Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forces say they have completely liberated the city of Fallujah from the Islamic State group after a monthlong operation, marking one of their biggest victories since the extremists swept across large parts of the country in 2014.

But the IS group still controls parts of northern and western Iraq, including the country’s second largest city, Mosul. And the militants have shown they can still launch large-scale suicide bombings and other attacks. Here’s a look at what lies ahead for Iraq and the U.S.-led military coalition battling the extremists.   Continue reading “A look at Iraq’s war against IS after Fallujah”

Mail.com

LONDON (AP) — European stocks and the pound fell further on Monday as concern grew over the potential economic costs of Britain’s vote to bring its country, the world’s fifth-largest economy, out of the European Union.

The British pound, which last week plunged to its lowest level since 1985, dropped another 2.4 percent to $1.3352, despite the British Treasury’s reassurances that the economy was strong enough to withstand the uncertainty.   Continue reading “Stocks, pound fall again due to UK vote uncertainty”

Mail.com

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The recent deaths of two women during a rafting excursion illustrate not only how unpredictably dangerous Alaska’s wilderness can be, but also how limited resources are in the nation’s largest state.

The women’s families are questioning why it took so long for help to arrive, but one official notes the nearest rescuers had to travel hundreds of miles and deal with all the logistics that go with it. In Alaska, the harsh reality is that people are literally on their own when they veer away from the limited road system of the state, which is more than two-and-a-half times the size of Texas but with a population equal to the metro area of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.   Continue reading “Alaska rafting deaths highlight response challenges”

RT

The British pound rallied on Thursday, climbing to its highest level this year as voting begins in the historic referendum on the UK’s future membership of the European Union. Polling stations opened at 06:00 GMT and will close at 21:00 GMT.

The British currency advanced almost 1.5 percent to over $1.49 against the US dollar by 10:48 GMT during trading in London.   Continue reading “Pound surges to 2016 high as Britons start voting in EU referendum”

Mail.com

HARVEY, La. (AP) — A sheriff’s deputy in a New Orleans suburb was just about to search a suspect when the 19-year-old flipped around, pulled out a gun and reaching over the officer, shot him in the back, a Louisiana sheriff said, calling the incident a “cold blooded murder.”

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand late Wednesday said the suspect, identified as Jerman Neveaux, was later apprehended and admitted to shooting Detective David F. Michel Jr. The sheriff said Neveaux was on probation for a previous crime and didn’t want to go to jail if Michel found the weapon he was carrying.   Continue reading “Louisiana sheriff calls deputy’s death ‘cold-blooded murder’”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — A drained and dwindling group of Democrats carried their remarkable House floor sit-in into the morning Thursday, disrupting the business of Congress in the wake of the Orlando shooting rampage and making demands for gun-control votes in an extraordinary protest broadcast live to the world.

Republicans, who control the chamber, refused to yield, branding the move a publicity stunt and summarily adjourning the chamber at about 3:15 a.m. EDT until after the Fourth of July. By 9:30 a.m., 22 hours after the protest commenced, about a dozen Democrats remained. They gave speeches that mixed victory declarations with promises not to back down in their drive to curb firearm violence.   Continue reading “Dems stage election-year sit-in on guns; GOP refuse to yield”

Seattle Times

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — It’s trash day for the International Space Station.

A large Cygnus cargo ship filled with Space Station trash that was released from the station last week is set to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand about 9:20 eastern time Wednesday morning and disintegrate.   Continue reading “Capsule full of Space Station junk set to burn up over Earth”

RT

Imposing federal regulations on fracking – one of the Obama administration’s most ambitious targets – has been struck down by a judge because Congress won’t allow it. The rules would have gone a long way to reducing the harm associated with the practice.

Hydraulic fracturing as a way of extracting oil and gas has been proven to cause damage to both the environment and people’s health, and new studies keep coming in, linking fracking to the rising incidence of earthquakes. However, the practice has also been key to the United States’ recent oil and gas boom, so several states and powerful lobby groups have been doing everything they can to keep it going.
Continue reading “Obama-appointed judge destroys chances of federal regulation on fracking”

Mail.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Surging wildfires on Tuesday forced new evacuations of hundreds of homes across the West, while firefighters began beating back a pair of big adjacent blazes looming over suburban Los Angeles.

