Author: Sunfire

RT

A 33-year-old American man who grew up in Minnesota and then moved to California was killed over the weekend in Syria while battling alongside the militant grew formerly known as ISIS, NBC News reported on Tuesday.

According to the network, Douglas McAuthur McCain was killed over the weekend while fighting with the Islamic State, or IS, against members of a separate opposition group in Syria. Family members confirmed his passing to NBC, and senior administration officials speaking anonymously acknowledged that they were aware of the man’s death.   Continue reading “American, 33, killed while fighting alongside Islamic State militants in Syria”

RT

The release of an autopsy report in Louisiana is raising new questions about the unusual shooting death of a 22-year-old black male who died earlier this year in a police car while his hands were cuffed behind his back.

RT reported earlier this year that police in Iberia Parish, LA said Victor White III died in early March after he fatally shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a squad car. White had reportedly been apprehended for possession of drugs, and was searched no fewer than two times before being cuffed and placed in the backseat of a police vehicle. According to the police report from the time, White uncovered a gun while in the car and shot himself in the back.   Continue reading “Coroner says man fatally shot himself in the chest while handcuffed behind his back”

RT

Close to 200 state and local police departments in the United States have been suspended for losing military-level equipment transferred to them by the Pentagon, a new investigation found.

According to the media outlet Fusion, its independent investigation into the Pentagon’s “1033 program,” which equips state and local police departments across the US with excess military equipment, turned up an alarming trend: Not only did many law enforcement agencies fail to comply with the program’s guidelines, they routinely lost dangerous weaponry.   Continue reading “Dozens of police departments suspended for losing US military-grade weaponry”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Burger King plans to become the latest U.S. company to shift its legal address out of the country by merging with a foreign company. Burger King has announced plans to buy Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain.

Burger King’s operations will stay in Miami. But the corporate headquarters of the new company will be in Canada. The transaction is called a corporate inversion, a maneuver that is becoming popular among companies looking to lower their tax bills.   Continue reading “10 things to know about corporate inversions”

RT

Traveling from Shanghai to San Francisco in under two hours may sound like a fantasy, but China believes it’s figured out how to design an underwater vehicle that can make the idea a reality.

More worryingly, though, is the possibility that the technology will be used to develop even more dangerous weaponry.   Continue reading “Futuristic Chinese ‘supersonic’ sub could reach US shores in under two hours”

RT

The Pentagon was forced to terminate the testing of a hypersonic weapon on Monday only moments after liftoff, creating a setback for a program that the military hopes will someday allow for any target on Earth to be obliterated in under an hour.

Monday morning’s launch of a rocket carrying the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon from a test range in Alaska marked the second time since 2011 that the United States Army has attempted to deploy a missile capable of reaching speeds of Mach 5 or higher — or 3,600 miles-per-hour at a minimum — which, if all goes as planned, “will allow the Department of Defense to engage any target anywhere in the world in less than an hour,” DOD spokesperson Maureen Schumann told the Associated Press.   Continue reading “Hypersonic Advanced Weapon test fails four seconds after launch”

RT

California is seeking funding for a statewide earthquake early-warning system to give residents some prior notice in the case of future temblors. The effort has new urgency following the magnitude-6.0 quake in Napa Valley on Sunday.

State Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla’s law calling for such a warning system was approved by the Legislature last year. The California Office of Emergency Services (OES) is working to finalize a funding plan for the $80 million alert operation by early next year, he told KPCC.   Continue reading “California plans to build quake early-warning system after Napa Valley shaken”

RT

Islamic State militants are holding a third American hostage, a 26-year-old humanitarian worker kidnapped last year in Syria. The jihadist group is demanding a ransom of $6.6 million and the release of a Muslim woman from a US prison.

The kidnapped woman, whose family asked not to be identified, is the third of at least four Americans known to be held by Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS), currently terrorizing large swaths of northern and western Iraq after years fighting in Syria’s civil war.   Continue reading “Islamic State demands $6.6mn ransom for female American hostage”

NJ.com – by James Kleimann

PATERSON — An army veteran and his service dog were asked to leave a Paterson Subway restaurant on Saturday, according to a News 12 report.

An employee told PTSD sufferer Richard Hunter that his service dog Bonner was making customers feel uncomfortable and was not allowed in the restaurant, the report said.   Continue reading “Paterson Subway refused to serve military veteran with service dog, report says”

Mail.com

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Hundreds of travelers on the road to Burning Man in their quest for oneness with nature and celebration of self-expression on a peaceful playa in northern Nevada’s desert didn’t expect to spend their first night in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart or Reno resort casino.

