From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president-elect has sent messages to Syria’s Bashar Assad and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, reaffirming support for the two allies.
The official IRNA news agency on Tuesday cited Hasan Rouhani as saying close Iranian-Syrian ties will be able to confront “enemies in the region, especially the Zionist regime,” or Israel. Rouhani says Syria will “overcome its current crisis.” Continue reading “New Iran president backs Syria’s Assad, Hezbollah”
MIAMI (AP) — For decades, Cuban and U.S. diplomats have faced strict limits on their travel within the Cold War enemy countries.
Cuban diplomats at the United Nations in New York cannot go 25 miles beyond Columbus Circle in Manhattan or past the Beltway loop circling Washington without the permission of the U.S. State Department. Continue reading “Cuban, US diplomats increasingly allowed to travel”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The bitter standoff between Wal-Mart and Washington, D.C. officials over the city’s effort to impose a higher minimum wage on big-box retailers is fueling a wider debate about how far cities should go in trying to raise pay for low-wage workers — and whether larger companies should be required to pay more.
Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, is fuming about a “living wage” bill approved by the D.C. Council that has an unusual twist — it would apply only to certain large retailers, forcing them to pay employees at least $12.50 an hour. That’s nearly 50 percent higher than city’s minimum wage of $8.25 an hour. Continue reading “Wal-Mart faceoff with DC fuels minimum wage debate”
Israel used a Turkish military base to launch one of its recent airstrikes against Syria from the sea, a reliable source told RT. Israel has been under scrutiny since last week, when it was reported to be responsible for a July 5 depot attack in Latakia.
News that Turkey assisted Israel in attacking another Muslim state could result in serious turmoil for Ankara, once the information is confirmed. Continue reading “RT source: Israeli strike on Syria was carried out from Turkish base”
Israeli submarines carried out the attack on an arms depot in the Syrian port city of Latakia on July 5, according to a report published in the British Sunday Times. US media previously claimed the offensive was carried out by the Israel Air Force.
The Times cited Middle East intelligence sources as stating that the Israeli Dolphin-class submarines targeted a contingent of 50 Russian-made Yakhont P-800 anti-ship missiles that had reportedly arrived earlier this year to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime. Continue reading “Israeli submarine responsible for July attack on Syrian arms depot – report”
The military could soon be patrolling the streets of Chicago, Illinois if a local lawmaker has her way. State Rep. Monique Davis has asked the governor to deploy the National Guard among an epidemic of violent crime.
Davis, a 76-year-old Democrat who represents Chicago in the Illinois House of Representatives, said Tuesday that Gov. Pat Quinn should order both the Illinois State Police and the Illinois National Guard to assist with law enforcement efforts in her city aimed at curbing crime. Continue reading “Lawmaker demands the National Guard patrol the streets of Chicago to stop gun violence”
Approval for Barack Obama’s foreign policy has dropped to an all-time low, with just 40 percent of Americans backing the president’s handling of international affairs, while 52 percent disagree with his performance on the global stage, a new poll reveals.
The survey, released by Quinnipiac University on Thursday, shows that overall assessments of Obama’s foreign policy are equally bleak when broken down on an issue-by-issue basis. Continue reading “Majority of Americans disapprove of Obama’s foreign policy handling”
Despite having fewer resources and a fraction of the customers that broadband giants like Verizon and AT&T boast, one small internet service provider has resisted pressure from the NSA and refused to turn over customer data without a warrant.
Xmission, an independent company based out of one office in Salt Lake City, Utah, has spent nearly two decades protecting its customers’ privacy as the National Security Agency, Department of Justice, and prosecutors have ramped up pressure on internet service providers (ISPs). Continue reading “Small Utah ISP firm stands up to ‘surveillance state’ as corporations cower”
MOSCOW (AP) — The tax-evasion conviction of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky more than three years after his death in a Russian prison was the first under a 2011 Russian law allowing posthumous trials, but not the first time the dead have been put on trial.
The Russian law allows such trials under the principle that a dead defendant’s relatives should have the opportunity to seek to clear the departed’s name — an echo of the Soviet practice of “rehabilitating” those executed for political crimes or who died in labor camps. Continue reading “The dead aren’t always excused from trial”
Though biotech companies like Monsanto spent many millions creating and inserting genes that would make corn plants poisonous to the corn rootworm but harmless to other creatures, the pest has begun to develop an immunity.
Though the use of chemical pesticides has always been a source of contention, the advent of corn hybrid plants by biotech companies like Monsanto allowed farmers to cut back on their use. These new hybrids had been specifically designed using genes from a bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which provided a formidable defense against corn rootworm. Continue reading “Farmers falling back on chemical pesticides as GMO seeds falter”
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The Navy will attempt to land a drone the size of a fighter jet aboard an aircraft carrier for the first time Wednesday, showcasing the military’s capability to have a computer program perform one of the most difficult tasks a pilot is asked to do.
