Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) — The parents of a 6-year-old girl who disappeared from her Washington home and wasn’t reported missing for a day have agreed to take lie detector tests and allow a search of the home, a sheriff’s spokesman said Monday.

Both the home search and lie detector tests were in progress late Monday, Kitsap County Deputy Scott Wilson said. He said he doubted he would be able to discuss results. State child welfare workers removed two other children, an 8-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl, from the home earlier Monday.   Continue reading “Missing girl’s parents agree to lie detector test”

Mail.com

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A child crying on the television show “Game of Thrones” jogged a foster parent’s memory that he had left a 10-month-old girl inside a sweltering car while he and his partner smoked marijuana at their house, a police affidavit released Monday says.

Seth Jackson, 29, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 24 death in Wichita. No charges have been filed against his partner. Police say the girl was inside the car with the windows up for more than two hours. It was around 90 degrees outside. An autopsy showed she died of hyperthermia due to heat exposure.   Continue reading “Police: TV show reminded man that girl was in car”

RT

The turmoil gripping the Middle East is a direct result of the provision of cash, weapons and surveillance to Israel by the US, the latest Snowden leak illustrates. Obama’s “helpless detachment” is just for show, the Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald writes.

In a bold examination, the former Guardian journalist reveals the amazing contrast between what the United States says publicly, and what it does behind the curtain. This involves President Barack Obama’s apparent heartbreak over the Middle Eastern region, as well as the American love for publicly listing Israel as a threat to regional peace at a time when billions of dollars’ worth of its weaponry and intelligence were being supplied to the Jewish state since the 1960s.   Continue reading “Obama’s ‘helplessness’ an act: Snowden reveals scale of US aid to Israel”

RT

Israeli agents were eavesdropping on US Secretary of State John Kerry as he was mediating last year’s futile Middle East peace talks, German magazine Der Spiegel has revealed.

Kerry made reviving diplomatic ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority after a three-year freeze a central priority in the early months of his term as secretary of state. In June 2013, direct talks started, only to collapse completely months later, as the differences overwhelmed whatever desire for an agreement the parties had brought to the negotiations table.   Continue reading “​Israel wiretapped Kerry’s calls during peace talks – report”

RT

In the latest step by Washington to increase the pressure on Russia’s border with Ukraine, the Obama administration has informed Congress that the US will train and arm the Ukrainian National Guard next year, the Pentagon said.

“The Defense Department and State Department have notified Congress of our intent to use $19 million in global security contingency fund authority to train and equip four companies and one tactical headquarters of the Ukrainian National Guard as part of their efforts to build their capacity for internal defense,” Reuters quoted Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby as saying Friday.   Continue reading “California and Ukraine National Guard gear up for military collaboration in 2015”

RT

In the latest battles with Kurdish militia, the extremist Islamic State has captured three towns and an oil field in a major land grab in northern Iraq.

The former branch of Al-Qaeda, which gained worldwide notoriety in June after conducting a lighting offensive crushing the US-trained Iraqi troops, has been trying to enlarge its territory in northern Iraq and consolidate their control.   Continue reading “Islamic State jihadists seize Iraq’s largest dam, 3 towns in offensive vs Kurds”

RT

The UN chief has called a new Israeli airstrike on a Gaza UN school that killed 10 and injured 35 a “moral outrage and a criminal act.” Ban Ki-moon called for investigation as official death toll keeps rising.

“This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable. It is a moral outrage and a criminal act,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman said in a statement.   Continue reading “‘Criminal act’: Ban Ki-moon outraged over Israel’s deadly strike on Gaza UN school”

Mail.com

BEIJING (AP) — A strong earthquake in southern China’s Yunnan province toppled thousands of homes on Sunday, killing at least 367 people and injuring more than 1,800.

About 12,000 homes collapsed in Ludian, a densely populated county located around 366 kilometers (277 miles) northeast of Yunnan’s capital, Kunming, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. The magnitude-6.1 quake struck at 4:30 p.m. at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Its epicenter was in Longtoushan township, 23 kilometers (14 miles) southwest of the city of Zhaotong, the Ludian county seat.   Continue reading “Strong quake kills at least 150 in southern China”

Mail.com

CHICAGO (AP) — John Trinca couldn’t remember the name of the soldier who died right next to him minutes after they met during World War II, and all Thomas Bateman Jr. knew of his father’s death was that it happened in 1945 in the Philippines.

