Mail.com

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The luxury hotel was considered one of the safest spots in the Afghan capital Kabul. Yet, four gunmen walked in, made their way to the restaurant, pulled out hidden pistols and started shooting diners, officials said Friday. They killed nine people, including shooting an AFP journalist, his wife and two children in the head.

The shooting spree Thursday evening at the Serena Hotel was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks by the Taliban and allied militants as they step up a campaign of violence, vowing to disrupt the April 5 national elections.   Continue reading “Taliban kill 9 in Afghan hotel, shoot kids in head”

Members of the media and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) employees, wearing protective suits and masks, walk toward the No. 1 reactor building at the tsunami-crippled TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture March 10, 2014.(Reuters / Koji Sasahara)RT News

Treatment of radioactive water at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant might be indefinitely suspended after malfunctions crippled the water purification process and recontaminated thousands of tons of partially purified water, Japanese media report.

The failure in the system, known as the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), is the latest setback in Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (TEPCO) uphill battle to stockpile radioactive water, which is ballooning at a rate of 400 tons per day.   Continue reading “Fukushima water decontamination suspended indefinitely”

Reuters/Andrew BurtonRT News

Maintaining good dental health may not seem like it’d be a top priority for soldiers, but the US military is hard at work developing a new kind of chewing gum that can battle cavities.

Simply dubbed “Combat Gum,” the new product is currently under development at the Army Institute of Surgical Research. Featuring a synthetic collection of anti-microbial peptide – the same naturally-occurring molecules in human saliva that kill bacteria – the gum can potentially help reduce plaque and tooth decay, as well as prevent cavities.   Continue reading “Pentagon developing combat chewing gum”

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey SinclairMail.com

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — The Army general at the center of a sexual misconduct case that put the military justice system itself on trial was spared prison Thursday and sentenced to a reprimand and a $20,000 fine — a punishment legal experts, a women’s group and members of Congress decried as shockingly light.

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, 51, immediately announced his retirement, capping a humiliating fall for the battle-tested commander once regarded as a rising star in the Army. A disciplinary board could still bust him in rank and severely reduce his pension.   Continue reading “US general spared prison in sexual misconduct case”

FRED PHELPSMail.com

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Fred Phelps did not care what you thought of his Westboro Baptist Church, nor did he care if you heard its message that society’s tolerance for gay people is the root of all earthly evil.

By the time you saw one of his outrageous and hate-filled signs — “You’re Going to Hell” was among the more benign — you were already doomed. Tall, thin and increasingly spectral as he aged, the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. and the Westboro Baptist Church, a small congregation made up almost entirely of his extended family, tested the boundaries of the free speech guarantees by violating accepted societal standards for decency in their unapologetic assault on gays and lesbians. In the process, some believe he even helped the cause of gay rights by serving as such a provocative symbol of intolerance.   Continue reading “Phelps tested free speech with anti-gay protests”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — A teenage thrill-chaser slipped through a fence, eluded a security guard and climbed to the top of 1 World Trade Center, authorities said Thursday as concerns swirled about the audacious breach at what is supposed to be one of the world’s most secure sites.

Justin Casquejo, a New Jersey 16-year-old described by a friend as an adventure-seeker who loves to climb precarious places, spent about two hours early Sunday atop the symbolic and as-yet-unfinished 1,776-foot tower, authorities said. He apparently just wanted bragging rights and perhaps some photos, but the alleged escapade stirred what-ifs about the notion of someone with a more sinister agenda infiltrating the nation’s tallest skyscraper.   Continue reading “Cops: Teen eludes guard, reaches skyscraper spire”

Sulaiman Abu GhaithMail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law offered a rare glimpse of the al-Qaida leader in the hours after the Sept. 11 attacks, recounting during surprise testimony Wednesday in a Manhattan courtroom how the two met that night in a cave in Afghanistan.

“Did you learn about what happened … the attacks on the United States?” the son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, recalled bin Laden asking him. “We are the ones who did it.” The testimony came as Abu Ghaith’s trial on charges he conspired to kill Americans and aid al-Qaida as a spokesman for the terrorist group took a dramatic turn. His decision to take the witness stand was announced by his lawyer, Stanley Cohen, who surprised a nearly empty courtroom that quickly filled with spectators as word spread.    Continue reading “Ex-al-Qaida spokesman recalls 9/11 with bin Laden”

Jeb Bush, Lamar AlexanderMail.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday urged state officials to follow through on Common Core education standards despite what he called an “avalanche” of criticism from those who oppose them.

Bush said at an education forum with Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., that the standards are key to improving educational achievement around the country. “This is a real-world, grown-up approach to a real crisis that we have,” said Bush, who later brushed off reporters’ questions about his presidential aspirations. “And it’s been mired in politics.   Continue reading “Jeb Bush: Follow through on Common Core standards”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bob Strauss could work with anybody — Democrats and Republicans, Americans and Soviets, Israelis and Arabs. Playing the game and making the deal made his day.

Of Strauss’ many accomplishments — earning a fortune in postwar investments, co-founding an international law firm, leading the Democratic Party, running one successful presidential campaign and surviving the loss of another — being welcome on either side of the political street might have been the achievement he most treasured.   Continue reading “Ex-Democratic Chairman Robert Strauss dies at 95”

Texas ExecutionMail.com

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas has obtained a new batch of the drugs it uses to execute death row inmates, allowing the state to continue carrying out death sentences once its existing supply expires at the end of the month.