If all goes as planned, a successful landing of the X-47B experimental aircraft will mean the Navy can move forward with its plans to develop another unmanned aircraft that will join the fleet alongside traditional airplanes to provide around-the-clock surveillance while also possessing a strike capability. The aircraft’s success would pave the way for the U.S. to launch unmanned aircraft without the need to obtain permission from other countries to use their bases. Continue reading “Navy to attempt 1st unmanned carrier landing”
The Obama administration is considering a quick ‘zero option’ withdrawal from Afghanistan after relations with the Karzai administration have degraded to a record low, the NYT reports. With no US troops left, Kabul would be left to face the Taliban alone.
Stern words between the American and Afghan presidents during a videoconference arranged to ease tensions between the countries could bring painful consequences. Continue reading “Obama break up with Karzai? US considers total Afghanistan pullout”
Former US congressman Ron Paul has announced the launch of a new media network this summer, adding that to a growing list of projects announced since his retirement, including an upcoming book on American education.
According to a video posted to Facebook last weekend, the imminent launch of The Ron Paul Channel is in response to the coordination between news outlets and government sources. Continue reading “Ron Paul announces own media venture”
In three years, Russia will have the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, capable of providing energy and heat to hard-to-get areas as well as drinking water to arid regions.
The unique vessel should be operational by 2016, the general director of Russia’s biggest shipbuilders, the Baltic Plant, Aleksandr Voznesensky told reporters at the 6th International Naval Show in St. Petersburg. Continue reading “World’s first floating nuclear power plant to begin operating in Russia in 2016”
AT&T has announced that it will begin selling customers’ smart phone data to the highest bidder, putting the telecommunications giant in line with Verizon, Facebook and other competitors that quietly use a consumer’s history for marketing purposes.
The company claims its new privacy policy, to be updated within “the next few weeks,” exists to “deliver more relevant advertising” to users based on which apps they use and their location, which is provided by GPS-tracking. Apparently recognizing the natural privacy concerns a customer might have, AT&T assured the public that all data would be aggregated and made anonymous to prevent individual identification. Continue reading “AT&T joins Verizon, Facebook in selling customer data”
Scientists have discovered more than 3,500 unique gene sequences in Lake Vostok – the underground Antarctic water reservoir isolated from the outside world for 15 million years – revealing a complex ecosystem far beyond anything they could have expected.
“The bounds on what is habitable and what is not are changing,” said Scott Rogers, Bowling Green State University professor of biological sciences, who led a genetic study of the contents of half a liter of water brought back from the lake after it was drilled by Russian scientists last year. Continue reading “Lake Vostok mysteries: Biologists find over 3,500 life forms in isolated Antarctic basin”
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s new president moved to assert his authority and regain control of the streets Saturday even as his Islamist opponents declared his powers illegitimate and issued blood oaths to reinstate Mohammed Morsi, whose ouster by the military has led to dueling protests and deadly street battles between rival sides.
But underscoring the sharp divisions facing the untested leader, Adly Mansour, his office said pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei had been named as interim prime minister but later backtracked on the decision saying consultations were continuing. A politician close to ElBaradei said the reversal was due to objections by an ultraconservative Islamist party with which the new administration wants to cooperate. Continue reading “Egypt’s new president asserts authority”
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Popocatepetl volcano just east of Mexico City has spit out a cloud of ash and vapor 2 miles (3 kilometers) high over several days of eruptions, and Mexico City residents awoke Saturday to find a fine layer of volcanic dust on their cars.
It has been years since the center of the nation’s capital has seen a noticeable ash fall because prevailing winds usually blow the volcanic dust in other directions. Ash fell earlier this week in some neighborhoods on Mexico City’s south and east sides. Continue reading “Mexico volcano spits 2 mile-high ash cloud”
BEIRUT (AP) — A former Syrian political prisoner with close links to Saudi Arabia was picked Saturday to lead Syria’s main Western-backed opposition group, filling a post long vacant due to divisions among President Bashar Assad’s opponents.
Inside Syria, government troops advanced into rebel-held areas of the central city of Homs, pushing into a heavily contested neighborhood after pummeling it with artillery that drove out opposition fighters, an activist said. Continue reading “Ex-prisoner chosen to lead Syria opposition group”
Is anyone else sick and tired of the government parading around this shill and her husband? She wants sympathy as if she were as immobilized as Stephen Hawking, yet she’s more than able to fire guns at a firing range? What gives her the right to fly all over the country with number of guns but not the rest of us? This piece of fiction from the Twilight Zone really makes my blood boil! Continue reading “On tour, Giffords’ actions speak on gun control”
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