The two will meet for the first time Sunday thanks largely to Tom McAvoy, who made good on a quest to return a lost war medal he found as a child in Chicago that only had the recipient’s engraved name as a clue: Thomas Bateman.   Continue reading “Slain soldier’s son to get lost medal, answers”

Mail.com

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Toxins possibly from algae on Lake Erie fouled the water supply of the state’s fourth-largest city Saturday, forcing officials to issue warnings not to drink the water and the governor to declare a state of emergency as worried residents descended on stores, quickly clearing shelves of bottled water.

“It looked like Black Friday,” said Aundrea Simmons, who stood in a line of about 50 people at a pharmacy before buying four cases of water. “I have children and elderly parents. They take their medication with water.”   Continue reading “Ohio’s 4th-largest city: Don’t drink the water”

RT

A lawsuit is challenging a little-known program that allows the Department of Homeland Security to block citizenship and green card applications for security reasons. The plaintiffs say they fell victim to profiling against Muslims.

The five long-time US residents are all either practicing Muslims or come from Muslim-majority countries. Two of them are Iranians, two others are Palestinian nationals and one is a refugee from Somalia.   Continue reading “Muslims sue federal govt for stonewalling citizenship requests”

RT

President Barack Obama made a rare acknowledgment during a Friday press briefing concerning the United States’ past use of enhanced interrogation tactics in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did things that were contrary to our values,” Pres. Obama said near the end of a nearly hour-long press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC.   Continue reading “Obama on CIA’s post-9/11 tactics: ‘We tortured some folks’”

RT

The European Union has “quietly” agreed to lift restrictions supplying Kiev with military technology and equipment which can be used for the “repression” in the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“During a recent meeting of the Council of Europe in Brussels, leaders of EU member states agreed ‘on the quiet’ to remove restrictions on exports to Kiev of equipment that could be used for internal repression,” the ministry said in a statement on its website. “Exports of military technologies and equipment were also allowed.”   Continue reading “EU ‘quietly’ lifts ban on supplying Kiev with weapons and technology – Russia”

Mail.com

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — One of two preteens accused of stabbing a classmate 19 times to please a fictional horror character was ordered Friday to receive treatment rather than stand trial, based on doctors’ testimony that she claims to see and have conversations with things others cannot — including unicorns and a Harry Potter villain.

Judge Michael Bohren ordered the 12-year-old girl evaluated and treated either in a hospital or in a juvenile detention center, where she currently is being held. Doctors have a year to get the girl to a point where she can help with her defense and go to trial. If they can’t, she could be held at a treatment center.   Continue reading “Doctors: Stabbing suspect sees fictional beings”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans passed legislation late Friday to address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border by sending migrant youths back home without hearings, winning over conservatives with a companion bill that could lead to deporting more than half a million immigrants whom the Obama administration granted temporary work permits. President Barack Obama condemned the Republican action and said he’d act unilaterally, as best he could.   Continue reading “House OKs bill to address border crisis”

RT

NASA has conducted long-awaited experiments to prove that the fabled space drive, capable of generating its own thrust and breaking a fundamental law of physics, works. If the find survives fresh scrutiny, space ship construction will be revolutionized.

The drive’s creator, British scientist Roger Shawyer, has been facing criticism since his 2006 claims, based on the premise that thrust can be created without huge thrusters, instead using electricity to direct microwaves inside a special container.   Continue reading “‘Impossible’ space drive tested by NASA foretells future of deep-space travel”

RT

Satellite images Kiev published as ‘proof’ it didn’t deploy anti-aircraft batteries around the MH17 crash site carry altered time-stamps and are from days after the MH17 tragedy, the Russian Defense Ministry has revealed.

The images, which Kiev claims were taken by its satellites at the same time as those taken by Russian satellites, are neither Ukrainian nor authentic, according to Moscow’s statement.   Continue reading “‘Wrong time, altered images’: Moscow slams Kiev’s MH17 satellite data”

RT

A freak accident involving 60,000 bees took place when a man in dire need of medical attention accidentally crashed into an empty house where the insects had built a giant hive, releasing them. The enraged bees took over the neighborhood instantly.

Patrick Lee Muirhead, 54, was driving his car along a Siginaw County road in Michigan at about 3:30PM when he failed to take a turn and crashed into a vacant house, the impact killing him as a result.   Continue reading “Dying man crashes into house, releasing 60,000 raging bees”