Author: Sunfire

RT

The Obama administration has announced it is reopening the US Eastern Seaboard to offshore oil and gas exploration, clearing the way for the use of sonic cannons to locate energy deposits – despite the threat to sea life.

The White House is attempting to sell its controversial energy plan on the back of desperately needed jobs in a stagnant economy, as well as reducing its energy dependency. However, those arguments have done little to persuade environmentalists and folks who depend upon fishing and tourism for their livelihoods.    Continue reading “Sonic cannons for E. Coast: Obama approves oil exploration despite ‘threat to sea life’”

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli bulldozers demolished more than a dozen tunnels Saturday in the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian authorities reported intensified airstrikes and shelling as the death toll from Israel’s ground offensive rose to at least 342 Palestinians. Diplomats struggled to revive a cease-fire.

Israeli soldiers uncovered 34 shafts leading into about a dozen underground tunnels, some as deep as 30 meters (yards), that could be used to carry out attacks, the military said. Still, Palestinian gunmen managed to infiltrate Israel from Gaza using another tunnel and killed two Israeli soldiers and injured several others, the military said. At least one Palestinian was killed in the clash. Hamas said 12 of its fighters participated in the attack.   Continue reading “Israelis destroy Hamas tunnels in Gaza Offensive”

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Forensic teams fanned out across the Netherlands on Saturday to collect material that will help positively identify the remains of victims killed in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine. Families and friends of the dead huddled to console one another at churches, schools and sports clubs across the nation.

Altius, a small soccer club on the edge of the central city of Hilversum, was typical of scenes that played out across the Netherlands. A couple of dozen members held a small ceremony at Altius’ clubhouse to remember a family of four killed in the crash, as the team’s flag fluttered at half-staff in the warm afternoon breeze.   Continue reading “DNA being collected to ID Ukraine crash victims”

RT

CNN has pulled correspondent Diana Magnay out of her post covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after the reporter tweeted that Israelis cheering bombs hitting Gaza, and who had allegedly threatened her, were “scum.”

Magnay was “threatened and harassed” before and during her report, a CNN spokeswoman told The Huffington Post, leading to the reporter’s reaction on Twitter.   Continue reading “CNN boots reporter from Israel-Gaza conflict after ‘scum’ tweet”

RT

Shipping giant Federal Express has been indicted for drug trafficking for illegal online pharmacies and conspiracy to traffic controlled substances by the US Department of Justice.

“FedEx knew that it was delivering drugs to dealers and addicts,” said the press release from the US Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California released on Thursday.   Continue reading “FedEx faces trial for drug trafficking”

RT

A disease transmitted by mosquitos has appeared in the US from the Caribbean, with health officials expressing frustration over their inability to control the spread of such pathogens.

American mosquitoes for the first time are spreading the chikungunya (chik-en-GUN-ye) virus that was once confined to the Caribbean and tropical Americas. There is presently no cure for the infection, which causes symptoms similar to dengue fever, including severe joint pain and swelling, muscle aches, headaches and fever.   Continue reading “Exotic mosquito-borne virus makes US premiere, infects 2 in Florida”

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DETROIT (AP) — A young man who participated in a mob attack on a Detroit-area motorist needed a father to “beat the hell” out of him as a kid to discourage him from committing such a crime, a judge said Thursday.

The stunning remarks by Wayne County Judge James Callahan came as he sentenced Latrez Cummings to six months in jail. In response to the judge’s question, Cummings, 19, said his father wasn’t around when he was growing up.   Continue reading “Judge says young Detroit man needed a beating”

What an amazing coincidence!  I guess “crisis acting” is a family act.

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SYDNEY (AP) — In an almost incomprehensible twist of fate, an Australian woman who lost her brother in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 learned on Friday that her stepdaughter was on the plane shot down over Ukraine.

Kaylene Mann’s brother Rod Burrows and sister-in-law Mary Burrows were on board Flight 370 when it vanished in March. On Friday, Mann found out that her stepdaughter, Maree Rizk, was killed along with 297 others on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which U.S. intelligence authorities believe was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.   Continue reading “Woman loses relatives in 2 Malaysia air disasters”

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man who converted his antebellum home into a cluttered, quirky Elvis Presley shrine was found dead Thursday on the front porch, two days after police said he fatally shot a man who forced his way into the museum.

A motorist called police Thursday morning after seeing Paul MacLeod, 71, slumped in a chair outside the shrine known as Graceland Too, said Marshall County Coroner James Richard Anderson. He said there was no blood or trauma to MacLeod’s body.   Continue reading “Owner of offbeat Elvis museum found dead”

RT

Although it’s electronic and cost almost $2 billion dollars to develop, a new automated system for processing immigration forms takes twice as long as filing applications by hand, according to a Department of Homeland Security internal watchdog.

