Author: Sunfire

RT

A sustained cyberattack that lasted almost two weeks was detected on the computer network used by officials of the Executive Office of the President, a White House official said.

The official said Tuesday that, while the cyber attack was detected, measures have been taken to address the activity on the Executive Office of the President’s (EOP) unclassified computer network. Officials have not disclosed who might be responsible for the attack, Reuters reported.    Continue reading “White House computer network hit by sustained cyberattack”

Mail.com

DENVER (AP) — One of three suburban Denver girls who authorities say tried to join Islamic State militants in Syria was confused about what her role would be if she had actually made it there, the girl’s father said Tuesday.

“She told me they were going to get there and somebody is going to contact them,” said the father of a 16-year-old Sudanese girl, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he is concerned for the girls’ safety. “I ask her, ‘Who’s that person?’ She actually didn’t have a clear idea about what’s going on. They’re just like, you know, stupid little girls. They just want to do something, and they do it.”   Continue reading “Girls accused of trying to join jihadis confused”

Mail.com

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court late Tuesday halted the execution of a Missouri man who killed a woman and her two children, citing concerns that his legal counsel was ineffective.

Mark Christeson, 35, was scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre before the late stay of execution was issued. Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Mike O’Connell said it wasn’t clear what will happen next for Christeson.   Continue reading “US Supreme Court stays Missouri inmate’s execution”

Mail.com

PAHOA, Hawaii (AP) — Jeff and Denise Lagrimas’ single-story home is just across the street from properties where lava from Kilauea volcano is expected to slither past on its way to the ocean.

But they’re moving to another town 14 miles away before they’re able to find out whether this forecast comes true or whether the molten rock oozes into their home instead. “I don’t want to stick around and just wait for it to come and take it,” Denise Lagrimas said while taking a break from loading kitchen cups and bowls in cardboard boxes. “You just never know.”    Continue reading “Hawaii residents leave homes as lava flow nears”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida is using U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria as a reason to extend olive branches to the renegade Islamic State group, saying the two should stop feuding and join forces to attack Western targets — a reunification that intelligence analysts say would allow al-Qaida to capitalize on the younger group’s ruthless advance across the region.

Analysts are closely watching al-Qaida’s repeated overtures, and while a full reconciliation is not expected soon — if ever — there is evidence the two groups have curtailed their infighting and are cooperating on the Syrian battlefield, according to activists on the ground, U.S. officials and experts who monitor jihadi messages.   Continue reading “Analysts: Al-Qaida still offers olive branch to IS”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — A sleep-deprived engineer nodded off at the controls of a commuter train just before taking a 30 mph curve at 82 mph, causing a derailment last year that killed four people and injured more than 70, federal regulators said Tuesday.

William Rockefeller’s sleepiness was due to a combination of an undiagnosed disorder — sleep apnea — and a drastic shift in his work schedule, the National Transportation Safety Board said. It said the railroad lacked a policy to screen engineers for sleep disorders, which also contributed to the Dec. 1 crash. And it said a system that would have applied the brakes automatically would have prevented the crash.   Continue reading “Feds: Engineer’s sleepiness caused derailment”

RT

The Internal Revenue Service has been seizing bank accounts belonging to small businesses and individuals who regularly made deposits of less than $10,000, but broke no laws. And the government is refusing to return all the money taken.

The practice ‒ called civil asset forfeiture ‒ allows IRS agents to seize property they suspect of being tied to a crime, even if no charges are filed, and their agency is allowed to keep a share of whatever is forfeited, the New York Times reported. It’s designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking cash deposits under $10,000, which is the threshold for when banks are federally required to report activity to the IRS under the Bank Secrecy Act.   Continue reading “IRS seizes hundreds of perfectly legal bank accounts, refuses to give money back”

RT

Australia is the first country to temporarily close its borders to people traveling from West African states battling against the Ebola epidemic. The move comes despite the fact the Ebola-free country has not sent aid workers to any afflicted regions.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison told parliament on Monday, Australia has issued a blanket visa ban for those traveling from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

“This means we are not processing any applications from these affected countries,” Morrison said.   Continue reading “Australia slammed for closing borders to Ebola-struck W. African states”

Mail.com

HAHNVILLE, La. (AP) — Off a narrow gravel road running between a handful of mostly abandoned lots near a Mississippi River levee, down past sprawling oak trees and thick weeds, a lectern framed by banana trees has been set up in front of three short rows of folding chairs.

