Author: Sunfire

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Timothy Geithner, a key player in the U.S. government’s 2008 bailout of American International Group Inc., is due back in court Wednesday in a trial of a lawsuit filed by the insurance giant’s former CEO over the handling of the rescue.

On Tuesday, Geithner affirmed his belief that the bailout was needed to avert disaster for the financial system. Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve at the time of the rescue and later Treasury secretary.   Continue reading “Geithner grilled in court over AIG bailout”

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MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) — Several Syrian human rights groups called on the world to save the embattled Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani from falling into the hands of the Islamic State group as new U.S.-led airstrikes targeted the extremists near the town Wednesday.

The strikes are part of a wave of U.S.-led coalition bombing this week that aims to prevent Islamic State fighters from capturing the town. An activist group said the strikes killed at least 45 militants since late Monday, forcing them to withdraw from parts of Kobani.   Continue reading “Syrian rights groups call on world to save Kobani”

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STOCKHOLM (AP) — An invention that promises to revolutionize the way the world lights its homes and offices — and already helps create the glowing screens of mobile phones, computers and TVs— earned a Nobel Prize on Tuesday for two Japanese scientists and a Japanese-born American.

By inventing a new kind of light-emitting diode, or LED, they overcame a crucial roadblock for creating white light far more efficiently than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. Now LEDs are pervasive and experts say their use will only grow.   Continue reading “LED there be light: 3 share Nobel for blue diode”

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Nearly 250 years ago, Capt. James Cook ran aground on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef during a voyage to the South Pacific to observe the planet Venus. His ship was the Endeavour, an ugly and awkward little vessel that improbably helped him become the first European to chart Australia’s east coast.

Today, schoolchildren in Australia learn about the Endeavour’s historic 1768-71 voyage. But few people give a second thought to what ultimately happened to the ship. A marine archaeologist in Rhode Island thinks she knows.   Continue reading “Australians to help look for historic ship in US”

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MADRID (AP) — Health officials in Spain rushed to contain the Ebola virus Tuesday after it got past Europe’s defenses, quarantining four people at a Madrid hospital where a nursing assistant got infected and persuading a court that the woman’s dog must die.

The first case of Ebola transmitted outside Africa, where a months-long outbreak has killed more than 3,400 people, is raising questions about how prepared wealthier countries really are. Health workers complained Tuesday that they lack the training and equipment to handle the virus, and the all-important tourism industry was showing its anxiety.   Continue reading “Ebola evades European defenses; pet dog must die”

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BOSTON (AP) — School and law enforcement officials in New England say they are dealing with an unusually high number of bomb threats that have forced the cancellation of classes just weeks into the new academic year.

Nearly a dozen schools and colleges in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut have received the threats, forcing evacuations and cancellations in many of the schools this past week. Local school and law enforcement officials say they aren’t sure if they’re dealing with a coordinated effort or a number of copycats. But the sheer number of threats in such a short amount of time is concerning, they say.   Continue reading “New England schools face rash of bomb threats”

RT

The Pentagon’s 1033 Program, which is militarizing state and local police forces with everything from high-powered firearms to armored vehicles, is also giving weapons to officials who have no law enforcement functions.

The practice is leading watchdogs and even some US government officials to question why the US military is so desperate to unload its cache of used military hardware that it is even willing to arm a local coroner, and other state and local officials who have no apparent need for firepower.   Continue reading “Battleground America: US Army surplus even going to coroners as militarization rampant”

RT

Three class-action lawsuits filed Friday claim that agribusiness power Syngenta is to blame for depressed corn exports to China since the seed company released a genetically-engineered variant of the crop before it was approved by Beijing.

At issue is Syngenta’s 2009 release and distribution of its MIR162 genetically-modified corn known as Agrisure Viptera, which is engineered to fend off certain insects known to decimate corn crops. While approved for use in the United States, Chinese regulators have yet to sanction the export of Viptera.   Continue reading “Billion-dollar lawsuits claim GMO corn ‘destroyed’ US exports to China”

RT

English is not the spoken language in a record 20 percent of American homes, a study has found. Arabic and Urdu ‒ Pakistan’s national language ‒ are the fastest-growing languages spoken in US houses, according to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

CIS revealed data parsed from the United States Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey (ACS), which was released last month. The ACS is a mandatory, ongoing statistical survey which the US government uses to give communities the current information they need to plan investments and services, according to the Census Bureau website.   Continue reading “Record 61.8 mn US residents don’t speak English at home”

RT

Three thousand Islamic State fighters have crossed over into Iraq from Syria, the Anbar Provincial Council reports from western Iraq. However, while desperate for outside help other than airstrikes, Kurdish forces are readying for battle.

