Author: Sunfire

RT

Swedish Armed forces are ready to use force if they detect any foreign submarine in the waters of the Stockholm Archipelago, the supreme commander general said as the operation in search of the underwater threat entered its fifth day.

“Our aim now is to force whatever it is up to the surface… with armed force, if necessary,” Sverker Göranson said, as cited by the Local.   Continue reading “Sweden ready to use force to surface foreign sub as search continues”

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ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (AP) — The Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib, best known for its infamous prison, sits close enough to Baghdad’s airport that you can see the control tower in the distance. It’s an enticing potential prize for Islamic State militants.

For now, this Sunni-dominated town remains beyond their grip, despite recent reports to the contrary. Markets buzz with shoppers and young women in colorful clothes and headscarves walk freely through the streets.   Continue reading “Tribes in tense Abu Ghraib vow to keep IS out”

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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man detained for nearly half a year in North Korea has landed back home.

A plane carrying Jeffrey Fowle landed Wednesday morning at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, where he had an emotional reunion with his family. Moments after Fowle stepped off a plane at the base just after 6:30 a.m., he was met and hugged by his three children, wife and other relatives.   Continue reading “North Korean detainee lands back home in Ohio”

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GARY, Ind. (AP) — With hindsight, there were signs years ago of increasing violence against women by Darren Vann, who police say has confessed to killing seven women in northwestern Indiana and is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Indiana court records from 2004 describe him grabbing a woman in a chokehold, dousing her with gasoline and threatening to set her on fire. He was sentenced to a year in prison. In 2009, he was convicted in Texas of raping a woman. She told police that when she went to his apartment in Austin he knocked her down and began to strangle her, hit her several times in the face and said he could kill her, court records show. He was released from prison last year, when he moved back to Indiana.   Continue reading “Indiana man was violent long before 7 killings”

RT

The Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed that a popular class of insecticide used to treat soybean seeds provides little or no benefit to the farmers – the pesticide, however, is the prime suspect for the deaths of 30 million honeybees.

The EPA’s Biological and Economic Analysis Division (BEAD) made its conclusion after analyzing 26 published studies on the pesticide-treated soybean seeds and studying yields over a four-year period. They found no difference in soybean yield when using the treated seed, and it did not protect the bean any better than if there was no pest control.   Continue reading “‘Bee killer’ pesticide provides little benefit to farmers – EPA”

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews hurled stones and slashed the tires of buses bearing ads promoting female worship at a key Jerusalem holy site, Israeli police said Tuesday.

The attack, which happened on Monday night in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood, underscores the still simmering tensions in Israel over religious extremists who want to separate the sexes in public spaces.   Continue reading “Ultra-Orthodox Jews attack Jerusalem buses over ad”

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MOSCOW (AP) — Christophe de Margerie, the charismatic CEO of Total SA who dedicated his career to the multinational oil company, was killed at a Moscow airport when his private jet collided with a snowplow whose driver was drunk, Russian investigators said Tuesday.

Three French crew members also died when the French-made Dassault Falcon 50 burst into flames after it hit the snowplow during takeoff from Vnukovo airport at 11:57 p.m. Monday local time. Tatyana Morozova, an official with the Investigative Committee, Russia’s main investigative agency, said investigators are questioning the snowplow driver, who was not hurt, as well as air traffic controllers and witnesses.   Continue reading “Total CEO dead in runway crash; plow driver drunk”

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FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Authorities have brought additional charges against the man accused of abducting an 18-year-old college student in Virginia: the abduction, rape and attempted capital murder of a 26-year-old woman in a Washington, D.C. suburb.

A Circuit Court grand jury in Fairfax County on Monday handed up the new indictment against Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 32, who is already in custody in the case of Hannah Graham, a University of Virginia sophomore who disappeared Sept. 13.   Continue reading “Suspect in Va. abduction charged in DC area rape”

Mail.com

A northeastern Pennsylvania school district closed its schools Tuesday after at least two reported sightings of the suspect in a deadly state police ambush.

Officials in the Pocono Mountain School District announced the decision to cancel classes shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday. In the latest possible sighting, an officer with Pocono Mountain Regional Police reported seeing a man dressed in green in a wooded area near the Swiftwater Post Office around 2 p.m. Monday, leading to an intensive police search but no capture.   Continue reading “Schools closed in ambush suspect search area”

The Tennessean – by Adam Tamburin

Neighbors clustered along the edges of McGavockPike Wednesday, sharing photos and shaking their heads as they peered at the aftermath of a horrific tractor-trailer crash that claimed the life of a woman who was asleep in her bed.

