Author: Sunfire

RT News

Details of a highly secretive, multi-national trade agreement long in works have been published by WikiLeaks, and critics say there will be major repercussions for much of the modern world if it’s approved in this incarnation.

The anti-secrecy group published on Wednesday a 95-page excerpt taken from a recent draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a NAFTA-like agreement that is expected to encompass nations representing more than 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product when it is finally approved: the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei.    Continue reading “TPP Uncovered: WikiLeaks releases draft of highly-secretive multi-national trade deal”

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LONDON (AP) — A strain of bird flu that scientists thought could not infect people has shown up in a Taiwanese woman, a nasty surprise that shows scientists must do more to spot worrisome flu strains before they ignite a global outbreak, doctors say.

On a more hopeful front, two pharmaceuticals separately reported encouraging results from human tests of a possible vaccine against a different type of bird flu that has been spreading in China since first being identified last spring, which is feared to have pandemic potential.   Continue reading “Bird flu strain infects human for 1st time”

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PITTSBURGH (AP) — Three Pittsburgh high school students heading to their vehicle after classes ended were shot Wednesday, and another student was charged and told police he was retaliating for being beaten during a drug-related robbery last month at school, police said.

Anjohnito Willett Jr., 16, was charged as an adult and in custody late Wednesday on four counts each of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. He’s also charged with illegally possessing a gun as a juvenile.   Continue reading “3 Pa. students shot; suspect calls it retaliation”

Mail.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s governor delayed a condemned child killer’s execution on Wednesday to study the feasibility of accommodating the unusual request by a state death row inmate to donate his organs.

Gov. John Kasich’s decision came less than 24 hours before Ronald Phillips was scheduled to die for the rape and death of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993. His lethal injection Thursday was to be the first time a new two-drug combination was tried in the U.S.   Continue reading “Organ-donor request delays Ohio killer’s execution”

Kakistocracy

kak·is·toc·ra·cy (kak-uh-stok-ruh-see)

noun, plural kak·is·toc·ra·cies.

government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power.

Origin:
1820–30; < Greek kákisto ( s ), superlative of kakós bad + -cracy

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MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Medford, Ore.’s police chief says more federal agents are arriving to help investigate the detonation of an explosive device that damaged the Jackson County prosecutor’s office.

Police Chief Tim George also said Wednesday he considers the early-morning explosion an act of domestic terrorism, but the FBI said it was too early to call it that. No one was hurt in the blast that shattered windows and damaged the exterior of the brick building.   Continue reading “Blast rocks S. Ore. DA’s office; no injuries”

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COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — After nearly a decade in prison, freedom did not come easy for Ryan Ferguson — not even in the final few hours after the Missouri attorney general decided to not retry him in the 2001 slaying of a newspaper sports editor.

Ferguson was released Tuesday evening. But he first thought he was being sent to solitary confinement when he was told to gather his stuff in his prison cell. Even after his attorney held up a sign through a glass window declaring “It’s over,” it really wasn’t.   Continue reading “Mo. man freed after murder conviction overturned”

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TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s finance minister pledged to crack down on lenders that fail to sever links with organized crime as lawmakers grilled him Wednesday over mob loans by banks and other financial institutions.

Revelations that credit companies, banks and insurers failed to comply with laws against doing business with gangs and their associates has been an embarrassment for Japan, which has helped lead international efforts to prevent terrorism financing and other illicit transactions.   Continue reading “Top Japan official vows crackdown on mob loans”

Mail.com

LONDON (AP) — A spy whose naked, decomposing body was found inside a padlocked gym bag at his apartment likely died in an accident with no one else involved, British police said Wednesday — a tentative conclusion that is unlikely to calm conspiracy theories around the bizarre case.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said the death of Gareth Williams, whose remains were found inside a bag in his bathtub in August 2010, was “most probably” an accident.   Continue reading “Police: Spy in bag probably died by accident”

RT News

Despite efforts to curb Afghan’s opium culture, cultivation has hit record levels as NATO forces prepare to exit the country. The UN warned warlords may be the biggest benefactor of the situation.

The report, the Afghanistan Opium Survey for 2013, provides little cause for optimism among countries that have witnessed a surge in incidences of heroin abuse among their populace since US-led forces started a military offensive against the Taliban on Afghan soil in 2001.   Continue reading “Poppy fields forever? Record opium output boosts Afghan warlords’ power base”

RT News – by Robert Bridge

Amidst a sea of lost jobs, slashed wages and austerity measures, the super-rich seem super-resistant, with their wealth doubling since the financial crisis, adding $226 billion to their wealth in the last year alone.

