Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

CHICAGO (AP) — A man who alleges he was sexually abused by former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and later promised $3.5 million to stay quiet filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit Monday, saying he’s owed more than half the money Hastert promised.

The man, identified in court documents as Individual A, filed the lawsuit in Yorkville, the northern Illinois city where Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach when, prosecutors believe, he molested at least four boys decades ago.   Continue reading “‘Individual A’ sues Hastert, alleging unpaid hush money”

RT

US President Barack Obama confirmed plans to dramatically increase the American troop presence in Syria by deploying an additional 250 personnel, bringing the total to 300. He said the troops would help drive out the Islamic State terrorist group.

The move, which was first reported by the media, will once again contradict Obama’s 2013 promise of not putting any“American boots on the ground in Syria.”   Continue reading “More boots on the ground: Obama sends 250 more US troops to Syria”

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oil exporting countries in the Middle East lost a staggering $390 billion in revenue due to lower oil prices last year, and should brace for even deeper losses of around $500 billion this year, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.

The fund had projected in October that oil exporting countries in the region would see revenue losses of $360 billion in 2015, but oil prices took a tumble by year’s end and the drop in revenue amounted to $30 billion more.    Continue reading “IMF expects $500B revenue loss for Mideast oil exporters”

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Brian Nelson’s years in solitary confinement left him terrified of other people, and he says he can still taste the concrete dust from his cell, even though he’s been free since 2010.

The 51-year-old is afraid to ride the bus, he takes five psychotropic drugs and sees a psychiatrist every week. Even when he’s at a park surrounded by grass, he says everything starts turning gray and he remembers how tiny air pockets in the walls kicked up dust whenever he would clean his cell at a now-shuttered maximum security prison in Tamms, in Illinois’ southern tip. There he was confined for the final 12 years of a 26-year sentence for murder and armed robbery.   Continue reading “Illinois seeks to limit use of solitary confinement”

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ANTIGO, Wis. (AP) — An 18-year-old man opened fire with a high-powered rifle outside of a high school prom in northern Wisconsin, wounding two students before a police officer who was in the parking lot fatally shot him, authorities said Sunday.

Investigators did not say whether they believe the two students were specifically targeted or discuss a possible motive for the shooting outside Antigo High School late Saturday. But a school administrator said it appeared that the gunman — identified by police as Jakob E. Wagner — intended to go into the dance and start shooting randomly.   Continue reading “Gunman wounds 2 outside Wisconsin prom before cops kill him”

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Marijuana growing operations were discovered at some of the crime scenes where officials said eight family members were killed in a “pre-planned execution,” raising more questions as authorities scrambled to find a suspect or suspects in the slayings in a rural southern Ohio community.

The killings at four homes near the small community of Piketon on Friday was “a sophisticated operation,” Attorney General Mike DeWine said at a news conference Sunday. Seven adults and one teenage boy were found shot in the head; three young children were not harmed.   Continue reading “Authorities: Pot operations found in homes where 8 died”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – by Torsten Ove

Ten jurors had been chosen to hear the case Tuesday of George Biegenwald, accused of killing one girlfriend and trying to kill another while the body of the first was still in his beer refrigerator, but he chose to enter a plea at the last minute.

Biegenwald, 58, of Shaler, pleaded no contest to third-degree homicide and related offenses in the 2015 death of Donna See, whose body he stuffed into the refrigerator and then buried, and an assault on Patricia Johnston, another girlfriend he’d met online.   Continue reading “Man accused of killing, burying girlfriend skips trial, pleads no contest”

RT

Moguls Charles and David Koch are reportedly funding an Arizona-based company that’s been pushing against a plan to make Grand Canyon area a natural monument with no uranium mining allowed.

Those who are in favor of the plan include the majority of local residents, environmental groups and Native American tribes.   Continue reading “Billionaire Koch brothers allegedly fund pro-uranium mining plans in Grand Canyon – report”

RT

B-52 bombers old enough to order from a 24-hour diner’s senior discount menu are now conducting “precision strikes” over Iraq and Syria against Islamic State – and the upgraded warplanes still have a long life ahead of them, US military officials say.

An Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) weapons storage facility in Qayyarah, Iraq was targeted by a B-52 firing guided bombs on Monday, Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman of Operation Inherent Resolve, the US mission against IS,told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday.   Continue reading “Half-century old B-52s warplanes now delivering ‘precision strikes’ against Islamic State”

Mail.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities said Wednesday that they discovered a cross-border tunnel that ran a half-mile from a Tijuana house equipped with a large elevator to a lot in San Diego that was advertised as a wooden pallet business, resulting in seizures of more than a ton of cocaine and seven tons of marijuana.