Near the U.S.-Mexico border southeast of San Diego, a two-day-old, 9-square-mile wildfire moved toward a new community and forced the evacuation of about 600 homes and more than 1,500 people in Lake Morena Village. Previously only about 75 people had evacuated from that fire. It was 10 percent contained.   Continue reading “Hundreds of new evacuations across West as wildfires surge”

RT

Three people were arrested with several loaded pistols, rifles and bullet-resistant vests in a the Holland Tunnel that connects New Jersey to New York City, NBC 4 New York reported. Police initially stopped them for driving with a cracked windshield.   Continue reading “3 arrested in New York’s Holland Tunnel with loaded rifles, body armor – report”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Routine commercial use of small drones was cleared for takeoff by the Obama administration Tuesday, after years of struggling to write rules that would both protect public safety and free the benefits of a new technology.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced the creation of a new category of rules for drones weighing less than 55 pounds. The long-anticipated rules would mean drone operators would be able to fly without special permission.   Continue reading “White House clears small, commercial drones for takeoff”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Among the Senate’s most vulnerable Republicans, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey stood firmly with the powerful National Rifle Association on the latest ill-fated attempts at gun control. So did Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.   Continue reading “Vulnerable GOP senators side with NRA on gun votes”

Mail.com

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Boeing Co. said Tuesday it signed an agreement with Iran Air “expressing the airline’s intent” to buy its aircraft, setting up the biggest business deal between the Islamic Republic and America since the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran.

Already, one Iranian official has said the deal could involve 100 aircraft while another has suggested Iranian airlines may purchase airplanes worth $25 billion from Chicago-based Boeing, welcome news to workers on its massive assembly plants around Seattle and company stockholders. Boeing shares were up 25 cents Tuesday to $132.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.   Continue reading “Boeing says it signs historic sales agreement with Iran Air”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s Rikers Island jail has entrenched problems dealing with sexual abuse, including emergency hotlines that don’t work, confidential complaints read by fellow inmates and investigations that don’t interview alleged attackers, according to an internal review obtained by The Associated Press.

The report, conducted last year by an outside consultant, also revealed that guards dangerously underestimated the problem, felt helpless to do anything about it and showed “poor professional boundaries” themselves by inappropriately hugging and kissing one another and hanging racy postings in common areas.   Continue reading “APNewsBreak: Report assails NYC jail’s sex abuse response”

RT

The UN has released alarming displacement statistics claiming 65 million people are now displaced worldwide. Syria and Afghanistan have raised the bar to set the new world record. And progress in the work being done is slow, the agency head says.

According to UNHCR the current figure stands at 65.3 million, up from 2014’s record of 60 million displaced since World War II. The refugee influx into Europe last year has contributed by 10 percent, the agency said on Monday.   Continue reading “65 million people displaced worldwide, breaking all records – UNHCR”

RT

The death of Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin in a freak car accident has provoked an outpouring of grief from his friends, fans, and colleagues across the movie industry.

The 27-year-old, who played Chekov in the recent Star Trek reboots, died on Sunday morning when he was crushed by his own car in Los Angeles.

Yelchin was pinned between his driveway wall and car in a single vehicle accident, report TMZ.    Continue reading “Russian-born ‘Star Trek’ actor Anton Yelchin killed in freak driveway accident”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats get their long-sought votes on gun control a week after the massacre in Orlando, Florida, but election-year politics and the powerful National Rifle Association dim any prospects for changes in the nation’s laws.

The Senate will vote Monday night on four measures — two sponsored by Republicans, two by Democrats. All are expected to fail in a bitterly divided Congress. Gun control remains at a stalemate as few lawmakers are willing to challenge the NRA and no mass shooting the past five years — from Phoenix; to Aurora, Colorado; to Newtown, Connecticut; to Charleston, South Carolina; to San Bernardino, California — has led to new laws. Polls show large numbers of Americans agree with the need for at least some limited gun measures such as background checks. But Democrats have been unable to translate that into legislation because the NRA is able to mobilize and energize voters who will threaten to vote lawmakers out on the gun issue alone.   Continue reading “Senate to vote on gun control, prospects dim for change”

Mail.com

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Federal investigators promised to provide more insight as to what was happening inside the Pulse nightclub after a gunman started a deadly assault that was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The FBI was releasing on Monday a printed, partial transcript of the conversations between the gunman within the Pulse gay nightclub and Orlando police negotiators, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.   Continue reading “FBI releasing conversations between gunman and police”

RT

Sanford Wallace, the self-styled “Spam King,” will spend the next two and a half years in prison for compromising half a million Facebook accounts and using them to send over 27 million spam messages between November 2008 and March 2009.

Almost a year after pleading guilty to fraud and criminal contempt, 47-year-old spam king Sanford Wallace, nicknamed Spamford, was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Tuesday. He must also pay restitution of $310,628.55, according to ComputerWorld. After serving time, he will spend five years on supervised release.   Continue reading “Spam King dethroned: 2 1/2 years behind bars & hefty fine for leading FB ‘phisher’”