The Wealth X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013 makes for sobering reading, in that it seems to confirm many peoples’ suspicions that the financial crisis, while a nightmare for so many, has actually been a windfall for the world’s richest.    Continue reading “What crisis? Billionaires’ fortunes double since 2009”

RT News

A reactor at one of the nation’s largest nuclear power plants has been taken offline due to a radioactive leak within a containment building.

“Out of an abundance of caution,” service was temporarily removed from Unit 1 at the Oconee Nuclear Station in western South Carolina early Monday, according to ONS spokeswoman B.J. Gatten.    Continue reading “Radioactive leak found in reactor at S. Carolina nuclear plant, one of largest in US”

RT News

US Secretary of State John Kerry countered claims France had torpedoed nuclear talks with Iran, saying the six world powers “signed off” on a deal, but Iran wasn’t ready to accept it. Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog agreed on a roadmap for cooperation.

Kerry delivered his comments in Abu Dhabi on Monday following rampant speculation behind why marathon talks between the P5+1 – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France  and Germany – and Iran on Saturday failed to produce an agreement.   Continue reading “Kerry: World powers agree to nuclear deal, but Iran ‘walked away’”

RT News

The UK’s electronic spying agency has been using a spoof version of LinkedIn professional social network’s website to target global roaming data exchange companies as well as senior management in the OPEC oil cartel, according to a Der Spiegel report.

The Government Communications Headquarters has implemented a technique known as Quantum Insert, placing its servers in strategic spots where they could intercept and redirect target traffic to a fake website faster than the legitimate service could respond.    Continue reading “GCHQ spoofed LinkedIn site to target global mobile traffic exchange and OPEC – report”

RT News

A separatist Libyan region has announced an establishment of an independent oil company after taking over several commercial sea ports. As Tripoli struggles to regain control, the PM has warned of foreign intervention unless central govt rule restored.

“The international community cannot tolerate a state in the middle of the Mediterranean that is a source of violence, terrorism and murder,” Libya’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Sunday. Citing the Iraq experience, he warned Libyans of a possible “intervention of foreign occupation forces” in order to protect civilians under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.    Continue reading “Libyan separatists take over oil exports as PM warns of foreign intervention”

RT News

USS Freedom, the first-in-class littoral combat ship (LCS) of the US Navy, developed technical problems hours before it was to take part in naval exercise in Brunei. The glitch is the latest in a long series plaguing the LCS program.

The warship needed additional repair of the portside steerable waterjet, which experienced feedback problems, the Navy said on Monday. The minor glitch comes just weeks after problems in the starboard steerable water-jet hydraulic system, which had been contaminated with seawater and required extra maintenance.   Continue reading “Glitch-ridden US advanced warship pier-side ahead of Singapore drills”

RT News

A sect of the Mormon Church is poised to become the largest private landowner in the state of Florida after spending more than half a billion dollars to purchase hundreds of thousands of acres across three counties.

Representatives from the Church of Latter Day Saints announced Thursday they had bought most of the real estate owned by the St. Joe development company for $565 million. Municipalities in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty and Wakulla counties are included in the nearly 400,000 acres of land. The land, much of which is rich with timber, is located along the Florida panhandle.    Continue reading “Mormon Church purchases 2% of the state of Florida for half a billion dollars”

RT News

Two Navy admirals have been placed on temporary leave after their access to classified materials was suspended. This comes as part of a growing investigation into allegations that Naval officers illegally accepted bribes from a military contractor.

Vice Adm. Ted Branch, director of naval intelligence, and Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, director of intelligence operations, were reported on Friday to be part of an ongoing probe after they were each accused of having illegal and improper relations with Leonard Francis, CEO of Glenn Defense Marine.    Continue reading “US Navy admirals under investigation in widening bribery scandal”

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GEORGETOWN, Texas (AP) — A former Texas prosecutor charged over a wrongful murder conviction agreed to a 10-day jail sentence Friday, accepting the punishment in front of the innocent man he helped put in prison for nearly 25 years.

Ken Anderson also will be disbarred and must serve 500 hours of community service as part of a sweeping deal that was expected to end all criminal and civil cases against the former district attorney, who was the face of the law in a tough-on-crime Texas county for 30 years.   Continue reading “Ex-prosecutor gets jail for wrongful conviction”