It was the 13th sophisticated secret passage found along California’s border with Mexico since 2006, including three on the same short street in San Diego that runs parallel to a border fence with a densely populated residential area on the Mexican side. The unusually narrow tunnel was only about three feet wide, equipped with a rail system, lighting and ventilation.   Continue reading “Half-mile tunnel found on US-Mexico border, cocaine seized”

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and its Gulf partners should wait to see whether Iraq can resolve its political crisis before committing more financial aid, arguing that the paralysis is impeding U.S.-led efforts to defeat the Islamic State group and reconstruct the war-torn country.

Closing out a brief trip to Saudi Arabia, Obama also warned that a fragile cease-fire in Syria is on the verge of collapse, but he offered few hints about any alternative U.S. strategy if it does. He pledged vigilance about Iran and sought to allay Saudi concerns about its regional archrival, but he also told Persian Gulf leaders that last year’s nuclear deal had made the region safer.   Continue reading “Obama says political progress needed before more Iraq aid”

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former district attorney in south Louisiana repeatedly abused his power to prey on vulnerable women, offering them leniency from his office in exchange for sex, authorities said Wednesday after the veteran prosecutor pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal investigation of the sex abuse allegations.

Investigators accused former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel of soliciting sex from at least 20 women during his 33-year tenure in office. In return, he offered them help with their cases or relatives’ cases, they said.   Continue reading “Ex-prosecutor accused of soliciting sex from defendants”

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — President Barack Obama opened a brief trip to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday with a one-on-one meeting with King Salman in Riyadh. The visit for a Persian Gulf summit comes against the backdrop of increasingly strained U.S. relations with the Saudis, who remain deeply opposed to his outreach to Iran and skeptical of his approach to Syria.

Under crystal chandeliers, the Saudi monarch greeted Obama in a grand foyer at Erga Palace, where the two walked slowly to a reception room as the small of incense wafted. The two offered polite smiles as they sat down side by side for pictures at the start of their private meeting.   Continue reading “Obama meets with King Salman at start of Saudi Arabia visit”

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PHOENIX (AP) — A man charged in freeway shootings that rattled Phoenix last year has been released from jail amid questions about the evidence that authorities say links him to the crimes. The release of Leslie Merritt Jr. on Tuesday came after a judge reduced his bond to zero and said he can return to his home under electronic monitoring.

“I am just ready to go home and be with my kids,” Merritt said moments after walking out of jail. The reduction of the bond — once $1 million — was a major victory as defense lawyers contend that ballistic tests cast doubt on the claim by authorities that Merritt was behind four of the freeway shootings.   Continue reading “Freeway shooting suspect released amid doubts about evidence”

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Students and teaching assistants have arrived back in Juneau from a remote mountaineering class that was cut short when one of their professors was mauled by a brown bear. They said Tuesday night that they were tired and not yet ready to talk about Forest Wagner, 35, who was teaching the class on Mount Emmerich near Haines when he was attacked by the brown bear sow on Monday. The mountain is near Kicking Horse River in Alaska’s panhandle.

A student hiked into cellphone range on the mountain and called Haines police, who reported it to the Alaska State Troopers. Haines police would not comment on the incident. Initial reports were that Wagner had extensive injuries to his leg, according to a police report shared with the Washington Post.   Continue reading “University professor mauled by a brown bear while teaching”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s have been arrested at the U.S. Capitol as part of ongoing protests in Washington about the role of money in politics. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were among approximately 300 people who were arrested Monday as part of protests by a group called Democracy Awakening.   Continue reading “Co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s arrested at US Capitol”

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban attackers in Afghanistan staged an assault on a government security agency in the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday morning, killing at least 28 people and wounding more than 320.

The assault, which include at least two attackers and a car rigged with explosives, came a week after the Taliban announced their annual spring offensive, vowing large-scale attacks” in the 15th year of their war against the U.S.-backed Afghan government.   Continue reading “Dozens killed in Taliban attack on Afghan security agency”

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — When President Barack Obama arrives in the Saudi capital on Wednesday, he’ll face an increasingly assertive leadership still heavily dependent on U.S. weapons and military might that nonetheless has little trust in him and essentially believes it’s been thrown a curveball.

The president is expected to push Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter and biggest buyer of American-made arms, and other Gulf allies for greater cooperation and military backing in the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.   Continue reading “In Saudi visit, Obama faces ‘curveball’ in ties with kingdom”

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HOUSTON (AP) — As more than a foot of rain deluged the nation’s fourth-largest city, inundating homes, shutting down major highways and leaving at least five people dead, Houston’s mayor said there was no immediate solution.

Heavy flooding has become nearly an annual rite of passage in the practically sea-level city, where experts have long warned of the potential for catastrophe. “I regret anyone whose home is flooded again,” said Sylvester Turner, the city’s mayor, on Monday. “There’s nothing I can say that’s going to ease your frustration. We certainly can’t control the weather.”   Continue reading “Houston recovering from yet another deadly flood”