Author: Sunfire

RT

A worker at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has filed the first lawsuit from an employee against plant operator TEPCO due to high levels of radiation he was exposed to during the initial days of the plant’s 2011 disaster.

“I wish [the utility] had informed us of possible risks in advance,” Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun cites the 48-year-old man as saying at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday. “I want [operator Tokyo Electric Power Company] to create safer conditions for workers because the decommissioning of the reactors will not finish anytime soon.”    Continue reading “Fukushima worker files historic lawsuit over radiation exposure”

RT

The US Department of Transportation has issued a safety advisory pleading with companies that transport crude oil by train to discontinue old railcars, a request that comes after a string of high-profile derailment accidents.

The advisory is non-binding, meaning it does not require companies to follow it, as an emergency order would. Yet it does apply to approximately 20,000 old tanker cars that companies rely on to carry Bakken crude from oil fields in North Dakota throughout the continent. The Transportation Department (DOT) recommended that only the sturdiest cars available are put to use, and that cars that cannot be destroyed should be updated.    Continue reading “Oil companies transporting crude by rail issued govt safety plea”

RT News

The Missouri House has advanced a bill that would broaden the definition of who may use deadly force in self-defense. The bill aims to allow babysitters to use force if threatened, yet the law could be interpreted to include any guests of private spaces.

Missouri HB 2126 would extend the state’s Castle Doctrine – an individual’s right to protect their home against intruders – to include anyone in a residence with direct permission from the resident. The bill is portrayed as an attempt to authorize deadly force by a babysitter or nanny “in the event of a home invasion.”   Continue reading “Missouri House approves broad deadly-force bill intended to arm babysitters, guests”

Mail.com

BEIRUT (AP) — Carrying their rifles and small bags of belongings, hundreds of exhausted Syrian rebels withdrew Wednesday from their last remaining strongholds in the heart of Homs, surrendering to President Bashar Assad a bloodstained city that was once the center of the revolt against him.

For Assad, it is a powerful victory ahead of presidential elections. For the rebels, the dramatic exit after two years of enduring grueling assaults and siege captures their sense of abandonment amid world reluctance to help shift the balance of power on the ground.   Continue reading “Syria rebels surrender strongholds in Homs”

Mail.com

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia has pulled back its troops from the Ukrainian border and called for Sunday’s referendum on autonomy in Ukraine’s restive east to be postponed.

There were no immediate signs, however, that either move was truly happening or that they would cool Ukraine’s worst crisis in decades. NATO and Washington said they saw no evidence of a Russian pullback and the pro-Russia insurgents behind the referendum haven’t agreed to go along with Putin’s proposal.   Continue reading “Putin: Troops have pulled back from Ukraine border”

Mail.com

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Chinese ships have been ramming into and firing water cannons at Vietnamese vessels trying to stop Beijing from putting an oil rig in the South China Sea, according to officials and video footage Wednesday, in a dangerous escalation of tensions over waters considered a global flashpoint.

Several boats have been damaged and at least six Vietnamese on board them have been injured, officials said. The U.S. said it was strongly concerned by “dangerous conduct” in the area. Elsewhere in the sea, the Philippines arrested 11 Chinese fishermen for catching endangering turtles, angering Beijing and further exposing regional strains.   Continue reading “Vietnam: Chinese ships ram vessels near oil rig”

Columbus Dispatch – by Theodore Decker

Thirty years after Denison University student Laura Carter became an unintended casualty of a Columbus gang war, one of the men convicted in her death learned he soon will be a free man.

The Ohio Parole Board decided yesterday that Gordon Newlin, 60, will be released from state prison on June 18 after serving 25 years of a possible life sentence for his role in the killing of Carter on the Near East Side on April 17, 1982.   Continue reading “Student’s convicted killer wins parole”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the next month, two of President Barack Obama’s closest first-term advisers will spill insider details on the administration’s handling of the early days of the recession, the White House’s cautious response to Syria and the genesis of clandestine talks with Iran.

The memoirs are from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and ex-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and the latest examples of confidants signed to big book contracts to examine a presidency not yet over and policy decisions still being implemented.   Continue reading “Obama’s top advisers set to spill insider details”

RT News

Celebrity-stacked Beverly Hills has become the first municipality in California to ban the practice of hydraulic fracking, or fracking, along with acidization and other extreme well stimulation techniques.

The initial push for legislation happened last month and was confirmed by Tuesday’s city council vote, which was unanimous. The law will come into effect June 6, Reuters reported.   Continue reading “Fracking banned in Beverly Hills – a first for California”

RT News

An agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been detained in Pakistan after allegedly attempting to bring a 9 millimeter pistol magazine and 15 bullets on board a plane in Karachi.