Perhaps the story of the government’s failed $1.7 billion Electronic Immigration System — or ELIS – best sums up the adage, ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same.’   Continue reading “Slower than paperwork: DHS watchdog says billion-dollar electronic immigration system screwed”

RT

A live interview with former Vice-President Dick Cheney and his family was marred by protesters accusing him of war crimes and torture. One protester tried to ‘arrest’ the politician, but was taken away, as live video of the event went black.

Cheney made a rare appearance, together with his wife Lynne and daughter Liz, on Monday to be interviewed by Politico’s Mike Allen in Washington.   Continue reading “Cheney reaction: Interview blackout as protester waves handcuffs at ‘war criminal’”

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WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — The discovery of the jawbone of a missing, pregnant Maui woman helped authorities file a murder charge against her ex-boyfriend, a person familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.

The find marked a turning point in what started as a missing persons case involving Carly Scott, 27, who disappeared in February while five months pregnant. Police later began investigating her disappearance as a homicide.   Continue reading “Pregnant woman’s jawbone was found”

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KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane and Ukrainian troops were fired upon by missiles from a village inside Russia, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Security Council said Thursday.

The alleged episodes mark what Ukraine says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine who have been seen to have substantial quantities of powerful weapons in recent weeks.   Continue reading “Ukraine: Air Force jet downed by Russian missile”

Eureka Alert – Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

CHICAGO (July 16, 2014) – Cases of the highly contagious, drug-resistant bacteria, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), have increased fivefold in community hospitals in the Southeastern United States, according to a new study published in the August issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

“This dangerous bacteria is finding its way into healthcare facilities nationwide. Even this marked increase likely underestimates the true scope of the problem given variations in hospital surveillance practices,” said Joshua Thaden, MD, a lead author of the study. “A CRE epidemic is fast approaching. We must take immediate and significant action in order to limit the transmission of these dangerous pathogens throughout our hospitals and acute care facilities.”   Continue reading “Cases of drug-resistant superbug significantly rise in southeastern US”

RT

Prehistoric paintings in a cave in India may indicate that alien travelers visited the site eons ago, an archeologist says. The paintings depict what appear as humanoids with featureless faces and a tripod object that could be a vehicle.

The peculiar find was discovered in a cave system under the Charama region in Kanker district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Preliminary dating says the pictures are at least 10,000 years old, reports the Times of India.   Continue reading “10,000yo Indian cave paintings of ‘aliens, spaceship’ puzzle archaeologists”

RT

The small city of Denton, Texas, which sits on a huge natural gas reserve, lost a bid to halt fracking after many hours of public testimony. The oil and gas companies are now threatening litigation if a ban goes into effect.

A citizens’ movement to ban fracking – a mining process, also known as hydraulic fracturing, that involves blasting a mix of water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations to release oil and gas – suffered a setback on Wednesday when Denton City Council members voted down the petition 5-2.   Continue reading “Texas town goes head-to-head against energy groups over fracking”

RT

Years of legal wrangling over conclusive DNA evidence proving his innocence led the Florida Supreme Court to overturn Paul Hildwin’s murder conviction and death sentence two weeks ago. Yet Hildwin remains on death row.

Twenty-eight years after his conviction for a 1985 murder, Hildwin, 54, must wait – possibly for several months – for state prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case or drop the charges.   Continue reading “Florida inmate still on death row despite DNA proof of innocence discovered years ago”

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NEW YORK (AP) — The city’s tabloid newspaper front pages next week are easy to imagine: a photo of a nightmarish traffic jam caused by a strike at the nation’s largest commuter railroad juxtaposed with a shot of Mayor Bill de Blasio sunning on an Italian beach.

Despite the potentially damaging political optics, the Democratic mayor appears set on embarking Friday on a 10-day Italian vacation in the face of a looming Long Island Rail Road strike, which if it happens Sunday could paralyze portions of the nation’s largest city. The mayor had said he would return from his trip if a crisis arose but signaled this week that he believed his team could manage without him.   Continue reading “NYC mayor’s plan for rail strike? He’s outta here”

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STEVENSON, Wash. (AP) — Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters have rescued a man who was trapped in rushing water at the base of a southwestern Washington waterfall after his legs got caught in rocks.

The Skamania County sheriff’s office said John Napierkowski, 19, was rescued Monday night in a pool near the bottom of Dougan Falls on the Washougal River. Napierkowski had gone swimming with friends when his legs became trapped in big rocks at the bottom of the natural pool below the waterfall, Sheriff Dave Brown said Tuesday.   Continue reading “Man rescued from base of raging waterfall”

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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — A high-priced prostitute accused of leaving a Google executive to die on his yacht in California after shooting him up with a fatal hit of heroin has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and heroin charges.

Twenty-six-year-old Alix Tichelman entered the plea on Wednesday in a Santa Cruz County courtroom. Prosecutors, additionally, charged her with great bodily injury. A judge refused to reduce her $1.5 million bail.   Continue reading “Prostitute in tech exec’s death pleads not guilty”