But correction officials will not say where they bought the drugs, arguing that information must be kept secret to protect the safety of its new supplier. In interviews with The Associated Press, officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice also refused to say whether providing anonymity to its new supplier of the sedative pentobarbital was a condition of its purchase.   Continue reading “Texas finds new execution drug supply”

AFP Photo / Gabriel BouysRT News

The number of applications for concealed weapons permits has exploded in California, especially in rural counties, after a federal court overturned legal restrictions on the traditionally Democratic state’s concealed firearms law.

Approximately 56,000 residents in the state of 38 million currently have concealed weapons permits, which allows residents to carry weapons “capable of being concealed on the person,” (i.e. handguns).   Continue reading “Rush for gun permits following overturn of California firearms law”

Crude oil that leaked from a pipeline in the Oak Glen Nature Preserve early Tuesday. (Provided / EPA)RT News

Some 240 barrels of crude oil seeped from an underground pipeline and contaminated a large area in the Oak Glen Nature Preserve in Ohio. While the leak is relatively small, the cleanup process is expected to be tricky.

The 20-inches Mid-Valley Pipeline Co. pipeline probably burst at the end of last week, since local residents reported smelling petroleum at the time. The spill was discovered on Monday, after which authorities called for an inspection, local media reported.   Continue reading “Crude oil pipeline bust contaminates Ohio nature preserve”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government announced a $1.2 billion settlement with Toyota Motor Corp. on Wednesday and filed a criminal charge alleging the company defrauded consumers by issuing misleading statements about safety issues in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

Attorney General Eric Holder said it is the largest financial penalty of its kind ever imposed on an auto company. Under a deferred prosecution agreement, an independent monitor will review policies, practices and procedures at the company.   Continue reading “US Files Charge Against Toyota, $1.2B Penalty”

San Diego, California (Reuters / Mike Blake)RT News

US sociologists have long said that the majority of Americans will not be Caucasian past the coming decades. Already in California, Latinos have become the majority demographic, though political representation is another matter.

In March, for the first time ever, the official population of California will be 39-percent Latino, nudging past the 38.8-percent of state residents who are white non-Hispanic and far more than the comparatively small Asian American and African American demographics.   Continue reading “Latinos become the majority in California, but remain political lightweights”

L’Wren Scott, Mick JaggerMail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — L’Wren Scott, a fashion designer and celebrity stylist who was Mick Jagger’s girlfriend, was found dead in Manhattan of a possible suicide, a law enforcement official said Monday.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the victim’s next of kin had not yet been notified. The official said Scott’s assistant found her hanging from a doorknob at 10 a.m. Monday. The official said no note was found and there was no sign of foul play.   Continue reading “Jagger’s girlfriend found dead in NYC”

Sulaiman Abu GhaithMail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — The self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks says a onetime Osama bin Laden spokesman who is on trial in New York had no role in planning military operations for al-Qaida.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement filed late Sunday in Manhattan federal court that Sulaiman Abu Ghaith served as an al-Qaida spokesman because he was “an eloquent, spellbinding speaker.” But Abu Gaith, Mohammed said, “was not a military man and had nothing to do with military operations.”   Continue reading “9/11 mastermind: Spokesman had no military role”

Mail.com

MISSION, Texas (AP) — Esteban Manzanares was working his regular day shift as a U.S. Border Patrol agent along the busiest stretch of Mexican border when a trio of Honduran immigrants spotted him and offered to surrender.

A woman, her teenage daughter and a teenage family friend later told authorities they were taken into custody and driven away from a popular county park just north of the Rio Grande and upriver to a more remote, scrub brush-filled area. It was there, in this rugged no-man’s land between the river and a stretch of rust-covered steel border fence, that the older woman says the group was assaulted by a man wearing green fatigues who left the area with one of the girls.   Continue reading “Suicide, allegations stun border agent’s family”

Mail.com

LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico (AP) — Forget crystal meth. The pseudo-religious Knights Templar drug cartel in western Mexico has diversified to the point that drug trafficking doesn’t even rank among its top sources of income.

The cartel counts illegal mining, logging and extortion as its biggest moneymakers, said Alfredo Castillo, the Mexican government’s special envoy sent to restore the rule of law in Michoacan, the state controlled by the Knights Templar the last several years.   Continue reading “Mexico drug cartel makes more dealing iron ore”

Mail.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officers at thousands of law enforcement agencies are wearing tiny cameras to record their interactions with the public, but in many cases the devices are being rolled out faster than departments are able to create policies to govern their use.

And some rank-and-file officers are worried the technology might ultimately be used to derail their careers if, for example, an errant comment about a superior is captured on tape. Most law enforcement leaders and civil liberties advocates believe the cameras will ultimately help officers because the devices give them a way to record events from their point of view at a time when citizens armed with cellphones are actively scrutinizing their every move.  Continue reading “Officers’ body cameras raise privacy concerns”

AFP Photo / Robyn BeckRT News

The US had 875,000 people in its terrorist watchlist system as of December 2012. Those secretly blacklisted have no real path to challenge their status, states a new report, thus indefinitely restricting those listed from travel or simply getting a job.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans and foreigners languish in the watchlist system, considered“known or suspected terrorists” based on secret rules and evidence that are basically impenetrable should the average suspect attempt to contest them, says a new report by the ACLU that highlights these challenges.   Continue reading “875,000 left in bureaucratic black hole that is US terror watchlist system”