Author: Sunfire

RT News

An alliance of Native American communities has promised to block construction of the northern leg of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which, if approved by President Barack Obama, would carry crude tar sands oil from western Canada through the US to Texas.

In a joint statement entitled ‘No Keystone XL pipeline will cross Lakota lands,’ Honor the Earth, the Oglala Sioux Nation, Owe Aku, and Protect the Sacred declared their support for resistance action against energy corporation TransCanada’s building of the parts of the pipeline planned to cut through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska before meeting with a constructed line in Kansas. The existing line would then move the crude tar sands through Oklahoma and into Texas for refineries on the Gulf Coast.   Continue reading “‘You shall not pass!’ Native American groups vow to block Keystone XL pipeline”

RT News

The teenager who killed four people in a drunk-driving incident escaped jail for a second time and was sent to a rehabilitation center. His defense used the ‘affluenza’ strategy, insisting his privileged upbringing made the teen reckless.

‘Affluenza’, commonly viewed as selfish, immature behavior caused by a consumerist upbringing, is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as an official illness or diagnosis. The term – a portmanteau of ‘affluence’ and’ influenza’ – was coined in the 1970s and once again garnered attention in the mid-noughties, with psychologist Oliver James releasing a book on the subject.   Continue reading “Texas ‘affluenza’ teen who killed 4 in drunk driving avoids prison again”

Mail.com

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Wild West tradition of openly carrying your six-shooter on the street has long been banned in Texas under state law. But the next governor could change that.

Rising Democratic star and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis has joined her top Republican rival in supporting a proposed “open carry” law. It would allow people with concealed handgun licenses to wear a pistol on their hip, in full view, while in public.   Continue reading “Next Texas governor supports open carry law”

Mail.com

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Chuck Herron heard the loud thud, then another and another. It sounded like someone was dropping big snowballs on the roof of his home.

The house is more than 100 years old and creaks, Herron said, but he had “never heard anything like that before.” As his neighbors in tiny Paris, Mo., huddled around televisions Sunday for the Super Bowl, many were startled by similar strange noises. Some even saw flashes of light and called 911.   Continue reading “Mysterious noises traced to rare ‘frost quakes’”

Mail.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Police say Judy Lynn Hayman’s luck ran out after 37 years on the run not because of an intense manhunt but rather two disparate factors: bad weather that kept an investigator at his desk and her distinctive eyes that had never changed since her mug shot was taken.

San Diego police arrested the 60-year-old woman Monday at her San Diego apartment after receiving a mug shot from Michigan, where an officer staying off icy roads sent fingerprint cards for all old escapees to the FBI.   Continue reading “Disparate factors led to fugitive’s arrest”

Yahoo News – by JAKE PEARSON and TOM HAYS

NEW YORK (AP) — Four people were taken into custody on drug charges after police investigating Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death executed search warrants, two people with knowledge of the investigation said Wednesday, and the medical examiner’s office said more tests are needed to determine what killed him.

There was no timetable for Hoffman’s autopsy to be finished, said medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Julie Bolcer, who declined to discuss the pending tests. Toxicology and tissue tests are typically done in such cases.   Continue reading “Hoffman autopsy inconclusive, further tests needed”

Mail.com

More than a million homes and businesses were left in darkness and cold Wednesday after snow, sleet and freezing rain moved into the Northeast. The region’s second winter storm of the week canceled classes, closed government and business offices and sent cars and trucks sliding on slippery roads and highways. Around a foot of snow fell in some states. Moving in overnight from the Midwest, where it wreaked similar havoc, the storm tested the region already battered by a series of heavy snows and below-freezing temperatures this winter.   Continue reading “Lights out for 1M as winter storm slams Northeast”

Mail.com

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A woman convicted of torturing and killing a mentally impaired man she lured to Texas with the promise of marriage was put to death Wednesday evening in a rare execution of a female prisoner.

The lethal injection of Suzanne Basso, 59, made the New York native only the 14th woman executed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Almost 1,400 men have been put to death during that time.   Continue reading “Woman executed in Texas for 1998 torture killing”

RT News

America’s second-largest drugstore chain announced on Wednesday that it will stop selling tobacco products in all its stores nationwide this year.

The decision by CVS Caremark will remove cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco from the company’s 7,600 stores by October 1, as it continues to expand its health care operations. CVS stated it will become the first national pharmacy chain to phase out tobacco products.   Continue reading “CVS to stop selling tobacco products, set to lose $2 bln”

Mail.com

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Look up at the wall and you can see Yugoslavia’s late autocratic leader Josip Broz Tito drowning in red fiery waves of hell — along with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of the 1848 Communist Manifesto.