This is about as far from Washington, D.C., as a politician can get, but Edwin Edwards is happy to speak here, standing patiently in the damp, sub-tropical heat in the town of Hahnville for even a few potential voters to show up.   Continue reading “Ex-gov, ex-con Edwin Edwards on the stump again”

Mail.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man accused of killing two sheriff’s deputies and wounding two other people in a bloody chase through Northern California was arrested nearly a decade ago in Utah, but authorities didn’t connect him with his criminal past or previous deportations.

The man known as Marcelo Marquez and his wife were scheduled to make their first court appearances on Tuesday in a Sacramento County courtroom. Prosecutors in that county and neighboring Placer County were trying to sort out what charges to file after Friday’s rampage and said they would announce the counts.   Continue reading “Suspect in deputy deaths arrested in Utah in 2003”

Mail.com

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The first body found in three months was being recovered Tuesday from the sunken South Korean ferry, increasing the official death toll to 295, officials said.

The government task force said in a statement the body was found around a women’s toilet in the ship. The badly decayed body was being pulled up to the surface and DNA tests were planned to identify the victim, according to task force officials.   Continue reading “Victim’s body found from sunken South Korean ferry”

Mail.com

ATLANTA (AP) — A Dallas nurse who flew from Texas to Ohio and back before being diagnosed with Ebola will be released from an Atlanta hospital Tuesday after tests showed she’s virus-free, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Amber Vinson, 29, would be leaving Emory University Hospital after attending a 1 p.m. news conference where she would make a statement, Emory spokeswoman Holly Korschun told The Associated Press. Vinson worked as a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas and cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died of Ebola at the hospital on Oct. 8.   Continue reading “Nurse who had Ebola will be released from hospital”

RT

A tasty drink may give a typical 60-year-old the memory as of a person 20 to 30 years younger. A US study has revealed that cocoa contains bioactive ingredients that reverse age-related memory decline.

Scientists at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) published the results of a dietary experiment, based on the effects of flavanols, extracted from cocoa beans, on the aging human brain in the journal Nature Neuroscience on Sunday.   Continue reading “Cup of cocoa a day keeps memory loss away – scientists”

RT

The United States spends on space programs – both civilian and defense-related – more than every other country combined, even though the NASA budget, which is a part of the program, has not grown in the recent years.

Last year the US spent about $40 billion on its space program, as China’s space budget, which is the second largest in the world, was about $11 billion in 2013; the next, Russia’s, was roughly $8.6 billion; and India’s, the fourth largest, was about $4.3 billion, says a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).   Continue reading “$40 billion: US space budget still exceeds rest of world’s combined”

Mail.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamonte was living in the United States illegally. He had been convicted in Arizona for selling drugs and he had been deported to Mexico twice.

His background would have almost certainly flagged him to be expelled from the country again. But he appeared to be living quietly with his wife in a suburb of Salt Lake City until being arrested Friday, accused of going on a shooting rampage in Northern California that left two sheriff’s deputies dead and a motorist seriously wounded.   Continue reading “Suspect in police killings had multiple identities”

NJ.com

EDISON  — Four Edison police officers have been indicted on charges that they conspired to retaliate against an officer from another department because he arrested one of the Edison officer’s relatives for drunken driving.

The indictment recently handed up by a Middlesex County grand jury alleges that in early 2012, the four Edison officers improperly accessed information about a North Brunswick officer and performed surveillance on him and his travel habits. But prosecutors say no actual retaliation occurred.   Continue reading “Indictment: 4 N.J. cops allegedly planned retaliation”

Mail.com

MARYSVILLE, Wash. (AP) — A 14-year-old girl who was wounded when a student opened fire inside a Washington state high school has died, raising the death toll in the shooting to three, including the gunman.

Gia Soriano died Sunday night, more than two days after she was shot, officials at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett said. “We are devastated by this senseless tragedy,” her family said in a statement, read at a news conference by Dr. Joanne Roberts. “Gia is our beautiful daughter, and words cannot express how much we will miss her.”   Continue reading “Third student dies in Washington school shooting”

RT

Dozens of armed demonstrators have marched through the downtown St. Louis to confirm their right to carry firearms openly in public. Only some 10 policemen watched the march without much interest, even after the group met counter protesters.

A heavily armed crowd of over 40 people marched on Saturday afternoon from the Citygarden to the Gateway Arch, openly displaying their arsenal. A group of some 10 police officers took a note of the gathering, but did not follow or otherwise intervene with the group armed with pistols and rifles, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.   Continue reading “Armed crowd marches through downtown St. Louis”