Officials told the Washington Post that the agent, whose name was not revealed, was taken into custody Monday afternoon upon trying to board a flight to Islamabad.   Continue reading “FBI agent on sensitive job in Pakistan arrested on terrorism charges”

Mail.com

CARTHAGE, Texas (AP) — A former mortician whose killing of a rich widow shook an East Texas town and later inspired a movie is a free man after a judge agreed to reduce his life sentence and release him on bond.

Bernie Tiede’s freedom Tuesday was part of an agreement with the same district attorney who prosecuted him for the death of his 81-year-old longtime companion, Marjorie Nugent, who disappeared in 1996 and was found dead in a freezer in Carthage nine months later.   Continue reading “Former mortician set free in Texas slaying case”

Mail.com

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The family of a Texas teenager who killed four people in a drunken-driving wreck has agreed to pay more than $2 million to the family of a boy who was paralyzed in the accident, according to court documents detailing the first approved settlement in the case.

The liability insurer of Ethan Couch’s parents agreed to pay more than $1 million in cash and the rest in annuities to a trust established for Sergio E. Molina, who was among 12 people injured in the wreck last year near Fort Worth.   Continue reading “‘Affluenza’ teen’s family to pay victim $2M”

Mail.com

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Authorities are looking into whether marijuana or alcohol played a role in the case of a Montana homeowner accused of setting a trap and killing a German exchange student in his garage.

A newly published court document reveals Missoula police received a judge’s permission to test whether homeowner Markus Kaarma was drunk or high when he shot and killed 17-year-old Diren Dede. Officers found a jar of pot in Kaarma’s home the day he shot the teen, a police statement accompanying an April 28 request for a search warrant said. Kaarma also might have had marijuana stolen from his garage in a previous burglary, the document said.   Continue reading “Police: Pot might be factor in Montana killing”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Access to the White House complex was halted for about an hour Tuesday after a vehicle followed a motorcade carrying President Barack Obama’s daughters through the gates.

Uniformed agents immediately stopped the vehicle after it trailed in behind the motorcade at about 4:40 p.m. EDT, the Secret Service said. The driver, identified as Mathew Evan Goldstein, 55, was arrested and charged with unlawful entry. No hometown was given.   Continue reading “Car follows motorcade in, White House locks down”

Mail.com

GENEVA (AP) — The Vatican revealed Tuesday that over the past decade, it has defrocked 848 priests who raped or molested children and sanctioned another 2,572 with lesser penalties, providing the first ever breakdown of how it handled the more than 3,400 cases of abuse reported to the Holy See since 2004.

The Vatican’s U.N. ambassador in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, released the figures during a second day of grilling by a U.N. committee monitoring implementation of the U.N. treaty against torture.   Continue reading “Vatican: 848 priests defrocked for abuse since ’04”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Three skydivers spent about four hours atop the World Trade Center’s signature skyscraper taking in sights before parachuting off it, they said Tuesday in detailing a surreptitious stunt that raised questions about security and left them facing felony charges.

James Brady, Marko Markovich and Andrew Rossig acknowledge making the Sept. 30 leap from the unfinished 1 World Trade Center, the nation’s tallest building and one of its most security-conscious. But they pleaded not guilty Tuesday to burglary, reckless endangerment and other charges.   Continue reading “Parachutists: We spent 4 hours atop trade center”

Mail.com

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A man suspected of shooting an Ohio veterans hospital housekeeping employee in the ankle was scheduled for a federal court hearing on Tuesday.

Neil Moore, 59, was to appear before a U.S. magistrate in Dayton on possible charges, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office said. Authorities said 61-year-old Paul Burnside was shot Monday in a struggle over a gun with Moore. Authorities say the gun went off as the two fought over it in a hospital break room.   Continue reading “Suspect in Ohio vets hospital shooting in court”

RT News

The Syrian Opposition Council’s offices in the US will become formal diplomatic missions after receiving approval from the Obama administration on Monday. This comes ahead of high-level talks between the US and opposition leaders in Washington.

The administration first recognized the Syrian Opposition Council as the legitimate representative of Syria in December 2012, but did not suspend the Syrian embassy – representing the Assad government – until this March. The opposition offices were considered informal liaison offices until Monday’s announcement, where they will become “foreign diplomatic missions” under US law, the Associated Press reports.   Continue reading “Obama administration offers $27 million in additional help for Syrian rebels”

Mail.com

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops tightened a security cordon around a major insurgent-held eastern city Tuesday, but pro-Russia militia acted with impunity elsewhere in the turbulent region bordering Russia, surrounding a major Interior Ministry base.

Thirty pro-Russia insurgents and four government troops were killed Monday in operations to expunge anti-government forces around the city of Slovyansk, Ukraine’s interior minister reported Tuesday. Rebels said 10 people — fighters and civilians — were killed by Ukrainian troops during clashes Monday. They would not elaborate and there was no immediate way to reconcile the figures.   Continue reading “Ukraine tightens cordon around rebellious city”