, among other causes.

The report, ‘America’s Youngest Outcasts,’ released by the National Center on Family Homelessness was prepared using the “most recent federal data that comprehensively counts homeless children, using more than 30 variables from over a dozen established data sets.”   Continue reading “US child homelessness at all-time high”

RT

Thailand’s police forces are looking for two Americans, who attempted to post the body parts of a baby to the US from Bangkok, via the city’s DHL depot. A baby’s head, at least one foot, and some folds of skin were discovered during routine scans.

Bang Phongphang police were summoned to the DHL service center after its X-ray screening program revealed the attempt to deliver the body parts to the US. Alongside infant body parts, there was an adult heart with a stab injury   Continue reading “2 US men on the run after attempt to post body parts from Bangkok”

RT

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has called the US president a ‘lame duck.’ Commenting on the recent G20 summit in Australia, Gorbachev said he was disappointed in Obama and that he ‘thought better’ of the American leader.

“Obama is a lame duck. One must not finish the job in such a mediocre way. He just decided to throw accusations around. He will be of no avail any more, unfortunately. I’ve thought better of him,” the former leader of the USSR told Rusnovosti radio.   Continue reading “‘Obama is a lame duck’: Gorbachev comments after G20”

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POULSBO, Wash. (AP) — Just hours into the experiment, the prognosis was grim for salmon that had been submerged in rain runoff collected from one of Seattle’s busiest highways. One by one, the fish were removed from a tank filled with coffee-colored water and inspected: They were rigid. Their typically red gills were gray.

“He’s way dead,” David Baldwin, a research zoologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, declared at the four-hour mark. This was the fate of coho salmon exposed to the everyday toxic brew of dirt, metals, oil and other gunk that washes off highway pavement after rains and directly into Puget Sound.   Continue reading “Death by dirty water: Storm runoff a risk for fish”

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A cruise ship docked in California on Sunday after 172 people on board fell ill with the highly contagious norovirus during a nearly monthlong trip, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Some of the more than 4,100 people aboard the Crown Princess began to show signs of the gastrointestinal sickness a few days into the voyage from Los Angeles to Hawaii to Tahiti. The ill passengers and crew members were treated on the ship.   Continue reading “CDC: 172 people on cruise fell ill with norovirus”

RT

The federal government has been approving a high number of operations in which agents pose as activists and business people, a new report says. It has led to absurd situations, with undercover agents from different departments investigating each other.

At least 40 government agencies use undercover operatives in the US, with agents pretending to be business people, protesters, doctors, accountants, and welfare recipients, among other things, in order to monitor illegal activity. The information was printed in The New York Times, which cited records and interviews.   Continue reading “Always watching: Undercover feds surge in numbers, infiltrate protests – report”

RT

Teachers and students at a Florida middle school got the shock of their lives as an unannounced ‘lockdown active shooter drill’ sparked panic as police burst into classrooms with weapons drawn, drawing sharp criticism from the community.

Students at Jewett Middle Academy in Winter Haven, Florida, spoke of the terror they experienced as police officers carried out their ‘active shooter drill’ inside classrooms – without informing teachers ahead of time about the exercise.   Continue reading “Cops burst into school, weapons drawn, in surprise ‘active shooter drill’”

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BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Under pressure to jolt the lethargic world economy back to life, leaders of G-20 nations on Sunday finalized a plan to boost global GDP by more than $2 trillion over five years. The fanfare, however, was overshadowed by tensions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Western leaders.

The communique from the Brisbane summit of Group of 20 wealthy and emerging nations revealed that the plan for jumpstarting growth includes investing in infrastructure, increasing trade and the creation of a global infrastructure hub that would help match potential investors with projects.   Continue reading “G-20 leaders agree on $2 trillion boost to growth”

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LA PORTE, Texas (AP) — Four workers were killed and one was injured Saturday during a hazardous chemical leak at a DuPont industrial plant in suburban Houston, company officials said.

The chemical, methyl mercaptan, began leaking from a valve around 4 a.m. in a unit at the plant in La Porte, about 20 miles east of Houston. Plant officials said the release was contained by 6 a.m. Methyl mercaptan was used at the plant to create crop-protection products such as insecticides and fungicides, according to DuPont. The cause of the leak was not immediately known.   Continue reading “4 workers die after chemical leak at Texas plant”

RT

The Missouri chapter of the Ku Klux Klan is threatening to use “lethal force” against protesters in Ferguson who threaten their safety, equating some demonstrators to “terrorists.”

Frank Ancona, leader of the KKK’s Missouri operations, has been distributing fliers in the metropolitan St. Louis area warning protesters in Ferguson that those who have threatened police officers and their families will be met with violence themselves.   Continue reading “Missouri KKK: We will use ‘lethal force’ against Ferguson protesters”