In whispers, they tried to piece together the sequence of events that led an 18-wheeler hauling 40,000 pounds of pumpkins to veer across the two-lane roadway and break through the brick facade of a modest house near the intersection with Kimberly Drive in Donelson. The semi slammed into Carol Boo’s bedroom around 3:30 a.m.   Continue reading “Truck hauling pumpkins crashed into home, killing woman”

RT

Israel is suffering from an epidemic of violence that must be treated, the country’s President Reuven Rivlin said. After the latest bloody conflict in Gaza, Jews and Arabs seem to have lost the capacity for dialogue, as relations have reached a new low.

“It is time to honestly admit that Israeli society is sick – and it is our duty to treat this disease,” Rivlin told the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities at a xenophobia conference on Sunday in Jerusalem.   Continue reading “Israeli society sick with violence – country’s president”

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OLONGAPO, Philippines (AP) — Inside a funeral parlor, a Filipino mother sits and weeps next to a coffin containing the body of her daughter and demands answers. On a hulking American assault ship moored at a nearby port sits a man who might have them — a U.S. Marine authorities suspect in the brutal slaying at a cheap hotel more than a week ago.

“We don’t eat without praying first. We don’t sleep without saying a prayer. Where were you when this happened?” Julita Laude beseeched God. “She had so many dreams and that killer destroyed them all.”   Continue reading “Marine accused in Philippine killing tests US ties”

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Police blocked off roads, sifted through leaves and scoured a rural area where they found remains that could be missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.

It’s not clear how long it will take authorities to identify the remains they discovered over the weekend, about 12 miles from campus. Police let Graham’s parents know about the discovery before they publicly released the information and instead of continuing the search for Graham, they focused Sunday on looking for clues and evidence in a heavily wooded area of Albemarle County that is home to horse farms.   Continue reading “Do remains belong to missing Virginia student?”

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STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s biggest submarine hunt since the dying days of the Soviet Union has put countries around the Baltic Sea on edge.

In a scene reminiscent of the Cold War, Swedish naval ships, helicopters and ground troops combed the Stockholm archipelago for a fourth day Monday for signs of a foreign submarine or smaller underwater craft that officials suspect entered Swedish waters illegally.   Continue reading “Submarine hunt sends Cold War chill across Baltic”

RT

US President Barack Obama insisted that he really has been paying his bills, after his credit card was turned down at a posh New York restaurant. First Lady Michelle was forced to pick up the tab following the hiccup.

Obama revealed the slip-up as he was signing a new anti-fraud order into law on Friday at the Consumers Financial Protection Bureau. The law will make chip and pin technology compulsory on all federal government credit and debit cards, the Huffington Post reported.   Continue reading “Obama’s credit card declined at New York restaurant”

RT

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas warned that his government will seek international “legal measures” to deal with Israeli “aggression” against Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque.

“The Palestinian leadership will be taking the necessary legal measures, at the international level, regarding the aggression of settlers on the Al-Aqsa mosque,” Abbas said in a speech to the Revolutionary Council of his Fatah party, as quoted by AFP. “We will not allow settlers to attack the mosque.”   Continue reading “Abbas warns of legal measures against Israeli ‘aggression’ on Al-Aqsa mosque”

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BEIJING (AP) — The most important meeting of the year for the 205 members of China’s ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee, beginning Monday, will focus on how to rule the country in accordance with law.

That has fed hopes that the party might move to respect the letter and spirit of the constitution, but some legal experts and political analysts say the country’s leaders are intent on expanding power, not limiting it.   Continue reading “Low expectations as China considers legal reforms”

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GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A cruise ship carrying a Dallas health care worker who was being monitored for Ebola returned to port Sunday after an eventful seven-day trip in which passengers had their vacations briefly disrupted with an infectious disease scare.

A lab supervisor who handled a specimen from a Liberian man who died from Ebola in Dallas showed no symptoms during the cruise but self-quarantined out of caution. Carnival Cruise Lines told passengers the unidentified woman was tested for Ebola but the results were negative.   Continue reading “Cruise Ship Docks with Ebola-Watched Health Worker”