But most were taking it in stride and were largely optimistic — as so-called “Burners” are apt to be — that the gates to the counterculture event would reopen Tuesday after rare rain showers in the Black Rock Desert turned the ancient lake bottom to a muddy quagmire the day before.   Continue reading “Rain delays Burning Man voyagers at Reno Wal-Mart”

RT

The US Senator from Kentucky has warned that if Hillary Clinton, the former US Secretary of State, becomes the next American president, she could get the United States bogged down in yet another conflict in the Middle East.

Following in the footsteps of his Libertarian father, Ron Paul, who spent much of his lengthy political career demanding a more isolationist US foreign policy, Rand Paul told NBC’s Meet the Press that the 2016 presidential election could be “transformational” if a “war hawk” like Hillary Rodham Clinton gets into the Oval Office.   Continue reading “Hillary Clinton is a war hawk – Sen. Rand Paul”

RT

The French government has resigned despite being formed just 4 months ago. They quit after ministers slammed President Francois Hollande’s plans for taxation and cuts, while also being critical of Germany’s austerity program.

The statement published on Monday said the new office would be formed on Tuesday and would be in the “direction he (the president) has defined for our country.”   Continue reading “French goverment resigns amid rancor over German austerity pressure”

RT

Following revelations of America’s National Security Agency’s global internet surveillance system, combined with a desire to enhance domestic production, China is beating a path towards unveiling its own operating systems in October.

The Chinese-made substitutes would first be introduced on desktop devices, later expanding to include smartphones and other hand-held devices, Ni Guangnan heads an official operating system development alliance established in March, Xinhau reported at the weekend.   Continue reading “China may unveil homegrown OS rivals to Windows, Google and Apple”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — While in office, former President George H. W. Bush once plaintively asked, “What is it about August?”

Indeed, this sultry month usually associated with the doldrums of summer has burdened modern presidents with personal, domestic or international crises. And for President Barack Obama, who returned to Washington Sunday from a two-week Martha’s Vineyard vacation, what remains of the August calendar looks perhaps more daunting than when he left.   Continue reading “Obama back in DC amid crises; as if he never left”

Mail.com

CAIRO (AP) — The top Islamic authority in Egypt, revered by many Muslims worldwide, launched an Internet-based campaign Sunday challenging an extremist group in Syria and Iraq by saying it should not be called an “Islamic State.”

The campaign by the Dar el-Ifta, the top authority that advises Muslims on spiritual and life issues, adds to the war of words by Muslim leaders across the world targeting the Islamic State group, which controls wide swaths of Iraq and Syria. Its violent attacks, including mass shootings, destroying Shiite shrines, targeting minorities and beheadings including American journalist James Foley, have shocked Muslims and non-Muslims alike.   Continue reading “Islamic authority: Extremists no ‘Islamic State’”

RT

Iran has shot down an Israeli spy drone trying to penetrate the “nuclear off-limits area” of the Natanz nuclear site, the Revolutionary Guards said on their website.

“The downed aircraft was of the stealth, radar-evasive type and it intended to penetrate the off-limit nuclear area in Natanz… but was targeted by a ground-to-air missile before it managed to enter the area,” Reuters quotes the statement by the Revolutionary Guards.

Iran’s forces fired a missile at the drone as it neared its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, more than 300 kilometers south of Tehran.   Continue reading “Israeli spy drone downed near Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant – Revolutionary Guards”

Mail.com

NAPA, Calif. (AP) — A large earthquake caused significant damage in California’s northern Bay Area early Sunday, sending at least 70 people to a hospital, igniting fires, knocking out power to tens of thousands and sending residents running out of their homes in the darkness.

Vanessa DeGier, spokeswoman for Queen of the Valley hospital in Napa, says the facility has treated more than 70 people, most for cuts, bumps and bruises. She says the facility has treated a hip fracture and heart attack, but it’s unclear if it was related to the 6.0-magnitude earthquake. The hospital has set up a triage tent and many people are still coming in, DeGier said.   Continue reading “Strong California quake causes injuries, damage”

Mail.com

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland lowered its aviation alert level to orange from red Sunday, saying there was no sign of an imminent eruption at the Bardarbunga volcano. And scientists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said their announcement Saturday that the volcano had experienced a subglacial eruption was wrong.

But the office cautioned in a statement that seismic activity at the volcano, which has been hit by thousands of earthquakes over the past week, was not slowing, and an eruption remained a possibility in coming days.   Continue reading “Iceland lowers aviation alert level from volcano”