“We received intelligence information indicating that 3,000 militants of the ISIS group had crossed the borders with Syria and arrived in Anbar through al-Mosul city,” council leader Sabah Karhoot said Monday, IraqiNews reported.   Continue reading “3,000 ISIS fighters reportedly cross into Iraq as Kurdish forces prepare to fight”

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MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) — Islamic State fighters backed by tanks and artillery pushed into an embattled Syrian town on the border with Turkey on Monday, touching off heavy street battles with the town’s Kurdish defenders.

Hours after the militants raised two of their Islamic State group’s black flags on the outskirts of Kobani, the militants punctured the Kurdish front lines and advanced into the town itself, the Local Coordination Committees activist collective and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.   Continue reading “Islamic State wages assault on Syrian border town”

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CHICAGO (AP) — A 19-year-old American left a letter expressing disgust with Western society before trying to board an international flight in Chicago, the first step in his plan to sneak into Syria to join the Islamic State group, according to a federal criminal complaint released Monday.

Mohammed Hamzah Khan, who lived with his parents in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, was arrested Saturday at O’Hare International Airport trying to board a plane on the first leg of connecting flights to Turkey, which borders Syria. He is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group, which carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence.   Continue reading “Feds: Illinois teen sought to join Islamic State”

RT

In yet another move that violates NATO’s historic pledge not to extend the military bloc “one inch further to the east,” NATO’s new secretary-general apparently sees no limitations for the 28-member organization.

In an apparent attempt to take advantage of the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, where a civil war in the east threatens to tear the country apart, new NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg paid a visit to NATO member Poland, where he reiterated calls for a rapid reaction “spearhead” force that could launch a military offensive within days.   Continue reading “‘NATO can deploy wherever it wants’, new chief claims”

RT

US Vice President Joe Biden has made the latest in a series of chastening apologies, after the United Arab Emirates expressed “astonishment” at his Thursday remarks. Biden called US allies “the biggest problem” in fighting terrorism in the Middle East.

Biden called Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Defense Minister Mohammed bin Zayed on Sunday to reaffirm the allies’ shared perspective on terrorism, the official Emirates news agency WAM reported.    Continue reading “Humbled Biden apologizes to UAE after accusing it of terrorism funding”

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ARTESIA, N.M. (AP) — Trailers have been set up for a school at a federal immigration detention center in an isolated New Mexico desert town. A basketball court and a soccer field have been installed. And detainees are pleading their cases over a video link with judges in Denver.

Officials say that the facility, billed as a temporary place to house women and children from Central America who were among a wave of immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally this year, could remain open until next summer.   Continue reading “New Mexico immigration lockup draws criticism”

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana aid worker threatened with beheading by the Islamic State group said in a June letter that he’s afraid to die and is saddened by the pain his captivity must be causing his family, his parents said Sunday.

In a statement released to media, Ed and Paula Kassig said their 26-year-old son, Abdul-Rahman Kassig, thanked them for their strength and commitment. And he appeared to try to prepare them for his death.   Continue reading “Indiana aid worker says in letter is afraid to die”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — People can’t plead ignorance of the law to excuse a violation. The first case of the new Supreme Court term Monday tests whether there’s a double standard when it comes to the police.

A case from North Carolina turns on whether an officer’s mistaken belief about a state law still can justify a traffic stop that led to the discovery of cocaine. The justices are beginning their fifth year together, and Chief Justice John Roberts is at the start of his 10th year at the head of the high court.   Continue reading “High court begins term with case on police actions”

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A longtime endurance runner and peace activist whose latest goal was to reach Bermuda in a homemade floating “Hydro Pod” was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday after he began suffering from fatigue.

Coast Guard air crew were able to safely pick up Reza Baluchi and the bubble Saturday morning, Coast Guard spokeswoman Marilyn Fajardo said in a statement. He was transported to a nearby Coast Guard station and found to be uninjured, Fajardo said.   Continue reading “Man floating in bubble rescued by Coast Guard”