They are joined by Adam and Eve, current Montenegro politicians and people wearing Turkish turbans. Close by, rival church priests are being gobbled up by the huge jaws of an angry beast with pointed devil ears.   Continue reading “Communists roast in hell in Montenegro fresco”

RT News

Production of crude oil in western Canada emits more harmful carcinogens into the environment than official estimates let on, according to a new study. The Keystone XL pipeline would, if approved, move tar sands oil from Alberta through the US to Texas.

A new study by the University of Toronto-Scarborough published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that Canadian officials may have underestimated emissions of harmful carcinogens known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from Alberta tar sands.   Continue reading “Toxic carcinogens from tar sands oil production underestimated – report”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — An unusual coalition of lawmakers from both parties, labor and business leaders, veterans groups and Canada’s ambassador to the United States joined forces Tuesday to push for quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Five Democrats joined Republicans at a Capitol news conference to urge President Barack Obama to approve the pipeline following a State Department report last week that raised no major environmental objections. The $7 billion pipeline would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The project has lingered for more than five years and has become a symbol of the political debate over climate change.   Continue reading “Broad coalition backs Keystone XL oil pipeline”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Several million American workers will cut back their hours on the job or leave the nation’s workforce entirely because of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, congressional analysts said Tuesday, adding fresh fuel to the political fight over “Obamacare.”

The workforce changes would mean nationwide losses equal to 2.3 million full-time jobs by 2021, in large part because people would opt to keep their income low to stay eligible for federal health care subsidies or Medicaid, the Congressional Budget Office said. It had estimated previously that the law would lead to 800,000 fewer jobs by that year.   Continue reading “Health care law will mean fewer people on the job”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy said Tuesday it is investigating about 30 senior sailors linked to alleged cheating on tests meant to qualify them to train others to operate naval nuclear power reactors. Representing roughly one-fifth of the reactor training contingent, sidelining 30 may put a pinch on the Navy’s training program, senior officials said.   Continue reading “Navy probing alleged cheating on nuke reactor work”

Mail.com

BEIRUT (AP) — Men pull a girl from the rubble and haul her onto a dirty sheet of plastic, while another child, coated in white dust save for a red streak of blood from his nose, lies with his crushed leg dangling off a gurney — the grisly aftermath from the dropping of a crude “barrel bomb” by Syrian forces on the city of Aleppo.

The bombing — one of at least seven such attacks in Aleppo on Tuesday — struck a mosque that was being used as a school, killing at least 11 people, activists said. A video supplied by activists contained scenes of the carnage.   Continue reading “Syrian forces hit mosque with crude bomb, kill 11”

Mail.com

ARVADA, Colo. (AP) — Authorities say the man who was shot to death by suburban Denver police after holding a 13-year-old boy hostage for nearly 18 hours had a criminal record and was wanted for a parole violation.

Officers fatally shot 34-year-old Don Pooley on Tuesday when he went to the door of the house he was barricaded in to retrieve unspecified items left by negotiators, Arvada police said. Members of a SWAT team immediately rescued the boy. A Denver Post photo shows an officer carrying the teen away in a bear hug.   Continue reading “Police: Man killed in Colorado standoff had record”

Huffington Post – by Luke Johnson

WASHINGTON — Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) will resign his seat Tuesday, a source familiar with the situation told The Huffington Post. The congressman will hold a press conference at 11:30 to make the announcement.

The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported that Andrews was leaving to take a job at a Philadelphia law firm.   Continue reading “Rob Andrews Resigning From Congress”

RT News

Hundreds of US soldiers are under investigation in the US for allegedly embezzling “tens of millions” of dollars using a National Guard fund. Lawmakers have called the investigation one of the largest in US army history.

An Army audit revealed that American soldiers had been pocketing millions of dollars from a National Guard fund, which gives bonuses to troops that recruit their friends into the Army. The audit found that at least 1,200 recruiters had lined their pockets with potentially fraudulent pay outs, while another 2000 had received “questionable payments.”   Continue reading “Hundreds of US soldiers pocketed ‘tens of millions’ of dollars in fraud scandal”

RT News

As many as 300 candlelight vigils in cities across the US were scheduled for Monday night, as those in protest of the Keystone XL pipeline urged President Obama to ultimately reject the project that will ship tar sands oil from western Canada to Texas.

In parks, city halls, churches and other venues, thousands of peaceful demonstrators showed their opposition to the 1,179-mile pipeline that would move high-carbon tar sands oil through the heart of the United States, from western Canada to a hub in Nebraska, where it would then connect with other existing pipelines to deliver 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries in Texas.   Continue reading “Some 300 rallies held in US after State Dept green lights Keystone XL”